Sure, I remember him. But I never could get into the idea that a horse is an "athlete"

Hunting is considered by some to be a sport. A guy goes duck hunting, shoots at the duck, and misses. The duck flies away. That should make the duck an athlete, right?

How about sport fishing? Fight a 200 pound fish for 3 hours. The fish gets away....

Greyhound racing. The dogs are athletes?

"Sport dogs", like pointers and retrievers. Athletes?

Speaking of great horses, here's a horse that in his own way was absolutely great, and in his time in a class by himself: Dr. Fager.