Lisa Cameron-Norfleet/Provided

Clifford with the Cornell University Equestrian Team.

Lisa Cameron-Norfleet/Provided

Clifford trains a rider.

It’s a horse, of course.

Clifford, a chestnut-colored warmblood, will celebrate his 20th birthday May 14, and everyone is invited.

The Cornell University Equestrian Team (CUET) will hold Clifford’s birthday party from 1 to 3 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.) at the Oxley Equestrian Center to celebrate this national competitor and “huge goof-ball,” who trained so many of them. Standing 16.3 hands high (slightly more than five-and-a-half feet to his withers), Clifford has been a member of CUET since 2006.

This milestone celebration is open to the public; attendance is limited to 400. Participants will have the opportunity to meet Clifford, sign his birthday card and eat his birthday cake; meet the riders and horses of the equestrian team; watch a parade and jumping demonstration; and enter a raffle to win such prizes as wine, coffee, and equestrian and Cornell gear.

Clifford was donated to Cornell in 2006 by a client of horse trainer Gary Duffy. He went to his first Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he quickly became a star. He has competed in nine IHSA national shows to date, along with more than 30 IHSA regional and local shows, in flat and jumping classes by riders of every level. He has won multiple national Horse of the Year awards.

He is still competing and healthy, but is now used primarily for teaching novice riders because of his age and reliable, obedient nature.

“Clifford knows everything,” said equestrian team head coach Joanna Garbarino Novakovic ’03. “If something is wrong, it’s the rider’s fault. If you do it right, he does it right. And when you do it wrong, he will tell you, but he’ll never hurt you. He’s the most reliable horse in the world and so intelligent. … He teaches everyone who gets on him.”

In addition to calling him a “goofball” and a “horse with a lot of heart,” Emily Kowalchik ’13, former CUET co-captain, said, “I was lucky enough to show him in the adult hunters and equitation in Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan. He helped me win multiple adult equitation championships and to ribbon in several hunter classics.”

The suggested donation to the birthday bash of $5 per person or $10 per family will kick off a fundraising effort to support the team and help pay for Clifford’s eventual retirement, estimated at $7,500 per year.

A donation at the door gets a chance at the raffle items.