Kate Samuels has been kind enough to write for EN off an on over the years including several great reports from the US training sessions earlier this year. After a fair amount of begging from yours truly Kate has kindly joined our guest blogging team. I want to give a special thanks to Kate for not writing one of the many stories she has about me from our days eventing out of Emily and Jeff Beshear’s Brickland Farm in Virginia. For much more from Kate check out her website here. Thanks for writing this Kate and thank you for reading.
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From Kate:
Eventing Nation, I am honored to be here, and I have to say, the begging was flattering John, but eventually I had to write something just so I would stop getting 1AM texts about blogs. My name is Kate Samuels and I was given an obese Shetland pony before I could even manage to verbalize the notion of desiring one. While other kids growing up learned to roller-skate and use the Ouija board at sleepovers, I was already honing my skills for survival in the equine world. Their art might have been useful for show-and-tell, but mine was based around how to get this tubby little monster to do anything but ignore me and eat. Let me tell you, tricking ponies is a very serious art.
Luckily for me, I grew up in rural Virginia with my horses at home, and no distractions of siblings or proximal children of my age. I spent every waking hour possible on the sincere pursuit of learning how to affect a rapport with my horses through sympathy and understanding. I really didn’t have an option; the pony clearly out-weighed me in both physical and mental capacities. These days, the first part hasn’t changed a bit, but I like to think the second part is nearing a more level playing ground.
At the ripe old age of 24, I realize that my upbringing with horses was a tad unconventional, and influenced by some of the most interesting characters in the horse world. My mom, a lifelong horsewoman herself, gave me two gems of truth at age four:
1) “If you want to run around the barn barefoot, fine. If a horse steps on you and breaks all of your toes, don’t come crying to me.”
2) “Whoever said a horse was dumb, was dumb.”
These have really carried me through about 90% of my adventures with horses so far. At age 13, she got me a job at a local training track, which reminded me that I was neither stronger nor smarter than the vast majority of my equine companions. But, I had an inquiring mind and a fierce desire not to get sand in my teeth.
My next mentor was the owner of said training track, a certain Felix J. Nuesch. Felix is 80 years old, five feet tall with clogs on, and pretty much the most accomplished and hardworking horseman you will ever meet. He was enrolled in the Swiss Cavalry at the age of 14, came to the U.S. at age 22 with exactly 42 cents in his pocket, and has built his empire from almost nothing. Felix was a nationally ranked Three Day Eventer in the 60’s and 70’s, a jockey in both flat and jump races until the 80’s and has been breeding, training, racing, and riding his own Thoroughbreds since he set foot on this side of the ocean. He has had cancer three times, removing parts of his throat and five years ago his ability to eat solid foods. I exercise his horses all morning at the track now, and yes, he rides along with me. After his ride, he hops in his diesel Mercedes with his jack russel, Buddy, riding shotgun. Waiting for Felix at home are his mares and foals, and his TVG.
Felix taught me in the old-school cavalry manner. First lesson? “For Christ’s sake kid, nobody ever drowned in their own sweat. Just do it already.” He’ll tell me stories of the time he made a bet with his fellow cavalrymen and jumped a chestnut mare through a home-made hoop of fire and singed off his eyebrows and her mane, and from there, pretty much any of my complaints or fear seem insignificant. Under his tutelage, I learned a systematic approach to creating horses that are quiet, supple, obedient and pleasant for their riders…even if they are completely neurotic racehorses that have mouths like two blocks of cement.
As for right now, my days are filled with racehorses in the mornings, and his highness himself, Nyls du Terroir, the rest of the day. Nyls is my muse, my entertainment, my salvation, and my really awesome Advanced event horse too. For those of you who haven’t had the honor of meeting him let me give you a taste. Nyls is 17.1 hands of pure mischief. His favorite activities include escaping from stalls and fields constantly, slurping coffee out of mugs while your back is turned, picking up large branches in the field and chasing the other horses with them, and, most importantly, eating everything that can fit into his mouth. Nyls has eaten a curry comb, about eight pairs of wraps, and a single flip flop to date. He also staunchly refuses to let anybody pet his face, but assumes that it is his right (as King of the world) to search all of your clothes for fun buckles, zippers or straps that he can snap, pop, and crackle. He is forgiven for his behavior, however, because his other favorite activity is jumping with his knees up to his eyeballs. Literally. After one Advanced cross-country course, my coach told me that I needed to work on my horse jumping flatter. I bet that was the first and last time she every had to say that to a student.
Nyls and I have been married for 7 years now, and we love each other dearly, but that’s not to say we don’t have our daily disagreements. He says he wants to stop on the trail and eat this Rhododendron bush, I tell him it’s going straight to his waistline, you know, the usual. I got him when he was three, and it has been pretty much a fairy tale since then, minus the frog kissing or having strange men climb up my long hair. He took me to my first Preliminary, my first CCI* win, my first CCI** reserve championship, my first NAJYRC (bronze individual and silver medal team), got me on the Developing Rider’s List three years in a row and then clean around my first five Advanced horse trials. Not to brag, but he’s pretty stellar. He eats cross-country jumps for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anybody who knows him also knows he eats just about everything else he can get his tiny lips around…but we’re working on that.
So, my fellow equestrians, I suppose the long and short of it involves you reading my blog, and following my adventures as a young three day eventer trying my hardest to make it in this crazy world and not squat with my spurs on. My experiences with both horses and people in the past twenty-four years have been nothing if not educational, and frequently humorous. I’ve known John for quite some time now, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got some stories about him that can’t be legally published, but I’ll just slip them in there with a pseudonym. Until next time….
