Nothing could have set my day up better at Rocking Horse, and we have masses to come, than bumping into Samantha St Jacques first thing this morning on the way back from her dressage- if only I’d arrived a tiny bit earlier in time to see it. I’m glad to say EN karma must be working as Samantha is currently the overnight leader after dressage and show-jumping in the Open Intermediate division, but I’m far happier to say I met her absolutely gorgeous son Sterling.
Samantha, like all eventing mothers, is a superwoman, and I’m collecting data on buggies and assorted paraphernalia that mothers can’t do without at events if you want to weigh in via the comments section below. Samantha’s husband, Pierre, is equally lovely – you could hardly hope to meet a nicer couple. I’m going to admit another embarrassing story that when I first got to know Pierre via the 2010 Radio Show I told him that his horse Lucky Tiger, who he was aiming for the World Equestrian Games, on the dressage team, reminded me SOOOO much of my own OTTB ( a 5 year old at the time who had never broken his maiden and was perhaps going training, but to me very beautiful of course, I did honestly mean it as a compliment!) and I even emailed him pictures (I’m cringing as I write this!). Most dressage riders, indeed normal people, would have been insulted, disgusted and never spoken to me again, but he was so kind and sweet, and I’m very happy to say he indulged my insanity, and we’ve all been friends ever since!
Belated congratulations to Pierre and Samantha on such a beautiful, smiling son and wishing them both the very best of luck this year! Go Lucky TIger, Go Grand Prix Dressage, Go OTTB’s and Go Eventing (mothers!)
It’s hard to know who to today belongs to – the O’Connor Event Team, including Marilyn Little-Meredith certainly captured the spoils but how can you not be impressed by Buck and his team of able substitutes? Buck admitted he felt “not great” but also reminded me that there are far many more people much worse off than him, I think if he could have shrugged he would have. I asked him if it was hard standing and watching his horses being ridden by other people, and he said he thought it would be more difficult if he was able to ride, and that honestly he wasn’t the toughest person in the world but he was pretty tough and there was no way he could have ridden today – at which point I was speechless! He’s hopeful that he’ll be competing at The Fork, which is in about a month, and I swear I did see him shrug then! Later that day he also told me he his students and people at home kept texting him with updates, at last count it seems that Buck is responsible for about 50 horses!
Andrea Leatherman on Park Trader. Andrea said she’s ridden this horse regularly on the flat at home, but only jumped him once about a year ago, and so elected to withdraw after the dressage. Andrea did a super job all day though, riding one nice horse after another, especially her own Mystic My in the advanced, below.
The O’Connor/Little-Meredith Juggernaut!
Karen O’Connor leads Advanced Section A on the little rubber ball that is Veronica, she didn’t look like touching a thing today, what a lovely birthday present for her rider!
Marilyn Little-Meredith leads Advanced Section B on a relatively new ride, the Oldenburg mare RF Demeter
Karen lies second in this section behind Marilyn on Mr Medicott after conjuring up a very nice dressage out of him after all – it looked very touch and go in the warm-up, and we talked about that briefly afterwards!
Marilyn’s second Advanced horse, the eye-catching Rovano Rex, below, lies 5th after a stop and some time in the show-jumping. The course was twisty and tight, although not overly big, but the time was very hard to get and it caused a fair amount of trouble across all the divisions most of the day.
Dressage started early this morning, and due to being a bit hampered by my two darling children (!) we didn’t make it out to the first one in the ring, alas it was EN fave Sinead Halpin on Manoir de Carneville/Tate, but I did catch up with her and Meg later, and as always it was a pleasure!
Joe Meyer, a 100% converted Floridian brought out his trusty campaigner Snip, 20 years old now, and still looking wonderful – maybe that’s why he’s moved to the retirement capital of the world, it certainly suits this lovely little grey who just keeps on producing the goods for Joe!
Joe had one rail down but still moved up from 9th after dressage to lie in 5th place overnight in Advanced Section A. You can keep an eye on all the live results from Rocking Horse II here.
Missy Ransehousen and Critical Decision did a lovely test that really was a joy to watch – Missy sits so quietly and correctly and I was glad to see it rewarded with a score of 31.9, good enough for second, even if BG as he’s known in the stable, did get a bit keen in the show-jumping for two down and some time, and drop them down a few places – here’s hoping for another cracking Rolex from this pair this year.
Critical Decision/BG in the show-jumping
Kentucky was well-represented at Rocking Horse, and no wonder with reports of a winter storm heading to the Bluegrass. Here’s Elissa Gibbs with her jumping machine Medici, but I also spotted Dorothy Crowell, Cathy Weischoff and Anna Kjellestrom.
Karen O’Connor’s nice little intermediate project, RF Amber Eyes, very impressive
and just as impressive from the front too!
I owe Peter Atkins a massive thank you for making Harry’s day week month! Finally I clawed back a scrap of credibility as a parent, yes, horse shows can be fun! I should have known that Peter would absolutely floor it though, next time I’m strapping a helmet cam on Harry, for safety and to see if we can get any traction on youtube! Peter’s test on Henny (HJ Hampton of course) this morning was another that I was sorry to miss, but I did see them show-jump, and apart from an unlucky rail at the first, they jumped an easy clear round.
There really is something so special about Henny, he tries SO hard, and he and Peter have such a terrific relationship that I was surprised when Peter told me to look out for his intermediate horse Firedrake, who he reckons will give Henny a run for his money in a couple of years time.
Marilyn Little-Meredith’s RF Rovano Rex, very flashy, on his way to a 27.2 and 2nd place after dressage before blotting his copybook in the stadium, lovely horse though.
Mr and Mrs O’Connor watch Marilyn’s test
Michael Pollard rode six horses in the intermediate one day at Paradise Farm, and said he didn’t think he had it in him to do the same with all his advanced rides so got a last minute entry for Wonderful Will and Shoensgreen Hanni here at Rocking Horse to spread the event out over a couple of days;he said he would have brought one more had there been space but by all accounts both Rocking Horse and Pine Top next week have been as accommodating as possible to riders with changing schedules.
I’m a huge fan of the little horse Wonderful Will, although he couldn’t be a more different ride to Michael’s other horse here, Hanni
This is a homebred horse that Kyle Carter co-owns with his eldest daughter Riley (5 years old) called FR’s Trust Fund (The FR for Five Ring Stable) At the moment still a green six year old but showing plenty of potential, Kyle is hoping he’ll be able to sell it in the future for heaps of money, hence the name…
Bruce Davidson was busy all day, mostly on his own rides, but he also rode The Apprentice for Buck. Here he is on his own Keltic Lion – this is the horse that Bruce said might be the reason behind his four star comeback, when I spoke to him for Eventing Nation last summer.
Bruce on The Apprentice
It’s always a pleasure to see Rebecca Howard, but even more of a jolt when she told me this was Rupert/Riddle Master’s first event since Rolex last year, and he behaved like a total angel.
I caught up with Rebecca after her dressage for a quick chat,
and then watched them show-jump, so engrossed I almost forgot to take pictures, apologies! They were a tiny bit out of match practice, and even trotted into a couple of the fences, but Rebecca just stayed calm and squeezed with her leg, and Rupert just responded and jumped smoothly over them as if he was doing a gymnastic exercise in the school at home, it was a delight to watch and I look forward to lots more good things from them this year.
Rebecca and Riddle Master/Rupert – still going smooth as butter in his rubber snaffle!
Sharon White and Reggie putting their training to the test for a 6th place score of 31.3
Emma Kate Fisher and Carlingford’s Forever
Trista Carter traveling in style!
Christa Gandolfo on Governaire. Christa, who trains with Lesley and Leslie Law, was contesting her first advanced this weekend, and I spoke to Lesley, but only briefly as she was holding down the fort while Leslie was away teaching in Seattle.
Lesley and What Law at Ocala Horse Trials last week – photo by Xpress Foto and used with kind permission of Lesley
I really enjoy Lesley’s company; of course we already know she’s extremely talented, funny and clever because of the brilliant articles she’s written, and add generous to the list because now she’s writing for Eventing Nation too, hurray, as well as all the other job descriptions she has to contend with! I know I speak for all of us when I say I can’t wait for the next installment, whenever you have time!
Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan
A nice clear round pulled them up from 18th after dressage to 11th place overnight
Canadian Penny Rowland on the enormous Flying Finn, who couldn’t be more different to the little coloured mare, Northwinds Breeze, that she rode into second place at the CCI* at the Kentucky Horse Park last autumn.
RF Demeter won the dressage in Advanced Section B for Marilyn Little-Meredith with a calm, accurate test. The mare is the opposite of her other horse who was placed just behind it and who you’d guess would get a higher mark, but Demeter did nothing wrong and showed positive, correct work with no bobbles whatsoever.
I actually saw Meredith working her on the flat earlier in the day and thought she looked like a real jumping stamp of a horse, (which she is too, of course!) and never imagined that she’d finish the day winning the dressage – goes to show how little I know!
Shandiss Wewiora and Rockfield Grant Juan
Erin Flynn Tamplin on Royal Ruckus
Karl Slezak had one of the nicest rounds I saw all day on VDL Ulando H
Whitney Weston and Rock on Rose, or Lusty. Although they had two fences down it was actually a nice round and they seem to be forging a really solid partnership together. I spoke to Whitney briefly afterwards and she told me she’s “just having the most fun of my life”, and that she’s aiming for the three star at Jersey Fresh, but if they’re not ready for that, then they’ll re-route to Bromont.
Maggie Deatrick and Divine Comedy were a very popular clear round
Sara Kozumplik jumped a nice clear on Manolo Blahnik and didn’t look to be hanging around at all, but still collected two time faults
Katlyn McMorris and Clifton Peekachu
David Adamo and River King
Emily Renfroe and Walk the Line
Angela Grzywinski and Novelle
Angela is one of a large Texas contingency, numbering about 30, four of them doing their first advanced this weekend. I chatted to Mike Huber for a bit who said that some of them will start to head home after this weekend, some after Pine Top and Heather Morris will probably stay until Red Hills, then come back east for The Fork before returning to Texas, and then driving back east to Rolex again – it’s about 15 hours from Texas to Kentucky apparently, but by then my mind had already had glazed over a bit!
Brittany kart and Llewellyn
Robert Meyerhoff and Dunlavin Token
Kristi Nunnik’s R-Star – what a horse!
Kadi Eykamp and Double Rivers Dillon – with that distinctive Australian browband.
On another note, KER, or Kentucky Equine Research, who sponsor the jump above, and many horse trials around the country, as well as top riders in all disciplines, have a fun competition at Rocking Horse – they have a weighing scale set up in the tradestand and if you can guess within, I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly how much, of your horse’s weight, you win either a KER saddle pad or a DVD of the KER Dirty Jobs episode – both equally cool, and what a great idea! KER Marvin, one of the horses used in the research and in the tv programme has been competed by Anna Kjellestrom until recently, (you can see pictures of him on EN when she rode him in the Francis Whittington clinic) as she told me she’s now passed the ride on to Bruce Davidson temporarily as Marvin was getting so keen!
Marilyn L-M’s Rovano Rex – butter wouldn’t melt….!
Imogen de Lavis and Rock Point Road
Melissa Boutin on Siamese Kat (Anglo Arab)
Beth Perkins on Sal Dali
Sara Kozumplik’s Tatton Winter doing his first advanced, and I fell in love with his kind eye and sweet face when Sara brought him out to watch some dressage earlier in the day. Look at him, how could you not…?!
Emma Kate Fisher and Carlingford’s Forever
Christa Gandolfo and Governaire – Christa has three horses based with the Laws
We’ve already talked about how naughty Mr Medicott was in the dressage warm-up, and how Karen used all her experience and skill to convince him to pull a 28.4 out the bag, although Karen preferred to write his little tantrum outside off as him being “Irish”! Luckily he jumped like a bunny, and looks incredibly fit and well, although being a sensitive Irish red-head he has fallen prey to the dreaded Florida skin disease, if you look carefully you can see the patchy skin behind in his elbows in this picture
Werner Geven and Vandiver
Wendy Lewis and Mastercraft
Nora Battig and Borneo Royale (with three stars clipped onto the left flank, you can just see one, and none on the right. I’ve been trying to think if there’s a special reason why all day, but still come up empty!)
Penny Rowland on Flying Finn
Caroline Martin on the lovely mare Petite Flower, homebred by the Davidsons, and ridden by Bruce in the last two PRO Derby X’s. Caroline trains with Buck and he told me he really rates this little horse, and she certainly jumped a stunning clear round. We had a very enjoyable day at Rocking Horse – everything ran like clockwork, except for the show-jumping which tended to be a bit ahead of time, which for a 7:30 start and a 5pm or thereabouts finish was certainly nothing to complain about! We had planned to watch the cross country tomorrow and head out about lunchtime on our drive back to Kentucky, but with more and more reports of winter storm warnings and alerts popping up as I write this, I’m beginning to think I may have to revise my plans, we’ll check the weather in the morning and let you know. In the meantime, thanks as always for reading, and Go Eventing!
Being a die-hard romantic, and knowing there was nothing more that my kids would love than a horsey morning to break up their few days winter beach holiday (NOT!), I called up Sharon White of Last Frontier Farm, who very kindly agreed to a last-minute visit at her ‘Wellington,West Virginia’ base as she called it. It turned out to be a wonderful Valentine’s Day morning. Sharon has been based down here in Florida for the last six weeks, cramming as much training as possible into every minute, be that dresssage with Linda Zang, or jumping with Ian Millar or George Morris by day, and replaying her rides via video at night so she can glean even more from each lesson.
Sharon had considered going straight from Wellington to Aiken; she told me it’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of everything that’s available nowadays, and of course you feel like don’t want to miss out on a thing. But sensible as she is, and with the horses’ welfare always first and foremost, she decided that although Reggie might benefit, the younger horses definitely need to go home and process, take a deep breath, and that after all it is only February, in what will hopefully be a long, busy and productive year. Sharon has three girls helping her – Alissa, Caitlin and Marley who quietly and efficiently got things done around us, but were also friendly and helpful – the atmosphere in the barn is definitely a very happy, relaxed one but with eleven horses all going in different directions during the day, the schedule is tight and the organisation is supreme. I watched Sharon take a flat lesson with Linda, and was so impressed by all three of them, or should I say five – Clarke, (named after Stephen Clarke), and Vivien (Leigh, of course, the redhead, can’t you tell?!)
Vivien and Clarke
Linda has a quiet teaching style using plenty of positive encouragement, often asking Sharon what she was feeling and for feedback. I love to take and watch lessons, I love how good instructors can spot those subtle nuances, how in this instance telling Sharon to pick up her left side, in the tiniest degree that I was barely aware of watching, made a huge difference.
Linda is, of course, one of the best of the best, and will also be judging at the Kentucky Horse Park later this summer at the Young Rider Championships, as well as training several other high profile eventers. Linda kindly took a few minutes during a walk break to chat about the importance of proper dressage training for eventing; how wonderful to hear her extol the virtues of the event horse having to think for himself, the importance of the dressage horse always moving forward and being in front of the leg, and with so much empathy for all their little quirks, and such horsemanship. I could have stayed all day, (all winter!) but my kids couldn’t…!
Practically, Linda also discussed warming up at the events, working at home (Sharon returns to Last Frontier Farm via Rocking Horse this weekend) and Reggie’s character and how best to deal with it, she obviously knows him well – “There’s always going to be a bit of the gangster in there!”, which is why, Sharon is quick to add with a laugh, he’s so fabulous cross country!
Gangster, moi?
Joking aside, Rafferty’s Rules, aka Reggie, looks fantastic, and, as Sharon told me, is thriving on the intensity of the last couple of months. He walked into the dressage ring as if he owned it, and his work now compared to at Rebecca Farm last summer looks much more confident and established. I managed to take some video of them both riding with Linda and if you can be patient, the very noisy truck does move after a couple of minutes!
Reggie and Sharon ran through their test after this, very nicely, and then as he was jumping later that afternoon they called it a day on the flat. Reggie was Sharon’s third horse that we saw her ride that morning, and although we brought plenty of treats for him, Boston Cremes, his favourite, I’m embarrassed to admit we came empty-handed as far as his rider and our hostess was concerned – many apologies!
We all had such a super morning – Sharon of course is a treasure, but Linda was also wonderful to meet and talk to, as were the girls and of course all the horses – a testament to the programme. Each horse definitely has it’s own personality and my kids plagued them got to know them and picked out their favourites while we there. In her calm, efficient, friendly way Sharon has indeed traditioned a little bit of West Virginia for herself down here in Wellington, a little orange happy space! Although she’ll be happy to get home I know, we could easily have stayed all day (all winter!). Many thanks to the whole team for putting up with us, thank you for reading, a belated Happy Valentine’s Day, Best of luck this Spring, and Go Eventing!
Being a die-hard romantic, and knowing there was nothing more that my kids would love than a horsey morning to break up their few days winter beach holiday (NOT!), I called up Sharon White of Last Frontier Farm, who very kindly agreed to a last-minute visit at her ‘Wellington,West Virginia’ base as she called it. It turned out to be a wonderful Valentine’s Day morning. Sharon has been based down here in Florida for the last six weeks, cramming as much training as possible into every minute, be that dresssage with Linda Zang, or jumping with Ian Millar or George Morris by day, and replaying her rides via video at night so she can glean even more from each lesson.
Sharon had considered going straight from Wellington to Aiken; she told me it’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of everything that’s available nowadays, and of course you feel like don’t want to miss out on a thing, but sensible as she is, and with the horses’ welfare always first and foremost, she decided that although Reggie might benefit, the younger horses definitely need to go home and process, take a deep breath, and that after all it is only February, in what will hopefully be a long, busy and productive year. Sharon has three girls helping her – Alissa, Caitlin and Marley who quietly and efficiently got things done around us, but were also friendly and helpful – the atmosphere in the barn is definitely a very happy, relaxed one but with eleven horses all going in different directions during the day, the schedule is tight and the organisation is supreme. I watched Sharon take a flat lesson with Linda, and was so impressed by all three of them, or should I say five – Clarke, (named after Stephen Clarke), and Vivien (Leigh, of course, the redhead, can’t you tell?!)
Vivien and Clarke
Linda has a quiet teaching style using plenty of positive encouragement, often asking Sharon what she was feeling and for feedback. I love to take and watch lessons, I love how good instructors can spot those subtle nuances, how in this instance telling Sharon to pick up her left side, in the tiniest degree that I was barely aware of watching, made a huge difference.
Linda is, of course, one of the best of the best, and will also be judging at the Kentucky Horse Park later this summer at the Young Rider Championships, as well as training several other high profile eventers. Linda kindly took a few minutes during a walk break to chat about the importance of proper dressage training for eventing; how wonderful to hear her extol the virtues of the event horse having to think for himself, the importance of the dressage horse always moving forward and being in front of the leg, and with so much empathy for all their little quirks, and such horsemanship, I could have stayed all day, (all winter!) but my kids couldn’t…!
Practically, Linda also discussed warming up at the events, working at home (Sharon returns to Last Frontier Farm via Rocking Horse this weekend) and Reggie’s character and how best to deal with it, she obviously knows him well – “there’s always going to be a bit of the gangster in there!”, which is why, Sharon is quick to add with a laugh, he’s so fabulous cross country!
Gangster, moi?
Joking aside, Rafferty’s Rules, aka Reggie, looks fantastic, and, as Sharon told me, is thriving on the intensity of the last couple of months, he walked into the dressage ring as if he owned it, and his work now compared to at Rebecca Farm last summer looks much more confident and established. I managed to take some video of them both riding with Linda and if you can be patient, the very noisy truck does move after a couple of minutes!
Reggie and Sharon ran through their test after this, very nicely, and then as he was jumping later that afternoon they called it a day on the flat. Reggie was Sharon’s third horse that we saw her ride that morning, and although we brought plenty of treats for him, Boston Cremes, his favourite, I’m embarrassed to admit we came empty-handed as far as his rider and our hostess was concerned – many apologies!
We all had such a super morning – Sharon of course is a treasure, but Linda was also wonderful to meet and talk to, as were the girls and of course all the horses – a testament to the programme. Each horse definitely has it’s own personality and my kids plagued them got to know them and picked out their favourites while we there. In her calm, efficient, friendly way Sharon has indeed traditioned a little bit of West Virginia for herself down here in Wellington, a little orange space happy space! Although she’ll be happy to get home I know, we could easily have stayed all day (all winter!). Many thanks to the whole team for putting up with us, thank you for reading, a belated Happy Valentine’s Day, Best of luck this Spring, and Go Eventing!
There’s a quote from Whyte-Melville, “I freely admit that the best of my fun, I owe it to Horse and Hound” that used to grace the cover of every issue, and has now been moved to the first page, and I tend to agree, never more so than when I read a recent article about Horsey Hotties! To find out more, I spoke to website creator and owner Ginny Rose recently about the Horsey Hotties dating website she started, and the brand new smart phone app.
After leaving University at the end of 2008, Ginny combined competing her own couple of horses with odd jobs riding, grooming, and mucking out, as well as working behind a bar in a night-club, all the time searching for sponsors, and trying desperately to fund her eventing habit, and maintain something of a social life,
“Just because I live out in the sticks doesn’t mean I’m a boring, lonely-heart country girl which was kind of what all the singles sites at the time were like!”
Ginny set about learning how to create a website (her degree is in building surveying), did some research and launched Horsey Hotties at the start of 2009. It now numbers over 2,500 members around the world, of all ages, straight and gay.
At the end of that first year, on the urging of a friend, Ginny took advantage of a temporary gap in her part-time jobs and her event horses being roughed off to spend a month in Newmarket riding out,
“I upped sticks and moved to Newmarket for four weeks and rode out for Clive Brittain, and I hadn’t got a clue at the time that he is the early bird of Newmarket, and pulls out at five o clock in the morning, so I had be there at half past four. My first real experience of sitting on a proper racehorse was of going up Warren Hill in the pitch black in December, not knowing where the hell the finish line was, so that was a shock to the system! I did last the four weeks though, came home for Christmas, and then started riding out for Lisa Williamson near home after the New Year.”
It was around this time that Ginny came to the decision to retire from competitive eventing as she had been doing it, and try to build a professional career in the racing industry. Ginny took a part-time job at Racing Welfare in Newmarket to get a foot in the door, and now works in the Fundraising and Communications Team.
Ginny on Master Step at the Novice Championships at Gatcombe
The Horsey Hotties website sponsors flat jockey Laura Pike who contributes to the Hottie blog, and Ginny still owns her intermediate event horse, Master Step. By Master Imp and out of Delta Lion he’s distantly related to Eagle Lion, “he’s bred in the blue”, and Amy Young will campaign him for Ginny this year, and they both have high (advanced) hopes for him. It was at Badminton with a friend that she got the idea for the new app for Horsey Hotties,
“Basically it’s location based social networking – as you move around, the people closest to you will change on the ‘facewall’, and then you can instant message them, ‘wink’ at them, check out if they’re single, and most importantly for the equestrian lot you can choose your discipline so you can put racing, eventing or polo for example.” From one member, “24 winks in 24 hours!! Thank you HorseyHotties.com”, and from another, “Just bagged my very own HorseyHottie. Great first date, he took me racing!”
You don’t have to be interested in romance to use it – you can network for business or for purely social reasons – these are all options available when you fill out your profile, and the app is global. Ginny took out a graduate loan for the app which at the moment is only available on iPhone, iTouch and iPad, but will be available on androids later this year. This is the first version and it’s only a few months old, so Ginny fully expects to tweak it and improve it as she goes along.
Ginny admits that she doesn’t have much free time these days and thrives on her work, although alas, in a crippling blow for her own site, she is still single herself!
“It’s a funny old thing because I don’t use it like that – it’s work! That’s just the way it is! I’ve got friends who’ve been on dates and it’s all been very good, but I’m still waiting for the marriage, that would be really nice!”
Ginny however, may find her heart pulled in another direction soon,
riding and that’s my love, schooling babies and training them to go eventing so
I’m really looking forwarded to going up there as much I can this year to
help re school the racehorses ready for new jobs. (I’m also secretly wondering if
there’s a little eventing super star hidden away!)”
Horsey Hotties is proud to bring together “horsey, country, and urban, foxy singles” and it’s a free app, so there’s no excuse at all not to join. Thank you to Ginny for her time and her wonderful website and app, and thank you for reading – Go hunting, dating and eventing and please let Ginny and EN know of all impending marriages!
The answer to this weekend’s quiz question was of course Arthur and Allison Springer – congratulations to everyone and thank you for all your (correct!) guesses! Even though I groan that I was too easy on the Eventing Nation, I absolutely love it when the emails start pouring in with the answers, the weekend quiz has become such a fun thing, for me anyway (“put hand in shape of an L on my forehead – LOSER!”)
Allison was kind enough to update us on Arthur and her spring training, and I Iook forward to seeing them out and about soon,
From Allison:
Things are going very well for me, working hard and very happy! Arthur is wonderful and is headed to Rolex this spring. So far this year he has done a trip down to Wellington for a few days of dressage lessons with my wonderful instructor of many years — JJ Tate. We also got “selected” to ride in the Bettina Hoy clinic hosted by Boyd 😉 I LOVE Bettina. It was amazing to see her work with everyone — I watched her teach Jan, Boyd and Coleman. It was great to see her ride Neville Bardos and Nevada Bay, definitely the best I have seen those 2 horses look. Arthur was a star and I feel very inspired. Arthur’s season will start at the Advanced Pine Top in 2 weeks, Red Hills, Southern Pines (Advanced Combined Test) and The Fork. He enjoyed a long break at the end of last year and is looking truly spectacular! He’s always been a looker, but I started feeding Buckeye Equine Nutrition program this past year and I am blown away by how great all the horses look. My beloved Burger is for sale and I have done a horrible job at trying to sell him because I feel like a piece of my soul will be lost when he goes. He brings so much joy to our barn everyday, he truly has a larger than life personality which is very entertaining. I know he should show a deserving Young Rider the ropes. I have been teaching Kelly Pugh on him and it is amazing how much he has taught her how to ride her own horse better, he is such a great teacher. I am also very excited to have Going for Gusto (aka The Big Goose) back in action. He is an ex race horse that is enormously talented and shows up for work everyday. I have BIG hopes for him. I am blessed to have a wonderful group of horses in training, customers, GREAT girls working for me, amazing sponsors and my parents here in Aiken with me for the month of February. Hoping I will have time to improve my golf game! (Below is a picture of Colby Balazs from SmartPak and I golfing last week. Not sure what we are doing here, most likely giving up the search for lost balls!)
Many thanks to Allison for being such a good sport – golf, quizzes, updates…! Here’s a picture of Burger from Red Hills from last year. I had a very brief chat with course designer Hugh Lochore who’s excited about changes he’s made to the course this year and we’ll have more on that soon on Eventing Nation; Hugh will also be the new Course Designer for Chattahoochee Hills starting this May and we’ll talk to him about that also.
If you have any pictures you think would be suitable to stump the Eventing Nation in the Weekend Quiz please send them along to me at [email protected], I feel like next weekend needs to be really hard! In the meantime, enjoy your week, don’t forget your loved ones tomorrow – Valentine’s Day, (Leo is getting an extra treat, and of course we already have something lined up for the Eventing Nation!) and Go Eventing!
The answer to this weekend’s quiz question was of course Arthur and Allison Springer – congratulations to everyone and thank you for all your (correct!) guesses! Even though I groan that I was too easy on the Eventing Nation, I absolutely love it when the emails start pouring in with the answers, the weekend quiz has become such a fun thing, for me anyway (“put hand in shape of an L on my forehead – LOSER!”)
Allison was kind enough to update us on Arthur and her spring training, and I Iook forward to seeing them out and about soon,
From Allison:
Things are going very well for me, working hard and very happy! Arthur is wonderful and is headed to Rolex this spring. So far this year he has done a trip down to Wellington for a few days of dressage lessons with my wonderful instructor of many years — JJ Tate. We also got “selected” to ride in the Bettina Hoy clinic hosted by Boyd 😉 I LOVE Bettina. It was amazing to see her work with everyone — I watched her teach Jan, Boyd and Coleman. It was great to see her ride Neville Bardos and Nevada Bay, definitely the best I have seen those 2 horses look. Arthur was a star and I feel very inspired. Arthur’s season will start at the Advanced Pine Top in 2 weeks, Red Hills, Southern Pines (Advanced Combined Test) and The Fork. He enjoyed a long break at the end of last year and is looking truly spectacular! He’s always been a looker, but I started feeding Buckeye Equine Nutrition program this past year and I am blown away by how great all the horses look. My beloved Burger is for sale and I have done a horrible job at trying to sell him because I feel like a piece of my soul will be lost when he goes. He brings so much joy to our barn everyday, he truly has a larger than life personality which is very entertaining. I know he should show a deserving Young Rider the ropes. I have been teaching Kelly Pugh on him and it is amazing how much he has taught her how to ride her own horse better, he is such a great teacher. I am also very excited to have Going for Gusto (aka The Big Goose) back in action. He is an ex race horse that is enormously talented and shows up for work everyday. I have BIG hopes for him. I am blessed to have a wonderful group of horses in training, customers, GREAT girls working for me, amazing sponsors and my parents here in Aiken with me for the month of February. Hoping I will have time to improve my golf game! (Below is a picture of Colby Balazs from SmartPak and I golfing last week. Not sure what we are doing here, most likely giving up the search for lost balls!)
Many thanks to Allison for being such a good sport – golf, quizzes, updates…! Here’s a picture of Burger from Red Hills from last year. I had a very brief chat with course designer Hugh Lochore who’s excited about changes he’s made to the course this year and we’ll have more on that soon on Eventing Nation; Hugh will also be the new Course Designer for Chattahoochee Hills starting this May and we’ll talk to him about that also.
If you have any pictures you think would be suitable to stump the Eventing Nation in the Weekend Quiz please send them along to me at [email protected], I feel like next weekend needs to be really hard! In the meantime, enjoy your week, don’t forget your loved ones tomorrow – Valentine’s Day, (Leo is getting an extra treat, and of course we already have something lined up for the Eventing Nation!) and Go Eventing!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the need for a bit of mindless distraction right now, and here it is…! Which four star combination is this? This may be too easy for the Eventing Nation, I’m beginning to lose all sense of perspective, I was tempted to just give you the hooves up to the knees, but then I reconsidered and thought we all deserve a break! For the fun of it, all answers in the comments below, and the official reveal on Monday. Thank you and Go Eventing!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the need for a bit of mindless distraction right now, and here it is…! Which four star combination is this? This may be too easy for the Eventing Nation, I’m beginning to lose all sense of perspective, I was tempted to just give you the hooves up to the knees, but then I reconsidered and thought we all deserve a break! For the fun of it, all answers in the comments below, and the official reveal on monday. Thank you and Go Eventing!
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Nina Ligon and Butts Leon (Thailand)
It was a long drive to Poplar Place and back, and with the CIC*** being staged especially for those riders still needing points or qualifications for the Olympic Games in London later this summer, the Olympics were on my mind, and not only mine…
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Elena Ceballos and Nounours du Moulin (Venezuela)
Last October when Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson was a guest on Desert Island Discs it was the perfect excuse to write about one of my favourite podcasts. (tidbit – he used to listen to Tupac’s “Me against the World” before every single race).
This week they have another Olympic gold medalist, heptathlete Denise Lewis and it makes for fascinating listening about dedication, and the endeavour to be the best at your sport even though she’s not an equestrian. Denise shares insights about how she stayed focused in her training, the impact of winning Olympic gold, her early inspirations – funnily enough watching double Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe, now Lord Coe and chairman of LOCOG among others, and of course picks her favourite music. Growing up as the only daughter of a single mother, and now with three children of her own, Denise also tackles the choice to have her first child shortly after winning Gold at Sydney. You can listen to Desert Island Discs directly on the website, or download it weekly from Itunes.
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Carl Bouckaert and Mensa (Belgium)
I was also happy to listen to the first couple of episodes of Clare Balding’s brilliant “Sport and The British”, also available on the website or at itunes. Tomorrow voting ends in the Equestrian Social Media Awards, and if you have time please tick the box for Clare in Category 20, Best Celebrity, and while you’re there why not vote for Eventing Nation in Categories 2: Facebook, 13: Most Informative and 17: Best Blog. You can also vote for me individually (for my tweets!) in the twitter category 3!.
Thank you, enjoy listening, all suggestions for new podcasts welcome and considered, and go eventing!
There’s a quote from Whyte-Melville, “I freely admit that the best of my fun, I owe it to Horse and Hound” that used to grace the cover of every issue, and has now been moved to the first page, and I tend to agree, never more so than when I read a recent article about Horsey Hotties! To find out more, I spoke to website creator and owner Ginny Rose recently about the Horsey Hotties dating website she started, and the brand new smart phone app.
After leaving University at the end of 2008, Ginny combined competing her own couple of horses with odd jobs riding, grooming, and mucking out, as well as working behind a bar in a night-club, all the time searching for sponsors, and trying desperately to fund her eventing habit, and maintain something of a social life,
“Just because I live out in the sticks doesn’t mean I’m a boring, lonely-heart country girl which was kind of what all the singles sites at the time were like!”
Ginny set about learning how to create a website (her degree is in building surveying), did some research and launched Horsey Hotties at the start of 2009. It now numbers over 2,500 members around the world, of all ages, straight and gay.
At the end of that first year, on the urging of a friend, Ginny took advantage of a temporary gap in her part-time jobs and her event horses being roughed off to spend a month in Newmarket riding out,
“I upped sticks and moved to Newmarket for four weeks and rode out for Clive Brittain, and I hadn’t got a clue at the time that he is the early bird of Newmarket, and pulls out at five o clock in the morning, so I had be there at half past four. My first real experience of sitting on a proper racehorse was of going up Warren Hill in the pitch black in December, not knowing where the hell the finish line was, so that was a shock to the system! I did last the four weeks though, came home for Christmas, and then started riding out for Lisa Williamson near home after the New Year.”
It was around this time that Ginny came to the decision to retire from competitive eventing as she had been doing it, and try to build a professional career in the racing industry. Ginny took a part-time job at Racing Welfare in Newmarket to get a foot in the door, and now works in the Fundraising and Communications Team.
Ginny on Master Step at the Novice Championships at Gatcombe
The Horsey Hotties website sponsors flat jockey Laura Pike who contributes to the Hottie blog, and Ginny still owns her intermediate event horse, Master Step. By Master Imp and out of Delta Lion he’s distantly related to Eagle Lion, “he’s bred in the blue”, and Amy Young will campaign him for Ginny this year, and they both have high (advanced) hopes for him. It was at Badminton with a friend that she got the idea for the new app for Horsey Hotties,
“Basically it’s location based social networking – as you move around, the people closest to you will change on the ‘facewall’, and then you can instant message them, ‘wink’ at them, check out if they’re single, and most importantly for the equestrian lot you can choose your discipline so you can put racing, eventing or polo for example.” From one member, “24 winks in 24 hours!! Thank you HorseyHotties.com”, and from another, “Just bagged my very own HorseyHottie. Great first date, he took me racing!”
You don’t have to be interested in romance to use it – you can network for business or for purely social reasons – these are all options available when you fill out your profile, and the app is global. Ginny took out a graduate loan for the app which at the moment is only available on iphone, itouch and ipad, but will be available on androids later this year. This is the first version and it’s only a few months old, so Ginny fully expects to tweak it and improve it as she goes along.
Ginny admits that she doesn’t have much free time these days and thrives on her work, although alas, in a crippling blow for her own site, she is still single herself!
“It’s a funny old thing because I don’t use it like that – it’s work! That’s just the way it is! I’ve got friends who’ve been on dates and it’s all been very good, but I’m still waiting for the marriage, that would be really nice!”
Ginny however, may find her heart pulled in another direction soon,
riding and that’s my love, schooling babies and training them to go eventing so
I’m really looking forward to going up there as much I can this year to
help re school the racehorses ready for new jobs. (I’m also secretly wondering if
there’s a little eventing super star hidden away!)”
Horsey Hotties is proud to bring together “horsey, country, and urban, foxy singles” and it’s a free app, so there’s no excuse at all not to join. Thank you to Ginny for her time and her wonderful website and app, and thank you for reading – Go hunting, dating and eventing and please let Ginny and EN know of all impending marriages!
On Saturday afternoon I stood by the water jump at Poplar Place and watched the latter portion of the novice divisions going cross country. There were two fences between the water jump and the finish line, and I was shocked at how many people were checking their watches multiple times and adjusting their speed rather than paying attention to the horse’s pace, balance, and rhythm instead.
I understand that in Canada the rule to ban stopwatches at Novice levels and below was very unpopular. What about the education of the horse though, and some of the riders? How can we reward a combination that maintain a consistent and appropriate pace for the level?
It’s not as if there is huge prize money, or indeed any, at stake – I don’t understand the obsession with stopwatches and wheeling courses at Novice levels and lower. Comments welcome below. (The pictures and video used above could have been anyone, I certainly didn’t single these riders out, it was pure chance, they were a few of very many)
Go and educate your horse and enjoy your eventing!
Gavin Makinson recently attended the International Eventing Forum at Hartpury and very kindly wrote this fabulous review especially for Eventing Nation. The IEF has a twitter account and did a great job tweeting during the day which only made me wish I was there all the more, but now thanks to Gavin I almost feel as if I was! You can also follow Hartpury on twitter, and of course Gavin. It’s hard to believe that this much education, with a panel of four such prestigious speakers and including some very high-profile riders could all fit into one day, and general consensus was that the tradestands might have been superfluous. A huge debt of thanks to Gavin for this treat of a report, it was like receiving a wonderful present, I just kept unwrapping layer after layer and it just kept getting better…
From Gavin:
The International Eventing Forum, 2012 @eventingforum was held on 6th February at Hartpury College and chaired this year by former CCI**** rider and now coach, Eric Smiley. Hartpury is a centre of excellence of land-based, animal, equine and sports education but also a world-class equestrian venue across the board, hosting UK and FEI level show jumping, dressage, eventing and more.
The theme of this year’s forum was ‘Focus on Success’ and as host Eric Smiley put it in his opening speech, ‘in this Olympic year we have brought you Olympic coaches.’ Each of the four coaches present, and also Eric himself and Alec Lochore who updated us on FEI and London 2012 matters are deeply involved either as chefs d’equipes, coaches or in an organisational capacity for London, 2012.
The four key speakers for the day were German Eventing Team Coach Christopher Bartle (UK), French Eventing Team Chef D’Equipe Laurent Bousquet (FRA), New Zealand Eventing Team Show-Jumping Coach Luis Alvarez Cevera (ESP) and Canadian Event Team Coach David O’Connor (USA). Each hosted a 60-90 minute session with a selection of riders, most of which either horses or riders were real contenders, or had horses in the running for the forthcoming London Olympics.
Chris Bartle FBHS: It’s Fundamentally easy. What makes the difference?
Christopher Bartle (FBHS) started us off. He worked on two combinations of horse and rider. The first was Japanese team prospect who rather unfortunately had a very limited grasp of Chrstopher’s english. That said, the session was incredibly interesting. The horse, Pretty Darling, was a previous German CCI*** horse which had been bought by the Japanese as a London qualified prospect and it was fascinating watching Chris work with the pair, as much to see how he handled the language barrier as anything else.
One thing that became clear across the whole day was just how similarly we all work our competition horses. There was an overwhelming emphasis on keeping training simple and clear, with albeit minor differences in taste, head position (though not in competition), warm ups, and test riding style. Christopher was very keen to have 3 distinct phases to any day’s work… a very clear warm up/loosening phase with uninterrupted forwards movement, allowing the horse to play and diffuse spare energy, mostly working low (but not curling) and with a swinging back. Then, a very clear ‘test frame/ work phase’ which should reflect the head and neck position that will be used in any test, then another loosening phase to finish off.
The first mare showed consistent, if a little under-energised work in the trot but had a tendency to hold her breath in the canter, with a slight head tilt. Christopher was clear that canter work should always go back to an ‘every second stride’ rhythm which ties in with the horse’s breath which in turn should lead to greater relaxation and better quality work.
He was also clear that the hind leg should always be given a job to do – in terms of every transition, gear change and movement using or imagining flexion to make it clearer to the horse which hind leg needs to work for the movement ahead.
Laura on Rayef at Badminton last spring. Photo used with permission by the equally amazing Nico Morgan: check out more of his photos here.
The second guinea pig was British rider, Laura Collett on board her Badminton and European championship horse, Rayef. He is, and was at Badminton a ‘wow’ horse that everyone would like to take home with them, and he was looking every bit recovered from his blood disorder at the 2011 European Championships and perhaps a real contender for an ‘individual’ London 2012 run. Christopher commented that because the horse was so uphill, it was important to make sure that the horse always was relaxed at the wither, but otherwise was very complimentary, and (no surprise considering Laura’s Badminton and European’s test) said he was quite concerned with how much competition Laura might provide for his German team riders.
Laurent Bousquet: The Winning Platform – Coaching with the Future in Mind
Laurent Bousquet (FRA), worked over fences with three combinations of horse and rider. All were horses working at CCI* or below. Personally I felt this session was fundamentally under horsed and under ridden. In some ways it was valuable to see less experienced horses and riders but with a largely professional audience it seemed that Laurent might have been better working with younger horses, but with more potential to progress to CCI**** level.
That said, Laurent echoed Christopher’s ethos of keeping things clear, and fun for the horse to encourage and guarantee confidence. No fences got bigger then 90 cm, but a lot of time was spent on establishing straightness, using poles on the floor to leave the horse in no doubt as to the right way to get over a skinny or angled combination, and setting up the basics to allow the horse to progress through the levels. Emphasis was given on a lack of pressure, and that control of a horse does not mean domination of the horse. Energy should be channelled and directed, not quashed.
Alec Lochore spoke briefly about proposed FEI changes, and the 2012 Olympics. He discussed the ongoing problems for FEI eventing and the current issues, namely the discrepancy, similarity and confusion of CIC and CCI events. He suggested that with the various options available, the FEI were heading in the direction of keeping both classifications of events but renaming them ‘short’ and ‘long format’ events in the interests of owners, sponsors and those not necessarily au fait with the finer language and rule book of the sport. He explained the committee thought it had gone long enough since the abolishment of the steeplechase, and roads and tracks to borrow back the ‘long format’ description of a new modern format CCI event as opposed to what they would term a ‘short format’ one or two day CIC event.
He also spoke about a new worldwide standard for deformable fences. Previously he explained that the various worldwide regions have had their own methodology and construction for deformable construction, but that a worldwide standard was being developed and tested.
There was also an update on the London Olympics. He was very clear that Greenwich is the right venue for equestrian sport at the Olympics (and having been only two weeks ago, I have to agree). He acknowledged the fact that no long term legacy or course will remain post London, but was keen to point out the more important legacy that the IOC is impressed and enthused by horse sport in London, and we’ve left them with a very real idea that equestrian sport can happen right in the heart of whichever Olympic city is hosting. Not something that can be underestimated considering how far from the host city and how questionable horse sport has been in recent Olympics.
Luis Alvarez Cervera: Jumping Clear – How to give your horse the best chance of jumping a clear round.
After a short lunch, Luis Alvarez Cervera took to the floor. He had the benefit of 4 horse and rider CCI** and CCI*** combinations, two from New Zealand and two Japanese. The two NZ riders, Lucy Jackson and Caroline Powell (but without her Lenamore), and the two Japanese were all combinations that had something different to offer in terms of long term potential and ability, but was further proof that there is no one type of successful event horse. Effectiveness does indeed come in all shapes and sizes as event horses go. It was particularly interesting to see horses that seemed impressive in the warm up look less impressive over fences, and once more to see horses that were impressive over basic exercises struggle over bigger fences, whilst horses that misread or disrespected smaller exercises shine over big fences.
With Luis’ impeccable English and gentle, charming manner it was hard not to be impressed. He has a way of teaching and explaining that make you want to listen and also desperately want to be one of the guinea pigs on the floor. His work started off with a very clear and consistent warm up, one which he said would ultimately carry a horse through a familiar routine and enable it to know that it was going to show jump and allow it to compress and also remind the rider of the eye required after a previous day cross country. After the warm up he started very small and basic in terms of fence size, but ultimately mentally involving for the horse. We had lots of repetitive serpentines over 9″ verticals to keep the horse responsive, active and coordinated before any horse progressed to a 90cm fence.
Luis was particularly clear to emphasise the importance of clarity, simplicity and like Laurent before, was very keen that riders kept a forward seat at all times if possible. He also echoed the need for a soft seat, soft knees and an energising lower leg and soft hand. He had no place for ‘CONTROL,’ but only control of the horse through confidence and trust. Throughout a 75 minute session the horses all improved, progressed in confidence and all jumped clear up to 1.35m by the end, which came as something as surprise considering how differently each horse had started.
David O’Connor: Clear but Fast
David O’Connor (USA) took the final session of the day at the IEF12. It was a masterclass in leaving nothing to chance, and as David mentioned from a cultural background, how to educate riders in skills that might be learnt in the traditional UK background in hunting, pony club, and associated equine sports. David had the pleasure of working with four of Britain’s leading younger riders, all on the UK’s WORLD CLASS programme…
Tom McEwen: clear and fast at Burghley last year on Dry Old Party. Photo used with kind permission by fantastic Nico Morgan.
All of the riders involved (Mike Jackson, David Doel, Laura Collet and Tom McEwen) have had the pleasure of representing GB at Young Rider level, yet from a personal perspective it was encouraging to see all of the riders making fundamental mistakes, despite 2 out of the 4 riders having cleared a CCI**** in the last few months.
David was particularly good at quantification: at what point should you leave the horse alone, at what point should you have made your final decisions, when you should know and spot something is right or wrong, as a rider. He explained that having worked with Luis from session 3 many years ago, they agreed that in the last five strides of the approach to any fence, the horse had it’s only opportunity to realise it was about to jump and thus the last five strides should not be those of preparation, but of reaction to the horse’s own reaction to the fence.
In very real terms, he was keen that all stride adjustments and braking/steering issues be done before the last 5 strides and that riding a horse cross country should be like driving a car to an experienced driver… in that all attention to brakes, steering and speed should be autonomous, and the conscious part of the brain should be able to concentrate on whatever problems occur specifically in or ahead of the moment. He was also keen to point out (for the first time in more than one case) of the different seats required for technically good XC riding… That a balancing seat is different from a galloping seat, which is different from a jumping seat and from a drop-fence seat etc… and that speed and balancing were different things. Perhaps the best sound byte was that the fastest horse XC at a CCI**** is the horse that is quickest to adjust from galloping to balancing, minimising the change before those last crucial 5 strides, than the horse that has the biggest stride or speediest gallop. It perhaps identified a feel that many British riders take for granted, but especially in their younger years and until they start teaching aren’t quite aware of to our International counterparts who have to learn their skills from scratch.
All in all the day was a wonderful success. The facilities and base at Hartpury are undoubtedly wonderful and the day hopefully gave much inspiration to those watching and riding, despite the fairly treacherous weather around the UK this week. The day will have given much inspiration and there will be undoubtedly some ‘thrilled’ horses this week trying out some new and some not so new ideas in the 3 1/2 weeks remaining until the UK event season starts (cold spell permitting)…
—Gavin James Makinson.
—-
I’m booking my ticket for next year already, but we may try and keep Gavin on a permanent retainer anyway. Many, many thanks to Gavin again for taking the time and effort to keep Eventing Nation so fantastically informed, and thank you as always for reading. Go International Eventing (Forum)!
Eric was officiating as the FEI Technical Delegate for the CIC*** at Poplar Place, and it’s a role he also fulfills at the prestigious Badminton CCI****. However, Eric is also a popular course designer, responsible for Blenheim and Hartpury CCI’s amongst others, and still finds time to ride a couple of horses. I was very happy to catch up with him during his brief stay in Georgia.
I remember competing with Eric back in the day, of course he always beat me, and he laughed and said that just as he was beginning to feel like one of the old guard in the riding game, it’s a real treat to be regarded as a “young buck” in the official’s world! Many thanks to Eric for stopping to chat, it was super to see him again, and many thanks to you as always for reading. Go Blenheim, Hartpury, Badminton…and eventing!
Gavin Makinson recently attended the International Eventing Forum at Hartpury and very kindly wrote this fabulous review especially for Eventing Nation. The IEF has a twitter account and did a great job tweeting during the day which only made me wish I was there all the more, but now thanks to Gavin I almost feel as if I was! You can also follow Hartpury on twitter, and of course Gavin. It’s hard to believe that this much education, with a panel of four such prestigious speakers and including some very high-profile riders could all fit into one day, and general consensus was that the tradestands might have been superfluous. A huge debt of thanks to Gavin for this treat of a report, it was like receiving a wonderful present, I just kept unwrapping layer after layer and it just kept getting better…
From Gavin:
The International Eventing Forum, 2012 @eventingforum was held on 6th February at Hartpury College and chaired this year by former CCI**** rider and now coach, Eric Smiley. Hartpury is a centre of excellence of land-based, animal, equine and sports education but also a world-class equestrian venue across the board, hosting UK and FEI level show jumping, dressage, eventing and more.
The theme of this year’s forum was ‘Focus on Success’ and as host Eric Smiley put it in his opening speech, ‘in this Olympic year we have brought you Olympic coaches’. Each of the four coaches present, and also Eric himself and Alec Lochore who updated us on FEI and London 2012 matters are deeply involved either as chefs d’equipes, coaches or in an organisational capacity for London, 2012.
The four key speakers for the day were German Eventing Team Coach Christopher Bartle (UK), French Eventing Team Chef D’Equipe Laurent Bousquet (FRA), New Zealand Eventing Team Show-Jumping Coach Luis Alvarez Cevera (ESP) and Canadian Event Team CoachDavid O’Connor (USA). Each hosted a 60 – 90 minute session with a selection of riders, most of which either horses or riders were real contenders, or had horses in the running for the forthcoming London Olympics.
Chris Bartle FBHS: It’s Fundamentally easy. What makes the difference?
Christopher Bartle (FBHS) started us off. He worked on two combinations of horse and rider. The first was Japanese team prospect who rather unfortunately had a very limited grasp of Chrstopher’s english. That said, the session was incredibly interesting. The horse, Pretty Darling, was a previous German CCI*** horse which had been bought by the Japanese as a London qualified prospect and it was fascinating watching Chris work with the pair, as much to see how he handled the language barrier as anything else.
One thing that became clear across the whole day was just how similarly we all work our competition horses. There was an overwhelming emphasis on keeping training simple and clear, with albeit minor differences in taste, head position (though not in competition), warm ups, and test riding style. Christopher was very keen to have 3 distinct phases to any day’s work… a very clear warm up / loosening phase with uninterrupted forwards movement, allowing the horse to play and diffuse spare energy, mostly working low (but not curling) and with a swinging back. Then, a very clear ‘test frame/ work phase’ which should reflect the head and neck position that will be used in any test, then another loosening phase to finish off.
The first mare showed consistent, if a little under-energised work in the trot but had a tendency to hold her breath in the canter, with a slight head tilt. Christopher was clear that canter work should always go back to an ‘every second stride’ rhythm which ties in with the horse’s breath which in turn should lead to greater relaxation and better quality work.
He was also clear that the hind leg should always be given a job to do – in terms of every transition, gear change and movement using or imagining flexion to make it clearer to the horse which hind leg needs to work for the movement ahead.
Laura on Rayef at Badminton last spring. Photo used with permission by the equally amazing Nico Morgan: check out more of his photos here.
The second guinea pig was British rider, Laura Collett on board her Badminton and European championship horse, Rayef. He is, and was at Badminton a ‘wow’ horse that everyone would like to take home with them, and he was looking every bit recovered from his blood disorder at the 2011 European Championships and perhaps a real contender for an ‘individual’ London 2012 run. Christopher commented that because the horse was so uphill, it was important to make sure that the horse always was relaxed at the wither, but otherwise was very complimentary, and (no surprise considering Laura’s Badminton and European’s test) said he was quite concerned with how much competition Laura might provide for his German team riders.
Laurent Bousquet: The Winning Platform – Coaching with the Future in Mind
Laurent Bousquet (FRA), worked over fences with three combinations of horse and rider. All were horses working at CCI* or below. Personally I felt this session was fundamentally under horsed and under ridden. In some ways it was valuable to see less experienced horses and riders but with a largely professional audience it seemed that Laurent might have been better working with younger horses, but with more potential to progress to CCI**** level.
That said, Laurent echoed Christopher’s ethos of keeping things clear, and fun for the horse to encourage and guarantee confidence. No fences got bigger then 90 cm, but a lot of time was spent on establishing straightness, using poles on the floor to leave the horse in no doubt as to the right way to get over a skinny or angled combination, and setting up the basics to allow the horse to progress through the levels. Emphasis was given on a lack of pressure, and that control of a horse does not mean domination of the horse. Energy should be channelled and directed, not quashed.
Alec Lochore spoke briefly about proposed FEI changes, and the 2012 Olympics. He discussed the ongoing problems for FEI eventing and the current issues, namely the discrepancy, similarity and confusion of CIC and CCI events. He suggested that with the various options available, the FEI were heading in the direction of keeping both classifications of events but renaming them short and long format events in the interests of owners, sponsors and those not necessarily au fait with the finer language and rule book of the sport. He explained the committee thought it had gone long enough since the abolishment of the steeplechase, and roads and tracks to borrow back the ‘long format’ description of a new modern format CCI event as opposed to what they would term a ‘short format’ one or two day CIC event.
He also spoke about a new worldwide standard for deformable fences. Previously he explained that the various worldwide regions have had their own methodology and construction for deformable construction, but that a worldwide standard was being developed and tested.
There was also an update on the London Olympics. He was very clear that Greenwich is the right venue for equestrian sport at the Olympics (and having been only two weeks ago, I have to agree). He acknowledged the fact that no long term legacy or course will remain post London, but was keen to point out the more important legacy that the IOC is impressed and enthused by horse sport in London, and we’ve left them with a very real idea that equestrian sport can happen right in the heart of whichever Olympic city is hosting. Not something that can be underestimated considering how far from the host city and how questionable horse sport has been in recent Olympics.
Luis Alvarez Cervera: Jumping Clear – How to give your horse the best chance of jumping a clear round.
After a short lunch, Luis Alvarez Cervera took to the floor. He had the benefit of 4 horse and rider CCI** and CCI*** combinations, two from New Zealand and two Japanese. The two NZ riders, Lucy Jackson and Caroline Powell (but without her Lenamore), and the two Japanese were all combinations that had something different to offer in terms of long term potential and ability, but was further proof that there is no one type of successful event horse. Effectiveness does indeed come in all shapes and sizes as event horses go. It was particularly interesting to see horses that seemed impressive in the warm up look less impressive over fences, and once more to see horses that were impressive over basic exercises struggle over bigger fences, whilst horses that misread or disrespected smaller exercises shine over big fences.
With Luis’ impeccable English and gentle, charming manner it was hard not to be impressed. He has a way of teaching and explaining that make you want to listen and also desperately want to be one of the guinea pigs on the floor. His work started off with a very clear and consistent warm up, one which he said would ultimately carry a horse through a familiar routine and enable it to know that it was going to show jump and allow it to compress and also remind the rider of the eye required after a previous day cross country. After the warm up he started very small and basic in terms of fence size, but ultimately mentally involving for the horse. We had lots of repetitive serpentines over 9″ verticals to keep the horse responsive, active and coordinated before any horse progressed to a 90cm fence.
Luis was particularly clear to emphasise the importance of clarity, simplicity and like Laurent before, was very keen that riders kept a forward seat at all times if possible. He also echoed the need for a soft seat, soft knees and an energising lower leg and soft hand. He had no place for ‘CONTROL’, but only control of the horse through confidence and trust. Throughout a 75 minute session the horse all improved, progressed in confidence and all jumped clear up to 1m 35cm by the end, which came as something as surprise considering how differently each horse had started.
David O’Connor: Clear but Fast
David O’Conner (USA) took the final session of the day at the IEF12. It was a masterclass in leaving nothing to chance, and as David mentioned from a cultural background, how to educate riders in skills that might be learnt in the traditional UK background in hunting, pony club, and associated equine sports. David had the pleasure of working with four of Britain’s leading younger riders, all on the UK’s WORLD CLASS programme…
Tom McEwen: clear and fast at Burghley last year on Dry Old Party. Photo used with kind permission by fantastic Nico Morgan.
All of the riders involved (Mike Jackson, David Doel, Laura Collet and Tom McEwen) had had the pleasure of representing GB at Young Rider level, yet from a personal perspective it was encouraging to see all of the riders making fundamental mistakes, despite 2 out of the 4 riders having cleared a CCI**** in the last few months.
David was particularly good at quantification; at what point should you leave the horse alone, at what point should you have made your final decisions, when you should know and spot something is right or wrong, as a rider. He explained that having worked with Luis from session 3 many years ago, they agreed that in the last five strides of the approach to any fence, the horse had it’s only opportunity to realise it was about to jump and thus the last five strides should not be those of preparation, but of reaction to the horse’s own reaction to the fence.
In very real terms, he was keen that all stride adjustments and braking/ steering issues be done before the last 5 strides and that riding a horse cross country should be like driving a car to an experienced driver… in that all attention to brakes, steering and speed should be autonomous, and the conscious part of the brain should be able to concentrate on whatever problems occur specifically in or ahead of the moment.. He was also keen to point out (for the first time in more than one case) of the different seats required for technically good XC riding… That a balancing seat is different from a galloping seat, which is different from a jumping seat and from a drop-fence seat etc… and that speed and balancing were different things. Perhaps the best sound byte was that the fastest horse XC at a CCI**** is the horse that is quickest to adjust from galloping to balancing, minimising the change before those last crucial 5 strides, than the horse that has the biggest stride or speediest gallop. It perhaps identified a feel that many british riders take for granted, but especially in their younger years and until they start teaching aren’t quite aware of to our International counterparts who have to learn their skills from scratch.
All in all the day was a wonderful success. The facilities and base at Hartpury are undoubtedly wonderful and the day hopefully gave much inspiration to those watching and riding, despite the fairly treacherous weather around the UK this week. The day will have given much inspiration and there will be undoubtedly some ‘thrilled’ horses this week trying out some new and some not so new ideas in the 3 1/2 weeks remaining until the UK event season starts (cold spell permitting)…
—Gavin James Makinson.
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I’m booking my ticket for next year already, but we may try and keep Gavin on a permanent retainer anyway. Many, many thanks to Gavin again for taking the time and effort to keep Eventing Nation so fantastically informed, and thank you as always for reading. Go International Eventing (Forum)!
A few quick notes before the video, completely unrelated. Thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting – more often than notes your input takes the original piece to a whole new level. Thank you Rick Wallace for your lovely reply, and check this out…..Thanks to lec for the scoop on Loughnatousa Brown Bear in the comments sections!
And now please enjoy some novice cross-country courtesy of Poplar Place
When I said goodbye to Venezuelan rider Elena Ceballos, still smiling, she told me she is now planning to contest the CCI in Argentina to see if she can make it to London. Safe travels home to everyone, thank you again, and go eventing!
Elena Ceballos put a less than stellar dressage test on Nounours du Moulin firmly behind her, and together they enjoyed a superb ride around the CIC*** cross country at Poplar on Saturday. When I caught up with her later and she told me it was her first advanced, I wasn’t surprised at her joy and relief, and I did enjoy the translation of weight off her shoulders too!
Congratulations, Elena, and Coach Kyle, and best of luck in the show-jumping! Go Venezuela and Go Eventing!
There ARE other chestnut four star horses! And how on earth did you know it was Burghley?!
It was indeed Shiraz, aka Luke, ridden by Colleen Rutledge.
Many thanks to Claudette Mo who sent in the photo.
Colleen is working hard, both training for Badminton, and raising funds; she’ll be hosting a fundraiser at her farm on Sunday March 18th, and you can find details, as well as lots more on her website.
Colleen was kind enough to give EN a quick update on their progress,
“Everything is going well, we are getting ready to head south to Aiken for a few weeks. Fundraising is going, slowly, but surely. Everyone (especially Luke) is looking forward to getting out XC and while the weather here has been wonderfully mild, we are looking forward to the feel of sandy soil beneath our feet. I’ve been teaching clinics and we are preparing for our fundraiser dinner and silent auction on March 18, in conjunction with a clinic at my farm in MD. Other than that, just having as much fun as I can doing what I love!”
Wishing Colleen the very best of luck with all her spring preparations, and many thanks for the update. Thank you also to Claudette for the picture, and thank you as always for being such good sports and playing along. Go Eventing!
I haven’t seen Tops and his rider Danielle Dichting since The Fork last spring, and I was struck today by how much they’ve progressed since then. I really liked this combination in the dressage, then felt a little thrill as I watched them cruise round the cross country, but for some reason I had no expectation that they would be so delightful to talk to in person!
Congratulations on such a great performance this weekend, and many thanks for stopping to chat to both Danielle and Tops. Go Eventing!
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Nina Ligon and Butts Leon (Thailand)
It was a long drive to Poplar Place and back, and with the CIC*** being staged especially for those riders still needing points or qualifications for the Olympic Games in London later this summer, the Olympics were on my mind, and not only mine…
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Elena Ceballos and Nounours du Moulin (Venezuela)
Last October when Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson was a guest on Desert Island Discs it was the perfect excuse to write about one of my favourite podcasts. (tidbit – he used to listen to Tupac’s “Me against the World” before every single race).
This week they have another Olympic gold medalist, heptathlete Denise Lewis and it makes for fascinating listening about dedication, and the endeavour to be the best at your sport even though she’s not an equestrian. Denise shares insights about how she stayed focused in her training, the impact of winning Olympic gold, her early inspirations – funnily enough watching double Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe, now Lord Coe and chairman of LOCOG among others, and of course picks her favourite music. Growing up as the only daughter of a single mother, and now with three children of her own, Denise also tackles the choice to have her first child shortly after winning Gold at Sydney. You can listen to Desert Island Discs directly on the website, or download it weekly from Itunes.
Chasing Olympic Dreams: Carl Bouckaert and Mensa (Belgium)
I was also happy to listen to the first couple of episodes of Clare Balding’s brilliant “Sport and The British”, also available on the website or at Itunes. There are just a few days left to vote now in the Equestrian Social Media Awards, and if you have time please tick the box for Clare in Category 20, Best Celebrity, and while you’re there why not vote for Eventing Nation in Categories 2: Facebook, 13: Most Informative and 17: Best Blog. You can also vote for me individually (for my tweets!) in the twitter category 3!.
Thank you, enjoy listening, all suggestions for new podcasts welcome and considered, and go eventing!
There ARE other chestnut four star horses! And how on earth did you know it was Burghley?!
It was indeed Shiraz, aka Luke, ridden by Colleen Rutledge.
Many thanks to Claudette Mo who sent in the photo.
Colleen is working hard, both training for Badminton, and raising funds; she’ll be hosting a fundraiser at her farm on Sunday March 18th, and you can find details, as well as lots more on her website.
Colleen was kind enough to give EN a quick update on their progress,
“Everything is going well, we are getting ready to head south to Aiken for a few weeks. Fundraising is going, slowly, but surely. Everyone (especially Luke) is looking forward to getting out XC and while the weather here has been wonderfully mild, we are looking forward to the feel of sandy soil beneath our feet. I’ve been teaching clinics and we are preparing for our fundraiser dinner and silent auction on March 18, in conjunction with a clinic at my farm in MD. Other than that, just having as much fun as I can doing what I love!”
Wishing Colleen the very best of luck with all her spring preparations, and many thanks for the update. Thank you also to Claudette for the picture, and thank you as always for being such good sports and playing along. Go Eventing!
A few quick notes before the video, completely unrelated. Thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting – more often than notes your input takes the original piece to a whole new level. Thank you Rick Wallace for your lovely reply, and check this out…..Thanks to lec for the scoop on Loughnatousa Brown Bear in the comments sections!
And now please enjoy some novice cross-country courtesy of Poplar Place
When I said goodbye to Venezuelan rider Elena Ceballos, still smiling, she told me she is now planning to contest the CCI in Argentina to see if she can make it to London. Safe travels home to everyone, thank you again, and go eventing!
In a class performance, Nina jumped two clear rounds within the quite tight time allowed, to clinch both first and third places in the Poplar Place CIC***. As she has done all weekend, she rode calmly, consistently and extremely well, and deserves the win – congratulations Team Thailand! Also huge congratulations to Poplar Place owners and organisers Donna and Gary Stegman pictured with Nina above, the event has been a total triumph – thank you Poplar Place. It was a shame that not everyone attended the prize-giving to demonstrate their appreciation, especially as this was such a last-minute CIC, with a small field, and the staff here at the event went out of their way to make it happen for these riders.
Nina Ligon (1st and 3rd), Carl Bouckaert (2nd), Danielle Dichting (4th) and Elena Ceballos (8th) listen to the Thai National Anthem being played in Nina’s honour.
Ronald Zabala-Goetschel, who finished 5th, 6th and 7th was first in the ring this morning as he had three horses to jump. Here he is on Wise Equestrian Kairo who had four rails down and six time faults.
Nina on the first of her perfectly judged rounds, on Jazz King. All the horses except for Ronalds’ jumped clear, and jumped really well, but Nina was the only rider not to have time fautls.
Ronald Zabala-Goetschel and the lovely Wise Equestrian Brer Fox
Elena Ceballos has been a delight to get to know this weekend,she’s the perfect happy, breezy ying to coach Kyle’s dry, cynical yang and they’ve been great fun to hang out with, as has the entire South American crew. I was sad not to see Federico and Ron jump this morning, but this little french horse, Nounours du Moulin was like a bouncy ball, probably the most impressive round of the day.
Danielle Dichting forgot to tell us yesterday that her lovely horse Tops did his first ever event here at Poplar Place at Beginner Novice level – look at him now, so proud!
Carl Bouckaert had taken plenty of time to walk the course this morning, and knew his lines pretty well and where he could save some time. He and Mensa jumped a lovely, forward flowing round for just one time fault.
Ronald Z-G and Wise Equestrian Master Rose
Nina Ligon and Butts Leon for the win.
Well done to all the competitors. Thank you to all the volunteers, and thank you for reading.
