View Classifieds
Articles Written 1,524
Article Views 1,580,638

Samantha Clark

Achievements

Become an Eventing Nation Blogger

About Samantha Clark

Latest Articles Written

Will Faudree

By on Feb 18, 2011 11:31 am -

Will Faudree is a busy man; perhaps you’ve read his blog on the USEF page Club Equestrian, or his article on fitness on the USEA site? As well as organising an Oscar Style Awards Ceremony for PRO, and an undefeated return to Westminster Dog Show. Not to mention running a busy barn, and preparing for the Luhmuhlen CCI4* later this spring; so I was incredibly grateful when he spared me half an hour recently to answer some questions.
 

image425.png
Q: You seem to have an awful lot on your plate? How do you prioritize and make time for everything? 
Will:  I’m a big believer in lists. I make priority lists of what I need to get done, in what order things need to get done, and I tend to stick to that until everything’s completed, before I finish the day. 
Q: Did you make plans for your horses over the winter for their spring campaigns?
Will: Yes, I did. I sat down at the end of the fall season last year, and thought about where  I wanted to head with my two advanced horses, Pawlow and Andromaque.   With the PanAm’s being a 2 star this year, obviously the main goal is the Olympics in 2012, and so I wanted to come up with the best plan to try and make that become a reality.
So the planning really started last fall, after Boekelo for Andromaque, and after Pawlow’s AEC’s, and he didn’t end up doing a Fall CCI, but the plan started to go from there with him as well.  
Then as far as their day-to-day stuff and their competitions came in, obviously we were bringing Pawlow back from a very minor injury, so that was very calculated and articulated as to how that was going to go, and then we started adding the daily schedules, and canter schedules and so on. 
Q: It must have been incredibly disappointing to have to withdraw Pawlow from team consideration after the AEC’s?
Will: It was extremely disappointing, I’d worked very hard over the summer, as we all had, and had really tried to focus on making the WEG a reality; obviously it didn’t work out the way  I wanted it to, but hindsight’s always 20/20. I think he’s going to come out this year and be a better, stronger horse for it. 
Q:  So what were the reasons behind aiming for Luhmuhlen? 
Will: Mainly due to the minor injury. I had originally thought I was going to aim for Badminton, but with Badminton being the third week of April this year, it made it very tight.  I would have had to rush him back into doing canter sets and gallop sets, and even though he’s stayed sound the whole time, and has never taken a lame step I didn’t want to rush him.  Luhmuhlen comes six weeks later, so that gives us some additional time to leg him back up.

9632_125720663353_750693353_2506539_1340125_n.jpg
Q: Did Boekelo give you a taste for the European events?
Will: Well, I’ve been very fortunate in my career. With Antigua I was able to go over to England, and do Badminton and Burghley, as well as the World Games in Aachen, so I got a taste of it there. I actually took Pawlow to Blenheim in 2009;  and it was a real treat and a huge honour to go on the Boekelo trip. It gives you that incredible hunger. Someone asked me if the three star level was different, or specifically more difficult than you would see over here in America, and I couldn’t disagree more, a three star is a three star – what makes it different is the 40,000 spectators, from start to finish lining the roads. That is something that we only get to experience at Rolex in this country, and I think that was one of the things that was hugely beneficial for the riders who went to Boekelo, in that it gave us a taste of the high atmosphere at these highly populated events. 
I’ve competed in Europe before so I know how close the grandstands are to the dressage ring, and I’ve been fortunate enough to go to some big events so I’ve ridden courses where the crowds are very thick, but I remember Tiana Coudray being suprised at all the people packed around the jumps so that sometimes you couldn’t even see the fences. Obviously we’d seen them walking the course, but riding on the day, you’d come around the turn and sometimes not be able to see the jump for all the spectators, and that can have a huge effect on riders, and horses, so I think it was a great experience for all of us to get to go to Boekelo. 
Q: PRO did such a great job of keeping everyone back here in the States informed of how the event was going for you all. Tell us about what you do for PRO?
Will: I do as much as I can with PRO, and I think PRO is an amazing organisation which is only going to get bigger and better, and I’m very excited to be a part of it. 
Q: And you’re organising the PRO Awards Night?
WIll: I am, in conjunction with Samantha Lendl and Hawley Bennett. It’s going to be very exciting. I dream very big, and I got this idea and told a few people about it, and they were really encouraging. My friends call me Rainman, because I have a wealth of useless knowledge, I can tell you all sorts of dates in history, Academy Award trivia, numbers, anything like that. So I had this idea for the PRO awards:  everything in our sport is points based and I thought it would be really fun for people to have nominees. I think it will open the door to a lot of other potential sponsors.  For example, if you look at the Screen Actors Guild, they have their own awards night, and it’s for actors within their own group, which is how PRO was put together, it was riders within our sport looking for advantages for the whole group. 
So I think the more we can put our sport in the public eye, with some big names, the better.  I have four performers confirmed. I think it is going to be a fun night. We don’t have a venue yet, but in 1927 the first year that they held the Academy Awards, twenty-six people attended in a very small hotel lobby in Hollywood, and if that’s what the first PRO Awards ends up being, so be it, but I think it can only grow from there.  Of course I want it big, if I could I’d get Joan Rivers up there interviewing us all on the Red Carpet! I did sit down and write out how the night’s going to run from start to finish, with performances and presentations; I have some actors to give out the awards, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, I hope it’s going to come off as I envision it in my mind. 
Q: You wrote a very interesting article on the USEA website about fitness.
Will: I wrote that article mainly because I got so aggravated: I kept hearing people, and professionals from our sport who don’t compete in the modern short format, saying that it’s not the same sport, and there’s not as much horsemanship, and there’s not as much time in the saddle, and it really aggravated me. I think fitness is incredibly important, and what I really tried to convey in that article was that you’ve got to know your horse, know when they can take a breath. If you don’t know your horse, then as a rider you have to be smart enough to know when to throttle back and feel and listen to what’s happening underneath you, it’s rider responsibility. 
Q: How do you do your fitness work? Do you use interval training, or gallop uphills? 
Will: I do use interval training at this time of the year. My horses, personally, have the month of November off, and then I start by doing a lot of walking, road work, and trot sets.  Then once I’m up to about 20 minutes of trot sets I’ll start adding flat work, and I’ll usually have all that accomplished by the end of December. Then starting in January I’ll go every four or five days to do canter sets, starting with three and a half minutes,building it up each time, to around the beginning of March.  From there, the horses have usually done an event or two, I won’t have gone for time, just building their muscle fitness up, and then I’d go into more sprint and speedwork rather than interval training. The same thing, I’ll gradually increase the speed and how many times I go up to build each horse up to the required level of fitness. 
Q: It sounds reassuringly old-fashioned, and methodical. 
Will: It’s very methodical. I keep a record of every horse in the barn that I fill out every day. I have Andromaque’s and Pawlow’s gallop schedules from Luhmuhlen all the way back to January. I have options, obviously, because I know I’m not going to make every gallop, and that’s why I always write in pencil (!), the only thing I write in pen are the competition dates, then I can shuffle the gallops around a bit if I need to. I have a system whereby at the top of my gallops notes I’ll grade them 1 -3, 1 meaning the horse felt incredible, 3 meaning I need to do something a little bit different. 
Missy,(Andromaque) at Boekelo was perfect. She had the fastest cool-down rate on Saturday, her heart rate was back to normal within one minute, she practically took two deep breaths when we finished cross country and that was it, and we finished ten seconds inside the time.  That’s her, she’s a very fit horse. 
Pawlow, he’s not at all fat or anything, but I feel like I’m one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser when I’m doing his fitness work, because he is SO lazy! 
Andromaque is very focused, she’s very much like Antigua in a lot of ways. She’s a bit quieter in her brain, the fitter Antigua got the more tightly wound mentally he’d get, whereas Andromaque gets more and more focused as she gets fitter.
 
Pawlow doesn’t change at all: he’s the same horse on a daily basis. You can kick him all you want to trot faster but it makes no difference! I have a pact with Pawlow. He’d been through a lot of different barns before I got him, and I even tried to sell him, but I owned him and just kept going with him and before I even knew it he’d surprised us both by reaching two star level. Before we did our first two star, I made a pact with him that I would never ask him to come to my side of the fence, and I know he doesn’t want me on his side of the fence, but we’ll just sit at the fence and have conversations when we’re together, and we have a great partnership now. It was at that  2* event that Jennifer Mosing approached me about owning him. I had met her several times teaching clinics, and that was the start of her owning horses. 
Q: Where is Andromaque headed this spring?
Will: Well, we thought long and hard about it. Boekelo was only her fourth advanced. She did Millbrook, then Richland then the AEC’s before going to Holland. On the Saturday night of the AEC’s she had a mild colic from dehydration, which is something that had never happened before. She drank about two buckets of water after cross country, but she was still dehydrated because it was so hot there, so we took notes for future reference, and now she’ll always get fluids if it’s a warm day. I didn’t want to try and take her to Kentucky, I would never want to scare her, and she did a lot last year, and I want to make sure she’s very confirmed at the three star level before I do a four star.  Having said that, she made the time around a very tough CCI 3* track, so I don’t feel like I need to do another CCI 3*, instead I’m going to start her off on some higher profile 3* CIC’s this summer, in a lead up to hopefully Burghley in the Fall.  So she’ll go to Luhmuhlen as well, but she’ll do the CIC 3* there, then go to Aachen for the CIC, and Barbury, a combined test at Gatcombe, then Hartpury, and if all that goes well she’ll go to Burghley.

missie water.jpg
Q: So you’ll be spending the summer in England.
Will: Yes, I’m very lucky, Jennifer Mosing who owns Pawlow and Andromaque, and I talked about it. Jennifer’s an incredible sponsor, but more importantly she’s an incredible friend, and we have a really great time together, and we have a lot of fun with the horses, so we’re excited about it. 
Q:  And you have two new horses this spring?
Will: I do. DHI Color Candy is an Irish horse, a preliminary level horse who’d done a couple of preliminary level events in Ireland. I just did my first event on him, and he was great, but we have a little work to do on our half halts, he doesn’t really understand the concept of half halts, but he’s a very cool horse. We’ll probably take it a little slowly at first as I get to know him and build a partnership with him. My goal is to take him to the Pan Ams: he’ll move up to Intermediate hopefully mid-Spring, and then depending on how our partnership develops, I might try to take him to Europe as well, and maybe do the Olympic Test Event, but if not, just to be over there and get a lot of intermediate miles over there would prepare him really well for the Pan American Games, if I’m selected.  The other new horse is a young, french horse called Riesling De Buissy; he’ll start competing in March and is a very cool horse too.
Q: The Westminster Dog Show, how did that happen?
Will: Jennifer, who owns my horses also owns shows dogs, and her handler, Bryan Livingstone has shown them for many years. Bryan’s wife Desiree came over to Blenheim in 2009, and we were talking after the cross country, I’d had a great go and we were all excited, and I asked her if Westminster was just like the film “Best in Show” and told her how much I’d like to go one day, and she said right there and then that they would find a dog for me to show. I’d pretty much forgotten about it until I was teaching a clinic at Jennifer’s place in January last year, and she told me that Desiree had called and had a dog for me to show at Westminster.  Brody was a yorkshire terrier, and I went into the Breed Show, and I was more nervous going into that little 8 by 10 circle with that little Yorkshire Terrier than I was leaving the start box at Kentucky. It is INTENSE, and those people don’t mess around! So I walked around in there, did my little tour, and all of a sudden they pointed at me, and I was worried I’d been eliminated, but then everyone started clapping and I realised unbelievably that I’d won. This year I won’t be showing Brodie, I’m showing a Papillon named Tiger, or so I’m told!
UPDATE: Sadly the dog Will was supposed to show didn’t get his qualification, but Jennifer did have two dogs win Best of Breed, and one was fourth in the Toy Group.
Q: Before we let you go, we should give your Barn Manager Nat a big shout out, we saw her on EventingNation, riding a lovely Canter horse. 
Will: I have to say, Nat is amazing. She works to an incredible standard, and I so appreciate everything she does for my horses, and for her horses. I just can’t say enough about what a fantastic person she is. 
Q: Thank you so much for your time, I didn’t realise quite how busy you are, what with the riding, the dog show, the awards, and everything else…
Will: The eventing is my main focus, and producing these horses to best of my ability. 
Thanks again to Will for his time; you can cheer him on as a member of the Team FarmVet/Cavalor at the PRO Derby Cross on March 5th in Wellington, or at any of the spring events, and if you need an extra for your pub quiz team, Will is your man! Thank you for reading and Go Eventing!

This article was also published on SamantaLClark.com

David O’Connor’s Quest to lead Team USA

By on Feb 16, 2011 2:20 pm -

It was my pleasure to spend some time with David O Connor this weekend at the Ocala Horse Trials; he was on top form – relaxed, friendly, he seems really happy, and yet there can’t have been a busier man.  The only busier man might have been organizer Peter Gray!

IMG_6098.JPG

In addition to coaching countless Canadians, the O’Connor Event Team was out in force, and David also conducted a course walk for examiners for the Canadian National Coaching Association.  Despite all of this, he was still a few minutes early to meet me, but still apologized for being late (because I was!).  As we talked, I also realized that David’s impeccable manners and easy-going exterior belie a real hunger for the US job – he wants it. 

I asked him when he decided to apply:
“I have thought about the opportunity for years, and I had been thinking about it in particular since they announced the job opening.  I have been trying to put that desire into thoughts about my relationship with what we’ve been able to achieve with Canada, which has been a great, rewarding experience – to be able to go into a system that wasn’t working and be able to put a team together, and be part of that team is an amazing experience.  We were able to scout riders, scout horses, put them on programs, guide them along, and start to have success.
 
So it was very much trying to balance those thoughts, and I’d have to say that my patriotism for the US job as much as anything is something I’ve thought about and talked about for a very long time.  On top of all that, Jack le Goff, who was coach for the US Team, and who I rode under for a long time, had talked to me about coaching the US Team.  He was always interested for me to be the coach, and he was very, very supportive of that process.  So when the timing and the opportunity came up, I put my name forward. 
How the Canucks might cope without him
Q:  It seems like you have such a great thing with the Canadians, a real bond, and if you do get the job and have to leave them, they’ll be heartbroken…?
David: (he does look surprised, and laughs!) I think we’ll talk about it in 2012.  If I do end up getting the US job, we’ll talk about helping the transition for whoever would be the replacement.  I have some ideas about who that might be already, but right now, I don’t think we’ll really talk about it until that process might start. 
The success of the Canadian program will be it’s sustainability–whether I’m there or not, whether the players change–whether or not it has sustainability, that’s always the final test of a program. I’m really not a believer that it’s a one-shot deal, or just going to win “a championship.”  I think that’s way, way below what our goals are. Our goals have to be sustainability and sustained excellence. I’m not even a believer that the medals are just a goal–they’re a result.  They’re a result of how one does one’s job. As a rider, as an athlete, as a program and as a country, so it’s a result of how you do things. 
So I would hope that the program would have sustainability even though some of the individual players may change.

Some insight into David’s Training Philosophy
Q: Is that how you’ll approach the US job if it’s yours? 
David: Absolutely. It’s a philosophy. You can talk to any of the Canadians, I’m not dictatorial about training, more of a guidance. The riders put their ideas forward, and together we make plans about their progression, the assessment of where they are.  This conversation leads to what I think the next steps for them are, and we talk about how to achieve those steps, whether that be with private coaches, or if they want to come and take lessons from me. 
For the private coaches in the US, we would expect to see a progression much like the Canadians, and so, yes, I think I would use much the same system for the USA. The US has a wider variety of riders, from riders that are just starting at the international level to riders with a lot of experience at the international level so that conversation would be on a wider scale. 
For instance, the way I would talk to Hawley (Bennett) out on the West Coast, is quite different to the way I deal with Steph (Rhodes-Bosch). Steph’s here in Ocala to work with me because she’s chosen to do that, so I’m much more involved in the teaching process; with Hawley I’ll go out there and make assessments about our program and progression. She’s got very good people that she works with, and I have conversations with those people about the overall plan, so that everybody is thinking the same thing.  We literally have a conversation between the three of us–me, Hawley, and her private coaches–because she’s going to get much more out of her personal coaches since that’s where she’s going to spend her time. 
My thought process with the American program would be much more about that with the experienced riders; having those conversations with their own coaches, so that we’re all having a plan with what expectations are, and a plan to realize those expectations. 
I don’t think it’s about ME doing all the teaching. There’s a huge difference between teaching and coaching – huge. It’s one thing to stand out in the middle of the arena doing assessments, or going through your teaching thing, but that’s got very little to do with coaching, which is putting programs together that build expectations, builds confidence and then builds success. 
Q: Although you do both!
David:  Absolutely, and if the athlete wants that access, then I have a record that proves that we can do that, with the Canadians, and also with so many of my students.

33552_443861412079_83263442079_5196648_451632_n.jpg

David as Team Leader
Q:  Does it worry you at all that, whereas the Canadians seem to have such a wonderful public wellspring of support, sometimes it seems that the US almost has the complete opposite with a very vocal and opinionated media and public, and that you might be setting yourself up for some harsh criticism? 
David:  No, not at all. I think you can have an effect on that kind of attitude. I’m a very positive kind of person, so the positive attitude of support for each other, support for the team, for the administration team, along with the vets and all that kind of thing is very important to me.  Leadership comes from the top, and I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve been able to have been in different situations where my job was to create the team positively.  
The USEF, for example, came out of a very divisive situation when I became President, and my job was to pull a team together.  I did that with the staff, and the same thing with the Board, so now it’s a TEAM that can see things in the future and everybody has a part.  I think that’s what your job is as a team leader. 
The same thing is true with the Canadians, and we do the same thing with our OCET (O’Connor Event Team).  That will go on because Karen will continue to coach and teach a lot of the people at home, but that program is very small, realistically, for producing international riders.  We only usually have two at a time, like now we have Lauren (Kieffer) and Hannah (Sue Burnett). Most of the teaching I do now is Canadians–I would say I teach 80% Canadians now.

David on US Prospects
Q: But Lauren and Hannah, after 2012, could conceivably have a real shot at being contenders for Rio, and being on international teams? 
David: Oh yes, absolutely, if the horses are there.  I’m not quite sure if I buy into the whole conflict of interest argument.  They would be more on their own. I’m not a selector. I couldn’t give them any more thought than I would anyone else.  
There’s a job preparing a group to be ready for selection, and then selecting the actual team is about taking the five, or six, or however many, that are ready, or at the top. Selecting is like a bet. My job, for Canada now as coach, is to try and get everybody as high and as far as they can go within that progression.  I don’t think your job as coach is much about selection, it’s INPUT, so the selectors can ask, “is that real, is that good, is this what we’re seeing?”, and you can give your opinion, but not have a role in selection. 
I think the American program is about to explode. There’s a level of talent right there that is so high. Karen is going to retire in 2012 no matter what, and Philip is undecided about what he’s doing, there’s a bunch of people like that are actually toward the end of their careers, and this next group is really strong, so that’s quite exciting. 
Funnily enough there’s a lot of guys right now. Boyd’s fantastic, Will Coleman’s really good, there’s Will Faudree, and there’s Clark Montgomery–there is a group, especially of guys which is quite an unusual situation right now, that are very, very strong, and I think that coaching, and belief, and trust will help take things to an incredibly high level.

39275_443903817079_83263442079_5197587_6332210_n.jpg

On having a clean slate
Q: So, will Karen retire just from international competition, or from four star events? 
David: Just from team stuff, from the process of being on teams, rather like what Scottie (Ian Stark) did. He retired, then came back and said he might ride 2*, 3*.  Lately he’s been talking about even riding around 4*, (we both laugh). I can see Karen doing exactly the same thing! She’ll just take herself out of team consideration and out of the team situation. 
I’m very optimistic about the possibilities, and with a track record of being able to build these type of situations, even with the USEF, or our own business at OCET, I see that the model is so much about belief and support.  There’s a technical side to it, but that technical side then leads into the belief side.  That to me is very similar models of how we rode, how we did our horses, how we run our business, how we do it at the USEF.
Q: You’re stepping down as President of the USEF?
David: Yes, I’ll be totally done, and I’m looking forward to not being President of the USEF. I will have done it for nine years and that’s just the presidency, which makes for 17 years service, so I will have put my time in. 
Q: So how busy with other commitments would you be, if the job was yours in 2012? 
David: I wouldn’t be. This would be the only job I would have. The FEI stuff would go away because I wouldn’t be President of the USEF. The business would very much be run more by Karen. I do some course designing, but it’s only five or six courses and at lower levels. I enjoy that, I think that’s a good education, I think it’s good to keep your hands in building, and you can go around the world and have those conversations with everybody because you’re involved in it. I think that’s a plus. I’m still riding, and I think that’s a plus too. So I’m involved with every aspect of the sport, but this would really be the only job I would have.
 
On being hungry for it
Q: It seems like you really want it.
David:  Absolutely. I’ve been preparing myself for coaching international teams, forever really; for example, by studying farriers and vets for years so I’m able to have intelligent conversations with those people. Course design, teaching, administration, leadership, studying coaching from other sports; I study basketball quite a lot and Phil Jackson (L.A. Lakers Coach) is very much a model that I like in a very, very aggressive sport. 
So I’ve been preparing and studying for years, for this reason. I knew back in the 80’s that I wanted to coach international teams, and everything has been a step in that direction. When my competitive career was done, I wanted to be good at coaching, and the Canada coaching slot has been a fantastic experience and a great test bed for my philosophies. The attitude for the team, for me, is the major thing – trust and belief and technically they’re very important too. 
I’m really excited for the next two years. We fully expect to win the Pan-American Games this year, and medal in London, absolutely.  There’s just a lot of cool things that are happening with Canada right now that I’m really excited about.  
So having a track record of creating what we were talking about, with a program that wasn’t going anywhere – it works! I want to do it again, and I’m ready to do it for the US team. I’m excited, I would be very excited to get into it, sit down and talk to the riders, and ask them what they think, what they want, what they feel should be done. I know what I think, I want to hear what they think. 
Fostering Team Spirit
Q: The Canadians really do seem to have such cohesion and TEAM spirit, and that seems to be lacking within the US, is that what you’d hope to foster again?
David: We talk about it with the Canadian Team. We talk about it a lot. That’s the Phil Jackson side of the picture again, you have to be involved with the athletes at a level that creates a tremendous amount of support, confidence, and trust. There are conversations we have that build that level or teamwork. We talk about supporting each other, we open up.  We have had a lot of dinner conversations especially during training sessions.  We’d talk about all sorts of things, throw a bunch of stuff out there – horse training, where do you see yourself in 10 years, get everyone to start talking about it, get into a little argument, some discussions about stuff…I think that really builds a cohesive group. 
Q: Have you considered if you don’t get the US position, will you continue on as Canadian Coach?
David: That’s up to them. Really, I wouldn’t want to force that card. The athletes have asked me that, and I’ve told them it’s up to them. Before the 2013 season, I would expect them to discuss it on their own, without me there, and decide if they want to continue, but it’s completely up to the athletes and the Canadian administration. No matter if was applying for this job or not, they have got to be the ones who come back and say yes, they would like for this to continue, they have to have that opportunity, independently of me. 
Q: I suppose if the job is yours, there would be no way for you to “shadow” Captain Mark Philips, which there had been some discussion about? 
David: No, because I am definitely committed to the Canadians through 2012, and I think that was actually much more about somebody if they were coming from the outside. A couple of the applicants are from Europe, they DO need to get here because our system is so different, especially on the legal side; dealing with the USOC, as well as knowing the personalities — the blacksmiths, selectors and things like that.  I think it would be very important for someone not from here to be part of the system so they start to really know, not just the riders, but they get the lay of the land. 3,000 by 2,000 miles with some 200 odd events – it’s quite different. 
There’s a rumour that we may know the outcome by Rolex, which either way would suit David well as he’d like to concentrate on winning the Pan-Ams, and then his assault on London next year. I was surprised that he genuinely seemed to underestimate the strength of the personal bond and connection the Canadians feel for him, and also by his lack of ego for one so confident and successful, but perhaps that’s the secret to his success!

 Once again, I’d like to thank him very much for talking to EventingNation.com, and thank you reading.

David O’Connor’s Quest to Lead Team USA

By on Feb 16, 2011 2:20 pm -

It was my pleasure to spend some time with David O Connor this weekend at the Ocala Horse Trials; he was on top form – relaxed, friendly, he seems really happy, and yet there can’t have been a busier man.  The only busier man might have been organizer Peter Gray!

IMG_6098.JPG

In addition to coaching countless Canadians, the O’Connor Event Team was out in force, and David also conducted a course walk for examiners for the Canadian National Coaching Association.  Despite all of this, he was still a few minutes early to meet me, but still apologized for being late (because I was!).  As we talked, I also realized that David’s impeccable manners and easy-going exterior belie a real hunger for the US job – he wants it. 

I asked him when he decided to apply:
“I have thought about the opportunity for years, and I had been thinking about it in particular since they announced the job opening.  I have been trying to put that desire into thoughts about my relationship with what we’ve been able to achieve with Canada, which has been a great, rewarding experience – to be able to go into a system that wasn’t working and be able to put a team together, and be part of that team is an amazing experience.  We were able to scout riders, scout horses, put them on programs, guide them along, and start to have success.
 
So it was very much trying to balance those thoughts, and I’d have to say that my patriotism for the US job as much as anything is something I’ve thought about and talked about for a very long time.  On top of all that, Jack le Goff, who was coach for the US Team, and who I rode under for a long time, had talked to me about coaching the US Team.  He was always interested for me to be the coach, and he was very, very supportive of that process.  So when the timing and the opportunity came up, I put my name forward. 
How the Canucks might cope without him
Q:  It seems like you have such a great thing with the Canadians, a real bond, and if you do get the job and have to leave them, they’ll be heartbroken…?
David: (he does look surprised, and laughs!) I think we’ll talk about it in 2012.  If I do end up getting the US job, we’ll talk about helping the transition for whoever would be the replacement.  I have some ideas about who that might be already, but right now, I don’t think we’ll really talk about it until that process might start. 
The success of the Canadian program will be it’s sustainability–whether I’m there or not, whether the players change–whether or not it has sustainability, that’s always the final test of a program. I’m really not a believer that it’s a one-shot deal, or just going to win “a championship.”  I think that’s way, way below what our goals are. Our goals have to be sustainability and sustained excellence. I’m not even a believer that the medals are just a goal–they’re a result.  They’re a result of how one does one’s job. As a rider, as an athlete, as a program and as a country, so it’s a result of how you do things. 
So I would hope that the program would have sustainability even though some of the individual players may change.

Some insight into David’s Training Philosophy
Q: Is that how you’ll approach the US job if it’s yours? 
David: Absolutely. It’s a philosophy. You can talk to any of the Canadians, I’m not dictatorial about training, more of a guidance. The riders put their ideas forward, and together we make plans about their progression, the assessment of where they are.  This conversation leads to what I think the next steps for them are, and we talk about how to achieve those steps, whether that be with private coaches, or if they want to come and take lessons from me. 
For the private coaches in the US, we would expect to see a progression much like the Canadians, and so, yes, I think I would use much the same system for the USA. The US has a wider variety of riders, from riders that are just starting at the international level to riders with a lot of experience at the international level so that conversation would be on a wider scale. 
For instance, the way I would talk to Hawley (Bennett) out on the West Coast, is quite different to the way I deal with Steph (Rhodes-Bosch). Steph’s here in Ocala to work with me because she’s chosen to do that, so I’m much more involved in the teaching process; with Hawley I’ll go out there and make assessments about our program and progression. She’s got very good people that she works with, and I have conversations with those people about the overall plan, so that everybody is thinking the same thing.  We literally have a conversation between the three of us–me, Hawley, and her private coaches–because she’s going to get much more out of her personal coaches since that’s where she’s going to spend her time. 
My thought process with the American program would be much more about that with the experienced riders; having those conversations with their own coaches, so that we’re all having a plan with what expectations are, and a plan to realize those expectations. 
I don’t think it’s about ME doing all the teaching. There’s a huge difference between teaching and coaching – huge. It’s one thing to stand out in the middle of the arena doing assessments, or going through your teaching thing, but that’s got very little to do with coaching, which is putting programs together that build expectations, builds confidence and then builds success. 
Q: Although you do both!
David:  Absolutely, and if the athlete wants that access, then I have a record that proves that we can do that, with the Canadians, and also with so many of my students.

33552_443861412079_83263442079_5196648_451632_n.jpg

David as Team Leader
Q:  Does it worry you at all that, whereas the Canadians seem to have such a wonderful public wellspring of support, sometimes it seems that the US almost has the complete opposite with a very vocal and opinionated media and public, and that you might be setting yourself up for some harsh criticism? 
David:  No, not at all. I think you can have an effect on that kind of attitude. I’m a very positive kind of person, so the positive attitude of support for each other, support for the team, for the administration team, along with the vets and all that kind of thing is very important to me.  Leadership comes from the top, and I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve been able to have been in different situations where my job was to create the team positively.  
The USEF, for example, came out of a very divisive situation when I became President, and my job was to pull a team together.  I did that with the staff, and the same thing with the Board, so now it’s a TEAM that can see things in the future and everybody has a part.  I think that’s what your job is as a team leader. 
The same thing is true with the Canadians, and we do the same thing with our OCET (O’Connor Event Team).  That will go on because Karen will continue to coach and teach a lot of the people at home, but that program is very small, realistically, for producing international riders.  We only usually have two at a time, like now we have Lauren (Kieffer) and Hannah (Sue Burnett). Most of the teaching I do now is Canadians–I would say I teach 80% Canadians now.

David on US Prospects
Q: But Lauren and Hannah, after 2012, could conceivably have a real shot at being contenders for Rio, and being on international teams? 
David: Oh yes, absolutely, if the horses are there.  I’m not quite sure if I buy into the whole conflict of interest argument.  They would be more on their own. I’m not a selector. I couldn’t give them any more thought than I would anyone else.  
There’s a job preparing a group to be ready for selection, and then selecting the actual team is about taking the five, or six, or however many, that are ready, or at the top. Selecting is like a bet. My job, for Canada now as coach, is to try and get everybody as high and as far as they can go within that progression.  I don’t think your job as coach is much about selection, it’s INPUT, so the selectors can ask, “is that real, is that good, is this what we’re seeing?”, and you can give your opinion, but not have a role in selection. 
I think the American program is about to explode. There’s a level of talent right there that is so high. Karen is going to retire in 2012 no matter what, and Philip is undecided about what he’s doing, there’s a bunch of people like that who are actually toward the end of their careers, and this next group is really strong, so that’s quite exciting. 
Funnily enough there’s a lot of guys right now. Boyd’s fantastic, Will Coleman’s really good, there’s Will Faudree, and there’s Clark Montgomery–there is a group, especially of guys which is quite an unusual situation right now, that are very, very strong, and I think that coaching, and belief, and trust will help take things to an incredibly high level.

39275_443903817079_83263442079_5197587_6332210_n.jpg

On having a clean slate
Q: So, will Karen retire just from international competition, or from four star events? 
David: Just from team stuff, from the process of being on teams, rather like what Scottie (Ian Stark) did. He retired, then came back and said he might ride 2*, 3*.  Lately he’s been talking about even riding around 4*, (we both laugh). I can see Karen doing exactly the same thing! She’ll just take herself out of team consideration and out of the team situation. 
I’m very optimistic about the possibilities, and with a track record of being able to build these type of situations, even with the USEF, or our own business at OCET, I see that the model is so much about belief and support.  There’s a technical side to it, but that technical side then leads into the belief side.  That to me is very similar models of how we rode, how we did our horses, how we run our business, how we do it at the USEF.
Q: You’re stepping down as President of the USEF?
David: Yes, I’ll be totally done, and I’m looking forward to not being President of the USEF. I will have done it for nine years and that’s just the presidency, which makes for 17 years service, so I will have put my time in. 
Q: So how busy with other commitments would you be, if the job was yours in 2012? 
David: I wouldn’t be. This would be the only job I would have. The FEI stuff would go away because I wouldn’t be President of the USEF. The business would very much be run more by Karen. I do some course designing, but it’s only five or six courses and at lower levels. I enjoy that, I think that’s a good education, I think it’s good to keep your hands in building, and you can go around the world and have those conversations with everybody because you’re involved in it. I think that’s a plus. I’m still riding, and I think that’s a plus too. So I’m involved with every aspect of the sport, but this would really be the only job I would have.
 
On being hungry for it
Q: It seems like you really want it.
David:  Absolutely. I’ve been preparing myself for coaching international teams, forever really; for example, by studying farriers and vets for years so I’m able to have intelligent conversations with those people. Course design, teaching, administration, leadership, studying coaching from other sports; I study basketball quite a lot and Phil Jackson (L.A. Lakers Coach) is very much a model that I like in a very, very aggressive sport. 
So I’ve been preparing and studying for years, for this reason. I knew back in the 80’s that I wanted to coach international teams, and everything has been a step in that direction. When my competitive career was done, I wanted to be good at coaching, and the Canada coaching slot has been a fantastic experience and a great test bed for my philosophies. The attitude for the team, for me, is the major thing – trust and belief and technically they’re very important too. 
I’m really excited for the next two years. We fully expect to win the Pan-American Games this year, and medal in London, absolutely.  There’s just a lot of cool things that are happening with Canada right now that I’m really excited about.  
So having a track record of creating what we were talking about, with a program that wasn’t going anywhere – it works! I want to do it again, and I’m ready to do it for the US team. I’m excited, I would be very excited to get into it, sit down and talk to the riders, and ask them what they think, what they want, what they feel should be done. I know what I think, I want to hear what they think. 
Fostering Team Spirit
Q: The Canadians really do seem to have such cohesion and TEAM spirit, and that seems to be lacking within the US, is that what you’d hope to foster again?
David: We talk about it with the Canadian Team. We talk about it a lot. That’s the Phil Jackson side of the picture again, you have to be involved with the athletes at a level that creates a tremendous amount of support, confidence, and trust. There are conversations we have that build that level or teamwork. We talk about supporting each other, we open up.  We have had a lot of dinner conversations especially during training sessions.  We’d talk about all sorts of things, throw a bunch of stuff out there – horse training, where do you see yourself in 10 years, get everyone to start talking about it, get into a little argument, some discussions about stuff…I think that really builds a cohesive group. 
Q: Have you considered if you don’t get the US position, will you continue on as Canadian Coach?
David: That’s up to them. Really, I wouldn’t want to force that card. The athletes have asked me that, and I’ve told them it’s up to them. Before the 2013 season, I would expect them to discuss it on their own, without me there, and decide if they want to continue, but it’s completely up to the athletes and the Canadian administration. No matter if was applying for this job or not, they have got to be the ones who come back and say yes, they would like for this to continue, they have to have that opportunity, independently of me. 
Q: I suppose if the job is yours, there would be no way for you to “shadow” Captain Mark Philips, which there had been some discussion about? 
David: No, because I am definitely committed to the Canadians through 2012, and I think that was actually much more about somebody if they were coming from the outside. A couple of the applicants are from Europe, they DO need to get here because our system is so different, especially on the legal side; dealing with the USOC, as well as knowing the personalities — the blacksmiths, selectors and things like that.  I think it would be very important for someone not from here to be part of the system so they start to really know, not just the riders, but they get the lay of the land. 3,000 by 2,000 miles with some 200 odd events – it’s quite different. 
There’s a rumour that we may know the outcome by Rolex, which either way would suit David well as he’d like to concentrate on winning the Pan-Ams, and then his assault on London next year. I was surprised that he genuinely seemed to underestimate the strength of the personal bond and connection the Canadians feel for him, and also by his lack of ego for one so confident and successful, but perhaps that’s the secret to his success!

 Once again, I’d like to thank him very much for talking to Eventing Nation, and thank you reading.

This article was also published on SamanthaLClark.com

Ocala Horse Trials – Saturday

By on Feb 12, 2011 6:57 pm -
IMG_6087.JPG

By no means is this a complete report; in the interest of full disclosure I have to admit to being a terrible mother, and dragging my sick daughter to the Florida Horse Park today, as well as my completely disinterested son, ages 9 and 7 respectively.  Neither did the weather co-operate, it was distinctly chilly this morning, to Patricia Ecogold’s (in Canada) delight (I think her tweet was something along the lines of, “I hear it’s cold in Florida this morning, tee hee hee!”). Yes, it was, so we watched quite a lot of show-jumping from the car, which meant I didn’t always know who I was watching.  It’s always fun to watch the very different jumping styles of the horses, and the riders though, you definitely see all sorts eventing!

IMG_5993.JPG
IMG_0705.JPG
It did warm up later, and organiser and double/triple agent-man of many talents Peter Gray made my kids’ day, for which I’m eternally grateful, by whizzing us around the cross country course on his golf cart. He even obliged by going pedal to the medal up and down the Hollow to Harry’s delight, he will be all of our hero forever after. 
This is Peter’s second year of organising the Horse Trials with Jon Holling, and they’re making a real effort with the course, putting in more permanent features, planning things for the next event, and even next year.  It’s definitely a nice inviting course for many who are having their first run of the season, but there’s plenty to do, making it perfect for a schooling round with combinations, corners, the hollow, two waters, a coffin and more. 
IMG_6037.JPG
IMG_6061.JPG
IMG_6073.JPG
IMG_6049.jpg
The sponsor of the jump above particularly wanted a pearl, so this is what the designer, Jay Hambly, came up with. Also, notice the “fake” brush underneath the Pro-Log at the water in the picture above that. Real brush is almost impossible to come by in Florida, and this does the same thing, plus lasts much longer, and is used in quite a few of the fences on course. 
IMG_6067.JPG
Missy Ransehousen walking the course with her students, and wonderful black lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback Jamie.
IMG_6048.JPG
The famous Karen O Connor colours and cross-country style, distinctive even at Novice level.
IMG_6056.JPG
Meanwhile Jon Holling and Clark Montgomery were two of the most impressive riders I saw all day, and that I expect to see for a long time.  When we first arrived at the Park I felt a real longing to be competing again; something about all those lovely, fresh, clipped horses full of promise at the beginning of the year, and then I watched Jon and Clark warming up for show-jumping, and thought even if I did have a nice horse, the best thing I could do for it would be to hand it over to one of them to ride! 
*
I was especially happy to meet Clark’s lovely wife Jess, although we discovered we knew each other a very long time ago, almost another lifetime, certainly feels like it, so I’m just as glad to make her RE-acquaintance!  Let me also just reassure anyone who watches those videos and maybe despairs of ever riding half as well; yes, Clark has talent to spare, but Jess told me he continues to work very, very hard at it, he takes his craft extremely seriously, studying to improve, on top of having spent time with some of the best teachers in the world. 
The first event of the year is always interesting to watch. Who has their horses ready to go, who’s using it as a schooling run? Who’s more nervous at the start – horse or rider?  The weather definitely contributed to some very fresh horses. 
IMG_0720.JPG
Buck Davidson was riding a very fresh horse, I don’t remember his name, and couldn’t possibly say even if I did, but Buck was one of several riders experimenting with slightly more adventurous “jumper” style helmets, fashion wise, which is fun to see, his had a gold stripe, and Darren Chiacchia definitely would win the prize for most patriotic.
IMG_6019.JPG
  Leslie Law’s ride, the grey Rehy Lux (pronounced Ray – Leslie had a good laugh at my expense!) has come out this year looking even nicer than I remembered him from Richland last year, and I remember liking him quite a lot then. There’s something oddly familiar and comforting about Leslie on a grey horse too, just seems right! 
IMG_0767.JPG
(Above, not Leslie!)
I did catch up very quickly with Steph Rhodes-Bosch who said that Port Authority, (yes, lovely Ollie!) was as high as a kite, very happy to be back at his first “party” since the WEG, and had been very strong in the show-jumping. Enthusiasm was to blame for his two rails, and she told me that she’s been jumping in a snaffle at home, and although she’d switched to a two-ring at the event hadn’t felt any difference, and that team-mate Jessie Phoenix who was watching swore he jumped over the top of the flags at a couple of the oxers – I can believe it! Port Authority now forfeits cross country tomorrow, and instead gets a dressage lesson on monday! 
Canadian Team Coach David O Connor was ubiquitous, in his red team coat and accompanied at all times  by a particularly attractive if diminutive friend.
IMG_6102.JPG
IMG_6088.JPG
Not only were there plenty of Canadian eventers dusting off the cobwebs, David also gave a course walk for the examiners from the National Coaching Association of Canada who are in town for a seminar for revamping their national certification program.  He was also very gracious with his time, and spoke to me at some length about his application for the US Chef D’equipe/Technical Advisor position exclusively for EventingNation.com, which we will bring you next week. 
IMG_0776.JPG
IMG_0786.JPG
IMG_0773.JPG
I’m hoping to return for more tomorrow, motherly duties permitting! Intermediate and prelim cross country, surely a cure for all that ails you?! Go Eventing!
IMG_0797.JPG

North American Racing Academy – Teacher & Student

By on Feb 12, 2011 10:46 am -

This article was originally published on Eventing Nation

IMG_0486.JPG

Despite the recent freezing temperatures that have made this one of the coldest and longest winters on record already, and despite a morning workout that certainly didn’t go to plan, the mood in the NARA (North American Racing Academy) barn at The Thoroughbred Training Center is positive and upbeat.  The students, or junior jockeys as they’re known are concerned for the two riders who were involved in an incident on the track earlier, but Ariel, from Puerto Rico, who was one of the jockeys who fell, declares with a broad grin that he’s “never felt more alive”! I’m glad to report that the other jockey was also fine, and that this was a very rare occurrence.

tn.jpeg
Kali Francois came to NARA via a working student position with Philip Dutton, and admits that she finds the riding physically challenging, but the workload easy to cope with after her apprenticeship in an eventing barn.  She enjoys the camaraderie, and wants to see how far she can go in the racing world, and already, she’s noticed how much better she’s riding all three phases of her eventing!
At the center of it all is Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron. Twice a winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Races his list of accomplishments is long & impressive, both on the track and off. Rather than live out his retirement in the warmth of sunny California where he was based for most of his racing career, NARA has been a dream of his since 1990, and a reality since August 2006.  He says he “doesn’t know how to relax” with a shrug and a smile, and the morning I watch him he is a whirlwind -watching work, shampooing and towelling the horses’ legs and tails when they come off the track, cleaning tack, checking horses as they walk by,  – he is constantly doing something useful.
IMG_0567.jpg
Chris wanted to be sure I got a picture of this horse: he got such a thrill out of the way she drinks out of the hose every morning, very touching. 
The only time I witnessed Chris not in motion was when he sat at the computer in his office right off the shed-row,for a couple of minutes, so he could show me a video he’d made. It was of all the school horses running in the snow: every friday afternoon, no matter what, they get turned out in a large field to roll, gallop & play for a few hours, & Chris has a file of them being let loose & letting off steam one chilly afternoon.

We do talk: while he cleans tack, and casts an appraising eye around the barn every now and then, all at the same time!

Nick Milford is in his second semester at NARA. His great-grandfather was a jockey in Chicago in the forties; his grandmother was a hunter-jumper trainer who fell in love with his grandfather, her stable hand. His aunt is an equestrian coach at the University of Miami in Florida, and his mother also rode hunter-jumpers right up until she had him and his three brothers, so you’d be forgiven for thinking he was born into it. 
IMG_0525.JPG
However, as I found out, this was not the case…
Thank you to Chris McCarron, and Nick Milford for talking to me, and good luck to all the junior jockeys at NARA. They will be riding in a specially designated race in the High Hope Steeplechase at the Kentucky Horse Park in May, before graduating and advancing to their various internships. Thank you for reading and watching, and if you’re at the races and see any of Chris’ kids, please put a fiver on each way for me!

North American Riding Academy – Teacher & Student

By on Feb 12, 2011 10:45 am -
IMG_0486.JPG

Despite the recent freezing temperatures that have made this one of the coldest and longest winters on record already, and despite a morning workout that certainly didn’t go to plan, the mood in the NARA (North American Racing Academy) barn at The Thoroughbred Training Center is positive and upbeat.  The students, or junior jockeys as they’re known are concerned for the two riders who were involved in an incident on the track earlier, but Ariel, from Puerto Rico, who was one of the jockeys who fell, declares with a broad grin that he’s “never felt more alive”! I’m glad to report that the other jockey was also fine, and that this was a very rare occurrence.

tn.jpeg
Kali Francois came to NARA via a working student position with Philip Dutton, and admits that she finds the riding physically challenging, but the workload easy to cope with after her apprenticeship in an eventing barn.  She enjoys the camaraderie, and wants to see how far she can go in the racing world, and already, she’s noticed how much better she’s riding all three phases of her eventing!

At the center of it all is Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron. Twice a winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Races his list of accomplishments is long & impressive, both on the track and off. Rather than live out his retirement in the warmth of sunny California where he was based for most of his racing career, NARA has been a dream of his since 1990, and a reality since August 2006.  He says he “doesn’t know how to relax” with a shrug and a smile, and the morning I watch him he is a whirlwind -watching work, shampooing and towelling the horses’ legs and tails when they come off the track, cleaning tack, checking horses as they walk by,  – he is constantly doing something useful.

IMG_0567.jpg
Chris wanted to be sure I got a picture of this horse: he got such a thrill out of the way she drinks out of the hose every morning, very touching. 
The only time I witnessed Chris not in motion was when he sat at the computer in his office right off the shed-row,for a couple of minutes, so he could show me a video he’d made. It was of all the school horses running in the snow: every friday afternoon, no matter what, they get turned out in a large field to roll, gallop & play for a few hours, & Chris has a file of them being let loose & letting off steam one chilly afternoon.

We do talk: while he cleans tack, and casts an appraising eye around the barn every now and then, all at the same time!

Nick Milford is in his second semester at NARA. His great-grandfather was a jockey in Chicago in the forties; his grandmother was a hunter-jumper trainer who fell in love with his grandfather, her stable hand. His aunt is an equestrian coach at the University of Miami in Florida, and his mother also rode hunter-jumpers right up until she had him and his three brothers, so you’d be forgiven for thinking he was born into it. 
IMG_0525.JPG
However, as I found out, this was not the case…
Thank you to Chris McCarron, and Nick Milford for talking to me, and good luck to all the junior jockeys at NARA. They will be riding in a specially designated race in the High Hope Steeplechase at the Kentucky Horse Park in May, before graduating and advancing to their various internships. Thank you for reading and watching, and if you’re at the races and see any of Chris’ kids, please put a fiver on each way for me!

This article was also published on SamanthaLClark.com

Let’s get to know EN blogger Steph Rhodes-Bosch a little bit better…

By on Feb 10, 2011 6:00 pm -

61632_443147362079_83263442079_5184352_5573477_n.jpg

As I think we all know by now, Steph and the lovely Port Authority (aka Ollie), proves that EN karma, along with hard work, talent, a smidgin of luck, all work.  2010 saw them the highest placed Canadian at Rolex in 5th place & also winning the Best Conditioned Prize.  They went on to finish 9th individually at the WEG in the autumn, and Steph will once again be blogging for EventingNation this spring. – “if it ain’t broke…?”
I asked her a few basic questions recently so we could get to know her a bit better…
How it all began
Q: How did you start eventing?
Steph:  I actually got into eventing thanks to my dear friend, Rebecca Howard. She was part of our family circle from a very young age, my mother and her mother worked together at the Hospital, and so my younger brother and I would spend quite a lot of time with all three of the Howard girls, and their idea of babysitting us was to put us on the ponies and lead us around the fields, so they were actually probably the biggest influence on me starting to event as a very young child, and it just sort of went from there. 
Q: And now it almost seems like a fairytale that you should both be doing so well, and with a chance of representing Canada?
Steph: Yes, it really is quite special. I worked for Rebecca in 2007 and 2008 at The Fork Stables, so just to have her be such a big part of my eventing career and a big part of  my education throughout my whole life, it is definitely really special for me, and I hope for her too that we’re getting to do all this sort of stuff together too now at this point later in our lives.
Training with David O’Connor
Q: The Canadians had such a fantastic year last year, and you now train almost exclusively with team coach David O’Connor?
Steph: Yes, David came out to Vancouver, British Columbia, which is a few hours away from my hometown of Summerland, in January of 2007, which is the first time we met, and it was the first time he saw Ollie.  I had been put into a coach’s clinic with him, as a demo rider. It was only a couple of months before I moved to The Fork to train with Rebecca, but I’ve sort of been on and off with him since early 2007 as a supplement to my program with Rebecca, and I’ve been with him pretty much full time since January of 2009. 
Q: You’re down in Ocala now, and I presume you’ll continue to train with David through the London 2012 Olympics?
Steph: I make it a point to be pretty near to David throughout the whole year. In the summer I keep my horse at a neighbouring farm and I take lessons from him on a week to week basis. He’s been such a huge help to me, and I definitely try and take advantage of his knowledge as much as I can. 
Port Authority/Ollie


Q: Let’s talk about wonderful Ollie! Where did you find him?
Steph: He was not bred in Maple Ridge, but he was in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, which is sort of on the outlying areas of Vancouver.  He was bred by the aunt of a man called Jack Polo who runs the Maple Ridge Equestrian Center, and he does a very good job of keeping that Center active for the riders in BC.  My understanding is that he was bred for the grand-daughter, there was him and then his full sister who was a year older, I believe, and it just so happened that the girl who Ollie was bred for lost interest in riding, so he came up for sale as a 5 year old and hadn’t done a whole heck of a lot when we got him.
 
So we got to start right back from scratch with my trainer at the time, Eric Ferrier, who trained at Saumur, in France, and I was lucky enough to have him be a really big part of my riding when I was a teenager, so that was something that was fun to have someone who was such a well-educated trainer at a very young age, and he found Ollie and convinced us that it would be good for him to take him on and ride him for a couple of years, and then I moved onto him after we’d owned him for almost two years, so he had a very good education early on in life. 
Q: What sort of breeding is Ollie?
Steph: He is a Galoubet grandson on his father’s side, so he’s half Selle-Francais, and then his mother was a thoroughbred. I don’t think she had any really impressive bloodlines, I just think she was a well put-together, sweet-tempered mare that they decided to breed, and I think that was helpful because the Galoubet line is known for difficult dispositions and I think his mother tempered him out just enough, he’s an intense kind of a character but I think we manage to keep the naughty side of the Galoubet out of him.
Q:  Tell us a little bit more about Ollie’s personality..
Steph:  Well, I’ve had him for seven years now, so he’s gotten used to a very small group of people working with him and he does get along very, very well with the people that are in his life regularly, such as Dr Ober and our farrier Randy Pawlak, and he does get along very well with David which is nice because David asks a lot of him, but he definitely is a bit stand-offish with strangers.  For instance, he met the massage therapist at training camp before the World Games and I think it took him a couple of days to warm up to her, but he is just very smart about people, and will definitely keep a watchful eye on anybody he doesn’t know, he’s just very observant and takes everything in.  Once you know him though, he’s completely relaxed with you.
Dr Ober always keeps such a good eye on the horses throughout the competitive season, and I think she gets so used to all these thoroughbred types that get really stressed out, and get ulcers, and go off their feed when they’re really fit and so she regularly asked me, “How’s he feeling, is he eating properly, how do you think his stomach is?” and I always laughed whenever she asked me that, because honestly, this horse would have to be on his deathbed to turn down anything edible! He is the hugest pig! At the World Games he was only getting about three-quarters of a scoop of low-fat grain twice a day, and he’s permanently on a diet. His life is very stressful but he takes his eating very seriously! 
Q: It sounds like traveling & competitions aren’t a problem then?
Steph: Oh no! We travelled out from British Columbia to North Carolina in 2007, and that is about a five day trek, and I think after that traveling just doesn’t really phase him. He eats and drinks, and settles in very quickly wherever he goes, so it’s very nice to know that that dynamic of it isn’t stressful, because there’s so much of his life that really is stressful, so to know that he doesn’t care about traveling is a relief. 
63014_443904012079_83263442079_5197593_5428302_n.jpg

Maintaining Focus & Composure at Competitions
Q: You both have such a tight bond, which was evident especially at Rolex last year when you were somewhat under the microscope as one of the youngest riders, at just 21 years old, and your first time there. How did you stay so cool and calm, and maintain your composure?
Steph: I do try really hard to keep a solid head on my shoulders. I did work with a sports psychologist when I was in the Young Riders Program. His name was Dave Freeze and he was based in British Columbia so I worked with him a fair amount.  He went to the World Games in two different sports and he had an incredible outlook on things: that we as athletes should be very thankful for the opportunity to compete at the upper level, and he impressed upon me that the worst thing in the world would be to find yourself in an opportunity where you could do the sport you love at the highest level and what a shame it would be to waste that opportunity for something so unnecessary as being nervous. I’d never heard anybody talk about it that way before and that really stuck with me. You’re going to get that competitive edge. People say that being a little nervous can help you have a competitive edge, but you’re going to get that no matter what, so if you can try and keep yourself as relaxed, and treat a competition as normally as you can..I think that’s been one of the biggest things for me: to get comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.

Since I’ve stopped working with Dave, because of the distance etc, David is also very good at helping us to stay in a good mental space. It was him who told me at a competition to just, in the morning, put on your sunglasses, put on your ipod, and that way no-one will even try to talk to you if you’re so visibly shutting yourself off and he puts a really big emphasis on using the time in the morning to get into a good mental space, and your mental ability being the gateway to being able to get anything done. 
Q: Was it very different riding as an individual with “no pressure or expectations” at Rolex, to riding at WEG as a team member with support and backing? 
Steph: Well, for me they were two completely different beasts. Rolex was my first four star. I never really expected to be competing at this level, so Rolex for me was a completely surreal experience. It took me until about three weeks AFTER Rolex to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually doing it!  By the time I got to the WEG, I think I was in a completely different head space than I was leading up to Rolex. There were so many things about the two that were different. I absolutely loved the team atmosphere that we had at the WEG, and that group of Canadians was just an incredible support network, and everyone involved from our vet and our farrier, and I think actually only one of our grooms was Canadian, the rest were american, but we all sort of rallied together and supported the Canadian team, so that was a huge difference to have the support system, but as far as the competition goes, they were just two completely different experiences for me.
Spring Plans

Q: And you’re headed to England later this spring. What does your rough plan for the lead-up to Badminton look like?
Steph: February 11th/12th we’re doing our first intermediate of the season at the Florida Horse Park, and then two weeks later we’ll do the advanced at Pine Top, and then probably one or two more advanced before we do the CIC at The Fork in North Carolina, and then the plan is off to Badminton shortly after that…
We wish Steph all the very best of luck, and will be following her avidly.  Thanks for sharing with us, thank you for reading, and GO Canucks!

This article is also published on SamanthaLClark.com

Let’s get to know EN blogger Steph Rhodes-Bosch a little bit better…

By on Feb 10, 2011 5:50 pm -

This article was originally published on Eventing Nation

61632_443147362079_83263442079_5184352_5573477_n.jpg

As I think we all know by now, Steph and the lovely Port Authority (aka Ollie), proves that EN karma, along with hard work, talent, a smidgin of luck, all work.  2010 saw them the highest placed Canadian at Rolex in 5th place & also winning the Best Conditioned Prize.  They went on to finish 9th individually at the WEG in the autumn, and Steph will once again be blogging for EventingNation this spring. – “if it ain’t broke…?”
I asked her a few basic questions recently so we could get to know her a bit better…
How it all began
Q: How did you start eventing?
Steph:  I actually got into eventing thanks to my dear friend, Rebecca Howard. She was part of our family circle from a very young age, mother and her mother worked together at the Hospital, and so my younger brother and I would spend quite a lot of time with all three of the Howard girls, and their idea of babysitting us was to put us on the ponies and lead us around the fields, so they were actually probably the biggest influence on me starting to event as a very young child, and it just sort of went from there. 
Q: And now it almost seems like a fairytale that you should both be doing so well, and with a chance of representing Canada?
Steph: Yes, it really is quite special. I worked for Rebecca in 2007 and 2008 at The Fork Stables, so just to have her be such a big part of my eventing career and a big part of  my education throughout my whole life, it is definitely really special for me, and I hope for her too that we’re getting to do all this sort of stuff together too now at this point later in our lives.
Training with David O’Connor
Q: The Canadians had such a fantastic year last year, and you now train almost exclusively with team coach David O’Connor?
Steph: Yes, David came out to Vancouver, British Columbia, which is a few hours away from my hometown of Summerland, in January of 2007, which is the first time we met, and it was the first time he saw Ollie.  I had been put into a coach’s clinic with him, as a demo rider. It was only a couple of months before I moved to The Fork to train with Rebecca, but I’ve sort of been on and off with him since early 2007 as a supplement to my program with Rebecca, and I’ve been with him pretty much full time since January of 2009. 
Q: You’re down in Ocala now, and I presume you’ll continue to train with David through the London 2012 Olympics?
Steph: I make it a point to be pretty near to David throughout the whole year. In the summer I keep my horse at a neighbouring farm and I take lessons from him on a week to week basis. He’s been such a huge help to me, and I definitely try and take advantage of his knowledge as much as I can. 
Port Authority/Ollie


Q: Let’s talk about wonderful Ollie! Where did you find him?
Steph: He was not bred in Maple Ridge, but he was in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, which is sort of on the outlying areas of Vancouver.  He was bred by the aunt of a man called Jack Polo who runs the Maple Ridge Equestrian Center, and he does a very good job of keeping that Center active for the riders in BC.  My understanding is that he was bred for the grand-daughter, there was him and then his full sister who was a year older, I believe, and it just so happened that the girl who Ollie was bred for lost interest in riding, so he came up for sale as a 5 year old and hadn’t done a whole heck of a lot when we got him.
 
So we got to start right back from scratch with my trainer at the time, Eric Ferrier, who trained at Saumur, in France, and I was lucky enough to have him be a really big part of my riding when I was a teenager, so that was something that was fun to have someone who was such a well-educated trainer at a very young age, and he found Ollie and convinced us that it would be good for him to take him on and ride him for a couple of years, and then I moved onto him after we’d owned him for almost two years, so he had a very good education early on in life. 
Q: What sort of breeding is Ollie?
Steph: He is a Galoubet grandson on his father’s side, so he’s half Selle-Francais, and then his mother was a thoroughbred. I don’t think she had any really impressive bloodlines, I just think she was a well put-together, sweet-tempered mare that they decided to breed, and I think that was helpful because the Galoubet line is known for difficult dispositions and I think his mother tempered him out just enough, he’s an intense kind of a character but I think we manage to keep the naughty side of the Galoubet out of him.
Q:  Tell us a little bit more about Ollie’s personality..
Steph:  Well, I’ve had him for seven years now, so he’s gotten used to a very small group of people working with him and he does get along very, very well with the people that are in his life regularly, such as Dr Ober and our farrier Randy Pawlak, and he does get along very well with David which is nice because David asks a lot of him, but he definitely is a bit stand-offish with strangers.  For instance, he met the massage therapist at training camp before the World Games and I think it took him a couple of days to warm up to her, but he is just very smart about people, and will definitely keep a watchful eye on anybody he doesn’t know, he’s just very observant and takes everything in.  Once you know him though, he’s completely relaxed with you.
Dr Ober always keeps such a good eye on the horses throughout the competitive season, and I think she gets so used to all these thoroughbred types that get really stressed out, and get ulcers, and go off their feed when they’re really fit and so she regularly asked me, “How’s he feeling, is he eating properly, how do you think his stomach is?” and I always laughed whenever she asked me that, because honestly, this horse would have to be on his deathbed to turn down anything edible! He is the hugest pig! At the World Games he was only getting about three-quarters of a scoop of low-fat grain twice a day, and he’s permanently on a diet. His life is very stressful but he takes his eating very seriously! 
Q: It sounds like traveling & competitions aren’t a problem then?
Steph: Oh no! We travelled out from British Columbia to North Carolina in 2007, and that is about a five day trek, and I think after that traveling just doesn’t really phase him. He eats and drinks, and settles in very quickly wherever he goes, so it’s very nice to know that that dynamic of it isn’t stressful, because there’s so much of his life that really is stressful, so to know that he doesn’t care about traveling is a relief. 
63014_443904012079_83263442079_5197593_5428302_n.jpg

Maintaining Focus & Composure at Competitions
Q: You both have such a tight bond, which was evident especially at Rolex last year when you were somewhat under the microscope as one of the youngest riders, at just 21 years old, and your first time there. How did you stay so cool and calm, and maintain your composure?
Steph: I do try really hard to keep a solid head on my shoulders. I did work with a sports psychologist when I was in the Young Riders Program. His name was Dave Freeze and he was based in British Columbia so I worked with him a fair amount.  He went to the World Games in two different sports and he had an incredible outlook on things: that we as athletes should be very thankful for the opportunity to compete at the upper level, and he impressed upon me that the worst thing in the world would be to find yourself in an opportunity where you could do the sport you love at the highest level and what a shame it would be to waste that opportunity for something so unnecessary as being nervous. I’d never heard anybody talk about it that way before and that really stuck with me. You’re going to get that competitive edge. People say that being a little nervous can help you have a competitive edge, but you’re going to get that no matter what, so if you can try and keep yourself as relaxed, and treat a competition as normally as you can..I think that’s been one of the biggest things for me: to get comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.

Since I’ve stopped working with Dave, because of the distance etc, David is also very good at helping us to stay in a good mental space. It was him who told me at a competition to just, in the morning, put on your sunglasses, put on your ipod, and that way no-one will even try to talk to you if you’re so visibly shutting yourself off and he puts a really big emphasis on using the time in the morning to get into a good mental space, and your mental ability being the gateway to being able to get anything done. 
Q: Was it very different riding as an individual with “no pressure or expectations” at Rolex, to riding at WEG as a team member with support and backing? 
Steph: Well, for me they were two completely different beasts. Rolex was my first four star. I never really expected to be competing at this level, so Rolex for me was a completely surreal experience. It took me until about three weeks AFTER Rolex to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually doing it!  By the time I got to the WEG, I think I was in a completely different head space than I was leading up to Rolex. There were so many things about the two that were different. I absolutely loved the team atmosphere that we had at the WEG, and that group of Canadians was just an incredible support network, and everyone involved from our vet and our farrier, and I think actually only one of our grooms was Canadian, the rest were american, but we all sort of rallied together and supported the Canadian team, so that was a huge difference to have the support system, but as far as the competition goes, they were just two completely different experiences for me.
Spring Plans

Q: And you’re headed to England later this spring. What does your rough plan for the lead-up to Badminton look like?
Steph: February 11th/12th we’re doing our first intermediate of the season at the Florida Horse Park, and then two weeks later we’ll do the advanced at Pine Top, and then probably one or two more advanced before we do the CIC at The Fork in North Carolina, and then the plan is off to Badminton shortly after that…
We wish Steph all the very best of luck, and will be following her avidly.  Thanks for sharing with us, thank you for reading, and GO Canucks!

Brass Monkeys?

By on Feb 10, 2011 11:42 am -

IMG_0598.JPGTemperatures were in the single digits again today, and the knitting fairy has taken pity on the horses and jockey’s in Lexington’s iconic Thoroughbred Park. 

IMG_0582.JPG

I have no idea who did this, but the jockeys’ scarves all match the horses’ wraps, and they appeared at the beginning of the week as far as I’m aware. 
IMG_0595.JPG
IMG_0594.JPG
Some people have told me they don’t like the “decoration”, but I love it. Actually I’m suprised no-one’s nicked any of those scarves yet, especially if these cold nights continue!
IMG_0589.JPG
IMG_0585.JPG
What do you think? Thanks for dropping in. 

Kentucky Cup Reining

By on Feb 9, 2011 4:19 pm -

IMG_0573.JPG

It was a lovely, warm welcome that greeted a decent-sized crowd this afternoon in the heated Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park, and Executive Director John Nicholson cranked the heat up with some exciting news.  Accompanied by Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, (inaugurated since the WEG), Kentucky’s First Lady and accomplished eventer Jane Beshear, USEF CEO John Long, and EEI President Lisa Ball, he announced details of the Kentucky Reining Cup.
IMG_0575.JPG
John Long spoke briefly & specifically about the discipline.
****************
The Reining will comprise a five star CRI, the highest level in the sport, and the only five star in the Western Hemisphere this year. To be held on the Friday Night of Rolex, starting at 6pm, after the Three Day Event Dressage, in the indoor Alltech Arena, tickets will be sold separately for $10.  On the saturday night after cross country, at 5:30pm, also in the Alltech Arena, there will be a World Championship Freestyle, which will crown a World Champion Freestyle Reiner for the first time in history.  The event’s $25,000 prize money is also the biggest purse for such an event anywhere in the world. 
It was lovely to see the indefatigable Janie Atkinson, smiling and laughing constantly, and we caught up for a minute before she was whisked away; actually I think she was needed to show off her dog’s smart new blanket, modeled very professionally by it’s four-legged owner!
Jane Beshear also spilled the beans that she’s been supplementing her eventing.
.
I remember talking to a number of the dressage riders and jumpers during Rolex last year, as they were competing in their own Kentucky Cup events then, as part of the Test Events for the WEG, and I asked EEI President Lisa Ball if that’s something we might see again too…
Well, as if we didn’t have enough to look forward to, (frankly the warm spell that  the Horse Park’s Lisa Jackson promised me is coming this weekend is enough for me!), this is wonderful news. Bravo to all involved for making it happen, and I had a couple of words with John Nicholson as everyone was bundling back up and making to leave, and he said there are still some exciting announcements to come. Roll on, Rolex, bring on the sunshine, Go sliding, spinning and eventing! 

Valentine’s Day!

By on Feb 7, 2011 9:41 pm -
61653_441458812079_83263442079_5146706_5948391_n.jpg

It’s only a week away now, and for the first time in a long time, not only do I have plans, but I’m looking forward to it…and I can spill the beans and tell you why!

Let me explain, or try to. 10 world class jumpers and eventers – think David & Karen O Connor, Buck Davidson, Peter Atkins & Laine Ashker amongst others, will try their hand at reining –  the spins and sliding stops you may have seen America’s gold medal reiners doing at the WEG – really?  Hellz to the yee-har!
Of course, this means that 10 top class reiners and ropers will have to navigate a course of show jumps, and let’s not forget that these riders aren’t just trading hats –  it’s different saddles, shirts, bridles, spurs…
 Add to that special guests, great prizes and it sounds like a party to me! By all accounts last year it was great fun, but most importantly it’s all for a fabulous cause.
As a teaser, here’s some footage of WEG rider Australian Peter Atkins, who’ll be returning this year, looking to give Anky a run for her money. Now why on earth weren’t Hamish & Dave all over this?!  
**********
All the craziness will take place at the Ocala Equestrian Centre next Monday night, 14th February, starting at 6pm. Tickets are $10 at the door, and if you can’t make it to the event, I will be reporting on (most of) it (!) and you can always make a donation to Make a Wish via their website. No matter what your plans are, thanks for reading, and I wish you a very Sweet Valentine’s Day.

Jimmy Wofford – A conversation

By on Feb 7, 2011 12:53 pm -

This article was originally published at Eventing Nation.

 

It was recently my privilege to enjoy a fairly long telephone conversation with Jimmy Wofford, much longer than I  had promised him, to talk about his application for the post of US Eventing Team Coach. However, despite my flurry of emails, indecision, and complete disorganisation, Jimmy always remained calm, courteous and professional.  I wanted to publish the interview in it’s entirety, and it’s pretty much verbatim, as Jimmy doesn’t waste words.  Neither does he waste time and I’d like to thank him profusely for sharing his with us, as well as his knowledge and opinions, ideas and plans.   When Jimmy isn’t coaching, writing, or giving clinics, he can be seen at many of the events, watching and assessing.   I urge you also to read his excellent blog, which is hilarious as well as informative, much more than just a bulletin board, and it also has links to his articles.  I could go on and on about his accomplishments, but instead we’ll let the man speak for himself.

 
Q:  Thank you for joining us. You announced recently that you will be applying for the job of US Eventing Team Coach. Why did you decide to make that public?
Jimmy:  I decided to make it public because so many people had asked me about it. I put a note on my website, which I basically use as a bulletin board for my students and people who follow my clinics. I keep my schedule there.
Q:  When did you come to the final decision to apply?
 
Jimmy:  I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time. The decision sort of evolved and started to firm up, and after they announced the search committee and the time-line, I thought that I would go ahead and apply.
Q: You’ve also announced that you’ve “cleared the decks” so to speak, you’ve leased out your yard  and won’t sell horses to avoid any conflict of interest. Are you afraid that if you don’t get the position you might find yourself at a loose end?
Jimmy:  Well, I’ve been as busy, or busier than I was before I closed my program. I’m free-lancing in the area during the week, and I’m doing as many, or more clinics on the weekends as I used to do, so the location of the work has changed but the workload is still about the same.  Mark Phillips is a friend of mine and he had mentioned a couple of years ago that he was going to resign after London after that, without saying anything I just thought about it.  I hadn’t decided yet, but I felt like it was the right time for me to step back from my programme anyway, and that would have the additional benefit of “clearing the decks.

Q: I believe they’re starting the search for an applicant this early so that whoever replaces Mark would have time to assimilate into the programme and follow Mark leading up to the end of next summer?

 
Jimmy: In their request for proposals, The Eventing Search Committee stated that the new hire would “shadow” the present coach. he or she might possibly serve in the role of developing rider coach during the next, basically 2 years, leading up to London, and then take over after the first of the year in 2013.
Q: What do you think shadowing Mark would be like?
 
Jimmy: I have to say it would not be a big change because I go to all of the big competitions anyway, and I see him there, and I watch what’s going on, so I suppose “that person” would be a little bit more closely involved but it would not be any big change in my lifestyle, for sure.

Thumbnail image for 01-06-2009 07;57;15PM.jpeg

Q: Hypothetically, if the job were yours, how do you envision the coaching being divided? Will you coach the riders yourself, let them continue with their personal trainers, or  check in at the beginning of the season and make a plan rather like the British Team do?

 
Jimmy: Well, any horseman always starts off with ” that depends”…and in this case, in the next almost 24 months, the role of the prospective Chef D’Equipe/Technical Advisor, or to use the old terminology, the incoming Coach, is not going to have a great deal to say to the elite riders because they’re going to continue to work with Mark.  Mark is under contract from now until then. There may be some rider who is closer to me and wants consistent help with a horse they find difficult – if I can fill that role that is fine, but Mark is coaching the team at London, and so from now until then he’s going to be the determinant voice in that process.
 
In the meantime, the new coach is brought on board because they will, of course, be included in the discussions, in the committees, the evaluations, and the vetting process, all of which are of necessity closed meetings.
 
The Search Committee mentioned, as I say, that it is possible that the new coach would become the Developing Rider Coach, and that is why I say, what sort of coaching I would do depends on which rider we’re talking about. If it’s an up and coming two star rider who’s just getting ready for their first three star, chances are the team is going to have the new coach work with them because there is very little chance that that horse and rider are going to London.
 
I’m sure you read the Horse and Hound.  When they announced the team this last summer, one of the staff writers went and interviewed Pippa, and basically asked her where she’d been for the last five years. Here’s the only winner of the Rolex Grand Slam in the history of the Sport, and she’s been on the bench for five years, and she said exactly the right thing – that it takes that long to make these horses. I would say that she is absolutely right, and it is equally true of the riders; Jack Le Goff used to say that he reckoned that he would take a rider from preliminary level to Badminton in four years. I don’t see that happening anytime soon, you know, it’s more like six years now, minimum, and that’s if everything goes absolutely perfectly all along the way.
My point being that the new person, hopefully they are going to be brought on board to start immediately with the developmental program. The riders that the new coach works with this year, need to be ready in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Q: You do travel an awful lot, you’re at so many of the competitions and see almost everything…
Jimmy:  I do.  In many instances I see more than the selectors because I see these riders at clinics anywhere from two to four years before the selectors even have their first look at them. Then I see them at the more local horse trials which are not official selection trials and which many of the selectors do not attend, so I see them in different circumstances, plus I see them on other horses. Many times I have more of a, let’s say, a 360 degree view of that horse and rider than the selectors who are of necessity operating from a snapshot, and of Mark, who has to take the horse and rider as they are but sometimes he does not have the context of that horse and rider.
Q: WEG may have been a wake up call for the US eventers, but I think the problem maybe is more endemic? As an english person coming over here some ten years ago I couldn’t help noticing that geographically you’re at such a huge disadvantage, both nationally and internationally. How can you alleviate that, and make it a fairer playing field, or can you?

Jimmy:  Well, naturally we can’t shrink the country so people have to adapt themselves to it.   The coach has to go out to the riders on a more regular basis.  One point that I did not make in my press release because I did not want to divulge a great deal of what is in my application, but I’ve certainly made no secret of my thoughts on the the matter. My personal answer would be we need a full time coach.  In preparation for this possible application  I took several steps: I used to be an FEI course designer at the Championship level, I used to be a big-time R judge, I used to be heavily involved in sport administration, I’m a past president of the Federation, past officer of both the equestrian team and the US eventing association. I no longer do any of these things: I COACH.

I coach and I teach and I write about it, and I talk about it. This is what I do. So the things that other people do that spread their time and their energy, I no longer do. I no longer do any of those things even though I have the experience and knowledge of being involved in them.

What this means is that if I’m doing the job, hopefully starting out as the Developing Coach, but later on as the overall Coach, I would not have other aspects of the sport that are dividing my time. If I’m not coaching or giving a clinic, I’m writing about training and riding, I’m thinking about it continually.

To circle back around to your original question, I think there are things, that we can do to help to shrink the country;  one of them is the use of technology. My view is that you either have to embrace the internet or you have to ignore it completely; It’s very hard to be a little bit involved. I have embraced it. I text, I email, I look at video clips on youtube and I would expect to do a great deal of that.  You have new tools that were not available ten or twenty years ago.  For example, the use of video clips: I already do a great deal of commenting about video. Students will say they had a problem at a particular horse trial, and I’ll ask if there’s any video available.  If it’s posted on Youtube, I’ll watch the video clip, and then I’ll write an analysis of my opinion of what I saw, and send it back to them via email.
White Top Laurel10-25-06.jpeg

Q: You’ve said that if you’re in charge of the team you’d like to emulate George Morris and the programme he runs with the US showjumpers, does that mean taking squads to Europe, and especially England?

Jimmy: Oh absolutely, both elite rider and developing rider tours.

Q: EventingNation had a poll which you led by a considerable amount by votes of who readers thought should win the job, does that mean anything to you?

Jimmy: It’s tremendously gratifying, I just hope the selection committees are reading the same poll!

Q : What excites you about eventing at the moment?

Jimmy: (answered almost without hesitation) Just the sheer near perfection of the riders at the top, and the challenge of trying to get the next group of riders up to that level. The Mark Todds and the WIlliam Fox-Pitts of the world have shown us what is possible.

Q: If you could have taken one horse home from the WEG last year, which one would it be?

Jimmy: You know, I think I might have picked Jakarta (finished 16th individually with PIggy French GB) I was a little surprised; to my eye, he never showed any greenness, and I had expected that he might be a little green in places. I knew he was going to get a good ride anyway, but I expected that at some point the jockey would have to help out. If it happened, I missed it, because I just thought that was a foot perfect ride. My goodness, the British selectors really rolled the dice, and…well, it’s frightening what they accomplished!

bramham-cci----JAKARTA-Piggy French-4.jpg
Photo courtesy of Nico Morgan

Q: What would you change about eventing?

Jimmy: I think I would try and keep eventing as it is, without losing the amateurish spirit. AMATEURISH has two meanings – it means clumsy, ill-formed, ill-practiced, unskilled. It also means an activity that is done for the love of the thing rather than for the recompense. I think we are developing the skill part of the sport, but I would hate to see eventing lose the other part, just the sheer joy of being connected with horses.

Q: What do you look for when you go looking for event horses now?

Jimmy: These days I still look for the “look of eagles,” I want to see a horse with a real sense of presence and real sense of himself. These days they have to be phenomenal athletes but they also have to be elastic. We don’t see as many successful horses of Primmore’s Pride type – great, big, rangy, galloping thoroughbred or near thoroughbred. A horse that can just hit a big lick and gallop all day, that’s not the modern paradigm. So these days I’m looking more for a horse like Jacob Two Two: 16.1, 950lbs, keen as mustard, smarter than Einstein, quick as a cat and a good mover for a thoroughbred, a very good mover. That’s what we’re looking for, we have to have equine super-athletes to do this.

Again, a huge thank you to Jimmy Wofford for talking to us, and thank you for reading. Applications for the position of US Eventing Chef D’equipe/Technical Advisor closed on 31st January.

Jimmy Wofford — A Conversation

By on Feb 7, 2011 12:37 pm -

Jim-Wofford-01-102-7a.jpg

It was recently my privilege to enjoy a fairly long telephone conversation with Jimmy Wofford, much longer than I  had promised him, to talk about his application for the post of US Eventing Team Coach. However, despite my flurry of emails, indecision, and complete disorganisation, Jimmy always remained calm, courteous and professional.  I wanted to publish the interview in it’s entirety, and it’s pretty much verbatim, as Jimmy doesn’t waste words.  Neither does he waste time and I’d like to thank him profusely for sharing his with us, as well as his knowledge and opinions, ideas and plans.   When Jimmy isn’t coaching, writing, or giving clinics, he can be seen at many of the events, watching and assessing.   I urge you also to read his excellent blog, which is hilarious as well as informative, much more than just a bulletin board, and it also has links to his articles.  I could go on and on about his accomplishments, but instead we’ll let the man speak for himself.  


Q:  Thank you for joining us. You announced recently that you will be applying for the job of US Eventing Team Coach. Why did you decide to make that public?

Jimmy:  I decided to make it public because so many people had asked me about it. I put a note on my website, which I basically use as a bulletin board for my students and people who follow my clinics. I keep my schedule there. 

Q:  When did you come to the final decision to apply?

Jimmy:  I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time. The decision sort of evolved and started to firm up, and after they announced the search committee and the time-line, I thought that I would go ahead and apply. 
Q: You’ve also announced that you’ve “cleared the decks” so to speak, you’ve leased out your yard  and won’t sell horses to avoid any conflict of interest. Are you afraid that if you don’t get the position you might find yourself at a loose end?

Jimmy:  Well, I’ve been as busy, or busier than I was before I closed my program. I’m free-lancing in the area during the week, and I’m doing as many, or more clinics on the weekends as I used to do, so the location of the work has changed but the workload is still about the same.  Mark Phillips is a friend of mine and he had mentioned a couple of years ago that he was going to resign after London after that, without saying anything I just thought about it.  I hadn’t decided yet, but I felt like it was the right time for me to step back from my programme anyway, and that would have the additional benefit of “clearing the decks.

Q: I believe they’re starting the search for an applicant this early so that whoever replaces Mark would have time to assimilate into the programme and follow Mark leading up to the end of next summer?


Jimmy: In their request for proposals, The Eventing Search Committee stated that the new hire would “shadow” the present coach. he or she might possibly serve in the role of developing rider coach during the next, basically 2 years, leading up to London, and then take over after the first of the year in 2013. 
Q: What do you think shadowing Mark would be like?

Jimmy: I have to say it would not be a big change because I go to all of the big competitions anyway, and I see him there, and I watch what’s going on, so I suppose “that person” would be a little bit more closely involved but it would not be any big change in my lifestyle, for sure.
 

Thumbnail image for 01-06-2009 07;57;15PM.jpeg

Q: Hypothetically, if the job were yours, how do you envision the coaching being divided? Will you coach the riders yourself, let them continue with their personal trainers, or  check in at the beginning of the season and make a plan rather like the British Team do?


Jimmy: Well, any horseman always starts off with ” that depends”…and in this case, in the next almost 24 months, the role of the prospective Chef D’Equipe/Technical Advisor, or to use the old terminology, the incoming Coach, is not going to have a great deal to say to the elite riders because they’re going to continue to work with Mark.  Mark is under contract from now until then. There may be some rider who is closer to me and wants consistent help with a horse they find difficult – if I can fill that role that is fine, but Mark is coaching the team at London, and so from now until then he’s going to be the determinant voice in that process. 

In the meantime, the new coach is brought on board because they will, of course, be included in the discussions, in the committees, the evaluations, and the vetting process, all of which are of necessity closed meetings. 

The Search Committee mentioned, as I say, that it is possible that the new coach would become the Developing Rider Coach, and that is why I say, what sort of coaching I would do depends on which rider we’re talking about. If it’s an up and coming two star rider who’s just getting ready for their first three star, chances are the team is going to have the new coach work with them because there is very little chance that that horse and rider are going to London. 

I’m sure you read the Horse and Hound.  When they announced the team this last summer, one of the staff writers went and interviewed Pippa, and basically asked her where she’d been for the last five years. Here’s the only winner of the Rolex Grand Slam in the history of the Sport, and she’s been on the bench for five years, and she said exactly the right thing – that it takes that long to make these horses. I would say that she is absolutely right, and it is equally true of the riders; Jack Le Goff used to say that he reckoned that he would take a rider from preliminary level to Badminton in four years. I don’t see that happening anytime soon, you know, it’s more like six years now, minimum, and that’s if everything goes absolutely perfectly all along the way. 
My point being that the new person, hopefully they are going to be brought on board to start immediately with the developmental program. The riders that the new coach works with this year, need to be ready in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
 
Q: You do travel an awful lot, you’re at so many of the competitions and see almost everything…

Jimmy:  I do.  In many instances I see more than the selectors because I see these riders at clinics anywhere from two to four years before the selectors even have their first look at them. Then I see them at the more local horse trials which are not official selection trials and which many of the selectors do not attend, so I see them in different circumstances, plus I see them on other horses. Many times I have more of a, let’s say, a 360 degree view of that horse and rider than the selectors who are of necessity operating from a snapshot, and of Mark, who has to take the horse and rider as they are but sometimes he does not have the context of that horse and rider.

Q: WEG may have been a wake up call for the US eventers, but I think the problem maybe is more endemic? As an english person coming over here some ten years ago I couldn’t help noticing that geographically you’re at such a huge disadvantage, both nationally and internationally. How can you alleviate that, and make it a fairer playing field, or can you?

Jimmy:  Well, naturally we can’t shrink the country so people have to adapt themselves to it.   The coach has to go out to the riders on a more regular basis.  One point that I did not make in my press release because I did not want to divulge a great deal of what is in my application, but I’ve certainly made no secret of my thoughts on the the matter. My personal answer would be we need a full time coach.  In preparation for this possible application  I took several steps: I used to be an FEI course designer at the Championship level, I used to be a big-time R judge, I used to be heavily involved in sport administration, I’m a past president of the Federation, past officer of both the equestrian team and the US eventing association. I no longer do any of these things: I COACH.

I coach and I teach and I write about it, and I talk about it. This is what I do. So the things that other people do that spread their time and their energy, I no longer do. I no longer do any of those things even though I have the experience and knowledge of being involved in them. 

What this means is that if I’m doing the job, hopefully starting out as the Developing Coach, but later on as the overall Coach, I would not have other aspects of the sport that are dividing my time. If I’m not coaching or giving a clinic, I’m writing about training and riding, I’m thinking about it continually.

To circle back around to your original question, I think there are things, that we can do to help to shrink the country;  one of them is the use of technology. My view is that you either have to embrace the internet or you have to ignore it completely; It’s very hard to be a little bit involved. I have embraced it. I text, I email, I look at video clips on youtube and I would expect to do a great deal of that.  You have new tools that were not available ten or twenty years ago.  For example, the use of video clips: I already do a great deal of commenting about video. Students will say they had a problem at a particular horse trial, and I’ll ask if there’s any video available.  If it’s posted on Youtube, I’ll watch the video clip, and then I’ll write an analysis of my opinion of what I saw, and send it back to them via email.
 
White Top Laurel10-25-06.jpeg

Q: You’ve said that if you’re in charge of the team you’d like to emulate George Morris and the programme he runs with the US showjumpers, does that mean taking squads to Europe, and especially England?

Jimmy: Oh absolutely, both elite rider and developing rider tours.

Q: EventingNation had a poll which you led by a considerable amount by votes of who readers thought should win the job, does that mean anything to you?

Jimmy: It’s tremendously gratifying, I just hope the selection committees are reading the same poll!

Q : What excites you about eventing at the moment?

Jimmy: (answered almost without hesitation) Just the sheer near perfection of the riders at the top, and the challenge of trying to get the next group of riders up to that level. The Mark Todds and the WIlliam Fox-Pitts of the world have shown us what is possible.

Q: If you could have taken one horse home from the WEG last year, which one would it be?

Jimmy: You know, I think I might have picked Jakarta (finished 16th individually with PIggy French GB) I was a little surprised; to my eye, he never showed any greenness, and I had expected that he might be a little green in places. I knew he was going to get a good ride anyway, but I expected that at some point the jockey would have to help out. If it happened, I missed it, because I just thought that was a foot perfect ride. My goodness, the British selectors really rolled the dice, and…well, it’s frightening what they accomplished!

bramham-cci----JAKARTA-Piggy French-4.jpg
Photo courtesy of Nico Morgan

Q: What would you change about eventing?

Jimmy: I think I would try and keep eventing as it is, without losing the amateurish spirit. AMATEURISH has two meanings – it means clumsy, ill-formed, ill-practiced, unskilled. It also means an activity that is done for the love of the thing rather than for the recompense. I think we are developing the skill part of the sport, but I would hate to see eventing lose the other part, just the sheer joy of being connected with horses.

Q: What do you look for when you go looking for event horses now?

Jimmy: These days I still look for the “look of eagles,” I want to see a horse with a real sense of presence and real sense of himself. These days they have to be phenomenal athletes but they also have to be elastic. We don’t see as many successful horses of Primmore’s Pride type – great, big, rangy, galloping thoroughbred or near thoroughbred. A horse that can just hit a big lick and gallop all day, that’s not the modern paradigm. So these days I’m looking more for a horse like Jacob Two Two: 16.1, 950lbs, keen as mustard, smarter than Einstein, quick as a cat and a good mover for a thoroughbred, a very good mover. That’s what we’re looking for, we have to have equine super-athletes to do this.

Again, a huge thank you to Jimmy Wofford for talking to us, and thank you for reading. Applications for the position of US Eventing Chef D’equipe/Technical Advisor closed on 31st January.

This article is also published at www.SamanthaLClark.com.

The Galloping Vet

By on Feb 3, 2011 10:19 am -

I recently sat down with Dr. Chris Newton, a partner at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital here in Lexington, and while I was waiting for him I was reading EN on my ‘phone, as you do! It was the day the news broke that the Hoys might apply for the US team coach position, so when Chris arrived, I was bursting to share the news, “Oh, yes, I knew that” he said, smiling, and then we had a fascinating discussion about his opinion on each candidate so far. I think Chris may know everything, and could certainly talk about almost any subject in an informed and engaging manner. Full of energy, friendly, polite and helpful, and yet somehow there’s a touch of a rebel in there too,  it’s no wonder they picked him to lead the veterinary way at WEG under Dr. Kent Allen – if anyone can organise an army, whilst also doing a hundred other things, it must be Dr. Newton.  He and two of the vets working at the WEG wrote a review for Rood and Riddle about the experience, and meanwhile,  Dr. Newton and I tried to figure out just how many vets and volunteers were on board at WEG last autumn in the Bluegrass….

Dr. Newton is an accomplished eventer himself and has a busy barn with shows and boarders, especially close to Rolex time, and last year’s WEG, when he hosted a couple of extra visitors – Jose Ortelli took over the guest house, and I believe Kyle Carter may also be a regular. Dr. Newton also has a beautiful and extremely long-suffering wife, nothing to do with him, but because she manages the extended day programme at the school that my children attend, and is equally as cheerful as her husband, no matter how many children, or even worse, parents she has to deal with at any given time!  I hope to bring you more from Dr. Newton soon, and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him out on course again. Stop and say hello, and remember  – you might be getting the news before all of us! Thanks, Dr. Newton, and thank you for reading.

This article was originally published on SamanthaLClark.com and won ‘Best of the Blogs’ this morning.

The Galloping Vet

By on Feb 2, 2011 10:36 pm -

I recently sat down with Dr Chris Newton, a partner at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital here in Lexington, and while I was waiting for him I was reading EN on my ‘phone, as you do! It was the day the news broke that the Hoys might apply for the US team coach position, so when Chris arrived, I was bursting to share the news, “Oh, yes, I knew that” he said, smiling, and then we had a fascinating discussion about his opinion on each candidate so far. I think Chris may know everything, and could certainly talk about almost any subject in an informed and engaging manner. Full of energy, friendly, polite and helpful, and yet somehow there’s a touch of a rebel in there too,  it’s no wonder they picked him to lead the veterinary way at WEG under Dr Kent Allen – if anyone can organise an army, whilst also doing a hundred other things, it must be Dr Newton.  He and two of the vets working at the WEG wrote a review for Rood and RIddle about the experience, and meanwhile,  Dr Newton and I tried to figure out just how many vets and volunteers were on board at WEG last autumn in the Bluegrass….

***********
Dr Newton is an accomplished eventer himself and has a busy barn with shows and boarders, especially close to Rolex time, and last year’s WEG, when he hosted a couple of extra visitors – Jose Ortelli took over the guest house, and I believe Kyle Carter may also be a regular. Dr Newton also has a beautiful and extremely long-suffering wife, nothing to do with him, but because she manages the extended day programme at the school that my children attend, and is equally as cheerful as her husband, no matter how many children, or even worse, parents she has to deal with at any given time!  I hope to bring you more from Dr Newton soon, and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him out on course again. Stop and say hello, and remember  – you might be getting the news before all of us! Thanks, Dr Newton, and thank you for reading.

I’m so proud!

By on Feb 1, 2011 9:08 pm -

I just spoke to a good friend of mine who’s lucky enough to be wintering in Ocala. She’s an extremely experienced and knowledgeable horsewoman, and called me to tell me that of all the combinations she watched this past weekend at Rocking Horse, she was most impressed by Clark Montgomery and Jessie Phoenix, high praise indeed. Thumbnail image for 44378_430998302079_83263442079_4929130_6159204_n.jpg

This is Jessie at Richland Park last summer. I took the photo because she was our “spotlight” eventer on the 2010 radio show, and we couldn’t have picked a more delightful representative. I was also extremely fortunate to spend a little time with Clark Montgomery at his base near Atlanta, GA, the stunning Chattahoochee Hills, when I interviewed him for Eventingnation, and came away thinking how lovely he was too. 

IMG_5642.jpg

Of course, eventing IS the best sport in the world and naturally brings out the best in people, (!), but when she told me, my heart swelled a little with pride, completely unjustified, naturally I can’t take any credit for it, but it was like hearing good reports about horses that you’ve sold on, even though I’m completely removed except perhaps for some of that legendary EN karma. Perhaps it’s because eventing is so tight-knit and family style; or perhaps because it’s not really about out and out direct competition against each other, but more about the particular relationship with your horse. Whatever it was, I’m absolutely thrilled that they’re both going so well, wish them a fabulous spring, and look forward to catching up soon. 

Welcome Home, Obi!

By on Jan 30, 2011 3:42 pm -
IMG_0906.JPG
My friend Kim brought her newly adopted greyhound Obi over this afternoon, to meet Leo. What a handsome fellow, and I learnt such a lot. For instance, did you know that greyhounds are the second fastest animals on earth after cheetahs? You have to take greyhounds to a fairly specialised vet because if they need surgery, the normal amount of anaesthesia for a dog their weight would kill them because they have such large muscle mass. On the plus side, they have such large hearts and lungs from the years of breeding for racing that they have an unusually long life expectancy for dogs their size, and on the peculiar side, they nails/claws grow very quickly and will need clipping about every two weeks – that always makes me squeamish.

IMG_0915.JPG

Obi (short for O’Brien, not Obi Wan Kenobi) raced in Florida, and is 3 years old. He came to Kim via the Shamrock GreyHound Placement in Louisville, but has been in a foster home here in Lexington since September. Before he was allowed to stay with Kim, there was a “home visit” to make sure Kim and her family would be suitable, and now after a trial period, it seems that it may be a match made in heaven.  
IMG_0918.JPG
Greyhounds’ heads are narrower than their necks so they have to wear a special collar, called a martingale. Wishing Obi a long and happy life in his new home. 

John Nicholson, Kentucky Horse Park’s Executive Director

By on Jan 30, 2011 2:43 pm -

IMG_0456.jpg

For 16 days last autumn all equestrian eyes, along with many others, were trained on the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, held in North America for the very first time. This was something of a dream come true for Horse Park Executive Director John Nicholson, who had fostered the idea since the mid ’90’s. John has a long and rich history in Kentucky, and has been closely involved with the Horse Park for most of his career.  He must surely be proud now as he reflects on the Park’s triumphant 2010 and looks forward to an exciting future. 

Whether there’s another World Games at the Horse Park or not, it will certainly reap the benefits of the facilities and improvements that were made for generations to come. 
John is a keen walker, I’ve often bumped into him taking rounds of the Park, and he admits that he’s loath to leave his “village”, that even a trip to the supermarket is a big deal, so we were two of many fans of the aptly named Legacy Trail.
 I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to lunch a couple of times at The Farmhouse, which has been on the Horse Park for a few years now, but I sadly never made it to any of the Celebrity Chef Dinners held there during the Games, nor have I managed to find anyone who did, please write in and let us know what they were like if you’re one of the lucky ones! John has lots more innovative ideas for the Park, in fact even more exciting there’s nothing he won’t consider within reason, which seems like a wonderful attitude.
I’d like to extend a “thank you” and also a “get well soon” to John Nicholson, who spared me time out of his busy day despite a streaming cold, and to everyone at the Horse Park who keeps it running so seamlessly and efficiently. It is definitely one of the jewels in Kentucky’s crown, and I think it’s in good hands. 
IMG_0459.jpg

This article was also published on SamanthaLClark.com

John Nicholson, Kentucky Horse Park’s Executive Director

By on Jan 30, 2011 2:33 pm -

This article was also published on Eventing Nation

IMG_0456.jpg

For 16 days last autumn all equestrian eyes, along with many others, were trained on the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, held in North America for the very first time. This was something of a dream come true for Horse Park Executive Director John Nicholson, who had fostered the idea since the mid ’90’s. John has a long and rich history in Kentucky, and has been closely involved with the Horse Park for most of his career.  He must surely be proud now as he reflects on the Park’s triumphant 2010 and looks forward to an exciting future. 

Whether there’s another World Games at the Horse Park or not, it will certainly reap the benefits of the facilities and improvements that were made for generations to come. 
John is a keen walker, I’ve often bumped into him taking rounds of the Park, and he admits that he’s loath to leave his “village”, that even a trip to the supermarket is a big deal, so we were two of many fans of the aptly named Legacy Trail.
 I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to lunch a couple of times at The Farmhouse, which has been on the Horse Park for a few years now, but I sadly never made it to any of the Celebrity Chef Dinners held there during the Games, nor have I managed to find anyone who did, please write in and let us know what they were like if you’re one of the lucky ones! John has lots more innovative ideas for the Park, in fact even more exciting there’s nothing he won’t consider within reason, which seems like a wonderful attitude.
I’d like to extend a “thank you” and also a “get well soon” to John Nicholson, who spared me time out of his busy day despite a streaming cold, and to everyone at the Horse Park who keeps it running so seamlessly and efficiently. It is definitely one of the jewels in Kentucky’s crown, and I think it’s in good hands. 
IMG_0459.jpg

2 More Reasons to Love Louisville

By on Jan 29, 2011 10:30 pm -

Apart from the obvious – Churchill Downs, and the first saturday of May, which incidentally is also the title of a wonderful documentary about the Kentucky Derby and would make a great gift for anyone, including yourself. Louisville can also boast a riverfront, great live music, fantastic art, and the nation’s largest urban forest – yes, really!

But it also has the spectacular 21c Museum Hotel, which will make you feel like Alice in Wonderland, or in a big city, no matter what your age or mood, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any hipper, or better than that…they take dogs too, not just little lap dogs, but they are very friendly to big, proper labrador type dogs! As soon as the children start earning my fortune, Leo and I are moving in!
One of Louisville’s eventing treasures must be Martha Lambert – one of the hardest working, and most modest riders and coaches around.
 Her daughter, Lauren, is now a competitor in her own right and is spending the winter this year down in Wellington, perfecting her show jumping while working for Derek Braun.Martha meanwhile, has escaped to Aiken for a month.  We look forward to seeing them both back competing in Kentucky in the spring. 
   

Another reason to winter in Ocala!

By on Jan 26, 2011 7:35 am -

Heads up, Ladies! I have received word that Jose Ortelli is back in Florida! One of the most popular, friendly, and of course – handsome young men on the circuit, please go and give him a welcome hug on my behalf. I look forward to a reunion at the Florida Horse Park in a few weeks time, and of course, a full report!

jose_Ortelli.jpg

P’s & Q’s

By on Jan 25, 2011 3:11 pm -

IMG_0457.JPG

As a child I was always told to mind my P’s and Q’s, which of course were pleases and thank-YOU’s, but today at the Kentucky Horse Park was a rare day of Peace and Quiet. Although the Horse Park remains active throughout the winter, The Southern Lights, which runs from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the South, as well as conventions ( the USEF just wrapped their’s up last week) and I always intend to go out and watch the winter indoor polo and mounted games sessions in the covered arena of an evening and at weekends but have yet to make it. When I do, I promise to take my camera and video, (as well as many layers of thermal underwear and flasks of hot beverages, that arena when the wind blows may be one of the coldest places on earth) and will bring back a full report. 
IMG_0460.JPGI was at the Horse Park to speak to Executive Director John Nicholson, who I got to know quite well as we all prepared for the WEG. Despite a streaming cold, he sat down with me and we covered a number of topics, and I hope to have that interview up soon. Just as it’s hard to imagine ever being warm again, it almost seems like another world when we had some 800 horses here, and the temperatures hovered in the nineties on some days. I’d like to extend a thank you to John for pushing through the pain, and the “man-flu”, if anyone can attest to the adage and live by it, it must be him, “the show must go on”. 
Thumbnail image for IMG_0462.JPG

Peter Gray Clinic

By on Jan 24, 2011 12:41 pm -

petergray.jpg

Peter Gray has a wealth of experience in eventing – he’s competed in three Olympics, Badminton and Burghley, and two WEGs, just to skim the surface, need I say more? Along the way though, he’s been lucky to have trained with and become friends with some of the great riders and trainers across the disciplines, and riders who are lucky enough to take clinics or lessons with him are going to reap the rewards.  Peter cites his greatest influence as the “Canadian Bert de Nemethy”, Polish Cavalry hero, Colonel Micheal Gutowkski who he quotes as saying, “Better to upgrade a  year too late than a day too early”, and this is a rule of thumb he lives by.  He is an absolute perfectionist, with a passion for passing on everything he knows, and sharing his love and knowledge of horsemanship. He has a dry sense of humour which kept us all highly amused all day, and is surprisingly shy, but don’t be fooled by the wit, the soft voice and the kind and gentle demeanour, because he also doesn’t suffer fools gladly, “Now I don’t want to be critical, but really, everything about that was not good at all, from start to finish, don’t you agree?”

Peter is a stickler for the basics, and self-discipline. In everything you do. One of the things that struck me about his teaching was how useful everything was, this was all stuff we wanted to go home and start practicing right away, despite the deplorable weather, and I don’t even have a horse! He told us to be strict with yourself about making everything perfect, and exactly how you want it, from, for example, getting on at the mounting block and having the horse stand still until you ask it to move away, to each transition – are you happy? If not – change it.  Don’t just be a rider when you get on your horse, be a trainer, think about what you’re doing, and what your horse is doing underneath you.  Peter is obviously a smart man and a thoughtful man;  He’s also incredibly busy: he does about eight or ten weekend clinics a year, he organises four competitions over the winter at the Florida Horse Park, and also manages to compete himself, develop property both in Canada and Ocala, and train the Ontario Young Riders and his own day students as well as be involved with both the Canadian and US ICP programmes. 
However he does take the time to reflect, on how he might have done things differently if given another chance at life, how he can improve everything he does, how he can be the best at what he’s doing, and let’s get it over with, yes, he did address the Canadian Three Day Event Team Coach question.

Peter started off by telling us that he most admired the Klimkes and the Todds of the world who can represent more than one discipline at the very highest level, and to that end he seems to be following suit; he’s been riding Grand Prix Dressage for the last three years, as well as Hunter Derbies, and applying the lessons he learns there to his eventing and teaching. The most important thing about riding, he says, is good hands, and, if you’re not born with it, developing a “feel”, not just with the hands, but an ability to communicate with your horse.  The reins are the lines of communication and the hands must be still but not locked, and gentle and sympathetic; you can supple a horse by vibration on the inside rein and then giving again in a very subtle way, the outside rein is always steady. [ This was somewhat reassuring to me, and sounds Old School, but it’s what I learnt growing up, but lately dressage riders I think are having more of an equal contact on both reins?]

petergrayclinic.jpg
Peter also gave all the different levels exercises to work with during the winter, poles on the ground, in a semi-circle, sometimes raised to trot over, to improve the engagement behind, poles in a square, to walk very slowly inside in a small circle, useful for young, green horses, or if you have a larger area to work with,  to trot circles around it, or trot/ canter through it.  He also recommends trotting in three point seat for five minutes every day, and once a week without stirrups  as a lower leg strengthening exercise that can’t be replicated in the gym and really works.  The three things that Peter says are going to get you out of trouble, we’re talking jumping now, not everyday life (although maybe..!) a half-seat, a strong leg and a light rein.  Peter taught four sessions and a total of about twenty riders, in abominable conditions, and everyone, even those who struggled somewhat, came away with something concrete to work on, some ideas to think about, and definitely hope!
The riders at all levels did plenty of flatwork, making sure each and every transition was perfectly executed, then lots of jumping out of trot, a slow trot, to give the horse confidence that he can jump from power and scope, not momentum. Peter likes to see the riders in their three point seat approaching the jump and for the purposes of the clinic, exaggerating the softening of the hand in front of the fence.  Always keep your leg on, “just because he’s pulling you into the fence doesn’t mean he has any intention of jumping it!”
Peter stressed throughout the day that training a horse should be a passive and gentle progression. We heard the “F” word frequently – Flexion! “flexion and bend are your friends”; according to Peter if the horse is soft and bending in his body, and has proper flexion, at his jaw, then he will be unable to put his whole weight behind you and pull and be strong.  To demonstrate, he set up barrels in the corners after jumps and had riders stop and walk small circles around them, bending their horses’ bodies correctly like bananas around them to slow them down, rather than pulling and tugging, and you can also do this on the flat, in between gaits, slow to a walk and use a 3 metre circle, about the length of you’re horse’s body.  Repetition is Peter’s preferred means of “punishment”, if your horse does it wrong, you do it again, and again until you get it right. Reward should be a pat, or a kind word, and then you move on, but there should definitely be a very clear distinction for the horse between right and wrong. The ultimate goal is a well trained horse that’s easy to ride and reacts to your aids. 
As well as a very welcome and delicious hot lunch, and a never ending supply of scalding hot chocolate and tea, (thank you very much Martha, just what the doctor ordered!) we were all treated to a good, old-fashioned dose of horsemanship.  I must admit that I questioned Martha’s sanity as I drove to her farm in sub-zero temperatures, but as usual, she was right! Peter was the perfect man for the job. The prelim level horses all got a good refresher course, and the younger, greener horses and riders have plenty to be going on with.  Clever Martha, who will now re-locate to Aiken, not to return until warmer weather does also, always knows best, has a string of excellent clinicians lined up for the summer also, including Jimmy Wofford, Jan Bynny and more [Lands End Farm – Event Stables]
Video Link: Lands End Farm
I couldn’t possibly cover everything in one report, but the good news is I will be down at the Ocala Horse Trials that Peter organises in a few weeks time, so I look forward to bringing you a report from there, as well as catching up with Peter again.  I did corner Peter at the end of the long, first day and bug with him a few more questions, and you can tell by then end where he wishes he’d rather be – you and me both, Peter, I’ll see you on that beach and the first round is definitely on me.
Thank you to Peter for sharing, thank you to Martha Lambert and the whole crew at Lands End Farm for braving the elements and making the sure the show went on, and thank you for reading. Go Eventing, somewhere warm!

This article is also published on SamanthaLClark.com