Classic Eventing Nation

Saturday Links

By on Dec 12, 2020 12:01 am -

Are you in the Lexington area and looking for some winter schooling opportunities? Here’s a pretty great one taking under the covered arena at the Kentucky Horse Park itself courtesy of the Split Rock Jumping Tour. I don’t live anywhere near Kentucky, so color me jealous! You’re also in luck if you’re in proximity to Morven Park too — they’re offering the opportunity to get out of cold and under a roof with great footing too by renting their indoor for schooling.

National Holiday: National Gingerbread House Day

U.S. Weekend Action:

Full Gallop Farm December H.T.: [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]

Saturday Links:

Zara Buren Memorial Foundation

Lucinda Green named worthy winner of Horse & Hound lifetime achievement award

Use Caution When Giving Horses Bute, Omeprazole Together

Usman clears first hurdle with new horse

I’d Be a Bad Professional. Why are USEF and USHJA Trying to Make Me One?

Bloody Snow Most Likely Not What You Think

Saturday Video: Kimmy Cecere and Mia Farley share some quick tips for confidently introducing green horses to banks.

Equiratings Geekery Takes Center Stage on Friday at the Virtual USEA Convention

By on Dec 11, 2020 4:52 pm -

Tbh I liked eventing more before Sam Watson and Diarm Byrne of Equiratings came along. EN’s in-house statistician Maggie Deatrick really ruined it for me, too. As someone who grew up on movies like Sylvester and International Velvet, I still hold dear some outlandishly romanticized notions of the sport. I wish it were more like the movies, wherein at any given event some dark horse could saunter in from the cow pasture and scoop the big prize out from beneath the noses of the Michael Jungs and Ingrid Klimkes of the world.

But “it’s anyone’s game” is an outdated notion, if it ever even existed at all. The numbers have always been there, but it’s only been in recent years that these human calculators have come along, ruthlessly crunching them like potato chips. In her “By the Numbers” predictions, Maggie tells us who is going to win not just the event, but each phase of the event, with freakish accuracy well before the first horse even canters down the centerline. It’s like running wrapped presents through an x-ray machine on Christmas Eve.

I kid, I kid. Among other advancements Equiratings’ risk management work has paved the way for a safer sport, the importance of which can’t be understated — I’d venture to say they are literally saving lives. And Maggie’s columns save me the trouble of photographing all 40 horses in the dressage at events, since I already have a good idea of how the top five are going to land.

I still hanker sometimes, though, for a good surprise. With Sam and Diarm’s presentation at this year’s virtual USEA Convention, Engineering Success – From Personal Milestones to Team Gold Medals, they delivered some exciting news: there’s a solid chance that at the (*knocks on wood*) Tokyo Olympics in 2021, myself — and all you other “dark horse” affectionados out there — might just get our wish. With the new three-person team format it could, truly, be anybody’s game. Beyond that though, most results remain a product of design, not chance. So what does it take to win?

Diarm begins with an apology: “We are both so boring. As nerds who are involved in data what we think may be interesting may not be interesting to other people.”

You’re not wrong, Diarm. The sort of charts and graphs and decimal-point detail that Equiratings deals in could make your eyes glaze over, but all the minutiae adds up to some truly fascinating stuff. Today, he says, they’re here to pull the curtain back on the topic of winning (or, he notes, whatever “winning” looks like to you  — maybe it’s a top five finish or just a personal best.)

“We get that the sport is not all about winning, and that is not the purpose of this presentation,” Diarm says. “But it is a crucial part of sport.”

It’s also a measurable journey that begins with an honest assessment of where you are right now and an intention of where you want to be. What is the route in between? It’s also important to access what the sport looks like at the level you are at. They begin with two graphs using “zone analysis,” which Sam explains is a fancy word meaning brackets showing where your finishing score is at:

At the five-star level, you can see that on average about a third of competitors fail to complete — which Sam calls “pretty shocking in an eye-opening way.” Another third finishes with on a score over 60, and the final third finishes with a sub-60 score. At the two-star level, the DNF percentage drops to 20%; 20% complete with a score over 60; and the remaining 60% complete with a sub-60 score.

The further down the levels you go, the more achievable a clear round is — and, inversely, the more important your dressage score becomes. “If you want to win at the two- and three-star level, you have to be below a 36 … The current scoring system is set up to reward really good dressage and being adequate in the other two phases. The cross country begins to have more of an impact at five-star.”

Eventing is, obviously, a three-phase sport, but while in dressage you can keep lowering your penalty score, in the jumping the best you can do is finish with 0 penalties, which is achievable even if you’re just average — you aren’t going to earn extra marks for rhythm or style. The key to winning is to start low and not add further penalties in the jumping. “Dressage is the only phase that is about being the best,” Sam says. “At the lower levels the jumping phases are even easier.”

How to keep the sport from becoming a dressage show? We can either reduce the influence of dressage or increase the influence of show jumping and cross country. Sam proposes a radical solution: What if there was an optimum score for dressage, perhaps 70% (or 30.0, which is a polished test), and you only collected penalty points if you scored poorer than that mark? So everyone with a dressage score of 30.0 or lower heads into jumping on a penalty score of 0. There would likely be several joint leaders after dressage, but nobody would be so far ahead that they could have a couple rails and still win.

Meanwhile, dressage scores continue getting lower and lower across every level each year.

Bad news for me and Princess! The good news is, there is always room for improvement. What are your goals for 2021? What are you trying to achieve?

The problem with the “top five” or “medals” approach, Sam and Diarm explain, is that it’s dependent on other people. Depending on who shows up on any given weekend, your finishing score could equal a win or a 10th place — it’s relative to the scores of other competitors. “You find these type of goals sometimes, like the thought of a medal, can get you out of bed in the morning, but when you’re on your horse you need something more tangible,” Sam says. You have to think critically about where you are weak and think purposefully about how to improve.

So what does it take to win? Again, at the lower levels the flashy, dressage-y type of horse has the advantage over the real gallopy, fast horse who is strong on the cross country. The scales shift as you move up the levels, and at the very top of the table the cross country horse begins to gain the advantage.

“There’s nothing complex in here, it’s just the averages,” Diarm says, pulling up the next slides. “We’ve not done anything fancy. This what winning looks like so it’s what do you need to [to win].”

OK, so there it is in black and white: If you want to have a shot at winning a Beginner Novice outing, you’ve got to be able to achieve a sub-30 dressage test and jump clear. If that’s your goal, the next step is to sit down and think about how to get from point A to point B.

When you’re in the grind it can be easy to get tunnel vision, but some basic self-analysis can go a long way: “It’s so much easier if you take the time to say ‘where am I now, and where do I want to get to?'” There a concept called “simple metrics” you can use to that they’ve found to be quite accurate — Equiratings walks us through the process of calculating here.

“The best thing I have ever done was stop worrying about the outside world, about medals, and instead ‘where is this horse now and how do I get to the next step?” Sam says. “You set where you want to get to … you need a clear goal of where to get to have real, measurable, achievable progress.” The medal, for Sam, followed.

 

Unlike the human magic-8 balls guiding this Zoom session, I’m crap at predicting winners. Instead of using my head and statistical logic, I’ll lead with my heart every time, always hedging my bets on the underdog. I played Equiratings Eventing Manager prediction game, wherein you “buy” a team of riders for a simulated SAP-powered competition, once and failed spectacularly. Meanwhile, Jenni Autry finished in first or second, I can’t recall, which is one of many reasons why she is managing the U.S. Eventing Team while her old pal Leslie is still sitting around in her pajamas writing about horses for the internet.

But after today’s Equiratings session, I’m feeling pretty stoked for a shake-up next year at (*knocks on wood, again*) Tokyo. “The sport has changed seismically with the current shift from four rider teams to three rider teams,” Diarm says. “Cross country day at Tokyo will be one of the most exciting — or stressful — days that the sport has ever seen.”

 

You can see with this chart that there’s quite a big range as for what wins gold, what wins silver, what wins bronze. For the individuals, it’s going to be hard to medal if you can’t start with a dressage score below 30, but you can help win a team medal.

What’s going to be necessary to win a medal in Tokyo is a clean jumping sheet — and this time, it’s going to be without the cushion of a drop score. Diarm “lets the analyst out of his cage:”

The data goose is loose! At this point Sam pulls up a program that, well, you just need to be sure to watch the video because my scrawny screenshots are not doing it justice. It demonstrates just how elusive that clean sheet is going to be in Tokyo, how difficult it is going to be to land three clear rounds. “You don’t have that discard score, so every team is never off the hook as the three riders go around.” There’s also a team picker program that is what I imagine the inside of Jenni’s brain looks like.

Only six countries have won medals in eventing in the past 50 years since the Moscow Olympics: Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States. But this year, with the three-person teams, you could see a Sweden, or an Ireland, or a Japan swooping in because you’ve taken away the drop score. Not making any jumping mistakes, rather than winning the dressage, becomes the medaling prerequisite.

Statistics are great and important but I also love a little wild card. And I get the feeling that Diarm and Sam, for all their statistical savvy, are pretty pumped about the possibility of one, too.

“Britain, maybe the Germans, go in as favorites, and there’s a 50% chance they don’t even get a medal,” Sam says. “It will be unreal to watch.”

Well played, dorks! Thanks to Equiratings as always — you can learn more at their website here. The USEA Annual Meeting and Convention will draw to a virtual close tomorrow — click here to view the schedule. Tune in at 2 p.m. EST tomorrow (Saturday, December 12) for the Annual Meeting where we’ll learn the winners of this year’s awards as well as hear from keynote speakers Liz Halliday-Sharp and Piggy March.

Go Eventing.

Friday Video from SmartPak: ‘Horses Building Trust’ Features Ebony Horsewomen Inc.

By on Dec 11, 2020 3:16 pm -

SmartPak never ceases to amaze and impress us with its commitment to making the equestrian community (and the world!) a better place. The fourth story in their “Horses Building Trust” video series features Ebony Horsewomen Inc., a program in Hartford, Connecticut, whose mission is to empower youth through education, horsemanship and equine-assisted therapy. In addition they are donating 5% of sales on SmartPak brand tack and apparel yesterday through today to the team at Ebony Horsewomen, as well as partnering with Ariat to provide a donation of quality products for the riders and staff there.

Founded by Patricia E. Kelly in 1984, Ebony Horsewomen’s students have the opportunity to attend various programs including Junior Mounted Patrol, Young Ladies Leadership Dressage Academy, and Saturday Saddle Club. These programs are run by professional instructors, many of whom are alumni of the program. There’s a great feature on Ebony Horsewomen on the SmartPak blog — we encourage you to check it out here.

Tips to Making Your Ride Effortless – Brought to You by Banixx Horse & Pet Care

By on Dec 11, 2020 3:00 pm -

“Teach him to ride like a small horse.” J. Michael Plumb. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

You watch a horse and rider that glide around the ring, and it seems like the ride is effortless, and the aids are seamless. You quickly recall your last time in the ring, with your horse, where you were out of breath and exhausted from navigating you and your horse – definitely NOT effortless!

How can your rides become seemingly effortless?

Even very large horses can be sensitive to the aids. Just because a horse is large does not mean he needs a harsh bit and has to be ‘man-handled’. You can teach him to be as light as you want him to be.

Try smarter, not harder.

This saying has many applications when riding. If what you are doing is not working, then try a different approach. If you are doing an exercise and your horse cannot perform the exercise correctly, don’t try it harder; interrupt and do a different exercise or take a break for a bit. Here are some tips you might want to consider for creating a more sensitive horse and a softer/more feeling rider:

 The horse:

  • Every day, decide how much pressure you want in your hands (how heavy you want your horse in the reins), and how strong you want your seat and leg aids to be. Don’t confuse behind the bit or behind the leg (behind the aids) with being soft. Teach your horse the connection to the bridle, but with practice you can choose how heavy or light you want him.
  • When your horse starts to give you the right answer, then soften your rein and/or leg (whichever aids he is responding appropriately to) to let him know that is what you want.
  • Don’t be an overachiever – do only a few steps in an exercise, but make those correct steps, then step out of the exercise (like walk or trot forward). Make all of your riding to be Perfect Practice. As legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” For example, if you start a turn on the forehand, just do one or two steps correctly then move your horse forward out of that exercise. If you keep going but are not doing the exercise correctly then you are not practicing correctly.
  • If your horse pushes into your leg one direction or another, do a leg yield away from that direction.
  • If your horse pulls on a rein one direction or another, ask him to yield his hindquarters away from your leg on the side he is pulling. If he pulls on the left rein, then turn on the forehand to the right.
  • Another helpful exercise is to do a quiet rein back, one step at a time, keeping your horse on the contact. He should not rush backwards or go hollow, but step methodically one step at a time while staying on the contact with the bit and in a round shape.
  • Interrupt your agenda and quietly correct your horse with an exercise – softly but with purpose. For example, if you are jumping a line of fences and your horse drifts right, then turn on the haunches to the left or leg yield left or half pass left – quietly and with tact – and when you have some achieved obedience with this interim exercise, then continue jumping or whatever you were doing. Break down the sub steps and concentrate on getting them done correctly before putting them all back together.

Large horses can be soft too! Photo credit Shellie Sommerson.

The rider:

  • At the start of each ride and during, take lots of breaths (or whatever it takes you to relax)!
  • While you are riding, ignore the rest of the world – it will still be there when you finish your ride. Be present for your horse!
  • Ride without stirrups, if you are safe, and let your legs hang from your hips (noodle legs). Gripping thighs/knees/calves are not what you want. Your legs need to be supple, athletic, and agile – Centered Riding by Sally Swift has excellent exercises to help resolve these types of habits!
  • Ride with more leg and less hand. To help yourself use less hand, here are some ways to hold the reins for practice: use a single bridge of the reins, reins in one hand, driving rein (turn your hands over on the reins), etc. Change up your hands on the reins to break up habits of overusing your reins. Leg yield exercises should not involve a lot of hands/reins, but they should involve your seat and legs. Also, hands close together are often more empathetic than wide hands.
  • Work on riding the hind end (and hind feet) to the front end. Pay attention to your horse’s hind feet and work to connect your legs to them so that you can feel his hind feet under your seat. This might take some time to learn to feel. Can you feel when the left hind footsteps forward? If not, perhaps noticing when a front foot steps forward and then following the cadence of the steps in whatever pace your horse is in, will help you start to feel when a hind foot engages.
  • If you need a reminder about your mission to softness – put a ribbon or yarn in your horse’s mane (suggest to put it near the poll to remind you to work to keep the poll as the highest point). Or put a piece of colored tape on the neck strap of your martingale or neck strap as a visual reminder to be soft.
  • Keep notes; make it easy – keep a notebook with pen handy and keep it brief. What went well with your ride, where can you make some changes, did you believe in yourself and your horse, how did it feel? Ask a friend to video for you. And during the session verbalize what you are feeling; and have that part of the video. For example, are you having a hard time keeping your horse from drifting left? Say that out loud so that you can review the video and know what you were feeling at the time and see what is going on.  The video may show you why your horse is doing what he is doing. Perhaps your left leg is coming off him, or something like that.
  • Heighten your awareness as to being correct and incorrect… Take what you have learned and are learning and continue to practice.

As you reestablish your lines of communication with your horse, test your new relationship. Keep going in your test or course and see how it goes without interrupting to do an exercise. How did it go? Where do you need to go back and do some polishing? Don’t expect everything to be perfect right away; this will be a work in progress, and that progress depends upon your focus and dedication to the softness and sensitivity. But the efforts will pay off! Believe in yourself and your horse.

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‘Greater Good and Future Success’: Erik Duvander Speaks on 2020 and Beyond for High Performance

By on Dec 11, 2020 1:00 pm -

Doug Payne with Starr Witness and Erik Duvander. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

During the Eventing High Performance session presented on Zoom as a part of the USEA Virtual Convention on Wednesday, USEF Eventing High Performance Director Erik Duvander and USEF Managing Director of Eventing Jenni Autry gave some updates on the program and what the goals for the coming years will be.

Erik Duvander took the reins of Eventing High Performance from former chef d’equipe David O’Connor in 2017. While it has been all eyes on Tokyo nearly since the beginning of Erik’s tenure, he emphasized an even bigger picture during his presentation this week: Los Angeles 2028.

“It’s been a year of challenges and changes and it’s just proven one point on how resilient our riders are, how resilient our event organizers are,” Erik said in his opening remarks. He also said that he could see a silver lining to the unprecedented cancelations: the benefit of extra time without the looming pressure of the Olympics (or competing, period).

“Utilizing that time was good,” he explained. “I personally felt our team would have been pretty good for the Olympic Games in 2020, but for 2021 we just had one more year to put a few more things in place. Being an optimistic person, I saw that as an advantage. I must say, the riders really stepped up and did the homework and perfected their technical skills.”

Erik noted some of the travels he’d made around the U.S. throughout the year, mentioning that another positive to come out of the compressed competition schedule was a higher number of entries at the events that were able to run. This had the added effect of creating more of a “competitive culture” that put riders on the spot to turn in their best performances.

“On the East coast we had several fantastic events,” Erik commented. “We started off with a really great competition at Great Meadow … Tryon put on a fantastic competition, Unionville also had 50 starters and that became a great competitive class as well.”

Erik also noted the number of personal dressage bests that happened in the latter part of this year, once again crediting the extra time spent perfecting the details at home.

Looking to the West coast, Erik nodded to Rebecca Farm, Woodside and Galway Downs and reiterated his intention that the area is ripe with talent and quality events. “It shouldn’t feel like a need for anyone on the West coast that they have to go to the East coast to become world-class riders,” he said. “I think the job that’s been done out there has been truly amazing.”

Finally, Erik made mention of the incredible efforts at Morven Park and Maryland in preparation for their forthcoming inaugural CCI4*-L and CCI5* events, respectively.

2020 In Review – High Performance

“I’m a great believer that competition drives riders to be better,” Erik said. In the four-star divisions that often ran in excess of 50 starters, riders had to double down their efforts to finish the weekend at the top of the leaderboard. Much of a rider’s success at a championship comes down to cross country — do you have what it takes to go out and get the time, cleanly? For some riders, Erik noted, this notion comes more naturally than it does for others. “To go quick on cross country is a bit of mindset but also takes a bit of guts,” Erik explained. “You can’t force that speed onto people — that has to be something that comes naturally.”

Erik also explained that he had been in close contact with show jumping course designers this season, asking them to up the ante with more technical, square tracks to further test the top horses and riders as they would be at a championship.

A key takeaway from the MARS Tryon International CCI4*-L was the four riders who emerged at the end on sub-30 finishing scores. “If you can’t finish at a sub-30 at a four-star or a five-star, we won’t be able to be competitive at the international stage,” Erik said, adding that it was very encouraging to see these four scores (earned by Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton, Woods Baughman and Doug Payne) on one of the toughest competitive weekends of the year.

Opportunities for the Pathway Program

Erik also took a few moments to address the idea of finding talent using the Eventing Pathway Program, outlining three potential paths to the High Performance Program: The USEF Eventing Futures Team Challenge, Eventing 25 Assessment Sessions and the USEF Eventing Development Program. Riders under 25 can also look to the USEF Eventing Emerging Program as well as the forthcoming Youth Team Challenge.

Notable here is the concept of Eventing 25 Assessment Sessions, which were started this year as a way for selectors to have more face-to-face time with candidates rather than primarily relying on applications and videos. Athletes will ride for selectors and have private interviews during these sessions, which Erik anticipates happening in Ocala, Aiken and on the West coast in 2021.

USEF Managing Director of Eventing Jenni Autry spoke about the pivoted North American Youth Championships, which will now be run as the USEF Eventing Youth Team Challenge. This new format will expand the competition to multiple events throughout each season followed by a championship on each coast. The age limit for the Youth Team Challenge will be 25, eliminating the former, more restrictive age requirements for NAYC. It is the hope of both Erik and Jenni that this new concept will help bring one more layer to the Pathway Program and welcome more riders into the pool of talent.

“The Youth Team Challenge will be an evolution of the NAYC,” Jenni commented. “It will give more athletes across a broader range of ages opportunity to compete more on both coasts.”

‘Greater Good and Future Success’

“How do we create more longevity for our horses?” Erik spoke to the concept of proper horse management and of looking at the “greater good and future success” when implementing plans. “It’s important that we look very closely at the horses’ plans and where we are targeting them,” he explained. Through the production of young horses and a more tuned-in approach to how these horses’ schedules are put together for optimal results with minimal damage, Erik hopes to continue building depth of talent through the Pathway Program. Jenni also noted that a Strategic Calendar Task Force has been in the process of formulating a new process for building and managing the calendar of upper-level events so as to more efficiently prepare horses and riders along the pathway. The USEF is looking at implementation of this project by 2023.

Looking to this year’s Winter Training Lists, Erik spoke to the notion of producing horses not only for the short-term goal (Tokyo) but for the long-term (looking as far ahead as Los Angeles 2028). “(Longevity is) an area we really have to improve,” Erik said. “It takes a long time to get a horse to world-class. They need that time and the riders need that time. We’re not looking at quick fixes.”

Coaching Updates

Erik also announced the addition of two new specialist coaches who will assist the Eventing High Performance athletes: Johann Hinnemann for dressage and Peter Wylde for show jumping.

Johann Hinnemann was the 1986 team gold and individual bronze medalist at the Dressage World Championships and has also been the coach for the German and Dutch National Dressage Teams as well as the Canadian Olympic Dressage Team.

Peter Wylde won team gold in the show jumping at the 2004 Olympics in Greece and also achieved individual bronze at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez.

Erik commented on the horsemanship and teaching styles of each incoming specialist and how they would complement the High Performance Program with the intention of bringing out the best in each horse and rider.

The Way Forward

What’s next for 2021? With any hope, we’re in for a more “normal” year, at least in terms of the number of competitions. This is, of course, heavily dependent on the ever-shifting coronavirus pandemic, but with the impending availability of a vaccine there is hope.

With the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the path forward will look similar to how it was supposed to in 2020. You can view the amended Athlete Selection Procedures here. As it stands currently, the 2020 selection trial events were Les 5 Etoiles de Pau CCI5*, Galway Downs International CCI4*-L, and MARS Tryon International CCI4*-L. For 2021, the selection trials will be: Land Rover Kentucky CCI5*, Badminton Horse Trials CCI5*, and Jersey Fresh International CCI4*-L.

Erik also said that his eyes are also fixed on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 — a homecoming as the first U.S.-hosted Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996 and also the site of the last American team gold medal in 1984.

“I keep having L.A. in my mind,” Erik said. “Now is the time to buy the younger horses in order to develop them and for riders to develop partnerships with them … I quite often say ‘that’s a Los Angeles horse,’ but it’s not that far away and if you don’t put things into place now, it will be too late in two or three years’ time.”

The USEA Annual Meeting and Convention continues virtually today — click here to view the schedule. And don’t forget to tune in at 2 p.m. EST tomorrow (Saturday, December 12) for the Annual Meeting where we’ll learn the winners of this year’s awards as well as hear from keynote speakers Liz Halliday-Sharp and Piggy March.

Go Eventing.

USEA Virtual Convention: Friday Schedule

By on Dec 11, 2020 11:00 am -

Logo via the USEA.

Happy Friday! The USEA Virtual Convention is in full swing with several more sessions coming your way today ahead of tomorrow’s Annual Meeting. If you have not renewed your USEA membership for 2021, you will need to do so before 12 p.m. EST tomorrow in order to receive the Zoom invitation link. Click here to learn more about registering for the Annual Meeting.

We will update the info below with the on-demand links as they populate. To view the full USEA Convention schedule, click here. To catch up on yesterday’s content on-demand, click here.

Friday Schedule:

12:00 p.m. EST: Engineering Success: From Personal Milestones to Team Gold Medals with EquiRatings
How can you measure your success using data-driven, actionable goals? Diarm Byrne and Sam Watson of EquiRatings will dive into the numbers in their presentation that will be useful for all riders at all levels.

4:30 p.m. EST: Volunteer Committee Meeting
Volunteer Committee Chair Bonnie Kibbie will lead this meeting centering on the highly valuable area of volunteering in eventing and how the sport can best support these positions through education, etc.

Friday On-Demand Content:

Video: Tremaine Cooper on Design and Use of Frangible Technology
In this educational video, learn about the design and function of the different options for frangible devices.

Video: Doug Payne’s Tryon CCI4*-L Helmet Cam Aboard Vandiver
Take a spin around the MARS Tryon International CCI4*-L with Doug Payne and Vandiver, who would go on to finish fourth in the division.

US Equestrian Announces Athletes Invited to Eventing 25 Assessment Sessions

By on Dec 11, 2020 10:30 am -

Mia Farley and BGS Firecracker. Photo by Abby Powell.

US Equestrian has announced the list of athletes who have been invited to the 2021 Emerging Athlete Eventing 25 Assessment Sessions. The USEF Emerging Athlete Eventing 25 Program offers athletes 25 years of age and under access to coaching and instruction, high intensity training sessions, and continued mentorship to further support the development of the Eventing Pathway.

The Eventing Performance Advisory Team (PAT) reviewed applications and invited 24 athletes to participate in a two-day assessment session with USEF Developing and Emerging Athlete Coach Leslie Law prior to the final program selection.

Participants in the assessment sessions are eventing athletes age 25 and under who have completed a Minimum Eligibility Requirement at a CCI3*-L or have been talent spotted into the assessment sessions.

The following athletes have been invited to participate in the 2021 Emerging Athlete Eventing 25 Assessment Sessions:

  • Arielle Aharoni (Bedminster, N.J.)
  • Charlotte Babbitt (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.)
  • Alexandra Baugh (Lexington, Ky.)
  • Amanda Beale Clement (Phoenixville, Penn.)
  • Mia Braundel (Clayton, N.C.)
  • Sophie Click (Snoqualmie, Wash.)
  • Katherine Delaney* (Rockville, Va.)
  • Cornelia Dorr (Manchester By The Sea, Mass.)
  • Mia Farley (San Juan Capo, Calif.)
  • Colin Gaffney (Akron, Ohio)
  • Alexa Gartenberg (Gladwyne, Penn.)
  • Savannah Gwin* (San Clemente, Calif.)
  • Mallory Hogan (Belvedere, Calif.)
  • Sophie Hulme (Portola Vally, Calif.)
  • Gabrielle Hutchison (Cleveland, N.C.)
  • Katie Lichten (South Hamilton, Mass.)
  • Benjamin Noonan (Ballwin, Missouri)
  • Meg Pellegrini (Wayne, Penn.)
  • Alyssa Phillips (Fort Worth, Tex.)
  • Danielle Poulsen (Newark, Del.)
  • Kaylawna Smith-Cook (Temecula, Calif.)
  • Sydney Solomon (Dayton, Md.)
  • Megan Sykes (Midland, Tex.)
  • Madison Temkin (Sebastopol, Calif.)

Three assessment sessions will be held in January 2021: one session in Ocala, Fla., one session in Aiken, S.C., and one session in Temecula, California.

USEF Development and Emerging Athlete Coach Leslie Law and members of the Eventing Performance Advisory Team will determine the final athletes named to the 2021 Emerging Athlete Eventing 25 program following the conclusion of the assessment sessions.

To learn more about the Eventing Pathway Program, please contact Christina Vaughn, Director of Eventing Programs and Program Support, at [email protected] or Jenni Autry, Managing Director of Eventing, at [email protected].

*Talent spotted into the assessment sessions for having not met the CCI3*-L requirement.

American Thoroughbreds: The Inconvenient Truth We All Need to Address

By on Dec 11, 2020 9:00 am -

Geraldine Lindsay, a native of Hertfordshire, England, is an USEA ICP Level II Instructor who lives in Scottsville, Virginia. “I have always been a lover of thoroughbreds and started my career working for the British Bloodstock Agency in Newmarket, England, but I feel very strongly that there needs to be a reality check in the U.S. regarding the indiscriminate breeding of poor quality horses for racing.” We thank her for sharing this editorial calling for a reckoning within the industry.

Successful British National Hunt mare, Lady Buttons, who raced 33 times and won 15 times before retiring.

Before I light the blue touch paper, let me be clear that I fully understand and share the passion that so many people have for thoroughbreds, but this only serves to fuel my anger and despair at how the current custodians of the breed in this country seem intent on destroying it. I grew up adoring thoroughbreds and loved nothing more than persuading my mom to take me to Tattersalls Sales in Newmarket where I would covet the glorious creatures parading around the sales ring. Nowadays however when I read Eventing Nation’s “Weekly OTTB Wishlist” column, I don’t see an opportunity to acquire a blue-blooded potential event horse at a bargain price. Instead I see copious examples of how the racing industry in the U.S. is using the other equestrian disciplines as an acquiescent dumping ground for their thousands of annual rejects. State incentives and the indiscriminate use of drugs have resulted in massive overproduction of inferior horses that we are then duped into believing are suitable for alternative careers. Some are, but many are not, and these latter horses, through no fault of their own, cause untold sadness, despair and disappointment plus financial and emotional duress to their new owners. It shouldn’t be like that — what the racing industry produces, the racing industry should have a life-long plan for.

If a horse, like one recent example on EN’s pages, has raced innumerable times and won in excess of $150,000, doesn’t he deserve more than being sold off for a few thousand dollars because his owner doesn’t want to keep him through the winter? That the horse is clearly unsound in his promotional video indicates that he has reached the end of his road, either on the track or in any other discipline, and to suggest otherwise does nobody, other than the racing industry, any favors. But, of course, like so much else in life, it’s all about the money. The trainer wants to keep the owner, but the owner only wants to pay the training fees if the horse is winning. At the inevitable point when a gelding stops winning it is convenient if he can be offloaded quickly with the added advantage that the owner’s conscience will be assuaged by assurances that the horse will become a cherished eventer, fox-hunter or show horse. That’s a much easier sell than “time to buy you a new yearling at the sales, let’s have this one euthanized!” or “time to pension this guy off and you can use his winnings to keep him in style for the rest of his days”. Handing the horse over to a charity that rehomes OTTBs is an easy option which kicks the can down the road, keeps the owner happy and on the trainer’s hook, and deludes people into believing the situation isn’t just tenable, but even desirable. It isn’t.

A tenable and desirable situation would be a drastic reduction in the national thoroughbred herd so that 20,000 foals don’t hit the ground each spring, and a return to the time-honored principles of good horse breeding, management and training which would result in sounder, more useful horses for use both on and off the track. It is past time when the American Jockey Club should be putting its house in order, with a cradle-to-grave path mapped out for every foal, financially-supported by the industry from the moment they are registered. The people of this country are amazingly generous and willingly donate to thoroughbred charities, raise funds or organize blanket donations, but if affairs were put right at the top of the multi-billion dollar U.S. horse-racing industry, such charities wouldn’t need to exist, and thoroughbred horses and their care providers would be the better for it.

In the early 1980s when I worked for the British Bloodstock Agency we were all in awe of the magnificent youngsters imported from the U.S., and it was interesting to note that in a recent Jockey Club round table forum featuring international trainers John Gosden and Jessica Harrington and 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Mark Casse, the 1980s were cited as being when the rot set in, leading to a marked deterioration in the quality of the breed. Where historically horses were produced by the old racing families on historic Kentucky farms to win races, there was a gradual change towards breeding horses for success at the sales rather than on the racetrack and pedigree began to trump performance. That trend towards producing precocious horses that looked good at the yearling sales was boosted by the widespread use of the steroid clenbuterol, not for its intended purpose as a bronchodilator, but because it increases muscle mass and makes yearlings look burly and mature. Sadly, clenbuterol also decreases bone density leading to a greater susceptibility to bone chips and fractures, one of the commonest causes of lameness in OTTBs.

Also implicated in the degeneration of the breed are the various financial initiatives set up in individual states to support and encourage the sport locally, a process that according to Mark Casse is “probably the thing that has hurt our breed the most in the U.S.” with stallions and mares in breeding programs that would otherwise never have “cut the mustard”. While not all producers can be tarred with the same brush, I have personally witnessed thoroughbred breeding facilities in the north-east where weedy, ill-conformed young-stock are raised in factory-farm conditions, with limited turn out due to both a shortage of land and the severity of the climate. Sadly, because it currently pays breeders in certain states to mass-produce horses in this way, many OTTBs will have begun their lives in similarly uncongenial surroundings rather than in the lush, white-railed pastures of our imaginings.

Another take from the round table was that horsemanship skills have severely diminished in the industry and young trainers now rely heavily on the many drugs that are uniquely permitted and accepted in American racing, rather than relying on time, care and good horse sense. And it’s not just well-known drugs like Lasix and Bute but a plethora of other products. As John Gosden pointed out, that means the American TB is “rather like a counterfeit coinage” because you don’t really know what you’ve got. Mark Casse is so depressed by the drug use that he questions whether he even wants to continue to train, while former Olympic eventer-turned-trainer, Jessica Harrington, reflects on how she would prefer to have horses living outside in a dust-free environment rather than depending on Lasix, and if a horse needs to be on Bute it probably needs time off. Wonderful sentiments, but if everyone else is taking short-cuts and availing themselves of pharmaceutical help, both legal and illegal, to win races and keep owners happy, there is less and less space in the market for those employing old-fashioned, ethical methods.

I strongly believe that the love affair with the American thoroughbred is now based on a romantic concept rather than on current reality, on the idea that “my horse is descended from Secretariat or Man O’ War”, rather than an understanding that the words Made in America which are metaphorically stamped on the upper lip of each registered foal actually denotes a very shoddy product. Indeed, I would contend that a seriously compromised new breed of horse, the 21st Century American Thoroughbred, has been willfully and deliberately engineered thanks to a toxic combination of greed and ignorance.

A successful, durable event horse needs to have been bred by design for the demands of the sport and his subsequent upbringing should follow a long-understood program for his care and development. The success of the Irish Sport Horse is testament to these two truths. An OTTB, by contrast, has had entirely the wrong diet, the wrong training and the wrong environment to foster soundness and longevity, and that’s without the aforementioned disregard of Darwinian principles in the breeding process and the widespread use of drugs in the horses’ training and development. Of course, there is no denying that some wonderful horses do defy the odds and make it to the top levels of eventing, but given the numbers that are bred every year these success stories are, statistically-speaking, a rarity.

So how is this iniquitous situation to be addressed and resolved? Firstly, I believe it must be firmly acknowledged, understood and accepted that many OTTBs are poor-quality equine specimens and the equestrian consumer needs to realize that they are being manipulated into accepting the status quo based on a vision of an American thoroughbred that no longer exists other than at the very highest levels. Just imagine what would happen if everyone said “we’re not playing any more until you set your house in order”. The thoroughbred industry would either have to send their rejects by the van load to Mexico for slaughter, or invest money in quality retirement facilities. The former solution would certainly be unpalatable to the public; the latter unpalatable to breeders, trainers and owners, but if the racing industry is to survive long-term those involved need to be part of the solution not just the cause of the problem. The worldwide Godolphin organization has some innovative schemes for their retired horses to lead useful but secure lives, with a built-in safety net if things don’t work out, and that is a route the whole industry needs to follow — read more here. Until that becomes the norm, I leave you to consider the inconvenient truth which is that people with more conscience than money are giving lifelong care and commitment to horses that have been discarded by people who have more money than conscience.

Friday News & Notes

By on Dec 11, 2020 12:03 am -

Horses being special always makes me smile. Photo courtesy of Daniel Mottishaw.

Its Friday! I’m ready for some long luxurious hacks on my ponies, and possibly baking some bread. This is your thirties, my friends, when you get excited about baking bread on the weekends and you’re not even embarrassed to admit it. HMU for some bread recipes when you realize you’re jealous.

U.S. Weekend Preview:

Full Gallop Farm December H.T.: [Website] [Entry Status]

News From Around the Globe: 

Every day, SmartPak is on a mission to support healthy horses and happy riders. Horses Building Trust is the fourth story in this SmartPak video series, bringing you into the barns of unique horses – from treasured therapy horses to the underdog-turned-Olympic-hopeful – showing how they’ve made an impact on the lives of their riders, and  SmartPak continues to support these horses and riders through their journey. “We’re proud to be donating 5% of sales on SmartPak brand tack and apparel on December 10th and 11th to the team at Ebony Horsewomen as well as partner with our friends at Ariat to provide a donation of quality products for the riders and staff there.” [SmartPak Gives Back]

Have you entered the Nation Media Holiday Contest yet? Learn how you could win an epic prize pack from Banixx, Haygain, Kentucky Performance Products, Legends Horse Feeds, and SmartPak here – and don’t wait! Entries close TODAY!!

Keeping horses sound throughout their careers is a fine science, mixed with a little magic perhaps. World of Showjumping spoke with Lars Roepstorff, a professor of equine functional anatomy and highly experienced veterinary surgeon about how to keep horses healthy and sound. From the system of breeding, to how and when to start a young horse, surfaces, and creating a system that can consider soundness with all training, Lars touches on it all. [Equine Soundness Factors]

Caitlin Gooch, is the founder of Saddle Up and Read (SUAR), a nonprofit focusing on encouraging youth to achieve literary excellence through equine activities. It all started in 2017 when Gooch began thinking of a way to help increase the literacy rates in North Carolina. That’s when she came up with the idea to provide children with a unique incentive to read. Partnering with a local library, Gooch came up with the notion to reward any child who checked out at least three books with a trip to visit her father’s horse farm – that became the genesis for SUAR. “Horses connect people and get kids excited. Why not use that energy to encourage kids to read.” [Meet The Woman Using Horses To Encourage Childhood Literacy]

Best of Blogs: Happiness Is A Lot of Poop

 

 

Thursday Helmet Cam from Cambox: Meet Another Young Talent in Andrew Hoy’s Stable

By on Dec 10, 2020 4:30 pm -

When perusing the internet for background on the splashily colored gelding who is the subject of this week’s helmet cam, I came across a comment on Andrew Hoy’s posts on Instagram: “Sometimes when watching 5* horses it’s easy to forget they weren’t born like that but nurtured slowly.” It’s for this reason why I find these helmet cams, even at a lower level than the big five-stars, to be so fascinating.

And so we come to another Thursday, another trip around a cross country track, once again this week with Andrew, who has just completed three weeks at the Portugal Winter Tour with his string. This week we’re pleased to meet Hasenacher Balou Couleur (Balou du Rouet – Glenara Mudslide, by Copabella Visage), an 8-year-old gelding bred in Australia with prominent show jumping talent featuring in his pedigree.

Bred by Glenara Stud owner Melissa Froesch, Hasenacher Balou Couleur started out with stallion duties in the Southern Hemisphere but was gelded before his trip to Europe to join up with Andrew’s program. “We have high hopes that Hasenacher Balou Couleur´s pedigree and his character will set him up for his career as an international sport horse, which is why we want to give him the best possible start – with being trained at Andrew Hoy´s yard,” Hasenacher Stud wrote on their website.

The young gelding is just in his second season of eventing, but he capped off his 2020 with a fifth place finish in the CCI1* division at the final leg of the Portugal Winter Tour at Barroca d’Alva. He and the rest of Andrew’s string will take a well-earned rest now as the team looks ahead to 2021.

Have you shopped Cambox’s holiday deals yet? You can save up to 30% on a Cambox bundle to capture videos just like these on your next ride. Click here to shop.