We’re thrilled to welcome Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch back as an Eventing Nation guest blogger. Stephanie and her incredible partner Port Authority are well known on EN for their incredible 2010 season, during which they helped Canada win team silver at the World Equestrian Games and placed ninth individually, as well as garnered a fifth-place finish at Rolex. Ollie has been recovering from an injury, but will be back in full swing this season. Be sure to like Steph on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
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Steph and Ollie
From Stephanie:
Hello, Eventing Nation! It’s good to be back! It seems like the EN community has grown a lot since the last time I was a guest blogger, and I’m glad to be a part of it for the spring of lucky 2013. I am really feeling like this is going to be a good year, with my 2010 Rolex and World Games partner and veteran campaigner Port Authority back in action alongside a string of younger horses. Last year was a great time, introducing a crew of 4-year-olds to the sport of eventing, but I was missing that huge meaning-of-life feeling that I get from training and competing Port Authority (Ollie).
Ollie was injured in the fall of 2011 after a very busy and very successful few years working our way up the levels. In between our first preliminary together in 2006 and his injury in 2011, we did two one-stars, three two-stars (including our bronze medal finish for Canada at NAYRC), three CIC3*, two CCI3* and two and 9/10 of one CCI4* (he was 5th and 9th at Rolex and WEG before we had a tumble at the 10-minute marker at Badminton in 2011 … boo). So once he was injured and the Olympic Dream died, he spent the better part of a year going on hacks in the woods with my dog and I.
While Ollie was on an extended vacation from his job, I finally had the opportunity to focus on trying to make a living and develop my skills as a rider on more than just one horse. The whole time I was campaigning Ollie, I was pretty focused on learning as much as possible and doing a good job for him, so I just picked up odd jobs and rode horses for people I met along the way. Since Ollie’s injury, I have made work a priority and I’ve managed to build up a fun little string of horses, owners and students, and I’m happy to say it looks like it’s still got room to grow!
I now have two really nice 5-year-old OTTBs. True Bellamy, owned by Chuck Akre of Virginia, and Seahawk, who was given to me by Jeffrey Tucker of Saratoga, N.Y., and is now being syndicated. The first new members of Seahawk’s ownership group are Scott and Lisa Robinson of New Hampshire, and I’m looking forward to growing this team! Both True Bellamy and Seahawk have broken in to the training level, with scores in the 20s and confident jump rounds. I have big hopes for these two boys, and I am so grateful to their owners for the opportunity to train them.
I also have a crew of sales horses that I am very proud to represent. Lesley Arnold’s Wind in the Willows and Cricket Song are lovely homebred Irish Sport and Connemara mares competing novice level, and the Lokey family’s Cherubino is a very fun Oldenburg gelding who has been there done that at the one-star level and is ready to teach someone the ropes. I recently sold Harbour the Truth, an OTTB gelding for Jim and Susan Hill of Calgary, Alberta, and I think his new owner will enjoy learning about eventing with him. I’m really grateful to the owners of all of these horses for trusting me with their horses and I’m excited for our upcoming year.
The first two months of this increasingly awesome year were spent in Ocala, Fla., escaping winter and trying to get myself on track for a successful season with the horses. A big part of the reason for going to Ocala has always been for me to take a lot of lessons and learn as much as possible. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Canadian High Performance training sessions with David O’Connor, and I was so grateful to be able to join in the training sessions this year with our new Canadian coach Clayton Fredericks.
Training with different coaches can be a great way to get a new point of view or a new perspective on the training process, and I think that Clayton’s priorities for the riders and horses were a really good addition to where I am at with Ollie at this point in his career. I can hardly wait to get back out and contribute to good results for Team Canada! I also took my 5-year-old Thoroughbred Seahawk over to Clayton for some jumping lessons, and it was so good for me to have Clayton push me to demand a better balance and quality of canter from Seahawk. He’s not a baby anymore!
With the EHV outbreak at HITS, we missed a couple of opportunities to compete in late February. I was really disappointed to miss Rocking Horse 3 and the combined test at Longwood Farm, but I couldn’t risk exposing my horses to the virus right before migrating back up north. I did, however, compete Nations Poet at Rocking Horse 3 for Scott and Lisa Robinson. Since Poet was not at my barn and had no plans to travel in the near future, we were happy with our plan to stay far away from other horses at Rocking Horse (which proved to be no problem; over half the field scratched!). It was Poet’s first event ever and he was such a star. Beginner novice is always such an exciting experience, and, quite frankly, I find it more nerve-wracking than competing at the upper levels!
A big, huge, unending thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters for making it possible for me to run away to Ocala to train and compete. Without the help of great brands and people, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this! Now that we are back in Maryland, we have a couple of combined tests, jumper shows and unrecognized HTs on the calendar at Loch Moy and other nearby farms. True Bellamy and Seahawk are being aimed towards the Young Event Horse competitions, as well as some more training level horse trials throughout the year, starting at The Fork in April. Willow, Cricket, Cherubino and any other horses that come my way will be out and about in Area 2 getting on with their seasons.
Ollie’s goal for the year is Galway Downs CCI3* in late October in Temecula, Calif. In order to prepare for this, we will do a couple intermediates in July, and the CIC at Richland Park in late August, followed by Plantation and Morven Park Advanced. All in all, it sounds like a busy and exciting year of eventing, and for that I am grateful. Looking forward to an awesome 2013!
