Sunday, December 12, 2010
However, those of you who know me, know that nothing makes my heart warmer than an elegant pony. But absolutely nothing makes me happier than a pony like this. I'm pretty sure he will fit in my suitcase!
Trip for Young Rider World Cup with Meagan Davis
Arrived in Frankfort after a fortunately uneventful flight. Meagan's mom Karen met me at my house and we went together to JFK for the flight. Meagan and her dad Bill met us at the airport. It's about a 1/2 hour drive to Kronberg to our very pleasant hotel near the Schafhof, the stables of Ann Katrin Linsenhof. This is where Meagan's horse Bentley is staying until the competition along with Jamie Holland's mare Fleurina (from Canada) and Georgia Worth's horse from New Zealand.
Georgia's horse's trip from Australia took a long time; they had an 8 hour layover in Singapore and another stop in UAE, but I don't think anyone traveling with horses has the story to tell that Bill Davis and Tom Dvorak have after their trip with the horses. Hopefully the entire story will be written up but in very, very brief:
horses bump along NYC roads in truck, into quarantine stables at JFK for 6 hours, delay for three hours, nice flight in humongous cargo plane, about to land in Frankfort, airport closed due to snow, fly to Cologne, start to land, about to land, shot back up into air, planes stuck in snow on runway, fly to Munich where they will "try" to land, before landing pilot says: "hang on, it;s gonna be rough" because will have to use engine to stop plane because don't want to use brakes, but his runway is short for this big a plane; they are last plane allowed to land; they wait; they wait; they wait; this crew leaves because their time allowance to fly is up - new crew comes in; Frankfort opens, maybe, we can't leave for hours because passenger planes have to be gotten in and out first; but we have live horses and are running out of food and horses will run out of patience soon (Bentley can be VERY opinionated about travel); too bad they are told; pilot keeps calling everyone possible; finally animal welfare people in Belgium are called; eventually after being given several different wheels up time, they are on their way again and land in Frankfort and after hours waiting for the vet there the horses are released after 34 hours of travel. The truck from Schafhof picks them up - Matthias Rath himself had driven out first on one of the unsuccessful trip. Bill said all the Lufthansa pilots and crew were wonderful throughout and he now knows all about how a cargo plane works.
As an FYI, Ann Katrin Linsenhoff is a former team rider for Germany (rode in Seoul “with” me), her mom Liselott was an individual Gold Medalist, and her stepson is Matthias Rath who was a very successful YR and this year represented Germany at WEG. He is to be the new rider of Totilas. Totilas isn’t here yet — he will come in January.
Anyway, Bentley now seems happy and comfortable. Meagan is doing her usual two times a day ride. In the morning she just stretches him for a 20 - 30 minute relaxing ride and in the afternoon we school him. His schooling is mostly suppling, reminding him of half halts and me annoying Meagan with position reminders :-)
So let me explain where we are -- Ann Katrin Linsenhof was instrumental in putting together a World Cup for Young Riders about 7 years ago. Riders are invited from around the world — I went with Mica Mabragana a couple of years ago — she represented South America. The US rider is chosen from the Freestyle scores from all the CDI’s around the US. The rider with the highest average of two scores is invited. Some of the riders go early to get training in Europe. The European representative usually were European Champion or highly placed in the European YR Champs. This year there are 14 riders – from Germany, Holland, England, Austria, Belgium,Denmark, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand.
Meagan is fighting a cold, but hopefully will be through with it by competition time on Thursday.
Kronberg is a bedroom community for Frankfort. Last night we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and fought the crowds at the Christmas Fair. Several streets are blocked off and the place was jam packed with people, baby strollers and big dogs.
When we arrived it was just above freezing. Most of the snow had melted. It has been raining or drizzling most of the time since then, just above freezing, although this afternoon the sun tried to come out for awhile.
A brief word about how I feel about Meagan and what she has accomplished. Meagan and her amazing family first came into my life in 2000 (I think) at the second Youth Dressage Festival. Two years later she rode in a clinic with me with her pony Van Gogh (all she remembers is the 45 minutes without stirrups!) and I showed her that she COULD do FEI pony and that summer she won the FEI Pony Championships at the CanAM Challenge in Canada. Meagan lives in Stone Ridge, NY — not exactly the center of Dressage riding in the US — not exactly the center of any kind of riding in the US. As she progressed from Van Gogh (FEI Pony) to Cachet (FEI Juniors at NAJYRC) to FEI Young Riders with Bentley (NAJYRC two years and this year’s National YR Champion at Gladstone) she worked with me off and on. Between the offs and ons, she works mostly on her own. In the past she had some lessons with Debbie Bowman, Tom Noone, Volker Moritz, Courtney Dye, Scott Hassler, Henk van Bergen and some of the USDF Young Rider Clinics (Conrad Schumacher, Sue Blinks, George Williams), but the day to day (week to week and often month to month work) has been on her own at home where they have no indoor. And of course anyone that rides with me has the disadvantage of not having someone get on to fix a problem or demonstrate how it should work. No matter how talented someone might be, this is a real disadvantage — one learns by feeling what is correct (for both rider AND horse) or seeing what is correct — it is hard to learn by only being told what is correct. Also as a teacher, it is always nice to be able to get on and feel what the rider is feeling to be able to relate better.
Bentley came to Meagan as a very successful horse, but a horse with some serious issues (some of you may have seen the pictures of Bentley doing his antice with Meagan and with other riders!). He was unlike anything she had ridden before — both at his best and at his worst. Meagan’s riding has improved tremendously in the two years she has had him — there have been some major ups and downs — thrills and disappointments. But I have never known Meagan ever to be discouraged. She comes for a lesson occasionally and then does her work faithfully at home. When she returns for the next lesson she can efficiently tell me what is going well and what is not. There were sometimes months between lessons. Even the best riders in the world have people watching their schooling all the time. Meagan is fortunate that her dad fulfills this role the best he can. Bill listens and watches at her lessons and has developed a terrific eye. At the shows Bill and I often stand together and his suggestions are always right on.
I feel honored to be part of this team — Karen is the most organized person I know. I have no worries that the paperwork is correct and that we have the latest information. Bill can fix anything, handle the horse, and keep us laughing. Even younger brother Brad is a supportive and helpful part of this team. So no matter what happens this week, I feel fortunate to be here with Meagan — the culmination of her years as a youth rider. Starting next Monday she will be looking forward to competing as an adult.
The competition is part of a major show — lots of classes including top level show jumping and a World Cup qualifier for Dressage — we probably will see a lot of riders who came to WEG including Peter Gmoser, Christoph Koschel, Matthias Rath, Isabell Werth, Imke Schellekens Bartels, Patrick Kittel, plus other top competitors like Ulla Salzgeber and Victoria Max-Theurer. Should be fun. They organize a show that is super fun for spectators.
Georgia's horse's trip from Australia took a long time; they had an 8 hour layover in Singapore and another stop in UAE, but I don't think anyone traveling with horses has the story to tell that Bill Davis and Tom Dvorak have after their trip with the horses. Hopefully the entire story will be written up but in very, very brief:
horses bump along NYC roads in truck, into quarantine stables at JFK for 6 hours, delay for three hours, nice flight in humongous cargo plane, about to land in Frankfort, airport closed due to snow, fly to Cologne, start to land, about to land, shot back up into air, planes stuck in snow on runway, fly to Munich where they will "try" to land, before landing pilot says: "hang on, it;s gonna be rough" because will have to use engine to stop plane because don't want to use brakes, but his runway is short for this big a plane; they are last plane allowed to land; they wait; they wait; they wait; this crew leaves because their time allowance to fly is up - new crew comes in; Frankfort opens, maybe, we can't leave for hours because passenger planes have to be gotten in and out first; but we have live horses and are running out of food and horses will run out of patience soon (Bentley can be VERY opinionated about travel); too bad they are told; pilot keeps calling everyone possible; finally animal welfare people in Belgium are called; eventually after being given several different wheels up time, they are on their way again and land in Frankfort and after hours waiting for the vet there the horses are released after 34 hours of travel. The truck from Schafhof picks them up - Matthias Rath himself had driven out first on one of the unsuccessful trip. Bill said all the Lufthansa pilots and crew were wonderful throughout and he now knows all about how a cargo plane works.
As an FYI, Ann Katrin Linsenhoff is a former team rider for Germany (rode in Seoul “with” me), her mom Liselott was an individual Gold Medalist, and her stepson is Matthias Rath who was a very successful YR and this year represented Germany at WEG. He is to be the new rider of Totilas. Totilas isn’t here yet — he will come in January.
Anyway, Bentley now seems happy and comfortable. Meagan is doing her usual two times a day ride. In the morning she just stretches him for a 20 - 30 minute relaxing ride and in the afternoon we school him. His schooling is mostly suppling, reminding him of half halts and me annoying Meagan with position reminders :-)
So let me explain where we are -- Ann Katrin Linsenhof was instrumental in putting together a World Cup for Young Riders about 7 years ago. Riders are invited from around the world — I went with Mica Mabragana a couple of years ago — she represented South America. The US rider is chosen from the Freestyle scores from all the CDI’s around the US. The rider with the highest average of two scores is invited. Some of the riders go early to get training in Europe. The European representative usually were European Champion or highly placed in the European YR Champs. This year there are 14 riders – from Germany, Holland, England, Austria, Belgium,Denmark, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand.
Meagan is fighting a cold, but hopefully will be through with it by competition time on Thursday.
Kronberg is a bedroom community for Frankfort. Last night we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and fought the crowds at the Christmas Fair. Several streets are blocked off and the place was jam packed with people, baby strollers and big dogs.
When we arrived it was just above freezing. Most of the snow had melted. It has been raining or drizzling most of the time since then, just above freezing, although this afternoon the sun tried to come out for awhile.
A brief word about how I feel about Meagan and what she has accomplished. Meagan and her amazing family first came into my life in 2000 (I think) at the second Youth Dressage Festival. Two years later she rode in a clinic with me with her pony Van Gogh (all she remembers is the 45 minutes without stirrups!) and I showed her that she COULD do FEI pony and that summer she won the FEI Pony Championships at the CanAM Challenge in Canada. Meagan lives in Stone Ridge, NY — not exactly the center of Dressage riding in the US — not exactly the center of any kind of riding in the US. As she progressed from Van Gogh (FEI Pony) to Cachet (FEI Juniors at NAJYRC) to FEI Young Riders with Bentley (NAJYRC two years and this year’s National YR Champion at Gladstone) she worked with me off and on. Between the offs and ons, she works mostly on her own. In the past she had some lessons with Debbie Bowman, Tom Noone, Volker Moritz, Courtney Dye, Scott Hassler, Henk van Bergen and some of the USDF Young Rider Clinics (Conrad Schumacher, Sue Blinks, George Williams), but the day to day (week to week and often month to month work) has been on her own at home where they have no indoor. And of course anyone that rides with me has the disadvantage of not having someone get on to fix a problem or demonstrate how it should work. No matter how talented someone might be, this is a real disadvantage — one learns by feeling what is correct (for both rider AND horse) or seeing what is correct — it is hard to learn by only being told what is correct. Also as a teacher, it is always nice to be able to get on and feel what the rider is feeling to be able to relate better.
Bentley came to Meagan as a very successful horse, but a horse with some serious issues (some of you may have seen the pictures of Bentley doing his antice with Meagan and with other riders!). He was unlike anything she had ridden before — both at his best and at his worst. Meagan’s riding has improved tremendously in the two years she has had him — there have been some major ups and downs — thrills and disappointments. But I have never known Meagan ever to be discouraged. She comes for a lesson occasionally and then does her work faithfully at home. When she returns for the next lesson she can efficiently tell me what is going well and what is not. There were sometimes months between lessons. Even the best riders in the world have people watching their schooling all the time. Meagan is fortunate that her dad fulfills this role the best he can. Bill listens and watches at her lessons and has developed a terrific eye. At the shows Bill and I often stand together and his suggestions are always right on.
I feel honored to be part of this team — Karen is the most organized person I know. I have no worries that the paperwork is correct and that we have the latest information. Bill can fix anything, handle the horse, and keep us laughing. Even younger brother Brad is a supportive and helpful part of this team. So no matter what happens this week, I feel fortunate to be here with Meagan — the culmination of her years as a youth rider. Starting next Monday she will be looking forward to competing as an adult.
The competition is part of a major show — lots of classes including top level show jumping and a World Cup qualifier for Dressage — we probably will see a lot of riders who came to WEG including Peter Gmoser, Christoph Koschel, Matthias Rath, Isabell Werth, Imke Schellekens Bartels, Patrick Kittel, plus other top competitors like Ulla Salzgeber and Victoria Max-Theurer. Should be fun. They organize a show that is super fun for spectators.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
An Update on Courtney
Courtney is still technically in a coma, although she sometimes responds to commands to move and even smile. She is being put in a special chair to allow her to sit up for periods of time. Tomorrow she will be flown in an air ambulance to The Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in W. Orange, NJ. This highly regarded facility is near her northern home and a large support group. Even better they are open to having her dogs and even a horse visit! This is the beginning of a long road of rehab although no one can tell us how long or how difficult that road will be. The address is 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052. Cards and notes are welcome, no flowers yet please. Visitors will still be extremely restricted and in the future we will create a schedule for visitors. Anyone wanting to visit should contact me graydressage@optonline.net.
Courtney’s family is extremely grateful for the outpouring of love shown through cards and email — comebackcourt@gmail.com. I have received such amazing support through my facebook page and want everyone to know that Betsy Tyler, Jen Baumert, Courtney’s parents, brothers, and sister have joined Jason at her side daily. There is a friendly face with her 24 hours a day.
There have also been so many people generously helping with the finances. While insurance will cover most of her medical bills at this time, the generosity of others is helping with her two flights, the medical extras necessary, as well as some of her regular expenses like mortgage, car payments, etc. We will make sure Courtney is always taken care of , but we appreciate those who are offering to help. There are various fundraising efforts: the first was done by Charlotte Page and Brendan and Kaitlyn Tota. These children sold carrots and apples during the Palm Beach Dressage Derby right after Courtney’s accident. Upcoming activities include a clinic that Stefan Peters is donating, an online auction of a Patricia Powers painting donated by Tami Hoag - http://greydun.com/index.html - as well as a Succeed sponsored online ebay auction. Thank you all so much for your generosity. Any donations should be made to the Courtney King Dye Trust, % Equine Business Institute, PO Box 286, S. Deerfield, MA 01373.
Courtney’s horses are being cared for by her regular staff and Jenn Marchand, her long time assistant, is currently working them. They will be going north to her summer home in NY in a couple of weeks. All owners have decided to keep the horses fit and ready for Courtney’s return.
Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, offers, and overall caring for Courtney.
Courtney’s family is extremely grateful for the outpouring of love shown through cards and email — comebackcourt@gmail.com. I have received such amazing support through my facebook page and want everyone to know that Betsy Tyler, Jen Baumert, Courtney’s parents, brothers, and sister have joined Jason at her side daily. There is a friendly face with her 24 hours a day.
There have also been so many people generously helping with the finances. While insurance will cover most of her medical bills at this time, the generosity of others is helping with her two flights, the medical extras necessary, as well as some of her regular expenses like mortgage, car payments, etc. We will make sure Courtney is always taken care of , but we appreciate those who are offering to help. There are various fundraising efforts: the first was done by Charlotte Page and Brendan and Kaitlyn Tota. These children sold carrots and apples during the Palm Beach Dressage Derby right after Courtney’s accident. Upcoming activities include a clinic that Stefan Peters is donating, an online auction of a Patricia Powers painting donated by Tami Hoag - http://greydun.com/index.html - as well as a Succeed sponsored online ebay auction. Thank you all so much for your generosity. Any donations should be made to the Courtney King Dye Trust, % Equine Business Institute, PO Box 286, S. Deerfield, MA 01373.
Courtney’s horses are being cared for by her regular staff and Jenn Marchand, her long time assistant, is currently working them. They will be going north to her summer home in NY in a couple of weeks. All owners have decided to keep the horses fit and ready for Courtney’s return.
Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, offers, and overall caring for Courtney.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My trip to Spain
I am starting my trip home from an amazing 5 days in Seville, Spain. With thanks to Kim Boyer of Hampton Green Farm, I know much more about the Spanish Andalusian horse, saw some lovely Spanish countryside and was awed by SICAB (Salon Internacional del Caballo PRE), the daunting trade fair/breed and performance national championships/exhibition, etc. all celebrating the PRE (pure Spanish horse). I joined Kim and her husband Fred, their business manager Joan, and Courtney and Jason Dye. We had a blast!
The flight over was uneventful although we bumped all the way across the Atlantic. On the flight from Madrid south to Seville I got my first glimpse of Spain. The only other time I was in Spain was in 1969 when I went by ship to Italy for my college Junior year abroad – we stopped for about three hours in Malaga. The countryside was mostly flat with some hills, very dry and barren looking at this time of year. After leaving New York at 6 PM we arrived in Seville about 7 AM (about 1 AM home time and needed to stay up until about 10 PM (4 PM home time). I used to be able to pull all nighters but can’t any more. Only last night did I get a decent sleep – my body could not figure out what time it was.
Alex Zilo (who owns a champion PRE) and his wife Lily, who competes for Hong Kong) had gotten us wristbands so we could go anywhere, although mostly that meant we could get in free and get into the warm up ring. Everyone could go everywhere else.
There are about 1000 horses there and everyone wanders through the stables. The breeding mares are all in stalls in one wing of the convention center – really they are in pens so their heads can hang into each other’s stalls. They are there for at least a week and I never saw one being taken out for a walk. The stalls are no more than 8 x 8 and some even had rather large foals with mom. In general mares are not ridden (keep ‘em barefoot and pregnant). You can quickly tell a mare under saddle because her mane will be roached and her tail cut often just below the bone. The other stables are in tents and anyone can go there, peer in the stalls, pat the horses. Actually you could go in the stalls because, at least during the week, there are very few people around the horses. No one worries, which is a testament to the temperament to the PRE stallions. On the weekend when the place was truly mobbed – as in, one literally could barely move through the crowds – it wasn’t unusual to see a small child riding a stallion piaffing through the crowd. Amazing!
Another wing of the convention center has the stud farm stands many with a stallion or two in a tie stall right there with the crowd. This was definitely the place to be at night – the parties started in earnest about 11 PM with much camaraderie, drinking, and flamenco.
Another wing of the convention center was for a trade fair with everything imaginable for sale, and on the end was a sort dressage arena sized ring where on three sides people could hang over the rail. On the weekend the crowd was 6 or 7 people deep and the grandstand along one side was packed. Here they had the morphology classes – in hand classes – mares and stallions separate from age 2. In these the handler has the horse on a halter or small lunge cavesson. He walks the horse down the center line, then canters the horse on a lunge circle and jazzes him up, then the handler runs down the middle of the ring while the horse does extended trot down the side (on a lunge length lead), canters a few circles, runs the long side at trot – several times. This way the judges see the horses at all three gaits – unlike us who never see the horse canter in hand. The handlers are 99% men in VERY tight pants, little Spanish jackets and hats – they were as fun to watch as the horses. I watched one class of 21 stallions. They all stood next to each other along one side and then one at a time they do their in hand work. They had to be there close to an hour – side by side and I never saw one be disobedient. They stood absolutely quietly – then perked up for their performance and then stood very obediently again.
The top horses were taken from each age group, age 4 and up– stallion and mare groups, then performed in the Functionality test – sort of a first level test in the Dressage arena. The champions are the ones with the highest scores from each test. This way they don’t have so much the problem that we have in the US where the most gorgeous in hand horses in all the breeds often never become great performers.
Other classes included Prix St. Georges, Intermediare Kur, Grand Prix and Grand Prix Kur, FEI 4, 5, and 6 year olds. And four in hand and pair combined driving, show jumping, and levels of Doma Vaquera (4 – 6 year olds, and 6 and older) alta esquela and concurso de exhibiciones). These were held in the smaller ring and the horses were ridden in traditional Spanish attire (tack and clothes). The saddles sit high off the backs with simple decorations and cruppers. The bridles were either a pelham type set up or a combination curb hackamore with the top rein attached to the noseband. The manes were French braided and the tails were tied up in what we call a mud tail. The best I can tell is the riders are given about 4 minutes to do whatever they want showing walk trot and canter. Some did lots of quick transitions trot, walk about 6 times in a row. Lots of circles (most with very good bending, lots of counter canter at a very brisk canter, some sort of sliding stops, long distance rein backs, poor flying changes in the more advanced classes. They do dressage movements plus Spanish walk in the highest levels. My impression is that those without the quality work required in a dressage test do these tests: not so correct in the contact, unevenness in movements, weak extensions, poor walks (all by dressage competition standards). Still they were fun to watch and I saw some really nice horses who with better riding could be wonderful dressage horses. It wasn’t uncommon to see a horse who wouldn’t do well in the dressage arena due to poor contact, resistant transitions, etc. and then he would do a gorgeous piaffe and/or passage.
We saw no young riders in competition and very, very few women – although a woman won the Grand Prix Freestyle. During the week I would say that more than 90% of the spectators were men. On the weekend everyone was there – lots of families. I think the stands had more people watching the in hand classes even that the Grand Prix Freestyle. They take their horse breeding very, very seriously.
Courtney and I did an interview for the PRE Magazine. They were especially interested in what we thought of their breed, how they could improve it, and about their training. Kim was telling us about how they are working to improve the walks especially for their sport horses – length of stride never meant anything to them. Their horses have very active walks but not very long strides. And the younger horses do have better walks.
After watching the Grand Prix, Courtney and I agreed that there wasn’t a horse in the class we wouldn’t like to have in our stable – either as an amateur horse, or a nice competition horse or…there as one that we both felt could be a top international horse – wow, he was fabulous – good walk, very supple, very good extensions, super scopey half passes, and excellent canter work and piaffe/passage.
Every night they have the “espectaculo” – performances of all types for entertainment. I went twice and had a blast. There was a very good pas de trois (Grand Prix level). There was a really very good couple who did a tango on horse back…lots of riding knee to knee, one facing forward the other facing backward and one horse would back while the other walked forward, sideways, turns – it was fun. They had a driving exhibition. All in the ring at the same time: a single, a pair, two horses one in front of the other, one horse with two behind, a four in hand, two horses in front and three behind, one horse in front (not pulling anything), and two and two behind. They all went around the outside one behind the other and then one carriage at a time they drove figures through the middle. The 2/2/1 carriage, the lead horse who only has reins to him, no harness, sort,of drifted about in front of his four behind him. Then when they went into the middle the driver turned the coach so sharply that the front horse almost touched the back of the carriage.
Raphael Soto and Invasor, the most famous Spanish dressage competitor did a very effusive freestyle to finish the performances one night – dressed in traditional Spanish attire. He’s a real showman.
There was a Hungarian group on little horses – an older man with six students who did a liberty, trick riding, roman riding (standing with one foot on each of two horses) that was extremely entertaining. They did some wild vaulting type moves on their horses while they galloped fast around the ring with no bridles. The best was when one girl was roman riding at trot and three loose horses, one behind the other galloped up behind and between the two horses, under the rider’s legs.
There was a flamenco dancer --I have to say I have a hard time appreciating flamenco singing (yelling) and dancing, but they probably don’t understand the twist ☺. They did a lovely performance with her and some traditional riders with a long pole that the horses work around, and at one point the rider holding one end of her shawl. It was very well done. There were also horses doing airs above the ground that were pretty spectacular. One of the horses who did the capriole would jump in the air three or four times before he got the kick-out – sort of saying I know I can, I know I can, I know I can – there! I did it. He was so focused and trying so hard. Then there was one horse who stood straight up on his hind legs and hopped backwards and at the end he reared straight up and stood there for about 15 seconds.
One horse/handler from the Spanish National School did a very good long reining demo.
By far the most exciting and unique were the Moroccans. Apparently every year SICAB partners with a country. The Morrocans had a large booth in the breeders tent. There were three artisans working on their equipment. One man was making rifles (real ones), another man was doing the inlay on the stirrups, and a woman was doing the incredibly elaborate “embroidery” that covered all their tack.
During the exhibitions they came in in Moroccan warrior gear – flowing robes and head gear, saddles that literally put them at least a foot above the horses backs, knives at their sides. They started in a long line, about 15 of them next to each other and came down the arena at a???? canter? That was no faster than I could crawl. It was sort of three beat, with a little up and down hopping. Three of the horses did more of a canter but continually rotated left and right, sort of quarter pirouettes, non stop down the arena, sort of running into each other. After coming all the way from one end to the other like this they did a little quadrille type performance – not a lot of polish. They ended up at the far end of the arena and once again did their little canter almost in place, then all of a sudden with blood curdling yells went flat out toward the end of the arena. Just as you were sure they would run into the wall, the rifles went off and they slammed on their brakes – lifted everyone right out of their seats. The first night I was seated quite high up in a corner – I had gone alone while the others in our group went into the city for dinner. The second night we had very VIP seats and I was seated in the front row, floor level with nothing but a little flimsy fence between me and the arena. During the performance there was one horse who was a bit out of control. Of course I knew what was coming at the end and I noticed that the horse who had been difficult was directly opposite me. It was all I could do not to sneak into the back of our section and hide – but let me tell you with the bits they had in their mouths those horses were going to stop – and they did.
On Friday Kim, Fred, and I dove to Malaga, on the Mediterranean with Danny who rides a horse Kim bred and owns who is doing PSG. We drove through endless olive groves and over the mountains to the sea. It was interesting to see a typical Spanish stable – right in town, one “paddock” about 30’ x 60’, riding ring with just enough sand footing., an old building, nice stalls with straw bedding. I am sure there are many days the horses don’t get out of their stalls. They are given two big flakes of hay on the morning, and get an oats corn mixture three times a day. At the show we saw many horses without water buckets. They obviously get watered at certain times.
I gave Danny a lesson – here he is one of the better FEI riders in Spain and it was his first help in over two years. He started out riding doma vaquera as most of the riders do and then switched to dressage (doma classica). Danny treated us to a delectable seafood lunch – the first time I had seen fish cooked completely encased in about a ½ inch of salt. One night in Seville I had fish and it was heavily salted so that one actually crunched down on chunks (not grains) of salt – too much for me. But the fish is Malaga after they broke the crust and peeled the salt off with the skin, was scrumptious.
So now I am on my way home, having missed Thanksgiving for the second time in my life. The first time was in 1969 while I was studying in Rome. I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Vienna at the Spanish Riding School. This was such a special trip and a great break. Thank you Kim and Fred.
The flight over was uneventful although we bumped all the way across the Atlantic. On the flight from Madrid south to Seville I got my first glimpse of Spain. The only other time I was in Spain was in 1969 when I went by ship to Italy for my college Junior year abroad – we stopped for about three hours in Malaga. The countryside was mostly flat with some hills, very dry and barren looking at this time of year. After leaving New York at 6 PM we arrived in Seville about 7 AM (about 1 AM home time and needed to stay up until about 10 PM (4 PM home time). I used to be able to pull all nighters but can’t any more. Only last night did I get a decent sleep – my body could not figure out what time it was.
Alex Zilo (who owns a champion PRE) and his wife Lily, who competes for Hong Kong) had gotten us wristbands so we could go anywhere, although mostly that meant we could get in free and get into the warm up ring. Everyone could go everywhere else.
There are about 1000 horses there and everyone wanders through the stables. The breeding mares are all in stalls in one wing of the convention center – really they are in pens so their heads can hang into each other’s stalls. They are there for at least a week and I never saw one being taken out for a walk. The stalls are no more than 8 x 8 and some even had rather large foals with mom. In general mares are not ridden (keep ‘em barefoot and pregnant). You can quickly tell a mare under saddle because her mane will be roached and her tail cut often just below the bone. The other stables are in tents and anyone can go there, peer in the stalls, pat the horses. Actually you could go in the stalls because, at least during the week, there are very few people around the horses. No one worries, which is a testament to the temperament to the PRE stallions. On the weekend when the place was truly mobbed – as in, one literally could barely move through the crowds – it wasn’t unusual to see a small child riding a stallion piaffing through the crowd. Amazing!
Another wing of the convention center has the stud farm stands many with a stallion or two in a tie stall right there with the crowd. This was definitely the place to be at night – the parties started in earnest about 11 PM with much camaraderie, drinking, and flamenco.
Another wing of the convention center was for a trade fair with everything imaginable for sale, and on the end was a sort dressage arena sized ring where on three sides people could hang over the rail. On the weekend the crowd was 6 or 7 people deep and the grandstand along one side was packed. Here they had the morphology classes – in hand classes – mares and stallions separate from age 2. In these the handler has the horse on a halter or small lunge cavesson. He walks the horse down the center line, then canters the horse on a lunge circle and jazzes him up, then the handler runs down the middle of the ring while the horse does extended trot down the side (on a lunge length lead), canters a few circles, runs the long side at trot – several times. This way the judges see the horses at all three gaits – unlike us who never see the horse canter in hand. The handlers are 99% men in VERY tight pants, little Spanish jackets and hats – they were as fun to watch as the horses. I watched one class of 21 stallions. They all stood next to each other along one side and then one at a time they do their in hand work. They had to be there close to an hour – side by side and I never saw one be disobedient. They stood absolutely quietly – then perked up for their performance and then stood very obediently again.
The top horses were taken from each age group, age 4 and up– stallion and mare groups, then performed in the Functionality test – sort of a first level test in the Dressage arena. The champions are the ones with the highest scores from each test. This way they don’t have so much the problem that we have in the US where the most gorgeous in hand horses in all the breeds often never become great performers.
Other classes included Prix St. Georges, Intermediare Kur, Grand Prix and Grand Prix Kur, FEI 4, 5, and 6 year olds. And four in hand and pair combined driving, show jumping, and levels of Doma Vaquera (4 – 6 year olds, and 6 and older) alta esquela and concurso de exhibiciones). These were held in the smaller ring and the horses were ridden in traditional Spanish attire (tack and clothes). The saddles sit high off the backs with simple decorations and cruppers. The bridles were either a pelham type set up or a combination curb hackamore with the top rein attached to the noseband. The manes were French braided and the tails were tied up in what we call a mud tail. The best I can tell is the riders are given about 4 minutes to do whatever they want showing walk trot and canter. Some did lots of quick transitions trot, walk about 6 times in a row. Lots of circles (most with very good bending, lots of counter canter at a very brisk canter, some sort of sliding stops, long distance rein backs, poor flying changes in the more advanced classes. They do dressage movements plus Spanish walk in the highest levels. My impression is that those without the quality work required in a dressage test do these tests: not so correct in the contact, unevenness in movements, weak extensions, poor walks (all by dressage competition standards). Still they were fun to watch and I saw some really nice horses who with better riding could be wonderful dressage horses. It wasn’t uncommon to see a horse who wouldn’t do well in the dressage arena due to poor contact, resistant transitions, etc. and then he would do a gorgeous piaffe and/or passage.
We saw no young riders in competition and very, very few women – although a woman won the Grand Prix Freestyle. During the week I would say that more than 90% of the spectators were men. On the weekend everyone was there – lots of families. I think the stands had more people watching the in hand classes even that the Grand Prix Freestyle. They take their horse breeding very, very seriously.
Courtney and I did an interview for the PRE Magazine. They were especially interested in what we thought of their breed, how they could improve it, and about their training. Kim was telling us about how they are working to improve the walks especially for their sport horses – length of stride never meant anything to them. Their horses have very active walks but not very long strides. And the younger horses do have better walks.
After watching the Grand Prix, Courtney and I agreed that there wasn’t a horse in the class we wouldn’t like to have in our stable – either as an amateur horse, or a nice competition horse or…there as one that we both felt could be a top international horse – wow, he was fabulous – good walk, very supple, very good extensions, super scopey half passes, and excellent canter work and piaffe/passage.
Every night they have the “espectaculo” – performances of all types for entertainment. I went twice and had a blast. There was a very good pas de trois (Grand Prix level). There was a really very good couple who did a tango on horse back…lots of riding knee to knee, one facing forward the other facing backward and one horse would back while the other walked forward, sideways, turns – it was fun. They had a driving exhibition. All in the ring at the same time: a single, a pair, two horses one in front of the other, one horse with two behind, a four in hand, two horses in front and three behind, one horse in front (not pulling anything), and two and two behind. They all went around the outside one behind the other and then one carriage at a time they drove figures through the middle. The 2/2/1 carriage, the lead horse who only has reins to him, no harness, sort,of drifted about in front of his four behind him. Then when they went into the middle the driver turned the coach so sharply that the front horse almost touched the back of the carriage.
Raphael Soto and Invasor, the most famous Spanish dressage competitor did a very effusive freestyle to finish the performances one night – dressed in traditional Spanish attire. He’s a real showman.
There was a Hungarian group on little horses – an older man with six students who did a liberty, trick riding, roman riding (standing with one foot on each of two horses) that was extremely entertaining. They did some wild vaulting type moves on their horses while they galloped fast around the ring with no bridles. The best was when one girl was roman riding at trot and three loose horses, one behind the other galloped up behind and between the two horses, under the rider’s legs.
There was a flamenco dancer --I have to say I have a hard time appreciating flamenco singing (yelling) and dancing, but they probably don’t understand the twist ☺. They did a lovely performance with her and some traditional riders with a long pole that the horses work around, and at one point the rider holding one end of her shawl. It was very well done. There were also horses doing airs above the ground that were pretty spectacular. One of the horses who did the capriole would jump in the air three or four times before he got the kick-out – sort of saying I know I can, I know I can, I know I can – there! I did it. He was so focused and trying so hard. Then there was one horse who stood straight up on his hind legs and hopped backwards and at the end he reared straight up and stood there for about 15 seconds.
One horse/handler from the Spanish National School did a very good long reining demo.
By far the most exciting and unique were the Moroccans. Apparently every year SICAB partners with a country. The Morrocans had a large booth in the breeders tent. There were three artisans working on their equipment. One man was making rifles (real ones), another man was doing the inlay on the stirrups, and a woman was doing the incredibly elaborate “embroidery” that covered all their tack.
During the exhibitions they came in in Moroccan warrior gear – flowing robes and head gear, saddles that literally put them at least a foot above the horses backs, knives at their sides. They started in a long line, about 15 of them next to each other and came down the arena at a???? canter? That was no faster than I could crawl. It was sort of three beat, with a little up and down hopping. Three of the horses did more of a canter but continually rotated left and right, sort of quarter pirouettes, non stop down the arena, sort of running into each other. After coming all the way from one end to the other like this they did a little quadrille type performance – not a lot of polish. They ended up at the far end of the arena and once again did their little canter almost in place, then all of a sudden with blood curdling yells went flat out toward the end of the arena. Just as you were sure they would run into the wall, the rifles went off and they slammed on their brakes – lifted everyone right out of their seats. The first night I was seated quite high up in a corner – I had gone alone while the others in our group went into the city for dinner. The second night we had very VIP seats and I was seated in the front row, floor level with nothing but a little flimsy fence between me and the arena. During the performance there was one horse who was a bit out of control. Of course I knew what was coming at the end and I noticed that the horse who had been difficult was directly opposite me. It was all I could do not to sneak into the back of our section and hide – but let me tell you with the bits they had in their mouths those horses were going to stop – and they did.
On Friday Kim, Fred, and I dove to Malaga, on the Mediterranean with Danny who rides a horse Kim bred and owns who is doing PSG. We drove through endless olive groves and over the mountains to the sea. It was interesting to see a typical Spanish stable – right in town, one “paddock” about 30’ x 60’, riding ring with just enough sand footing., an old building, nice stalls with straw bedding. I am sure there are many days the horses don’t get out of their stalls. They are given two big flakes of hay on the morning, and get an oats corn mixture three times a day. At the show we saw many horses without water buckets. They obviously get watered at certain times.
I gave Danny a lesson – here he is one of the better FEI riders in Spain and it was his first help in over two years. He started out riding doma vaquera as most of the riders do and then switched to dressage (doma classica). Danny treated us to a delectable seafood lunch – the first time I had seen fish cooked completely encased in about a ½ inch of salt. One night in Seville I had fish and it was heavily salted so that one actually crunched down on chunks (not grains) of salt – too much for me. But the fish is Malaga after they broke the crust and peeled the salt off with the skin, was scrumptious.
So now I am on my way home, having missed Thanksgiving for the second time in my life. The first time was in 1969 while I was studying in Rome. I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Vienna at the Spanish Riding School. This was such a special trip and a great break. Thank you Kim and Fred.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Kids working for their success
An invitation to a party and a fundraiser -- how great it is to see two 15 year old kids taking the initiative, going into town and getting donations for their silent auction, and planning the day of fun and fundraising. Do come join us on Sunday with Tina Konyot, Courtney King and Young Rider Reserve National Champion Meagan Davis riding her freestyle.
Starting at 12:30 there will be a luncheon (with a suggested donation) and participants may eat while watching the horses. There will be a performance by Tina on her Grand Prix horse. Olympian and two time world cup competitor Courtney King Dye will address the audience at about 1:30. Two young riders who are trying to raise funds so they may compete in the Youth Dressage Festival as well as their regional championships will ride with commentary by Lendon Gray, two time Olympic rider and trainer.
For the luncheon please RSVP to Heather Ward at heatherton2000@yahoo.com or call 914 234-6302.
In the afternoon during and after the performances there will be a silent auction to raise funds for Megan Heeder and Rachel Chowanec’s journey to equestrian success. These two girls are willing to work hard washing cars, baby sitting, trunk cleaning, whatever they can do to finance their dream this year.
There will be refreshments available all afternoon as well as face painting and other activities for kids.
The program and activities should be fun for all from the grandparents to the kids; for Dressage experts to those who simply love to watch horses. Come and bring the family and your neighbors.
Below is part of the list of auction items. Contact Lendon if you would like to place a bid before the auction
a private tour of the MET permanent collection for 4, followed by lunch in the Trustees' dining room overlooking Central Park - donated by Francine Walker
Custom Hand-Painted Portrait of your animal by Jeanne Pacchiana
2 Consulting Sessions with Tammy Vankrevlen. See website for more information: http://intuitiveadvancements.com
Afternoon of sailing lessons down the Hudson River for up to 6 people donated by the Jennings family
Fancy Belt and $250 Gift Card to L’Armoire, New Canaan
Cooking Class for 6 with Jackie Hijkoop
Chef for Dinner Party by Jackie Hijkoop
Colored Pencil Sketch done by Laura Satterfield; with horse and owner or from photo
Various styles of custom-made jewelry donated by Ingrid Taff
Activate Your Horse’s Core autographed by author, Hilary Clayton
Michigan State University Children’s Choir CD (featuring Megan)
Handheld CD Player donated by CVS
Night of Babysitting (M & R)
Thinline Saddle Pad donated by Thinline
2 Lessons on Rendezvous 3, Francine Walker’s Grand Prix mare, with Courtney King-Dye
Photography Session by Jayne
Lesson on Simba
Lesson on Mouse
Lesson on Sunny
Lesson on Loui
Lesson on Danny
Lesson on Ivan taught by owner Laura Satterfield
1 Free Clipping by Edgar
Copies of Lessons with Lendon
Copies of Mikhail the Dressage Mouse
Joules Jacket, light blue (Size Large) donated by The Horse Connection
2 Movie Tickets to Bedford Playhouse
MOSS Tack Soap
2 Lessons with Lendon Gray at HW Dressage to new students on their own horses
$25 Gift Certificate to Bedford Hardware
Trailer Cleaning (M & R)
Boot Polishing (M & R)
Tack Trunk Cleaning (M & R)
Tack Cleaning (M & R)
Car Washing (M & R)
2 US PRE polo shirts donated by Hampton Green Farm
Hat with Hampton Green Farm logo
Tote with Hampton Green Farm logo
Handmade Fleece Blanket- purple and black check with horse heads donated by Mrs. Heeder
Gift Certificate from Burts Ives Tackshop in Columbia, CT
Saddle Fitting (Done by Katie Gussenhofen of County Saddlery)
Stabling at CDI at Saugerties, normally $175 for the weekend
1 Week of Camp at Newberry Farm in Columbia, CT, age 2 – 16 donated by Chandra Chowanec
An extra day for your favorite HW Dressage groom (M & R)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
I had to share with you all what I did this past weekend. I spent the last three days in Bozeman, Montana teaching a clinic. After doing clinics for the last forty years all over the world I am pretty sure that this is the best one I have ever done.
No, it wasn't because I stayed in a beautiful home where I ate lobster, steak, and shrimp; where I lay in bed at night and woke up in the morning looking out over the most glorious view of the mountains, the trout jumping in the pond, the hordes of pheasant families, the magpies, the hawks, the deer grazing, the groundhogs, and even a badger, and the impressive cloud formations. Well, OK, that may have kept me in a good state of mind.
I worked with 7 riders on 9 horses -- thoroughbreds, warmbloods, an Andalusian, a percheron cross, Morgan -- 4 years old to Grand Prix schoolmaster. That isn't unusual. What was unusual was that there wasn't one horse/rider combination that I had to go back and fix things with. In every case I said, "you can do more -- challenge yourself and your horse more!." They had lovely positions (yeah, there was a tweak needed here and there). What a pleasure to work with horses and riders with really sound basics who haven't pushed and shoved their horses, jammed then together, tried to do things before they were ready. Perhaps it's because there is very little competition available so they are truly riding for the love of it.
The horses were really so well schooled, so comfortable in their work, and so ready for a challenge. What a pleasure. I can't wait to go back in October.
The other thing I loved was that the riders I had worked with 6 months ago were able to tell me what I had worked on with them then and what was working or not quite working now from the previous lessons. My favorite kinds of students.
Friday, June 5, 2009
I have to say that one of my pet peeves is that people cannot tighten their girths or shorten their stirrups safely and quickly while mounted. I think that most people do not tighten (or at least check) their girths after riding around for a bit. I was always aware if my girth was a bit loose because I could feel the saddle bouncing a bit on the horses back. Tighten the girth and it was easier to sit the trot.
A rider must be able to quickly adjust the stirrups without taking the foot out and while keeping one hand on the reins and it should take a few seconds only. Sure you'll have to practice to be able to do this. I used to adjust my stirrups while trotting or cantering. :-)
Anyone who feels that this might be too difficult, check out this video: http://www.barnmice.com/video/metropolitan-mounted-police
Make sure you get to the end. What wonderfully trained horses! And riders with independent seats and hands. WOW!
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