a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE

TH

E

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

Oz Poof of Purchasewith Katy Groesbeck

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2 The Arabian Sport Horse MagazineIntroducing

Audacious Dream BR

2011 Arabian by Audacious PS

out of Blackberry Dream BR

At Bittersweet Arabians, we breed for excellence. Audacious Dream BR has character, athleticism

and versatility with a World Class pedigree.

Introductory Stud Fee $1,500

Sweepstakes Nominated • SCID and CA Clear

CONTACT:(612) 710-6730 Jordan Simons, Trainer

(406) 531-5330 Lan LaRocque

BittersweetArabians.com

a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE

anentice design llc

publication

entice-design.com

PublisherCassandra Ingles

EditorPeggy Ingles

Advertising(410) 823-5579

WebsiteTheArabianSportHorse.com

Emailinfo@thearabiansporthorse.com

Submissions & Story Ideas Welcomed!

Copyright 2013 All rights reserved.

No reproduction without written permission.

Please see our contributors’ bios on our website at

thearabiansporthorse.com/features.php

14 made ya lookA Big Heart in a Small Horse

20 breeder q&a: playland farmBreeder Profile

30 andy go dandyCombined Driving Success

36 renaissance horseThe horse that does it all

42 katy groesbeck & the oz brothersCover Story

48 kestrel’s callingA horse that wanted more

54 healing hazenBy Elizabeth Coffey-Curle

64 eventing stars: sparky & janeBy Kat Walden

69 pl irish thunderA Half-Arabian Changing Minds

C O N T E N T S

a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE

TH

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MAGAZINE

6 From the Judge’s Booth

10 Despite the Odds

18 Biomechanics

26 Conformation Clinic

34 Lec

40 Worth the Work

46 Samantha Hodgson

52 Details in Dressage 60 Profiles in Courage

62 Huadoresya

72 Reading Reflections 78 Bits & Pieces

80 Classifieds & Service Listings

82 Upcoming AHA SH Shows

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013

BittersweetArabians.com

4 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Mirage V++++// with his National Reserve Champion daughter Mirai C, proudly owned by Karla and Mimi Stanley

Mirage V++++//

Celebrating the Achievements... Mirage V++++// Offspring Shine

Both National Reserve Champions Maska C (out of Evening Star RR) and Anna Miriah C (out of

Windsong Bey) have gone on to win more hon-ors and are SHN bound. Watch for Maska C in

Dressage and SHUS Jr Horse with owner Megan Frantz and Anna Miriah C in SHIH Mares with

owner Lynn Tucker

The uber-beautiful Ammiraj (x Rajima Black by Klint Black+++//) is SHN bound! “Ammiraj is fifth genera-tion of my breeding and the fiftieth foal that I have

bred, so I am especially excited about showing her in the 2 Year Old SHIH Filly class.”

Sue Eves, Charming Meadow Farm, PA

Miraggio (x Yankee Lady FHP), yearling gelding, will make his show debut at SHN with owners Tina and Neil Stoernell, VA.

Purchased as a weanling by the Stoernells, this boy is family affair and Tina praises his

smarts, even temperament and beautiful movement.

Catori Creek Arabians • Beth Conti • www.miragev.com • 1miragev@gmail.com • (916) 752-9480

5August/September 2013

By any measure, last year was an extraordinary one for Mirage V++++//. Here’s what he’s accomplished: Two National Championships, a Reserve National Championship, Legion of Masters Honor, and the special distinction of being named Sport Horse of the Year by Arabian Horse Times Readers’ Choice. I am honored he’s received recognition by both the Sport Horse and the Arabian horse community. I am grateful for and humbled by the respect and appreciation given to my special boy …. Mirage V++++//.

Mirage, the ONLY Arabian to achieve National Titles in Sport Horse, Dressage,and Working Western, is a talented athlete blessed with an exceptional temperament and an incomparable work ethic. His personality, kindness, versatility and athleti-cism set him apart and explain his frequent appearances in show winning circles.

These qualities account for an impressive book of 25 mares this year. Mirage, on a well deserved break from showing, ac-commodated a wonderful group of mares representing a wide range of disciplines, and diverse pedigrees, from National Cham-pions to treasured companion mares. I am heartened by the confidence and trust mare owners and breeders have invested in Mirage and welcome them into our Mirage family. Thank you all for allowing me to share in your journeys.

And the Mirage V++++// journey continues … exciting news coming in September.

Celebrating the Beauty of Sport... and More

Celebrating the Achievements... Mirage V++++// Offspring Shine

Celebrating the Magic of Foals...

PB Grey Filly - Miraluna Lady (x CDB Aluna)“‘Paisley’ is thriving and level headed. Her personality abounds affection, trust, acuity

and intelligence.” Connie Arnold, WA

PB Filly - Mirabella Bey (x Kholela Bey+++// )“I adore my Mirage babies! Mirage has bred

athleticism, movement, and type in his babies.“ Megan Frantz, PA

HA Filly - Mi Raajha (x Mi Luna by Toskbria) “Mirage V is the epitome of what we are

looking for. We are proud to be showing him off through his kids!” Darson Arabians, TX

Thank you to the mare owners who placed their trust in Mirage V++++//. We wish you a lifetime of happiness with your beautiful babies.

Miraggio (x Yankee Lady FHP), yearling gelding, will make his show debut at SHN with owners Tina and Neil Stoernell, VA.

Purchased as a weanling by the Stoernells, this boy is family affair and Tina praises his

smarts, even temperament and beautiful movement.

MP Pandora (out of the Trakehner mare Ehrlichkeit), with in-hand wins and now under saddle as a 3 year old.

“MP Pandora is one of the most intelligent, athletic, and even-tempered horses that I have had the pleasure to train. Impressive stature (16.1 and growing), proving

to be a delight under saddle, with potential for hunter, dressage, and possibly jumping.” Erica Morgan, CA

Cinzana C (out of MP Nefret by Enzo) This yearling filly has it all... brains, beauty and athleticism. Shown

once, she was T5 (ranked 3rd) at the competitive Silver Sire Futurity and Region 3. Tall, leggy and femi-

nine, she is a Nationals caliber filly. Multi-program nominated and star quality.

Available with incentives to the right show home.

© www.entice-design.com

Introducing a few fabulous foals.

6 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

I had the great privilege of interviewing a couple of the nation’s

best hunter judges about what they look for in the horse and rider

while they judge. I asked them questions regarding Working Hunter,

Under Saddle, Equitation, their advice to competitors, and much

more. Their answers may surprise you or confirm your showing style

for the rest of the 2013 season and show seasons to come.

Carol Dean Porter is an USEF ‘R’ rated judge in Hunters, Jump-

ers, Equitation, Hunter Breeding, is a certified Schooling Supervisor,

and has been a professional hunter/jumper trainer more than 40

years. Carol is also one of the principle judges on www.judgemyride.

net. She is available for teaching clinics, and her next Arabian Sport

Horse clinic will be in Tulsa in September.

Paddy Downing-Nyegard has been an USEF ‘R’ rated judge in

Hunters, Jumpers, and Equitation since 1989. Paddy was the head

hunter judge at the 2012 Arabian Sport Horse Nationals held in

Nampa, Idaho. She is also available for clinics.

Liza Dennehy is a USEF ‘R’ rated judge in Hunters, Jumpers, and

Equitation. Liza grew up riding at Arapahoe Riding Club, under the

guidance of her parents, Wilson and Sandy Dennehy, both of whom

are in the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame. She has been a judge

for 20 years and D licensed for 27 years. Liza will be one of the judg-

es judging the 2013 Sport Horse Nationals located at Virginia Horse

Center.

Hunter Over Fences:

Question: In order of importance, can you list what you judge a

hunter horse on during a course; i.e. form over the fences, pace, lead

changes, distances, etc.?

Paddy: I judge from the moment the horse enters the ring

until it leaves the ring. It is a jumping competition, therefore, the

jumps are very important; then movement, pace, forward without

running. Distances go with consistency. I think where people get

confused is when a horse that jumps a 10 and has a few “minor”

mistakes and still beats a horse that does not make any mistakes

but jumps a 5. It is a jumping competition.

Liza: All of the above are important, as are others not men-

tioned. I place the highest emphasis on “jumping style” or “qual-

ity” and “overall performance.” Ultimately, it’s the judge’s job to

sort out all of the mistakes and balance them with the quality of

the horse.

Carol: Hunters are judged on way of going, style of jumping,

manners and smoothness around the course. Hunter courses are

generally about 8 jumps and we usually see a couple changes of

direction. I would love for a horse to enter the ring and pick up his

even hunting pace, never changing the rhythm all the way around

the course. He should move with flowing strides, jump in good

form with knees tucked up nicely and neck lowered. He should

keep a good expression and be relaxed all the way around the

course. Penalties include poor jumping form, pace changes, tense-

From the Judge’s BoothBy Ashley Wren

Paddy Downing-Nyegard Liza Dennehy Carol Dean Porter

7August/September 2013

ness, mouth opening, head throwing, rough or no changes, taking

off, rushing the jumps and of course the major faults: refusals and

knock downs.

Question: In handy hunter rounds can a rider ride the course too

handy? Any tips on getting a better score?

Paddy: The “Handy” must be efficient and done well. Directly

to the first jump and exit directly after the last jump (if the course

allows it.) HAND GALLOP if the course asks for it. It is important for

me to see a true change of pace.

Liza: Choices and consequences. Really handy turns can be

risky. If they’re done well, the result will be a higher score. If the

turn is not executed well, the result will be a lower score.

Carol: In the handy course, I expect to see a more “brilliant”

pace, economical turns, smooth rollbacks and still jump in good

style and keep an even pace.

Question: When a course starts with a fence coming towards

the in-gate, how do you prefer a rider to approach it - down the rail

or crossing the diagonal? Do you count off for a rider circling at the

other end before approaching the fence?

Paddy: Any of the above. When a rider circles and it is not

necessary, it makes us wonder why. Anytime you can keep us from

asking “WHY” you should.

Liza: The entrance and approach should make sense and be

fairly prompt. ONE circle is allowed.

Carol: When a course starts coming back towards the in-gate,

I don’t really care how the rider gets there but I think a trip all the

way to the end of the ring should be sufficient time to establish

pace and a circle should not be required. I don’t necessarily penal-

ize a circle in that case, but it is somewhat annoying to waste the

time.

Hunter Under Saddle:

Question: When judging a hunter under saddle class, do you pre-

fer a rider to ride the canter in a full seat or half seat?

Paddy: I prefer somewhere in the middle. Light seat. However,

if your horse moves the very best with a full seat or half seat ride,

then do it. It is all about being the best in the class in the ring on

that day.

Liza: A rider should use the seat he is most comfortable with,

for his horse. I usually prefer a half seat.

Carol: I prefer “light” seat, but two-point is acceptable. Heavy

driving-type full seat is too much.

Question: Do you want to see the horse on the bit in a perpen-

dicular frame or with their nose slightly out? What amount of con-

tact do you prefer to see the horses shown in?

Paddy: Light contact, balanced, relaxed nose slightly out. Not

on the ground. Light contact, it is in our rule book.

Liza: I like the nose poked out. Light or even a loop in the rein.

Carol: The rule book says the rider should have “light contact”.

I prefer horses to be slightly stretched forward. Head carriage ver-

tical is acceptable, inside the vertical never acceptable. The poll

should be the highest point. We often see horses break at the 3rd

vertebrae, not the poll, which is incorrect.

Trac

y Ke

lsey

Pho

to

Lynn

Kau

fman

Pho

to

Good example of a hunter on the flat.

Ideal form over fences

8 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Question: Do you change your placings if a horse gets antsy in

the line up?

Paddy: Antsy, no. Rude, yes.

Liza: Not usually.

Carol: Most of the time, I have my class pretty much pinned by

the time they line up. I do generally wait to see if they will stand

quietly before handing in the results. If someone squirms just a

bit I probably won’t mind too much, maybe use it as a tie breaker.

If someone refuses to stand, yes I penalize heavily. Kicking out

at other horses is absolutely unacceptable and I will eliminate a

horse with such bad manners.

Tack:

Question: Do you care what kind of bit a horse has in their

mouth, any type of bit that you dislike? Would a horse get favoritism

for going in a bit like a loose ring verses a Pelham if they had equal

rounds?

Paddy: In a perfect world, no, as long as the horses go the

same: relaxed in a “soft” balanced frame.

Liza: As long as it is a conventional hunter bit, use what you

like and your horse goes well in.

Carol: I despise kimberwickes. Other than that, anything is ok.

I prefer not to see twisted wire snaffles, but those are legal. I pe-

nalize a tightly adjusted martingale. I might place a snaffle over a

pelham in a pleasure class, but in over fences classes, it does not

matter. Just keep that light contact and don’t get a death grip on

your horse’s mouth!

Question: Your thoughts on martingales? Better score if a horse

does not need one in over fence class? Do you count off if they are

too tight or loose?

Paddy: Not a better score from me. Too tight is a big NO NO for

me. Too loose makes me wonder why. Equipment must fit prop-

erly.

Liza: Sometimes a horse just looks better in a martingale. I

think it’s impressive when a horse goes nicely without a martin-

gale. In the end, I really don’t think it matters as long as the mar-

tingale is not too tight.

Carol: Martingales are permissible and it does not matter to

me whether a horse wears one or not (always nice to see one with-

out, but does not matter score-wise). DO NOT adjust it too tightly,

or I will penalize you!

Question: Are there any simple tips, the “little extra things,” on

how to get your hunter horse to stand apart from the rest?

Paddy: It is a “SHOW,” no excuse for ill-fitting tack, dirty hors-

es, dirty boots, messy hair, etc. Be sure that when you walk in the

ring you look like you should be there.

Liza: A well turned out horse is always the first thing a judge

notices.

Carol: Remember that you are being judged from the minute

you enter the ring until you leave, so enter the ring ON TIME, OR-

GANIZED, with a plan! Don’t dawdle; get to work. In my flat classes,

I am putting your number on my card from BEFORE the class is

officially “called to order” so be aware! DO NOT spend lots of time

circling and cutting across the ring. Stay out on the rail and be

smart about using your corners to space yourself. If you are good,

I will find you!

Equitation:

Question: In order of importance, can you list what you judge

an equitation rider on during a course; i.e. position, execution, dis-

tances, etc? When you test an equitation rider, what is the main thing

you are looking for that sets a rider apart from the rest?

Paddy: Your job is to show me that you are capable of execut-

ing what the course asks for. I look at the rider’s position, knowl-

edge of horsemanship and ability to work with their horse, not

against it.

Liza: I always take note of the general position of a rider and

then judge the performance. It is important in equitation that a

rider is in control of his horse at all times. Horsemanship and skill

flawlessly demonstrated.

Carol: Fence classes: riders are judged on their ability to es-

tablish and maintain an even hunting pace over the course of the

fences. The position is inclined forward, not vertical. As the rider

approaches the fence, his release begins first, before the break

over. The rider should hold his jumping position on the approach

and let the horse jump up to him, not throwing himself at the

horse. The rider should maintain his position and release until the

horse lands on the other side of the jump. Smooth lead changes

are important. Soft and following hands are important. The ability

to ride the track to show the horse off to the best of the rider’s

9August/September 2013

ability is paramount. I want to see the rider who is in communica-

tion with his horse and keeping the animal between his hand and

leg.

Question: When an equitation rider comes in for an over fence

round, do you prefer or care if they sit or post the trot in their cour-

tesy circles?

Paddy: If a rider sits the trot they better be able to do it better

than the top dressage riders! Why start with a negative.

Liza: At this point, impression is key, show off only what is

worth showing off!

Carol: I don’t care if the rider sits or posts the trot, but remem-

ber that the purpose of the circle is to establish pace. It makes no

sense at all to trot the majority of the circle and then finally canter,

as I so often see.

Question: What is your favorite USEF equitation test to ask riders

and why?

Paddy: If I shared that I would have to kill you.

Liza: New lines (not previously walked). To see the rider’s abili-

ty to ride off their eye. New, inside or shorter turns. To test a rider’s

skill in turning, either for Handy Hunters, tight Time Allowed or

Jump Offs. Ridability exercises! Good flat work and broke horses

produce better performances, therefore it is important to practice

such exercises on a regular basis.

Carol: I like to ask for BASICS, because so many riders lack

basics! I ask for hand gallop to a fence, trot a fence, halt in a line

and then regain the canter (sometimes I ask for halt/back and then

canter). Basics are important! In flat classes, I almost always ask for

sitting trot and halt. In more advanced classes I ask for lengthen-

ing of stride.

Arabian Sport Horses:

Question: Many readers are wondering your opinion on the

Arabian sport horses and if they could hold their own in the open

hunter circuit. What challenges does the smaller purebred Arabian

horse face when being judged against the larger breeds, and is there

consideration of size when a horse has to lengthen more to get down

the lines? Is there any preference on the breed of a hunter horse in

the open circuit?

Paddy: Yes, the Arabian sport horse is more than able to com-

pete in the hunters at a recognized “USEF” show. I believe there

were some at the finals I judged in Nampa last year that cross over.

That does not mean that all of them are able to do both.

Liza: The obvious challenges would be length of stride and

jumping style, both of which would certainly be taken into con-

sideration while comparing Arabian sport horses against a more

typical Warmblood or TB hunter.

Carol: Plenty of them can be and are very competitive in open

shows. Now that said, if you are going to show at the open show:

try to come to the ring in a traditional way. Trim the tail neatly

above the fetlocks, don’t show up with it dragging on the ground.

Don’t shave your bridle path back 8 inches, leave just enough

width for the crown piece of the bridle (about 2 inches is suffi-

cient). Pull the mane and braid with traditional braids, not the long

running braid.

Remember that your horse may be smaller and have a shorter

stride (NOT ALWAYS!) than some of the other competitors, so don’t

enter him into a class where he does not belong. He will probably

be more comfortable jumping 3’ or 3’3” and where the lines are

set on an 11’ 6” or 12’ stride rather than a 12’ 6” or 13’ stride. If

you encounter one of those, I prefer to see your horse jump the

line in 7 strides rather than run for the 6. In a combination of 24

or 36 feet, you need to get the one or two strides, UNLESS your

horse is very small, then you may need to add. In that case, it is

unlikely you will beat the bigger horses. But remember that judg-

ing hunters is comparing one horse in the class to the others, not

to a perfect score.

Dav

id G

renl

and

Phot

o

Correct equitation over fences

10 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Despite the Odds

As I sit here writing the story of my

horse, and I cannot help but feel an over-

whelming emotion come over me. As a

young girl, I loved looking outside my car

window and watching the horses play

in the pastures as if they were dancing.

Dreams of owning one of these beautiful

creatures became my reality when I was

six years old. My mother wanted a horse

and bought a two-year-old paint mare

named Dream. We quickly enrolled our-

selves in a riding facility in my hometown

and it was there that I learned the basics of

riding. I quickly progressed and eventually

became the owner of an 18-year-old Ara-

bian named Ty. We all have that one horse

that is just beyond perfect, and that horse

was Ty. He was great and taught me every-

thing I needed to know at the time.

When I was eleven, I wanted a horse

that I could show so I could wear the cute

clothes I saw in the Dover magazine. I tried

out a few horses but I wanted a bay with a

blaze just like Ty. Finally, I found the per-

fect fit and his name was TLA Alioop. My

mother was worried about the challenge

of having an eleven-year-old child on a

green three-year-old, and frankly those

same thoughts were going through my

head as well.

Al was the complete opposite of Ty. Ty

took care of whoever was on him, but Al’s

goal quickly became to throw off anyone

who was on him. He used to throw me up

against walls, kick and bite me, and I be-

came extremely afraid of him. Who knew

that this little guy had so much personal-

ity in him? He was quite obvious about the

fact that he just wanted to be left alone,

but I was determined to make him my

show horse.

From ages 11-14, I was still trying to

figure out how to ride Al. He was scary, un-

By Katherine Pfeil

11August/September 2013

predictable, and we were both “green.” I

learned about hunt seat at that time, and

Al did not like just going around in circles.

He put a fear in me that I did not have with

Ty or any of my other horses. Al was too

young at the time to do really any damage

to me, and thankfully my trainer was very

safe with us.

I finally got to buy all the cute hunt at-

tire from the magazine and rode Al in his

first show. I got to the gate, and Al ended

up stepping on me during my showman-

ship class, which resulted in me face plant-

ing. I was a mess, and Al was the worst be-

haved horse at the show. I kept riding him,

and our lessons would just grow longer

and longer. We had a lot to work on before

I went into any of the big Arabian shows.

We eventually got better and grew to like

each other a little more each day. I gave

him plenty of apples, and I think he actu-

ally enjoyed my presence because of my

strategy. Showing eventually became sec-

ond nature for us, but then Al got ring sour

from showing hunter pleasure.

My mother and I decided to bring Al

home for a couple of months to let him

“grow up and be a horse.” That was a poor

decision, and Al was a wild man. He even

had dreadlocks, and tried kicking us when

we went out to the pasture to catch him.

He needed to be back in training as soon

as possible.

We found a nearby trainer that spe-

cialized in Arabian Sport Horses. I had

never heard of that at the time, and I was

intrigued to find out more about it. She

worked with him during the worst of his

times and I was right there alongside him.

It was there that we decided to find out

more about the art of Dressage and sport

horse. We started Al out slow, and he loved

the change from hunt seat. He was quick

about learning it and did his job well with

no complaints. We had finally found our

niche and really grew to love one another.

A life changing moment happened

when Ty passed away from colic when I

was 15. Ty’s death was one of the hardest

things I have had to deal with in my life.

Some people may say that he was “just a

horse,” but they are so wrong. Ty had been

the perfect horse and my escape from my

difficult one. Ty taught me to be confident

and brave while Al could shatter my con-

fidence with an asking of the trot. After

Ty’s death, I was determined to make Al

my new Ty. Though no other could ever

replace that precious horse, that was my

thought process at the time.

Years passed with countless hours in

the saddle and more progress was hap-

pening. Missing proms,

homecoming and so-

cial events were my

norm in high school

along with many other

competitive riders my

age. Lessons would go

on for what felt like

forever at the time, but

I had no other option

for a new horse. I put

the time and effort into

him, and I was going

to perfect riding this

horse. I would have

never gotten to have

this breakthrough with

him if I was just having

the trainer do all my

work for me, just as I

would have never had

a relationship like I did

with Ty. I spent a lot of alone time with him

on the ground, just trying to figure him out.

He was complex, and I did not understand

him.

Al had finally realized that being a

dressage horse was his new job and he

had to accept it. He had had his guard

up for so many years, but finally broke

through with me on a more emotional

level. He is an incredibly sensitive horse,

and he needed patience to help him un-

derstand all of these new movements. So

many people told me to give up on him,

but we just needed time to figure each

other out. I needed to believe in him, and

he needed to believe and trust me as his

rider. I still have my doubts about myself

as a rider, but never in Al. He carries me

and reminds me to trust him every ride we

have together.

12 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

We started going to Regionals for sport

horse and dressage and doing really well,

to my surprise. Who knew that my green

14.2-hand horse could do so well against

well-seasoned horses? A few years

passed, and I really wanted to work my

way up in levels. So I started working and

showing in first level dressage and eventu-

ally wanted to go to Nationals.

In 2009, I attended the Arabian Sport

Horse Nationals in Kentucky and I was

petrified. Looking around at all the beau-

tiful horses, I lost all hope in myself as a

rider and doubted my horse’s ability and

strength. My first ride was pretty rough,

and the one of the judges wrote on my

card, “Have more confidence in your horse,

and he will have more confidence in you.”

I cried after reading this remark because

the words could not have been truer. Al

and I did have the odds against us, but if

we had confidence in ourselves, no one

could stop us.

Later that week, I won a National

Championship and made Top Ten in every

class I went into. The moment I won, I ran

back to Al’s stall and gave him Fritos and

Sprite (our favorite snack), and cried for

hours. We had a breakthrough that week,

and that came right after my first class. I

trusted my horse, and he trusted me. He

knew his job and looked to me as a rider

for guidance. I loved what our relationship

had grown into. Ribbons are great, but

having a breakthrough with your horse is

so much more worthwhile.

I was at a horse show recently, and we

were stalled next to a young girl and her

father. She loved Al, and would give him

treats when we would leave to watch the

show. She asked me questions about Na-

tionals and she would come out and watch

me show him. She had her older horse

with her that was just like Ty in everyway.

When I watched her show, I could not help

but have tears in my eyes when she placed

2nd in her dressage test. She reminded me

so much of Ty and me and how we started

out: hair undone, number not pinned cor-

rectly, missing classes and having the pa-

tient and forgiving horse right along side

of her.

This girl also had a younger horse that

was green and had that same wild look in

his eye that Al did. He was pretty, but had

a lot of growing up to do and you could tell

she was afraid. My mother was actually the

one who pointed out how similar our sto-

ries were. I wanted to watch her show her

young horse, so my mother and I headed

to the arena. This girl left the ring crying

after her class because she got the gate

in her under saddle class. The horse was

stubborn and had no respect for his little

rider. I felt the need to say something to

her, “This may seem like a big deal now,

but it will get so much better. I promise;

just don’t give up.”

I think God taught me a lesson that day

that no matter what people say, we should

never give up even when it seems tough

at the time. A cliché perhaps, but I have

changed my life with this motto. I wasn’t

given the $50,000 dollar horse and the

trainer that did everything for me. I had to

Continued on page 17

13August/September 2013

www.arabianheights.com

Made Ya Look

Made Ya Look

There’s a cute little bay rocking around the Preliminary events in California for the

last several years, and he even has a fan club cheering him on. Made Ya Look, or Milo as

he’s known, and owner Lisa Levine are having a blast doing it.

The 14.2 hand Morgan/Arabian cross was intended as a driving partner for his half

sister, BW Peekaboo, and was registered as BW I See You. Alas, Milo did not agree with

that career choice and was sent to Kari Mulherin Briggs and her family to find a job

that met with his approval. So, Milo fox hunted with the Rocky Fork Headley Hunt in

Gahanna, Ohio, and did some trail riding and eventing.

Lisa was living in Ohio and training with Kari when she began having issues with

her 16.3 hand Thoroughbred. Kari suggested Lisa ride Milo. Lisa recalls, “Milo taught

me how to trust a horse, when to push, and when to be patient, and that is absolute-

ly crucial in eventing.” She leased him to begin with, even before deciding to pursue

eventing.

When Lisa moved to California in 2005, she was looking for a new equine partner

but soon realized that it had to be Milo. The Mulherins had not planned to sell him, but

graciously agreed, and he moved out west. Continued on next page

Olg

a An

tipo

va P

hoto

16 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

in the Preliminary division is at least 16

hands and everyone is jumping the same

size, 3’7”. He gets great dressage scores

because of his consistency and relaxation,

jumps his heart out cross-country, and

then tucks his knees to his chin in show

jumping to get the job done on the last

day of competition.”

The pair had planned to compete at

Intermediate, but suffered a setback in

2009 when Milo suffered a suspensory in-

jury. This was just after placing third at the

inaugural 2009 Preliminary Challenge at

the Woodside Horse Trials, as well as third

in the Area VI Preliminary Championships.

He was also the Second Level Regional

Champion at Pacific Slopes.

Lisa and Milo concentrated on dres-

sage for the year after his rehab, earning

Lisa her USDF Bronze Medal in 2011. “Just

like in eventing, it was great having the ‘lit-

tle horse’ going Third Level against all the

warmbloods and placing and scoring right

up there with them,” says Lisa.

Milo’s heart and determination put

them back on the eventing field in 2011,

where they completed four times, finish-

ing in the top ten three of those four. They

continue today with Milo in Prelim, plac-

ing well and thrilling his “Super Pony” fans

along the way.

They currently train with Yves Sau-

vignon at Oakridge Training Stables in

Sebastopol, CA for the jumping as well

as Emily Giammona of Petaluma, CA for

dressage. The pair have also worked ex-

“I bought him when I was going begin-

ner novice so I could have a safe novice

horse,” says Lisa, “but when I began riding

with my first trainer in California, Laura

McEvoy, we realized he could be so much

more.”

They moved him up from Novice after

just a small handful of competitions at

that level, breezed quickly through Train-

ing level, and settled in at Preliminary in

2007, where he won his very first event at

that level at the Ram Tap Horse Trials.

When asked what makes him so good

at this sport, Lisa said, “He has the most

amazing amount of heart! In addition to

being an ‘unconventional’ breed for jump-

ing or dressage, he’s also an unconven-

tional size. At 14.2 hands, his competition

Mar

y Be

th E

lze

Phot

o

Woodside Horse Trials, May 2013

17August/September 2013

tensively with Laura McEvoy at Idylwild

Stables in Santa Rosa and Kari Briggs at

Otterbein College in Westerville Ohio. “I

have had the good fortune to clinic with

several other wonderful trainers including

Jimmy Wofford, Jane Weatherwax, Erica

Poseley, Matt Brown and many others who

have helped me along the way,” Lisa adds.

When asked about what his Arabian

blood has lent to his success, Lisa says,

“Intelligence, guts and endurance, which

are imperative in three day eventing. He

has a huge heart and is ready to tackle

anything I put in front of him. It’s also

very encouraging to have that extra bit of

cockiness when you’re galloping towards

a huge table jump or drop into the water!”

“Milo is smart, inquisitive, patient and

,most importantly, ready to handle any

challenge I put in front of him. He is al-

ways eager to be the center of attention

and is insanely photogenic and knows

when the cameras are clicking,” says Lisa.

About the future, Lisa says, “I will con-

tinue to listen to Milo to determine our

future plans. For now, he is happy and

healthy enough to continue competing

Preliminary in eventing and Third Level

dressage, and we continue to challenge

ourselves with that. At 18 years old, he

does not owe me anything; he has already

done so much for me. Whether we spend

the rest of his years jumping and compet-

ing or just playing and galloping on the

beach, whatever he wants to do is fine

with me!”

Keri

Sim

pson

Pho

to

work for what I wanted, and I was bound

and determined to prove those people

wrong – and after years of hard work, we

finally did – not by winning a National

Championship, but actually having a rela-

tionship that is so much more meaningful

than a rose garland.

Regardless of my future with Al, I have

come away from this journey having a new

perpective on life and how much these

animals have a part in mine. They are so

much more than a blue ribbon; they are

life long teachers. They are teachers of

patience, strength, endurance, courage,

bravery and many other characteristics. I

am beyond blessed to ride this breed, and

I cannot wait for what the future holds.

Al is now 14, and I am still riding and

showing him at Second level. He has had

great success in his show career, and

I am blessed just to own this lovely

animal. My childhood dream horse

has officially become my reality. Al

still has the odds against him, but he

amazes me every time we enter the

ring. He still is short, pigeon-toed,

and grouchy, but I would not trade

him in for the world. I have learned

so much with this horse, and we have

a deeper connection than just a rose

garland. He has been one of my big-

gest lessons, but also one of my big-

gest blessings.

*Special thanks to my past and

present trainers; it has taken a village

to raise this horse. My parents who

have supported me throughout the

years, and I could not be more blessed

to have you as my Mom and Dad.

Continued from page 12

Despite the Odds

18 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

BiomechanicsA Series by Lisa May

Forty years ago, Mary Wanless set out

to discover what makes riders ‘talented’.

With six books, multiple DVDs, and clinics

worldwide, her “Ride With Your Mind”™

(RWYM) coaching method explains how

any rider can learn to shape the horse’s

athletic use of his body. Her pioneering

work has seeped into that of many others

who refer to “rider biomechanics.” Wan-

less’s strategies can be understood most

clearly from the source.

When a person mounts a horse for the

first time, they typically have few expecta-

tions about what their body should do. If

they watched westerns on TV, saw friends

on their horses, or went to the county fair

to experience barrel racing, bucking hors-

es or team penning competitions, they

have unconscious instincts stemming from

what they’ve watched. Even in today’s very

urban environment, I see unconscious in-

stincts play out when people mount up for

the very first time. Some of these instincts

may come from other relationships with

animals and people. Some come from our

experience of riding a bike, a skate board,

or watching people navigate moving ob-

jects – like motorcyclists or water-skiers.

It’s common for first-time riders to lean

toward the side they want to travel and

shake the reins or pump with their seats

to ask the horse to go. Unless a horse has

been trained that way the result isn’t actu-

ally what the rider wants!

It’s relatively easy to shape a person

who has no prior training by describing

the horse’s instincts, the signals he has

been trained to understand, and how to

give those signals. It’s much more psycho-

logically challenging to change ingrained

habits that we have worked hard to build.

Neuroscientists have shown that all brains

virtually shut down when confronted with

information that contradicts the ways we

have made up our minds. Becoming moti-

vated for change is a psychological obsta-

cle for riders. When we sweat to practice

and pay money to learn patterns, it is hu-

man nature for the brain to become wed-

ded to those strategies even if they don’t

work.

Sometimes, those learned habits were

a misunderstanding. Remember the game

of Telephone or Chinese Whispers? At

one end of a line, the first child whispers

a sentence into the ear of the child next

to her. As that sentence is repeated down

the line, it is partially heard and partially

lost. Substitute meanings slip in each time

the message is repeated. The child pro-

ducing the sentence at the end of the line

says something that is hilariously different

from what was said at the beginning of the

line!

Imagine a long line of riders descend-

ing from a successful rider generations

ago. That person gave guidance that im-

proved a rider’s balance, influence and

sympathetic contact with the horse. Yet,

through the generations of Chinese Whis-

pers, the communication has been sepa-

rated from its original meaning – with

less-than-humorous results. We can get

into a lot of trouble atop a half-ton living

creature with its own perception of what is

correct in its world.

Many riders I meet have been through

different schools of instruction that con-

tradicted each other: Being taught “You

must have your knees off” – “No, you must

have your knees on” without success with

either version has driven some people to

give up riding. It can be a huge psychologi-

cal challenge to alter habits and try differ-

ent interpretations once we have invested

our time, money and effort into “They said

I have to sit tall, lean back, drive with my

seat, push my heels down, not grip, and

use more leg.”

Mary Wanless continues to explore

what teachers and riders actually may

have intended when they said, “heels

down, sit up, brace the back, drive, relax

Motivation for Change

19August/September 2013

your legs, match your shoulders and hips

to that of the horse, inside leg to outside

rein,” and so on. Like a chef figuring out

a lost recipe, Wanless has retranslated to-

day’s language to restore the essence. She

has brought coaching around full circle to

a functional meaning of language, guid-

ing riders on the direct route to learn how

to sympathetically balance and influence

horses.

For a horse to move athletically with a

load aboard, the load needs to be secure

and predictable rather than highly mov-

able. It needs to be positioned so that the

horse’s limbs, neck, abdomen and back

can function easily. We want to minimize

the interference of our weight and balance

on the horse’s balance. We want to posi-

tion ourselves so that he can use his mus-

culature without interference. Different

from a packhorse, the ridden horse must

also process intentional signals from a rid-

er. Whenever possible we want our signals

to make intuitive sense for the horse’s use

of his body. We want our trained signals to

be dependably consistent.

We achieve skills that benefit the rid-

den horse through awareness of where

our bodies actually are in space and by

building the physical control to direct our

body parts in the ways we intend. By virtue

of the leverage angles of our lower body

joints, we can be live weight rather than a

burden. By securing our thighs and pelvis

to the horse’s barrel with a low center of

gravity, we can minimize our interference

with the horse’s center of gravity. By alter-

ing muscle tone and joint movement to

finely tune body coordination, we can lead

the horse’s energy, carriage, tempo, length

of stride, and direction – transcending the

role of pack or passenger.

RWYM coaches guide riders into re-

lationships with their horse and with the

intended meaning of trainers’ instruction.

Rapid improvement can be made in the

brain’s control of the body when riders

choose their own precise trigger words to

name a change. As a coach works with the

learning style of an individual, the rider’s

words for the feeling can blossom into

very personalized language that is satisfy-

ingly successful. From the unique starting

point of each rider’s body and mind, these

coaching methods enable us to map the

territory we ourselves have to cross to ar-

rive at good riding.

The first step toward change is the psy-

chologically difficult step.

From Poet Portia Nelson: Autobiography

in Five Chapters:

1) I walk down the street. There is a deep

hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost...

I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes for-

ever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street. There is a

deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I

don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe

I’m in the same place. But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street. There is a

deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there.

I still fall in... it’s a habit. My eyes are open.

I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out

immediately.

4) I walk down the same street. There is a

deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

As athletes we can use our own anatomy

to communicate an optimum framework for

the horse’s movement. Find out more about

strategies for using the brain to communi-

cate with horses through behavioral science

and biomechanics at www.Mary-Wanless.

com and www.RideWithYourMindUSA.com.

Lisa May is an accredited RWYM coach

working with Wanless since 1997. Also a

Professional Association of Therapeutic

Horsemanship International instructor, she

travels for clinics from her home in Mary-

land www.IdylwildFarm.com.This feels like home, like normal to me In order to be upright like this I have to feel that I’m leaning back to the cantle

20 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Breeder Q&A

Playland Farm

Charles and Diane Player own Playland

Farm, a boarding, training and breeding fa-

cility in Union Bridge, Maryland. With their

daughter, Glenda, as manager and trainer,

they breed, train and compete Arabians and

Arabian/Irish Draught crosses.

How, when and why did your family get

involved with Arabians?

My father, Charles Player, was the ac-

countant and advisor to Bazy Tankersley

and Al-Marah Arabians in 1964. At that

time, he was dating my mother, Diane,

whom eventually became his wife. They

were married in December, 1965, and

my father says he was only able to get

my mother to go out on a date with him

by inviting her to take a tour of Al-Marah

Arabians.

That started it all and led to the begin-

ning of Playland Farm. My mother loved

horses and was quickly addicted to the

Arabian breed.

When did they breed their first Arabian?

Shortly after they were married, my

father gave my mother an Arab mare, AM

Daphne (Brumarba Rahdames x Al-Marah

Alexandretta), and she began to breed

Daphne to Al-Marah stallions and contin-

ued to do so for many years along with the

female offspring as they reached breeding

age.

What attracted you to the Irish Draught/

Arabian cross?

My parents had met and become

friends with John Shortill of Maine who

owned Irish Draughts. John visited the

farm and saw the beautiful Arabian horses.

My mother had been looking for a quieter

and sounder horse than the Thoroughbred

We have bred and

registered 169 horses

that are on file with

the Arabian Horse

Registry.

21August/September 2013

I had been riding to compete in the sports

of eventing and show jumping. I had also

ridden our homebred Arabians for pleas-

ure, but to compete in show jumping and

eventing, I had Thoroughbreds.

John talked to my mother about leas-

ing his Irish Draught Stallion and cross-

ing it with the Arabian mares to produce

a horse that was sound, athletic, quiet,

graceful and has the amazing jump ath-

leticism of the Irish Draught coupled with

the endurance of the Arabian. So, we

leased the stallion It’s the Luck of the Irish

and started crossing him with her Arabian

mares. She loved what the cross was pro-

ducing! Later, It’s the Luck of the Irish was

sold, and my parents purchased their cur-

rent stallion, PL Diamond Hill.

How many Arabians/Half-Arabians have

you bred?

We have bred and registered 169 hors-

es that are on file with the Arabian Horse

Registry. 79 of the 169 are purebreds,

while 90 are Half-Arabs. Out of those

Half-Arabs, some have been crossed with

Saddlebreds to make the National Show

Horse, but most have been crossed with

the Irish Draught to make a sport horse.

Our actual number of horses bred is

even higher. There are always a few hors-

es that get sold in utero, or before registra-

tion, or are only ¼ Arab and, therefore, not

eligible for registration within the Arabian

Horse Association. We have also dabbled

with some Irish/Connemara and Irish/

Thoroughbred crosses. I have no doubt

that over 200 horses have been bred and

born here on the farm throughout the

years at Playland Farm.

Some of our records have been lost

through computer crashes and a fire with-

in the farm house years ago.

When you first decided to breed Arabian

horses, what were your goals?

The original goal was to produce a

beautiful horse that was easy to handle

and train with good conformation and dis-

position.

Over the years, the goals and focus

have somewhat changed to also include

increasing size and performance capabili-

ties, including jumping.

Diane and Charles Player

May

a Ku

ntze

Pho

to

22 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

1

4

7

1

4

2

6

7

23August/September 2013

3 PL Lucky Darby

(Its The Luck Of The Irish x PL Eladdinns

Lite)

PL Black Diamond as a yearling.

Glenda as a teenager with home-

bred Arabian PL Jazzy at a Pony Club

inspection.

Arabian PL Eladdinns Lite with

Half-Arabian foal PL Layla

PL Lucky Tammy (Its The Luck Of

The Irish x PL Shirley) doing a demonstra-

tion at the 2010 WEG.

PL Empress (Its The Luck Of The

Irish x PL Indian Queen) who was also

chosen at age 5 to do a demonstration at

the 2010 WEG.

Playland Irish Flash

(Its The Luck Of The Irish x PL Daphnes

Flash). Four-time Reserve National Cham-

pion Hunter Hack.

Competing at the Irish Draft Na-

tional Show: PL Catnip, PL Regina, PL Cha

Cha. All with wins in stadium jumping.

1

4

2

6

5

3

7

8

5

7

5

3

8

Trac

y Ke

lsey

Pho

to

Red

Hor

se Im

ages

24 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Why do you think this Irish Draught cross

works so well?

The Irish Draught cross works well be-

cause it is a back cross on the typical Irish/

Thoroughbred cross. Thoroughbred blood

was highly refined from the influence of

Arabian blood. The typical Irish Sport

Horse cross is ¼ Irish and ¾ TB. We feel

that upon limiting the Irish blood you limit

the wonderful traits of the Irish Draught.

We wanted to produce a horse first of all

that has excellent soundness and feet – as

we have with our purebred Arabians. By

crossing the Irish Draught with our Ara-

bian broodmares, we have added refining

blood to the Irish Draught.

The Arabian not only adds refinement

and endurance but also is a fantastic com-

pliment of soundness and excellent feet.

The Arabian also adds more suspension to

the Irish Draught’s trot. The Irish Draught

has a larger size and substance, quiet

easy going disposition, fantastic canter,

and supreme jumping ability. Overall, we

couldn’t be happier with the progeny that

this cross is producing!

Who or what was your biggest influence

regarding your breeding decisions?

For many years Bazy Tankersley has

both guided and inspired my mother

through her breeding decisions. Playland

Farm would not be where it is today with-

out this influence. Over the years, as I

matured in the horse industry and in com-

peting, my own goals and aspirations with

horses became more of a guiding light for

the direction of our breeding program. I

often ask myself, what kind of horse do I

want to ride for the rest of my life? Does

this horse have the soundness, athleticm,

and disposition to be a lifetime friend,

athlete, and competitive teammate?

What do you consider your greatest

achievement in breeding horses?

Playland Farm’s greatest achievement

in breeding horses is without question

the number of successful and happy PL

horse owners out there! For us, it is not

about creating that one horse that goes

to the Olympics. Instead we strive to cre-

ate a sound, quiet, and athletic horse that

is both versatile and willing. In order to

achieve such a horse, it not only has to be

conformationally correct, but has to have

a great temperament.

We regularly get e-mail, facebook, and

post (including Christmas cards!) updates

from our extended family – current PL

horse owners stating what they have been

up to with their PL-bred horse. Everyone

has different goals: some just want a trail

horse, husband/grandchild horse, pony

club mount, and some are quite competi-

tive in eventing, hunter/jumper, dressage,

polocrosse, and competitive trail riding. It

is amazing all the different sports that the

various PL owners do with their horses.

But, yes, we feel the greatest achievement

is the great number of successful matches

we have found for our horses, and their

happy owners!

What characteristics do you consider

“must haves” in a breeding animal?

1.) Soundness

2.) Willingness, work ethic, excellent

disposition

3.) Athleticism

I look for the above characteristics in

that order. An athlete can go nowhere

if it is not sound nor has ambition, drive

and heart. Riding is not about forcing the

horse to do something it does not want to

do. The horse must have the desire to per-

form in that sport just as much as the rider.

That is where each horse’s personality be-

comes a factor. I get to know my horses

and figure out which sport would suit it.

Then I market it accordingly, and watch the

horse’s response as it feels each potential

“candidate” that test rides the horse.

When matching a stallion to a mare, what

do you consider their most important at-

tributes in order to produce a successful

sport horse?

There is no one stallion that is suitable

for every mare, despite what any stallion

owner (including myself!) wishes. Picking

a stallion to match a mare with, to me, is

about finding a match that will comple-

ment each other, and not detract from

each other. Correct conformation is huge.

Correct conformation leads to a sound

horse that can easily perform – that finds

work easy. If performing and working is

easy, it no longer seems like work, and that

assists in a quiet, willing and strong work

ethic. Performing becomes fun and easy,

not physically challenging and damaging

to the equine athlete’s body.

When I evaluate the potential of a cer-

tain stallion for a specific mare, I take a

detailed look at conformation, movement,

personality, performance and what that

sire/dam combination has produced previ-

ously, both separately and together if that

is an option.

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26 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Elaine Kerrigan:

Beautiful head with an alert, attentive expression. Good length

of neck, however in this photo, the neck looks thick at the throat

latch and a bit over developed on the underside. Fairly smooth

connection of the neck to the withers, tying well into the back.

Ideally, would like to see a little more slope to the shoulder,

though the angle and length of the humerus lead me to believe

there is freedom and scope in the forehand. Nicely developing

loin and hindquarter muscling for impulsion and carrying power.

All legs look in proportion to the body, but would like to see a lit-

tle more bone in the front legs. Great candidate as a sport horse.

Judy Hedreen:

This photo shows a horse with an alert look and an intelligent, soft

eye. This chestnut is an attractive and useful horse. The head at-

taches well at the poll to a slightly too long neck that comes out a

little low in the chest. Thus the horse has more weight on the fore-

hand. An ideal body type has the horse divided into equal parts:

1/3 poll to wither, 1/3 wither to point of hip, and 1/3 point of hip

to point of buttock. The length of the shoulder is good and the

angle adequate. The humerus is long but could have a more open

angle. The front leg looks quite good with adequate bone and

good pasterns and hoof angles. The withers are long enough but

could be more pronounced. Higher withers will help with move-

Conformation ClinicWith Elaine Kerrigan,Judy Hedreen, and Peter Mileo

ment of muscles in the back and saddle fitting. The back looks

strong with a good connection through the loin. However the L-S

joint is behind the point of hip which, coupled with the angulation

of the hind leg, may not provide sufficient strength from behind

to lift the front end. With this conformation, this horse appears

suited for the hunter ring.

Peter Mileo:

Lovely, long, well-set neck and pleasant head. Shoulder is of good

length, maybe a bit straighter than ideal, which is reflected in pas-

terns that appear to be a bit more upright than ideal. Excellent

cannon to forearm ratio matching front feet that are on the same

axes as the pastern. Short back. A big longer in the loin, but it

looks to be a strong loin. Excellent angles in the hind end and

good slope to the croup and ilium, as well as good depth to the

hindquarter. Well-placed stifle and low-set hocks. Back legs are

very well angled. Overall a very pleasing picture.

Elaine Kerrigan:

Pleasant, attractive head set on a nicely shaped and developed

neck of good length. Neck ties smoothly into well-set withers cre-

ating a good saddle position, though back is a bit longer than ideal.

Shoulder is a little steep. Adequate development of the loin and

adequate length of hip. From this photo, it seems to appear that

the front legs are on the short side in comparison to the length

of the body and the length of the hind legs. Front pastern angle

Purebred #1

Purebred #2

27August/September 2013

Would you like to enter your horse into our free Conformation Clinic?

Please email your submission to: info@thearabiansporthorse.com Subject: Conformation Clinic

Submissions will be featured at our discretion. Photo credit must be provided.

Submit Your Horse

appears to have a more desirable slope than the shoulder. Hocks

seem a tad too straight and the fetlocks look a little dropped.

Pleasing horse.

Judy Hedreen:

This horse has a pleasing and kind expression. The head is well

shaped and joins the neck cleanly. The neck is long enough with

a nice shape. The shoulder angle could be more sloping; it ap-

pears to connect with the humerus at a 90° angle which will not

allow for enough forward reach. The forearm could have a little

more bone for the size of the horse, and joins a good cannon. The

fetlocks, pastern and shape of feet present concern for the com-

fort of the ride and soundness. The feet have a broken-angle in

relation to the pasterns, which are quite short. This combination

usually makes for a jarring ride and places extra pressure on ten-

dons and ligaments. In this photo the fetlocks look to be enlarged,

which may come from the concussion caused by the conformation

issue. The withers extend far enough into the back, which appears

to dip quite a bit (the ground looks uneven, so this may be an illu-

sion). The hind end and the angles of the hip look fairly good. The

lower hind legs appear to have short pasterns and steeply angled

hooves, again causing concern for comfort and soundness. With

the help of a good farrier and management, this horse could easily

compete at the lower levels for its owner.

Peter Mileo:

Nicely shaped neck and pleasing head. Good front leg ratio of

cannon to forearm. Nice pastern angles. Shoulder is a bit straight

and short. Back is longer than idea. Loin is long and appears

weak. Hind end could be longer to match the other two sections

of the horse. Good angles in the hind end. Well-placed stifle and

low-set hocks. Good angles to hind legs. This horse does not have

the good overall symmetry of the first horse. Mainly due to the

shorter shoulder and longer back and loin. This makes the horse

look short-legged.

Elaine Kerrigan:

Keen expression on a handsome head. Neck appears a little short-

er than ideal and care should be taken to be sure to develop a

stretching top line of the neck. Good shoulder angle and long

humerus should allow a free and scopey forehand. Supportive

withers reaching well into the back for a good saddle position

and stability. Loin is developing well to offer a good connection of

the hindquarters that show good muscle development and good

length of hip. Hocks are set rather high. Seems a bit tied in at the

knee on the left front. Pasterns show the angle of the shoulder

and care should be taken to ensure that the toes do not get too

long and heels do not get too low. Nicely presented.

Judy Hedreen:

In looking at this horse as an open sport horse, we see an attrac-

tive bay with a harmonious topline. A pretty head attaches cleanly

to a very well set neck. The shoulder is long with a good angle

and attaches to the humerus creating an open angle. This combi-

nation should allow the shoulder to move freely and give a long

stride. The front leg is set well under the shoulder, is correctly

shaped and has adequate bone. The angles of the pastern appear

long and gently sloped, although the hooves cannot be seen. This

front-end should prove elastic and allow a comfortable ride. The

wither is high and extends well into the back. This should allow

the back muscles to contract and lengthen with training. The back

is a good length and flows into a strong loin. The L-S joint looks

Half-Arabian #1

28 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

to be fairly even with the point of hip making a good connection.

The hindquarter looks strong and is more open than desirable be-

cause of the angulation of the hind leg. The hind leg is over angled

– commonly called sickle-hocked. All in all this is an attractive

sport horse type that should do well in dressage.

Peter Mileo:

I’ll start off by saying a very nice picture. The neck could be longer

but the horse is in balance front to back. Pleasing head. Nice fore-

hand with good shoulder angle, length of shoulder and good ratio

of cannon to forearm. Short back and strong loin. The hind end is

of good length and deep. Hocks could be set a bit lower. Overall

this is a nicely put together horse.

Elaine Kerrigan:

Alert expression on a pleasing head. Neck could be a little longer,

but appears to be correctly developing the topline of the neck

This is important to keep in mind to be helpful for the shoulder

that is a bit steep in angle that might restrict the appearance of

a free moving forehand. Prominent withers for saddle stability.

Loin coupling is fairly strong, connecting the back of appropriate

length and a hip of appropriate length. Front-leg pasterns mimic

the steepness of the shoulder and a slight over at the knees is

apparent. Well-placed hocks on the hind legs promise to compli-

ment the carrying power of the hindquarters. Overall uphill bal-

ance is shown and nicely presented.

Judy Hedreen:

It may be the angle of the photo, but this horse appears too com-

pact to be a sport horse type. He has a pretty head and a promi-

nent eye with a soft expression. His neck, which is well set, could

be longer especially in the poll, which would allow more stretch

into the bit and over the topline. While his wither is high enough,

it is paired with a short, steep shoulder. This creates a nearly 90°

angle similar to Purebred #2 above. The foreleg has good bone, is

correct, and the pastern angles appear good with correctly shaped

feet. His pasterns could be just a little longer to add to the comfort

of the ride. The withers could be more defined and extend further

into the back. This would help with saddle fit and the position of

the rider. The back connection with the loin looks little long, and it

could be stronger. The hip and hindquarter appear short and not

large enough for the rest of the horse. However, the hip leads to a

gaskin and hind leg with good bone and angles. This horse looks

young so may look entirely different in the future.

Peter Mileo:

The head and neck are both a bit coarse. Shoulder is well devel-

oped and so is the wither as this is the most prominent wither of

the 4 horses. Back is of good length. Loin and coupling are a bit

longer than ideal and the loin doesn’t appear strong. The hind-

end is not nearly as developed as the forehand. Hind legs have

low set hocks but from this photo appear to be set behind plumb.

email

Half-Arabian #2

29August/September 2013

About Elaine About PeterAbout Judy1970 saw the beginning of Kerrigan

Bloodstock, with the goal of producing Ara-

bian sport horses. With that I pursued dres-

sage, endurance and a little jumping. With

a special interest in the bio-mechanics of

horses and riders, I also have an extended

education as a large animal veterinary tech-

nician and as a graduate of the USDF judges

learner program. KB Omega Fahim++++//

is a stallion of my second generation. He

has achieved 4 USDF National Champion

awards at FEI level dressage, and 4 AHA

Sport Horse National Champion awards

at FEI level dressage. He has offspring that

have also attained USDF and AHA Sport

Horse National Championship awards. KB

Omega Fahim++++// has been inspected

and approved for breeding purebred Shag-

ya-Arabians.

Peter Mileo has been breeding Arabian

horses since 1990. He started with Fadjur

line horses and evolved toward CMK horses.

After several conversations with Sandy War-

ren of Warren Park Stud hoping to breed a

mare to Aulrab he discovered a coming 2

year old colt by the name of Magic Aulrab

and purchased him. After a short show ca-

reer they started riding endurance where

Peter feels he learned about what makes

a good horse. “Regardless of bloodline or

even breed a horse needs to have balance,

well let down legs and solid legs and feet.”

Peter has studied many videos of horses

under saddle and at liberty from Arabs,

Warmbloods and the great Standardbred

mare Monimaker. This has given him a well

rounded knowledge of what a good athlete

is and why.

Judy has been breeding sport horses

since 1981. She is the breeder of Far Star

that represented the USEF and American

Hanoverian Society (AHS) in the 2003

World Championships for Young Jumpers in

Belgium, ridden by Laura Kraut; Animation,

winner at Spruce Meadows and Champion

at Indio; Agincourt, winner at Spruce Mead-

ows and Champion at Indio under Hap

Hansen; and USDF Horses of the Year Ghita

and Coco Chanel.

Judy was a USEF ‘R’ dressage/sport

horse breeding judge for 14 years, a mem-

ber of the USDF Sport Horse Committee for

10 years, and is a current member of the

USHJA Breeder’s Committee. In 2007, Judy

was appointed as a judge to the Hanoverian

Mare and Stallion Committee.

30 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

When you hear the saying “The best

things in life are free,” you think about in-

tangibles such as health, family and hap-

piness. John and Margy Cox would prob-

ably add their Half-Arab gelding, Andy Go

Dandy to that list.

The Coxes showed Arabians, then start-

ed driving an Arabian/Percheron cross that

they bred back in the 1980’s while living

in Washington. Around 1983, they began

competing on the West Coast in Combined

Driving Events {Sidebar on page 33}.

Having moved to Florida, the Ocala

area residents weren’t really looking for a

new horse. But the ad they saw in July of

2010 for a free pony on Ocala4Sale.com

intrigued them.

Andy was 7 years old at the time, bred

Andy Go DandyPi

cs o

f You

31August/September 2013

by Julane White, sired by Saddlebred Sul-

tan’s Great Day and out of Arabian Colleen

V (by Traditio out of a Bay-Abi++ daugh-

ter). His sire was a two-time World Cham-

pion in fine harness and was owned by

William Shatner.

Andy had never been ridden and was

barely broke to drive. The poor guy had a

sad story - he had suffered a flip-over ac-

cident that resulted in a broken tail and

had already been given away twice and

returned. It was apparent that he had no

trust of humans and that made him very

difficult to work with. His hindquarters

were very weak and he would not let any-

one near his right hind. To add to the fun,

Andy also did not get along with other

horses!

The owner hooked him up to a training

cart and down a lime rock road John and

Margy took him. They noticed that Andy

was very forward and light, even perform-

ing serpentines while being driven one-

handed. The Coxes decided he was worth

an attempt at becoming a driving horse.

Andy was smart, but the first order of

business was earning his trust. They sent

him to a very good friend who was a great

horseman to solidify their new pony’s

ground work. “He sent Andy back to us and

told us to get rid of him,” recalls John.

That first year little progress was made

with Andy and his issues. The Coxes sent

him to their friends Gary and Marsha

Yeager, who helped them get Andy more

relaxed in the carriage, but he still had

trust issues.

Then one evening, Andy colicked. Their

vet, Dr. Anne Christopherson, spent the

night there, giving Andy fluids and taking

turns walking him. “The next morning, it

was like a miracle. We had a new horse,”

Pics

of Y

ouPi

cs o

f You

32 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

says John. Andy had perked up and would

nicker at his owners, even letting them

handle him easily.

“Dr. Anne said that Andy realized that

somebody was there for him

and cared. The moral is do

not give up – sometimes it can

work out,” John says. “Now,

Andy is an exceptional driving

horse and a very good friend.”

From there, trainer Fred

Merriam got Andy started in

Combined Driving, along with

their current coach, 2011 FEI

World Pony Combined Driving

Championship Silver Medalist

Suzy Stafford.

Today, Andy is very competitive in the

Intermediate Level in Combined Driving,

as well as being competitive in Pleasure

Carriage Driving. With Margy in the driver’s

seat and John navigating, this team won

the Intermediate Marathon phase this year

at the Live Oak International CAI Com-

bined Driving Event, placing 4th overall in

Single Pony. They were also crowned the

2013 Florida State Single Driving Pleasure

Champion.

The Coxes also competed with Andy

at Region 12 Championships, earning Re-

serves in Carriage Obstacles, Reinsman-

ship and Working. They plan to attend

Sport Horse Nationals and hope to see old

friends from their Arabian show

days.

The Coxes also have an Ara-

bian/Warmblood cross that they

have just started competing in

Combined Driving. “There are

not a lot of Arabians in the ad-

vanced FEI level of Combined

Driving.” explains John. “The Eu-

ropean warmbloods, Dutch Har-

ness and Morgans are the major

players. But I feel as though Ara-

bians can lend a lot to the sport

by way of their intelligence, endurance

and beauty.”

Don’t you just love a happy ending?

Combined Driving is one of eight equine sports governed at

the international level by the FEI and at the National Federation

level by USEF. Nationwide, the American Driving Society provides

for graduated levels of experience – Training, Preliminary, Inter-

mediate, and ADS-Advanced levels for both drivers and equines

as they begin and as they become more adept at the sport on local

and regional levels, perhaps even on to participation in national-

level events.

Sometimes likened to a team triathlon, a Combined Driving

Event consists of three competitions – Dressage, Marathon, and

Obstacle/Cones -- that are held over one, two, or three days. The

sport is intended to showcase the versatility, training and talents

of both horse and driver. Through participating in ADS events,

drivers and horses or ponies may develop in increasing levels of

proficiency.

The Dressage competition can be said to be the foundation for

the rest of the sport. In Dressage, horses or ponies and their driv-

ers drive individually in specified patterns and gaits to demon-

strate the skills, obedience, and development appropriate to their

levels of training before the watchful eyes of one or more judges.

Dressage develops and displays polish, discipline, and athleticism

of equine and driver dancing together.

After the showcase of beauty and control that is Dressage, the

next competition is often the cross-country Marathon. Here, the

driver tests his mettle and that of his horses or ponies in control

of paces and speeds, agility, obedience, and endurance over dis-

tances of eight to eighteen kilometers. Not only do competitors

cover distance, they also negotiate challenge “obstacles” every

kilometer or so, in which they choose their paths to go through

“gates” in the correct direction and sequence. At Training level,

these marathon obstacles are geared toward being a learning

experience, and as levels of competence increase, so do speeds

and numbers of obstacles and gates. It is in this competition es-

pecially that the partnership of the “navigator” becomes critically

important, as this competition requires thinking. In this competi-

tion as in Dressage, ADS rules encourage a careful development of

horse and driver as each level brings new and greater challenges

in speeds, distances, and complexities. It is on Marathon that Dres-

sage training really pays off, and thrills abound.

Having proven their mettle in the control of Dressage and

the jubilation of Marathon, pony or horse and driver must fi-

nally find that combination of boldness, agility, energy and

precision that is Obstacle/Cones driving. In this competition,

drivers and their steeds drive between precisely spaced pairs

of cones over a prescribed course of up to 20 “ obstacles” driv-

en in correct sequence and direction and within an allowed

time based on the size of equine and level of advancement.

Here again, as drivers and horses develop and move up in “lev-

els,” speeds increase and clearances between cones decrease,

making for challenges and fun that never stop. Cones may be

seen as that meld of elegance and thrills that consummates

the competition set to demonstrate the fitness, mind and

training of the horse following the more physical challenges

of the Marathon.

Combined Driving from the American Driving Society Website

fbochan@fastq.com

34 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

At the age of 24, one would

expect most horses are

hanging out in a field, liv-

ing a life of leisure. With Arabian horses, it

isn’t unusual to see them still being ridden

regularly in their later years. Amazingly,

others are at the height of their high-per-

formance careers into their twenties. Lec is

one such Arabian pony.

Lec (Divine Prophecy x Silver MA) was

bred by Sherry Zollinhofer and was born

in May of 1989 in southern Maryland. Her

name is pronounced “lee-ess,” which is

Russian for forest, but is called “Lee” by all

who know her.

Before she came into my life, Sherry

exposed Lee to so much of the world. “I

was with her from her first breath and be-

gan right away with all of the hands-on

stuff you can do with a baby: walking her

through streams, over bridges, over the

stacked irrigation pipes; everything we

could find that might challenge a young-

ster. “She never hesitated going over ob-

stacles; she simply did everything I did,”

Sherry recalls. Thanks to all of Lee’s ground

training, breaking her to saddle was sim-

ple. They knew and trusted each other.

Sherry showed her in Pleasure at her

first show and Lee placed first and sec-

ond, a trend that would be repeated many

times. Lee continued to travel around Mar-

yland partaking in endurance rides, hunter

paces, and various judged trail rides.

In 2001, Lee was sold to Dr. Cheryl

Schmitt. I came across Lee shortly after

from a newspaper advertisement. She was

up for lease as her owner was pregnant

and had no time to ride anymore. I fell in

love with her and told Dr. Schmitt over and

over that if she ever wanted to sell her, I

wanted first dibs.

Luckily for me, that day finally came.

My parents agreed to buy her for me, and I

had never been happier. She was the first

horse I had ever owned. We had this old

late ‘70s ghetto straight-load pony trailer,

but she walked right on. I remember how

nervous Mom was driving that thing over

the Solomon’s Bridge with Lee’s tail hang-

ing over the back door.

We’ve pretty much done it all. I used

her in pony

club, in

which we

evented, did

d r e s s a g e ,

show jump-

ing and even

played polo-

crosse. She loves the polocrosse because

she gets to gallop and be competitive. Lee

loves to go fast! After Pony Club, I decided

I wanted to focus more on showing, so we

pulled her mane and clipped her up for

the local show circuit. My little brother,

sister, and I all showed on her at Mounted

Wanderers 4-H, Southern Maryland Horse

Shows and Maryland Saddle Association

shows. We won almost all the divisions we

competed in at the local shows. I remem-

ber one year, between the three of us, we

had something like 16 year-end awards –

from Model (halter) classes, to Lead Line,

to the Over Fences.

My brother and sister eventually

stopped showing, but I pushed on to the B

and C-level rated shows. By then, we were

out of our old rig and into a huge three-

horse with a brand new truck to pull it. No

longer did I make Mom park in the back of

the parking area at shows!

We had some great rounds and wins

in the Large Pony Hunter division and my

equitation classes. The judges loved her

form over fences, but every now and then

there would be a judge that wouldn’t even

watch our course due to her breed. That

was very frustrating. I feel that no matter

the breed, a judge should still watch and

analyze the round. Still we pushed on

and continuously ended up with multiple

year-end and perpetual awards. If peo-

ple didn’t know her already, they quickly

learned who she was.

Lee and I held the Championship title

in the Arabian/Morgan classes at MSA for 3

years in a row. We were the ones to beat.

That’s one heck of a feeling when you hear

people whispering, “That’s Julia Milligan.

That pony always wins this class.”

Lee tried her heart out for me from day

one, and she still gives it every ride. Under

USEF rules, only Junior riders can show a

pony in rated shows, so when I turned 18,

it was back to the schooling shows for us.

We figured we would give jumpers a go

and, thereby, forgo the strictness and poli-

tics of the hunter ring we had dealt with

for so long.

At first, she was confused as to why

we were jumping the jumps at such a high

rate of speed, but she did it. Our first sea-

son was rough, but after that, we were in

the placings as normal. Our show sched-

ule slowed down a lot when I was accept-

ed to Kansas State University. I left, and

Lee became a lawn ornament, giving the

occasional pony ride to cousins or family

friends. When I came home on breaks, I’d

ride her and even fox hunt her if it was the

LecBy Julia P. Humke

35August/September 2013

season. She loves fox hunting and every-

one in DeLa Brooke loves her.

One year at a hunt, there was an elder-

ly man who rode up next to me and asked

“Miss, is your pony’s name by any chance

Lec?” I said yes. Turns out he hadn’t seen

her since she was like three or something,

but he said he knew he instantly recog-

nized her, almost 21 years later!

My dad was forcing me to sell Lee in

the summer of 2010 due to her sitting idle

plus he wanted a trail horse. After mul-

tiple failed trials and test rides, she was

still in her field. I left in August to begin

my Junior year of college, and in October,

I got a call from my mom saying that Dad

was getting ready to give her to his non-

horsey friend for $1,000 as a lawn orna-

ment. So, I emptied out my emergency

savings account and bought her from my

dad. Luckily, my trainer in KS was at the

Washington International Horse Show

with some ponies and had an extra spot in

her van heading back West. She agreed to

ship her for me. Next thing I knew, Lee was

in a box stall on a van, with ponies worth

upwards of $75k, on her way to see me!

Sometimes, it still doesn’t feel real that

she is actually mine.

Upon arrival, I moved her from my

trainer’s barn to the barn where all my ro-

deo friends are. She lived there because

board was $150 a month versus $700,

and I only made $350 a month working

out there. Lee quickly learned how to push

cattle up the alley to the roping chutes and

to accept ropes flying around her head.

There aren’t many horses out there that

are as versatile as Lee.

I began to notice her flying lead chang-

es and scope over the fences weren’t what

they used to be. So I hauled her two hours

to Kansas City to my equine vet. He in-

jected her hocks, and after coming off stall

rest for three days, I had my pony back! We

could jump and gallop to our heart’s con-

tent. I would go out every day and clean

her stall and give her treats; she secretly

loves to be with her “person.” There were

freezing-cold nights where I’d go out to

check her blankets and I’d be all bundled

up in my coveralls. I’d just sit on her bare-

back, lay back, and look up at the stars

while she munched her hay.

She got body clipped again that win-

ter and I swear she knew something was

up. I body clipped her in high school be-

cause we were showing year round but

she had been fuzzy for a few years. She

loves to show and enters the ring with a

“look at me” attitude. Lee knew I was back

and that things were about to get rock-

ing. I took her to a show and entered the

3’3” jumper division. She walked around

the grounds like she was there last sum-

mer. We pulled two rails in a total of three

classes, for which I was a little bummed,

but she hadn’t shown in 3 years and was

now 22. We had done really well!

My rodeo club went on a trail ride

at the state park one weekend and Lee

showed all those Quarter Horses up when

it came to the hills and rocky inclines.

She’s still wicked fast to gallop.

That same year, my trainer, Mary Ann

Funk of Ashwood Farm, was interested in

Lee for her daughter, Abby, who was 10

at the time. She showed Lee in the Pony

Jumper Division and 0.90m-1.2m classes

at the big A shows. She had finally made

Continued on page 74

36 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

It takes a special horse to be a member of a law enforcement

patrol unit. It takes a special horse to ride in the Rose Parade. It

also takes a special horse to take their amateur rider up to the

FEI levels of dressage. But it takes an EXCEPTIONAL horse to do

all three.

Arabian gelding Just In Kayce+// (Showkayce x Kaitana by Kai-

youm) is that sort of exceptional horse. When Suzi Lanini bought

him as a green broke eight-year-old after graduating from vet

school, her plan was to show him in working hunter. They started

out in Hunter Hack, saving his green status until he was more solid

over fences. When Justin developed a quarter crack, she switched

him to dressage while he healed with every intention of returning

to the hunter ring.

Justin lives in Suzi’s backyard and is trained by her, although

they do trailer out for weekly lessons from Sarah Lockman. They

are currently showing Prix St. Georges with their sights firmly set

on Grand Prix level. They show mainly on the open circuit due to

the lack of FEI classes at the Arabian shows.

Suzi and Justin are also volunteers for the Rancho Cucamonga

Police Department’s mounted patrol unit. It is not unusual to find

them at a horse show one day and out on patrol the next.

They started competing at First level in 2009 and never looked

back. First level was fun and exciting, serving as their introduc-

tion to the sport. “I realized at that time how challenging and truly

training-centric dressage is. I think that’s how I got hooked on it,”

says Suzi. “ It is funny looking back at some of my videos and real-

izing how much work has been done since my first dressage test

back then.”

In spring of 2010, they had the once in a lifetime experience

of riding in the California Dressage Society’s Adult Amateur Clinic

with Olympian Debbie McDonald. At that time, Suzi and Justin

were riding 1st level and working on 2nd. “I took a lot of notes

Renaissance Horse

Mounted Patrol

37August/September 2013

over that weekend. I had participated

in clinics in other disciplines over the

years but never a dressage clinic,” re-

calls Suzi. “It is so amazing to go to

your first clinic and be able to see the

progression of training through the levels. I remember working

really hard at riding straight and with appropriate bends in the

lateral movements.”

They found Second level was like an awkward adolescence

stage – with the tests getting more difficult and the counter canter

being introduced. “A properly ridden counter-canter is very hard,

and it’s a tough concept to grasp at this stage. I definitely didn’t

understand the full purpose of the counter-canter and maintain-

ing the engagement of the hindquarters,” Suzi remembers.

In the fall of 2010, she took Justin to the Sport Horse National

Championships at First and Second level. At that time, they were

schooling for Third but had not introduced changes yet, in order to

keep Justin from offering the changes during the counter-canter

work. The pair earned six Top Ten titles, two of them in Sport Horse

Show Hack.

Third level was fun and exciting because they had now gradu-

ated out of Second and into flying changes and half passes. Their

first test was in January of 2011, happily leaving Second level

behind. “You get tested on the center line with changes at the

judge which is a little stressful, like taking your driver’s license

test behind the wheel. Justin thankfully does clean changes and

Renaissance Horse The entire process of becoming a member of the mounted patrol took about 6 months to complete. The requirements included having a well-mannered a mare or gelding; ability to pass a background check, pass-ing the Citizens Patrol Academy and field training; ability to devote 12 hours to mounted patrol per month; attending training opportunities and monthly meetings and participating in unit sponsored activities when possible.

Their specialized training consisted of use of police radios and field training rides. The horses have to pass HARMs training: static situations that are recreated and may be encountered during a regular patrol, such as:

• Walk over a bridge

• Open and close a gate while mounted

• Side pass

• Back between obstacles

• Walk over obstacle

• Pass by, pick up and carry a mounted unit flag

• Pass by a trash can, blowing trash bag, leaf blower and balloons

• Be able to perform all gaits (walk, trot, canter)

• Be able to pony another horse and be ponied

• Walk in close proximity to a road flare

• Be able to be ridden within 25 feet of a fire truck with full sirens, lights and horn

• Be able to be ridden within 25 feet of other vehicles used within the department such as motorcycle, off road vehicles, car unit

• Walk through running water or stream crossing

• Be able to be ridden in and around crowds

• Be able to perform formations with and without unit flag

The mounted patrol’s duties are:

• Be the eyes and ears for law enforcement

• We do not take enforcement actions, carry weapons or make ar-rests

o We do write parking citations and report any suspicious activity

• Mounted Patrols of the approximately 150 miles of trails within the city of Rancho Cucamonga and the equestrian area of the city

• Participation in city and local events – Parades, Mounted Color Guard, events, ALERT (Alta Loma Emergency Response Team)

• Report local trail and city maintenance needs to the city

• Support other police division needs from regular patrol, reserves, Citizens Patrol (car)

o Community events

o Parking control

o Thoroughbred Christmas lights

o Clerical support for the station

Mounted Patrol

Pirouette at a recent dressage show

38 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

is fairly straight, naturally, so the changes were easy,” says Suzi

about this level.

Fourth level was quite challenging but also exciting because

of the tempi changes. To Suzi, it was a level where she knew they

were so close to FEI yet still had so much to perfect to be solid.

“The tempi changes I found particularly challenging because I

would work so hard at maintaining engagement and riding them

straight it was hard to count. And I still have difficulties some days.

The test was not symmetrical which made it a bit more of a chal-

lenge to ride, also.” She notes that they started Fourth level in

March of 2011.

During 2011, Suzi and Justin started the process of joining the

Rancho Cucamonga Mounted Patrol, which took about six months

to complete. “I knew a deputy, Fred Hoffman, who did mounted

work when I was a teenager. Since that time, I had always wanted

to do mounted work but didn’t have the time available to commit,”

said Suzi. “Once I was done with veterinary school, it took me a

few years to realize I had the time. When we moved to a horse

property and I found the unit at a local arena event, I started the

process immediately.“

Once past Fourth Level, Suzi found Prix St. George a sigh of re-

lief. She and Justin had finally made it to FEI levels! Their first test

was ridden at the large open show at the Flintridge Riding Club

in May of 2012. The judge was Lilo Fore, and Suzi admits she was

intimidated by all the big fancy horses while sitting on her Arabian

that is just an inch shy of being a pony.

She needn’t have worried, they scored a 66%, earning third in

a class of 8. “PSG is very symmetrical and an easy ride. The objec-

tives are clear as you ride each movement, which makes it very

helpful during the test,” comments Suzi. To add to the rewards,

Suzi earned her USDF Silver medal with their first two rides at PSG.

Going through the levels has been challenging, but it has also

At the Rose ParadeMounted Patrol

39August/September 2013

The Rose Parade is an amazing experience.

Wells Fargo put on an equestrian participant dinner at the Get-

ty Museum. The entire museum was open for participants and their

guests only. They had music and plenty of food and dancing. We also

could take a picture in front of a miniature Wells Fargo Stagecoach.

Each participant also goes home with a commemorative pin and a

Wells Fargo stuffed horse.

The parade started the night before on Dec 31st. We left my house

at 5 pm and headed to the LA Equestrian Center. We arrived just before

7 pm, and the horses were allowed out of the trailers and could use the

arena as needed. We ate dinner and had a mini-meeting. We loaded

up at about 10 pm and moved to the staging area, which was the north

bound 110 Freeway median. The Rose Parade organizer had devoted

just enough space for our rigs and just enough room to get the horses

out of the trailers. (there was no room for extra rigs or vehicles). They

had self-serve hot cocoa and coffee for most of the overnight hours.

The horses spent the night in the trailers and we got up about 5 am

to start getting ready. It was so cold that I did as much as I could inside

the trailer before going out to get Justin. They wanted us in the saddle

and ready to move at 8 am. Once we left the trailers, our rig drivers had

to immediately move the rigs to the end of the parade route.

We were staged on a side street, and they fed us into the parade

route behind the floats. The very next side street the bands came out

and got fed in front and behind us. That was quite the shock to the

horses to see the bands come unannounced out of a side street in

such large numbers and followed by a whole section of twirling flags.

It is a very intense start to the parade and just as the horses settled

into the crowds, the floats and the bands, we went into TV corner. The

cameras are all over the street. Some stay at street level, some are on

big arms and some overhead. The stands on TV corner are also 2-3

times as big as the rest of the parade route. The parade is long but

every minute of it was fun. There were so many people, and they re-

ally enjoyed the interaction with me as a rider and looking at such a

beautiful horse.

At the end of the parade route where we disbanded, there was an

In and Out truck that served us hamburgers and cheeseburgers and

their delicious french fries.

Justin was perfect in every way and better than I could have ever

imagined. I even got teary-eyed a few times thinking about having

such a dream horse to ride in the Rose Parade. I never imagined getting

the opportunity to ride in the parade and then to have such a dream

horse to ride was truly special.

The Rose Paradegone relatively smoothly considering the difficulty of both horse

and rider learning simultaneously. Suzi credits Justin’s kind and

caring personality with giving her the ability to progress so quickly.

“Teaching Justin to transfer more weight to the hindquarters

and truly coming through in the connection has been our biggest

challenge. I first recognized this as a challenge at Second level and

it has been more and more challenging as we move up the levels,”

said Suzi. It is her understanding that this is actually a commonly

encountered breed challenge due to their conformation. Getting

the engagement, impulsion and true connection has been one of

their biggest hurdles of late.

Riding in the Rose Parade this year was another unique experi-

ence these two shared. Their earlier training for patrol duties no

doubt came in handy for safely negotiating the sights and sounds

(See Parade Sidebar).

Continued on page 50

At the Rose Parade

40 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

By Cheryl Stephens

Worth TheWork

The most challenging horses are often

the ones that give us the most. Arabian/

Irish Draft cross Glenlord’s Mystique is just

that type of horse.

“Mystic” came to us in June of 2008,

at just 14 months old. I acquired her from

my good friend, her breeder Kelly Jones,

in Leander, Texas. She had not been han-

dled much, so she was a bit of a challenge.

She did not like people and it took several

months of us working with her to get her to

greet us at the gate for handling.

Once she finally did, she was still a

little standoffish. She did not like to be

handled and was a loner horse even with

other horses. We had her older half sister

(same sire, TB dam), and I eventually put

them together. The older mare was my

daughter’s future horse and eventer. We

figured that we would just get Mystic some

basic training and then sell her, as we were

not sure she would handle the demands of

eventing. She was a lovely mover, but she

was spooky and did not want to be around

people much.

As the months went on, we were hav-

ing medical issues with the older mare and

decided to send Mystic to be backed as a

three-year-old by a friend. She spent four

months there, learning how to accept a bit

and rider and being exposed to traffic and

trail rides. When she came back, she was

a different horse, and my daughter began

to take dressage lessons on her. Of course,

right away, we noticed she had some dres-

sage talent. Shortly after she began with

lessons, her trainer thought we should

enter her in a USDF recognized show and

thought she would be competitive at train-

ing level enough to maybe qualify for USDF

Region 9 Championships and Southwest

Dressage Championships.

After that first show in April of 2011

(she had just turned 4), she did qualify for

Southwest Dressage Championships to be

held in November. She had only missed

qualifying for Region 9 Championships by

less than a tenth of a point but we did not

do another USDF show in order to get the

final qualifier. We decided to compete in

the Southwest Dressage Championships

for the experience, thinking that the mare

would probably not do well enough to rib-

bon or even receive a medal. We just want-

ed for her to have the experience as she

was only four years old. After 18 entries

with fabulous horses and some very tal-

ented kids, they did in fact win the Bronze

Medal. Her loyalty to Gaby was beginning

to show; Mystic now had a great work ethic

and would try hard to please all of her hu-

mans!

During her 4th year, she also began to

get some light jump training. My daughter

did all the work in the beginning, teaching

her to wait and go over jumps and worked

on gymnastics. She took to it well, but over-

jumped almost everything. Gaby pressed

on, and in the same year (2011) had done a

few USEA Young Event Horse shows, again

to just get the experience. She wasn’t quite

ready to be competitive at horse trials, so

this was an easy and inexpensive way to

get her some show miles and exposure.

At the first one in March of 2011 at the

Meadow Creek Horse Trials in Kosse, Texas,

Mystic won. She then went on to win again

in May of 2011 at the Greenwood Horse

Trials, competing in the Young Event Horse

Series as a 4-year-old. Mystic also com-

peted that year in the Greenwood Horse

Trial in Beginner Novice. Her progress as an

eventer was really beginning to take form.

In her 5th year (2012), we decided to

send her to a trainer in Louisiana for some

cross-country training. She had begun to

stop at the jumps, and Gaby was only 15

years old at the time and not able to help

her. She was gone for 5 months. I had pur-

chased an off-the-track racehorse that had

been around the block and could give Gaby

the confidence that she needed when Mys-

41August/September 2013

Photos Courtesy of Cheryl Stephens

tic came back.

I figured we would need a school-mas-

ter for a while and that Mystic would still

take several months until she would be

ready to be Gaby’s full-time horse com-

peting at horse trials. Once again, she de-

fied the odds and began to take Gaby to

the jumps and really enjoyed her job. She

had competed in a couple of Young Event

Horse Shows and once again did well. She

was the 2011 USEA Area V Young Event

Horse Champion 4-Year-Old. She was also

the 2012 USEA Area V Young Event Horse

Champion 5-year-old.

In the fall of 2012, Gaby competed her

at Area V horse trials in the Novice division.

She competed in just two horse trials; in

the second one, they placed second and

finished on her dressage score. She also

qualified for the American Eventing Cham-

pionships for the first time! The following

show, her trainer, Mike Huber, moved her

up to Training Level. This was the Holly Hill

Horse Trials in Louisiana in October, and

she finished 5th. That same month, she

competed at Texas Rose Horse Park in the

Training Junior Division and finished 3rd.

She has started 2013 at Training level

and has done well. She finished on her

dressage score in March again at Texas

Rose Horse Park and finished 9th out of 25

kids. She was entered in two more shows

this spring, but we had to withdraw as Mys-

tic had an infected tooth that needed to be

removed. She had started being winded

after cross-country for the first time ever,

as an abscess from the tooth had blocked

one nostril.

Gaby and Mystic went to USEA Area V

Young Rider Camp for the second year in a

row. This year it was held at the site of the

2013 American Eventing Championships at

Texas Rose Horse Park in Tyler, Texas. Gaby

and Mystic have qualified for this year’s

AEC’s at Training level. This year at camp,

they were in the prelim group as they con-

tinue to prepare to move up to the higher

levels of their sport.

Gaby and Mystic are aiming for the

North American Junior and Young Rider

Championships in July 2014. They must

qualify at the one-star level at select com-

petitions throughout the US. Camp provid-

ed them with the opportunity to fine-tune

some of the skills needed to compete at

the international level.

They will continue to train with the Area

V Young Rider Coach Mike Huber and they

are planning on doing clinics with Olympi-

ans such as Boyd Martin.

I would say that before being blessed

with this amazing mare, I wouldn’t have

shopped specifically for an Arabian cross

since it is not a usual breed for eventing.

I certainly would now. They are graceful,

athletic and have fabulous stamina. These

three things are what is needed in eventing

in order to be successful and competitive.

They are loyal and have a work ethic that

is amazing!

I am often approached by people who

comment on Mystic’s beauty and grace.

Most are in awe when they see her jump, as

she is quite scopey! I think she and Gaby

will have many more years together and

will continue to go where no one thought

they would go.

42 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

One of eventers listed on the 2013 USEF Developing Rid-

ers list is a young lady who competes on her family’s homebred

Anglo-Arabians. Katy Groesbeck and her parents, Jim and Teresa,

owned the Arabian stallion Sidi of Magic (*Sidi-Brahim x Fadjurs

Magic) and bred him to a former racehorse Regalbatim (Regalberto

x Vowel) they owned.

The three geldings that resulted from this cross are bay, athlet-

ic and have great dispositions. Oz Magic Act (“Magic,” 14), owned

by Jim, spends his time doing a little bit of everything, including

ranch work. Oz The Tin Man (“Wort,” 16) is Katy’s horse; he has

done ranch work, endurance, and upper level dressage in addi-

tion to eventing. Oz Poof of Purchase (“Poof,” 18) is owned by Te-

resa, and has the same background as Wort. All three were bred

by Katy’s mother, started under saddle by her father, and have all

benefitted from growing up learning how to be working horses

first and performance horses second.

Katy’s appreciation for the brothers is unmistakable. “They are

all total gentlemen and love to please. They would die trying be-

fore they would give up. All three are very sensitive, responsive,

and have charming personalities that make them a pleasure to be

around,” says Katy.

Having grown up with them, Katy says she is also aware of

the distinctions between them, “I know them really well, so they

seem very different to me: their movement, their temperament,

even their size and shape. Magic is the perfect blend of his moth-

er and father, but Wort is very much built like an Arabian, round

and petite. Poof is the biggest and built much more like a TB. Many

mistake him for a Warmblood cross.”

After being started under saddle, all three schooled and com-

peted at lower level dressage. From the time Poof began show-

ing, he scored in the high 60s and into the 70s. Poof had also

competed at lower-level eventing and completed two limited-

distance endurance rides.

Of the three, Wort (Oz the Tin Man) has traveled and competed

the most. At the age of two, he underwent inspection to receive

ISR Oldenburg approval as a stallion, but the judges asked to see

him when he was older and more developed. Teresa took him

back for inspection at the age of 5, but unfortunately he missed

approval by only half of a point. After being used as a ranch horse

by Jim up until that point (aside from showing in-hand as a sport

horse), Teresa began showing Wort at training level and first level

dressage. Then at the age of 13, Katy began riding him. As he

Katy Groesbeck &

The Oz Brothers

Cover Story:

43August/September 2013

matured and they moved up the levels together, Wort’s striking

presence and steadiness began leading them to considerable suc-

cess in the dressage court.

In 2006, Wort and Katy were the 3rd Level Jr/YR Champions

at the Golden State CEI*** and 3rd Level Reserve Champions at

the FEI Jr. Individual test, with numerous scores in the high 60s,

several bordering on 70% and four scores of 9 from three differ-

ent judges. Katy earned her USDF Bronze Medal Rider Award on

him as well.

Like his two brothers, Wort’s talents were not limited to the

dressage court. When Jim first began riding him, he was actually

schooled as a cow horse. Wort and Katy also showed in jumpers

and even completed two 50-mile rides in 2004 (winning one) and

several limited distance rides.

But as Katy got a little older, she started craving the diversity

of skills and the challenges that 3-Day Eventing required; both

she and her horse were drawn to it. “Since I was on a budget, I

prioritized spending money on events rather than horse shows.

Eventually I was hooked and I have been seriously competing

since 2007,” explains Katy.

She has done the majority of her competing on Wort, with a

4th, a 5th and a win at Ram Tap in 2008 at Training Level. In 2009,

they were in the top five at Preliminary in three outings and fin-

ished fourth in their first 3-Day at Galway. In 2010, they were top

5 in five runs at Prelim, and placed 1st, 2nd and 4th in three 3-Day

CCI* events!

The pair ran four events at Intermediate in 2011, placing 1st,

2nd, 4th, and 11th. They ran the 3-Day CCI** at Galway and fin-

ished 15th. The 2012 season started out with a 3rd at Intermedi-

Katy’s appreciation

for the brothers is

unmistakable.

oz poof of purchase

Photo by Sherry Stewart

Oz The Tin Man, “Wort”

Photo by Alaina Hower

44 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

ate, a win at 2*, a win in Advanced, a fabulous 2nd at their first 3*,

and they finished the year with a 3rd in Advanced. Katy considers

that 3* placing the highlight of their career together thus far.

When asked what her biggest challenge with Wort is, Katy re-

sponds, “He is an overachiever and a perfectionist, even more so

than me. Some days, I just wish I could find the ‘off’ button! As I

have matured as a rider, however, I have learned how to channel

his excess energy into extra performance. He is like riding elec-

tricity – there is nothing quite like it. You never even really feel

him touch the ground, and he has a determination about him that

is unparalleled to any horse I have ridden. Every time I canter

down centerline or leave the startbox, I know I am in for the ride

of my life. At the USEF Developing Rider/Eventing 25 training ses-

sion in Gilroy, David O’Connor noted that he has a lot of try and a

huge heart; I think he would do just about anything I asked of him.

And he just keeps getting better!”

Katy had planned another 3*, but their season was cut short

when Wort developed white line disease, requiring a partial hoof

resection. While he was recovering, big brother Poof was called

upon for Katy to ride.

Poof had been competed by Katy and a few other riders over

the years, with a win in Intermediate and a 2nd in a 3-Day CCI* in

2010 with Katy; a win in a 3-Day 2* and 7th in a CIC** with Amber

Levine in 2011; another outing in May 2012 and that was it. Katy

managed to dust him off and get him in shape enough to place

10th at the 3-Day 1* at Galway in November.

So far in 2013, Poof and Katy finished 13th in Intermediate,

and they were leading the Advanced at Galway International until

Poof pulled 5 rails in Stadium Jumping so finished 4th. In April,

Katy and Poof won the 3-Day CCI** at Twin Rivers., which they

Oz The Tin Man

Photo by Mary Starling

Oz The Tin Man

Photo by Nancy Dein

Oz The Tin Man

Photo by Brian Schott

45August/September 2013

entered just to meet new FEI requirements.

“Show jumping has been a particularly difficult struggle for

us, and I think it is partly due to the fact that I began riding and

jumping Poof at an age when I was good but not experienced or

skilled enough to help him improve his own technique,” explains

Katy. “But now, with the help of Hawley Bennett and Buck Da-

vidson, I have learned how to improve my own jump riding and

consequently his jumping style. Our biggest victory to date was a

double clear show jump round to take the win in the CCI** at Twin

Rivers in April. It was his first on record, and I feel like I have really

accomplished something in that.”

Katy describes him, “Poof is a goofball. Wort is like the preppy

kid in high school who takes himself very seriously and wants to

have the best test scores and get into the best colleges (and does),

but Poof is the class clown who goofs off and somehow still man-

ages to ace the tests (which annoys his brother, to be sure). He is

more challenging for me because he takes quite a bit more disci-

pline in my riding to get the same level of focus and performance

as Wort, but once you tap into that, you get amazing results. He

can be a handful sometimes but only because he LOVES to run

and jump. At 18, he feels like a 4 year old some days.”

Katy currently is a working student for Olympian Hawley

Bennett, residing there in the living quarters of her horse trail-

er, absorbing all she can. Over the season, Katy and Poof were

participants in the USEF Developing Riders/Eventing 25 Program

Training Sessions with USEF chef d’equipe David O’Connor.

In June at the Copper Meadows Horse Trials, Katy competed

on both geldings. This was Wort’s first event since his layoff, so

her plan was to just tune him up for a big event in July. Well, she

did much more than that! Wort won the Intermediate, after be-

ing tied for 2nd after dressage, then went double clear on cross-

country and stadium to win the division.

Poof, not to be outdone, was 3rd after dressage, went double

clear cross country and had one rail in stadium, also finishing 1st

in Advanced.

With her sights firmly set on The Event at Rebecca Farm in

Montana in July, Katy was thrilled to be named a recipient of one

of the 2013 Rebecca Broussard Travel Grants. The USEA Endow-

ment Trust awards the Grants to event riders presently competing

at the advanced level to assist with travel expenses to compete in

the CIC*** division at Rebecca Farm.

At the world-class competition, Poof was 7th and Wort was

10th after dressage, to which Katy exclaimed, “I’ll take it!” On

Continued on page 70

Oz Poof of Purchase

Photo by Samantha Clark

Oz Poof of Purchase

Photo by Bill Olson

Oz Poof of Purchase

Photo by Bill Olson

46 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Samantha Hodgson started riding at 5 years old and

began showing in dressage at 10. With her mother

as her trainer, she schooled Arabian Kalabask (Cash-

van Baskin x Somali NA) to second level by age 11 and trained

her mare EA Helen+ (EA Tspartacus x TC Special-K) to Grand Prix

by 16. A few years later, she began showing Arabian Scrabble+//

(Monopolii x *Saletra), earning scores as high as 77.50% at Grand

Prix and winning many championships.

Samantha currently trains at Superior Dressage Horses in

Southampton, NJ with her mother, Dawn.

What attracted you to Arabians as dressage mounts?

I’ve always been attracted to the beauty of the breed, but the

real reason I started riding Arabians in dressage was due to their

size. When I was 10 years old, my mom wanted to buy a dressage

schoolmaster for me to learn on. We tried many horses, mostly

warmbloods, but I was tiny and all the horses were over 16 hands,

so it was not a good match. They were too big and difficult for me

to ride. So, we decided to start looking for an Arabian instead. We

took a trip down to Everglade Arabians in Micanopy, Florida and

found the perfect horse, an Arabian mare named EA Helen+ that

was trained to Prix St. Georges. Because of her size, she was super

easy for me to ride. I grew to love the breed and have decided

over the years that their size really suits me. For me, they are just

plain easier and more fun to ride than a bigger horse. I would com-

pare it to the difference of driving a sports car and driving a bus.

Of course the sports car is more fun to drive.

What are their strengths and weaknesses for the sport?

I would say their strengths are definitely their stamina and

ability to stay sound through the hard work. They are highly in-

telligent and are amazingly fast learners that seem to advance

through the levels of dressage quickly with correct training. I don’t

necessarily think the breed has any specific weaknesses, as long

as you pick an Arabian with solid and correct confirmation. I tend

to like Arabians with Polish, Russian, and Crabbet breeding. Most

of the successful dressage Arabians I have ridden have *Bask in

their bloodlines.

Do you do anything different when training an Arabian?

I don’t do anything different when training an Arabian. If any-

thing, I find Arabians are easier to train than other breeds. They

seem to grasp new concepts easily and quickly. For instance, when

I teach an Arabian a new movement, I usually only have to go over

it a few times, they grasp the concept, and then we move on to

the next. After that, we just practice the movement to make it bet-

ter, but I never have to go back and reteach it. With other breeds

I have found that I have to go back and reteach a lot. Almost like

Samantha Hodgson

Sure Is Bright+++//

Photo by Stacy Lynne

EA Helen+

Photo by David Adams

47August/September 2013

I have to remind them of something they have already learned.

What Arabian-breds do you compete currently?

I am currently competing two of my own FEI dressage horses,

BeyMoon Zela+/ (Bask-O-Zel x Mar Abie) and Sure Is Bright+++//

(Diamond Jimm x Bright Lights). BeyMoon Zela is a Purebred Ara-

bian stallion I have competed with at FEI Grand Prix for the last

6 years. We have competed together at many different competi-

tions, both National and International, including competing three

times at the prestigious Dressage at Devon International Horse

Show. I also currently compete Sure Is Bright, a Half Arabian geld-

ing at FEI Prix St. Georges and FEI Intermediate I. Both BeyMoon

Zela and Sure Is Bright are *Bask Grandsons.

When choosing an upper level dressage prospect, what do you

look for?

I look for a horse with three solid good gaits, and with a talent

for extension and collection. The horse also has to have a great

mind and a good work ethic. A horse can have all the natural tal-

ent in the world, but without a good mind, it’s hard to teach them

anything.

Who has been your biggest influence?

My biggest influence has been my mother and trainer, Dawn

Hodgson. She has been my biggest supporter and has pretty much

taught me everything I know. I wouldn’t be where I am today with-

out her.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment so far?

My greatest accomplishment so far would have to be earning

my USDF Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals by the age of 20 years

old riding three different purebred Arabian horses. Winning the

2007 Arabian Sport Horse Nationals at FEI Grand Prix and Interme-

diate II with Scrabble+// was also a great accomplishment. Com-

peting at Dressage at Devon with both BeyMoon Zela and Scrab-

ble was also a great experience that I will never forget.

What are your future plans?

I plan to continue to compete BeyMoon Zela and Sure Is Bright

at the FEI levels in Open Dressage competitions. My goals for this

year include competing both horses at the Arabian Sport Horse

Nationals. I fully believe that the Arabian breed can hold their own

in Open Dressage competitions. I plan to continue to show and

train Arabians in FEI dressage and also plan on continuing to pro-

mote the Arabian breed at Open Dressage Competitions.

Samantha Hodgson

Scrabble+//

Photo by Bob Tarr

BeyMoon Zela+/

Photo by Stacy Lynne

48 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Kestrel’s CallingHorses always know what they want

to be, if only we’d listen to them. A horse

born with as big a personality as IB Kestrel

could not be limited to the confines of a

dressage court. No, he demanded some-

thing more exciting, and eventing has

proven to be just the ticket!

Sired by the imported Trakehner Kar-

neval and out of an Arabian mare by All

The Gold, Kestrel was bred by Jessica Riley

to be an upper-level dressage horse. He

was trained up to Third level before she

decided to sell him as he was small and

too much horse for her. Kestrel was also

very bored with dressage.

Eleven-year-old Joa Sigsbee bought

him with the intention of competing in

Hunters and Equitation. Because of his pri-

or dressage training, she decided to also

take lessons in that discipline. They shortly

realized that Hunters were not going to be

Kestrel’s “thing” and gave eventing a whirl.

The first couple of years were not easy.

“Kestrel is very intelligent and likes to test

my ability everyday. He loves to work and

gets very upset when he doesn’t. He is

a brave horse with most things that most

horses would find scary, but then scared of

stupid little stuff. He has one of the most

active personalities I have ever seen in a

horse,” says Joa.

They showed a bit in dressage and

Novice level eventing with mixed results.

In the beginning of the 2007 show season,

Kestrel pulled a tendon, the first in a series

of unlucky injuries. The following year they

placed well in three Novice events before

being sidelined by a suspensory issue.

Kestrel won his first event back in

2009 and continued the trend with a 4th

and 5th place at Novice before moving up

to Training. “Training was not a huge jump

for him. I couldn’t have been happier with

the rate we were progressing,” says Joa.

They stayed at that level throughout

2010, despite leaving their trainer halfway

through the year. “After we left, everything

just fell into place. He started cleaning

up at Training level and growing in con-

fidence,” recalls Joa. “ I didn’t have a set

trainer anymore. I take a couple lessons a

year with two different trainers in my area,

one for Dressage, and another for Show

Jumping, but at events I do everything

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49August/September 2013

with him myself.”

The next season, Joa and Kestrel start-

ed doing some Preliminary/Training com-

bined shows with him in preparation for

Area 1 Training Championships. In Kestrel

fashion, they flew through the champion-

ships with no problems at all; even with 1

rail down in Stadium they still won. It was

then that Joa knew that they were both

ready to move up.

At their first competition at Prelimi-

nary, Kestrel tackled everything in stride,

keeping them in 1st place again through-

out the show. He was an amazing 7 points

ahead after dressage. According to Joa,

Kestrel has such solid dressage scores, it

is very rare for him to ever be in the mid

30s. After another injury from a kick in the

paddock, Kestrel sat out the rest of 2011.

The next summer in 2012, they de-

cided to try competing in Area 1 Prelimi-

nary Championships. Again, Kestrel was 6

points ahead after dressage, made more

amazing that, even in the pouring rain,

the horse loves what he does. The cross-

country was nothing like they had ever

done before—pushing the limits on them

both, considering it was technically just

their 2nd full Preliminary event.

Kestrel was one of the only horses un-

der time, and he jumped everything with

no problems cross-country. “He truly took

care of me throughout the course, mak-

ing our bond and my appreciation for him

even stronger than it was before. Sadly,

the day of stadium he was tired and hit 4

rails, dropping us from 1st place to 4th. I

was utterly devastated with myself,” re-

calls Joa.

Joa took Kestrel to college in Virginia

with her last fall. This spring, without hav-

ing had any lessons in a year, they decid-

ed to tackle a couple of events at Prelim,

placing first and fourth, proving once again

that Kestrel loves his job.

In July, Joa headed to the Area 1 Pre-

liminary Championships again, hoping to

better last year’s finish. They were in 2nd

place before stadium, but finished 6th af-

ter pulling 2 rails.

Joa credits his heart and strong will to

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hoto

WN

C P

hoto

WN

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hoto

WN

C P

hoto

WN

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hoto

50 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

succeed for all of their success. “He loves

to work and truly enjoys it. He always has

a great dressage score, which I find so im-

portant. With his stamina and speed, we

never have any trouble making time cross-

country. We don’t have to fly to make time,

and he knows when he needs to listen to

me. Kestrel can be a little lazy with his

hind end in Show Jumping, but when he

wants to, he can clear everything no prob-

lem,” says Joa.

Lest you think it is all work and no play

for Kestrel, Joa trail rides him a lot and has

done western work, including running bar-

rels. He is also trick-trained. “Kestrel bows

at the end of every dressage test and can

answer simple yes or no questions along

with lying down, pushing a ball, etc.,” ex-

plains Joa.

Their future plans include an Interme-

diate level event and continuing at Prelim

for at least another year or two. They may

compete in dressage after retiring from

eventing.

“I am hoping that my next horse will

have some sort of Arabian in it. I truly en-

joy the Arabian cross, and I know that they

can succeed well in eventing. They enjoy

working and are very athletic. I person-

ally like the smaller, more agile horses

because I have found they are easier to

handle and can make some harder turns

cross-country than some of the other big-

ger horses,” Joa comments.

About this horse of a lifetime, Joa

says, “Kestrel has taught me so much

more than any other horse ever has. He

not only is everything I could have ever

hoped for in an event horse, but every-

thing he does, every time I ride him, is

a new learning experience for the both

of us. The bond I share with him is why

we make such a great team. He tries his

heart out to do well and to keep me safe. I

couldn’t ask for anything more!”

Continued from page 39

Renaissance Horse

Suzi and Justin attended the California

Dressage Society’s Adult Amateur Clinic

again this year where the clinician was

Sabine Schut-Kery. “She really helped us

get closer to finding that true engagement

and connection. She was very patient and

encouraging of him coming through in his

connection, and Justin was very receptive.

She rode him for a few minutes at the end

of our last ride. She is such a talented rid-

er, and she made Justin look so fancy and

trained,” Suzi commented afterwards.

Learning dressage at the same time

as Justin, Suzi believes, has been to his

disadvantage, but she has tried to make

it as smooth as possible by being consist-

ent with their weekly lessons and always

having specific homework. They practice

every week despite the weather.

Creating a proper balance in Justin’s

life has also been a hurdle. “If it were left

up to me to decide, I would practice every

day. I have learned that Justin really pre-

fers an every-other-day schedule and a

day of just trail riding each week. Often

our trail rides are patrol rides,” admitted

Suzi.

With this kind of focus and dedication,

added in with the versatility of this breed,

what will they tackle next?

51August/September 2013

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52 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Walk, trot, canter a few 20-meter cir-

cles, throw in a stretchy trot circle and a

few halt/salutes, and you’ve got yourself a

Training level dressage test. How hard can

that be?

Well, let’s put it this way. I can look

through the choreography for “Swan

Lake.” I can have it diagrammed for me,

and I can watch someone dance a scene

and try to recreate what I see. I can run and

spin and jump across the stage, precisely

as directed in the choreography, but will it

be pleasant to watch?

No need for you to answer. I already

know.

There is a parallel to dressage here.

Most anyone can muddle their way

through the movements described in a

Training level test and even do a fairly

passable job. But understanding the nu-

ances, the directives and the objectives

are key. These are what separate an ad-

equate performance from one that earns

good marks AND builds a foundation for

future success as the horse moves up the

levels.

The simplicity of the Training and even

First level tests is both a blessing and a

curse. Many people who are steeped in

the AHA “oval-ring” disciplines watch

what happens in that 20 x 60 meter rec-

tangle across the show grounds and find

themselves intrigued and wanting to try it.

And that is a wonderful thing!

But what does it really take to ride

those tests and ride them successfully?

The test instructions are deceptively sim-

ple, while the test directives offer insight

into the qualities actually being assessed

during the prescribed movements. Those

directives and the quality of the move-

ments, not just the fact that you did them,

make up the difference between a 5 and

a 7, or between a cumulative 55% and a

65% score!

We asked a group of experienced and

highly successful dressage trainers and

competitors to offer up their observations

and pointers to help those just starting out

or crossing over to the dressage arena so

that they might have a positive experience

and want to keep going on their dressage

journey.

Each of the trainers commented on the

need for riders to learn how to correctly

ride their horses from back to front, and

NOT the other way around.

“Most often I see the new or crossover

riders not having their horse ‘through’ and

really ‘on the bit’,” said noted dressage

trainer Patience Prine-Carr of C a s -

troville, Ca. “They tend to be tight in the

back,” she added, as a result of being held

in a static position by the rein. “Getting the

horse swinging and free in the back with

relaxation would add extra points.”

Prine-Carr’s thought was echoed by

Greta Wrigley of Alachua, Florida. Wrigley

is another well-known trainer with a long

and successful history training and com-

peting Arabians in dressage. The two most

common problems she sees are horses

that are not honestly accepting the bit, but

rather are stuck in a frame, and horses that

are laterally stiff and not bending.

“The horses need to follow the bit,

and learn to bend evenly through their

entire body. This is where good instruc-

tion comes in,” Wrigley noted, “so that you

know when you are correct and can re-

create that when working alone.”

Prine-Carr made the same point and

emphasized that one of the harder things

for riders coming from other Arabian dis-

ciplines is to learn to memorize tests and

to ride between the movements, not just

movement to movement. “They need to

think for themselves while in the arena

since there isn’t any announcer telling

them where to go. Of course, they can

have a reader but I tend to want them to

learn their tests and ride from memory be-

cause it will make them a better rider and

they will learn to ride the whole test, not

just the movements.”

Up-and-coming young dressage train-

er Mimi Stanley of Bismarck, North Da-

Janet Bellows grew up in upstate New York eventing and doing dressage and Pony Club on her Anglo-Arab mare. She is passionate about dressage , and trained with Tracey Lert and Charles DuKunffy in Ca, and continues her education with Inga Janke and Wanja Gerlach, and competes on her purebred geld-ing, GA Ehstaire. An award-winning documentary and broadcast news producer, she has also worked

extensively in print journalism.

MaryJo Hoepner’s Arabian/Saddlebred gelding Milleniums Treasure is enjoying the switch from hunter pleasure to dressage.  Here he shows  the

balance, submission and forward attitude so crucial to dressage success.

By Janet Bellows

53August/September 2013

kota, has been involved in all aspects of

the Arabian horse world and has trained

with some of the world’s best dressage

mentors. She notes that, for many horses

coming over to dressage from other are-

nas, there is much ingrained training to

overcome, as well as them learning to un-

derstand and accept a more “layered” and

complicated set of aids.

As she has observed, “Many of these

horses from other disciplines can end up

in a very different place” than what one

desires in a dressage horse. “With the

more severe bitting, and gadgets such as

draw reins and such, these horses gener-

ally require a good deal of re-schooling”

in order to really work over the back and

relax into a correct pace and tempo for

Training level and obtain the foundation

to move beyond those levels.

When listening to all the trainers, it be-

comes apparent that, in addition to the is-

sues of correct schooling and understand-

ing the goals of Training level and how it

forms the foundation for the levels that

follow, the other main issue is understand-

ing how to apply that knowledge in riding

a well-executed test.

“Possibly the biggest issue is under-

standing how each movement is scored

- both the movement itself and the modi-

fiers,” said noted trainer Jessica Wisdom.

Best known for her ground-breaking suc-

cess with the Grand Prix Welsh Cob stal-

lion North Forks Cardi, Wisdom, of Ridge-

field, Washington, has also trained and

ridden numerous Arabians and part Arabi-

ans to USDF and AHA/Sport Horse Nation-

als wins. “The directives for each move-

ment are described on the test sheet,” she

notes, “but there could be some confusion

when a ‘quiet’ transition where the horse

‘keeps his head down’ isn’t well rewarded.”

This can be because, as she notes, new

dressage riders might not understand the

nuances of each movement and what is

desired in the schooling. “Those new to

dressage need to familiarize themselves

with the other components such as relaxa-

tion, impulsion, straightness, balance and

eventually engagement. The ‘modifiers’

describe what happens before, after and

within the movement that affect the final

score.”

Wisdom elaborated a bit more on these

points, noting that another challenge is

riding the test itself accurately. “Again, the

elements and figures are well described

either on the sheet or in the USDF test

booklet. Geometry, alignment, and good

preparation are keys to success at any

level but are too often not given enough

practice – at home AND in the ring.”

Just as you don’t slam on your car

brakes when you are next to the stop sign,

but rather prepare for

what is coming, the

same holds true in

riding your dressage

test. A well-planned

test, with properly ex-

ecuted, geometrically

correct figures, will

help you add many

points that can all

too easily be thrown

away.

“Know your ge-

ometry!” added Wrig-

ley. “Understand the

placement of circles,

and how much bend

you need to align yourself for the center-

line,” which is essentially a half of a ten-

meter circle, and the very important first

and last impression of your test!

And as Prine-Carr noted, with three

rider scores, it becomes even more critical

to ride correctly and use your seat and aids

effectively. Checking yourself for position

flaws not only benefits your test score, but

your horse as well. Do you sit more heavily

in one seat bone than the other? Do you

hollow your back or grip with your thigh

or tilt your head or shoulder to one side or

the other? All these subtle things will be

noted by a judge, and more importantly,

will have an impact on your horse’s bal-

ance and straightness.

While this may seem like a huge laun-

dry list, it really is quite manageable, par-

ticularly with good instruction to get you

started in the right direction. And after

a few lessons, you will find that the only

thing really daunting about riding your

first dressage test is putting on the white

breeches!

Janet Bellows grew up in upstate New York eventing and doing dressage and Pony Club on her Anglo-Arab mare. She is passionate about dressage , and trained with Tracey Lert and Charles DuKunffy in Ca, and continues her education with Inga Janke and Wanja Gerlach, and competes on her purebred geld-ing, GA Ehstaire. An award-winning documentary and broadcast news producer, she has also worked

extensively in print journalism.

3/4 Arabian HERMANO ROJO (El Hermano x Bint Sabo Meadow {Arab/QH}), formerly a winning WP horse, shows the forward attitude, length of stride and acceptance of the aids that earned him a Top Ten in Training

level dressage at the 2012 Arabian Sport Horse Nationals.   (He is ridden by his owner, Pip Sumsion of British Columbia.) Photo by Bob Tarr.

54 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

You hear stories where people say that

the horse picked them. I wouldn’t say that

happened here, but I would say that our

meeting was by chance and unlikely to re-

sult into a long relationship.

I had taken a group of children to ride

out with the Red Rock Hunt, north of Reno,

NV. I had been a whip in a hunt back in MA

and felt that the local pony club needed to

get out of the arena. It was on the return

trip back to the hunt kennels when I rode

up to one of the whips. I told her I liked

her horse, he’d caught my eye. She gave

me a fairly hesitant look and said I was on

a much nicer horse, why would I like hers?

Did I notice his hips stuck out like a cow’s?

I responded that he was a bit of a diamond

in the rough and I was always looking for

somewhere to hang my coat. We intro-

duced ourselves, but I was still on pony

club duty so not much more came of that

other than learning he was only 4 years

old and an Anglo-Arab.

Fast forward to the next spring and

I brought a couple of students to a local

hunter/jumper show. The whip recognized

me and asked if I remembered the horse

from the hunt field last fall. Well, he didn’t

have the speed she needed for the hunt

field, so he was for sale. I did have a jun-

ior rider that was looking, and I needed

something very, very quiet. I watched the

now five-year-old canter around a couple

of courses and said I’d be back to try him.

We set a date for two weeks time, and I

started to plan a training/muscling pro-

gram for the still ewe-necked, cow-hipped

rangy creature. Two weeks came, we drove

to give the horse we now knew as “Hazen”

a test drive and the barn was empty. Fi-

nally a groom arrived and said the horse

was no longer for sale. He’d done well at

a baby novice event and they wanted to

keep him. Figuring it wasn’t meant to be,

we drove home and started looking else-

where.

We looked and we looked but nothing

was a match for this particular junior. She

was sweet as the day was long but a bit

spacey, so I needed a quiet horse with a

good sense of self-preservation to save

them both in any situation. Out of the

blue I got a call over Labor Day weekend.

Hazen wasn’t working out. Unlike his stee-

ple-chasing sire, Hazen didn’t have the

speed the Red Rock Hunt needs in their

whip horses because of the type of terrain

and the size of territory it covers. Were we

still looking, they asked. They were tak-

ing him to a show near my home and they

could stop in on the way home. I figured

he’d be a bit tired but I agreed to the plan.

Watching his soon-to-be new rider have to

kick him into the canter, I figured I’d found

the suitable match. We vetted him and he

moved in immediately.

And that’s where the fairy tale ended

for a while. Hazen didn’t get sold because

he was slow. He got sold because he

bucked. And he bucked and he bucked.

During his first test at his first dres-

sage show, he bucked his junior rider off,

so I ended up grabbing show clothes and

riding his sorry butt down center-line

wondering what I could get for him at the

knackers. He won his test and the judge

took the time to speak to me. She wanted

to make sure I knew that she saw an FEI

horse in the making. She told me he had

the gaits and the spark it takes at the up-

per levels and to not give up on him. She

Healing

hHazenBy Elizabeth Coffey-Curle

55August/September 2013

saw something very special in his very

fresh, very naughty face.

Over time, muscle formed where

bones stuck out and he started to get pret-

ty. His junior rider liked to jump, so Hazen

would show as a child’s jumper, winning

his speed classes and ripping at least one

buck a round (his teenage rider got real

sticky in the saddle) and at the child’s par-

ents’ request, I showed him in dressage

because they felt that was the best train-

ing for the naughty beast. We hit Third lev-

el when his rider went off to college, and I

purchased him from the family.

We moved up the levels like most rid-

er/horse combinations and were lucky to

avoid any major soundness setbacks. As a

result of a skiing accident, I had to have my

wrist re-built which required multiple sur-

geries and six months of non-riding time,

but my horses often sit out the winter due

to our snowy residence and I always figure

it gives whatever strains and sprains we

aren’t even aware of time to heal.

I sought the help from FEI trainer

Volker Brommann. At this point, Hazen was

still very hot to show and the FEI work was

continuing to heat him up. Volker’s calm

approach was a huge turning point in Ha-

zen’s career. Hazen’s trot has always been

his weakest gait as he has more knee ac-

tion than reach. Volker saw that as a po-

tential gift for the piaffe and passage work.

He really gave me the confidence that we

could go all the way. Hazen, in turn, taught

Volker that non-traditional dressage hors-

es can be very successful. Volker still to-

day calls Hazen “Big Man” because of the

size of his heart, not his stature.

In 2007, Hazen earned the USDF Half-

Arabian/Anglo Arabian All Breeds award

for Fourth level, the Region 7 USDF Re-

serve Champion Fourth Level Freestyle

award and the CDS Reserve Champion

Fourth Level Freestyle award at the Cali-

fornia Dressage Society annual show.

Two weeks before the 2009 Sport

Arabian Championships in Idaho, Hazen

strained his lateral collateral ligament in

his left fore playing in the pasture. It was

a disappointment to have to stay home,

but up until this point, we had been injury

free, and I just figured it was our turn.

I have always been competitive and

enjoyed showing, but the responsibili-

ties of a young family and full-time job

put showing on the back burner. Hazen

continued to show and train through In-

termediare I including a fun I-1 freestyle.

Snowy winters and two more minor hu-

man surgeries probably contributed to

Hazen staying fairly sound through all of

the work. He has a very straight gaskin so if

there’s ever a bit of unsoundness, it’s in his

hocks. I have had them injected only twice

in his 18 years, so I’m getting a lot of miles

per injection.

Last summer was a big step forward;

although I did not show due to financial

reasons, he was ready for I-2. With the

help of FEI trainer Michael Etherly, I could

start and stop the one tempis on com-

mand and his passage was nothing short

of just plain fun. If anything, the strength

required to do the very collected work

made Hazen even sounder. Physically, he

was massive. You could play chess across

his topline. And yet, he was still just our

family horse living life like other normal

horses. He lived out in the pasture most of

the time with his best friend, “Roc,” going

for swims at a lake near our home and trail

riding with our dogs down to the creek

most days.

In October, I handed the reins over to

my then 12-year-old daughter Cyd to ride

in her first third level test. She had out-

grown her little Arabian whom she had

shown through Second level. That first

test had a bunch of us laughing. Cyd took

the extended canter to mean gallop like a

wild brumby and watching Hazen collect

himself before the corner was priceless.

Everyone pointed out the grin both horse

and rider had from ear to ear through out

the entire test.

And then things went bad. I could start

the story with “It was a dark and stormy

night,” because, well, it was. Mid-Novem-

ber on a Friday night, snowing, wind howl-

ing, and temperature in the teens, I went

out to feed at 5:30 PM. Hazen normally

meets me at the gate but instead he was

standing near his shelter and his pas-

ture buddy was galloping madly around.

I called to Hazen thinking he didn’t see

me. He didn’t move. In an instant, I knew

something was very, very wrong. I ran out

and there in the bit of light from the back

of the barn, I could see he was three leg-

ged, non-weight bearing.

I couldn’t see the extent of the wound,

but his knee was ripped open and already

In an instant, I knew

something was very,

very wrong.

56 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

huge. Later, we were able to time the injury

between 4:15 and 5:30 because Cyd had

actually spent time with him in his pasture

between 4:00 – 4:15. Standing with Ha-

zen three-legged, I admit I just started to

cry into his neck. In my heart I knew the

leg was broken. I put my hands on him

and said goodbye. I had always assumed

Hazen would grow old in my pasture and

instead, I would be putting him down that

night. I was probably there all of about 15

seconds but the things that ran through

my head were what every horsey parent

agonizes over. He’s not insured. How to I

replace him for Cyd? How do I tell her that

we just lost her horse? She grew up with

Hazen. Her first word after ma-ma and da-

da was “Hay-ZA”.

I caught his pasture mate, the obvious

offender in this situation, and ran him up

to the barn. The weather was so foul and

he was still galloping around. I didn’t want

him to run up to Hazen not realizing that

Hazen would not be able to get out of his

way. I called the local vet hospital. I gave

one clear message that the vet who re-

ceived the message from the on-call ser-

vice said when she got it, she knew I was

not one to cry wolf. I told the service that

I had a probable broken leg and for the

on-call vet to stop at the hospital on their

way to my stable to get whatever medi-

cine they would require for such an emer-

gency call. Then, I ran to the house to get

Cyd and a flashlight. I quickly told Cyd the

situation and handed her the phone since

the phone signal doesn’t carry out to the

pasture. I grabbed a flashlight and headed

back to Hazen.

The next hour was agonizing. Cyd and

I took turns with Hazen. He was standing

100 feet down a small hill from the barn.

His now stabled pasture mate would call

out to him and Hazen would sit back like in

a levade and launch forward landing all of

his weight on his one good front leg. This

went on for an hour. Roc would whinny,

Hazen would rock back and leap forward.

When thirty minutes turned into an hour, I

couldn’t help but wonder what happened

to the vet.

At the hospital, the first on-call vet

was preparing a horse for colic surgery.

The responding vet, Sadie, ironically the

vet assigned to our stable from the group

practice, was actually second-on-call for

the night. On the way to my home, a truck

had hit a wild stallion shattering his hind

legs and the vet was two cars back. She

had to stop and, with the aid of police

and firemen, euthanize the stallion. When

she finally arrived at my stable, she was in

shock from the situation she had just left

behind. Seeing my family standing around

Hazen who was eating hay out of a wheel-

barrow in the middle of the barn aisle was

almost more than she could take. I had

packed Hazen’s leg in ice and a makeshift

splint to stabilize his leg. I still had little

faith that he’d see Saturday morning, but

Hazen was standing so quietly under the

aisle lights now on four legs, maybe there

was a chance after all.

After a thorough examination, the

vet thought we were okay. A severe deep

puncture to the knee joint, yes, but Hazen

allowed her to poke and prod the joint and

leg completely free of any sedation. She

felt there was no way he’d allow that if

there was a break. We applied a soft cast

and, since the portable x-ray machine was

on the blink, we agreed to meet in the

morning at the hospital. I was to call if, in

the morning, I felt that he would not tol-

erate the trailer ride. Sadie climbed back

into her truck and drove to assist with the

colic surgery that was awaiting her return

to the hospital.

The next week is a bit of a blur. Ha-

zen had obviously laid down during that

first night and was back up on four legs.

He was very sore walking to the trailer

which we had driven practically to his stall

door, but he was at least weight-bearing.

Hazen leaped three-legged into our two-

horse and slid down the ramp with both

front feet on the ramp to unload. He would

continue to use this method for future

Young Cyd playing with Hazen

57August/September 2013

trips. Saturday morning x-rays and joint

fluid checks were clean. As horrific as the

wound looked, he would be okay. Sunday

night we hosted a barn party and while I

usually empty the barn of all equine resi-

dents for these parties, Hazen on stall rest

was the guest of honor.

I changed his dressing twice daily and

hand-walked him for five minutes twice a

day per his prescription. It was the follow-

ing Monday night that I saw swelling that

hadn’t been there that morning. I made a

mental note to call the vet the next day

and since I had Wednesday off, I could

haul him in to the hospital then. Tuesday

morning arrived, and with one look at the

leg, I had him loaded in the trailer before I

even called the hospital to tell them I was

on my way. They could look at him when

they had a break in the action and I’d pick

him up after work.

Hazen was diagnosed with a cellulitis

infection and the request to keep him 24

hours turned into 8 days in the ICU on an

antibiotitic IV. They continued to hand walk

him in the hospital and as the only over-

night horse in ICU, he was quite miserable

and stopped eating anything except horse

cookies. Feeling sorry for the old boy, the

vet techs let him loose one day while they

were cleaning his stall, thinking he’d just

walk around a bit. Hazen proceeded to

knock everything off the shelves, knock

things into a sink, turn on the water and

start a flood – all to the amazement of the

staff. When I heard the story, I reminded

them that he lives in a barn that is always

full of children. Children mean food. Any

horse worth his weight knows that there’s

food stashed in the grooming box or on a

shelf, you just have to look for it. “But he

turned THE WATER ON after he dumped

things into the sink!” they said. “Oh, that

was just a bit of horse humor. He did that

to make you crazy,” I explained.

After his duration in ICU, Hazen once

again came home with a prescription of

medicine and hand-walking. Another week

went by and at this point, I knew what 80

(yes, 80) x-ray views over two weeks had

failed to show. Hazen was in too much pain

when I changed his dressing. He would ex-

tend his leg outward when I went to put

the bandage back on that was supporting

the dressing over the knee wound. I called

the hospital and said I was bringing him in

the next day and I was going to show them

where the fracture was. I’m not usually

that insistent but I knew I was right.

After a couple of “Dr. Curle” jokes by

the vet team, I pointed to the place where

I felt was the fracture point. It was on the

radius above the knee. The vet team in-

cluding a surgeon did a full examination

of his leg including lots of manipulation of

his knee joint without any response from

Hazen. They did agree that there was point

tenderness and took him back for more x-

rays. Jokes ended, and the vet team and

techs got very somber, very quickly. A

shadow was present on a film. Now they

needed to follow the shadow and see

where it led. A three-inch clean straight

line fracture was present on the x-ray. We

were at day 24 post-accident. X-rays taken

at days 14-18 did not present any fracture.

All of the vet school teachings that if you

do not have a fracture after day 14, you are

in the clear, went right out the window.

Still in the x-ray room, standing with

the vet team, a plan was formed. The

fracture was clean and unless it started

to split, he’d avoid surgery. The surgeon,

Shane, said he’d tied, slung, etc. these

kinds of cases and no case had a better

result than any other so I was to take Ha-

zen home and put him loose in his stall.

No pen attachment, just his 12x12’ indoor

stall. We’d start him on Shock Wave Ther-

apy in three weeks. If he was going to sur-

vive, it was all on Hazen now. Shane said

he’s watched him in the hospital while he

was in ICU and thought that Hazen had

the common sense and attitude it would

take to survive the confinement. “Okay,” I

said. “I’ll take him home.” It was then that

two other vets started to panic – I had to

“trailer” him home. Of course, that is how

he got here. “But he has a BROKEN LEG!,” I

just laughed and shook my head. I remind-

ed them that not only have I been hauling

this horse back and forth to the hospital, I

had been hand-walking him twice a day! I

loaded him back up and went home.

What I didn’t know was that using

Shock Wave Therapy for a break was as

new to them as it was to me. Thanks to

the race track, there is a lot of documen-

58 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

tation on its use for soft tissue injuries

but it wasn’t until the vets found a study

where it had been used on a rabbit with

a broken leg did they have any research

for the machine settings for healing bone.

Three sessions, three weeks apart was the

prescription. I augmented the Shock Wave

therapy with Accuscope therapy sessions.

We needed to treat Hazen’s entire body

while the bone re-modeled under the skin.

Hazen was an amazing patient. I

learned that most of these patients are

put down approximately six weeks into

the recovery process because they sim-

ply start to jump around in their stalls and

shatter their leg. Hazen was not a full time

“stalled” horse prior to his accident, but he

quickly settled into the routine. My daugh-

ter hung a few toys around his stall, but

our family became his favorite play toys

and he enjoyed the time we spent in his

stall.

Four and one-half months after the

accident, we were given the go ahead to

hand walk Hazen. That quickly turned into

walking under saddle because Hazen was

so explosive, I felt he was going to injure

himself or one of us. I convinced the vet

that his training would over ride his exu-

berance and it would be calmer and safer

in the saddle than on the ground. Two

weeks later we got the “all-clear” to start

trotting and when I felt he was strong

enough, we could start to canter.

Miraculously, Hazen was sound. I com-

pletely cheated and I would admit to do-

ing so in emails I would send the vet. My

theory was she could rant and rave, but I

was 20 minutes away and couldn’t hear

her. I had actually already trotted the day

before we got the go-ahead to do so and

more than that, I asked the old boy to pas-

sage and he handed it to me right off my

aid. The first day we cantered, I did a sim-

ple change each direction. The next day I

did a line of 3 tempis. Canter day three, I

picked up the canter and without so much

as a single change warm up, I did a line of

two’s followed by a short line of 1’s. Call

me horrible for pushing him or what ever

but I wanted Hazen feel “normal” again.

He still wasn’t on any kind of turn out yet

and between the months of stall rest and

now being 18 years old, gravity had taken

its toll on his topline. We had a lot of work

to do, but Hazen was back. Then I did what

I thought would never happen again. I en-

tered him and Cyd into a dressage show

in June.

Today I wish I could say that whole ac-

cident is ancient history but it is going to

take a bit more time before I don’t worry

about him constantly. He is back in the pas-

ture during the day but spends his nights

in his stall. He has a new pasture mate –

this one is 13 hands, no hind shoes, and

runs away at the mere twist of one of Ha-

zen’s ears. I worry watching him load and

unload our four-horse step-up trailer but

he lands up and back down on his right leg

first, always. Cyd trail rides him now where

just a month ago I still worried about hard-

packed footing. We haven’t taken him back

to the beach yet because I’m worried that

the deep sand will strain his leg, but by the

fall, our favorite time to hack on the beach

and into the water, we’ll be back there.

Cyd and Hazen have qualified for

the CDS Junior Third Level Champion-

ships, and they have a darling Third level

freestyle set to “We Belong Together” by

Randy Newman from Toy Story and “Bear

Necessities” from the Jungle Book. They

received the last-needed score for Cyd to

earn her USDF Bronze medal at the age

of 13 years. Cyd would like me to show

him again. She says she wants me to get

my USDF Gold medal. She has him for one

more show season and then, who knows,

maybe I’ll put him back into the show ring

in 2015 and Hazen and I will get to earn

our USDF Gold Medal together.

As a result of Hazen’s remarkable re-

covery using Shock Wave Therapy, his vet

team have documented his case and made

it available for other equine practitioners

to review.

59August/September 2013

www.tranquillityhorsefarm.com

60 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

By Karin Foley

It occurred to me over coffee one day that Arabian horses have

been the impetus for many major relationships in my life. I met

my husband, Will, because of a Straight Spanish Arabian stallion

named Destinado and so began the relationship with two loves of

my life, Will and Arabian horses. Many of my closest friends have

come into my life via Arabian horses. I think of Arabian horses as

bridge-builders because a particular Arabian horse or just Arabian

horses in general will bring together the most unlikely people.

They provide the bridge to people we may otherwise not have

met and to experiences we most likely would not have had with-

out them.

If there are two people at a horse event with horses of Arabian

blood, they will find each other. I met Linda Ward a few years ago

at dressage camp in Ohio. She lives in Hamburg, New York, and I

was two hours away from her in the Finger Lakes. Since Linda was

the only person at camp with an Arabian horse, it was just a mat-

ter of time that we would meet. I don’t think it took us more than

five minutes to find each other. Linda said that through her horse

Pietra she has “met so many other fabulous women, young and

‘vintage’ who have taught me so much. It is a wonderful commu-

nity that I am proud to be part of… strong women.”

There are all kinds of courage and sometimes the bravest peo-

ple are the most unassuming. To meet Linda you would not realize

what tough stuff she is made of. Linda is one of those smiling peo-

ple who can always find something nice to say about every one in

every situation. She is the kind of person you want to be friends

with because her positive attitude and kindness are a pleasure to

be around. She inspires you to be a better person.

Sometimes having courage has more to do with taking on a

challenge that is incomprehensible enough that it even seems

crazy. Linda learned to ride at age 45 on a purebred Arabian mare

named Pietra. Pietra was a horse that had a past and was a bit

of a rehab project. While I support the conventional wisdom that

green riders should begin on saintly horses, sometimes courage

Profiles in Courage

Building a Bridge

Linda Ward getting her Western New York

Dressage Association year end award

61August/September 2013

outweighs sense or as my grandmother, Grace Edna, used to say,

“Courage takes having more strength and less sense.” Learning to

ride on horses with issues takes more strength and less sense for

sure and maybe a touch of insanity.

For Linda, learning to ride at forty-five and ride Pietra was a

journey for the brave. Forty-five is about the age when midlife

horsewomen start to feel every childhood fall. Falling at 45 can

be deadly. Pietra had serious baggage that made her dangerously

spooky at times. Linda said, “ Pietra and I struggled for many years

as she carried with her some horrid baggage. A ‘cowboy’ trainer

had tried to cure her of her spookiness and really messed her

up.“ Since Pietra came with all her western tack, Linda tried rid-

ing western first. Then the pair switched to dressage when Linda

figured out that it teaches you to use all of your rider aids and also

makes the horse a fine athlete progressively.

About her and Pietra’s journey, Linda will tell you that, “ We

have a wonderful history together and hopefully it is inspiring

to other women. You are never too old to realize a dream, never

too old to try something that is hard but so satisfying. “ One of

the best things about riding a bit later in life is that there are of-

ten many other women at the same point in life doing the same

things. Some will have a lifetime with horses. Some perhaps gave

up riding for a while to raise a family or have a career. Life takes up

time and sometimes dreams get put on hold.

What makes someone decide to just take up horseback riding

in midlife – a sport which most people who become really good

tend to start as kids, Linda said, “It is nice to have something that is

all mine after raising two fabulous daughters and then to see how

proud they are of their old mom.” Women of any age can do any-

thing we set our minds to do. It takes grit to decide to learn some-

thing and achieve a certain level of success at it during a time in

life when most equine athletes are slowing down and beginning to

spend more time on the ground teaching than in the saddle riding.

What made it work? My niece Mary Elizabeth says that some

people have a “whatever” button meaning some people just don’t

sweat the small stuff. If you are the kind of person who suffers with

every little setback or inconvenience, you are unlikely to ever be-

come a really good rider. You certainly won’t be able to enjoy the

ride. I think Linda has that “whatever” button that has allowed her

to master horseback riding at a challenging point in life. She says

it is because of her journey with Pietra that she can now ride just

about any horse.

It does not take much to get Linda talking about her desert

princess. Watching them ride, it is not hard to imagine Linda as the

musician she is. Linda said, “ I always thought music was my pas-

sion and now I find Pietra is.” Music and riding are a lot alike. They

both take patience, commitment, gentleness, spirit and cadence to

Continued from page 71

62 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Her name, Huadoresya, is an amal-

gamate of her dam (Lei Huua) and sire

(Retador) and is pronounced “Who adores

ya.” Better known as Annie, she had ador-

ing fans through out the US and Canada.

She began her show career by win-

ning a Region V Top Five as a yearling, with

trainer Mitch Sperte on the lead. Mitch

was the first to say that Annie would al-

ways give way more than 100% of effort

to what is asked of her and that I should

be very careful in m y

choice of trainers for her. I began

her early under saddle career doing hunt-

er pleasure and western pleasure. Annie

allowed that hunter pleasure was okay,

but western pleasure was way too boring.

When she was 5, we met trainer Nelson

Mittuch whose expertise was in event-

ing and show jumping. Annie found that

eventing was just the ticket for channeling

her need for adrenaline.

Nelson rode her in several schooling

and lower-level events with the idea that

I would take over the reins once she knew

the game. I rode my first novice-level

event at the age of 50. It was soon clear

that Annie was

getting bored

with novice

level, and I had

NO desire to go

up the levels, so

Annie again be-

came Nelson’s

ride. He very

carefully moved

her up the lev-

els, never allow-

ing her to think

she couldn’t do

it. A trademark

of hers was the

way she saun-

tered into the

show jump-

ing arena. She

was good and

she knew it, even if many in the crowd

weren’t believers.

One believer was 3-time Canadian

Olympic rider, Robin Hahn. Robin saw An-

nie in one of his clinics and felt that she

was an Advanced-level horse. She may

well have done so if she hadn’t taken time

off for maternity leave, although she did

compete to the Intermediate level. I re-

member standing at the start for Interme-

diate at The Event at Rebecca Farm and

hearing people chuckle about the crazy

rider (Nelson) on the little grey Arab. They

were no longer chuckling when the pair

came galloping around to the finish with

no jump penalties.

The year Annie was to be bred, Nelson

and I decided to do only show jumping, as

she wouldn’t have to be so fit and might

make conception easier. We had planned

to take her to Spruce Meadows, but they

had overbooked and were taking only

horses competing in the whole series (we

were going for just a week). She competed

in the International Arena at Thunderbird

Show Park in British Columbia, Canada.

Again, there were doubters as she

strutted into 3’9” and 4’ classes, but by

the end of the week, Annie had many

new fans. She came second twice at 3’9”,

leading one class until the very last horse

that went just a touch faster. After tak-

Annie and Amber, with teammates Lexi Funk and Candy at Galway Downs, Temecu-

la, CA. West Coast YR championships.

Annie and Nelson Mittuch – Intermediate at Deep Creek Horse Trials   photo by Ken Hornung

By Gwen Marshall

63August/September 2013

ing time out to have her son, Corre Con El

Viento (his Trakehner registration has WB

in front), Annie began a new career as the

mount for Young Rider Amber McCluskey.

They worked their way up from Novice to

Preliminary. At 14 years old, Amber was

too young to ride Intermediate. A second

place in Prelim at the Whidbey Island

Pony Club event earned them the chance

to compete with the Area VII Young Rider

Team at Galway Downs in Temecula, CA.

They started the weekend in 20th

place of 20. This was not unusual, as Annie

considered dressage to be on a par with

western pleasure and pretty much never

gave her best during the test. She saved

her best for the two jumping phases. They

finished the weekend in seventh place,

earning a trip to Lexington, KY to compete

at the North American Junior and Young

Rider Championships. What a great thrill

to be able to compete at the home of the

legendary Rolex, where the World Eques-

trian Games were to be held the next year!

The Area VII team finished a respect-

able 6th place, and Annie made many

more friends as the little grey Arab flashed

around the cross-country course. Other

than the endurance horses, Annie was the

only purebred Arabian competing at the

NAJYRC. Annie finished her competitive

career as the highest ranked FEI eventing

Arabian and came home from KY to be-

come a broodmare.

Sadly, we lost her at the age of 17 to

leukemia. She was a rare treasure through-

out her life and she died of a disease that

is very rare in horses. Her son, Corre Con

El Viento (Vinnie), is now 7 years old and

is just about ready to let the world know

of his presence. By the Trakehner Windfall,

Vinnie is considered Trakehner because

Annie was inspected and approved for

the Trakehner Stud Book (PSB) and Half-

Arabian. His foals out of Arabian mares are

registered as 3/4 Arabian.

When the inspecting veterinarian first

saw Annie, his comment was a very heart-

felt “Now there’s one that stands out in the

crowd.”

Vinnie thinks that eventing is fun,

but he will probably make his mark in the

Show Jumping Arena. Robin Hahn thinks it

won’t be long before he’s winning at the 4’

level, despite the fact that he is the same

size as his dam – 15’1”. Vinnie is also mak-

ing his mark as a sire. His first foal, the now

3-year-old First Legacy GM, was the Re-

serve National Champion 2-year-old Half

Arabian Sport Horse Filly in Nampa, Idaho.

“Ginger” is now started under saddle and

early indications are that she’s got that

need for adrenaline and will find eventing

her cup of tea.

First Legacy GM with Dannelle Haugen Photo by Sherri Sauter

Huadoresya as a yearling Annie and Nelson at Thunderbird Horse Park, British Columbia, Canada (2nd and

3’9’’) Photo by On Site Digital

“Vinnie” Corre Con El Viento and Nelson Mittuch during a Robin Hahn

clinic

First Legacy GM Res. Nat’l Champion 2-year-old Half-Arabian SHIH filly 2012

Photo by Don Stine

“Vinnie” Corre Con El Viento (Windfall x Huadoresya)

64 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Eventing, formerly known as Combined Training in the United

States, with its tests of dressage, cross-country and stadium jump-

ing, forges an intense bond between horse and rider. In order

to move up through the competition levels of the United States

Eventing Association, USEA (formerly the USCTA – United States

Combined Training Association), each must develop deep trust in

the other along with strength, agility, stamina and the ability to

solve ever-more complex jumping problems. Jane Mendelsohn

of Sunset Valley Farm near Brooksville, Florida, and her purebred

Arabian gelding, Starsearch SMA—known to everyone as Sparky—

were a team that met this challenge.

Jane has loved horses for as long as she can remember, and

her passion for riding was so strong when she was a child that

even the family Beagle was not safe. Her earliest training at Red

Raider Farm in Ohio consisted of a kind of private Pony Club-type

education in horsemanship and hunt seat equitation. Later, she

began showing and training hunters and jumpers at the Hunt Club

in Hunting Valley, Ohio.

Her first exposure to the Arab breed occurred when her family

attended an exhibition and sale at Locust Farms in Kirtland, Ohio.

Several years later, as a working student at San-Ray Stables, she

was assigned to ride an Arab-Quarter Horse mare named Faela.

Faela did everything from jumping picnic tables in the park to bar-

rel racing to egg and spoon. Jane rode her in Open Hunter shows

and 4-H.

After San-Ray closed, Jane and her older sister Debbie began

riding Thoroughbreds for neighbors who wanted to recycle their

unsuccessful racers into hunters and pleasure mounts. Then in

college, Jane rode on the Northwestern University Equestrian

Team. After graduation, she moved west and learned eventing

while riding at Half-Halt Farms in Martinez, California. She met Te-

resa Trull, and in the summer of 1992, formed a partnership with

her to work for Sierra Moun Arabians training their young horses.

It was here that Jane met Sparky, a four-year-old gelding who

attracted her immediately. Sparky was foaled on May 13, 1988,

a light bay with a star, strip, snip and sock on the right front who

matured to 14.3-hands. (Jane’s amusing comment on his height:

Honestly he is 14.3. Just always put him down as 15 to make me

feel braver jumping the big jumps!) His dam was Inca Magic (Bakk

Talk x Halali Inca Gold by Gdansk), a mostly Polish-bred mare line-

bred to Ofir PASB through Witraz and *Witez II. Inca Magic was

a bold jumper and outstanding Pony Club mount. Sparky’s sire,

Starbounde+/ (Spellbounde x Elkontessa by SX El Kobarh), was a

Polish-CMK stallion with two lines to the Crabbet stallion *Serafix.

Starbounde competed up to Intermediare I levels in dres-

sage, had regional and national honors as a hunter over fences

and placed well at CTETA Horse Trials, Novice Division in his only

venture into eventing. He also performed Musical Freestyle exhi-

bitions with well-known West Coast rider-instructor-judge Creeky

Routson, including at the 15th Annual Dressage In The Wine Coun-

try in Santa Rosa, California. (Starbounde’s younger full brother,

Edict—owned by Debbie Mendelsohn—competed very success-

fully in hunter, 1st and 2nd Level dressage, sport horse breeding

EVENTING STARS Sparky & Jane

Jane Mendelsohn schooling Sparky in dressage at

Bright Future Farms, Walnut Creek, California.  

Kat W

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By Kat Walden

65August/September 2013

EVENTING STARS Sparky & Jane

classes and Novice Division events.) The family blend of Polish,

Crabbet, CMK and Rogers desert import bloodlines obviously in-

cludes the athletic talents requisite for good sport horses.

Both Sparky and Starbounde survived emergency colic sur-

gery and recovered well enough to compete at high levels of per-

formance. Starbounde continued to have recurring bouts of gas

colic, although he is healthy enough at age 30 for children to ride.

Sparky’s colic was caused by ingestion of a foreign object which

ultimately encrusted into a seven pound tummy-ache. Although

Sparky never quite showed the physical bloom his diet and con-

ditioning should have produced, he had never shown any other

signs of distress and continued to compete successfully until he

colicked in February, 1995. Veterinarians at UC Davis were sur-

prised that he had shown so few symptoms and that such a large

enterolith did not rupture his intestine.

The irritant for the enterolith remained unknown until Jane

and her husband Neil Williams moved from California to Florida

at the end of 1999 to be closer to her parents. Neil balked at

the idea of shipping the enterolith, which had lain frozen in their

freezer since the surgery, across the country. Accordingly, Jane

and the author thawed and dissected the thing. At the center was

a length of about 18” of some kind of rope, heavier than baling

twine but lighter than a lead rope. When and where—not to men-

tion why—Sparky swallowed it remained a mystery.

Jane and Teresa recognized Sparky’s potential very soon after

starting him under saddle in 1994. They encouraged owner Nan-

cy Getman to event him, with his first competition being an AHSA/

USCTA recognized event at Milfleur Farms in Livermore, California,

that same year, where he took a 2nd in the Open Novice Division

with Jane riding. He followed up with a 7th in Novice Horse Di-

vision at the CTETA recognized Horse Trials (near San Francisco)

the same summer. CTETA is popular with world-class eventers, so

competition there is never easy in any division. When Nancy Get-

man dispersed most of her horses in the Fall of 1994, Jane and

Teresa, doing business first as Equine Grammar School and later

as Tandem Training, moved on to Carol DiMaggio’s Bright Future

Farms in Walnut Creek, California. Through Nancy’s generosity,

Sparky went, too, with his teacher and friend, now a half-owner.

After Sparky colicked, Jane assumed full financial responsibility

for him, and Nancy transferred sole ownership to her.

During a long rehabilitation period, Sparky developed a

roundness and muscling that he had never shown before—as well

as a mirror-shine to his coat. He and Jane returned to eventing in

the summer and fall of 1996. They won their Open Training Divi-

sion at the AHSA/USCTA recognized American Valley Horse Trials

at Quincy, California, which earned them the Arabian Sport Horse

Association, Inc., Year-End Combined Training Fifth place. Memo-

rial Day Weekend, 1997, Sparky and Jane placed 4th at the CTETA

Horse Trials, again in Training Division. Both times, Sparky was the

only purebred Arabian competing in his division. Although Sparky

was qualified to move up to Preliminary Division, Jane elected to

give him more experience and conditioning at the lower level.

Sparky and Jane cross country at CTETA.

Kat W

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Sparky and Jane winning the Poplar Place Horse Trials

Preliminary Division on May 10, 2002.

Note their harmony in balance and confidence in this.

Shan

non

Brin

kman

Pho

to

66 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

At the CDS East Bay Chapter Annual Freestyle Dressage Exhi-

bition at Walnut Creek, California, in November, 1996, Sparky and

Jane took part in a unique presentation. With Jane’s sister Debbie

on “Uncle Red,” they performed a musical pas de deux at speed

over jumps to the Pointer Sisters’ “Jump (For my Love),” which was

enthusiastically received by the audience.

As a change of pace, at the 2nd Annual Pacific Coast Arabian

Sport Horse Classic held in Vallejo, California, June 6-8, 1997,

Sparky won the Purebred Regular Working Hunter Under Saddle

class. He also won the Purebred & Half-Arabian Training Jumpers,

2’9”-3’3” and Purebred Jumpers, Open 3’3”-3’6” with the fastest

clean rounds. In the Purebred Jumper Stake, 3’3”-3’6”, Jane let

him get flat to one fence, and they had a rail down, dropping them

to 4th. Although jumper was more to Sparky’s liking than hunter,

they also took a 4th in Purebred Regular Working Hunter Stake,

3’-3’3”.

Before the move to Florida, Sparky did get his chance at Pre-

liminary Division competition. Sparky and Jane competed at the

Pebble Beach H.T. in June, 1998, where Sparky lost Jane when

confronted suddenly with another competitor in his path on the

cross-country. Bad luck! In September, 1999, they placed 8th at

Murieta Equine Center H.T., 9th at Whiskey Hill H.T. and finished at

Ram Tap in October, placing 7th. By 2001 they had mastered the

division. Between January of 2001 and May of 2002, Sparky and

Jane placed in the Top Five in Preliminary Division at horse trials

nine times. They won five of the horse trials: Canterbury H.T. &

C.T.; Basingstoke Farms H.T. & C.T.; Pine Top April H.T.; Poplar Place

H.T.; and Flat Creek H.T. He placed Third in the USEA Region III Year

End Awards in 2001 and was Reserve Champion in 2002.

The Florida Winter eventing circuit is tough at all levels, be-

cause the top event riders in the country follow the warm weather

south to keep their experienced event horses fit and tuned up and

to start young horses. At any given horse trial or 3-day event, one

may find oneself riding against Olympians with decades of expe-

rience. To place well in such company is a real accomplishment,

one that Sparky and Jane achieved repeatedly in the years after

they left California. They might even have inspired internation-

ally known eventer Karen O’Connor to give super pony Theodore

O’Connor his chance to excel in the sport, since she also compet-

ed in Florida when Sparky and Jane were at their peak!

Continued on page 71

Schooling session at Bright Future Farms in Walnut Creek,

California. In preparation for the move from Training up to

Preliminary Division, Sparky needed practice in jumping

taller and wider fences. Around 1998Ka

t Wal

den

Phot

o

A jump-off for time at an early Pacific Coast Arabian Sport

Horse Classic show at the county fairgrounds in Vallejo,

California 1997.

Kat W

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Sparky at age 25 during a dressage workout in June, 2013

Theresa Vandenheuvel Photo

 

Kat W

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67August/September 2013

Imagine, at just 17 years old, representing your country against

the best international junior dressage riders. Katie Lang did.

At the recent North American Junior and Young Rider Champi-

onships (NAJYRC), Lang and her noble steed, Half-Arabian FA Pa-

triot (Flurry of Ca-Lyn {Friesian} X La Sada Mega) scored 63.486%

in their team test. Overall, Lang and her teammates ranked fourth

place out of eleven teams. The team was just .5 of a point away

from receiving the bronze medal.

During the individual test, Lang and “Blue” scored 61.132%.

The pair did not advance to the next test, but Lang is still very

pleased with their results and just being a competitor. “It was cool

to meet everyone from different countries,” said Lang. “I couldn’t

believe I was there. We were so, so, so close.”

Lang’s trainer, Kathy Rowse of Silverleaf Dressage in Suffolk,

Virginia, was proud of her student’s accomplishments. “This is the

third time I have gone to NAJYRC,” said Rowse. “Katie and Blue

were uniquely prepared because Katie has done so much compe-

tition in ice skating, so the competition at this higher level really

didn’t phase her. She went in to absolutely enjoy it and get the

most out of the experience. The whole family just really enjoyed

the trip, so that made me feel very much a part of it, and I liked to

see the team spirit that most students really exemplified.”

Lang started riding in 2006. Her dad asked if she wanted to

visit a nearby barn, and the rest, as they say, is history. Just a few

months after starting at Silverleaf, she became the owner of Blue.

Blue is a 15-year-old, 16.1-hand gelding. He received his barn

name “Blue” due to

his steel gray/blue

color. He has since

grayed-out and be-

come a flea-bitten

gray. This coming

October is the two-

year mark that Lang

and Blue have been

a partnership. “He’s a

cool dude,” said Lang. “He’s a Winnie the

Pooh and Eeyore kind of guy. He’s laid back.

He likes his food and his mud. He’s a good

traveler.”

Blue’s former owner, Jessica Zoskey,

had competed with him in the Young Rider

Championships two times. Zoskey trained Blue herself and had

owned him since he was 5 years old before selling him to Lang.

Zoskey was the one who mentioned the NAJYRC to Lang.

“I thought it would be really cool to be under 18 years old

and compete at the international level and represent my country,”

Lang said. “I competed under judges from Sweden and France.

This is a stepping stone for kids for the Olympics and the inter-

national level.”

Not only was Lang impressed by the competition, the location

of NAJYRC also gave her chills.

“Just being in Rolex stadium was just a crazy feeling,” she said.

“Edward Gal and Totilas won three gold medals here. It’s the real

deal. I am normally a very calm person when competing, but I was

nervous going down centerline, then I was fine.”

Lang plans on continuing her pursuit in dressage. Her longterm

goal is to receive her USDF Silver medal, while her short term goal

is to compete in Fourth level at the Great American Insurance

Group/USDF Regional Dressage Championship. After watching the

freestyle tests at NAJYRC, she “really needs to ramp up my cho-

reography” for her

own freestyle.

Despite what

she would like to

work on, Lang is still

awed by competing

at NAJYRC. “It was

probably the best

experience of my

life,” said Lang. “I

really liked being

on a team, we got

close, had fun and

it made it less of an

individual competi-

tion.

Competing at North American Junior & Young Rider ChampionshipsBy Rebekah Savage Photos courtesy Cindy Lang

68 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

PL Irish Thunder

Bran

t Gam

ma

Phot

os

69August/September 2013

As a young hunter rider, I worked with

a few Arabians, but overall was not im-

pressed – they seemed very high-strung

and not at all cooperative. A few years ago,

we purchased a young Welsh-bred pony,

who was also a part Arabian (1/4). She was

a lovely pony and great to work with; giv-

ing me a much better experience than be-

fore. My takeaway was I truly believe it’s

all in the proper breeding. Bad breeding

makes bad horses whereas well thought

out breeding makes nicer prospects.

When I bought PL Irish Thunder, an

Irish Draft/Arabian cross, bred by Playland

Farm, I wanted a horse that would go Ad-

vanced level in eventing. From day one,

Flynn has been a gem. Within just a few

days of bringing him home in May of 2011,

shortly after he turned 3, I backed him and

slowly began his introduction with flat-

work. By late fall, I was beginning to lightly

jump him. Every new question was met

with bravery, willingness, and honesty.

I’ve never seen a horse look so intently to

where his feet are going, the result being

that Flynn goes to every jump with careful-

ness, precision, and eagerness.

In April of 2012, I took him to his first

Horse Trial at Beginner Novice. We finished

on our dressage score and placed 6th in

our division. We then went to a USDF rec-

ognized show in late April and placed 1st

in both Training 1 and Training 2, with a

score of 67.1 and 69.6, respectively. We

worked lightly through the summer mov-

ing up to Novice. With Flynn, I began to

realize, that if I wasn’t 100% ready to say

“Yes” when he would ask, “Is this what you

want?” then he would find another way to

do it. He is really smart and as many no-

tice, pretty arrogant at times. When teach-

ing him something new, Flynn wants to

learn how, but I better show him the cor-

rect way, or he will find a “better” way to

complete the task.

In October, I began training with Kim

Severson. She really likes Flynn and she

has helped to take our competitiveness

to a whole new level. We finished up the

2012 season with a 4th place finish in

Novice at CDCTA. I began the 2013 sea-

son in Aiken, where I stabled at Stableview

Farm for a month, competing every week-

end. The first event at Paradise brought us

our best dressage score and a wakeup call

for us to get our jumping back in order.

As someone who rode jumpers for many

years, that is our best area. From the first

event until now, our season has gone re-

ally well - we’ve finished on our dressage

score at 7 events this season so far.

We moved up to Training this April at

CDCTA, and placed 2nd, followed by an-

other 2nd place finish at Redland HT in

Training. We hope to move up to Prelim by

the end of this season in order to be ready

for the VHT CCI1* next May, and we are do-

ing the Hagyard Midsouth Three Day event

in Kentucky this October.

I can always trust that when we are

jumping, we are going to land well. Flynn

is incredibly athletic and crazy careful. He

does not want to hit the jumps, and that

shows. As well as being careful, Flynn can

compact himself for the jumpers so that we

can make the tighter turns and still keep a

good rhythm. He is extremely adjustable,

in every “arena.” Flynn also possesses the

stamina to make cross-country seem like

a leisurely ride, with little speed bumps

along the way (better known as jumps).

The first time out cross-country, I wasn’t

sure he had a good gallop. Well, he proved

me wrong! I wasn’t even paying attention

to our time and we were very close to the

“speed fault” for going too fast.

In addition to all his physical attrib-

utes, he is one of the most level-headed

horses I have worked with. He thinks about

everything he does, but does not get over-

whelmed when introduced to something

new, nor does he get nervous when com-

peting. He has nearly fallen asleep in the

cross-country starting box, but the second

I say “Go,” we are off at full throttle. Flynn’s

movement has really developed in the last

few months as he has grown. He has a far-

reaching hind-end and is becoming very

strong in the front, making all three of his

PL Irish ThunderBy Rosa LehnigA Half-Arabian Changing Minds

70 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

gaits lovely.

Flynn is also inquisitive and extremely

sweet. If my young children walk up to

him, he nuzzles their cheeks and will hug

them with his neck when they hug his

chest. Flynn likes being part of our fam-

ily and is especially fond of my husband,

who doesn’t ride, but

Flynn finds a way to

bond with all of us. I

can rely on Flynn to

give me all he has, in

the most consistent

way.

The Irish-Arabian

cross is a unique one,

but what the Irish

brings in hardiness

and jumping ability,

the Arabian match-

es with quickness,

brains, and physical refinement. I love

this cross so much that I bought Flynn’s

2-year-old half-sister, PL Diamond Lily,

who placed 2nd in the Young Event Horse

Championships last year.

I think the Arabian blood really helps

in the refinement needed for nice gaits in

dressage, the stamina needed for cross-

country and the athleticism for jumping. In

eventing, you want a horse that can think

for themselves because there are mo-

ments, especially cross-country, when you

don’t have time to tell your horse what to

do. You want a horse that can figure out

how to get through an obstacle on its own.

Arabians, being very smart and quick-

minded horses, make them a great partner

for eventing.

We are still on track with our ultimate

plan of making it to the CIC3 and 4 Star

levels, including the great Rolex Kentucky

3-Day, though I try to keep it one step at

a time. I want to make sure that we don’t

skip anything that would later keep us

from reaching our goals. My trainer Kim is

exceptional in that no detail is overlooked

and she ensures that we are completely

ready when moving up through the levels.

cross-country day, Katy and her two boys managed two of only

three double clears in the 3*, moving Poof and Wort up to 1st and

2nd respectively! This course took down Olympic riders that day,

it was so challenging.

The final day in stadium, Wort had one rail and four time faults

to finish an amazing 3rd place overall. Poof, for whom stadium is

not his strong suit, had four rails and four time faults to finish a

very respectable 8th place.

“I could not ask for better horses to start my upper level career

with. They are the hardest working and most willing horses I know.

They bring 100% every time,” Katy said afterwards. “Although it

would have been thrilling to keep my top two spots at Rebecca

Farm, I am thoroughly pleased with their performances the entire

weekend. Many thanks to Teresa Groesbeck and Cedarhaven Per-

formance Horses for breeding these amazing athletes!”

What are Katy’s future plans for these two boys? “I am going to

take them as far as they can go, and right now the sky is the limit.

I would love to see at least one of them make it to the 4* level in

the next couple of years.

We’ll be cheering them on!

Continued from page 45

Katy Groesbeck’s Anglo Brothers

Oz Poof of Purchase at Galway Downs

Photo by Liz Hall

PL Diamond Lily, half sister to PL Irish Thunder

71August/September 2013

Continued from page 66

Eventing Stars: Sparky & Jane

The best event horses have strong

personalities, and Sparky is no exception.

He has always had a mischievous streak,

and he liked to throw in the odd buck

from time to time, but he cheerfully car-

ried Jane around the flanks of Mt. Diablo

on his days off from other training, often

bareback. Sparky and Jane always shared

a special friendship that was readily seen

in the way they responded to one another.

To her strong jumping experience, Jane

worked diligently to improve her dressage

technique. She rode horses for Creeky

Routson in return for lessons and took

clinics from the likes of Charles de Kunffy.

Of working with Creeky, Jane recently said,

“I learned so much from her and hear her

voice in my head when working horses all

the time even still.” Excellent dressage

skills are vital, because one can not have

a bad dressage test and expect to place at

horse trials or 3-day events. All the hard

work over the years paid off when Jane

recently earned her USDF Silver Medal rid-

ing a friend’s Lipizzaner gelding at Prix St.

Georges.

Jane never had a rich patron or corpo-

rate sponsor. Also, Sparky’s training and

showing had to take a back seat to that of

clients’ horses. So Jane and Sparky did not

move up in the world of eventing as fast or

as far as their solid background and strong

potential might have predicted. Neverthe-

less, they were respected ambassadors for

Arabian sport horses and a pair to watch

wherever they competed!

Although long retired from eventing

and going grey around his head, Sparky

is fit and healthy in 2013 at age 25. Still

working, his current career is school mas-

ter. Jane’s children have honed their riding

skills on his back, and he happily carries

a young friend named Skyler Wilkerson,

who is a budding horsewoman. Jane says,

“He’s great with kids, still naughty with

me!” and he’s “my life time greatest horse

and friend Sparky.” That sums it all up

nicely.

Continued from page 61

Profiles in Courage: Building a Bridge

achieve harmony. “The joy I get from playing a Chopin Prelude or

riding a lovely extended canter is what makes this world beauti-

ful.”

We all take different lessons from our horses. For Linda and

Pietra, “We travel together, have conquered training and first level

beautifully and now trail riding has become an added adventure.”

Like most owners of Arabian horses, Linda has had to deal

with her share of skeptics. “It seems that people either love Arabs

or hate them.” I can relate. It is an experience we share. Whenever

non-Arab people tell me that my horse is pretty cool for an Arab

it reminds me of a comment Gloria Steinem made on her 50th

birthday. People kept telling her she looked great for fifty. Her

response, “This is what 50 looks like.” I want to tell people that

this horse that they like so much is what an Arabian horse is. More

importantly there is such an amazing bridge to be built with an

Arabian horse and with people who love Arabian horses. Linda

says, “If they dislike them, that means they don’t understand the

special bond that can be made between two spirits – human and

equine. From Pietra I have learned about honesty, persistence, pa-

tience, unconditional love and most of all trust.”

Books have always been important

to me. As a child, I spent countless hours

reading at home and at the public library.

Growing up in the suburbs in a non-hors-

ey family, books were also my main entry-

way to the world of horses and provided

fuel for my dreams. Several decades into

adulthood, books are still a treasure to

me as they continue to inspire and inform

all areas of my life – including riding and

horsemanship.

Quite often the focus of books about

riding and training is directed at the me-

chanical aspects of riding and/or a set of

systematic exercises described in a man-

ner much like a recipe book. Little atten-

tion is given to how to address any con-

fusion, evasion, or resistance that arises

because the assumption is that the book

is providing touchstone information that

will be augmented by access to a skilled

instructor who can mentor the rider

through the more complex nuances of the

real life application of the principles and

techniques. While studying with skilled

equestrian mentors remains essential to

developing both riders and horses to their

maximum potential, books that explore

the subtleties of the communication be-

tween horses and their human partners

can help illuminate enriched pathways of

progression of horsemanship and eques-

trian skill.

True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill

Dorrance and Leslie Desmond addresses

the basic foundation of horsemanship

as a dialogue of “feel” between horses

and people. This book was published in

1999 when Bill Dorrance was in his 90s

with a lifetime of working with horses.

Bill’s unique vernacular and the candid

biographical anecdotes that he shares of

learning “a better way” to ride and han-

dle horses are integral to the book’s mes-

sage that anyone who wants to improve

their interactions and communication with

their horse on the ground AND in the sad-

dle can do so. The content of this book

is not discipline specific, but it touches on

the universally powerful notion that, by

communicating with your horse through

a dialogue of empathetic “feel” conveyed

through both body language and physical

contact, you can achieve a higher quality

of work, performance, and basic interac-

tion with your horse. The concept that

building understanding and skills piece-

by-piece with a reliance on basic princi-

ples that hold true from the foundation

to the highest levels of refinement will be

familiar to anyone involved in the sport

horse disciplines.

“Listening” to the horse and setting

things up so the horse can succeed are

core principles in Bill’s book. Working

on the timetable the horse needs rather

than imposing a rigid time frame for any

particular training goal is just one expres-

sion of the theme of respecting what the

horse can offer at that moment rather than

imposing expectations that may be out of

sync with the horse’s physical or mental

capabilities at that moment – or with the

rider’s ability to make a clear request to

the horse.

“What a person has in his mind to pre-

sent to the horse needs to be something

that’s possible for the horse to actually

do. Then the person has to be able to un-

derstand it themselves, through feel, and

apply it in a way that the horse can under-

stand.” Page 15

“…punishing a horse when he doesn’t

understand what you want him to do is a

real direct route to a whole list of other

problems that are based on his confusion.

This is caused by a misunderstanding of

the feel you present and when that horse

has no knowledge of your intentions or

desires. Some people say that the horse

knows what the person wants, ’but he just

won’t do it.’ When he understands what

you want him to do through feel, he will

do it. I haven’t seen any exceptions to this

yet.” Page 330

Bill spends a lot of time outlining some

READING REFLECTIONSA Series by Dawn Jones-Low

exercises on the ground because – like

many of the classical masters – he under-

stands that groundwork carries over under

saddle. Underneath the seemingly basic

exercises is a commitment to create and

maintain mental and physical balance in

the horse because if the horse is out of

balance, then performance, soundness,

and behavior are less than optimal.

A similar thread of horsemanship based

on effective communication derived from

studying the nature of the horse is found

in Educating the Young Horse: the Thinking

Trainer’s Guide by the UK-born dressage

and show jumping trainer Julian Westfall.

The choice of the word “educating” rather

than “training” in the title is indicative of

the author’s emphasis on establishing a

cooperative rapport with each horse as an

integral part of the foundation and contin-

ued development of the horse. Detailed

descriptions of the elements of a young

horse’s education and of the guiding prin-

ciples applied to that educational process

are utilized to assist the trainer in under-

standing how to tailor a program to fit the

individual horse and how to respond to is-

sues that will invariably crop up.

“Introduction to training can be over-

whelming for your youngster if not con-

ducted carefully and sympathetically. For

instance, avoid making one request after

another in quick succession. Instead, allow

him to try and carry out your demands as

best he can. Be somewhat indulgent, al-

lowing him to make minor mistakes, and

then correct them.” Page 96

Plenty of practical examples are in-

cluded in the text with all of the usual

topics covered thoroughly – handling,

leading, lunging, introducing tack, backing,

and mounted work, all with variations of-

fered to suit the range of responses that

can occur with young horses. Significant

attention is given in the first quarter of the

book to how horses perceive the world,

how they learn, how differences in tem-

perament affect learning, how the trainer’s

demeanor influences the horse, and basic

principles of reward and correction. The

responsibility of the trainer to the horse

to provide tactful support and thoughtful

guidance to the equine student is contin-

ued throughout the book.

“Cultivate equestrian tact so you get

a feeling for knowing when to bend the

rules to make your horse a happier, and

not ungrateful, partner.” Page 96

The lovely chestnut mare in the cover

photo and in the interior photographs is

ABF EnchantedFire, a 1989 Half-Arabian

owned by the book’s designer, Mercedes

Clemens, who was also a student of Mr.

Westfall when the book was published in

1994.

The theme of working with the horse

as an individual is also found in the 2012

book, Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect

Horse: Riding through the Levels on the Pe-

culiar, Opinionated, Complicated Mounts

We All Love by Janet Foy. This book is full

of practical descriptions of how to ride/

train various dressage movements from

the most basic to Grand Prix with clear

explanations of how to address individual

horses’ challenges, whether those chal-

lenges are physical or mental. In addi-

tion to well laid out chapters on specific

movements, there are personal vignettes

showcasing real-world examples of riders

helping their horses to overcome a chal-

lenge via careful consideration of the un-

derlying cause(s) and a systematic plan

adapted to suit the individual case. Janet

Foy’s expertise as an FEI rider, trainer, and

USEF S and FEI 4* dressage judge allows

her to clearly explain technical details of

training and executing movements while

Mik

e Ba

ird P

hoto

Continued on next page

74 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

also providing insights addressing com-

mon challenges that are encountered. Her

joy of teaching riders and horses shines in

her writing. There are many books that in-

clude excellent descriptions of riding and

training the dressage movements, this one

stands out in the level of consideration

given to the horse’s individual tempera-

ment, intelligence and moods.

“It is very important that the horse is

kept happy and involved with his training.

I see many riders who just ride around in

the same trot, in the same direction, doing

the occasional movement. The horse ‘falls

asleep’ in these situations. Creative rid-

ing is important for the dull horse because

you can keep him ‘awake’ with your re-

quests for reactions from him. In the case

of the very smart horse, you keep his brain

engaged with your requests rather than

letting him get creative and possibly take

over!” Page 107

References to many of her personal

horses are scattered throughout the book,

and the afterward contains detailed pro-

files of some of the horses she rode over

the years, including the Anglo-Arab Bright

Owl and the Arabian Ta-Aden (among oth-

ers).

Each of these books challenges the

equestrian reader to act from a sense of

responsibility to the horse to listen and

adapt our expectations, plans and ap-

proaches to suit the horse on any particu-

lar day. Ultimately, the more we operate

through feel and understanding, the more

harmoniously we can communicate with

our horses to support them and guide

them in their athletic development as well

as in their basic interactions with people.

Cultivating a partnership with our horses

leads to a rewarding journey together,

which is at the heart of good horseman-

ship whatever the discipline or level of

expertise.

it to the top and has now shown in more

states than I have! Abby showed her for a

season and had a great time before mov-

ing up to the Junior Jumpers on a horse.

Lee stayed at Mary Ann’s awhile and I am

so grateful for everything she’s done for

my pony and me. I was able to ride her

and take her to shows whenever I wanted.

Last year was my senior year in col-

lege, and I started to worry about what to

do with Lee. Mary Ann came to the rescue

again and found her a family in Texas that

needed a pony jumper for their 10-year-

old son. Michael Binder has had her this

year and has learned a lot showing her.

It is his first time doing the jumpers, and

when I met them at the Capital Challenge

this fall, he said he has so much fun rid-

ing Lee because of how fast she is. I’m so

glad someone is still able to enjoy her and

I know she’s happy she gets to horse show.

Lee is amazing. She’s 24 now and nobody

ever knows it. Her spunk and fire never

quit. She has quite a quirky personality.

She sucks her tongue, drinks juice from a

straw and gives kisses.

Lee is by far the one horse I have rid-

den that I have had “the connection”

with. She has never done me wrong and

I am forever grateful for everything she’s

taught me. She is the first Arab I’ve owned,

but I wouldn’t hesitate to get another one.

I can’t wait until I can have her home again.

Her drive, personality, will and talent will

never be matched.

Continued from page 35

Lec

Michael Binder, Lec’s current

jumper rider

75August/September 2013

By Rebekah Savage

Children often dream of hard days spent in the saddle, dust

billowing from their horse’s sturdy galloping legs, with a wide

open prairie stretching for miles, but not everyone has the oppor-

tunity to follow through with their dream.

Ninety-year-old Sy Budofsky, is an exception. As a child, he

was among those that wished to become a cowboy. Despite his

dream, Budofsky did not start riding a horse until he was in his

thirties. Budofsky did not want any hand outs, he wanted to earn

his right for time in the saddle.

“I wanted to be able to pay for it, to do it without asking for

money,” said Budofsky.

After establishing a career as a successful mechanical en-

gineer and raising a family, he decided it was time to fulfill his

dream. Instead of donning a Western hat and chinks, he rode and

competed on hunters on Long Island for several years before set-

tling into the mechanics of dressage. “My family figured out I was

too old to jump,” said Budofsky.

Despite the exhilarating thrill while jumping, Budofsky enjoys

the challenges of riding dressage. He considers dressage to be a

“wonderful challenge. I always have to be on alert. There are so

many different maneuvers asked of the horse, but there is still a

thrill of accomplishing maneuvers.”

Desert Rose Ranch in Jupiter, Florida provided a noble steed

for Budofsky to compete on. He leased Romeos Krystalbay, a 1997

bay Arabian gelding by Romeo VF+/ out of Krystal Charm from Pat

and Pam Livecchi. In April, at the Palm Beach County Mounted

Posse’s Super Show, the pair was awarded the Dressage Founda-

tion’s Century Club Award.

The Foundation awards the Century Club membership to se-

nior dressage horse and rider partners with the combined age of

100 years or more. Budofsky and Romeos Krystalbay are among

the 126 other horse and rider competitors to have received this

award. The combined age of the pair during the competition was

105.

“It was wonderful to receive the award. I was just happy I re-

membered all of the movements,” said Budofsky. “We received a

great deal of applause at the end of our test.”

Now, even at 90 years old, Budofsky continues to ride three

times a week. He winters in Florida and escapes the humid months

by residing in Vermont, where he continues to ride. When he is

not riding, Budofsky can be found on the golf course, strumming

on a guitar, on the tennis court, carving wood, playing the piano

and more.

Budofsky has defied what others would say is impossible. Age,

a career and family have not stopped his desire to ride a horse.

Not bad for a child who dreamed of being a cowboy.

Century Club Riding at Ninety

76 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

HUNTER & JUMPER NEWS Kristin Hardin had a triple threat at the Brookside Equestrian

Park’s June jumper show. Arabian HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL &

Half-Arabian ABILITY won their respective classes with Kristin in

the irons.

The Half-Arabs dominated the $3K Jumper Speed class at

Brookside Eq. Park. EVG ALLON DUNIT (Saladins Allon x Jundunit

{QH}), owned by Elaine Enick and ABILITY (MHR Nobility x Niki-

ta {KWPN}), owned by Nancy & Gregg Shafer, were 1st and 2nd

place. Ridden and trained by Kristin Hardin.

Half-Arabian EVG FINALE (Saladins Allon x Jundunit {QH})

and Natalie Grammer (above) won the Pre-Childrens Hunter Clas-

sic and placed 2nd in the M&S Bit O’ Straw Hunter Classic at the

Gladstone Horse Show. Finale is a full brother to EVG Allon Dunit

and EVG Gee Dubya - all bred by Harold & Elizabeth Green of

Evergreen Arabians.

Is there another breed of horse that can do Leadline in the

morning and win the Jumper Speed class in the afternoon? Aimee

Pahl, her son Nicolas and her 23 year old Half-Arabian KIND A

BITS and pieces

FRISKY (Donnar x Cinnamon {Gr}) did just that at Spruce Meadow

Farm open show.

Cami LaLone and her Half-Arabian TALK ABOUT CLASS (Ibn

Hask x Uptowns Classic {NSH}) have worked their way to the top

of 4-H’s Platinum Hunt Seat Equitation Medal after two more wins

last weekend.

It is judged on a standard like dressage, and it takes a mini-

mum of 8 perfect rides to get to Platinum. Once there, you can

make up your own pattern and perform it to music!

Video of her ride - note she rides entirely without stirrups!

http://youtu.be/YrR-w17rMg8

Christine Lonsdale and her 3/4 Arabian pony MA WINDS OF

MAGIC (Moment of Magic {NSH} x RAS Wind Dancer) won the 1.0m

Adult Amateur Jumper class at Swan Lake Horse Show in a class of

19 big horses! They were featured in our last issue.

The cover boy from our last issue, Anglo Arabian POEME

D’AMOUR DE BUISSY and his owner/rider Misti Cassar won the

1.40m Jumpers and placed 11th in the $25K Grand Prix at the

Huntington Beach Surf Classic Show last weekend.

Anne Alden and her Anglo Arabian MSSOFIE (Mousse x Seattle

Gift {TB}) on their recent successes in open shows at Woodside

Circuit &Bay Area Festival. They were Champion and Reserve

Champion in Baby Green Hunters and Champion of Long/Rusty

Stirrup. These were Anne’s first shows in many years.

Alexandria Desiderio, after winning all 3 of her Hunter Seat

Equitation classes at Youth Nationals last week (for the 3rd year

in a row!), headed to the USEF Nat’l Junior Hunter Championships,

where she won the WIHS Equitation Classic out of 44 entries.

EVG Allon Dunit Mssofie

77August/September 2013

BITS and pieces (continued)

ley and her Half-Arabian pony WR ROGUE (Kakeenya {Pin-

to} x M D Negia) competed in Walk-Trot and rode an Intro A

Dressage test from memory at the NJ HAHA show in June.

Elizabeth Coffey-Curle’s Anglo gelding HAZEN (Silveyville’s

Love {TB} x Fasach Banrion) is shown here with 13 yo Cyd Curle

in June at an open dressage show, where they earned 4 scores of

65+ in Third Level.

More remarkable is that this 18 yo horse is just 7 months out

from a severe long bone fracture of his left radius!! (We have his

incredible story on page 54)

Pip Sumsion and her 3/4 Arabian HERMANO ROJO (El Herma-

no x Bint Sabo Meadow {Arab/QH}) competed at an open dressage

show in BC, earning a 68.44% to win First Level (from a tough

judge) and a 67.32% in Training. He was the only Arabian in a

sea of Warmbloods! Hermano Rojo was a Western Pleasure horse

before learning dressage and still shows Western.

They also competed at the Mid Island Cadora Summer Dres-

sage Festival in BC - a Gold and a Bronze show run concurrently

(Gold is the higher level shows in Canada), in open competition.

The judge for the Gold show was FEI 5* Axel Steiner.

They were named high score of both shows combined with a

73.94% in the Gold Training level division and high point for that

division. They were also First level Bronze Champion.

Samantha Hodgson and her Arabian stallion BEYMOON ZELA+/

(Bask-O-Zel x Mar Abbie) who started their show season last month

by qualifying for the ECRDA Championships in FEI Grand Prix by

earning a 63.617% at Saddlebrook Ridge.

Katie Lang and Half-Arabian FA PATRIOT (Flurry Of Ca-Lyn {Frie-

sian} x La Sada Mega) earned a 63.486% in their FEI Team Test

to place 21st of 40 at the North American Junior/Young Riders

Championships. Katie’s Region 1 Team finished in 4th place, only

0.5 from a Bronze Medal. See our story about them in this issue.

DRESSAGE NEWS Amie Phoenix - Century Club Ride #3

It’s never too late to pick up were you left off. Twenty-five

years have passed since knee problems stopped Donna Brown

from riding, but on June 29, 2013, she completed her Century

Club ride an her daughter’s 30-year-old Arabian gelding Amie

Phoenix+.

The dressage show was part of the 65th Estes Park (Colorado)

Arabian Horse Show. After “retiring” from actively showing in

the dressage arena, “Phoenix” has now carried his third rider to

the annals of the Century Club. Norm Brown, Donna’s husband,

rode Phoenix in 2011, and friend Jim Snook completed his Cen-

tury Club Ride in 2012. Phoenix, a great grandson of the Phoe-

nician+++, was shown to first level in dressage by Trisha Swift,

Donna’s daughter. He earned two Regional Championships in

dressage and competed in the first two U.S. Sport Horse National

Championships. At age 19 Phoenix learned to jump and he com-

peted successfully in open Two-Phase events. He has also been

used as a lesson horse; teaching countless children how to ride.

Donna literally grew up with horses near Sedgwick, CO and

owned a pony when she was six years old. She got her first Ara-

bian, “Buster” in 1951 and showed him in 4-H. Donna went on to

show in English Pleasure and side saddle along side her mother,

Marie Welch, before being side-lined with knee problems.

Part of her success in returning to riding was a successful

double knee replacement eleven years ago. Today she can ride

without pain, which plagued her for much of her riding career.

Donna is looking forward to continuing to ride either Phoenix

or her daughter’s Norwegian Fjord. You may even see her in the

show ring again.

Sarah Duclos’ 8 year old daughter Josephine Sedg-

Hermano Rojo and Pip SumsionDonna & Norm Brown with Amie Phoenix

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78 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

DRESSAGE NEWSDressage 4 Kids - Sarah Duclos

Whoever thinks that kids can’t do dressage, or don’t like to

do dressage needs to come to watch Lendon Grey’s Dressage 4

Kids Youth Festival in Saugerties, NY in July.

My two daughters, Josephine, age 8, and Sophie, age 5 along

with their fantastic pony Half-Arabian pony WR Rogue (aka Ren),

packed up the truck and trailer and headed north for a fun week-

end of camaraderie and some pretty stiff competition.

The show starts at Leadline and includes tests up to the FEI

levels. Josie entered the 9 and under Walk Trot division, along

with 13 other kids and 13 of the most adorable ponies you have

EVER seen. The Festival is composed of three separate portions

– a written exam, a dressage test, and a group equitation class.

Scores are calculated in each section and then combined to

decide the division winners.

This year everyone 10 and under read the US Pony Club D

manual for their written test. Josie was a bit nervous, as we had

not finished reading the entire manual, but she did a great job

finishing with a score of 88 and a 6th place finish.

Saturday was time for the dressage tests. Josie and Ren had

a good ride for a 61%, but it was not strong enough for a ribbon.

These Walk Trot kids were very talented! They knew how to use

their corners and rode very clear circles and solid transitions. To

be honest, I have no idea how the judge decided who would win!

All the kids rode really well.

Later that afternoon was the group Equitation class. They

rode in an enormous outdoor arena and every one of them did

BITS and pieces (continued)

a great job controlling their ponies. Josie really stepped up her

game and finished in 5th in the Equitation portion. At the end of

the day all the scores are combined and ribbons given to 10th

place. Josie pulled off a 9th place finish! She was so proud of her

accomplishments.

Sunday was a more leisurely day – started off with a Dres-

sage Trail class and ended with the super cute Leadline class. The

trail was challenging with barrels topped with flakes of hay and a

bunch of carrots that needed to be moved from one hay topped

barrel to another (many a pony had a snack!). They kids also had

to pick up a ball and trot a one handed 20 meter circle before

dropping the ball in a bucket at C. This was Josie’s high point of

the weekend – a 2nd place finish!

Lendon Gray herself judged the Leadline class. It was held in

the main arena area and was the pinnacle of cuteness! Little tiny

kids on ponies of all sizes and colors maneuver through the pat-

tern. Lendon spoke with each participant and asked a few horse

knowledge questions. She asked Sophie what color her pony

was…I held my breath I was sure Sophie would never come up

with “tobiano” and would be disappointed to get it wrong. Well, I

should have more faith – Sophie looked up smiled at Lendon and

said, “He is brown and white.” Lendon chuckled out loud at that!

It was a wonderful weekend with a good mix of down time

and competition. Each competitor is required to do two hours

of “volunteer” work – everything from running tests to checking

portapots! Josie and Sophie both had a wonderful time and we

are looking forward to next year!

Josie Sedgley & WR Rogue Sophie with Lendon Gray

79August/September 2013

BITS and pieces (continued)

RF {ASB}) and owner Tami Pacho went double clear XC and Sta-

dium to finish 4th in Beg. Novice at Copper Meadows Horse Trials.

Anglo Arabian ROCK WITH BACH (Harriman {TB} x Family Star

{AA}) and his 14 year old owner Taylor Blasey competed at the

Midsouth Pony Club Horse Trials & Regional Rally in June. They

won the Rally and placed 3rd in the Trials.

In July, this pair competed at the US Pony Club Champion-

ships, placing 11th in Open Novice. Rock With Bach is a second

generation Anglo Arabian bred by Sharon Jackson/Larapinta Sport

Horses.

Arabian BF AMIGO (NV Congo x Tema Amira) and junior own-

er Hayley Miller have had a great season so far. They were 2nd

at River Glen in Junior Novice; 3rd at May Daze; they finished in

12th place at the Chattahoochee Hills HT in Novice Rider and 4th

at Champagne Run in July! The horse competes under the name

“Figjam.” Haley recently purchased him from Elisa Wallace who

had competed him up to Preliminary.

Anglo Arabian VERMICULUS (Serazim x Wake Me Gently {TB})

and rider Lauren Kieffer placed 5th in Preliminary at the MD Horse

Trials. Lauren and Vermiculus also rocked around the Preliminary

courses with double clears at Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials to finish

in 3rd place on their dressage score.

Half-Arabian PL IRISH THUNDER (PL Diamond Hill {ID} x PL

Eladdinns Lite) and owner Rosa Lehnig placed 4th and 8th Open

Training in back-to-back weekends at the MD Horse Trials. His half-

sister PL IRISH PEARL (x PL Shirley) placed 7th in Beg. Novice with

Glenda Player.

Sandra Schwinzer competes her 2 full brother Anglo-Arabians

TRILOGY and MAJORITY RULE (Pojar x Nenita {TB}), usually at the

same shows! Trilogy finished 8th at the Horse Park of NJ and 11th

at Fitch’s Corner, both in Training level. Majority Rule was 7th in

Training at the NJ Event.

DRESSAGE NEWSPara-Dressage

ParaEquestrian Ashleigh Flores-Simmons and Rita Mason’s

Anglo-Arabian ATHENA+++// (LS Zane Grey x Little Badger Baby

{TB}) competed in June at the 2014 World Equestrian Games

Qualifier for Para-Dressage at Golden State Dressage Classic

CPEDI3*.

The 21-year-old California equestrienne trains with Col-

leen Reid and has always competed against able-bodied riders.

Ashleigh and Athena made their debut in ParaEquestrian tests at

the CDI 3* at Rancho Murieta in April of 2013 with a first score

of 69%.

At the Golden State show, their first ride garnered them a

qualifying score of 60.833% for WEG. In her Musical Freestyle

test - her first ever - they received a combined score of 64%

with a 68% from one judge.

Athena was competed with her owner up to Grand Prix dres-

sage, then went on maternity leave, coming back as Ashleigh’s

new mount.

Ashleigh amnd Athena did a Freestyle performance at the

Region 3 Championships. There is a video of their freestyle ride

here: http://youtu.be/g7H-m6uKG-U. View a video interview with

Ashleigh here: http://youtu.be/kCiQd7tNo80. Follow Ashleigh’s

journey to 2014 WEG and 2016 Olympics on her Facebook page

“Team Ashleigh.”

EVENTING NEWSCongratulations to Half-Arabian GLENLORD’S MYSTIQUE

(Bridon Glenlord {RID} x Mlladyoftheknight {Arabian}) and owner/

rider Gaby Stephens for their 2nd place finish in Jr. Training at the

Texas Rose June Horse Trials. They had double clears in Stadium &

Cross Country to finish on their dressage score of 31.40.

Half-Arabian WALL STREET STATUS (Back Street x Sea Symbol

Tam

ara

Torti

Pho

to

Figjam & Haley Miller

On The MarketPHOTO CLASSIFIED ADS - $10 per ad per issue

BLUE MOON ZAMBRA: By talent, temperament, breeding, conformation,movement and upbringing, Zambra is a “horse of a lifetime”, promising to be a star in dressage as she moves up the levels; she also has the looks, stride and jumping ability to excel as a hunter or in eventing. She is a 2010 15.1h mare (shd grow 1-2”); registered w/ AHA & IALHA; she is by Grand Prix Andalusian, EXCELSO (known for collection, flying changes, temperament, movement, and soundness), out of an RPSI approved SH Arabian (Barbary+++, Rathkateer++, and Bay el Bey++ blood-lines). She is 1/2 sister on dam side to FEI level dressage phenom Ruby Del Sol (win-ner of many USDF championships; schooling Grand Prix after just 5 yrs training). At 3 yrs, Zambra has been in drsg clinics, shown in hand, has nice lengthenings, shoulder in, travers, counter canter, and has started half pass. She loves to hack out and is starting to jump cross bars. She is beautifully balanced, with a lovelysteady feel in the contact, nice forwardness, and natural rhythm; she is also incredibly comfortable. (Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHG8YDvoDHE)Serious inquiries only. Sophie H Pirie Clifton, Blue Moon Farm & Training Center, 828.863.4756; Sophie@montana.net.

PL DiAMOND’s iNsPiRAtiON half-Arab/half Irish Draught (PL Indy x PL Dia-mond Hill) bred by Playland Farm. Beautiful 2012 filly incredibly sweet! Placed in her first FEH at Loch Moy/The MD Horse Trials. Trailer loads, w/t in hand, stands for farrier/vet, cross ties. Well mannered & friendly. Wants to please & is quick learner! Will mature to between 15.2-16h. Will make a great amateur horse in eventing, hunter/jumper or dressage! She has a full sibling PL Black Diamond that placed in top 3 of their USPC championships division! $6,500 www.playlandequestriancenter.com • glendaplayer@gmail.com • 301-788-1188

PL APACHE - Apache is a 12 yr old, 15 h chestnut tobiano, National Show Horse broodmare that is confirmed 30 days pregnant to PL Diamond Hill. She is being offered for sale with a live foal guarantee and discounted breed back rights. She has lovely floaty movement that passes on to her offspring. She has already pro-duced lovely foals from PL Diamond Hill that are competing successfully! $8,500. www.playlandequestriancenter.com • glendaplayer@gmail.com • 301-788-1188

PL CAtNiP- Catnip is a beautiful 15.3 hand Bay mare that is 9- years-old. Catnip is registered with both the Arabian Horse Association and The Irish Draught Sport Horse Society of North America. She is a great broodmare or trail horse that is walk/trot sound. Check out photos from her competition days to see the qualities she can pass along to your next foal!! Priced to sell at $1,500. Serious inquires only. Full pedi-gree upon inquiry.www.playlandequestriancenter.com • glendaplayer@gmail.com • 301-788-1188

80 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

ServicesOur Services Directory is available for just an annual fee of $25 (6 issues). Subject Headers created as needed. Not for Stallions or Horses for Sale.

FARMsRIMROCK EQUESTRIAN CENTER, Ashley Wren, Billings, MT• Hunters, Jumpers, Equitation

www.RimrockEquestrianCenter.com • rimrockequestrian@yahoo.com

MYSTIC RANCH ARABIANS, Karen Ernst, Herald, CA • Breeders of Arabian Sport Horseswww.MysticRanchArabians.com • mysticrch@softcom.net

Blue Moon Farm & Training Center • Sophie H. Pirie Clifton • Training, Clinics, Instruction thru the FEI levels Tryon, NC • sophie@montana.net

sUREFiRE CsF is available for purchase. If you thought he looked good then -- you should see him now! See him in the Two-year-old HA Gelding Class at SHN -- or see him at the farm and get him now for you chance to bring home the roses! By the top producing Hanoverian stallion Sinatra Song, and out of the champion SH and jumper mare Enjoli Bey, this youngster has great gaits and wonderful character. He will mature in the 16.1 range. Contact Janet at coldspring1@gmail.com or 703.431.4807

81August/September 2013

82 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine

Region 1 N/A

Region 2 Sept. 6-8 Pacific Slope Sport Horse Offsite Championship Burbank, Calif. Nov. 8-10 American Cup Championship Scottsdale, Ariz.

Region 3 March 28-30, 2014 Golden Gate Arabian Show Santa Rosa, Calif.

Region 4 N/A

Region 5 April 12-13, 2014 Pacific Rim Arabian Sport Horse Show Elma, Wash.

Region 6 N/A

Region 7 Sept. 13-15 SAAHA Silver Buckle Tuscon, Ariz. Nov. 8-10 American Cup Championship A Concurrent Scottsdale, Ariz. Dec. 5-8 Saguaro Classic Scottsdale, Ariz.

Region 8 Aug. 31 One Day Show at Latigo Elbert, Colo.

Region 9 Sept. 21 Fall One Day In Hand Show Terrell, Texas Sept. 26-27 Tulsa State Fair Tulsa, Okla. Nov. 7-10 NTAHC Shootout Glen Rose, Texas March 20-23, 2014 Alamo Arabian Fiesta San Antonio, Texas April 13, 2014 Fairfield SH and Dressage One Day Show Denton, Texas May 16-18, 2014 Ark Arab Victory Challenge A/B Concurrent Texarkana, Ark.

Region 10 N/A

Upcoming AHA Shows With Sport Horse Classes

83August/September 2013

Region 11 Sept. 6-8 ABU All Arabian Springfield, Ill. Sept. 19-21 American Royal Arab Horse Show (dressage suitability) Kansas City, Mo. Sept. 29 Ozark Heartland Arab Fall Classic II ODS Mt. Vernon, Mo.

Region 12 Aug. 9-11 Georgia AHA Summer Classic Conyers, Ga. Aug. 24-25 Arabian Fall Festival Newberry, Fla. Sept. 6-8 Annual Magnolia Summer Sizzler Oct. 13 NC State Fair Horse Show Raleigh, N.C. Nov. 1-3 Western Carolinas Fall Show Clemson, S.C. Nov. 27-30 AHAF 44th Annual Thanksgiving Tampa, Fla. March 15-16, 2014 Ocala 19th Annual Amateur Show Ocala, Fla.

Region 13 Aug. 17-18 AHAM Summer Show Mason, Mich. Aug. 18 ASAAD Summer Fun One Day Show Valparaiso, Ind. Sept. 14-15 Indiana Arabian Pro Am Show Rochester, Ind.

Region 14 Oct. 19-20 PMHA Annual Morab Championship Lexington, Ky.

Region 15 Oct. 25-27 Heritage Arabian Classic II A/B Concurrent Lexington, Va.

Region 16 Aug. 30- Sept. 1 Silver Spur All Arab Hamburg, N.Y.

Region 17 Sept. 13-15 AHABC Annual Fall Frolic Langley, BC

Region 18 Sept. 28-29 AHAEC Fall Festival London, ON

Upcoming AHA Shows With Sport Horse Classes

Abraxas HalimaarEl Halimaar x SF Moon Maiden by Nabiel+/U.S. and Canadian National Champion Stallion Halter AOMulti-National Top Ten Halter Stallion OpenEgyptian Event Supreme Champion Stallion

PROPHEcY OTFBG Maasai x Sagali by Maar Ibn Ali

BG MaasaiThee Desperado x DM Mimosa by AK El Maalouf

Oracle OfthewindS

Orashan x Laayla Gamira by Shaikh Al Badi

Patriot OfthewindsBG Maasai x Fareed Amira by Anaza El Farid

Imminent HeirImperial Imdal x Sabreenaa by Abraxas Halimaar

The StallioNS OF

Sycamore Hill Farm

Barbara Bach Sycamore Hill Farm Milford, VA 804.633.2020 cell: 240.353.7800 bjbach@msn.com www.sycamorehillfarm.netOracle Of The Winds stands at Vintage Valley Sport Horses with Bill Payne (540) 607-0711 Introductory stud fee