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IN THIS ISSUE

Pam Gleason

50 7

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

STEEPLECHASE IN THE CAROLINAS

16 UNDER 21: LUKE TANNER 20 DESTINATION AIKEN

30 EQUESTRIANS: KAY WHITLOCK 34 FIGHTING FIRE ANTS

16 6

The Carolinas Equestrian

Pam Gleason

Gary Knoll

42 BEAUTY IN BONES 50 ARTIST EMILY SHIELDS 56 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 57 MARKETPLACE

58 PARTING SHOT

WINTER 2024

Winter 2024; Volume 10, Issue 1

Editor Lauren Allen Publisher Pam Gleason Layout & Design Larchwood Productions Contributors Caroline Allen Lauren Allen PC Barlow Pam Gleason Tony Gouge Tyler Graham Gary Knoll High Time Photography Madison Ibach Shawn McMillen Rebecca Williams Advertising Lauren Allen 803-240-1275 Pam Gleason 803-643-9960 Ashley Haffey 607-743-1309 General Inquiries Lauren Allen 803-240-1275 thecarolinasequestrian@gmail.com Cover Over the final fence at the Aiken Steeplechase. Photography by Tony Gouge Courtesy of the Aiken Steeplechase Association Like us on Facebook: The Carolinas Equestrian Magazine Intragram: CarolinasEquestrianMag Web: TheCarolinasEquestrian.com

The Carolinas Equestrian (TCE) 1176 Old English Road Lugoff, SC 29078 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the copyright owner. The Carolinas Equestrian does not necessarily endorse the views and perceptions of contributors or advertisers.

From the Editor

inter may be down-time for equestrians in other parts of the world, but in the South it’s peak season for riding and showing. Hunter/ Jumpers, dressage riders and eventers all have a huge variety of schooling and rated shows scattered throughout the region, and there are some exciting equestrian social events fast approaching in the spring. Steeplechasing has a colorful and rich history in the Carolinas and continues to flourish as spectators crowd the infields. In our feature article, we look at the steeplechasing calendar in the South and the ways that these races benefit the community. There is no need for riders to make the trek to Florida when there is something to do in Aiken, South Carolina almost every day of the week. Read about it in our article, Destination Aiken, which covers some of that historic winter colony’s equestrian elements. Aiken is also the site of the Bone Room, curated by Pamela Blades Eckelbarger, who shares her enthusiasm, knowledge, and her growing bone collection with visitors from all over the world. Winter is the perfect time to make plans for a spring attack on one of our least favorite little ankle biters: fire ants. Our practical advice column gives readers the latest info on what really works to keep these pests in check. Luke Tanner from Columbia is this issue’s featured Under 21 young rider— he’s the winner of the 2023 SCHJA Sportsmanship award. Our Equestrian of the Carolinas, Kay Whitlock, has been a key player in the Carolina dressage world: she was the very first member of the North Carolina Combined Training and Dressage Association and her show series at Pinehurst Harness Track continues to develop horses and riders. We are also excited to introduce readers to a gifted artist in the Asheville area. Emily Shields uses her colored pencils to capture and commemorate people’s pets while making a living as a horse trainer. We hope you love these stories and pictures—please reach out to us through our website at TheCarolinasEquestrian.com or on Facebook or Instagram and tell us about people we need to talk to, events we need to cover, or places we need to go see.

The Carolinas Equestrian is owned by The Carolinas Equestrian LLC.

Lauren Allen, Editor WINTER 2024

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Steeplechase

Steeplechasing has a rich tradition in the Carolinas, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Equal sporting event, spectacle and Steeplechasing hasparts a rich tradition in the Carolinas, and it shows no signs of slowing Equal parts sporting tailgate party, thedown. steeplechases in Camden, event, spectacle and tailgate party, the steeplechases in Aiken, Charleston and Tryon attract thousand of Camden, Aiken, Charleston and Tryon attract thousands spectators andracing racing enthusiasts every year. of spectators and enthusiasts every year. by Lauren Allen Allen by Lauren

Steeplechase

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Rebecca Williams

Racing at the Charleston Cup 9

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Ashley Sisco The Carolinas Equestrian

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Gary Knoll Photography

Pam GleasoMadison Ibach for Tryon International

Above: Tailgaters at the Tryon Block House Steeplechase Left: Over the first fence at the Aiken Steeplechase

ho doesn’t love an outdoor cocktail party with friends, family, and some of the best athletes in the country as a backdrop, all to benefit charity? Steeplechasing has a rich tradition in the Carolinas, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Each year, thousands of people attend races in Camden, Aiken, Charleston and Tryon, dressed in fancy clothes and fascinators, all set to toast magnificent thoroughbreds thundering across the turf. The heart-pounding, earth-shaking excitement of the sport, combined with the fashion, the food, the crowds, and of course the cocktails, all contribute to form an experience that brings spectators back year after year. Today, steeplechasing is thriving in the Carolinas, and is at the heart of some of the biggest social events in the region. The Carolina Cup in Camden, South Carolina regularly hosts a huge crowd of enthusiasts who plan their pilgrimage to Springdale Racecourse every spring. According to Toby Edwards, who is 11

The Carolinas Equestrian

the executive director of the Carolina Cup Racing Association, upwards of 40,000 people from all over the country come to Camden and stay in the area for two or three days to attend the event. The impact of a steeplechase stretches far beyond the single day. While professional flat track racing is run for profit, steeplechase meets are typically set up as charitable events. “All race meets run for the benefit of a charitable organization of some sort, and make a donation of the proceeds to the organization,” says Edwards. “A lot of race meets also use volunteer groups to help manage and run the day and will make a donation to the group. At the Carolina Cup, the Junior Welfare League sells all our souvenir merchandise on race day, and we give them a cut of the proceeds, and that money is put back into the community with the charitable things that they are involved in.” For The Carolina Cup, Edwards says that the original beneficiary was the Kershaw County WINTER 2024

PC Barlow Ashley Sisco

Above: Racing to the finish at the Carolina Cup in Camden Right: Tryon Block House Steeplechase Hospital in Camden, which was then owned by the county. “Now it is run for the benefit of the Health Resource District of Kershaw County which is the charitable arm that provides money for uninsured, underinsured, wellness education, a broad spectrum of health-related things for people in the community… to the tune of as much as $100,000 in a year.” This year’s Carolina Cup is scheduled for March 30, 2024. Steeplechasing in Aiken, South Carolina has seen considerable investment by the community, and no wonder since the race is the area’s largest local social event of the year. According to Jessica Miller, who is the event manager at the Aiken Steeplechase Association, approximately 30,000 people are expected at this year’s event. This will be the fifth steeplechase at the organization’s new facility: a 140-acre property, with a 100foot wide, one-mile-long turf race course. Construction on a new permanent pavilion and tower is now being completed, and there are plans to build several other structures and amenities. “Steeplechase racing is an important part of the fabric of the Aiken community. It brings people together and provides a sense of shared history and tradition, dating back to the 1930s,” says Miller. “The event also has a significant economic 12

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impact on the area, bringing visitors from all over the country. But beyond that, steeplechase racing is a celebration of the beauty and power of horses, and an opportunity to appreciate their grace and athleticism. The event has grown over the years but the pageantry, family traditions, fashion, and atmosphere have remained constant.” The Aiken Steeplechase this year benefits Great Oak Equine Assisted Programs, Megitto Dream Station, the Hitchcock Woods Foundation, the South Carolina Youth Diabetes Association, and the Greater Carolinas Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Another race enjoying a brand-new facility is the Block House Steeplechase in Tryon, North Carolina. This historic steeplechase was started by Carter P. Brown in 1946 as a single race with a tin cup trophy. Brown built a racecourse around a tavern named the Block House, and the race wound back and forth between North and South Carolina several times before finishing with a challenging ride up “Heartbreak Hill.” But, according to Angela Millon, who is the president of the Tryon Riding & Hunt Club, the course was so long and twisty and the jumps so formidable that horsemen were reluctant to send their horses to the race, not wanting to see them get hurt. WINTER 2024

Steeplechases are fall calendar highlights in Charleston at the Stono Ferry Race Track as well as in Aiken. Camden’s steeplechasing fans are thrilled that the Colonial Cup is making a return to Springdale Racecourse this November after an eight-year hiatus. According to Toby Edwards, “The sport needed another championship day of racing in the fall, and that was the way the Colonial Cup was set up back in 1970, and we have worked hard to resurrect it. The horsemen have embraced it; they are very excited to have an opportunity to race their horses on one of the best racecourses in America, and the results of a lot of the races in November could well have a strong impact on which horses become champions in their individual categories.”

Pam GleasoMadison Ibach for Tryon International

The race then moved to another location, but that course ended up having the same problems over the years. “The turns were a little tight and it was hilly, and it wasn’t irrigated, so if it was dry, then the turf was hard,” says Millon. To remedy the situation, Roger and Jennifer Smith, who are partners with Tryon International Equestrian Center, put in a state-of-the-art course. “They had this huge tract of land in Green Creek . . . it’s wide, sweeping, graded, irrigated, it gets year-round maintenance, and now the owners/riders/trainers are saying ‘lets bring our horses there’… It’s a great course and we are trying to get the word out to start drawing bigger crowds. Every time you move a race, it takes a couple of years to build up momentum, but people are starting to come and say its lovely.”

The Carolinas Equestrian

WINTER 2024

See the Story... Feel the Glory Visit the only museum in the United States dedicated solely to telling the national story of steeplechasing and the horses, people, and places that have influenced its history. HOURS

Sept.- May: Wednesday - Sat. 10am - 4pm June - August: Wednesday - Sat. 10am - 3pm

200 Knights Hill Rd. Camden, SC 29020 Easily Accessible from I-20; Exit 92 or Exit 98 803-432-0801 steeplechasemuseum.org

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WINTER 2024

76th TRYON BLOCK HOUSE STEEPLECHASE

April 13, 2024 Scan QR code to purchase tickets!

Tailgate Tickets at

TryonSteeplechase.com 15

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Under 21 Tyler Graham Photography

Luke Tanner

oseph Luke Tanner of Columbia, South Carolina, has been riding for only four years, but in that time, he has made a lot of progress. Perhaps more importantly, he has made a lot of friends. Luke’s unfailingly outgoing personality earned him the South Carolina Hunter Jumper Association Sportsmanship Award in 2023. He is the son of Karen and Ray Tanner; Ray is the beloved former two-time NCAA National Championship head baseball coach and current athletics director at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Luke has two older sisters, Gracie and Maggie. “Just about four years ago, my sister Gracie started taking lessons as a way to get out of the house during COVID,” he said when asked what sparked his riding career. “In the beginning, I 16

The Carolinas Equestrian

didn’t really want to go to her lessons, but one day I went out to see what it was all about, and I just fell in love. I started to take lessons, too, and pretty much the rest is history.” At the age of 17, Luke is in his last junior year of riding and hopes to finish strong after taking top five ribbons in the 2023 Progressive Show Jumping, Blue Ridge Hunter Jumper Association and Palmetto Medal Finals last fall. His current mount is a leased 17+ hand Selle Francais gelding, “Fernhill Divergent” (aka “Four”) “We’ll move up to the 3’3’’ in the next few months, and my goal is to be competitive this year in the 3’3” juniors and in the Governor’s Cup Finals,” says Luke, who trains with Jennifer Barker at Leaning Oak Farm in Hopkins, South Carolina. WINTER 2024

Luke’s friendly nature belies a passion for argument, which he indulges at Cardinal Newman High School in Columbia, where he is currently a senior. “I’ve always been fascinated by debate – I took a class last year as an elective and never lost a debate! It is interesting to sometimes argue a side you don’t agree with, to build an argument, respond to questions on the fly, defend a side with concrete evidence,” he said. Luke also enjoys reading and painting watercolors – he is a member of his school’s art club and helps put together their art show every year. Luke has applied to several colleges, including Tulane, Texas A&M, Baylor and UNC Chapel Hill, but he isn’t sure yet where he will go. He is planning to study political science, with hopes of becoming a contract lawyer, but he doesn’t think he will ever leave horses behind. “I think the two things that I love most about going to see my horse every day are that I am a very hardworking competitive person, so it’s very fulfilling for me to work towards an end goal, but I also get to express my love for animals. I love to just walk around in the field, in nature, just walk around on a loose rein. . . As an adult I would like to work with young horses, and I want to get my judge’s card as a way to give back and say thank you to the sport.” Above right: Luke with his father, Ray Tanner Below: Luke with his Leaning Oak Farm barn family

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WINTER 2024

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WINTER 2024

Destination Aiken It’s the place to be Story & Photography by Pam Gleason

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Pam Gleason

iken, South Carolina has been an equestrian destination for over a century. Its suitability for horse sports was first recognized in the late 1800s when people from northern states discovered its mild winter climate and sandy footing. Aiken’s winter activities got a boost in 1891 when Louise Eustis, who had spent her winters in Aiken since she was a girl, married Thomas Hitchcock, a 10-goal polo player, foxhunter and steeplechase trainer from New York. The couple started coming to Aiken every winter season. They were well-connected, sociable and persuasive, and they soon convinced their friends to come to Aiken with them. The tourists (as they were called) founded a burgeoning winter colony. They went foxhunting through vast tracts of pine woods, played polo, trained racehorses, steeplechasers and harness horses, and drove their buggies everywhere. Aiken’s hotels were legendary, as were the opulent 21

The Carolinas Equestrian

Above: Louise and Thomas Hitchcock hunting in the woods, circa 1928. Left: Huntsman JohnTabachka takes the Aiken Hounds through Memorial Gate in the Hitchcock Woods.

“cottages” that the winter colonists built for themselves. Aiken was called the Newport of the South and the Queen of Southern resorts, and horses were at its center. Horsemen remarked on the many wonderful places to ride and the exhilarating spirit of sportsmanship that pervaded Aiken society. It was a horseman’s paradise. Fast-forward to 2024, and in some ways, everything is different, but in others, nothing has changed. The Aiken of today is not the quiet place it was 100 years ago: It has its own university, a few large industries, and most of the other advantages and drawbacks of modern life. And yet, in the historic horse district downtown, the roads are still unpaved to keep them hoof friendly. Many of the downtown homes have their own stables, and it is common to see people riding or driving their carriages down the red clay roads. The historic district includes Aiken Polo Club’s Whitney Field, thought to be the oldest WINTER 2024

continuously used polo field in the nation. Then there is the Aiken Training Track, where young Thoroughbreds gallop in the mornings in preparation for their first races at parimutuel tracks across the country. Great horses have trained here: the immortal Kelso, the Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, and most recently the Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice. From the historic horse district, riders can hack to Whiskey Road, where the crossing’s walk button is set to rider height. On the other side of Whiskey Road, they soon arrive at the entrance to the Hitchcock Woods. This is a 2100-acre forest with 70 miles of sandy trails, owned and managed by the Hitchcock Woods Foundation. Open every day from dawn to dusk, it welcomes riders, walkers and nature lovers, who treasure its wide paths and its canopy of majestic pines. Often considered to be Aiken’s crown jewel, the Woods are the home territory for the Aiken Hounds, a drag hunt established by the Hitchcocks in 1914. The hunt follows trails up and down hills and over many well-maintained fences; it’s a perfect place to get lost for an hour or two, though the Hitchcock Woods Foundation recommends downloading a

trail map to your cellphone before you set out so you can find your way back. The trail and place names in the Woods pay tribute to members of Aiken’s original winter colony: Memorial Gate, dedicated to Thomas Hitchcock’s brother Francis; the Pete Bostwick trail, named for the famed polo player, steeplechase and flat jockey; the Ridge Mile Track where Thomas Hitchcock once trained his champion steeplechase horses. Every spring, the Hitchcock Woods Foundation puts on the Aiken Horse Show in the Woods, an old-fashioned show that takes place in a grassy ring about a mile into the forest. First held in 1916, the show is the largest fundraiser for the foundation, and it is a social event with a decorated ring-side tent, gourmet lunches and a silent auction with many unique and beautiful items. The historic horse district also includes McGhee’s Mile, a training track for standardbred horses that was built in the late 1930s by Dunbar Bostwick, Pete’s brother. Then there are four more polo fields: Aiken Polo Club’s Powderhouse Fields and Winthrop Field, which is used for practice. Finally, there is the Aiken Horse Park, also called Bruce’s Field.

Breaking from the gate at the Aiken Trials, Aiken Training Track

Pam Gleason

Sarah Clements Berkowitz, Aiken Horse Show in the Woods

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A premier horse show facility, Bruce’s Field was conceived over a decade ago by the hunter rider and Aiken resident Bruce Duchossois to promote the city’s equestrian heritage. Sadly, Bruce did not live long enough to see his dream come to fruition, but his family established a foundation to develop the park as a lasting tribute to his equestrian legacy. It includes 10 horse show and warm-up rings with professional footing, 18 permanent stables, and is surrounded by a wide lawn dotted with trees. The park has regular shows for hunter/jumpers and dressage, and during the winter season it holds a weekly schooling event called Tuesdays in the Park. These provide an unequalled opportunity to put practice show miles on a horse: there are separate rings for hunters and jumpers, and the opportunity to run through a dressage test, all on world-class footing. Courses are laid out by renowned course designers and horsemen such as Michel Vaillancourt, an Aiken resident who won an individual Olympic silver medal in showjumping for his native Canada, and is now an FEI Level 4 course designer. On a weekend when there is not a horse show at Bruce’s Field, there is probably one at Highfields

Pam Gleason

Phillip Dutton; 4-star at Stable View

Pam Gleason

Daniel Geitner, Grand Prix showjumping at the Aiken Horse Park

Event Center, which is the home of Progressive Show Jumping. PSJ has three levels of hunter/ jumper shows: Just for Fun, PSJ and USEF, and there is something going on there almost every weekend. The facility has occasional driving shows as well, and this March the Grass Roots and Dusty Boots western show will make its debut there. There are additional equestrian attractions downtown, such as the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame is located in a converted carriage house at Hopelands Gardens, a gracious winter colony estate. There, you can learn about famous horses that trained in Aiken, see Pete Bostwick’s steeplechasing trophies and the shoes worn by the great Kelso during his racing days. Not far away, there is another horse museum, the Historic Stables at Rye Patch, which houses eight life-sized replicas of celebrated Aiken horses, from the Hitchcocks’ Thoroughbred hunter Morning Mist to Bruce Duchossois’s eventer, Mighty Nice, who won the individual bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil with Phillip Dutton. Moving out of the city and into the county there are yet more horse show and eventing facilities.

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Pam Gleason Janelle Marshall, Windsor Trace HDT

About 20 minutes north of the city, Stable View, which sits in over 1,000 rolling acres, is another of the area’s notable equestrian attractions. First created for eventing, Stable View has two cross country courses with fences for all levels, from tadpole up through the 4-star. With an array of groomed show rings and an oversized covered arena, Stable View holds hunter/jumper shows, dressage shows and eventing competitions. There are schooling opportunities, such as the monthly Hunter/Jumper Institute that offers riders the chance to practice hunter and jumper courses without the pressure of competition. Then there is the Eventing Academy, which consists of two days for schooling, followed by an unrecognized event over the same fences and courses. Stable View hosts various other programs and competitions, such as trail running and yoga, and has recently partnered with Belles in Boots, a South Carolina horse sales company, to hold an annual premier horse sale, the Southern Belle Classic. East of Aiken, eventing facilities abound, including three that hold USEF recognized horse trials, and others that are devoted to schooling. 24

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Doug Payne, Grand Prix Eventing

In addition, there are polo fields and hunt territory: the Aiken area is home to four Masters of Foxhounds Association recognized foxhunts and six United States Polo Association recognized clubs. Additionally, the town of Windsor, about 25 minutes from downtown Aiken, has become known for combined driving, attracting driving enthusiasts from around the nation and Canada to join a thriving community. Winter and early spring are high season in Aiken, especially for event riders, who have so many schooling and showing opportunities that they barely have time to take their boots off. The area attracts well-known names in the sport, from the U.S., Canada and overseas, and if you are riding in a schooling show in Aiken, it is not unusual to learn that one of your competitors is an Olympic medalist. For instance, Boyd Martin, who has represented the U.S. at the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games and the Pan Am Games, spends every winter at Stable View and takes his young horses to schooling shows and events all over the county. Upper level dressage riders have discovered Aiken, too, as have hunter/jumper WINTER 2024

Pam Gleason

Melissa Vaughn, FEI Test of Choice, Stable View Dressage

trainers. The show calendar has expanded to include multiple recognized dressage shows as well as year-round recognized hunter/jumper shows. These include a series at Stable View that offers over half a million dollars in total prize money, with monetary incentives to encourage riders to participate in every show. One of the highlights of Aiken’s winter season is the annual $100,000 Grand Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field, featuring a shortened and compressed cross country course and designed to appeal to spectators. The top 30 eventing riders in the world are invited, and many of them come. The U.S. eventing team has used the showcase as a warm-up for international competitions, such as the Pan American Games in Peru. Horse trials held at Stable View are also often official team outings, making Aiken a place with a high standard of horsemanship. All of this might sound like an exhaustive list, but in reality, it is just scratching the surface. Annual spring events tailored to spectators include an afternoon of harness racing at McGhee’s Mile, the Aiken Trials (a day of racing for young 25

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Thoroughbreds at the Aiken Training Track), the Aiken Spring Steeplechase, and Pacers and Polo, a polo game to benefit the University of South Carolina Aiken’s equestrian program. Spring horse shows abound: the Aiken Spring Classics at Highfields, and the Aiken Charity Horse Shows at Bruce’s Field. Aiken has national champion interscholastic and intercollegiate teams in eventing and polo as well as Intercollegiate Horse Show Association teams in hunters and western. There are educational events and demonstrations, clinics, lectures and trail rides, as well as the annual Aiken Hoofbeats Christmas Parade, downtown, which attracts hundreds of carolers on horseback. The old Aiken of the 20th century was a horseman’s winter destination. The new Aiken of the 21st century still attracts hundreds of seasonal visitors, but it has become more than just a winter resort. Today, Aiken’s equestrian community includes a growing population of year round residents who have discovered that when they are in Aiken, it feels like home. If you love horses, Aiken is the place to be. WINTER 2024

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2024 /‘25 CALENDAR DATES

9 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 10 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 11 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 14-15 USEF/USDF ‘Too Hot To Trot I” Dressage 16-18 USEF/USDF “Too Hot To Trot II” Dressage 21 Hunter/Jumper Institute 11 Schooling Dressage 12 USEF/USDF “Fall Frenzy” Dressage 18 Hunter/Jumper Institute 19-22 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Fall Classic’ 27-29 “Oktoberfest” $60,000 FEI CCI-S 2/3/4* & USEF/ USEA Horse Trials (BN, N, T, M, P, I, A)

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OCT NOV DEC

6 Schooling Jumpers 7 Whiskey Road Hunt 13 Schooling Dressage 15 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 16 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 17 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 20 Hunter/Jumper Institute 24 Whiskey Road Hunt 4 Schooling Jumpers 5 Whiskey Road Hunt 7-8 USEF/USDF “Winter Wonderland” Dressage 13 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 14 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 15 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 18 Hunter/Jumper Institute 26 Whiskey Road Hunt

JAN

2025 CALENDAR DATES

8 Schooling Dressage Collection 11 Winter Combined Test 15 Hunter/Jumper Institute 18-19 USEF/USEA “Aiken Opener” Horse Trials (BN, N, T, M, P) 29 Schooling Dressage Collection

FEB

MAY JUNE

3-7 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Mid-Summer Classic’ (pending USEF approval) 13-14 USEF/USDF “Only in America” Dressage 17 Hunter/Jumper Institute 19 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 20 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 21 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials

AUG

JULY

4-5 USEF/USEA Stable View Local Charities Horse Trials and USEA Intercollegiate and Interscholastic Championships 8 Schooling Dressage 15 Hunter/Jumper Institute 7-19 Private Function 30-June 2 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Summer Classic’ 6-9 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Summer Classic I’ 15-16 USEF/USDF “Summer Solstice” Dressage 19 Hunter/Jumper Institute 21-23 USEF/USEA Summer Horse Trials (BN, N, T, M, P, I, A) 27-30 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Summer Classic II’

SEPT 27

5-7 Stable View $60,000 FEI CCI-S 2/3/4* & USEF/USEA Horse Trials (T, M, P, I, A) 11-14 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Spring Classic’ (pending USEF approval) 17 Hunter/Jumper Institute 20-21 USEF/USDF “Spring Fever” Dressage 27 Aiken Symphony – Horses and Harmony

2 Schooling Jumpers 3 Whiskey Road Hunt 4-6 T.I.P. Championships 9 Schooling Dressage 11 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 12 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 13 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 16 Hunter/Jumper Institute 19 Whiskey Road Hunt 31-Nov. 3 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Fall Finale’ (pending USEF approval)

8-9 USEF/USDF “I LOVE Dressage” 14 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 15 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 16 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 19 Hunter/Jumper Institute 26 Schooling Dressage Collection

MAR

FEB

2-3 USEF/USDF “Southern Comfort” Dressage 8 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 9 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 10 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 14-17 USEF/USHJA $50,000 National ‘A’ Rated Hunters & Level 4 Rated Jumpers ‘Winter Classic’ (pending USEF approval) 20 Hunter/Jumper Institute 22-23 Southern Belle Classic Auction 29-31 Private Event

APRIL

10-11 USEF/USDF “I LOVE Dressage” 16 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 17 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 18 Eventing Academy Schooling Horse Trials 21 Hunter/Jumper Institute

MAR

“A GATHERING PLACE” • AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA • 484-356-3173

1-2 USEF/USDF “Southern Comfort” Dressage 7 Eventing Academy X-Country Schooling Day 8 Eventing Academy Schooling Day 9 Eventing Academy Horse Schooling Horse Trials 13-16 USEF/USHJA $25,000 National ‘B’ Rated Hunters & Level 3 Rated Jumpers ‘Winter Classic’ (pending USEF approval) 19 Hunter/Jumper Institute 26 Schooling Dressage Collection 30 Spring Trail Race

FOR MORE INFORMATION: svfequestrian.com/2024-calendar-dates/ STAY CONNECTED!

WINTER 2024

Equestrians of the Carolinas Kay Whitlock: Promoting Dressage By Ashley Haffey

ay Whitlock has been organizing horse shows in the Carolinas for more than 40 years. The founder of Viewpoint Dressage, Whitlock is a former competitor, an R judge, and a devoted student of horsemanship. 28

The Carolinas Equestrian

She was a founder of the North Carolina Dressage and Combined Training Association in the 1970s (her membership number there is “1”), served two terms as the organization’s president, and recently received their Lifetime Achievement WINTER 2024

The Carolinas Equestrian

held throughout North Carolina, including in Tryon, at Latta Plantation near Charlotte, and in Wilmington. She had shows in South Carolina, too – in 2007, she brought the first recognized dressage show to Aiken, South Carolina. Today, her company holds six shows a year at the Pinehurst Harness Track. The shows are organized as a series (Kay calls it Swat ‘n’ Sweat) so that riders can accumulate points for year-end awards. Looking forward to the future, Kay believes that dressage is going to keep growing and getting stronger but she laments some of the changes in the sport. A traditionalist, she disapproves of the new color codes for riding clothes and thinks that fashion fads distract judges. Another thing that she remarked on is a lower level of volunteerism. “Riders miss out on the organizational and learning aspects of a dressage show when they don’t volunteer,” she said. “In the past, when a rider helped scribe, they learned more about what their judge was looking for, and that each box represented a movement. It was helpful for new riders understanding how dressage is scored, and not as many riders take that opportunity nowadays.” What does Kay like best about running shows? Seeing riders and their horses progress. “I love watching the horse and rider pairs grow and move up the levels,” she said. “I see riders who truly care for their horses. I also see respect for dressage, a desire to learn and, best of all, I see riders develop a true relationship with their horses.” High Time Photography

award. She is an integral part of the Carolinas dressage community and her shows are known for providing a friendly and welcoming environment for competitors and their horses. Surprisingly, Kay did not grow up riding. She started her riding career after she moved to Southern Pines when she was in her 30s. Before that, she lived in New York City and didn’t have access to a horse. “I always loved horses but never had the chance to ride them until I moved to Southern Pines,” she said. “At first I borrowed a threelegged horse, and then I bought a horse.” Kay started out eventing and foxhunting, but eventually changed her focus to dressage. “I loved the attention to detail that dressage requires,” she explained. Whitlock’s dressage journey included training her off-the-track-Thoroughbred Casey all the way up to Grand Prix. “He was a beautiful and special horse,” she said, but he could be challenging. “He could get a ten one movement and then eliminated the next.” One time they were competing indoors at Raleigh and a vendor turned on the popcorn machine. “You could hear the pop, pop, pop of the machine, and the next minute he exited the arena and was gone!” Kay’s experiences as a rider helped her find compassion as a judge. She said that judging for 25 years was rewarding and difficult, requiring traveling to shows every weekend. “Judging is giving back, and a labor of love,” she said. Kay started organizing dressage shows in the 1980s and in the early years her shows were

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Pam Gleason

Fighting Fire Ants How to win the war By Pam Gleason

f you live in the American South, you have probably encountered fire ants. These little red devils live beneath the ground, raising mounds of dirt that can grow up to two feet high, depending on your soil. Make the mistake of picking up a fence board that has fire ants beneath it, and they will swarm, both biting you and stinging you, leaving painful blisters behind. Fire ants are more than just a nuisance. They damage a variety of crops, injure and kill young animals (such as ground-nesting birds, calves and foals) and their stings can cause dangerous allergic reactions in some individuals. They are a particular problem in horse pastures, where their unsightly mounds can collapse beneath a horse’s hoof, causing him to stumble or worse. The FDA estimates that fire ants cost the United States at least $8 billion every year in damage, medical care and control efforts. Fire ants are not native to the United States – they are commonly referred to as imported fire ants, or IFA. They arrived from South America through the port of Mobile, Alabama in the early decades of 20th century, either in 32

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agricultural products, or in dirt used as ballast in ships. Fire ants like it warm and wet, and Alabama suited them perfectly. Since they had no natural predators or competing ant species in North America, they were able to proliferate very rapidly, aided by the movement of infected nursery plants. Within two decades, they had spread into Louisiana and Mississippi, and by the 1970s, they were in Texas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Today, their range includes most of North Carolina, as well as areas of New Mexico and California. They will likely continue to move north and west over the next decades as the climate warms and conditions become right for them.

Kill the Queen Before you make a plan to eliminate fire ants from your property, it helps to understand a little bit about them. The ants that you see are worker ants that have two jobs: protecting the queen by defending the mound, and foraging for food to feed the queen and the colony. Every fire ant mound has a queen: when she is mature she can WINTER 2024

lay hundreds of eggs every day, most of which will turn into workers. While workers live for only weeks or months, queens can survive up to seven years. If something happens to the mound, but the queen is still alive, the colony can move and quickly re-establish itself. Because of this, killing worker ants is an exercise in futility if you don’t also kill the queen. There are two main ways to kill the queen. You can poison her, or you can starve her. To poison her, you will need something slow-acting because the workers bring back food to share with the whole colony, and they have to stay alive long enough to do that. Another type of poison works on contact, so it needs to be something that rubs off on the queen when the workers bring it back to her. Alternatively, it can be a chemical that is watered into the mound and goes deep enough to reach her. Starving the queen entails preventing her from laying viable eggs, so that, over time, her workers

“Don’t Try This at Home” You may have heard of various home remedies that some people swear will eliminate fire ants. These remedies are at best ineffective and at worst unecological, dangerous, or even illegal. Here are a few of them: 1. Grits. Supposedly, if you put out grits, the ants will eat them, moisture will cause the grits to expand in their bellies and they will explode and die. This can’t happen. Adult ants are unable to eat any solid food: it has to be turned into liquid by immature larvae in the colony before they ingest it, so the whole premise is flawed. Grits are often used as a carrier for ant poison, but plain old grits are not toxic to ants in any way. 2. Boiling water. If you manage to pour enough boiling water into an ant mound, you might actually kill the queen. However, you will need a lot of boiling water, you will kill the surrounding vegetation, other insects and beneficial soil microbes, and you risk serious injury if you scald yourself. 3. White vinegar. It is true that ants don’t like the smell of vinegar. However, it will not kill them. If you pour enough of it on their mound, they will likely move. 4. Cinnamon, coffee grounds, dish soap, orange peels. No, none of these things will kill fire ants, either. 5. Club soda. Some people swear that pouring two cups of club soda into an ant mound will kill the ants because the carbon dioxide is heavier than air, sinks down to the queen and suffocates her. Unfortunately, this does not work either. If you disturb the mound enough, the ants might abandon it and build a new one somewhere else, but they won’t die. The best way to use club soda for fire ant control is to make yourself a refreshing drink with it after you have applied ant bait with a hand-spreader on a nice warm day. WINTER 2024

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die off and are not replaced by new ones. This can be accomplished by feeding the colony an insect growth regulator (IGR) which is a chemical that prevents ant eggs from developing into worker ants. There are several commercial products that employ one or two of these methods, and which one is right for you depends on your particular circumstances. Ant control that kill adult ants works faster than insect growth regulators, but many horse people prefer to use IGRs because of their perceived lower toxicity profile.

Fight the Good Fight Vicky Bertagnolli, who works with the Aiken County Clemson Extension and Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center, says that the best way to control fire ants is to use a commercially

available bait. She recommends applying it according to the label instructions throughout the entire property. Simply treating individual mounds is unlikely to give you satisfactory results. “I don’t recommend a particular bait because they all work well,” she says, noting that there are a number of different types that are appropriate for horse pastures. Your local extension agency should have a list of the recommended products for your area. “These are low toxicity and low volume pesticides, and they affect fire ants and approximately 15 other species of ant,” she continues. Most of the commercially available baits are toxic to fish and other aquatic species and so should not be spread near water, but they do not kill bees and other beneficial insects. They

“Endlessly Fascinating” Most horse owners probably have two thoughts about fire ants: they are terrible, and they must die. For those who get to know these ants, however, they can be extremely interesting. This is great for those in the horse owner camp, because it means that there are a lot of very smart people who have devoted thousands of hours and millions of watts of brainpower trying to figure them out. One of those people is Dr. Robert Vander Meer who is the research leader of the Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research Unit, within the Agricultural Research Service, part of the of USDA in Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Vander Meer has devoted his professional life to studying fire ants and how to control them. He says that, even though the fire ant range is expanding north and west, he sees a future where these ants will not be as large a problem as they are today. Dr. Vander Meer and his team are currently testing an entirely new kind of control that is extremely specific to fire ants: It kills them by disrupting a particular chemical signal in their bodies that they need to function. “The beauty of this is that it is totally organic, and it is specific to the target pest,” he says. “It’s biodegradable and we’re really thrilled about our results so far. We’re hoping that this may become the next product that might be useful to the public.” 34

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Dr. Bob Vander Meer with techician Erin O'Reilly taking fire ant samples

Dr. Vander Meer, a chemist by training, says he came to work for the USDA in Florida after a Post Doctoral position at Cornell University in 1977. “When I first arrived, I had plans to do all kinds of other things,” he says. “I decided I would spend three years working on fire ants then move on to something else. But they’re fascinating creatures. We’ve had some amazing basic research discoveries . . . The ant is truly remarkable.” WINTER 2024

to be sure to put out the correct amount of bait per acre. If the bait is mixed with fertilizer, it can be difficult to keep a uniform and correct concentration of the two materials. Second, fire ant baits tend to absorb the smell and taste of the substances they are mixed with. “If the bait takes on the smell of the fertilizer and it smells bad to the ants, they aren’t going to pick it up,” she says. According to Bertagnolli, it is better to spread ant bait by itself, using in a small plastic spreader, with the opening at its smallest setting. “Most of these products you spread at a rate of one to two pounds per acre,” she says. “So we tell people to turn slow and walk fast!” If you do not feel up to tackling your farm’s fire ant problem yourself, you can find pest control professionals who will apply bait for you and might have more experience distributing it evenly, efficiently and at the correct rate. However, there is no reason that farm owners can’t wage this particular war themselves. Fire ants are relentless, and there are a lot of them (as many as 60 to 80 mounds per acre!), but with the right weapons, a solid plan, vigilance and determination, keeping fire ants off your farm is a battle you can win.

Pam Gleason

won’t harm horses or other pets either, as long as you follow the instructions on the label. It is important that you put out bait at the right time of year, and when the weather and climate conditions are favorable. Bertagnolli recommends spreading ant bait twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. “Pick a day when it’s not going to rain for 24 hours, and if it is in the morning be sure to wait until the dew has dried,” she says. “And be sure to put out the bait when the ants are actively foraging. That’s the key.” How can you tell when the ants are foraging? This will be when the soil’s surface temperature is between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Bertagnolli recommends performing what she calls the “very scientific potato-chip test.” “Put out a few regular greasy potato chips on the ground in a couple of places. Then check them in 20 to 30 minutes. If you find fire ants on them, then you know that the ants are foraging, so it is a good time to put out bait.” Some people purchase their ant bait at the same time as they buy the fertilizer for their fields, mix them together and spread them at the same time. Bertagnolli does not recommend this practice for two main reasons. First, you need

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Beauty in the Bones

The Equus-Soma Osteology and Anatomy Learning Center in Aiken offers an amazing look at what lies beneath the skin. by Pam Gleason

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Pam Gleason 41

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Courtesy of Equus-Soma

Pam Gleason Above: Pamela Blades Eckelbarger creates a 3D digital model of an equine vetebra Left: The beginnings of the bone room: the skeleton of Pamela's beloved horse Petey

t’s a sunny winter afternoon in Aiken, South Carolina and Pamela Blades Eckelbarger is seated at a table in her Equus-Soma Osteology and Anatomy Learning Center, scanning a horse vertebra with a 3D imaging camera. The center, otherwise known as the Bone Room, is in a converted storage shed on her farm. It has tables covered with various horse bones, a standing articulated skeleton (minus the head and neck) and an impressive collection of horse skulls. There are plastic tubs along the walls filled with bones, and portable tables outside hold displays of yet more horse skulls, backbones, and pelvises. Illustrations and diagrams with various educational information decorate the walls. A large chart showing the prominent sire lines of American Thoroughbreds stands in one corner. Eckelbarger explains that she is uploading her 3D model files to a website, which creates a 3D image of the bone she is scanning. She can then email a link to that 3D model, and the recipients 43

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can examine and manipulate the bone digitally, getting as complete an appreciation for its shape and structure as they would if they were holding it in their hand. This makes it much easier for them to understand certain aspects of equine anatomy. “People get the link, and they say to me, yes, now I get it,” she says. “It’s been a really great tool.” The Bone Room started out with a mission to educate horse owners, saddle fitters, body workers and other interested people about horse anatomy. The bones themselves are clean and odorless, ranging in color from pure white to dark yellow. Eckelbarger and her partner in the venture, Diane Dzingle, have given tours and talks to Pony Club groups and horse clubs, as well as to private individuals and equestrian professionals of all types. The bones are an education in themselves: they are not kept behind glass or treated as fragile specimens. Visitors can touch them and pick them up, feeling the difference between the dense, WINTER 2024

Pam Gleason The bone room includes many examples of equine bones of all types.

one spine might touch, or even rub against its heavy structure of the cannon bone and the light neighbor. Some of the bones in the Equus-Soma flexible ribs, seeing how the bones in the spinal collection provide a demonstration of how this column fit together, and so on. happens, and clearly show the consequences: in “We’ve given classes in two formats,” says some cases, one spine might even wear a hole in Eckelbarger. “In the short format, we spend about the other. two hours looking at and walking Another condition that has through the anatomy of the bones. “What I love is In the long format, we spend about become Eckelbarger’s particular everyone’s reaction focus is Equine Complex Vertebral four hours with a lunch break, and when they walk Malformation, otherwise known pretty much cater to what people want to see and learn about. What through the door and as ECVM. The hallmark of ECVM is a malformation of two specific I love is everyone’s reaction when see what we have." vertebrae in the horse’s neck. they walk through the door and see This might also be accompanied what we have.” Guests can also see and appreciate things that by misshapen, shrunken or missing ribs, as well as abnormal attachments of the muscles may have gone wrong with a horse when it was and ligaments, and impingements on nerves alive. One example is kissing spine, a condition and other structures. Equine anatomists have that is often discussed in equestrian circles, known about ECVM for a long time. In the past, but may be hard for the average horseman to understand. A horse has bony projections (spines) however, it was considered a normal variation of equine bone structure. Today, there is a that stick up from the backbone. Under normal circumstances, all of these spines are separated growing group of experts who believe that it is associated with a range of problems, from from one another, but sometimes, the top of 44

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Pam Gleason

The horse's back: Spinous processes stick up from the vertebrae. When they touch at the top, this is called kissing spine.

one-sidedness and girthiness, all the way up to instability, incoordination, aggressive behavior and intractable pain. Eckelbarger’s fascination with ECVM and her determination to learn more about it led her to work with the Australian anatomist Dr. Sharon May-Davis who was the first person to publish about the condition in the scientific literature. Starting in 2022, Dr. May-Davis has been making regular trips to Aiken to conduct anatomy clinics in which she dissects horses, some that have been diagnosed with ECVM and have been euthanized for serious physical and behavioral problems. The dissections have been a life-changing experience for many clinic participants. Separately, Eckelbarger has started her own ECVM project, which involves collecting neck x-rays of horses that have ECVM and then gathering samples of their DNA which she sends to a genetics laboratory in California. Her hope is to identify a genetic mutation that might cause the condition, so that someday in the future there might be a test for it, the same way there 45

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is now a test for other equine genetic conditions such as hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) in Quarter Horses and degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) in Peruvian Pasos. “The group I was working with ran some pilot assays, where I thought we might be able to find mutated genes, but so far we have not,” says Eckelbarger. “In the end we might have to do a whole horse genome, which is really expensive; so for now, I am just continuing to collect specimens and developing an ECVM database with the pedigrees of the horses in the study.” She also recognizes that it is possible that ECVM, while it likely has a genetic component, might not be primarily genetic. It may be a problem that arises in the developing equine fetus due to hormones, diet or other environmental factors. According to Eckelbarger, ECVM is surprisingly common in Thoroughbreds, with approximately 30-40 percent of horses being affected. This explains the Thoroughbred breeding chart in the Bone Room: Eclipse, the 18th century English racehorse whose blood courses through WINTER 2024

Pamela Eckelbarger, who is 72, says that she never expected to be the proprietor of a collection of horse skeletons, much less a researcher in equine genetics. She grew up in an equestrian family in western New York State. Her father bred racehorses and she and her sister foxhunted and competed in eventing. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in biology and a Master’s degree in zoology, she worked in Florida as a research scientist, publishing papers in invertebrate reproductive morphology before moving north to be an associate research scientist at the University of Maine. When she got back into horses in the early 1990s, she left the scientific world to found her own professional equestrian photography business, Hoof Pix, working at horse shows and horse trials throughout the Northeast. Eckelbarger’s journey to the Bone Room really started after she changed careers again, becoming an equine bodyworker. Realizing that she did not understand horse anatomy all that well, she enrolled in several whole horse dissections with Dr. Ivana Ruddock-Lange, an anatomist and equine bodyworker based in New Zealand. These were a turning-point. Afterward, Pamela wanted to share her understanding of anatomical structures with her clients, and decided to buy an equine skeleton so she could bring example bones with her to appointments. However, it turned out that horse skeletons were prohibitively expensive. “But I knew where there was a skeleton,” she says. Her old retired event horse, Petey, an off the track Thoroughbred that her father had bred, was buried on her farm in Maine, and she knew exactly where. And so she dug up his skeleton, cleaned and sterilized his bones, put them in a number of plastic tubs and transported them all back to Aiken where she showed them to interested 46

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Pam Gleason

The Accidental Anatomist

people. It was not long before friends and clients began offering her skeletons of additional horses, and with that, the bone collection took off. Pamela says the Bone Room itself would never have come into being without the help and collaboration of Diane Dzingle, also an equine bodyworker, whose fascination with equine anatomy rivals her own. One thing that is especially remarkable about the project is that it is not actually a business. Although the dissections with Dr. Sharon May-Davis have costs associated with attending, neither Eckelbarger nor Dzingle are paid for their anatomy research: they have no consultation fees, and no scientific grants. “It’s purely a labor of love,” says Eckelbarger. WINTER 2024

Pam Gleason

ECVM: Two examples of malformed C6 vertebrae. Both of these structures, which lie at the base of the neck, are asymmetrical: They are both missing the left tubercle, which in this case grew on the adjacent vertebra (C7) instead. This is known as a transposition.

the veins of the vast majority of modern-day racehorses, had ECVM. We know this because the skeleton of the great racehorse is on display at the Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire, England and that skeleton has malformed cervical vertebrae. Eclipse’s name is highlighted on Pamela’s breeding chart, and she hopes some day to identify sire lines that are associated with a propensity for the condition. At present, however, there is no veterinary consensus on the significance of ECVM when it comes to performance horses, and many veterinarians do not recognize it as a potentially serious problem. Among those that do, Eckelbarger has become something of an outside expert. After spending years reading neck x-rays, she has become quite skilled at recognizing and describing the vertebral malformations when she sees them, and veterinarians from across the country send her x-rays to look at. “I’m not a veterinarian, so I don’t diagnose any condition,” she explains. “I can give my assessment of what I see, and if the owners want to have a three-hour conversation about it, that’s what we do. . . . I’m constantly being contacted. I 47

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had three calls just today.” “That’s why this 3D program is so good,” she continues, gesturing to the bone that she has been scanning. She picks it up, pointing out its asymmetrical shape. It’s a vertebra (C7) from the neck of a horse that had one variation of ECVM, in which one of the ridges that was supposed to form on the vertebra above it (C6) grew on it instead. “This is what we call a transposition,” she says. “I can send a link to this 3D scan to an owner I just talked to who has a horse with the same transposition, and that way they can really understand what it all means.” Eckelbarger says that the study of ECVM is her primary focus these days, but that the Bone Room is continuing its mission to help people understand equine anatomy. In addition to the skeletons in the bone room itself, there is also overflow in what used to be the tack room in Pamela’s barn, and there are more skeletons coming in all the time. “We really need to expand,” she says, looking around. “We have bones everywhere.” For more information about the Bone Room,visit www.equus-soma.com WINTER 2024

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Enjoying a Simple Life Artist Emily Shields By Lauren Allen

mily Shields of Weaverville, North Carolina, has spent her life honing her skills in art and horsemanship. Shields, 63, studied art at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where she concentrated on oil painting. She loves abstract and semi-abstract mixed-media work and enjoys painting landscapes and soft images. She also likes to employ futuristic elements, such as angles and grids, combining a city feel with nature imagery. However, most of the commissions she has undertaken over the years have been detailed pencil portraits. She uses her colored pencils to capture the essence of dogs, horses, and cats for their owners, and imbues her work with an appreciation for the quirks of each animal’s personality. 51

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Shields developed her twin loves of art and horses early on: she began her painting career on the walls of her home when she was 2 years old. “I started drawing on the walls and on paper, but my mother really supported and encouraged it. I was good at it in school and that was encouraging. I was very shy, so it was easier to draw things than to talk to people.” Emily’s mother also bought the family a pony. “Then the love grew for the whole family. I had siblings, too and they all rode. We rode bareback first; we rode bareback for years.” “I am a crazy horse person,” laughs Shields, who later rode hunters, then dressage, and combined that with the horsemanship teachings of Buck Brannaman and Ray Hunt to make a career riding and teaching in the Asheville, North Carolina area. WINTER 2024

“I love helping people, and particularly love helping the horses, too. I have done a lot of work with problem horses. There seem to be not that many people that want to do that and there are lots of people who need help with problem horses,” she says. “And along the way I have been doing art the whole time, too. “I raised three beautiful kids (inside and out) that are all successful and happy, in their 30s now. They all grew up learning how to ride and do art,” she continues. She and her partner live on a small horse property, with two horses in the pasture, a little barn and a house with an art studio attached. Shields’ beloved mare Rowan passed away not long ago. Since there was another horse on the property that was now all alone, Shields felt she needed to find a companion. “I felt like I had to get another, even though I wasn’t ready. So I saw this little spicy off the track thoroughbred mare who barely ran at all, and she is a hot mess of a gorgeous little bay firecracker.”

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She christened the mare “Keeva,” which is an Irish name that means gentle, hoping it would impart some of that quality to the horse. This seems to have worked. “She came as a bit of a monster,” says Shields, “But she changed. She was just used to protecting herself, I guess . . . Now she has a huge personality: I have never met a horse quite as outgoing and joyous as this horse. “Being a horseperson keeps me very busy,” continues Shields. “I’ve spent 32 years teaching riding, so I have been teaching for a little more than half of my life. I would like to gradually slow down the horse work and build more art and express myself that way . . . maybe a little bit of travel. I am a very environmentally conscious person—I try not to take too much for myself from this world. I like a simple life. I feel very happy; I don’t need a whole lot. I have a pretty little piece of property; that’s one of the most important things to me: taking care of the planet, being good to people, enjoying a simple life.”

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“I try not to take too much for myself from this world. I like a simple life. I feel very happy; I don’t need a whole lot."

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WINTER 2024

Parting Shot

Marion duPont Scott: At a horse show, 1916 Marion duPont Scott (1894-1983) was a devoted horsewoman and philanthopist. Known as the "First Lady of American Steeplechasing," Mrs. Scott was based in Virginia, but spent time in Camden, South Carolina, where she purchased the Springdale Racecourse in 1953. In 1970, she established Camden's Colonial Cup, a $100,000 international steeplechase, at the time the richest 58 The Carolinas Equestrian WINTER 2024 jump race in the country. Upon her death, she willed Springdale Racecourse to the State of South Carolina.

There is No Place Like

Aiken, South Carolina

Aiken

www.haven-sc.com

843.834.1226