ESDCTA Collective Remarks - August 2022

ESDCTA MAGAZINE

COLLECTIVE REMARKS

WWW.ESDCTA.ORG August 2022

Table of Contents 3

12

President’s Message

Eventing

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13

8

14

Calling All Members

15

Amateur Dilemma

Horse Treats News from Outside the Ring

10

A Lesson with Susanne Von Dietze

Seeking a Youth Chairperson

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Hi Everyone, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer with their horses. There are so many opportunities for fun and challenging activities to engage in with your horse, from shows to trail riding to hunter/trail paces to just grooming and being around them.

I recently read an article on Aeon called “Becoming a Centaur” by Janet Jones (Horse-human cooperation is a neurobiological miracle | Aeon Essays : https://aeon.co/essays/horse-human-cooperation-is-a-neurobiological-miracle) about the unique partnership between horses (prey animals), and humans (predator animals), and how we compliment and react to each other. What I gleaned most from the article was the trust that each partner gives to the other during the learning process. “Any horse-and-human team can develop deep bonds of mutual trust, and learn to communicate using body language, knowledge and empathy.” The article mentions many high-performing teams that have developed this partnership to the ultimate level, including Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, and Puissance record holder Franke Sloothaak on Optiebeurs Golo. “Horse and human converse via body language to such an extreme degree that they are able to accomplish amazing acts of understanding and athleticism. Each of their minds has extended into the other’s, sending and receiving signals as if one united brain were controlling both bodies.”

The horse brain is uniquely designed to respond to human interaction such that it willingly accepts direction from humans, the only predator so far that has developed this relationship.

I try to keep in mind many of the article’s fascinating insights when dealing with Sunny, my green 8-year-old gelding. We have a long way to go.

Always remember why you engage with horses – they provide a calming influence (most times), are fun to ride, and provide a great source of exercise. And don’t forget to give plenty of pats, lots of soft words, and of course carrots and apples. I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer.

President

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Board of Trustees OFFICERS

Phone only before 9 p.m. please

President

Holly Cornell

president@esdcta.org

732.208.8715

Vice President

Ellen Brindle-Clark

vicepresident@esdcta.org

609.351.1054

Secretary

Ruth McCormick

secretary@esdcta.org

201.240.4505

Treasurer

Betty Adduci

treasurer@esdcta

610.564.9169

3340 Curley Ct, Mullins SC 29574 Executive Board Dressage at Large

Jena Rondinelli

datlargeMAL@esdcta.org

732.814.1117

Eventing at Large

Jennifer Duelfer

eatlargeMAL@esdcta.org

732.598.3077

Dressage Competitions

Dr. Lisa Toaldo

dressage@esdcta.org

201.874.0373

Eventing Competitions

Janice Pellegrino

eventing@esdcta.org

Marketing

Paige Zimmerman

marketing@esdcta.org

Membership

Vacant

membership@esdcta.org

Membership

Heidi Lemack

membership@esdcta.org

609.306.8221

Finance

Gary Maholic

finance@esdcta.org

215.489.1557

Education

Victoria Shilton

education@esdcta.org

6093511054

Youth

Stephanie Warner

youth@esdcta.org

NJEAB Representative

Carolyn Montgomery

crunner141@comcast.net

Awards

Becky Kuc

awards@esdcta.org

Calendars/Activities

Mia Zimmerman

activities@esdcta.org

Grants

Holly Cornell

grants@esdcta.org

Equipment

Wilma Pfeffer

dressage@esdcta.org

OFF BOARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Newsletter

Meredith Rogers

newsletter@esdcta.org

Vacant

nominations@esdcta.org

Omnibus

Mia Zimmerman

calendar@esdcta.org

Show Results

Lori Kelly

results@esdcta.org

Nominating

Become a friend of the ESDCTA on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @ESDCTA 4

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CROSS COUNTRY...

News Across Our Region COMMUNITY NEWS

Milestone

If you’re reading this, you are probably a member of ESDCTA, but I’m sure you know of someone who rides dressage or events who is not a member. You know all about the wonderful things offered like educational programs, clinics with big name trainers, horse shows, year-end awards, and not least, that sense of being part of a community of likeminded people. The more members ESDCTA has, the better the programs we can offer. Our membership numbers are also important considerations when state and local governments decide on legislature that affects us (like open space), and we advocate for our sports (We helped get better footing at the HPNJ). Please reach out to your equestrian buddies and tell them about all of the benefits of membership and have them sign up. The more the merrier!

Please Contact Linda Marciante if you know any ESDCTA members who have achieved any Milestones.

Success at a show, regional/national/international award, new horse, or anything else you want to celebrate.

WHAT’S YOUR TALENT??

Let us know what you would like to help us with in 2022. All skills and interests wanted. Have an idea? We want to hear about it. Remember, this club is what YOU make it. Contact president@esdcta.org if you are interested.

NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE

Have a great article that you would like to share?

Please send article to: Meredith Rogers: newsletter@esdcta.org All submissions are due by the 15th of the month. Due to space considerations, the editor reserves the right to edit submitted articles.

If necessary, articles will be edited and returned for your review.

AND YOU GET VOLUNTEER HOUR FOR EACH STORY!

e-mail: lindalbbf@gmail.com

MEMBERSHIP QUESTIONS For membership questions including updating physical or e-mail addresses please contact: Heidi Lemack membership@esdcta.org

2022 ADVERTISING RATES

MEMBER FULL PAGE $100 HALF PAGE $65 QUARTER PAGE $40 BUSINESS CARD $20 CARD FOR 3 MONTHS $45 CLASSIFIEDS $10

NON-MEMBER $130 $85 $60 $30 $65 $15

Deadline: 15th of prior month Email: newsletter@esdcta.org Please have electronic ads in Adobe PDF or .jpg format

You will receive an invoice for ad via email.

Send Payment to: Betty Adduci 3340 Curley Ct, Mullins, SC 29574 Email: treasurer@esdcta.org

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Amateur Dilemma By, Meredith Rogers

Flying change hell is real. About a month ago, my trainer said it’s time to learn our flying changes. Since I’ve been riding Leo exclusively since August 2020, she at first tried to talk me through the process in an attempt to have me teach Leo. That didn’t go very well. Up until this point, my experience with riding flying changes was on one horse who was a flying change machine. My old guy who I had last shown in 2003 would do tempi changes if you just thought about it, which was a lot of fun, but made it difficult to show first level, which is where we ended up at the time of his retirement (Fletcher RIP; you are missed every day). Since then, I hadn’t ridden any changes and I had certainly never taught a horse how to do them. Before my trainer had stopped riding Leo, she had played a little with the changes and I knew he had the physical capabilities to do them because they were a highlight of the sales video of him running around in his paddock as an unbroke 2-year-old. However, it was obvious that I did not have the timing nor the skills to get the job done.

We collectively decided that it would be best for me to hand the reins back to my trainer to install the flying change. At first, it felt like I had failed. We had come so far but I just couldn’t figure this out. A friend of mine talked me off the ledge. She explained that even she is having trouble riding flying changes on her horse, who is quite confirmed in them. Additionally, she’s ridden them on multiple horses. There’s so much to them. You need to balance half-halting with going forward with changing bend and changing your aids and seat position. She also said that this was the reason we have a trainer. So true. It took Leo about a dozen rides to get the hang of them and I took back over the reins. I only did them in lessons but even then, I could only get the changes about half the times I asked. Then I started getting them early one way (on the prep for the change) and usually late on the other. After another week, I could get them pretty reliably both directions and my trainer said it was time to sign up for a show to try to qualify for Regionals at third level. What!?! I thought she was crazy but she’s the expert, so I signed up for a show in early August. What did I say in an earlier 6

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article about the best laid plans…they change!

However, before the show where I was going to debut at third, was a show where I was still going to be riding at second level: test 3 and my freestyle. My last lesson before the show we decided it best not to practice flying changes because that’s all Leo wanted to do. He thought he was beyond simple changes and counter-canter serpentines – key components of second level. I am happy to report that we got through the show with no flying changes!

With one week to go before our third level debut we are getting the right-to-left change about 20% of the time. I don’t know how our experiment at third is going to go, but I’m thrilled to be on this journey and actually getting somewhere.

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Calling All Members…ESDCTA Is Getting More Social

By Paige Zimmerman

Recently, I became the marketing, communications, and media Chair for the ESDCTA Board. I am really grateful to be a part of the Board and for this opportunity to give back to the club. At Lehigh University I major in marketing, so this is also a great way for me to gain experience. I have a lot of ideas and I am looking forward to putting them into motion.

To begin, I am in the process of making our social media more interactive than it has been in the past. I created an ESDCTA Instagram page as an addition to our current ESDCTA Facebook page. Instagram offers features that are more user-friendly than other forms of social media. Please follow our account, @esdcta_equestrian ! (https://www.instagram.com/ESDCTA_equestrian/ ) One of the first campaigns we are running on Facebook and Instagram is ESDCTA Member Spotlights. It is my goal to highlight a different member of ESDCTA on a weekly basis. Absolutely anyone is welcome to send in their information to be featured, whether you are a rider, trainer, junior, horse owner, judge… the list goes on. I would love for these spotlights to be a way for people to learn about our large community of unique individuals and their four-legged partners that make up our club. The Spotlights also will serve as a means to publicize all the different aspects of our club and the diversity of our membership. It is also a great way for trainers to highlight their programs, philosophies, and experience. In the future, I would like to spotlight facilities and show venues, as well. I hope these types of campaigns will make our social media more vibrant and enjoyable. If you would like to be featured in an ESDCTA Spotlight, please contact marketing@esdcta.org, or message us on Facebook or Instagram!

To be successful in this position, I will need a lot of help! All content ideas are welcome. For example, member blogs and vlogs, show or event photos and videos, upcoming educational events and clinics, factoids and “did you knows” that our members might find useful, volunteer opportunities, and more.

You can also tag us in your own social media posts and stories, and those will be shared to all of our page followers automatically. Our Facebook pages are ESDCTA and ESDCTA Youth. You can tag the ESDCTA Eventing account, which is not run by me but with which I’ll be working in coordination. Our Instagram page can also be tagged: simply add @esdcta_equestrian to your posts and stories.

I am very excited for this opportunity and look forward to hearing from you!

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Calling all ESDCTA Members!

Would you like to be featured in a member spotlight on our Social Media?

We are seeking riders, owners, trainers, volunteers, juniors, and all ESDCTA members who would like to be featured on our social media pages. These "member spotlight" posts will be shared on Facebook, and they'll also be shared on our newly created Instagram page, @esdcta_dressage!

If you would like to be featured, please respond to this email, send an email to marketing@esdcta.org, or message us on Facebook or Instagram.

Please include the following information, but feel free to include more and have fun.

• Your name • Your horse's name(s), if applicable • A fun fact about you and your horse(s) • What your goals are (for the rest of the season, for next year, etc...

• anything you'd like to share) • Your favorite venue/ event to attend (for example, Summer Days at the USET, which is right around the corner!)

• What you enjoy most about ESDCTA! • A picture (or a few) that you'd love to see posted

Our goal is to share one spotlight a week.

We hope to hear from you all very soon!

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We are Seeking a Youth Chairperson for the ESDCTA Board!

If you would love to have a voting position on the ESDCTA board, all while giving back to the club and automatically fulfilling all of your volunteer hour requirements for year-end awards, read further!

As Youth Chairperson, you will be responsible for increasing the participation and engagement of the club’s under 22 members, both in dressage and eventing. You will promote education and competition experience through activities aimed at recruiting new youth to the organization.

Duties Include: • Developing and leading a youth program with the assistance of a committee consisting of other ESDCTA members.

• Representing the interests of youth members when other areas and initiatives are discussed, such as year-end awards, educational activities and grants.

• Communicating youth activities to members, including those that are aimed at recruiting new youth.

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• Encouraging youth participation in events within ESDCTA as well as outside of it, such as the Dressage4Kids Youth Dressage Festival, youth teams at GMO or regional events, cross country schooling, clinics, and ESDCTA’s championship show.

• Helping the board understand our youth members and their interests and needs.

• Soliciting barns and trainers to encourage youth participation.

• Recommending an annual budget for activities.

• Attending ESDCTA board meetings and participating in decisions and governance of the organization.

• Supporting ESDCTA initiatives and representing the organization favorably.

If you are interested, please respond to this email, or send an email to board@esdcta.org! Thank you!

USDF News Now there is yet another way to get recognized by volunteering for your GMO. The GMO Volunteer Incentive Program, sponsored by the USDF allows GMO members to earn recognition by volunteering with their GMO. Members tracks their hours using the GMO Volunteer Incentive Program Hour Log and have a current GMO officer or official of record validate the hours with their signature. Once a milestone is reached, the form should be submitted to the USDF. Hours can be earned at any GMO sponsored event, and can be carried over to the following year. Volunteer hours earned prior to the implementation of the program (May 28, 2021) will not be recorded.

There are 4 levels of milestones: 25 hours, 50 hours, 75 hours and 100 hours. Current GMO officials are not eligible to participate until their term has ended. Only current GMO members are eligible to participate.

Please direct any questions to gmoliaison@usdf.org

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Some of our ESDCTA Eventing Members

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Horse Treats By, Meredith Rogers

Modern medicine has nothing compared to how being with our horses makes us feel.

But there are some folk medicine cures involving the horse (or parts of the horse) that have never been approved by the American Medical Association – with good reason!

Eating a hair from a horse’s forelock is a cure for worms.

Whooping cough can be cured by inhaling a horse’s breath. Of course if that doesn’t work, you can try placing three hairs from a donkey’s shoulders in a muslin bag and wear it around your neck (may also be a cure for measles).

Got bit by a snake or have a toothache? Just sit backwards on a donkey.

Pregnant women who just see a donkey will have wise and well-behaved children.

A horse’s chestnuts were believed to be a cure for cancer if dried, ground, and drunk frequently with new milk.

It used to be thought that warts could be cured by circling them in horse hair.

To lesson the pain of a toothache, rub the tooth of a dead horse over your jaw.

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News from Outside the Ring No Farms…No Food Horses As of April 2022, there were 2,773 preserved farms in New Jersey, accounting for a total of 245,332 acres out of 850,000 total acres of farmland; that’s not even a third. In a state that it is a total of 5,586,558.5 acres that’s just a drop in the bucket (4% to be exact). The county with the most preserved acres is Salem (42,160 acres) and the county with the least is Passaic, with only 56 acres of preserved farmland. How the program works is that farmers sell their development easements to the state but are able to keep their land and continue using it as they’ve been. Farmers may also donate the development rights, which provides tax benefits if not payments. Even if farmers didn’t want to sell the rights, they can “rent” them, for which they receive no payments but can receive cost-sharing grants for soil and water conservation projects, as well as other benefits and protections. A total of about 96,000 acres in New Jersey are dedicated to horses, but data on how many of these acres are preserved are scarce. We do have more horses per square mile than ANY other state!

Weddings and Horses Go Together Like…

Now we all know we horse people are a bit crazy, but Paul Boyles of northeast England may have taken the cake, so to speak. He snuck his favorite racehorse, King Erik, into his wedding at the end of May as his best man. The 17.2 hand stallion even kept the rings in a special pouch on his saddle. A friend of Paul’s rode the horse down the aisle, who was all dressed up for the occasion with flowers in his mane. Paul even arranged to have Black Beauty music playing while his new bride entered the venue. In the end, the couple changed their original honeymoon plans to include King Erik and borrowed another horse so the new bride and groom could hack for 11 days throughout Wales.

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A Lesson with Susanne Von Dietze: So Much Learning in So Little Time

By Olivia Steidle

At the end of June I had the wonderful opportunity to do a few sessions with Susanne Von Dietze, author of Balance in Movement and Horse Back to Back, at a clinic hosted by Va Pensiero, Pittstown, NJ, thanks to Lauren Sammis, Lori Rascioppo, and Jackie Greener. The clinic ran for three days and was in a word: fantastic! Susanne is well known for her expertise in rider biomechanics and the information she shared with her audience was invaluable. I had the chance to ride two different horses: Spree, owned by Marie Braverman-Kohles, and Muppet, owned by Brenda Curnin.

One of my students, Becky Campbell, rode my wonderful school horse, Buddy, in the clinic. All three lessons and all the auditing were incredible learning experiences and I came away with new tools for my toolbox, not only for myself but for the students I teach. With Spree, Susanne honed in on some small details that created more positive tension and an increased bounce into the trot. Then she delved into her literal bag of tricks and pulled out a pair of pin hole glasses for me to wear, which are plastic glasses with opaque plastic “lenses” perforated with pin holes. They basically interrupted my line of sight, taking away my horizon, and thus, by effectively closing off one of my senses, my natural sense of balance needed to respond to the movement of the horse.

This resulted in a more elevated upper body, a more finely tuned sacroiliac swing and

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a more engaged core. Also, I felt the limited vision allowed me to shed the external baggage that I (may) carry with me when I ride and streamline my focus and response to my equine partner.

It was immediately visible to all who were watching. Quite a few auditors remarked about the change in how I carried myself on the horse and the resulting movement from her, as well.

Years of riding young horses or many horses daily leads to carrying stresses and responsibilities within oneself that can interfere with the pursuit of perfection in position. Wearing those glasses was an excellent reminder to be vigilant, in a way, and gave myself permission to lose myself in the art of our chosen sport and focus on the small details, which brought about a greater beauty. The result of this more targeted feel was that Spree’s balance also came up and her gaits became more elevated and fluid.

During my session with Muppet, Susanne worked on helping me get her more receptive laterally to my weight and leg aids. She noticed I needed to focus more on getting her to “let me in” to help her bend around corners and remain laterally supple at all times. Also, she helped me quicken her reaction to my leg with an interesting canter exercise in which she wanted me to be completely passive in my seat and allow her to “fall out” of the canter whereupon I would quickly bop her with a leg or seat aid to pop her right back up to canter. It was super interesting. Muppet has a dynamite canter and even though she is big and powerful, she has a hard time downshifting without falling, so this was a way for her to have a clearer response to my (hopefully) quicker aid without losing balance and help her articulate and gather her skeleton more efficiently. Our next exercise was to count strides on the 20-meter circle with 6 strides every quarter of the circle.

It resulted in a more consistent size and shaped circle. With her quickness to my seat, Susanne challenged me with stretching 16

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and collecting the striding so Muppet could become more elastic and changeable in her gaits.

Throughout all of this, Muppet became more and more fluid within her gaits. The last thing we worked on in both trot and canter was counting more strides between corners and straight lines. Counting creates more definition and intent and therefore more clear response from the horse and deepens the bond between the horse and rider by clarifying the communication.

The last ride on Wednesday evening was my student’s ride on Buddy. He is the most wonderful equine. In some ways, it was my favorite lesson because it became more interactive for me as Jackie and I were the only audience. Becky has some hunter-y habits from years in a flat saddle and the lesson focused on position and creating a better base of support through the lower leg, adding bounce off the ball of her feet in the stirrup and traveling up her body through her pelvis and up her spine. Susanne made interesting use of the Franklin Balls – tennis ball sized balls that are a little squishy – by placing them just under her knee to get a feeling of allowing her leg to get longer and softer. That was when I jumped in and started asking questions because I had used them before under the seat bones but never thought to put them under tight knees! She also used a scarf under various parts of her thigh (this just at a halt) to demonstrate and encourage the rider to feel how the thigh can draw or tilt

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the pelvis forward or backward, and also affect the lower leg. Giving that feel to Becky helped her zero in on where she needed to be while in motion with Buddy. Then she used the scarf under Buddy’s neck, passing it from one hand under Buddy’s neck to the other, offering stability for the hands and just a bit of pressure to play with the direction of bend for Buddy’s shoulders. That was super fun to watch as Becky went out on the circle to walk and then trot and canter with these new tools. Buddy became beautifully soft and round, with lovely rhythm and tempo, and certainly by the end neither she nor Buddy were using the scarf at all for stability. Jackie and I were hooting and hollering encouragement throughout and there may have been happy eye wetting.

I was sorry to have missed the symposium at the end of the first day of the clinic – family obligations took precedence – but by all accounts, it was excellent. My student, Paige Zimmerman, wrote about her take away from the clinic as an auditor last month (if you haven’t yet read that, check it out!). During one of the rider sessions, a rider remarked that they were terribly nervous about going in for the lesson. Most of the audience agreed when Lauren spoke up and said this is a Learning Zone, and there was no wrong or right, and no judgement. I feel that this is so very important to remember because we are all here for the horses and to improve our own understanding. Susanne’s teaching is with great encouragement and much like her cousin, Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel, there is great focus on the basics and the correct development of the rider. By increasing our frequency of correct half-halts, position corrections, adjustments to help rebalance the horse; our movements become smaller and more precise, resulting in higher level of balance for the horse. As dressage riders, it is what we strive for and clinics like these are immeasurably helpful to continue to improve on our journey towards Good Riding. One last reflection (I could go on) is that she mentioned that over her career, she has simplified her definition of a Good Rider: if the horse is happy in its work, then the riding is good.

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Show Results ESDCTA

Below is a list of show results that have been submitted since last month. Please click the link to access the Show Results page on the website: https://www.esdcta.org/show-results-2022/ Applewood Farm 5.18.22 Alexandria Equestrian 2.12.22 Alexandria Equestrian 3.26.22 Bit-O-Woods 3.13.22 LVDA Schooling Show 1 5.21.22 LVDA Decades of Dressage 5.22.22 Saddlebrook Ridge 4.2.22 Saddlebrook Ridge 5.14.22 SLM Dressage 4.15.22 SLM Dressage 5.15.22 Suddenly Farm 4.23.22 Suddenly Farm 5.22.22 SLM 6.25.22 Greendell 6.19.22 Heart’s Journey 7.2.22 Hidden Creek 7.10.22 Applewood 7.13.22 Bit O Woods 7.16.22 If you are an organizer or secretary and haven’t submitted your results yet, please send them (any format is fine) to: results@esdcta.org Thank you!

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BUSINESS MEMBERS Jersey Palms Farm

Rhythm and Blues Stables

177 S. Stump Tavern Road Jackson NJ, 08527 609.213.5745 KWLYNX@comcast.net www.jerseypalmsfarm.com

108 Old York Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08620 609 306-8221 RBLStables@aol.com www.rhythmandbluesstables.com

Anjelhart Equestrian Center

Irish Manor Stables

38 Millers Mill Rd, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514 609.758.7676 lacavacreations@aol.com www.Anjelhart.com

718 Sergeantsville RoadStockton, NJ 08559 908.237.1281 info@irishmanorstables.com www.irishmanorstables.com

Good Times Farm

Heart’s Journey Stable

278 Jackson Mills Road, Freehold, NJ 07728 732.409.2882 gtts@optonline.net www.GoodTimeFarm.com

425 Kromer Road Wind Gap, PA 18091 610.730.8016 mmorehouse07@gmail.com www.heartsjourneystables.com

Equisential Equine LLC 111 Snyder Ave Bellmar NJ 08031 717.649.4799 bryner.2@gmail.com

EVENT CALENDAR ESDCTA’s Calendar contains the complete and up to date list of ESDCTA’s registered shows. It also contains other activities that ESDCTA feels are important to our community.

Click the link to view The Event Calendar

https://www.esdcta.org/home/omni-calendar/ 20

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