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everyone, and the next morning all the horses and riders arrived at the beautiful farm that was our home for the next nine days – Deer Ridge Equestrian, owned by Dr. Lorna Minz and Froukje Staal.
I truly believe that the top performances of our horses and riders were the end product of a super training camp. Everyone was good coming into the camp, and definitely primed for great when they finished.
The support crew were all in attendance: the staff and wonder workers from Equine Canada and Dressage Canada who pulled this camp together (Desi Dillingham and Christine Peters in particular), the very accomplished Technical Advisor Dr. Volker Moritz, Chef d’équipe Alison Martin, super vets Drs. Geoff Vernon and Usha Knabe, and our “ace in the hole” Dirk Stroda, Sport Psychologist extraordinaire.
This camp would not have been a success without our horses, our owners, our family and friends, and our all-important grooms. There are so many people in my “village” who made it possible. Personally, I want to thank the owner of “Chester” (Cantaris), Elizabeth Ferber, my wonderful hubby Lorne and my uber grooms, Sarah and Liz. There is no way I could have had these experiences without you. And Chester, buddy, you rock it with the big boys!
Training was individual every day, and personal coaches were encouraged to attend and worked beautifully together. It was a private camp, so that riders were not distracted by family and friends during this intensive training. Every member of the team is a professional rider, which means we are busy every day schooling numerous horses and riders. We rarely get to have such laser-like focus on our riding, or on only one horse, or on only one competition.
Shannon Dueck and Cantaris pause for a visit with groom, Sarah Perry, during a ride at the training camp. Photo © Equine Canada.
I relished watching my teammates school every day super riders on wonderfully talented horses, getting coached by the best in the world was incredibly inspiring! I believe each horse and rider improved daily as we inspired better riding in each other. Deer Ridge had miles of gorgeous hacking trails, so even on our days off from training we got to rest our horses with fun experiences. Our hotel had a fitness center which I made use of daily - I for sure would get out of shape if I only rode one horse a day! We worked with Dirk on our mental readiness for competition, and I know his expertise was very pivotal to Canada’s success. But it wasn’t all work - there were great team building outings which brought us all together, team lunches and dinners, plus a very dressy day at The Queen’s Plate (fancy hats and all), and a Canada Day celebration with the Canadian Eventing Team. In the end I was not needed to step in as team alternate, so I stepped back and watched with immense pride as my teammates did everything in their power to win Gold. And we came damn close… I think we surprised everyone but ourselves! The American powerhouse was undeniably strong - but we came away with a very well deserved Team Silver. It’s really incredible that our discard scores were over 70%!
ABOUT SHANNON DUECK Shannon grew up outside of Vancouver, BC, and began her riding career at the age of six, following in the footsteps of her mother, Jacqueline Oldham, a well-respected dressage rider and judge. Shannon competed in eventing as a teenager before applying her focus to dressage. By 1996, she was long listed to the Canadian Dressage Team, and began competing internationally. Shannon has since represented Canada numerous times, with highlights that include bringing home the individual silver medal from the 1999 Pan Am Games, finishing as the top Canadian in dressage at the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games, and helping to secure Canada’s berth to the 2004 Olympic Games at the 2003 Open European Championships. Shannon is also a passionate coach, training many students from her home base of Dueck Dressage in Loxahatchee, Florida. For more information on Shannon, visit www.dueckdressage.com.
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