Untacked january february 2018

The Chronicle of the Horse

TH EQUESTRIAN THE EQUESTR R I AN LIFESTYLE LIFESTY Y LE MAGAZINE MAGAZIN NE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

RED ROCKS THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

+

PROFILE:

THE MANY BRIGHT SIDES

6

of CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

SHOW OFF YOUR HOBBY

WITH HORSEY HOME DÉCOR A SUPPLEMENT TO THE CHRONICLE OF THE HORSE

WAYS TO START SPRING STRONG

HOW TO RIDE A REINDEER

Š elena lusenti photography

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AGDF 9 National

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March 9–11

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AGDF 10 CDI 4* & National

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©2017 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act.

© 2017 PHILIPPA DAVIN

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s t n e t n o C

The C HRONICLE of the HORSE

Untacked VOL. 6, NO. 1

J A N U A R Y/ F E B R U A R Y 2 018

48 The Happiest Horsewoman

48

58 The Still-Wild West 68 Tenacity Overcomes Tragedy At The Tevis Cup

82 Saving The Trakehner ON THE COVER: Jody Baumberger-Gehrig Photo

KATHRYN BURKE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

58

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BILL GORE OF GORE/BAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

JODY BAUMBERGER-GEHRIG PHOTO

68

FALL IN STEP

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s t n e t n o C Departments 26

Editor’s Letter

28

Contributors

34

Around The Arena

36

Editor’s Picks: Prestige RP Girth

38

Tech Spotlight: Coach’s Eye

40

Test Lab: Horse Treats

42

The Clothes Horse: Home Décor

78

Seeing The World With “Life Between The Ears”

88

DIY: Non-Riding Winter Improvement

92

City Guide: Ocala, Florida

96

Book Reviews

98

Charity Spotlight: Helping Equines Regain Dignity

100

42

Parting Ways

24 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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92

PHILLIP HERNDON PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY BIORIDER FITNESS

88

EAT, SLEEP, RIDE.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Advice From An Annoying Runner A couple of years ago, my horse sustained an injury. As equine injuries go, it wasn’t bad—something that kept her out of work for just about six weeks. But it was summer, all my friends were out competing and taking lessons, and I was bored and a little sad without my main hobby.

26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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any other form of exercise, rarely works. (Just ask my friend, who, many years ago, tried to get me to put on tennis shoes and walk down a short driveway with her as a starting point for a fitness program. I refused.) If you don’t first find your own reasons and motivations, it won’t stick, as most New Year’s resolutions do not. But it doesn’t even need to be a good reason; boredom worked for me.

It also helps to find the form of exercise you most enjoy doing—whether that’s walking, running, tennis and ballroom dancing (like dressage trainer Charlotte Bredahl, p. 48), climbing mountains (like endurance rider Tennessee Lane, p. 68), yoga, lifting weights or a rider-specific fitness program—or you at least need one that’s accessible and will keep you coming back because of how you feel afterwards.

Then you just need to start. And not to be too annoying, but it will change your life.

ANDREW HOCK PHOTO

Which led to me one day doing a thing I’d never imagined before: lacing up a pair of old sneakers and tagging along with my now-husband on a run. Since I hadn’t exercised in about eight years, I made it less than a mile before I had to walk—completely red-faced, soaked in sweat, already sore and swearing off running for the rest of my life.

But a couple of days later, I went again. And then again a few days after that, working up from 1 mile to 2 and then a 5K a few weeks later. I kept running once my horse came back into work, ran a half marathon that fall and then finished a marathon the next year.

So, since I am a runner now, I can say that runners? We are annoying. Runners are almost too welcoming because they (we) want you to get hooked, so they (we) have more running friends because running alone all the time is boring.

Runners say things like, “Running will change your life,” which I found obnoxious when I started. “I’m already in pretty good shape,” I thought. “I ride horses!” Plus I didn’t buy that there was this whole other, better side of life I hadn’t experienced just because I hadn’t run a bunch of dumb miles on the dumb road.

Of course, now I realize I wasn’t at all fit then, and I was doing my horse a major disservice by asking her to cart my ineffective self around. But what I really didn’t see coming were all the other ways exercise improves your physical and mental life—yes, maybe to the extent to consider it “changed.”

So when I started working on the feature about improving yourself over the winter (p. 88), I knew often-neglected rider fitness was one item begging for inclusion. I’m a fitness evangelist now. I want to change your lives. Also I could use more running friends.

The problem is that convincing someone else to run, or do

—Lisa Slade

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JEWELS

CONTRIBUTORS

In This Issue

Kat Netzler

Jane Netzler

Mary Hollis Baird

After growing up eventing in the Midwest and attending journalism school at the University of Georgia, Kat spent nine years serving on The Chronicle of the Horse’s editorial staff, first in its Middleburg, Virginia, main office and then in Chicago. She’s now the director of communications at a youth-focused social change nonprofit in Memphis, where she lives with her husband Brett, Fitz the corgi and Burger the pit bull.

Jane grew up on an Illinois farm, shunning all things domestic to spend summers roaming the prairie on hand-me-down ponies and showing Angus cattle. She has since dabbled in everything from harness racing to eventing and has re-homed several Thoroughbreds from nearby Fairmont Park, along with the world’s two best rescue dogs.

Jane’s day job is special education, but she can be found trail riding and camping across the country.

Mary Hollis is a two-star event rider by night and a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville by day. Before earning a degree in agriculture communications, she worked for various eventing barns and as an exercise rider for race horses in Ocala, Florida, competing her offthe-track Thoroughbred, What You Will, on the side.

When not at the barn, she enjoys reading, traveling, playing soccer and baking delicious treats.

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THE CHRONICLE OF THE HORSE (ISSN 0009-5990) is published January 16, January 23, February 6, February 20, February 27, March 6, March 20, March 27, April 3, April 17, April 24, May 1, May 15, May 29, June 5, June 19, July 3, July 10, July 24, August 7, August 14, August 21, September 4, September 18, September 25, October 9, October 16, October 23,

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The C HRONICLE of the HORSE

Untacked Volume 6 • Number 1 • January/February 2018

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xclusive Linda Luster scarf depicting eight sport horse disciplines: Dressage, Reining, Endurance, Vaulting, Para Dressage, Show Jumping, Driving, and Eventing. Pure silk, hand-rolled edges.

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tidbits from across the industry

Around the Arena lman My Faves: Sydney Shu

oout and was like, ‘I got a pony. Can’t wait for you to come home,’ ” says Sydney. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, get me h out of summer camp!’ ” Sydney first garnered attention in the pony jumpers, winning the individual title in that division at the USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) in 2009 and 2010. When she moved up to horses, she helped the team from Zones 1 and 6 earn bronze at the 2011 Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Kentucky) before taking her talent abroad in 2012 and winning classes at European jumper shows.

Since turning 18, Sydney has been dividing her time competing and teaching, now helping Jill run Back Country Farm and operating her own small sales operation there.

This past season, at 22, she held her own against much older professionals, winning the $40,000 Devon International Speed Stake (Pennsylvania) with her mare Wamira. She went on to capture the blue in the $35,000 Hermès Sellier Classic at the American Gold Cup (New York) on Villamoura before taking second in the $25,000 U.S. Open Hollow Creek Farm U25 Grand Prix at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show (New York) on Curby Du Seigneur.

MOLLIE BAILEY PHOTO

Breeches: Mastermind and Dada Sport Footwear: Parlanti Drink: Sparkling water

At 10, Sydney Shulman knew she wanted to become a professional rider. As the daughter of trainer Jill Shulman, Sydney grew up taking care of her ponies on the family’s Back Country Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. She learned the basics on a pony named Party Shoes and received her first small pony after her mom spotted Coco Puff for sale in a Chronicle ad.

“I was at camp, and she sent me the ad—like she cut it

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Food: Any kind of chicken Movie: “Bad Moms” Book: “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult Non-horsey hobby: Hanging out with her family and dog

Mochi. “The only other thing I do is working out; obviously I don’t enjoy doing that.”

On Deck

Memory in the saddle: Winning her first grand prix in 2012: the $25,000 Fairfield Grand Prix at the Fairfield County Hunt Club show (Connecticut) with Gun Du Desfi. “I was like, ‘Oh I can only go down from here.’ ”

Mark your calendar with these upcoming important dates.

X Jan. 2-7 Early January is an auditing extravaganza in Wellington, Florida.

It starts with the Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic Jan. 2-5, at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival showgrounds, and then it continues with the George H. Morris Horsemastership Training Session at the Winter Equestrian Festival site Jan. 5-7. (Auditing is free for the George Morris clinic, but there is a $25/day fee for the Robert Dover clinic.)

Check out usef.org for more information on both and live streaming details and make sure to follow along with all the coverage during both clinics at coth.com.

Competition venue: Devon Horse Show Place to shop for non-horsey items: Rag & Bone App: Instagram Quality in a person: Honesty Family activity: Traveling. “I’m fortunate

and lucky enough to be able to go on really cool trips with my whole family. My dad, he’s super adventurous. We’ve been to Peru.

We went to Israel this summer. We like to travel to a lot of places.”

Emoji: Winky face with tongue

sticking out Famous person: Liam Hemsworth or

Channing Tatum Picture in your room: Sydney has a framed picture of Wimera after she won the first round of the $40,000 Devon International Speed Stake. “Her head is over the fence in the ribbon presentation, and a boy from the fair is petting her.”

Song: “Body Like A Back Road” by

Sam Hunt

ANN GLAVAN PHOTO

Season: Fall

ANN GLAVAN PHOTO

Guilty pleasure: Candy corn

X Jan. 3-Feb. 17 The Left Coast launches its own series of dressage competitions this year with the Adequan West Coast Dressage Festival, which will host its first week of showing Jan. 3-6 in Temecula, California. Other weeks’ competitions will take place in Del Mar, California.

Don’t have a horse to compete? There’s still plenty for you there. Several weeks of showing include masterclass clinics with riders and trainers Boyd Martin, Monty Roberts, Laura Graves, Helen Langehanenberg and Charlotte Dujardin, and the Adequan/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference with featured presenter Johann Hinnemann is also calling California home Feb. 6-7.

Learn more at us.westcoastdressagefestival.com.

X Feb. 22 Don’t miss the deadline to apply for an Intercollegiate Equestrian Foundation Scholarship, available to Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association members and non-members. Learn more and download an application at ihsainc.com/scholarship/ief-scholarship.

TV show: “Grey’s Anatomy” Riding idol: Sapphire is her equine

idol and Brianne Goutal the human one.

“I rode with her for four years, and I always looked up to her as a kid with the equitation and then the jumper career.”

Place to travel: Italy

Upcoming In The Chronicle: You won’t want to miss this season’s special issues, including: Jan. 15: The Year-End Review Jan. 29: Legends And Traditions Feb. 12: American Horses In Sport Feb. 26: Sport Horse Breeding

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EDITOR’S PICKS

A Cure For What Galls You

By K IMBERLY LOUSHIN Photo Courtesy PRESTIGE ITALY

n the world of riding horses, there are a few universal truths. Horses like feeding time. Horses don’t like having their girths tightened.

But for the horse that pins his ears and bites the air when you reach for his girth, there’s a way to help alleviate his discomfort.

The Prestige RP girth—RP stands for “relax-perform”—was designed to help diminish the pressure that makes a horse “girthy.” But with its bulky round center panel, this girth is a vastly different shape than traditional models, so you have to be brave enough to break tradition.

The center panel is designed to spread the pressure over a broad surface to make it more comfortable for your horse, and the girth slides back and forth freely inside it. The center panel is padded around the outside and has three oval inserts across the middle to create an air cushion for added comfort.

On a stud guard, most of the panel sits behind the buckles, but the Prestige girth is centered, which allows the buckles to sit further back on a horse and takes pressure away from the elbows. And despite its odd look, this move is based on scientific evidence. A study of girth pressure done by British scientists Rachel Murray, Russell Guire, Mark Fisher and Vanessa Fairfax leading up to the 2012 London Olympic Games showed that the greatest pressure point on a girth is

I

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behind hind the horse’s rse’s elbow—also a common mmon place for girth galls.

Prestige utilizes that information, not only by moving the girth further back, k, but also by designing a girth that neverr fully touches the horse’s barrel.

The space eliminates skin pinching, but pinchi b it does make it more difficult to check girth tightness. However, at no point during testing did my saddle slip.

It’s sometimes hard to determine how much research has gone into an innovative design in the horse world, but I was pleasantly surprised at the noticeable difference in how my horse went from the first ride with this girth. He’s a good mover, but sometimes it feels as though he’s not using his whole shoulder when working. With this girth, I noticed more swing through his shoulder and back than when ridden with my normal girth. And when tested on the girthy horse in the barn, there was far less ear pinning and teeth baring.

The girth features a D-ring in the front for attaching any necessary gear, and it has two billet keepers on each side to keep

everything tidy.

Cleaning the girth was my least favorit. Sweat ite part of using i accumulates underneath the center panel, and it requires some elbow grease to get the dirt out of the crevices.

Due to the center panel, Prestige suggests you go up one to two sizes when purchasing the girth, but I found that it ran a bit large by that scale, so just one size larger than usual would have been sufficient.

The girth comes in dressage and jumping styles—though Prestige notes it’s not meant to be used as a stud girth—and in black or tobacco. There’s also a model for ponies. All versions of the girth sell for $364, and a list of retailers can be found at prestigeitaly.com.

Editor’s Note: Prestige Italy provided the girth to Untacked staff for unbiased testing and review free of charge. After testing, the product was returned to Prestige.

TECH SPOTLIGHT

Analyzing Angles For A Winning Ride The Coach’s Eye video analysis application provides trainers and competitors the ability to study position in great detail.

By K I ER A N PAU LSEN

or some intercollegiate riders, practice ends as soon as they dismount. But as riders for the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia) did their final preparations for the 2017 Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association National Championships (Kentucky), head coach Ashley Henry pulled out an iPad and filmed them.

Later, after the students settled into their

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seats on the team bus, the iPad moved up and down the rows, so students could open an application called Coach’s Eye and analyze their rides.

Henry discovered the video capture and analysis app five years ago after a swim coach at SCAD recommended it.

“They used it with their players to analyze their position during things like diving off the block,” Henry said. “I

The Coach’s Eye application wasn’t developed with riders in mind. Its first customers included runners, golfers, basketball, baseball and soccer players.

thought, ‘This is amazing.’ There are a lot of times when I’m explaining things, and I can physically move someone’s foot or hand where it should be, but it’s still difficult for them to conceptually understand how that looks. I’ve found, especially with art students, being able to show them the lines and angles really helped them.”

Software company TechSmith created Coach’s Eye in 2011 after a team within the company found a need in the sporting industry.

“We were looking at new opportunities, and mobile was really growing,” said Mike Kujansuu, a marketing manager at TechSmith. “We

People from a wide array of activities use Coach’s Eye. Early adopters included baseball players because the technology allowed them to examine the highly technical aspects of their skills. Now the app boasts footage from runners, skiers, gymnasts, swimmers, weight lifters, horseback riders and more.

Henry mainly uses the zoom feature, the angle tool and the straight line tool to deconstruct a student’s ride.

She doesn’t use the app in every lesson, but she said it’s especially valuable before and after big competitions.

And while the app hasn’t changed her coaching style much, Henry did say it affects the way she communicates with riders after their rounds.

“Coming back from shows, if a rider had trouble or a very challenging ride, I’ll sit down with that student directly and go over what happened,” said Henry, whose IHSA team won the national title in 2015, 2016 and 2017. “But if a rider did really well, I can have them watch their round,

and I don’t necessarily need to talk them through it. If they have questions we’ll discuss, but I don’t have to be as much of a cheerleader, which gives me more time to help the struggling students.”

Henry’s students appreciate the app as well. She said most of them had never had their video analyzed because the opportunity isn’t there without editing software.

“A lot of students would religiously ask, ‘Can I see the iPad? Can I see the iPad?’ ” Henry said. “So it helps focus their mind too and gives them a new way to assess their riding and learn.”

Henry isn’t the only intercollegiate coach with Coach’s Eye in her toolbox, but she said that some are wary or reluctant to adopt new technology.

“It’s a little new age; some old school coaches think it’s silly,” she said. “But I’ve found huge benefits to it.”

Coach’s Eye is available for Apple, Android and Windows products. Learn more at coachseye.com.

PHOTO COURTESY SCAD

PHOTOS COURTESY COACH’S EYE

saw the opportunity to combine the powerful camera on a mobile phone with the ability to touch and draw on video on the screen. This way, we could provide real-time review, and a coach or a trainer could work directly with an athlete to show them exactly what the areas of concern were.

“Reviewing video is a valuable tool in training, but it requires coaches to attain the recording equipment and then organize a time to sit down with athletes and review the tape,” he continued. “We made Coach’s Eye an extension on how people were already doing their jobs; we gave them the tools to work more effectively and efficiently.”

Coach’s Eye allows users to record video on a mobile device, or any other type of camera, and then use the app’s selection of editing tools to manipulate the footage. Videos can be stored on the device, uploaded to sites like YouTube, or shared with an athlete or team directly.

The editing screen has a virtual spinner to go through footage at a custom speed, and the drawing tools offer circles, lines and angles that the user can place and resize at will. Video clips can be placed side by side and synced for comparison, and users can record voice over the edits they make, which will play back exactly as they were made.

The app developers’ biggest challenge has been keeping up with the constantly changing devices and operating systems.

As mobile cameras become more and more advanced, the video quality goes up, and the app developers have to figure out how to best compress that video, so it keeps the quality without taking up huge amounts of space on the device.

“It’s a blessing and a curse. It definitely keeps us on our toes,” Kujansuu said. “We just stay up-to-date on everything.”

Savannah College of Art and Design head coach Ashley Henry (far left) utilizes the Coach’s Eye app for her riders in preparation for major competitions like the 2017 IHSA National Championships (Ky.), which the team won.

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TEST LAB

The Ultimate Equine Taste Test Horse treats have come a long way in recent years, and we went on the hunt for those stepping up with innovations both practical and delicious. Equines of the picky and portly varieties gave them a go, and we translated their rankings for you.

LINDSAY BERRETH PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY GUMBITS

PHOTO COURTESY HORSE GUARD

By LINDSAY BERRETH

Gumbits

Flix Treats

Mane Street Bakery

A Fix For Dry Mouth

A Supplement In Treat Form

Whole Foods For Horses

Chewing gum for your horse? That’s the idea behind GumBits.

Made from beeswax, sugar, wheat flour, corn starch, gum arabic and other natural flavors, the tiny white balls are meant to encourage chewing activity and acceptance of the bit, increase salivation and discourage teeth grinding.

The instructions are to give two tablespoons, or a handful, of Gumbits before a ride. The beeswax will stick to the teeth, helping to give your horse a softer mouth.

Gumbits, created by Shereen Fuqua, are made of FDA-approved ingredients and are Fédération Equestre Internationale legal.

Horse Guard has come up with the ingenious Flix Treats, which are made of 100 percent flaxseed, high in Omega 3 fatty acids, to promote a shiny coat and possibly help with stiff joints.

The company recommends feeding 4 to 8 ounces per 1,000 pounds of body weight per day, a handful being approximately 4 ounces.

You can also toss them in with your horse’s grain as a supplement.

The treats are safe for horses with Cushing’s disease or those suffering from insulin resistance, so these are perfect for any laminitic horses or overweight ponies in the barn. (Warning: They can leave a green sludge in a horse’s mouth, so beware of feeding right before a ride.)

Horse and dog lover Donna Barish started Mane Street Bakery to bring healthy and nutritious treats to the market.

Barish uses 100 percent natural ingredients like organic herbs, rye, barley flours and rolled oats. The treats are corn-, soy- and wheat-free, with no additives, preservatives, byproducts, fillers, dyes or chemicals.

The horse treats come in carrot biscotti, apple biscotti and peppermint bark flavors, and the company also offers dog treats.

The packaging is biodegradable, recyclable and compostable. If you don’t go through treats quickly, keep in mind these have a three- to nine-month shelf life.

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 2/5

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 4/5

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 4/5

The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5

The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5

The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5

Cost: $39.95 for a 16 oz. bag

Cost: $23.99 for a 9 lb. bag

Cost: $12.99 for a 12 oz. bag

Learn more: gumbits.com

Learn more: horseguard.com

Learn more: manestreetbakery.com

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CBARNES PHOTOGRAPHY/ALLAN CARLISLE PHOTO

SmartCookies For The Easy Keeper Or Retiree

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 3/5 The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5 Cost: $12.95 for a 1.5 lb bag Learn more: smartpakequine.com

PHOTO COURTESY SMARTPAK

SmartPak has delved into the treat business with their SmartCookies, available in guilt-free peppermint pattie, guilt-free carrot cake and guiltfree banana bread flavors.

The bite-sized treats are great for sticking in your pocket as training aids. They’re made from a base of coconut meal, beet pulp, alfalfa and flaxseed oil. None of the flavors have added sugar.

The treats also break apart easily, so they’re a good choice for older horses who have issues chewing. As an added bonus, the mint flavor will give your horse’s breath a nice smell!

Pony Pizza Company For Humans And Horses If you’ve ever wanted to share a bit of your horse’s snack, the Pony Pizza Company is the treat for you! The adorable tidbits come in a few varieties that humans and dogs can enjoy too. (I tried the cranberry granola bites, which were quite tasty.)

These treats are all a little delicate, so I wouldn’t recommend sticking them in your pocket. But they are soft enough they could be used for feeding a pill.

The treats come in mint-o-roni or molasses sausage flavors, and they even come in 5' personal sizes that look they could have been delivered from your local pizza joint!

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 5/5 The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5 Cost: $8.99 for a sample-sized box; $19.99 for a jar Learn more: ponypizzacompany.com

Snaks 5th Avenchew If you’re looking to treat your horse for a special occasion or just be the envy of all your friends on Instagram, Snaks 5th Avenchews fit the bill. The delightful designs look good enough to eat yourself, including cannolis, cookies, pizzas, pop tarts and plenty of seasonal designs as well.

The treats are made from natural ingredients, and the company—started by Carrie Sarabella—also offers a small variety of treats without added sugar. You can purchase edibles for your canine companions too.

The treats can take some time to ship due to overwhelming demand.

LINDSAY BERRETH PHOTO

When You Want To Indulge

The Picky Equine’s Ranking: 5/5

Cost: From $5.99 to $25

The Portly Equine’s Ranking: 5/5

Learn more: snaks5thavenchew.com

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THE CLOTHES HORSE

HORSES ARE WHAT MAKE A HOUSE YOUR HOME If the hay and hair you track in daily don’t give you away as an equestrian, these home décor items are sure to do the trick.

By

AUBÖCK HORSESHOE BOTTLE OPENER For the high-design connoisseur, this solid brass bottle opener by Bauhaus School designer Carl Auböck works as both a functional collectible and an objet d’art. $195. shop.cooperhewitt.org.

KAT NETZLER

KATIE KIME HORSE AND TASSEL WALLPAPER & NOTECARDS Austin, Texas, designer Katie Kime’s playful update of a classic equestrian print is available in three color schemes: pink/orange, pink/ green and blue/red (shown), and you can get it almost any way you want it, from pajamas to framed prints. Wallpaper comes in 29" x 27" double rolls, $188 per roll. Blank notecards come in a pack of 10 with envelopes included, $22. katiekime.com.

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MUZZLE WALL DÉCOR WOOL THROW PILLOW

This minimalistic plaster wall hanging is just weird enough to be awesome. It measures 8" high and would look great anywhere, but particularly on a door. $41.99. allmodern.com.

This handcrafted helmetand-gloves design in New Zealand wool yarn looks like a splurge but is really more of a steal. Features a cotton velveteen backing and polyfill interior. $41.99. wayfair.com.

VINTAGE PLANTER EQUESTRIAN-PRINT OTTOMAN This classy cube is just the thing for the horseperson who’s had a long day at the barn and is ready to kick back and prop her feet up. Upholstered in 123 Creation’s equestrian printed linen in smoky gray. Measures 17" square. $102.02. goedekers.com.

Next time you’re looking for a unique gift for a fellow rider, do yourself a favor and search the vintage section on Etsy. It’s full of cute finds like this mint condition midcentury ceramic planter.

Stick a succulent in it, and you’re done! $24.95. etsy.com/ shop/20thcenturycool.

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THE CLOTHES HORSE CUSTOM HUNTER, JUMPER & DRESSAGE PILLOWS Memorialize your favorite horse with a bespoke throw pillow

by Savannah, Georgia, artisan Betsie Millsap. Each 20" x 20" down-filled pillow features original artwork, hand-tinted fabric and hand-embroidered details and leatherwork, all made to reflect in perfect detail your horse’s tack, equipment, markings and expression. Jumpers start at $274.95, hunters and dressage horses at $249.95. etsy. com/shop/theartfulequine.

HORSESHOE 3-BOWL & PLATE Put your best hoof forward at your next party with these serving dishes by Arthur Court.

They’re made of buffed aluminum, so you won’t have to break out the silver polish or break the bank. Bowl combo measures 10.5" across and 1.5" high, $69. Horseshoe cheese plate measures 9" x 8" and includes the pictured knife as well. $45. arthurcourt.com.

AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED MUG Express your undying appreciation for the Thoroughbred with this beautiful coffee mug featuring a wrap-around sketch of a race horse. $15. etsy.com/shop/onehorsethreads.

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FLEECE BLANKET & TEA TOWELS The Painting Pony has a great selection of equestrian-themed textiles like this cozy blanket featuring jump standards or tea towels with adorable “horse show essentials” or bridle stitching patterns. The blanket comes in yellow/blue as shown, but custom colors are available on request. Various sizes, $39-$78. Printed tea towels measure 18" x 30" and come in your choice of linen, cotton twill or cotton muslin. $17.50-$29.50. thepaintingpony.com.

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THE CLOTHES HORSE

VINTAGE REPRINT CORGI SNOWGLOBE This sparkly gold snowglobe will never be as quirky as the real corgi in your life, but it comes close, and it’s blessedly silent. $19.95. cb2.com.

Think of winter this way: Yes, you’re stuck indoors, but it’s the perfect opportunity to do all those home improvement projects you put off while you were at the barn all summer. Fill your bare walls with a beautiful equestrian blueprint like this one, available in a range of sizes and colors. $3.30-$45.10. etsy.com/shop/stanleyprinthouse.

HORSE TOPIARIES Create a living equine sculpture—or opt for the premossed version if your thumb is as brown as mine—with these clever topiary frames.

They come in a range of sizes and are also available in a variety of dog breeds! Prices vary, starting at $61.99. lambertvetsupply.com.

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MARK LENNIHAN PHOTO

TUCK & HOLAND CUSTOM WEATHERVANE The master metal sculptors behind Tuck & Holand have been creating stunning works of art on Martha’s Vineyard since 1974, and today their copper weathervanes adorn buildings around the world. Get started on commissioning your own at tuckandholand.com.

ORIGINAL DESIGN EQUESTRIAN SCENE RUG Does it get any more whimsical than this handcrafted cashmere and wool rug by Etsy craftsman Carol Elliot? Each 3' square rug is made to order and customizable with your colors of choice. $575. etsy.com/shop/caroleelliott.

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KATHRYN BURKE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

PROFILE

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The Happiest

Horsewoman Whether winning a team bronze medal in dressage at the 1992 Olympic Games, acting as USEF assistant youth coach, judging top competitions or raising her foster children, Charlotte Bredahl meets each challenge with grace and gusto.

By JENNIFER B. CALDER

M

H AT

RY

N

BU

RK

HO EP

TO G R A P H Y P H OTO

aking her way into the arena at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Charlotte Bredahl noted the cheering crowds and felt her Danish Warmblood, Monsieur, tense beneath her and stop.

As the bell jingled, Bredahl repeatedly attempted to move the 11-year-old gelding forward to no avail. Would this be a repeat of the selection trials months earlier in Florida, when they essentially performed their entire test in half the arena after the chestnut was spooked by children letting out from a nearby school? That episode relegated them to 11th place out of 12 competitors, forcing the duo to battle back to secure an Olympic berth.

Then—in what I will learn to be her typical optimistic, undeterred approach to challenges—Bredahl figured out a solution. Taking a deep breath, she backed Monsieur down the entire length of the long side, back past the judges and pointed him at the centerline.

“I could always back him up, and once he was in the arena he felt safe, and as soon as I got him in, he was great. He was quirky,

really quirky,” she says with a laugh. The horse, who would help her earn a team bronze medal that year, remained with her until his death at 34 in 2015.

For Bredahl, the ability to find alternate paths to life’s challenges, to persevere and to do it joyfully, colors every facet of her life— from competing at the elite levels of dressage and coaching young riders to judging at the international level. It permeated her life at home too, with Bredahl first raising two foster children and now acting as a mentor to local children in need.

“I try, as much as possible, I try to always stay on the positive side of things,” she says. “I just love what I do. I’m very lucky.”

$ +RUVH 2EVHVVHG 6KHULijŖV 'DXJKWHU Even Bredahl’s voice sounds sunny as it crackles through the intercom to open the gate to her magnificent Circle JB Polo Ranch, a 50-acre farm she shares with her financial advisor, polo-playing and former downhill U.S. team skier husband, Joel Baker. As my

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K

PROFILE

PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

“The beginning was a little bit hard,” she says, “because I was car climbs their drive up the side of a foothill in the Santa Ynez sort of this city girl and the sheriff’s daughter. I wasn’t that popular, Valley outside of Santa Barbara, California, the horses grazing on but luckily I met somebody who was horse nuts like me, so anytime the grassy hill lazily lift their heads to watch me pass. school was over, we were off to play horses. Even though I didn’t Waiting for me outside her home, standing in a spot with have a horse and she did, I basically started knocking on the farmers’ a “Reserved for the Queen” parking sign, is Bredahl, 60, who doors and asking if I could ride their whatevers.” greets me like a long-lost friend, the sun turning her blond hair The first taker was a farmer with an enormous black plow into a white halo. horse named Klaus.

After Bredahl gives me a tour of their breathtaking place— “Klaus dumped me all the time but taught me a lot!” Charlotte with its enormous main 24-stall barn (the center portion converted says. “He was so huge, well over 17 hands, and I was tiny. He taught into Baker’s home office), immaculate polo field for Baker and his me a lot because I had to figure out how to make him do things 20 mostly homebred polo ponies, a six-stall barn for the dressage without muscle. I had my little horses, the dressage arena and bareback pad and rope reins, lighted tennis court—we settle but that’s just what I did. I just at the farmhouse dining room asked people if I could ride.” table, their new “puppy,” an Donna, another local already enormous 15-monthfarm horse who was more old Rottweiler named Bandit appropriately sized for young bumping us with his toys and Charlotte, followed.

On vying for our attention as Donna Charlotte did a bit of their elderly dog, Josephine, showing, some basic dressage snoozes nearby. and a little jumping, which was “Oh, Bandit! You are really impressive as, although Donna being silly,” she tells him as had been broke to drive, she she pets his huge head before had never been ridden. turning back to me. “I just “I rode as much as I could love animals. I always have and was totally obsessed. I hated been absolutely, completely school,” says Charlotte. “Now animal crazy.”

I understand why I hated it Bredahl, born in Copenhawas because I was over the top gen, Denmark, the youngest of Charlotte Bredahl got her start riding work horses, including Klaus, owned by nearby farmers when she was growing up.

ADHD, but I didn’t know that four children, came by her love then. I just knew I was miserable of animals naturally—passed sitting still, and it made me down from her parents. Charcrazy sitting still for more than an hour at a time. I loved to learn—it lotte’s father, Egon Bredahl, kept racing pigeons, and the family had nothing to do with that—but the confinement and having to always had dogs. Egon worked as a sheriff, and Charlotte’s mother, focus for that long at a time was really, really difficult for me, and I Ella Bredahl, was employed full time in an office. was drawing horse pictures in the back of my books.”

Charlotte, however, was the only one obsessed with horses, and at the age of 9, she found a local barn. There was no money to spare from her working-class parents, so she offered to muck stalls in exchange for group lessons on school horses.

Those drawings included trotters from the racing barn where “There were seven or eight of us going around in circles,” she says.

Charlotte worked as a groom after school and on weekends “But it was fine. I loved it.” beginning at the age of 14. She was eventually tasked with starting When Charlotte was a pre-teen, the Bredahl family moved from the babies for the sulkies.

Copenhagen to the small island of Møn after her father accepted a “I ended up doing a lot, a lot, a lot of long-lining, and that has position heading the police station there. come in as a wonderful tool later, for years to come,” she says. “I

1HYHU $ 'RXEW

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PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

still use it for piaffe and passage, and I’m really comfortable with it because I did so much of it then.”

At 16 she quit school and was offered a job at another trotter facility with a string of 25 horses. Although her parents were not crazy about the idea they accepted it.

“I was always extremely independent, and I think I was mature for my age in some ways,” she says. “My parents knew how much I disliked being in school, and they knew how completely obsessed I was with the horses. There was never a doubt in my mind that horses were going to be my life. At the time, I didn’t know what it was going to be, I just knew it was going to be horses, no matter what.

There was no other way.”

The owner of the racing barn lived in the city during the week, so Charlotte’s only oversight occurred on the weekends.

“I had to do everything there—feeding, cleaning, exercising, everything,” she says. “So I worked incredibly hard, but I still loved it much more than school.”

Charlotte eventually learned to drive and got her racing license at 18, competing in a few amateur races. Later she even bought her

Charlotte Bredahl (right) dropped out of school at 16, choosing to train and eventually race trotters for a time in Denmark.

own trotting foal, not for her to race but for other, more seasoned drivers, with the horse going on to win six races as he got older.

During that time her parents gave her a 2-year-old for her religious confirmation in lieu of a more traditional gift. He was a warmblood bred on the island and dirt cheap.

“That was the blind leading the blind, getting that started. He nearly killed me; he actually broke my jaw in three places. He kicked me in the face, so that was bad, yeah,” she says and laughs.

The horse had talent though. Charlotte showed him as a jumper, but as the fence size increased, her nerve decreased. She sold him to one of the top jumpers in Denmark and decided to focus on dressage.

&RPLQJ 7R $PHULFD After a brief stint starting young horses at a western barn in Michigan—brief as in weeks since it was winter and much too cold for her despite her Danish upbringing—Charlotte returned

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PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

PROFILE

“The longevity of the sport is so incredible. I can go to a show pretty much anywhere in the world, and I will know people, which is awesome,” says Charlotte Bredahl, pictured with fellow dressage competitors Carl Hester (bottom) and Bent Jensen at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. All three are still great friends.

to Denmark and then quickly accepted an invitation from a fellow Dane to move and stay with her in Southern California.

With no job prospects and little command of the English language, Charlotte packed a bag and made the leap.

“I just figured the worst that happened was I would go back to Denmark,” she says. “So it wasn’t too scary to me, and I really wanted to go somewhere warm.”

Within the first week or so of moving to Grenada Hills, California, Charlotte saw an advertisement for a lecture with Hilda Gurney. Although she’d never heard of the Olympian, she attended, thinking Gurney might be able to offer job advice.

Gurney pointed her to Bell Canyon Equestrian Center, which at the time was the place for dressage in Southern California.

“That is really where my dressage life started,” says Charlotte.

“They also had hunter/jumpers, but it really was focused on dressage.”

She knocked on the door and asked for a job, with the manager saying fine, if she would work for free. Undeterred, per usual, Charlotte accepted.

“I always knew if you work hard, you are going to make yourself

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Charlotte Bredahl marks her win with Monsieur at the Copenhagen CDI-W in 1992 as a memorable one since her entire family was there to watch her compete.

valuable, and people will eventually see,” she says. “I knew I was a hard worker. So I started there and worked really, really hard physically, and in the beginning, just grooming—doing everything, bathing, whatever. I didn’t clean stalls but everything else.”

Although essentially self-taught in dressage, Charlotte’s riding acumen remained unknown until she was asked to groom for a wealthy client who was based in Arizona. The client was elderly and had three fancy, well-trained warmbloods. And Charlotte would get paid.

“He turned out to be a very nice man, and a lot of times he was not feeling up to riding, and it was a little hot or something, and he would say, ‘Why don’t you take my lessons?’ So I ended up riding these really nice horses in lessons, and that’s kind of how other people discovered I could ride,” she says. “And it wasn’t that I was that good.

It was just at that time, the standard here was really bad, so I was good compared to the standard.”

As she predicted, her value was recognized, and she suddenly found herself riding 10 horses a day. Then the trainer was injured, and she took over those mounts as well and was promoted to assistant trainer. Eventually the trainer left the barn, as did the manager, and Charlotte was asked by the board of directors to step into both roles.

She was 23, managing 110 horses across all disciplines and five employees, all of whom were older and male. Suddenly, instead of riding, she found herself balancing budgets and hosting one horse show a month.

“I have to say, those two years were probably the most stressful period in my life because I was on call 24/7,” Charlotte says. “There were no breaks ever. When you have that many horses and that many people—it was a lot.

PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

With the quirky but talented

“I grew up a lot in those two years, that is for sure,” she adds.

Two years was enough, however, and she quit the managing role but stayed on as trainer and finally got back in the saddle.

0DNLQJ +RUVHV While at Bell Canyon, Charlotte crossed paths with a fellow Dane, Henrik Johansen, who was a bereiter in Denmark but had a second job flying horses from Copenhagen to Los Angeles. They decided to go into business together, with Johansen sending her horses from home, and Charlotte training them for sale.

“It sounded like a great idea,” she says. “Come to find out, neither one of us were good salespeople at all, but it ended up being a really good thing.”

The first horse sent over was a chestnut with four white socks and a delightful temperament named Copenhagen. He was purchased

by Charlotte’s student, who rode him for six months and then got pregnant. And she continued to get pregnant the next four years in a row, allowing the delighted Charlotte the chance to bring a horse along from scratch.

“He was the very first horse I got to train on an ongoing basis, so he was going to make it to Grand Prix if it killed both of us. I was so determined, you know?” she says with a laugh.

Once a month she would hitch a ride with someone—she didn’t

Monsieur, Charlotte Bredahl helped own a trailer—and train with the U.S. team earn bronze at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Gurney. But for the most part, she was on her own.

“Lo and behold, during those four years, we made it to Grand Prix!” she says and laughs again.

“He was my first Grand Prix horse, and even though he didn’t have any gaits to speak of—at the time, the horses were not nearly as good, not even close to what we have now—it was a fantastic opportunity for me to compete at Grand Prix and get that routine of going in and riding the test,” she continues. “There were many things he did quite well. His changes were good; his pirouettes were good.”

Perhaps most significant, Charlotte cemented her passion, and it was not about winning ribbons. “[Competition] was never really what drove me like it is for some,” she says. “I love the process and find it incredibly rewarding to see the horses come along and how they change. I didn’t shy away from competition, not at all, but it was never what drove me. I never did weekend after weekend. I was very selective about what was good for the horse, so I never did too many competitions. The thing I loved and still love the most is making the horses.”

Gurney quickly came to admire the young Dane.

“Charlotte really adores the horses and respects the horses and does the very best for the horses,” Gurney says. “The horses are her family. She is a really exemplary horsewoman. You can’t just ride to

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PROFILE win in dressage because you have to spend so much time with the horse. The horses do things for her because they trust her, and they feel one with her, and she just takes the time to do that. She never blames the horse when things go wrong. She’s really special.”

And he said yes. And this was Monsieur,” she continues. “So I just stuck with it, and he ended up being a fantastic horse.”

That perseverance has paid off in many aspects of her life, with both horses and children.

Horses And Reindeer

/RYH 1R 0DWWHU :KDW

PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

Desiring a barn with a covered arena, Charlotte left Bell Canyon Back when she was a teenager sitting uninspired in school, horses in 1983 and started training out of another California facility, weren’t the only thing Charlotte doodled in the back of her notebook.

Rivendale Ranch.

“I remember drawing pictures of an orphanage I had in my Also housed at the new barn were Stuart Miller’s reindeer. mind,” she says. “I always loved kids, but I never had any desire to Miller was a successful entrepreneur who started a Christmas tree have my own—never had any desire to be pregnant. I always knew farm business, then called I would either want to Miller & Sons. In the offadopt or have foster kids.” season, the reindeer lived Charlotte’s first marat Rivendale, and he and riage ended in divorce Charlotte became friends. in 1992, right around Sensing the young dressage the time of the Summer rider could use a bit of Games, and she went on extra money, Miller hired her first date with Baker in her for two months a year, 1994. She’d moved to the November and December, Santa Ynez Valley after to oversee operations at his participating in a fundrais30-plus tree farms. er in the late 1980s with The money was good, natural horseman Monty and she could ride in the Roberts who, along with morning before working his wife, Pat, have become a 12-hour shift for Milldear friends. First she fell er. The following year, in love with the area and she convinced him to then later with Baker, who “I always knew I would either want to adopt or have foster kids,” says Charlotte Bredahl of her decision to foster two boys, including Zachary Fillmore. partner with her as an inalso lived in the valley. The vestment: He would front two married in 1998. the money to buy two horses in Europe, and she would train But Baker was a bit harder to convince of her plans, at first and sell them. Miller agreed, and Charlotte was given a budget desiring biological children. of $10,000 per horse.

“He wasn’t super open to it, but then one day I was at a fundraiser, Miller got an immediate return on one of the horses, which they and this woman who was a social worker said she knew of a 9-yearsold quickly, but the quirky, gangly, spooky 5-year-old who bucked old boy who needed a home. Very naively I thought, ‘I can do 9 years off Charlotte the first time she rode him proved tougher. old. That sounds perfect! How hard can that be?’ ” Charlotte says, “For two years I tried to sell him, and nobody wanted to have laughing before answering her own question. any part of him! I thought he had some talent, but he was a real “It was a lot harder than we thought! But in any case, when I told challenge, for sure,” she says. “He really didn’t want anyone else to Joel about it, I called him and said, ‘How would you like to have a ride him, and when other people got on him, he would just act like 9-year-old son?’ And he actually was open to it right away,” she adds. he was on remote control or something.

Zachary Fillmore moved in a week later, followed four years later “After two years of trying to sell him, I went to Stu and said, ‘If

by Tyler Tibben, who was 14, giving them two teenage sons.

I pay for everything, can I keep him through the 1992 Olympics?’

“That was even more challenging! I don’t really know if we knew

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KATHRYN BURKE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

Though competition isn’t her main focus anymore, Charlotte Bredahl still enjoys training horses up to the Grand Prix level, including Westpoint CB (left) and Chanel.

what we were thinking,” she says, before adding seriously, “Both boys have been great gifts in our lives.”

Both are now successful adults. Fillmore, 27, lives in Iowa, and Tibben, 27, lives locally. Tibben and his partner, Walnetta Senoj, recently made Charlotte and Baker grandparents.

“Last year at Christmas they very seriously pulled me aside, and they said they really wanted me to be the official Nanna because neither of them have biological mothers in their lives at all. Her name is Tyleiyah,” Charlotte says proudly, showing a photograph of a darling 2-year-old.

As for what she learned from parenting two boys?

“I think you learn to be on some level a lot more tolerant about a lot of things,” she says. “I think that is probably what the horses teach you too. A lot of patience.”

Looking through their family photos, the boys growing a bit bigger in each, arms around their foster parents, the love they have for each other is apparent, and it’s a lesson Fillmore carries with him as an adult. When asked what he takes away from having Charlotte

and Baker as his parents, he thinks a moment before answering.

“Love no matter what, regardless of whether anyone loves you or not,” he finally says. “Do not give up hope. If I’m feeling down, I will call her, and she will make me feel better. My life changed from just sitting around and waiting, and then the world opened for me.

Anything I thought was possible, or anything I may have possibly wanted to do, was now open.”

Although attempts for his foster parents to legally adopt him were thwarted by his biological mother, it changes nothing for Fillmore.

“She is my only mom,” he says.

If he decides to become a parent one day, Fillmore also prefers fostering a child rather than having his own.

“They really opened up that world to me,” he says. “I was one of those kids in need, and I got lucky. How many kids aren’t as lucky as I was?”

But helping children in need did not end when Fillmore and Tibben left home. Though her busy travel schedule no longer allows Charlotte to take foster children, she and Baker act as mentors to

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KATHRYN BURKE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

SUSAN J. STICKLE PHOTO

PROFILE

Charlotte Bredahl has competed 42 horses over 37 years, including Eskada at the 2006 USET Foundation Dressage Festival Of Champions in Gladstone, N.J.

children in their community.

“I love doing that because in comparison it’s much easier because you get to be the good guy,” she says. “You don’t have to worry about their homework and all that stuff. I’ve had quite a few kids, not all of them being into horses, which, of course, is harder.

“The one I was closest with was Aiden because he was so into the horses and just loved them—loved the horses, loved all animals and loved tennis also and just wanted to do everything that I wanted to do,” she adds.

Aiden’s since moved to San Jose, but he still comes to visit.

“He is excelling at tennis now, so that is really good,” Charlotte says. “I mean, I had him playing since he was 9, and now he’s on the tennis team.”

(GXFDWLQJ 7KH 1H[W *HQHUDWLRQ With her love of children and optimistic outlook, Charlotte’s current role of assistant youth dressage coach for the U.S. Equestrian Federation was a logical fit.

“I’ve always loved coaching, but I love it even more now,” she says. “It’s super rewarding when you feel like you’re really

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After raising two foster children, Charlotte Bredahl and her husband Joel Baker are also now grandparents to 2-year-old Tyleiyah.

making a difference for somebody. They are happy, appreciative, and it’s such a positive experience.”

Charlotte started the position near the end of 2014, and she works as an assistant to George Williams and under U.S. Dressage Technical Advisor Robert Dover.

“Charlotte has been a fantastic asset to our youth program,” says Dover, who was also Charlotte’s teammate at the 1992 Olympics.

“She has unlimited passion and dedication to the kids and is constantly trying to find new ways to bring about positive change in the way they compete and in their results.”

Charlotte believes she creates the biggest impact through teaching and training.

“I try when I’m teaching to influence them to always look at themselves first,” she says. “Don’t blame anything on the horse; make sure you always look to yourself; 90 percent of the time it’s a rider issue.”

In addition to coaching, Charlotte is also a Fédération Equestre Internationale four-star judge, a distinction she earned in 2012.

While she enjoys the travel and counts many wonderful experiences,

PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

circumstances. I love the opportunity of influencing riders to do things the right way, the kind way, the fair way, and being really good horsemen, really looking out for the horse’s best interests.”

It’s also why the Humane Society of the United States awarded her their Horse Hero Award in 2016, an accolade that perhaps means more to her than any other.

“I think it’s very important to always stand up for the horses,” she says. “Don’t be afraid if you see something happening that is not right. Do not hesitate. And this goes not only for horses but for all animals.”

Charlotte Bredahl’s husband Joel Baker ( left, pictured with Bredahl and their foster son Tyler Tibben in 2009) has bred his own polo ponies for decades and competed for the U.S. ski team. In addition to their shared horse passion, the two are always up for a game of tennis on the lighted court at their home.

“We both love it, and there’s so much strategy involved in the doubles,” says Bredahl. “You get a lot of exercise and a lot of laughing. That is kind of the thing we do the most together.”

she finds judging a bit nerve-wracking.

“I love the education that comes with it because we are always having continuing education and always working on developing the eye and how to say things, and that has been huge for my coaching ability,” she says. “I think especially because I was so self-taught, the judging really gave me that other side and developed my eye. I still love [to go to judges’ courses], and I do it every chance I get.

“But I don’t enjoy the stress that comes with it. I really had to look deep in my heart,” she adds, and pats her chest, “and consider, ‘How far do I want to go with the judging?’ I decided, for me, it’s very stressful at the really, really top—when you are talking about selecting teams and things like that. I judged the trials for the World Games last time, and that was very stressful for me. I had all my friends there, and they are all trying for the team, and that really made me think, ‘I don’t want to make that my main thing.’ ” In addition, Charlotte has acted as a selector for the developing dressage program as well as for the last couple of Olympic Games and World Equestrian Games, which she calls a “big honor and a big responsibility.”

Despite the occasional stresses, when asked why she’s devoted her life to dressage, she answers without hesitation.

“I love animals more than anything,” Charlotte says. “I love developing a horse into being the best he can be under the best of

+RUVHV ,Q <HDUV One thing Charlotte recently decided to take off her very full plate is future serious competition. That doesn’t mean you’ll never find her going down centerline again, but it’s no longer a priority.

“Like I said, competition was never my first passion,” she says. “I love making horses, and now, at this stage in my life, my favorite part is taking a horse from Prix St. Georges to Grand Prix. That’s my favorite thing, and if I do it for somebody else to compete, that’s great.”

Charlotte currently has three horses she’s training, all of whom are at least schooling Grand Prix: Chanel, a mare she bought at 5 in Denmark; Westpoint CB, a gelding she’s had since he was 6 months old; and Hamilton, a horse she bought as a 2-year-old.

As she heads to Wellington, Florida, for the winter season, Charlotte has leased those horses to up-and-coming riders in California, underscoring her statement that it need not be she who competes them.

“I’ve competed 42 horses over the past 37 years,” she says.

“Is that crazy or what?”

She gets up from the table and returns from her office carrying several large plaques. On each, sent to her by the California Dressage Society, are small mounted plates with the name of each horse, the year and the level they competed.

“I can see for the rest of my life just trying to help as many riders as I possibly can, and in doing that, also helping a lot of horses have better lives by having better riders and horsemanship,” she says as she runs her finger over the engraved letters. “I have to say I’m at a place in my life where I feel really, really incredibly happy with where I am because I really love everything I’m doing now. I don’t do one thing I don’t really love to do.

“I try to follow the path put in front of me,” she continues. “I try never to fight. I don’t go looking for big opportunities, but if they are there, I always go with them. I try never to go against the flow.”

And if sometimes that path appears impassable, as it was at the 1992 Barcelona Games, she perseveres and cheerfully follows it anyway, even if it means backing down the length of an arena.

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TRAVEL

THE STILL-

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-WILD WEST The popular Red Rock Ride in Utah and Arizona takes participants through three national parks, showing off stunning natural landmarks with a side of historical context.

By JANE NETZLER Photos By JODY BAUMBERGER-GEHR IG

G

rowing up in the 1960s on an Illinois farm, my summers were spent trotting around on cheap sale barn ponies with ill-fitting saddles. Like many of my friends, I never outgrew the love of horses and have remained part of a group of active riders. When one friend mentioned she planned to attend an organized trail ride in Utah and Arizona, the rest of us immediately replied, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not without us!â&#x20AC;?

Wrangler Cache Mortensen, grandson of Red Rock Ride co-founders Pete and Keela Mangum, leads the group through the Sand Bench Trail in Zion National Park.

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TRAVEL So began our planning for the Red Rock Ride, based in the tiny towns of Tropic and Kanab, Utah. Anticipating a great experience, I began reading about the ride. I’d never heard of it, but my research revealed its popularity, and we realized getting everyone registered would be challenging. Fortunately, one member of our group agreed to take on that task and camped out in front of her computer the morning registration opened. (The website frequently crashes during the registration period,

due to high demand, and the six 2018 rides filled in 30 minutes.) Our trepidation turned to elation when all four in our group received confirmation for the late May ride in 2017.

The adventure began in Las Vegas where ride organizers met our group at a designated hotel. The night before our first day of riding, one of our hosts, Robert Houston, held a brief meeting.

Robert and his wife, DayLean, teamed up with Pete and Keela Mangum in 1993 to offer trail rides in the beautiful

areas of southern Utah. On their first trip, they hosted six riders, but a 1995 Western Horseman article revealed their secret, and in 1996 they began filling every ride. They now hold three rides in May and three in September, with each ride having approximately 40 riders. Ours was the 101st Red Rock Ride.

The Ride Begins Our bus picked us up at the hotel at 5:30 Monday morning, with the Mangums’ gooseneck stock trailer following, filled

“Our ride revealed peekaboo holes, steep narrow trails and the whimsical hoodoos resembling chessmen and fairy houses,” writes Jane Netzler of the group’s ride through Bryce Canyon National Park.

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On one of its final days, the Red Rock Ride includes a 30-mile trek through The Box Of The Paria River in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

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TRAVEL with luggage. Tradition is that Robert and guests share jokes each morning on the bus. Robert good-naturedly warned us that there may be some tall tales told during the week. His advice was, “Sometimes, you just have to call bullshit.”

Our destination was Pitchfork Farm, about 265 miles from Las Vegas. On our way we stopped at majestic Zion National Park for our first ride. Each rider was matched with a horse or mule, their choice. We split into two groups and rode the Sand Bench Trail, comprised of high plateaus, narrow sandstone canyons and the 2,000-foot Navajo cliffs. Many of the iconic rock formations were given spiritual names by early settlers: The Three Patriarchs, The Pulpit and Towers of the Virgin, to name a few. Zion means “promised land” or “place of peace,” a fitting name for such grandeur.

At the end of this ride, and all others during the week, we were met by Tom, a likeable local who took vacation from his real job to work the ride. Tom greeted us with coolers of cold beverages, laughing that his title was “beverage control officer.”

If you wanted a beverage that wasn’t provided, you’d deal with Tom, and he would try his best to provide it. I suspect that if you enjoyed too much of that beverage you’d also deal with Tom, but fortunately that situation never arose during our stay.

I favored the local craft beers Polygamy Porter and Hoodoo Ale, cleverly named to reflect the areas in which we rode.

We continued our bus ride up Highway 89, once a major route from Old Mexico to Canada. History is a big part of the Red Rock Ride, and Robert gave us interesting details about the Mormon farming communities, the Virgin River and the determined settlers who survived in such harsh conditions.

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After a tense period of online registration, Jane Netzler (right) and Jody Baumberger-Gehrig complete the 101st Red Rock Ride with a group of friends.

Arriving at Pitchfork Farm, we moved into simple, snug cabins a short stroll from the lovely dining hall, reminiscent of a traditional barn. Our first of daily happy hours began on our arrival at the farm, a harvest table loaded with snacks to accompany our cold drinks.

Dinner was at 7:00, followed by informal entertainment provided by cowboy poets or local musicians.

One evening’s entertainment was a tour of the farm. Pete explained his system of irrigating alfalfa fields and boasted that he reaped the “prettiest cubes” of alfalfa on the third cutting. In his 44 years of ranching, he has been cubing alfalfa 41 years—supplying feed for all his 250 horses and mules.

We walked through the mule pen and

surveyed the tack room, neat and organized, which held the Red Rock Ride saddles, built by son, Tawn.

But Pitchfork Farm is no tourist haven dude ranch. It’s a real working operation with a fleet of Dodge Ram trucks—“trucks with work ethics,” according to Robert—John Deere machinery and recycled truck beds used as mule feeders. A huge black tire encircled the water tank, making an improvised “solar heater” that helps keep water from freezing during the harsh winters.

After dinner that night and every night at the ranch, Keela sent us to bed with gentle but firm instructions, “Now children, be on the bus ready to go at 8:00 in the morning.”

Our week continued the next day at

The ďŹ nal day of the Red Rock Ride includes a trek down the North Kaibab Trail on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

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TRAVEL Bryce Canyon, famous for its pinnacles of weathered limestone, called hoodoos. Our ride revealed peekaboo holes, steep narrow trails and the whimsical hoodoos resembling chessmen and fairy houses. Following a hot lunch on the trail, most of us opted for a longer afternoon ride, dubbed the “Snowy River Ride” because of two very steep descents, as in the movie The Man From Snowy River. As one male rider commented, “If you started out with boxers, you’d have a thong now.”

The scenery changed once we left Bryce Canyon and entered the Bureau

Riders trek across Bryce Canyon National Park.

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of Land Management property. A longdistance view of the skyline opened for us as we navigated through spruces, ponderosa pines and pinions.

Don’t Lean, Don’t Scream Day 3 featured the famous Thunder Mountain ride in the Dixie National Forest. We had heard about the very narrow Hogback Ridge, but after this much saddle time, I trusted my mule completely and felt comfortable dropping the reins to snap photos.

That mule didn’t need any guidance

from me. Others experienced some hesitation but followed the wranglers’ advice of “Don’t lean, don’t scream” and made it safely across the ridge.

The Cassidy Trail in Red Canyon was our route the next day. Meandering through an oasis of rock in the Dixie National Forest, spectacular views across the canyon opened through lush forest ranges. During a light rain, we sought shelter under trees at our lunch stop, one of Butch Cassidy’s hideouts. Remnants of a small stone wall were evident, and our wrangler, Cache Mortensen, pointed out where Butch’s corral and cabin had been.

Cache, grandson of Pete and Keela, was very knowledgeable about local happenings and was as good at relaying history as he was at managing a group of riders. Locals believe Butch was not killed in a Bolivian shootout, as portrayed in the popular 1969 movie, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Cache shared stories passed down through the generations, describing how Butch returned to this part of Utah, visited his family and assisted downtrodden neighbors.

Friday’s ride was the longest of the week, a nearly 30-mile journey

Advice of “don’t lean, don’t scream” proves useful on narrow trails like the Thunder Mountain ride through the Dixie National Forest.

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TRAVEL down the vast wilderness of the Paria Canyon. I knew we were headed into a remote area when the wranglers advised extra caution, hinting it would take emergency crews a long time to reach us if necessary. The ride began at 7 a.m. between low gray bluffs down the nearly dry Paria riverbed.

We followed settlers’ wagon ruts and witnessed the remains of history by reading names written in axle grease on the canyon walls. As we rode, the Vermilion Cliffs towered above as high as 3,000 feet, forming red rock amphitheaters. At our lunch stop we sat below Native American petroglyphs. A desert bighorn sheep was spotted on the bluff, curious about the visitors in his territory.

Near the end of the ride we passed the ghost town, Pahreah, a small farming community established in the 1870s, now consisting of one remaining building. The area has been used in filming many Hollywood Westerns and episodes of Gunsmoke.

Following this fascinating ride, we were taken to our Kanab motel, home for the next two nights. Here we were within walking distance of museums, shops and the Houston family’s Trails End restaurant. In addition to operating the restaurant, the family caters offsite meals for up to 3,000 firefighters and many of the Hollywood film crews working near Kanab. Their mobile kitchen had been parked at Pitchfork Farm all week, providing meals during our stay.

Appreciating America Again The final ride of the week was in Arizona, at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the North Kaibab Trail. Due to

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Bryce Canyon National Park features the largest collection of hoodoos— pillars of rock left from erosion—in the world, but then the scenery changes to thick forests as riders head towards Bureau of Land Management property.

park regulations we were not allowed to descend to the bottom of the canyon, but the view was still beautiful.

After our ascent we rode back to the Grand Canyon’s mule barn, untacked and rinsed our mules. It was entertaining to watch as they rushed to a favorite dust-filled roll hole, groaning their appreciation of having clocked out for the day.

High praise needs to go to our wranglers. Relaxed but diligent in their jobs, the wranglers provided security and encouragement when necessary, interspersed with history and jokes.

Saturday evening, our last together, was emotional for all. Robert voiced that the Red Rock Ride isn’t solely about riding. “It’s the friendships and camaraderie,” he said with a smile, looking a bit fatigued but enjoying the final night of another successful ride.

He shared that at times the news in the United States could be discouraging. But he added that meeting guests on these rides reinforced his belief that most Americans share his values and goals for future generations.

International human rights lawyer Tara Neal, who traveled from Myanmar to ride, may have said it best when describing the week. “It made me appreciate America again,” she said. “The beauty, the friendliness of the people, the meaning of family, our history.”

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PROFILE After her own horse went lame, Tennessee Lane catch rode Auli Farwa to ďŹ rst in the 2017 Tevis Cup, an emotional victory for all involved.

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Tenacity Overcomes Tragedy At The Tevis Cup Winning the most prestigious 100-mile U.S. endurance race is meaningful under any circumstance. But Tennessee Laneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first victory aboard Auli Farwa, previously owned by the late Kevin Myers, also provided closure.

By JENNIFER B. CALDER

BILL GORE OF GORE/BAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

Tennessee Lane approached Cougar Rock, located about a quarter of the distance into the 100-mile Tevis Cup endurance race, and she drew a deep, steadying breath. This marked her seventh crossing over the beautiful and challenging landmark in as many Tevis Cup starts and the eighth time for the horse beneath her, Auli Farwa, but this year was different.

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PROFILE

Nestled in her pocket, handed to her only the night before by Rusty Toth, now the owner of “Far,” rested a vial containing the ashes of a fellow endurance rider.

Kevin Myers, Lane’s cherished friend, was also Toth’s spouse prior to his suicide on June 28, 2016.

Lane, 35, pulled the small container from her pocket and shook the ashes into the mountain breeze as the 17-year-old Arabian (FVL Aul Fancy Free—Winchester Silkie, Farlanes Pride) slowly climbed the trail. Far meant everything to Myers, with Toth calling the horse Myers’ best friend. The gelding even attended his funeral.

Lane had no way of knowing that this wouldn’t be the only meaningful moment of the race, but that many long, arduous hours later she would gallop out of the darkness and across the finish line 12 minutes before the next competitor, earning her and Far their first Tevis Cup wins. (Lane placed second in 2014, and Far’s best previous finish was third in 2013. Far also won the Haggin Cup for best conditioned horse in 2015.)

“I think Kevin was with us the whole race because it was magic, honestly. It was meant to be. I think it brought closure— it definitely brought closure to me. And I felt like I could just see Kevin’s gleaming smile,” Lane says, and her voice breaks.

She takes a deep breath before continuing.

“I think—I hope—it brought closure to everybody,” she says. “I’m glad to have been a little part of it. I feel like I’m just the pawn that got thrown in, and I am super happy to have been there.”

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As she started ascending Cougar Rock in the Tevis Cup 100-mile race with Auli Farwa, Tennessee Lane sprinkled the ashes of Kevin Myers, former owner and rider of “Far.” “It was a great loss when we lost Kevin, and I just wanted to do him proud,” says Lane.

For Lane, the path to a Tevis Cup— also known as the Western States Trail Ride—win last August proved as unpredictable and meandering as the race itself, beginning on a horse farm in Virginia when she was a child and winding through a professional career in the labs of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control before settling on this race, with this horse.

RAISED ON A HORSE Lane grew up on a warmblood farm and apple orchard in Woodville, Virginia.

When she was 7 her family moved to the “small cow town” of Kremmling, Colorado.

Both of her parents had ranching backgrounds, and her mother, Neecee Lane, showed hunters and jumpers as a child and later bred warmbloods for show jumping.

Her father, Nelson Lane, grew up working cattle. They met in Texas where they both

worked for oil tycoon Max Banks before moving east and having Tennessee and her brother, Phelps Lane.

“The ranching industry runs deep in both sides of my family,” says Tennessee, who learned English and western riding.

“I was raised on a horse. I learned how to ride when I was 2.”

Originally not interested in showing, Tennessee’s competitive streak ignited when the family moved to the land of rodeos.

“I started doing a couple of rodeos per Saturday, and my poor mom would drag me around from one rodeo to the next,” she says. “We’d win cash prizes and throw all that in with the 4-H money for college tuition down the road. I did all the morning gymkhanas, and then I could go to the big rodeos in the evening and kind of wrap up some good fees. It was pretty fun!”

Tennessee also played polocrosse

PHOTO COURTESY RUSTY TOTH

in high school, as well as competing in draft horse driving events, and the summer after her sophomore year she worked at Vessels Stallion Farm helping start more than 150 Quarter Horses for racing careers at Los Alamitos Race Course (California).

I NEED SUNSHINE As the college money piled up, Tennessee became obsessed with marine biology, but not in the typical way.

“I wanted to go into pharmaceuticals and farming from the ocean. More like aqua-culture,” she says. “I went to Florida Tech for marine biology, and I realized I was surrounded by a group of girls that I didn’t quite understand.

“They all had dolphin tattoos,” she continues with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I wanted to go into pharmaceuticals,’ so molecular biology was a degree offered at

Florida Tech, and I ended up getting most of my degree in molecular biology before transferring to [Colorado State University] and switching to microbiology and immunology and pathology. CSU is where I got my undergraduate degree and continued my post graduate degree in immunology, which I absolutely loved.”

At Florida Tech, she worked in the infectious disease lab at NASA and later, upon graduation from CSU, conducted research for both the CDC and NIH, working on developing new vaccines and adjuvants for infectious diseases.

Her coursework completed, all that remained between her and a Ph.D. was writing her thesis.

“I was working in the BSL3 lab, and it was like a spacesuit situation. Shower in, shower out, and no windows in the building. I was very immersed in my research, and I really, really liked it, but it turns out that I need sunshine!” she says with a laugh.

After Kevin Myers (right , pictured on Auli Farwa, or “Far”) committed suicide in 2016, his husband Rusty Toth (on Farrabba) said Far went through a period of mourning.

“I really do, and I got depressed,” she continues. “It kind of happened without me noticing it. I remember I did an 18-hour procedure one day where I was preparing organs for data analysis, and it’s a long, long procedure. I went into the lab in the dark of morning and left the lab in the dark of night, and I was exhausted. When I came outside there was a foot of snow on the ground. I was like, ‘Where did the summer go?’ I didn’t even know because there weren’t windows in the building, and I was so focused. I’d get home late and leave early, and I started crying there in the parking lot. It was just, ‘God, I love this work, but I am just not happy.’ ”

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RENE BAYLOR OF GORE/BAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO

PROFILE

“I am a little bit of an introvert, so maybe that’s why it agrees so well with me,” says Tennessee Lane of endurance.

“I guess there are other people who don’t even like riding alone, and that is one of my favorite things to do.”

A CROSSROADS Unwilling to completely abandon her professional work, Tennessee strove for more balance, and after discussions with her parents, she elected to bring a ranch horse to Fort Collins, Colorado, where she was living and working.

“I brought one horse down, and one horse became two. It felt good to be back out on my horse,” she says. “I didn’t really have enough time but just enough that it was making me happy again. I was literally working in the lab when I Googled ‘endurance racing,’ which I had never heard of. I just came across this weird sport and thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be fun? A great way to just get out there and be with your 72 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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horse and get away from it all.’ ” Research led her to the Global Endurance Training Center located a day’s drive away in Utah.

“I called them from the lab,” she says. “They didn’t know I was speaking through a spacesuit.”

Tennessee finished a few experiments on her mice, put them back in their incubators, and raced out to Moab to partake in a five-day clinic with Dian Woodward and Christoph Schork back in 2006. In the intervening years, they’ve become like family to her, spending holidays together as well as riding endurance together.

“We had a blast!” she says. “I showed up, and they thought I didn’t even know how to ride, and they were kind of like starting at square one with me, and I got on, and they were like, ‘Oh my God, OK, we’re going to have some fun.’ I ended up taking off a day early from the five-day clinic, so I could go home, process 500 mice for a study and get back to go to a

race with them. So it was this whirlwind.”

In her first race, a 50-miler, Tennessee finished second on DWA Sabella, her first Arabian.

“I bought her from them, and she’s still here with me,” she says. “I just had a blast!

It actually took me a year to realize they had 25 miles for beginners.”

As her obsession for the sport grew, she, almost accidentally, began making money at it, and the research started fading away.

“I had Sabella, and I decided I wanted another horse, so I had a back-up horse, so I could ride more,” Tennessee says.

“Somebody would offer money for one horse, and eventually it was enough money that it was kind of worth it. I’d sell one horse, buy another and bring that one along, and somebody would offer you money for the next horse, and you’d sell that one. I was like, ‘Man, I can kind of make as much money doing this as I am making in the lab.’ ” Walking away wasn’t easy, however.

In addition to competing in endurance, Tennessee Lane, pictured with her cousin and Tevis Cup crew member Indy Lane at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, is also an avid mountain climber, snowboarder, snowmobiler, and she shoots sporting clays and hunts.

REMUDA RUN

PHOTO COURTESY TENNESSEE LANE

Of her success, mentor Schork—who has more than 33,000 lifetime miles and holds the record for first-placed finishes, which at recent count was more than 320—says, “She had good training, and she is very competitive and knowledgeable and smart. She understands horses and is a good, good trainer.”

“It was one of those huge crossroads in my life. What am I going to do? And the decision was made tearfully and from the bottom of my heart, trying to figure out what was right for me and what would make me happy,” she says. “I realized if I was going to be depressed working in the lab then maybe I should go a different route, and so I just went for it, and here I am, what, 12 years later …”

“Winning Tevis!” I interject.

“Yes, winning Tevis!” she says. “It’s been an awesome road. A bumpy one, and it’s had a lot of amazing twists and turns, and I don’t have any regrets.”

In the past decade plus since her first race, Tennessee’s accumulated nearly 10,000 competitive American Endurance Ride Conference miles in addition to more than 2,000 miles in limited distance rides.

Out of her seven Tevis starts, she has five completions, one win and one secondplaced finish. But one box she would still like to check is winning the Haggin Cup.

HORSEMANSHIP AND SPORTSMANSHIP Endurance resonated with Tennessee on multiple levels. As someone who spent copious amounts of time alone in a lab, the solitude of a 100-mile race appealed to her.

“I am a little bit of an introvert, so maybe that’s why it agrees so well with me,” she says. “I guess there are other people who don’t even like riding alone, and that is one of my favorite things to do. You pay more attention to your horse, that is for sure, versus having a conversation and getting lost on a trail.

“I am 10 times more likely to get lost if I am riding with someone,” she adds with a laugh.

Also, being a race, there is a clear winner based on objective measurements.

“I’m not saying that politics don’t come into play in endurance, but it’s far less [than in other equestrian sports], especially in like the backyard rides,” Tennessee says. “All these American rides over here? Everybody is looking out for each other; there is none of that snotty show stuff going on and judges. It’s just kind of whoever crosses the finish line first and takes care of their horse.

It’s all about horsemanship, sportsmanship and having a good time.”

Tennessee Lane started her business, Remuda Run, when she lived in Fort Collins, Colorado.

She now operates out of Le Veta, Colorado, where she has approximately 25 horses, some of which she’s bred, along with some 130 miles of trails for endurance racing. She hosted the 2017 AERC National Championships there.

“I train each horse as if it’s going to be the horse I ride for the rest of my life,” she says. “I wanted to share this beautiful region with people, and so far, so good because even in our second year they had us host the national championships. I’m still developing my reputation as a ride manager, and I’m still learning lessons. It’s been a steep learning curve these past couple years, but I think I’ve got it pretty well done because I’ve laid down the foundation—just creating the trails and creating the maps and creating the ride camp with the portapotties. The trotting lanes, all that stuff, now I’ve got that, that foundation, and it will be easier every year from now on.”

Mentor Christoph Schork has participated in every race held at Remuda Run so far and believes it’s among the best in the world for endurance racing.

“It’s excellent,” he says. “She just does an awesome job managing rides and taking care of the riders and spectators. I love it. It’s an excellent area and venue for endurance racing.”

Lane prefers the U.S. version of the sport over international competitions.

“It’s a different thing,” she says. “I prefer technical races that challenge me more and not just galloping the whole thing. Endurance racing started to prove the ability of a horse, not just speed. I truly do not enjoy that, and the only reason I do it is to help qualify horses to represent the United States because I am a patriot, and it’s just a means to an end.”

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Never was this more evident—the members of the endurance community looking out for one another—than when Toth offered Tennessee the ride on Far. Leading into Tevis, Tennessee planned on competing her top mount, TM Burning Bridges, or “Bluff.” But a few months before the race, Bluff took a bad step and went lame.

“I was super, super excited. I was going for first on my horse,” she says. “He had been at 150 percent for the last two years, and he is just unstoppable. I don’t know what happened, but I was just cruising on a training ride, and he went from cantering with his perfect little Trojan horse canter, all collected up, looking at the antelope going across the mesa here at my home to just, boom. I don’t know, he just took a stride, and he was lame.

“I was kind of—I shouldn’t say kind of,” she says, correcting herself. “I was devastated. I was going to call and scratch from Tevis, and I kind of made it known to my inner circle of friends that I was out, and it wasn’t going to happen.

Then Rusty called me.”

Tennessee and Myers had been dear friends, and she met Toth through him. “[Toth] called me and said, ‘I am thinking about offering you Far,’ and I was just quiet. ‘Thinking about offering me Far?’ I was like, ‘Okey dokey, um, let me know,’ ” she says with a laugh. “He kind of let that rattle around in my head for a couple days.”

Toth called back a few days later and confirmed.

“He said, ‘I think you can be a top 10, and our goal—Kevin’s goal—was to complete 10 Tevis Cups on him,” says Tennessee. “He also thought we could be in the top 10, especially at my weight and the caliber of riding I was used to doing.”

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“I think Kevin was with us the whole race because it was magic, honestly. It was meant to be. I think it brought closure—it definitely brought closure to me,” says Tennessee Lane of winning the 2017 Tevis Cup with Auli Farwa.

Toth sensed it was a good pairing.

“I know her riding style,” he says. “She is one of a handful of people I would trust to ride any of my horses, and I knew she would take very good care of him, so I didn’t feel there was any risk. I felt really confident in her. When her horse became unavailable fairly last minute-ish, I knew I wasn’t going to ride in [Tevis], but I knew Far was certainly capable and ready to go, so I offered him to her.”

WE DIDN’T GET ALONG But the pairing, while sensible, wasn’t simple.

“I was so excited but also heavily burdened with responsibility,” says Tennessee. “You can’t look at that horse and not think about Kevin. I am tearing up just thinking about it.

“Anyway … anyway … It was … emotional. Sorry,” she says, and she stops to collect herself.

PHOTO COURTESY TENNESSEE LANE

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“It was a great loss when we lost Kevin, and I just wanted to do him proud,” she finally continues. “So I rode him, and if you want to know the honest truth, we didn’t get along!”

It took a while for her to find her groove with Far, whom she calls “the roughest ride on the planet.” But it finally happened right before they left for the race’s start, Aug. 5, 2017, in Robie Equestrian Park near Truckee, California.

“He’s a good horse, and I am a good rider, but we were just kind of doing our own thing training,” says Tennessee. “It’s really hard to get in a rhythm with him whether you are trotting or cantering. You feel it in every vertebra. The day before the race I took him out for my final warm-up ride, and we had a blast! We had this magical moment: A bicycle came around the

Of what makes Arabian Auli Farwa such a beast of a competitor, Tennessee Lane says, “His heart and his brain. His heart is unstoppable, and he’s a happy horse, and he loves his job and is competitive.

He knows what he’s doing. It’s a trail ride, but it’s a race!”

corner and spooked the heck out of him, and he did one of his pogo sticks directly to the side and up a bank, but I moved right with him and came back down, and you could tell he was kind of like, ‘Woah, she didn’t fall off.’

“There was something about that moment, and all of a sudden he seemed smooth,” she continues. “All of a sudden we started moving well together, and we were having fun, and we were having this

Tennessee as a first name traces back through at least six generations on Lane’s maternal side and has been shared by notable relatives.

“My family settled the West, right where they were dividing the states into Tennessee and Kentucky, drawing the lines and naming them. They were living right there and had a lot of Tennessee pride. Tennessee means ‘where the river bends’ in an ancient Native American language that has been lost. They named their newborn daughter Tennessee because they had so much pride, but it turned out they were actually in Kentucky once the line was officially drawn,” she says with a laugh.

“They kept settling west, all the way to the Texas panhandle where they actually won land in the Texas land races,” she adds.

“And that land is still in the family today, so I guess it runs in my blood to ride fast across country. My great, great aunt Tennessee rode for the Pony Express. She delivered the mail and babies, that’s what she was known for—riding around. Pretty cool.”

magical connection. I don’t know if Kevin was with us or what, but we were practically giggling down the trail.”

Their eventual affinity rings true for Toth.

“He’s not a bucker. I mean, he spooks, but he’s not going to do anything bad,” says Toth. “I’d put my grandma on him as far as safety is concerned, but he is also the kind of horse who really needs to have—for endurance riding he needs to

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PROFILE have that connection to you. He needs to feel that trust and bond.

“Far meant everything to Kevin,” he continues softly. “He loved that horse more than anything, and they were quite a team. I think even Far grieved for Kevin for quite some time. I don’t know if people believe that horses have emotions like that, but I do, especially now. I’ve seen it and watched it.”

It’s almost as if in that moment on the trail, Far and Tennessee realized they were on the same side, working toward the same goal on behalf of Myers, and they carried that into race day.

“Nothing is ever easy at Tevis, but it was just a completely different demeanor— like, we are going to have fun tomorrow,” says Tennessee. “It was really cool. That’s all I can say. I can’t really describe it other than to say we had some kind of amazing, sudden connection that we didn’t have before, and things were totally different.

We were having fun.”

there, and your eyes are trying to adjust, and you’ve just got to trust your horse and feel every movement of his body. You can’t necessarily see trail, but he can, and when you are cantering on a single track in the pitch black, it’s not just the normal centering you have as a rider. It’s much, much deeper because you are completely relying on them like you are blind.

“You don’t know what’s coming, and you just have to have utter faith in that horse,” Tennessee continues. “And they deserve it because they have had utter faith in you all day. You could kill that

horse at any minute, pushing them too hard, steering them off a cliff, so they trust you, and you have to trust them.

That’s why I love 100s, and that’s why I love Tevis. It is so much deeper than any 25- or 50-mile race.”

Tennessee credits her crew as being a huge part of their victory. Indy Lane, of Denver, is Tennessee’s cousin, and although he rode a bit as a child, he had stopped to pursue other sports. But he returned to the saddle about six years ago to pursue, you guessed it, endurance. He now owns two endurance horses and crews for Tennessee

While Tennessee felt more confident going into the race after that moment during the training ride, the Tevis Cup is still the Tevis Cup, and one small rock on the trail can derail the entire thing.

So, stride by stride, she rode her race, and as the landscape around her darkened into night, that connection she felt with Far was tested as they neared the end.

“It’s just this flickering moonlight through the trees, which is almost … almost dizzying,” she says. “The moonlight is so bright, but it’s just patches here and

Rusty Toth was at the Tevis Cup finish line to greet Auli Farwa and Tennessee Lane as they came in first. “She is one of a handful of people I would trust to ride any of my horses, and I knew she would take very good care of him, so I didn’t feel there was any risk,” he says.

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KEVIN’S DREAM

at the bigger races. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She is very intelligent, and when she found endurance, I think it was just her niche,â&#x20AC;? says Indy, 25. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was like a dry sponge and just soaked everything up. Her background in horses, in training especially, is where she separates herself from a lot of the other endurance riders. She has such a good feel and is able to translate that into extremely good and targeted endurance training for each horse. She knows exactly how to bring a horse along from when they are first born all the way to their first LD and first 50s and then 100s.â&#x20AC;?

Waiting alongside Indy and Tennesseeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents at the finish to see who emerged first up the hill and out of the endless tenebrosity was Toth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;His bald face pops out at you in the darkness. I just remember that feeling of, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh my

â&#x20AC;&#x153;WE WERE ALL CRYING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C;RUSTY TOTH

God, they did it! They did it!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;? says Toth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were all crying and jumping up and down. I was so proud of her and so proud of Far,â&#x20AC;? adds Toth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It just couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been a better situation in any way other than Kevin doing it himself. It was always Kevinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream to win Tevis, and I know he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the one riding him, but he was there, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like his dream came true.â&#x20AC;?

For Tennessee, the loss of Myers, whose ashes are now permanently integrated into the winds and dirt of the Tevis trail, remains difficult, but winning that race on his horse

offered a bit of closure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was such aâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I know it sounds counterintuitiveâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but he was such a happy guy,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He made everybody laugh.

It was so unexpected. He changed us all, the entire community. The friends that he had, the loss of him, I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affected how we live our lives. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t count the days, but make every day countâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; type of mentality.â&#x20AC;?

And Tennessee continues to do just that. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel very thankful, very blessed for all the opportunities that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had in my life and the amazing family that I have, and friends, and friends that have become family,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And a lot of those are horses too, and I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been blessed with a lot of really great horses. Endurance has really shaped my life, quite a bit the past couple years. Life is a fun ride! Hold on tight and enjoy the ride.â&#x20AC;?

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LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS Seeing The World With

“Life Between The Ears” Contributors to the “Life Between The Ears” social media accounts transport us to the world’s most interesting and beautiful places—all viewed from the saddle. Each issue, we share a few of their images.

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SARA KLYMKOWSKY/@THAT_URBAN_COWGIRL PHOTOS

KHÖVSGÖL PROVINCE, MONGOLIA Yes, this should technically be titled “Life Between The Antlers.”

Sara Klymkowsky spends her weeks in New York City working in private equity, but in her time off she’s passionate about traveling the world—especially on horseback. She’s ridden in Kenya, Colombia, Patagonia and Brazil, and she completed the 2015 Mongol Derby. It was during the Mongol Derby that Klymkowsky made friends with Erik Cooper, who helped her return to Mongolia in 2017 to visit with a family in the Tsaatan tribe.

“Erik has an incredible ability to forge deep friendships around the world,” Klymkowsky said. “The herders in this remote area of northern Mongolia depend on their reindeer for many aspects of life, and reaching their remote home requires at least a two-day horseback ride and a climb through multiple mountain passes.”

Klymkowsky’s group followed the paths that the reindeer herders use to reach their winter camp.

“I loved this reindeer. He was fast and easy to manage, quite agreeable in all,” she said. “It took us about three hours to climb to the top of an incredibly rocky hill, that the majority of horses would never be able to make the top of, to look over a huge valley below—and a subsequent three-hour haul back home! It made

it incredibly clear how difficult the life can be for these herders.

“We spent just a couple days with the family because the weather turned to heavy, wet snow suddenly on our fourth morning and then torrential rain,” she added. The group used help from the Mongolian family and surefooted Darkhad horses to trek out over swollen river crossings and make it back to the steppe.

And what’s it like to ride a reindeer? Oddly comfortable, Klymkowsky said. “Riding reindeer is a truly unique experience. They glide over the boggy, rocky terrain with a simple click, click of their hooves. Where horses would stumble or sink, reindeer float.

“These gentle animals are also quite fragile and much more narrow in the withers than horses, so when mounting them you must be very careful not to injure their backs,” she continued. “They are incredibly soft, quiet creatures.”

When she’s at home, Klymkowsky looks through the ears of her horse Napoleon in North Salem, New York, where she mainly trail rides and foxhunts.

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LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS Emily Neville grew up riding, and in the last few years she’s been competing in competitive trail and endurance.

“We do compete, but it is mostly for the deep sense of accomplishment and pure fun of it!”

Neville said. “We spend lots of time conditioning on the multitude of trails we have outside our door in central Alberta. Then we ‘compete’ in several 25-mile rides throughout the summer.”

This photo was taken in Waterton National Park. “We were lucky to get in when we did, as this trail (and most all trails in Waterton, actually) was closed days after due to the forest fires,” said Neville.

In the photo, Neville is riding Bravado’s Sela, a 20-year-old Arabian. “Something unique about her is her birdcatcher spots; she has white polka dots that change every year,” said Neville, 19. “I found ‘Sela’ quite miraculously after a nightmare with a young horse. She easily and quickly restored my confidence in riding and horsemanship, which had been diminished previously from the nightmare horse.

“She is 20, but she thinks she’s 5! She loves the trail; she was born for the type of riding I do. I can’t believe her age, and neither can anybody else—I think she’s getting younger,” Neville added. “She loves to go but is so steady and rock solid.”

EMILY NEVILLE/@_EMMIIILLYYY PHOTO

WATERTON LAKE, ALBERTA

DUNFANAGHY, IRELAND

CHRIS BOGUES/@CHRISBOGUES PHOTO

Chris Bogues would spend his summer vacations from the National University of Ireland Galway working as a trail ride leader and riding instructor at Dunfanaghy Stables on the County Donegal coast.

“In the winter months I try to get out hunting most weekends, and over the past three years I have competed in show jumping for my college,” said Bogues, who graduated from university in the spring and transitioned to working full time at Dunfanaghy Stables.

Dunfanaghy is a former fishing port on County Donegal’s northwest coast, on Sheephaven Bay. “[This is] just one of many scenic viewpoints we have along the way,” he said.

The horse in the photo is Snowdrop, a 5-year-old Irish Cob. “She is one of many trail horses we have at the yard, and what I like about her is that she has a lot more get up and go than your usual cob,” said Bogues.

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DENALI WALTERS/@DENANIMAL PHOTO

RICK DAHMS PHOTO

Sharing Life Between The Ears

KILAUEA, HAWAII Denali Walters works at Silver Falls Ranch in Kilauea on the North Shore of Kauai, Hawaii, leading tourists on trail rides.

“Silver Falls Ranch definitely has a special meaning to me,” she said. “Not only is it my favorite job that I’ve had to date—taking people horseback riding in Hawaii all day, how could it not be—but the people here have become like family to me. There are a handful of my coworkers that I have developed very good and long-lasting friendships with. This place and the people will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Walters has ridden her whole life and grew up outside Seattle, showing in local hunter/jumper shows. After graduating from college, she spent some time figuring out what she wanted to do for a career.

“My mom is a flight attendant, so I’d grown up traveling with her, and Kauai was always my favorite place to visit, but oddly enough I had never ridden in Hawaii before I started this job,” she said. “I knew, once I figured out living here was attainable for me, that I wanted to be a horseback trail guide. I have lived and worked here for about two years now, and I love every second of it.”

Walters rides in a western saddle for her trail rides, but she also takes English lessons.

“I am involved with Garden Island Equestrian, a group that is really making a name for the English riding community here on the island, so hopefully I’ll be back to competing on a small scale again soon,” she said.

The palomino ears belong to Hula Girl, a 14-year-old Haflinger-Quarter Horse cross.

“What I love about riding Hula is she has a lot of life and personality,” said Walters.

“She is a very solid horse, willing to go into any terrain at any pace, and is incredibly surefooted as well as very easy and comfortable to ride. However, on occasion she can be a challenge, which is great because it keeps me on my toes while riding.”

Since 2008, Life Between The Ears founder Kristine Dahms has posted stunning photos shot by riders in all corners of the world with one hand on the reins and the other on the shutter.

Dahms mines photos with the hashtag #lifebetweentheears, contacts the original poster of the image, then features the photo, complete with educational details about the place that’s portrayed.

Life Between The Ears photos appear on a LBTE Facebook page, an Instagram feed, a dedicated website (lifebetweentheears.com), a Twitter feed and a Pinterest page (all under lifebetweentheears account names).

Dahms—who lives in Vashon, Wash., with her Welsh Cob, mini horse, pygmy goats, two dogs and two cats—rides dressage and takes quite a few photos herself on the picturesque Vashon-Maury Island.

Dahms has taken some of the Life Between The Ears images from cyberspace to print, creating three lines of greeting cards with selected photos from her social media pages.

A portion of the proceeds from the card sales goes to the Equine Land Conservation Resource (elcr.org). Cards are available at lifebetweentheears.com/retail.

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HISTORY

Saving The

Trakehner The popular sport horse breed almost disappeared when World War II ravaged Europe, and the horses were forced on a trek through both hell and high water.

By K IMBERLY LOUSHIN very July evening after the sun set on East Prussia in 1944, an ominous red glow lingered in the sky. The fires and explosions served as a constant reminder that the warfront was approaching.

For five years, World War II had ravaged Europe, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for those in the area to ignore the urge to evacuate.

Directly in the front’s path was Trakehnen, the central stud for one of Europe’s oldest warmblood breeds.

Concerned for the safety of the valuable stock housed there, Dr. Ernst Ehlert, the Landstallmeister or stable manager, made repeated requests for a permit to move approximately 1,100 horses. But the East Prussian government refused to accept the

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imminent invasion from the Soviet army, so they continued denying his requests. “[The East Prussians] were watching the TV from the western part of the world, but the [government officials] were not allowed to watch the TV,” says Trakehner breeder Christian Schacht, whose mother was 19 at the time and living in the area.

“But of course the people at home, they were watching news from BBC London, and they knew what was going on. The Nazis, every time they told them that they have new weapons, that they are going to win the war—nobody believed in it. Even the soldiers didn’t believe in it.”

It wasn’t until September that Ehlert finally received the permit to evacuate the central stud’s stallions and some of the best in-foal mares. Over the course of several days, young stallions and fillies were distributed to safer regional studs.

However, close to 700 horses remained trapped in Trakehnen.

It would be another month before orders were given for a general evacuation of the 12 stud farms in the Ebenrode area. Four additional farms nearby were instructed to wait three days, but they ignored those orders hoping to save the stock. Within days, gunfire and bombs had decimated the properties.

“Very often they went to the headmaster of the town and said, ‘We want to leave. We want to leave. We see the Russians are coming, and we see what’s going on. We have to protect our families, and we have to protect the horses—not only the horses, but cows, sheep, everything,’ ” says Schacht. “But the government said, ‘No, you’re not allowed to do this.’

“One day they went again to the headmaster, and the office looked like a mess,

PHOTO COURTESY TRAKEHNER VERBAND ARCHIVES

The main stud at Trakehnen was established in the 1700s, but due to war it faced five major evacuations, including the most significant during World War II.

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PHOTO COURTESY ENGELHARDT FAMILY ARCHIVES

HISTORY

As the prominent breed of the region, Trakehners also served as the main mount for the cavalry unit Reiter-Regiment I in 1941.

and everything was thrown around,” Schacht continues. “[The headmaster] tried to burn the important papers, and they escaped. [The townsmen] said, ‘If they escaped, then we can escape as well,’ which was way too late. If they’d been able to escape maybe two more months ahead, way more horses would have survived, way more people would have survived.”

In order to keep ahead of the encroaching artillery, the fleeing horses made the trek at a quick trot with no time for breaks—covering 50 miles in about six hours to Georgenburg.

Moving the horses required care-

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ful orchestration. They were divided into 10 groups of approximately 80 horses apiece, accompanied by just two escorts comprised of the Gestütswärter (or stud guards), who were all over the age of 65, and stable boys under 16. Since all the major routes were blocked, and the railroads had been decommissioned, they stuck to minor roads.

From reports at the time, in the initial stretch the group only suffered one casualty as the result of catastrophic injury, and there were few lamenesses reported in the mares or foals. Once in Georgenburg, the horses were divided once again, with breeding stock loaded onto railroad cars to distribute them to various studs in the western portion of the province.

The Second Wave But despite hopes that the conflict would settle, the following year brought more hardship. The Soviet army had broken through East Prussia, forcing a second evacuation of the civilians, this time of the entire province.

On Jan. 22, 1945, Soviet tanks arrived. With most roads now impassible, the horses were forced to cross the bay of Frisches Haff, a frozen lagoon on the Baltic Sea. Their path over the ice stretched for more than 12 miles.

Families left their homes in the middle of night, abandoning most of their possessions and pets. But the horses, a livelihood for many, were taken. Refugees

Origin Of The

Trakehner

PHOTO COURTESY ENGELHARDT FAMILY ARCHIVES

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from further west would pass through to find livestock running loose and tables set with the previous night’s dinner.

The refugees moved under the cover of night, sometimes through kneedeep water where the ice was melting, keeping an eye out for holes left by low flying bombers.

For weeks the horses marched across the Haff—some mares heavy in foal and barefoot due to the lack of iron or blacksmiths to shoe them. Rations were tight for everyone, and often the horses went days without nourishment. Any that couldn’t keep up were left behind.

“For more than six weeks by day and night the horses were harnessed to the wagon without being taken out, and

With many roads impassable in the midst of World War II, the Trakehner’s versatility was tested.

endured every kind of wind and weather,” Herr Albert Shenk writes in a letter published in Daphne Machin Goodall’s book “The Flight Of The East Prussian Horses.” “In January and February, when it would be impossible for two horses to go forward in the deep snow, four would be harnessed together.

“As we came near the Haff, it began to thaw, the ice was cracked and water stood over it,” the letter continues. “From the beach, the wagons went over with fifty yards distance between each wagon, one behind the other; many were not careful

onsidered one of Germany’s oldest breeds, the Trakehner was established by King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1732. The king was in search of a more reliable mode of transportation for his soldiers—something that was faster, sounder, more attractive and possessing more endurance than the heavier mounts that existed at the time.

The king selected the best of his stock from the royal breeding farms, including Schwaike mares, which were small horses native to the region, and crossed them with English Thoroughbreds and purebred Arabians. The resulting horses were noted in texts from the time as being intelligent and athletic with friendly demeanors. The standards were high: Any foals considered average were sold as riding horses and not bred.

Initially any horse born at Trakehnen was considered a Trakehner to distinguish it from the East Prussian horses—which were produced by private breeders who’d purchased a mare from Trakehnen to breed to a Trakehner stallion. But the close of World War II left breed numbers at an all-time low, so any horse with Trakehnen or East Prussian bloodlines counted as a Trakehner. The two breeds are now officially consolidated into the single Trakehner Verband.

The Trakehner brand was developed in 1787, with all horses born at the stud branded on the off side with a single, seven-pointed elk antler.

A hundred years later, the East Prussian brand was developed—a double antler branded on the near side, which is still used today.

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enough and drove too near each other and therefore many wagons were lost. Near Leisunen we drove on to the Haff, and thought only to drive across to the Nehrung, but we were not allowed on and had to drive to Kahlberg, the whole distance of the Haff.

“We had to spend the night on the ice, and then came to a place where for about 200 yards the horses had to be driven through at the gallop—the ice rolled behind the wagon like waves of water,” he adds.

Surviving The Haff The mares that survived crossing the Haff often gave birth to stillborn foals due to malnutrition. The path was littered with carcasses of those too weak to continue or gunned down by Russian tanks.

“One hears of their brave efforts to get their human burden to safety through ice, snow, storm and axle-deep mud, plodding along tiredly for hundreds of miles, day after day, at night standing out still harnessed to their wagons, without shoes, bearing foals and losing them—but never willingly giving up,” Goodall writes in “The Flight Of The East Prussian Horses.”

“Some died by the way, making a last gallant effort to walk one yard further on the congested road, some were captured, but some got through, thin, tired, dirty and perhaps lousy, footsore and collar sore,” she continues. “Yet they came all that distance at the walk, at the trot, skeletons of what they once were—skeletons of a breed of horses in whose veins runs the blood of Eclipse, skeletons with the blood and spirit to found a new tradition of fortitude, which put their old traditions of endurance and stamina for hunting, steeplechasing and farm work completely in the shade.”

Roughly 1,500 broodmares from East

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PHOTO COURTESY TRAKEHNER VERBAND ARCHIVES

HISTORY

In September 1944 Landstallmeister Dr. Ernst Ehlert received permission to evacuate some of the best breeding stock from Trakehnen, but more than 700 horses were trapped as the war front approached.

Prussia reached Western Germany by the spring of 1945, having traversed 900 miles, but their hardships weren’t over yet.

The refugees were considered intruders and had no means to support the broodmares that had come so far. Many of those who’d completed the journey were either requisitioned or slaughtered.

“The mares were in foal, but they arrived in good condition,” reads an anonymous letter sent to the Society of Breeders and Friends of the Trakehner Horse. “After two days they had to go to work, and today are by no means in the good condition in which they arrived. A few days after their arrival the horses were examined by the army, and because they looked so well, the authorities wanted to take all three. After lengthy begging they only took one mare for whom I never received any payment.”

A Slow Road To Recovery Two years after the end of the war, what was once one of the largest warmblood breeding industries, with about 25,000 mares and 850 stallions, had been whittled down to nearly 700 horses, including 50 or 60 stallions scattered around Western Germany—though only four of those stallions were noted as having “complete papers.” At the time, it seemed the breed had suffered irreversible damage.

But breeding experts stepped in to help, and the revival of the studbook can be traced back to Siegfried Freiherr von Schroeter and Dr. Fritz Schilke. They collected and identified the remaining horses.

In October of 1947, the Trakehner Verband was officially founded, with its

History Of PHOTO COURTESY TRAKEHNER VERBAND ARCHIVES

Evacuations

Otto Lörke’s Fanal was born at Trakehnen in 1938 and survived the war to become one of Germany’s most successful post-war dressage horses.

headquarters located in Hamburg, Germany—though since some of the original lineage can be traced back for centuries, the breed is still considered as existing since 1732. Only 18 mares from the original Trakehnen stud were registered in the new studbook, and as they were considered the most valuable, they were distributed amongst the newly created studs, with the central breeding facility located in Hunnesrück, Germany.

The resurgence of the breed was a slow process, as the war had left the breeders without any government funding. Progress in preserving the Trakehner happened via individual efforts.

But over the next decades, the number of registered horses boomed. The Trakehner Verband celebrated its 275th anniversary in 2007. Today there are 155 approved stallions and 2,700 active broodmares registered with the studbook.

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ar often threatened East Prussia, leading the Trakehnen stud to evacuate four times prior to World War II. The first time was in the summer of 1794, when a group of insurgents participating in the Greater Poland uprising threatened to overrun the stud. The stud moved further inland, but the threat was short-lived, and all the horses returned home.

The Napoleonic Wars forced two more evacuations in a short period of time. The stud first evacuated after the Prussian army suffered a loss against French forces in the battles of Jena and Auerstedt. The stud was overrun, forcing the horses to cross the Memel River to Lithuania. Those left behind fell into French hands, and texts from the time note the stud lost some of its best riding mares and two valuable stallions.

Just six years later, the director of the stud, Herr von Burgsdorff, was ordered to take 203 stallions and 581 mares towards Poland, and he described the experience in a letter to the founder of the East Prussian cavalry, Count Karl Kenhndorff-Steinort.

“Considering the weather and the dreadful conditions of every sort, there were tremendous difficulties in moving such a large number of animals, and to see everything attendant on them,” he writes. “Still, we have come through, and I am, myself, astonished at our luck. We only lost one 2 ½-year-old from a broken leg. None of the horses was ill, and my stallions have come through as if they had remained home the whole time. Only 14 foals were lost in foaling out of 180 mares during the period of service 1812 to foaling 1813—very few considering the dreadfully tiring marches and continual changes of food.”

But they didn’t stay long, as Napoleon’s victory over the Russians and East Prussians in the battle of Bautzen forced them to move once again. Their relocation happened in the middle of the breeding season, which meant several foals were born on the march. They didn’t return to Trakehnen until September of the following year.

The summer of 1914, and the subsequent outbreak of World War I, brought the fourth evacuation. About 600 of the most valuable stock were split amongst regional studs and farms in the Riesengebirge mountain range.

WANT TO LEARN MORE about the history of the Trakehner breed, especially during World War II? Check out “The Flight Of The East Prussian Horses” by Daphne Machin Goodall and “The Trakehner” by Eberhard Von Velsen-Zerweck and Erhard Schulte.

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Riding in the snow is tons of fun, but there’s plenty of progress to be made out of the saddle as well when it’s cold.

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FRANK SORGE FOR ARND BRONKHORST PHOTO

DO IT YOURSELF

The Rider’s Non-Riding GUIDE TO WINTER IMPROVEMENT Can you emerge from the coldest months better than when they started? With these six tips, we’re betting you can.

By LISA SLADE

Ah,

that’s left is to make a few half-hearted New Year’s Resolutions, load up on leftover Christmas cookies, break ice out of the water buckets every few hours, and trot endless laps around the indoor until springtime, right?

Not so! Even without swinging a leg over your horse, you can still make improvements that’ll pay off in the saddle when the snow clears.

January and February, when it’s time to ditch the winter coats, pack your polo shirts, and flee to Florida or California to show in the sunshine.

Well, no, not for everyone. If you’re not lucky enough to be warm-weather bound, the worst of the winter months aren’t too fun in the horse world. No Stirrup November’s over, so all

1. Tackle A Rider-Specific Fitness Program

PHOTO COURTESY BIORIDER FITNESS

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here’s no doubt that overall physical fitness improves your riding, and the best form of exercise is the one you’ll do. If you despise running or swimming, and you’ve tried the CrossFits and Soul Cycles of the world and not enjoyed them, you now have another, equestrian-specific option.

The BioRider Fitness System (bioriderfitness.com) was founded

by Bridget Braden-Olson, a certified personal trainer, professional dressage rider and former working student for Olympian Steffen Peters, who, as a fellow fitness enthusiast, helped her work through early renditions of the program. She saw a need for a workout designed with the rider in mind.

“I was coming off of playing sports, and then I did young riders for about six years. Then suddenly I’m a pro, there are no team sports, and I’m going, ‘Wait, why was this so much easier when I was way more active?’ ” says Braden-Olson. “I had a connection to [weight]-lifting, so I tried that, and I tried some other workouts and was like, ‘OK, this is not working. I have to develop something for riders.’ That’s what led to me trying to decipher which muscles are working for what you’re doing on the horse.”

The options include individual online videos you can download, or 30-day, 90-day and lifetime memberships that allow you to download the workouts and provide you with a training plan for a certain number of days per week, including additional exercises you can do at home or in the barn. Braden-Olson recommends giving any workout regimen a try for at least 30 days, so you can

feel the difference—and your horse will too.

“There are a lot of compensations being made between horses and riders, and when you get fit you can feel the compensations easier and faster,” Braden-Olson says. “It helps, the mindset of realizing you are an athlete. A lot of people want to cut weight or lean down, and yes that’s an aspect of fitness, but the main goal is to get the hips and pelvis strengthened, so when you’re sitting in the saddle you’re more supported without really a lot of effort. ” Thrifty Tip: Fitness can be completely free too. The brisk air’s not so bad once you’re moving in it, so grab a friend or your dog—studies show that having an exercise companion is key to continuing— and start a walking or running program like Couch To 5K for cardiovascular conditioning.

>>

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JKESLER/SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO

DO IT YOURSELF

2. Dial In Your Dreams

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un fact: A 2007 study conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University of California showed 62 percent of participants met their goals if they wrote them down, compared to only 43 percent of people who didn’t write anything.

So, get out a notebook and write down your goals for the upcoming season. But for starters, make sure you’re setting SMART goals—goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

“Especially for the competitive eques-

trian, the goals really are like the steering wheel and the map, so the importance of goals are providing the direction for you to channel your energy, and then they also provide the skeleton to structure your activity,” says sports psychologist Paul T. Haefner, Ph.D., of Riding Far LLC. “Without those, you really run the risk of putting energy towards things that may not pay off, getting things out of sequence or order.”

The winter down season is a perfect time for setting next year’s goals, but Haefner cautions that you have to think far enough

3. Learn By Watching

ARND BRONKHORST PHOTO

Y

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ou might be weathering winter in Michigan, Iowa or Washington, but there are still top competitions happening in Europe, Florida and California during the winter months. If you can’t fly there and watch them—and most of us can’t—a paid online subscription to an equine video service like feitv.com or usefnetwork.com is a great way to soak up some knowledge via osmosis.

But even though it’s just watching television, this is meant to be a form of learning and part of your winter homework, so make sure you’re actively watching and not just zoning out. Note the position of the best riders’ hands

in advance and dream big.

“Maybe you set goals, but sometimes they’re not long-term enough goals,” he says.

“Maybe even in middle of a season, people accomplish the goals they set for themselves, and then it’s like, ‘Now what?’ In terms of your mindset, it’s helpful to have goals that inspire you—aspirational goals that help connect you to your motivation, show really where you want to go and inspire you.

“And then you have goals that are broken down in periods of time,” he continues. “You have annual goals. Then it’s also helpful to break things down into much smaller pieces, whether you call those goals or objectives, breaking them down into steps you can follow.”

Thrifty Tip: There are notebooks out there designed for writing down goals and plans for a year, including the highly rated Best Self journal (bestself.co), but if you’re artistically inclined, the internet is full of tutorials for how to best make your own bullet journal using a plain notebook—many of which are beautiful in addition to practical. Start by searching Pinterest for suggestions.

and legs, how stride length impacts the distances within the lines, and the factors that make someone the fastest in a jumpoff. All that viewing just might provide the inspiration you need to set your own goals for next season too.

Thrifty Tip: Your trainer may not be Daniel Deusser, but you still have plenty to learn from him or her, and it doesn’t have to be in a lesson either. Offering to set jumps when it’s time to school a set of horses?

Not only is it free and a great educational experience, but you’re going to earn tons of brownie points. The same goes for local clinics; the auditing fee is nearly always waived if you’re volunteering.

4. Ride A Horse In Your House

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PHOTO COURTESY HOME HORSE

t’s hard enough to perfect your position when you’re riding and showing all the time. When the riding drops off during the winter and the showing stops, it’s even more difficult.

Enter: Home Horse, a piece of exercise equipment and furniture (homehorse. com) designed and developed by artist and equestrian Chris Cosma that “engages the entire body in patterned co-contractions of muscles that directly translate to enhanced balance and core strength as well as posture.”

In layman’s terms, it mimics sitting on a horse, using and strengthening the same muscles, but you can sit on the Home Horse, well, at home. With the Home Horse, Cosma includes exercises and tips—and some instructions for mounting safely the first time.

“I had developed it because in my family, if you can’t ride, you’re not really part of the family,” says Cosma. “I was worried because my children were growing up in New York, and they have horses at the farm, but we’d just go in summer or for vacations. It wasn’t how I was growing up at all; I had 10,000 hours on horseback by the time I was 10. You have a good seat because you’ve ridden everything in every condition. This is a way to get a good seat.”

Thrifty Tip: You can buy an inflatable exercise ball and use it at your desk or in front of the television to achieve some core engagement while seated.

5. Attack Your Mental Weaknesses

6. Ignore Your Horse

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t’ll do no good to emerge out of winter fit, motivated, goal-oriented and ready to show, only to dissolve into a ball of nerves at the first competition back and be unable to demonstrate all that progress. Winter’s an excellent time to work on your mental game as well as improving your physical prowess.

Certified sports psychologists are one excellent and personalized way to do that. But you can also utilize the affordable option of Andrea Monsarrat Waldo’s “Brain Training For Riders,” which promises to “unlock your riding potential with stressless techniques for conquering fear, improving performance and finding focused calm” by calming what Waldo calls your “lizard brain,” the irrational part of your mind that causes panic in the ring. The book (stresslessriding.com) includes tons of mental exercises—the mental equivalent of weight-lifting.

“This is a how-to manual for your brain,” writes Waldo.

“To paraphrase Yogi Berra, riding is ‘90 percent mental, and the other half is physical.’ I’m going to show you how to train your brain to handle strong emotions such as fear and doubt, to focus and stay calm under pressure, to produce your best performance when it really counts, and to bounce back from inevitable painful experiences.”

C H RO N O F H O R S E .CO M

ometimes the best thing you can do for your riding? It’s to stop thinking about riding. If it’s a cold, dark evening, and your horse is being well cared for by others, there’s no harm in skipping a day you’re dreading—a luxury you don’t have during the show season.

Invite fellow boarders over for dinner and chat about things besides horses; go see a movie with nonhorsey friends or spend some extra time with your family. You’ll return to the barn refreshed and ready to tackle your goals, and your horse probably won’t mind the break either.

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Sun, Sand And Tons Of Shows

By MARY HOLLIS BAIRD

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Ocala’s iconic live oaks provide a picturesque background for seasonal competitions and year-round training.

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LINDSAY BERRETH PHOTO

n the winter months, Ocala, Florida, turns into a hotbed of equestrian activity, with no local business safe from the hordes of breeches-clad snowbirds who descend upon the city. But, thanks in large part to its laid-back charm and perfect sandy footing, the central Florida city is also a year-round home for many equestrians across all disciplines.

If competition is what you’re seeking, there are plenty of horse show venues in Ocala and nearby, including HITS Post Time Farm, with its 10-week hunter/jumper series running from January through March; the Florida Horse Park, which hosts dressage and eventing; the Ocala Jockey Club, home to an international eventing competition; and show jumping and driving site Live Oak International. Plus construction on the new World Equestrian Center Ocala mega-facility is well under way.

But no matter how strong your desire for competition, you’ll find Ocala caters to everyone with a love for the equestrian lifestyle, from Olympic-caliber professionals to weekend warriors.

PHOTO COURTESY PI ON BROADWAY

PI ON BROADWAY 110 SW Broadway Street Ocala, FL 34471 (352) 369-5100 pionbroadway.com In downtown Ocala, Pi On Broadway has everything you could want for a night out: rooftop dining, rotating beer taps with local brews, an open-flame pizza oven, delicious tapas and a convenient location.

You can congregate at the two-story bar for good food, drinks and a group-friendly atmosphere on the rooftop. Later, the chill atmosphere transitions into live music and a dance floor.

HORSE AND HOUNDS 6998 US-27 Ocala, FL 34482 (352) 620-2500 horseandhoundsrestaurant.com If you’re looking for a restaurant welcoming to horse show patrons and locals alike, the family-owned Horse And Hounds should be a top choice.

Horse And Hounds boasts a full bar and hearty English comfort food. The shepherd’s pie is a favorite, as is the spinach salad (served with an emerald poppy seed dressing) and the Guinness barbeque sauce ribs.

It’s close to the HITS grounds, and Horse And Hounds conveniently features Martini Mondays for those off days, with $3 martinis in a variety of flavors.

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CITY GUIDE SILVER SPRINGS STATE PARK

Silver Springs was Florida’s first tourist attraction and has been a natural landmark since the 1870s. The park’s most famous activity is riding in glassbottomed boats to see the diverse aquatic life of an ecosystem unique to central Florida.

If you’re looking for something more active than a boat ride, Silver Springs offers kayak, paddleboard and canoe rentals. There are walking trails throughout the park, and it’s known as a gateway to the vast Ocala National Forest as well.

PHILLIP HERNDON PHOTO

5656 E Silver Springs Boulevard Silver Springs, FL 34488 (352) 261-5840 silversprings.com

THE BEACH OCALA

GRAND OAKS RESORT & MUSEUM

SKY ASIAN FUSION

13201 W Highway 326 Ocala, FL 34482 (352) 351-0371 facebook.com/TheBeachOcala

3000 Marion County Road Lady Lake, FL 32159 (352) 750-5500 thegrandoaks.com

3600 SW 38th Avenue, Floor 6 Ocala, FL 34474 (352) 291-0000 skyfinedining.com

The infamous Beach Ocala is right next door to HITS and is the favorite gathering place of many for a post-horse show celebration—especially on Sunday nights after the big grand prix class.

It’s not uncommon to see competitors at the bar, or on the dance floor, still in their show clothes.

There is an extensive selection of beer, wine and liquor. The Beach food is your typical bar fare, with items like chicken wings and cheeseburgers, and there are plenty of weekly specials.

Nestled in the small town of Lady Lake, Florida, Grand Oaks Resort & Museum is the perfect getaway from Ocala for a day or a weekend. Only about 45 minutes from Ocala, Grand Oaks has beautiful grounds, a carriage museum, and plenty of horsey and non-horsey themed activities.

The carriage museum is a historical retrospective on the carriage, featuring different styles of carriages from many parts of the world, and there’s a knowledgeable docent to guide you through the museum.

In addition to its resort and museum, Grand Oaks also hosts several combined driving events, horse shows, horse trials and other events every year. For the non-horsey folks, there’s access to lovely golf courses and fly-fishing spots.

For more upscale Ocala dining, SKY is the place to go. In an unconventional and unassuming location—on the top floor of an interstate-adjacent Holiday Inn—SKY has an extensive contemporary Chinese-American menu (try the blue crab claw fried rice) with an inventive cocktail and wine list.

SKY also offers a private dining room that accommodates up to 20 people if you’re looking for a venue for your next barn party.

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BLUE HIGHWAY

PHOTO COURTESY BLUE HIGHWAY

2130 E Silver Springs Boulevard Ocala, FL 34470 (352) 629-5555 bluehighwaypizza.com

OCALA BREEDERS’ SALES & BONKERZ COMEDY CLUB 1701 SW 60th Avenue Ocala, FL 34474 (352) 237-2154 obssales.com bonkerzcomedyproductions.com The prestigious Ocala Breeders’ Sales for 2-year-olds happen all spring, with Thoroughbreds on offer in March, April and June.

And while it’s fun to go watch the sales even if you’re not in the market for a race horse, there’s an additional reason to visit the OBS venue: Saturday nights at 8 p.m., the Bonkerz Comedy Club opens for your entertainment. Bonkerz Ocala features a mix of celebrity comedians and local performers, and you can see the full line-up on its website.

Situated along Florida’s historic U.S. Route 441, pizzeria Blue Highway is a legendary central Florida eatery. The company’s newest location, a few miles from downtown Ocala, features the best pizza, pasta and desserts around.

Blue Highway’s inventive pizza flavors are the specialty— especially the vongole (garlic butter, Cedar Key clams, spinach, bacon, sliced roasted garlic, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago cheeses and parsley) and the vedure arrosta (tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano and roasted vegetables: eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red onion and red peppers)—though you can’t go wrong with a classic margherita either.

If pizza doesn’t tickle your taste buds, Blue Highway also offers a variety of salads, pastas and sandwiches. Make sure you don’t leave without a taste of the key lime tart.

YUM YUM KITCHEN

INFINITE ALE WORKS

13101 W Highway 326 Ocala, FL 34482 (352) 425-0108 facebook.com/YumYumKitchen/ At the junction of U.S. Highway 27 and FL State Highway 326, about five minutes from the HITS complex, is a feed and tack store with a food truck permanently parked next door.

That food truck, Yum Yum Kitchen, is a staple lunch stop for riders, with an intriguingly diverse menu. Favorites include a pork sandwich with special Cedar Key seasonings and the rice bowls with your choice of protein, including vegetarian options.

Sit down at picnic tables under large oak trees, perfect for a shady break on a hot afternoon.

304 South Magnolia Ocala, FL 34471 (352) 512-0212 infinitealeworks.com Picture this: It’s 5:30 p.m., and it’s been one of those days. The next logical step? To grab a cold beer and relax.

One of the best ways to do that is to head down to Infinite Ale Works, Ocala’s only independent craft brewery. Infinite Ale, with 40 beers on tap, is located just a few blocks off the Ocala town square, and it’s the perfect predinner hangout or after-dinner night cap location.

On Thursdays, there’s a group that meets for a run and then beers afterwards, and there’s usually live music on Friday nights. Check the Infinite Ale Facebook page for more details.

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BOOK REVIEWS “Dressage Sabbatical: A Year Of Classical Riding At Lost Hollow Farm”

By ROSE CASLAR

R

ose Caslar opens her debut book “Dressage Sabbatical: A Year Of Classical Riding At Lost Hollow Farm” by warning that it is “neither a comprehensive description of a training system nor an account of the ideal progress a horse and rider will make in a perfectly controlled environment.”

This blog-turned-book follows Caslar through her journey as an intern at classical dressage trainer Paul Belasik’s farm. The entries begin with Caslar saying goodbye to her home in the mountains of Oregon and her husband. From there, Caslar documents every challenge,

triumph and foible, as she immerses herself in the study of dressage.

Caslar strikes a balance between education and entertainment in “Dressage Sabbatical” by distilling the teachings of classical dressage into manageable anecdotes, often starring her opinionated mare Princess Rainy. While not a step-bystep reveal of Belasik’s teachings, Caslar does outline her lessons and ruminate on her progress (or lack thereof) in enough depth that the reader can learn. She also contends with looming questions about her future, her abilities, and the relationship

between classical and modern dressage. The end of most entries is reserved for a lighthearted snapshot of the weekly gourmet meal Belasik and his assistant trainer, Andrea Meoak, provided for the interns.

Caslar’s prose is accessible without diminishing the complexity of the theories she discusses, and her grounded, earnest voice acts as a steady guide. A seasoned dressage rider will catch the intricacies of her struggles and appreciate the depth of Belasik’s training, but a newcomer or a wayward hunter rider won’t be baffled. Whether read as a story of transformation or a glimpse into the realm of classical dressage, this book will likely inspire a reader to think more deeply about his or her own practice.

—Kieran Paulsen

“Training Horses The Ingrid Klimke Way: An Olympic Medalist’s Winning Methods For A Joyful Riding Partnership”

By INGRID KLIMKE

G

erman Olympic event rider and Grand Prix dressage competitor Ingrid Klimke has written an instructional book for sport horse fanatics that succeeds where many others fall short. Most textbooks read dull, while “Training Horses The Ingrid Klimke Way: An Olympic Medalist’s Winning Methods For A Joyful Riding Partnership” is anything but.

Klimke’s book is divided into chapters based on horses she’s trained and the lessons she’s learned from riding with specific people. Each horse’s chapter gives you a breakdown of a typical weekly training 96 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

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schedule, explaining why Klimke focuses on certain things to address issues that crop up.

She also walks readers through her mounts’ journeys from meeting them as young horses to competing at the upper levels. It’s nice to learn that even horses started by someone as talented and experienced as Klimke still have typical baby issues, such as going around crosscountry like a freight train as a 5-year-old, and yet these horses turned out just fine!

She mixes in tidbits and funny anecdotes about her horses with the general training principles she uses to help them progress.

The instructional sections are short

and sweet and include diagrams and measurements, so you can set up her exercises.

In addition, the book is packed with pictures you won’t see in competition coverage—famous horses rolling in turnout, Klimke riding with a neck rope, or galloping and training in fields at home.

You get a sense of her personality, as she provides you with an inside look at the training program that has brought her so many accolades.

—Ann Glavan

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT

A Closer Look At: Helping Equines Regain Dignity The web-savvy rescue cultivates a network of dedicated volunteers and experts to save horses in need.

BRITTANY WOODALL PHOTO

By KIERAN PAULSEN

Ginger came to HERD as an untouchable 2-year-old, and now she enjoys a loving home in Florida.

ny horse person on Facebook is familiar with the multitude of equine rescue groups that use the social media platform. But few do so as masterfully as Helping Equines Regain Dignity, or HERD, which has rescued almost 200 horses in its first year of operation. The secret to HERD’s success? A passionate founder, a board of experts, and an expansive network of dedicated people willing to do whatever it takes to save horses in need.

Heather Freeman, 59, started HERD by rescuing a single horse. One of her farm employees spotted a pinto gelding at a livestock auction, and when the horse

A

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fell into the hands of a kill buyer, Freeman stepped in to save him. She and her husband, Scott Homstead, bought the horse, brought him back to their small farm in Campobello, S.C., and named him Superman.

“I was beyond horrified at the conditions these horses [at the auction] were in,” Freeman said. “They were standing ankle deep in mud. They had one round bale and one filthy water trough for 30 horses. After I saw that, we went and got another one, and another and another. I couldn’t bring them all to my farm, so I got my neighbors to jump in and help and house some of them. Then it just

spread further and further.”

Freeman, who heads her own media and public relations firm, made HERD an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit in November 2016, but she had been saving horses on her own time since April of that year. What began as Freeman calling in favors from friends and neighbors has transformed into a community with national reach.

“All our adoptions were in Tryon [North Carolina] when we first started,” Freeman said. “But we’ve expanded a lot, and as we’ve grown our audience has grown. Adoptions happen closer to where we find horses in need, which has been great because trying to bring them all here can be really complicated and expensive. Sometimes we have horses who never even come here; they go straight from being saved to being adopted.”

The rescue to adoption pipeline is a key component of HERD’s structure.

Freeman said the organization is not a sanctuary because they don’t have the resources to take on several horses longterm. Instead the organization focuses on saving horses with the best potential of being rehomed, preferably as a working or riding companion, and utilizes a vast network of fosters, trainers, volunteers and donors to do so. Horses are posted on HERD’s Facebook group with details and a “bail” amount. Donors can contribute to the bail through PayPal, and if enough money is raised in time the horse goes to one of HERD’s affiliate farms for quarantine, rehabilitation, training and adoption.

“We run it like a business,” Freeman said. “A lot of our people have their own businesses or have worked in business.

We have a realtor who helps find homes and fosters for horses because she knows people who just bought property. We’ve

PHOTO COURTESY HERD

had trainers like Amy Barrington and Beth Perkins step up to help. Our president, Stuart Evans, worked in banking, so she’s excellent at handling the finances, and I seem to be the one who helps fundraise and picks the horses and arranges all the quarantine and transport. I’m also one of the ones who can do hands-on medical care, and my husband does a lot of the groundwork training with a few other volunteers.”

Jennifer Demyanovich, a volunteer, content manager and advisory board member, said HERD’s attention to detail and dedication to ensuring horse welfare was part of what drew her to them over other equine rescues.

“I really believe in HERD,” Demyanovich said. “Each horse has a designated volunteer when they come into the program, and HERD follows the horses to protect them after they leave too and will help if something comes up down the line once the horse has left. The follow-through is just amazing.”

HERD also steps in for horses who are in danger of ending up in kill lots through risky sales tactics. They track Craigslist posts—contacting owners who are surrendering horses and educating them about what could happen to the horses if not properly rehomed.

“We go and say, ‘Hey, this horse will probably end up at auction, and here’s what can happen to them, so please do the right thing and advertise them and find a real home,’ ” Freeman said.

“We can’t stop the shipping of horses to Mexico for slaughter because the demand is there. And I don’t know how to solve the problem of unwanted horses; that’s really the issue,” she continued. “The average horse owner has no idea what can happen to a horse after you get rid of it. I think if more people knew, they would be more mindful when

Amy Barrington is a professional eventer who donates her time to HERD, helping train horses like Miss Lucy.

they have to get rid of a horse. When I look in their eyes in the kill pens, they’re pleading. And the ones you don’t get, it’s the worst feeling to drive away and leave them; it just kills you.”

Demyanovich added that the organization is also working to dispel the myth that only older horses end up at auctions.

“It’s moms, it’s babies, it’s well-broke horses and warmbloods, and all kinds of horses,” she said. “What I like about HERD is they’re exposing it and really trying to make a wide-reaching difference.”

Freeman was quick to credit HERD’s membership with making that difference.

The HERD Facebook group has more than 600 members, and Freeman said it grows every week.

“It’s grown way beyond me,” she said.

“I may have started it, but it’s not just me anymore. It’s a huge team effort, and I cannot express how thankful I am for each and every person who has helped us on this journey so far.”

>>

LEARN MORE: Visit the Helping Equines Regain Dignity website at herdrescue. org or its Facebook group at facebook.com/ groups/1070003503067405/about/.

>>

GET IN TOUCH: Email the organization at info@herdrescue.org, call Heather Freeman at (202) 441-3607 or reach out via Facebook message.

>>

GET INVOLVED: You can foster a HERD horse, donate pasture, hay, grain, training or time, or you can make a monetary donation via PayPal or mail to Helping Equines Regain Dignity at P.O. Box 43, Tryon, NC 28782. Visit herdrescue.org/ events-1/ for more information.

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PARTING WAYS

Wrong Way On A One-Way Track Photo By DOUGLAS LEES Loose horse Perry’s Imp—having dropped his rider, Gene Leach, by stopping earlier in the race—headed back into oncoming traffic in the 1967 Warrenton Point-To-Point (Virginia). Part of that traffic included Willie McCormick on Irish Dash (closest), who was then riding in his first race. McCormick had already remounted once after coming off at the drop fence just past the starting wire.

Though it looks like the pair are battling it out for the lead, McCormick notes they were a good 30 lengths behind the front of the field, and that he pulled up shortly after.

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