april/may 2013
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The April/May 2013 issue of The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine.TRANSCRIPT
a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE
TH
E
APRIL/MAY 2013
Comandr-N-Chief+//With Stacey Burdick-Taul
a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE
anentice design llc
publication
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PublisherCassandra Ingles
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WebsiteTheArabianSportHorse.com
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Copyright 2013 All rights reserved.
No reproduction without written permission.
Please see our contributors’ bios on our website at
thearabiansporthorse.com/features
10 AlwAys so bAsicFrom Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse by Janet Foy
22 wArren pArk studby Dick Warren
32 lorrAine prowseQ&A with AHA High Point Adult Amateur
39 MAgic doMino AHsby Arlene Magid
48 converting coMAndr-n-cHiefThe Journey From Main Ring to Dressage
54 top HA/AA sires & dAMsOf the 2012 Sport Horse Nationals
66 success witH cygnusThe Building of a Winning Partnership - by Mimi Stanley
72 dressAge And tHe western HorseThe Base for Equestrian Disciplines - by Sue Kolstad
76 tAylor bowMAn’s big yeArAHA High Point Youth of the Year
C O N T E N T S
a r a b i a nSPORT HORSE
TH
E
4 Saddle Fitting
8 Back to Basics
15 Profiles in Courage
18 Reading Reflections
30 Love and Loss
36 Biomechanics
44 Turn Back the Clock
46 From Setback to Comeback 52 It’s Never Too Late
64 Dressage with Linda Zang
70 Trailer Tire TLC 79 Conformation Clinic
86 Bits and Pieces
94 Service Listings
4 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Saddle Fitting
and the ArabianSport Horse
Short back. Well-sprung rib cage. Laid back shoulder. Well-
muscled top line. Deep, well-angled hip. Powerful movement.
All of these phrases describe the wonderful and desirable char-
acteristics of the Arab sport horse. And it’s these characteristics
that can make saddle fitting such a challenge with these horses.
That short back can make it hard to find a saddle with a seat large
enough for a bigger or taller rider. That powerful movement and
well-angled hip can send the saddle shooting forward onto that
wonderful, laid-back shoulder. That well-sprung rib cage and
strongly muscled top line can make saddle perch like Stan Lau-
rel’s bowler.
While these saddle fitting issues can present a real challenge,
here’s the good news: with some patience and tenacity – and help
from a knowledgeable saddle fitter – finding the right saddle isn’t
as tough as you might think. Let’s take a look at these issues, and
their saddle fitting solutions.
SHORT, WELL-MUSCLED BACK
A short back is typical of many Arabs, and space for a saddle is
often limited. This isn’t problematic if the rider is petite and only
needs a 16.5” or 17” saddle … but if you’re a taller or larger rider
and need a 17.5” or 18” seat, you may start to run out of “use-
able” back. Ideally, you want the rider’s weight to be spread over
as large a bearing surface as possible without impinging on the
rear of the scapula or extending rearward past the 18th thoracic
vertebra (“T18”). With short backs and larger seat sizes, you often
have to make some compromises, and forward balance saddles,
upswept panels and swept-back (rearward-slanting) cantles are
often good choices.
The “forward balance” saddles (along the lines of which many
saddles in the EU are made) are built so that the rider’s weight
is carried and concentrated further forward, closer to the horse’s
center of gravity. While this isn’t a theory to which I usually ad-
here, it can be a huge help with short-backed horses, as it will
keep the rider’s weight on the correct side of T18. These saddles
often have thinner, upswept panels and swept-back cantles, like
the Amerigo Alto dressage pictured below:
Saddles made in the UK can be had with those same options.
Many can also be made with a more forward flap in conjunction
to the upswept panel and swept-back cantle, to allow for more
space for the rider without increasing seat size. This flap option
is available on saddles of all disciplines, and is especially helpful
in jump saddles.
This Black Country Tex Eventer is a cross-country saddle with
a very forward flap, a swept-back cantle and an upswept panel. It
maximizes seat size for the rider while keeping the weight-bear-
ing area of the panels minimal.
By Kitt Hazelton
Photo courtesy Equestrian Imports
5April/May 2013
This Black Country Quantum also has the more forward flap
and upswept panel. Though the cantle is more upright than that
of the previous saddle, it still offers more room for the rider than a
straighter flap and more upright cantle would.
Now, as to the “well-muscled” issue. The shape of the saddle
tree must agree with the shape of your horse’s back. A standard
saddle tree is shaped a bit like an inverted “V” or peak roof in the
area of the gullet / pommel arch:
That shape works well for a horse with a more “roofy” back, as
with the one below:
In my experience, many Arabs are very broad across the with-
ers – shaped more like a dome tent or Quonset hut:
This back shape requires a saddle with a hoop (or dome, or
freedom head) tree, which has more breadth across the top of the
pommel arch:
The broader pommel arch allows the saddle to “sit down” on
the broader withers, and helps eliminate problems with lateral
slip. It will sit lower than a standard-tree saddle; rather than an
arbitrary 2 or 3 fingers’ clearance over the withers, we talk of hoop
trees having “adequate” clearance. Sometimes that’s only a finger
or so, but as long as the saddle sits in correct balance and at no
time makes contact with the withers or spine, it’s fine. Hoop tree
saddles often have a wider channel between the panels, to al-
low for adequate clearance of the lateral aspect of the spine, and
usually feature laterally flatter panels to accommodate that well-
sprung rib cage … which we’ll investigate next.
6 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
WELL-SPRUNG RIB CAGE
As well as panels that are pretty flat from side-to-side, a well-
sprung rib cage often requires a modified billet configuration. A
common conformation feature with a broad rib cage is a small, for-
ward girth spot – the flat area on the bottom of the barrel behind
the forelegs where the girth will lie:
Many saddles feature center-hung billets, which, when the
saddle is properly positioned, can cause them to fall behind the
natural girth spot if your horse has a short, forward spot:
This can result in the saddle scooting forward onto the shoul-
der when it’s girthed up:
The fix for this issue is a point front and swing rear billet. This
configuration will allow the front billet to hang straight down in
line with the girth groove, and the rear swing billet will self-adjust
and line up with the girth groove as well.
This can help keep the saddle back in the proper position, and
keep the shoulder free. I know some people who say that their
horse won’t tolerate a point billet, but I usually find that in those
cases, the rider may be over-tightening the girth, or the tree points
may be too long.
LAID BACK SHOULDER
Now, that comment about the length of your tree point is es-
pecially germane here. Some saddles have short tree points, and
some have long; you can find the end of the tree point on your
saddle by locating the point pocket, which is a U-shaped pocket
on the sweat flap, just in front of and below the stirrup bar:
The further down the sweat flap the end of the point pocket
is located, the longer the tree point. In the photo below, the tree
7April/May 2013
points of the saddle are quite long - about 8” down from the nail
head, which is just above the top of the panels:
Long tree points can be a big help when you have a horse
with a big wither, as they help increase the weight-bearing surface
down the front of the tree. Most Arabs, however, don’t have the
wither height that requires a long point. In fact, a long tree point
can be a problematic feature on low/lower withers with laid-back
shoulders. When you have a horse with that conformation, the
rear edge of the scapula rotates back quite far – sometimes a full
hand - when the foreleg reaches ahead. The rear edge of the scap-
ula should slip under the flap and panels of the saddle without
coming into contact with the tree point. With longer tree points,
the scapula can actually make contact with the tree point when it
rotates back, which can result in a shortened, choppy stride and
an understandable unwillingness to move forward. If your horse
has a lower wither and a laid-back shoulder, a shorter point (like
the one below, which measures 5” down from the nail head) is of-
ten preferable. With a shorter point, the scapula will rotate below
the end of the point rather than running into it.
DEEP, WELL-ANGLED HIP; POWERFUL MOVEMENT
Let’s take a look at this horse, who is a lovely sport horse type:
He shows all of the characteristics we’ve been talking about
here. (And interestingly, he’s the same horse as in the photo
showing the girth spot … just two years more mature.) He’s built
quite level front-to-back, with a well-defined, moderate wither, a
bit of an upslope from his back to his hip, and an angle in the rear
that pretty much guarantees a lot of push from behind. That com-
bination make it easy for the saddle to be slid forward into the
shoulders, especially if the rear panel is too long and/or too deep.
This is another situation where a moderately thin (and, if the rider
is large, an upswept) rear panel can be a help; too much depth in
the rear panel will make the saddle sit cantle-high even if the tree
width were correct. His present saddle fits him very well:
Even when you find the right saddle for your horse, you need
to be proactive about maintaining the fit. You need to expect
changes in the musculature of the back as your horse progresses
in training; this is particularly true of young horses (as you can
see above). Also, if your saddle is wool-flocked, the flocking will
need to be adjusted from time to time; most fitters recommend
at least once a year. If your horse goes in and out of condition
Continued on page 90
8 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Back to Basics Series
A Series by Ashley Wren
Many people get so involved in train-
ing their horse that they forget about their
own equitation. Not only do we want our
horses to be fit and well trained but also
we, as riders, want to be a strong, effec-
tive, and well-balanced rider. There are
many exercises that you can utilize in your
program that can help you to become an
overall better rider or that even profes-
sional riders can find beneficial. I am going
to share a few of my favorites that you can
do on your own and that can especially
help equitation riders in the show ring.
First and foremost, you must utilize
the dreaded riding without stirrups. I
stress the importance of this exercise for
everyone. Even as a professional riding at
least 5 horses or more on a daily basis, I
still force myself to regularly ride without
stirrups. Riding without stirrups improves
your balance, seat, and your overall posi-
tion by strengthening your legs.
When riding without stirrups, you
have a few choices on how to ride with-
out them - simply dropping them, cross-
ing them over the saddle, or removing the
stirrups and leathers from the saddle. With
a young green horse, I will cross the stir-
rups over the front of the saddle to avoid
the stirrup irons upsetting him by rubbing
his sides. With more experienced horses,
I will simply drop the stirrups so the horse
will get used to them on their side. I use
this method as yet another way to help to
bombproof the horse. Remember to use
your whole leg, and do not pinch with your
knees. You will not get the benefit of riding
without stirrups if you cheat by pinching
with your knees or throwing your body up
while posting.
Be sure to keep your legs in your disci-
pline’s normal position and ride in all the
horse’s different gaits. While posting the
trot, remember not to simply throw your
body up in the air - control your post. Post-
ing correctly at the trot is more important
than attaining height; allow the momen-
tum of the horse’s gait to help you. You
should also ride in two-point without your
stirrups, and again remember height is not
as important as correct position. A two-
point position, or half-seat, is when only 2
of your 3 contact points are on the saddle,
with 3 points being each leg and your seat.
Your seat should be off the saddle with
your hip angle slightly closed so your up-
per body is forward but chest is still per-
pendicular to the ground. This is the basic
position for jumping. Keep your eyes look-
ing in front of you; riders typically tend to
start looking down more while in the two-
point position.
To take riding without stirrups to the
next level, lengthen your legs wrapping
them around the barrel of the horse and
point your toes towards the horses oppo-
site front foot. This exercise will cause you
to sit deeply in the saddle, so remember
to let your hips move with the horse so
that the ride will be smoother. When you
perform this exercise, it will help you to
improve your upper leg strength, seat, and
will correctly work your entire leg evenly.
Your thighs will be especially sore after
this exercise at first if you are not used to
riding with your leg in a longer position or
using your entire leg equally.
Some riders are blessed with the abil-
ity to really stretch down in their heels -
others are not so blessed. For those with-
out that flexibility, I have an exercise that
will really help a rider sink into the heels
for a strong base and more stable leg. In-
stead of holding your stirrup in its regular
position on the ball of the foot, place the
stirrup where your heel enters it from the
front back, so the stirrup is resting under
Strengthen Your Base
9April/May 2013
your heel. This exercise forces a rider to
push down into their heels, or they will
lose the stirrup. You will be at first thrown
slightly off balance; and it will feel un-
comfortable, but stick with it. If you have
a problem with your heels creeping up es-
pecially over fences, this exercise will help
you with that. However, I do not recom-
mend doing this exercise while jumping.
The final exercise is what I call the
“see-saw stirrups.” I recommend that the
rider be at least an intermediate with a
seasoned horse before trying this exercise
because it is difficult. I learned this exer-
cise from Greg Best and love it. It is great
for a rider who is not sitting evenly in the
saddle. I will help keep you from leaning
to one side and will improve your overall
balance. Remove the leathers and stir-
rups from the saddle and then proceed
to open the leather up and attach them to
each other. Make a loop with the leathers,
and the stirrups will rest on the buckles
once attached. Then, you place the stirrup
leathers back on the saddle with a stirrup
hanging on either side - one leather will
go in front of the pommel of the saddle
and one in the seat. You will need help
adjusting the length to better suit you af-
ter you place your feet back into the stir-
rups. Once you are situated, proceed with
flatwork. (Advanced riders can jump with
this exercise, but I suggest not doing this
alone for safety purposes.) If you brace
harder on one side it causes the other side
to raise up, which is why I call them the
“see-saw stirrups.” The idea is to stay even
throughout your body and to equally use
both sides. You might be surprised at what
you find out about how even or uneven
you are as a rider.
Remember not to be hard on yourself
if you have difficulty with any of these ex-
ercises; the more you practice them, the
easier they will get. Don’t push yourself
too hard but do extend slightly past your
comfort level. Expect to be sore after each
of these exercises especially when you
first start implementing them into your
training program. A stronger more bal-
anced rider makes training and riding the
horse easier, and your horse will be hap-
pier to work.
Ashley began riding at age 2 and
showing on the national circuit at age 6 on
the east coast. During her junior career she
had the opportunity to work with some of
the Southeast best hunter jumper trainers.
During college Ashley competed in IHSA
and also coached various teams. Ashley
became a professional in 2008, she owns
and trains at Rimrock Equestrian Center
a 160 acre 54 stall facility in Billings, MT.
Since becoming a professional trainer, she
is a certified equine appraiser, certified
hunt seat and jumper trainer, a Montana
Hunter Jumper Association board mem-
ber, and USEF “L” judge. Ashley specialty is
starting and training hunter jumpers, and
also likes working with difficult horses.
About Ashley
10 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Always So Basic Excerpted from Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse by Janet Foy and reprinted by permission from Trafalgar Square Books
Have you ever felt that perhaps you
will never succeed in dressage because
you don’t have the “perfect” horse, the
one with huge, floating gaits and seeming-
ly perfect lateral and longitudinal supple-
ness? Have you struggled through a test
in which you felt as if your horse suddenly
“forgot” all the training you’d done? Have
you ever wondered how to make better
use of the judge’s comments on your test
sheets once you got back home?
Without the ability to ride your horse
using the correct basics, you will undoubt-
edly find yourself frustrated with your pro-
gress—no matter what horse you ride and
train. This chapter is the most important of
all, the one without which none of the fol-
lowing chapters matters.
Many riders misunderstand the degree
of balance and gymnastic training neces-
sary to perform the movements at each
dressage level—with harmony and ease.
For example, just because your horse
does flying changes, it doesn’t mean he is
a Third Level horse: he may not have the
necessary degree of collection and exten-
sion for that level. I’ll talk more later about
how to determine whether your horse is
ready to compete at a given level. (Hint:
Read the test directives! They contain im-
portant information.)
The Horse’s Training Pyramid
For now, let’s start with the Classi-
cal Training Pyramid, also known as the
Classical Training Scale. This
pyramid originated in Germany
and has long been the basis
of classical dressage train-
ing in Europe and else-
where. It is also the basis
of good judging. It is
interesting that for a
long time when I
would do clin-
ics, I would
ask the
s t u -
Without correct
rhythm of the
walk, trot, and
canter, you are
not riding
dressage in the
classical sense.
dents, “What is the first element on the
Training Scale?” They would all yell, “For-
ward!” I am happy to say that with better
education now in the United States, this
doesn’t happen very often anymore! There
are many variations of the Classical Train-
ing Pyramid out there; some are more em-
bellished than others. I am going to keep
it simple.
I like to think of dressage as a fin-
ished jigsaw puzzle. The six steps of
the Classical Training Pyramid are all
pieces of the puzzle. The steps in
the pyramid are the first pieces
you should look for in train-
ing. The “basics” are like
the “edge” pieces of the
puzzle—you should
find them first. With
experience, you
will know
that the
b l u e
piec-
e s
11April/May 2013
are the sky and go on top
and the green pieces are
the grass and go on the bottom. Once the
edges are in place, you can start to fill in
the rest. You will never finish the puzzle
and see the “big picture” unless you have
correct basics.
Rhythm
This is the basis of dressage. Without
correct rhythm of the walk, trot, and can-
ter, you are not riding dressage in the clas-
sical sense. Take a look at the sidebar on
p. 12 with the definitions and diagrams re-
garding rhythm from the USEF Rule Book.
When a judge looks at a horse, the
rhythm of the gaits is the first priority. The
quality is the second. Any horse can have
his natural gaits improved with dressage.
I will discuss this throughout the book.
If you cannot afford a horse with an “ex-
pensive trot,” then your training becomes
even more important. And, if you do buy a
top quality horse and your training is in-
correct, you can ruin your horse’s natural
quality.
Suppleness
In my opinion, this is one of the most
important parts of the Classical Training
Pyramid. As a judge, I have never writ-
ten on someone’s test that the horse had
too much suppleness. But what does this
piece of the jigsaw puzzle really mean?
Horses do not volunteer suppleness;
the rider must ask for it. Suppleness really
is the section that discusses how a horse
carries energy through the topline. Dres-
sage riders are very picky about develop-
ing the horse’s topline correctly. Without a
strong and well-muscled topline, the horse
cannot achieve the collection needed for
the upper-level movements. This muscle
development—a bit like a weightlifter’s
(whereas event horses have muscles more
like a long-distance runner’s)—also pro-
tects the legs from stress and damage.
Think of the hind legs as the power
source. The power and energy comes up
from the hind legs over the croup. The loin
must then take the energy over the back.
The loin is the part of the
horse that is in charge
of the elasticity and is often called the
“bridge” that carries the energy forward.
The neck muscles must also be supple,
carrying the energy through both sides of
the neck to the contact on the mouth.
The rider is then able to use the reins
to “receive” the energy the horse’s hind
legs have created. This is what is meant by
“throughness.” (For more on this, see Im-
pulsion below.)
Think of your horse’s muscles as a
two-lane freeway. When the highway is
free of accidents or road blocks, the cars
will travel smoothly from Point A to Point
B. The horse’s topline is like these lanes of
traffic. When the rider is able to correctly
influence the topline, energy from the
hind legs flows smoothly over the back.
When there is tension or a lack of contact
or straightness, energy has too many de-
tours.
Your goal is to develop an open free-
way, which allows energy to come over
the horse’s back, through the neck to the
Here I am riding the five-year-old Holsteiner mare Marburg in working trot, showing good contact and stretch to the bit during a First Level Test.
12 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
bit. When you have this correct, supple
connection — or “thoroughness” — then
you have control of the horse’s impulsion
and balance.
Contact
When your highway is open with traf-
fic flowing smoothly, the next step is for
you to develop a supple contact with both
reins. This piece of the puzzle requires the
horse to stretch evenly into both reins.
This is important because I see too many
riders throwing away the inside rein while
always holding onto the outside rein.
The reins must work together as a
team. The inside rein is in charge of lateral
suppleness. It positions the head and neck
to the inside and also acts as a turning aid.
This rein is almost 100 percent of the time
used in the direction of the bend—in oth-
er words, it should not touch the neck. An
indirect rein of opposition (where the in-
side hand goes to the rider’s opposite hip)
is rarely used in dressage because it holds
the horse’s shoulders out, and as you will
read later, this is opposite of what you are
trying to achieve.
How much weight should you have
in your reins? Many riders mistake light-
ness on the reins as an indicator that the
horse is light on the forehand. This is not
correct. Many horses are heavier in the
contact and yet very light in the shoulders.
The term “lightness” should really be used
only to describe the balance of the horse
and elevation of his shoulders. I prefer to
use the term “suppleness” or “elasticity”
in the contact rather than the word “light-
ness.”
I believe you should “have” 2 to 5
pounds in your hands. Some horses are
lighter, some heavier, due to their breed-
ing and/or conformation. This weight is
fluid and like an elastic band attached to
the bit. The rider should be able to follow
the movement of the topline when nec-
essary. (The horse moves his topline the
most in the free walk, not much in the trot,
and a little in the canter.)
These last two puzzle pieces—supple-
ness and contact—make up quite a lot of
the submission score in a dressage test’s
Collective Marks.
Impulsion
In my opinion, it is dangerous to add
too much impulsion before you have sub-
USEF Rule Book
WALK
1 The walk is a marching gait in a regular and well-marked, four-
time beat with equal intervals between each beat. This regularity
combined with full relaxation must be maintained throughout all
walk movements.
2 When the foreleg and the hind leg on the same side swing
forward almost synchronously, the walk has a lateral rhythm. This
irregularity is a serious deterioration of the gait.
TROT
1 The trot is a two-beat gait of alternate diagonal legs (left fore
and right hind leg and vice versa) separated by a moment of sus-
pension.
2 The trot should show free, active, and regular steps.
3 The quality of the trot is judged by general impression, i.e. the
regularity and elasticity of the steps, the cadence and impulsion
The walk is a gait in four-beat rhythm with eight phases (the numbers in circles indicate the beat).
The trot is a gait in two-beat rhythm with four phases (the num-bers in circles indicate the beat).
13April/May 2013
mission. The more impulsion you have, the
more submission you need.
Impulsion is not speed. The horse
should not be running so fast that he
gets out of balance. Impulsion requires
suspension in the gaits, which is why the
walk does not have impulsion. If you do
not have suppleness and an elastic con-
tact, the horse will not have impulsion.
When the horse is supple and going with
an elastic contact, then the impulsion puz-
zle allows the horse to “lift” his back and
stomach muscles, which creates a “circle
of energy.” This circle, which starts with
the hind legs (the horse’s engine), travels
over the loins and through the neck to the
elastic contact, then allows the horse to
arch his back and lift the abdominal mus-
cles. The energy will thus flow back to the
in both collection and extension. This quality originates from a
supple back and well-engaged hindquarters, and by the ability to
maintain the same rhythm and natural balance with all variations
of the trot.
CANTER
1 The canter is a three-beat gait where, in canter to the right,
for example, the footfall is as follows: left hind, left diagonal (si-
multaneously left fore and right hind), right fore, followed by a
moment of suspension with all four feet in the air before the next
stride begins.
2 The canter, always with light, cadenced, and regular strides,
should be moved into without hesitation.
3 The quality of the canter is judged by the general impression,
i.e. the regularity and lightness of the steps and the uphill ten-
dency and cadence originating from the acceptance of the bridle
with a supple poll and in the engagement of the hindquarters
with an active hock action—and by the ability of maintaining the
same rhythm and a natural balance, even after a transition from
one canter to another. The horse should always remain straight
on straight lines and correctly bent on curved lines.
The canter is a gait in three-beat rhythm with six phases.
Gwen Blake riding a well-balanced working canter aboard Winsome during a First Level Test.
14 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
hind legs. When this circle is complete, the
rider will feel she has a horse that moves
more on his own in self-carriage.
When a horse is “rigid” in his back or
neck, speed is the result, not impulsion.
Straightness
Straightness is another totally misun-
derstood area of dressage. As mentioned,
the Classical Training Pyramid (Scale)
originated in Germany. German has many
one-word “horse” terms. Some of these
one-word terms actually take several sen-
tences in English to completely define
them. A German friend of mine asked me
to help him with judging in English. He
would give me one word in German, and
I would give him three sentences. He said,
“Oh, it is hard to judge in English.”
I like to think of straightness as the line
of travel. Only in travers (haunches-in) and
half-pass is the forehand on the line of
travel. Every other movement requires the
haunches to be on the
line of travel. Most movements have
the horse’s shoulders slightly displaced to
the inside because the horse is wider be-
hind than in front.
I like to think of the horse as a three-
car, choo-choo train. I imagine one hinge
in front of the saddle and one behind it.
Think of this train going around a
curve. It is like the horse on a circle. The
horse can be a “C” (or a “c” when the circle
is smaller), and on a straight line his body
should be like a parenthesis—that is, in
shoulder-fore or position-left—or right.
(Eventually, when you work on lateral sup-
pleness of the poll, the poll must still stay
a part of the neck train car.)
If the horse does not follow the line of
travel, the train will derail, and when he is
crooked, you will not have the ability to go
to the next piece of the puzzle.
Only in piaffe, passage, one-tempi fly-
ing changes, and rein-back can the horse
be like an “l” —a lower case “L.” In these
movements the horse is carrying weight
on both hind legs equally and must be
absolutely straight or he will lose his bal-
ance.
The word “straightness” means the lat-
eral suppleness of the horse—the ability
to conform to the line of travel—whereas
the suppleness portion of the Classical
Training Pyramid refers to the longitudinal
suppleness.
Collection
Collection is the last piece of the
horse’s pyramid, and if you have correct-
ly applied all of the pieces of the puzzle,
you will begin to see the big picture. Col-
lection is relative to the horse’s level of
dressage training. At Second Level, we are
just developing collection, and we like to
see an “uphill” tendency, meaning it may
come and go. At the Grand Prix Level, the
utmost self-carriage and collection should
be maintained.
If you are having issues with balance in
regard to any level of collection, you must
go down the “food chain” and discover the
hole in your training. Perhaps your horse
is not straight—that is, he is not follow-
ing the line of travel and the haunches are
falling in as the shoulders fall out. Perhaps
he is still laterally lacking suppleness, not
accepting contact with the bit, or tight over
the back? Any of these issues will need to
be addressed right away. Do not move on
and start working on movements. Discover
the missing piece of your puzzle and then
address the big picture!
Caryn Bujnowski and Preston showing a good collected canter with uphill balance and good basics.
Continued on page 90
15April/May 2013
By Karin Foley
Photos by Wanda Coleman
Subject: Lillian Moore, Nashville, NC.
Disciplines: Dressage and Reining
Horses: JMA Just a Tremour (Shockwave x A Rare Brandy) Purebred
Arabian
Scentsational Z (Cologne x The April Dawn) National Show Horse
A Big Enterprize (A Grand Prize x La Petite Quincy) Quarter Horse
Specialty: Helping Serious students gain the confidence to move up
through the levels.
One of the real pleasures about the sport horse disciplines is
the number of amateurs competing. Without the amateur riders
most events could not exist. It takes a huge number of amateur en-
tries at the lower levels to finance the advanced level entries. For
every single Grand Prix entry there are an inversely proportional
number of entry-level jumpers. The same goes for dressage, event-
ing, and hunter jumper. So I never underestimate the importance
of the amateur competitor.
Some horse owners can have their horses brought along by
pros. This is more common at the upper levels. Jan Hlavacek owns
the crowd-pleasing Westphalen dressage gelding Weltino’s Magic
who with Steffan Peters aboard won double gold at the 2011 Pam
Am Games. Magic, as he is affectionately known, was started slowly
by Shannon Peters and brought along with professional care to be-
come the FEI star he is today.
Most owners don’t have such an option. The average horse
owner is competing and often training their horses themselves.
Success or failure is related to ring time or discipline based train-
ing. But there is something more that makes some horse and rider
teams stand out from the rest. The difference is something often
called grit, brio, boldness, bravery, moxey; in a word CONFIDENCE.
You can ride that same course of jumps a hundred times with-
out fault and then in an instant suffer a crushing fall. What is it that
allows a rider to nail it each and every time including on a windy
day with a tractor backfiring? CONFIDENCE! Years ago at a horse
show, I remember watching a horse hang his front legs on the side
rails of the arena with a rider on his back. The rider sat there as if
unconcerned, waiting for the horse to free himself, which he did.
The whole time I was watching this unfold I was coming unglued.
Confidence seems a simple concept and yet can be a nerve-
wracking journey. Back in 2006, I rode a kind horse in a dressage
lesson and then together we took a casual stroll through a baby
cross-country course without issue. On our way back to the barn,
something happened that I was unprepared for and my saint of a
horse went vertical without warning. The result was a shattered
helmet but an intact head, six hours of surgery to reattach my right
hand, and a newly acquired sense of terror on horseback.
Years ago the Olympian Darren Chiacchia had an accident on
a horse that resulted in Traumatic Brain Injury. The folklore is that
Robert Dover started Darren back riding by walking him on the
lunge line for days on end and the rest is, as they say, history. Dar-
ren is back eventing at the upper levels with a group of horses that
inspire envy and some of those horses are a challenge. Darren had
not lost any of his talent or ability he had “only” briefly lost some
of his confidence.
For those of us who cannot ring up Robert Dover when our con-
fidence takes a beating, the road back to confidence can be quite
terrifying. Most discipline-based trainers are not equipped to deal
Mean Confidence Building
Profiles in Courage Confidence Clinics
16 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
with fear issues of any magnitude. Challenges such as these call
for an expert.
In the years following my vertical catastrophe, I resumed dres-
sage lessons with the amazing Kayla DeArmes, a student of Con-
rad Schumacher in Virginia. Thanks to Kayla, I can now isolate just
about every centimeter of tissue in my behind. I can also stick to
the saddle through most anything. A year with Kayla had given me
the technical proficiency to stay in the saddle and direct my horse.
That did impart some confidence. Still, something was missing. A
jiggy pony, a little too much wind, an ill-mannered horse approach-
ing in the hunt field, a tractor trailer in the background and inside I
was positively unglued. I began to seriously doubt my future with
horses.
A couple of years ago, my friend Sue had started hosting clinics
with a former mounted police officer, Lillian Moore, in Nashville,
NC. The pictures from the clinics looked fun but to my cynical eye
not all that serious. I was visiting in Virginia on a weekend that
Sue was hosting a “Confidence Clinic” with Lillian and I was re-
cruited as a replacement for a last minute cancellation. So on a
borrowed horse and a bunch of mismatched borrowed tack, includ-
ing a dressage saddle that was a torture device, I went to the clinic
and horse riding life as I knew it changed.
Lillian’s work focuses on the horse, which is different than most
discipline based learning. All of the focus is on the horse and what
works for the horse; what makes the horse feel comfortable and
confident. Lilian’s clinics are akin to learning to become the head
pack dog in a pack of sledding dogs. The horse is the pack. The
rider is the head pack dog. Confidence work is leadership training.
Lillian’s work is NOT another Natural Horsemanship derivative.
I should admit here that I am not a huge fan of all things “nat-
ural.” After all, bee stings are natural and I am violently allergic
to bee stings. Confidence building is not so much a method as a
state of mind. Learning to become a head pack dog with your horse
means having a “can do” attitude. It means being the leader.
I have an amazing Oldenburg mare named Wunderblitz who
has produced some very nice Half Arab foals. She is also fun to
ride. She is by the jumper Weltstern. My friend Carolyn Miller from
Greenstone Farm owned Weltstern for many years and he passed
away last year on her farm at almost thirty years old. Long ago Car-
olyn told me that Weltstern kids take their cue from the rider. That
meant even though Wunderblitz has beaten two dressage trainers
who refused to get on her back because of her “temperament,”
that I had to adopt a “can do” attitude with her if I was ever going
to be able to ride her. In other words, Carolyn made it simple, if I
worry, Wunderblitz worries, and so I cannot worry. It worked.
It was years after the Wunderblitz experience that I started
working with Lillian. My bravado with Wunderblitz had to be ral-
lied for each and every encounter with the mare who’s into space
launching trot early on left me in a sweat. Two years after I was the
fill in rider for my first Lillian clinic, Wunderblitz now can be rid-
den from the field bareback with a halter. The only thing that has
changed is that since the confidence work with Lillian, I believe I
can do it and I do not hesitate. Wunderblitz requires LEADERSHIP.
Leadership requires confidence. Something I learned about in Lil-
lian’s “Confidence Clinics”.
A “Confidence Clinic” with Lillian does not seem hard on the
surface. The uninitiated could watch and think it was cute how
those whirly birds go flying around or how horses walk across a
teeter-totter. The clinics are done with groups of riders. There is a
lot of lining up and trotting down the side of the arena and across
diagonals which is designed to get riders comfortable with the
idea of timing, distance and space…in many ways similar to jump-
ing strides and dressage transition work. There are riders at all lev-
els of ability and yet they all manage to get the striding and timing
down by the end of the day. It is about anticipating; thinking ahead
while preparing your horse for what is to come. Obstacles such as
beach balls rolling at you and your horse or flaming arches become
secondary to the work at hand. Therein lies the key to the whole
exercise. Obstacles, distractions and challenges are just that - sec-
ondary to the work at hand. Once you get your mind around that
truth the confidence just soars!
The confidence building work Lillian does in her clinics trans-
lates easily to most any discipline. I hunt and do dressage and
17April/May 2013
apply it all whether I am out in the hunt field or riding a dressage
test. I have stopped worrying about the boogieman in the corner. I
do pay attention to my horse’s state of mind but I do not fret over
it as I once did. I anticipate it and deal with it.
Whether you are wanting to feel safe hacking out on your
horse, ride a mid level dressage test, take on a stadium jumping
course, aspire to event at the advanced level or just want to have
fun on your horse, confidence building translates. Denny Emerson
recently said that he wonders why so many riders are afraid to
cross train their horses and yet will spend hours and hours work-
ing on one simple thing that might be made easier if the horse
had some cross training. A nervous or unfit horse ridden by a less
than confident rider is never going to excel. It seems to me that
Confidence Clinics and the techniques gained are the perfect way
to cross train. And besides, it is really, really fun!
Lillian Moore is based out of Nashville, North Carolina and fre-
quently travels to South Carolina and Virginia.
•••
Karin Foley has written for numerous equine
publications including The Blood Horse, Middle-
burg Today, Equus Magazine, and Modern Arabian
Horse. She currently lives in the Finger Lakes re-
gion of New York with her husband Willis. Togeth-
er, they breed Arab and Welsh bred sport ponies for
adult dressage, eventing, and foxhunting riders.
They also raise English Labrador Retrievers to be PTSD service dogs, therapy
dogs for autistic children, and great family dogs.
Karin spent most of her years with horses living in or around Middleburg
and Charlottesville, Virginia. For a decade she managed High Road Farm, a
long term care facility for special needs horses and ran an after school horse-
manship program for at risk teenage girls. She is a trustee of the John Henry
Tiffany Trust an organization that supports the dignified retirement of work-
ing horses. She is an advisor to Borrowed Freedom Equine Assisted Therapy;
an equine farm based program for special needs children.
Karin has studied riding and horsemanship with many wonderful instruc-
tors including Sally O’Connor , Thomas Ritter, and Conrad Schumacher . She
attributes her sticking seat to a year of lunge line lessons with the fabulous
Kayla DeArmis, a student of Conrad Schumacher’s and the encouragement of
her long term friend, Sue Fanelli.
Karin’s interests include sport horse breeding, the biomechanics of riding
and unusual horse adventures. Karin also enjoys writing about courageous
horses and their riders and individual experiences with great teachers. If you
have a unique story contact Karin at [email protected].
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18 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
READING REFLECTIONSA Series by Dawn Jones-Low
While there is no substitute for real
life experience handling, training, and
riding horses -- books and other media
can broaden and deepen the knowledge
base that we apply to the practice of good
horsemanship. In recent years, interest in
equine biomechanics has grown among
riders and trainers so a plethora of books
on the subject are available. Equine bio-
mechanics combines physics with anato-
my and physiology to explore and explain
how horses move – as well as examining
how the rider and horse influence each
other. The field of equine biomechanics
includes study of the functional anatomy
of the horse, gait analysis, postural analy-
sis, the effects of various conditioning
regimens on the horse’s body, and a va-
riety of other sub-fields. Principles from
equine biomechanics can be applied to
improve performance, support soundness
and well-being, and assist with rehabilita-
tion after injury.
“Through equine biomechanical
analysis, riders will learn to understand
the horse’s physical requirements for the
movements he has to perform. It will high-
light the horse’s limitations when perform-
ing certain movements, and will thus teach
the rider to make requests in such a man-
ner that the horse does not lose balance
in his attempt to comply. Knowledge of
biomechanics determines which actions
will improve both the horse’s and rider’s
performance but, most importantly, it dis-
tinguishes fact from misconception about
equine movement.” (Karen Blignault)
Writings about functional conforma-
Books have always been important to me. As a child, I spent countless hours reading at home and at the public library. Growing up in the
suburbs in a non-horsey family, books were also my main entryway to the world of horses and provided fuel for my dreams. Several dec-
ades into adulthood, books are still a treasure to me as they continue to inspire and inform all areas of my life –including riding and horse-
manship. This column gives me an opportunity to use some of those books as a springboard for sharing ideas and inspiration with readers.
19April/May 2013
tion like the three small volumes of Dr.
Deb Bennett Ph.D.’s Principles of Confor-
mation Analysis and Susan E. Harris’ Horse
Gaits, Balance, and Movement touch on ba-
sic aspects of biomechanics so can serve
as gateway. Susan Harris and Peggy Brown
pioneered the technique of painting inter-
nal structures on horses bodies at clinics
and produced a video series Anatomy in
Motion: the Visible Horse and Anatomy in
Motion II: the Visible Rider. Recently, Gil-
lian Higgins, an equine massage therapist
and 3-day event rider, has expanded on
that “inside out” painting technique and
published several books (and videos) that
offer insights into equine anatomy, physi-
ology, and biomechanics. How Your Horse
Moves: a unique visual guide to improving
performance focuses on the musculo-skel-
etal function. Horse Anatomy for Perfor-
mance: a practical guide to training, riding,
and horse care goes into more detail and
includes more organ systems (cardiovas-
cular, neurological, connective tissue, etc.).
Higgins spiral bound book, Pilates and
Stretching: an Exercise Index for Horse Own-
ers is an example applying biomechanical
principles to practical applications that
can benefit horses.
Dr. Nancy Nicholson, Ph.D. created an
intriguing book, Biomechanical Riding: a
Rider’s Atlas, which is based on years of re-
search complemented by her expertise as
dressage rider to the highest levels. The
atlas is chock full of detailed analyses of
gaits and movements both at liberty and
when ridden. The section on the rider’s
seat provides a comprehensive look at
how the rider is a critically important el-
ement in the partnership with the horse.
This atlas stands out partly for the amaz-
ing illustrations produced from complex
computer modeling. “These Atlas IMAGES
ARE NOT DRAWINGS …. Instead, images
are printouts of computer models of horse
and rider checked against frames from
digital video recordings of gaits. Some
gait dynamics are also derived from those
records. Atlas images also incorporate an-
atomical information from veterinary and
medical sources. Differences between
model output and drawings are crucial
because drawings, no matter how talented
the artist, show what is imagined or ex-
pected to happen.” (Ch.1-6) These images
are commonly circulated on the internet
–often without attribution, but are best ap-
preciated in the context of the accompany-
ing material in the book. There is plenty of
material to be explored by novices, but the
atlas also contains layers of detail for those
who are advanced riders and for those who
enjoy highly technical analysis. (See exam-
ple here: http://bit.ly/170HTNU and http://
bit.ly/103t1tW) Although this atlas is built
on a strong foundation of science, it is not a
dry technical manual. The writer’s humane
attitude towards the horse shines through
and is backed up by reasoning rooted in
the biomechanical analyses.
For those who prefer highly technical
writing, the world renowned Dr. Hilary M.
Clayton BVMS Ph.D. MRCVS has written
The Dynamic Horse: a Biomechanical Guide
to Equine and Performance which focuses
on the physics and physiology of equine
movement. As a Grand Prix dressage rider,
Dr. Clayton also has an appreciation for the
practical applications of biomechanics and
has published Activate Your Horse’s Core:
Unmounted Exercises for Dynamic Mobil-
ity, Strength, and Balance with Narelle C.
Stubbs who has advanced degrees in ani-
mal physical therapy. A DVD is included
20 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
to assist in teaching the exercises. The
horse used to illustrate the exercises is Dr.
Clayton’s Arabian FEI dressage horse, MSU
Magic J+//.
An appreciation for biomechanics and
their application to sympathetic athletic
development of the horse is not new. The
Rider Forms the Horse: Function and Devel-
opment of the Riding Horse by Udo Burger
and Otto Zietzschmann was first published
in 1939 and reprinted in the late 1980s.
This book presents an excellent overview
of muscle function and is largely focused
on developing the young horse. Sections
describing key biomechanical principles
are followed by practical pointers for
training and conditioning and reflections
on fostering and maintaining mental and
physical harmony with the horse. The con-
cerns expressed are shared by many con-
temporary horsemen and women.
Karin Blignault’s Equine Biomechanics
for Riders: the Key to Balanced Riding com-
bines clear descriptions of a comprehen-
sive range of biomechanical concepts with
practical guidelines for riding and training
as well as criteria for judges to utilize. The
modular organization of the book facili-
tates careful consideration of the material.
The author includes many simple exercis-
es that the reader can perform to gain an
understanding of various biomechanical
principles. Attention is given to recogniz-
ing and correcting performance and train-
ing problems. The photos and drawings
throughout the book are well chosen to
illustrate the information. Her experience
as an FEI level dressage rider and as a rid-
ing instructor contributes to the clarity of
the presentation of the material in a man-
ner that is aimed at helping riders, trainers,
and judges.
In refreshing my memory of this se-
lection of books, I was struck by how the
authors’ academic interests in the science
of the biomechanics of riding was interwo-
ven with a deep caring for the well-being
of the horse. Each of these books differs in
focus and scope of the rather broad field
of equine biomechanics, but all provide
educational opportunities to readers who
want to utilize biomechanical principles
to foster balance, harmony, and efficiency
of gaits and movement with their equine
partners. A wealth of interesting reading
awaits those who want to explore equine
biomechanics.
Dawn has been
interested in the
sport disciplines
since the late 1980’s.
She rode on the IHSA
team in hunter equi-
tation on the flat in
college, has dabbled
in low level eventing,
and then fell in love
with riding according
to classical dressage principals. In 1998, Dawn sold her talented
young Warmblood and bought her first Arabian after discovering
the athleticism and delightful temperaments of the Arabian horse.
After studying the history of the Arabian in the sport horse world,
Dawn started Faerie Court Farm on 40 acres in Addison County
Vermont where she is breeding and raising Arabian sport horses
from CMK bloodlines with the help of her husband, Thom, who is
perhaps the best horse husband in the world.
About Dawn
Winning Moments
Bob Tarr Photography • Cincinnati, Ohio • (513) 851-8529 • www.BobTarr.com • [email protected]
Preserve Your
21April/May 2013
Winning Moments
Bob Tarr Photography • Cincinnati, Ohio • (513) 851-8529 • www.BobTarr.com • [email protected]
Preserve Your
22 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
S andy and Dick Warren have spent fifty years quietly
breeding Arabian horses based on an ideal Sandy
steadfastly held in her mind’s eye. The key to her
success was preserving certain characteristics: ath-
letic ability, good conformation, good disposition and her breed-
ing stock’s ability to pass on these traits. They are known through-
out the world for their unique Arabians.
Sandy Thomas Warren was born on July 6, 1939, in Carmel.
She was the first born to Don and Barbara Thomas and lived in San
Francisco. Don’s parents, Ivan and Elsie Thomas lived in Carmel
Valley. Over the next several years there were occasional visits to
the “folks” and in 1947, on a little ride in the country they passed
Rancho Carmelo, owned by KD Mathiot. In the front was a sign
with a picture of a man on a horse that announced that purebred
Arabian horses were bred there.
From her earliest memories Sandy was fascinated with horses
and the family stopped to see them. Inside a 12 foot high pad-
dock made of closely spaced boards was a chestnut horse. Sandy
was smitten. That stallion was Aulani (Rifnas x Follyat) and Sandy
thought he was the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. A
proven athlete with quite correct conformation, Mathiot would in
later years let Sandy ride him.
Aulani often was used in parades, one of his parade outfits
was an almost solid silver saddle with a drape behind the saddle,
also almost solid silver. Combined it weighed over two hundred
pounds. Another parade costume was a lovely charro design. In
the ranch house there was a trophy case, at least eight feet tall,
50 Years and Counting...Warren Park Stud
Excerpted from “It Only Took 50 Years” by Dick Warren, a manuscript he plans to publish one day. Photos courtesy of Warren Park Stud
Aulani
23April/May 2013
Warren Park Stud
filled with huge trophies that Aulani had won.
For the next few years until her family moved to Anchorage,
Sandy spent the summers with her grandparents and made fre-
quent trips to the ranch. She learned that Aulani was used mostly
to breed the grade mares that the owner used for his guests to
ride. However, he bred a number of outside Arabian mares and
produced fifteen purebred foals.
Sandy and her family, now with her sister Donna, moved back
to California in 1953 and eventually settled in Lafayette. When
she was 14 she talked her folks into letting her have a horse and
she bought Bonnie, a retired TB racehorse. In 1955 she bred the
mare to Aulani and the next year got Bona-Sheba.
On Sandy’s return from Alaska she had resumed her visits to
Rancho Carmelo and occasionally led rides mounted on Aulani.
To this day she thinks he was one of the most comfortable and
elegant horses she has ever ridden. At the jog, he had such spring
and lightness with each step, with no bounce to the rider. He was
light and very well mannered in the bit.
The year after we met in 1957, Sandy and I went in my Jaguar
to Carmel Valley so she could show me where her grandparents
had lived and also to show me Rancho Carmelo, which by then
had nearly fallen to ruin. The owner was in very bad health and
the little work needed around the place was in the hands of some
old cowboys. On that day, we passed a corral adjacent to the road
in which a mare and chestnut foal were standing at the fence. We
both wished later that we had stopped to take a picture because
Sandy Warren and Aulrab (Aulani x Rabna)
Follyat (dam of Aulani)
Sandy & Rabna (dam of Aurab)
24 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
that young colt was Aurab (Aulani x Rabna).
We were married in 1960 and bought our first house, where
we had our two children. Five years later we moved and in early
1973 Sandy met Diane McIntyre who was trying to buy a mare
in Northern California from breeder Ralph Oakley. Ralph favored
Abu Farwa lines and this mare, Alarieha, was by Galahas out of the
Abu Farwa daughter Riehaba. Sandy has since told me that Oakley
sold Alarieha cheaply to McIntyre because she had a partial glass
eye. Sandy and Diane picked up the mare in our truck and old
horse trailer and Diane kept the mare near her home in Walnut
Creek. Alarieha just radiated class and style. She was a mare of
outstanding quality who had brilliant natural floating action which
she passed onto her offspring.
Sandy always carried a picture of Aulani in her mind as her
ideal. She didn’t know where he came from and had never heard
of Crabbet Park Stud, let alone Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch. She
had bought a Fadjur gelding because he was pretty and trained
but he was very uncomfortable, the opposite of Aulani. At that
time, she hadn’t learned about conformation, but she found that
she was attracted to horses that looked like Aulani. She focused
on good-looking “Arabian” type heads and long graceful necks
but had no idea about what pedigrees meant. If she saw a pedi-
gree, she looked for the names of horses that appeared in Aulani’s
background.
In the summer of 1973, Sandy and I went to a horse show
in Stockton. I was looking at the program (I frankly had no idea
what I was looking at) and spotted a stallion whose entry looked
something like this: AURAB (Aulani x Rabna). Sandy approached
the owner and introduced herself, saying that she used to visit
Rancho Carmelo and knew Aulani and Rabna, had pictures of them
plus the other Arabians that were there and asked if she would be
interested to see them. Grace Baker nearly fell over herself with
that news. We found out that Aurab had been isolated at the rap-
idly declining guest ranch for his first fourteen years. To date, he
had sired only one purebred, the now famous Ben Rabba.
Of note, Aurab won the Park Horse class that day and Grace
told us that he was going be at the Cow Palace in the next couple
of weeks. There he won the Pacific Coast Formal Driving Cham-
pionship with Jeff Wonnell. That was his last competition and he
went home to breed mares. Grace made history with Aurab in just
a few years and she became Sandy’s friend and mentor.
We were not alone in our admiration of Aurab. “Perhaps Aurab
Rifnas (sire of Aulani)
25April/May 2013
was a phenomenon. I consider him to have been, overall, the best
Arabian stallion I have seen; I carry his images in my mind as a
gauge by which to compare all others. I sometimes feel that, for
me, he may have been the apex of his breed,” Carol Woodbridge
Mulder, Arabian historian and author of Imported Foundation
Stock of North American Arabian Breeders, was quoted as saying.
When seeing Aurab for the first time just one month shy of
his 20th birthday, Lady Anne Lytton, daughter of Lady Wentworth,
and granddaughter of the Blunts said of Aurab, “the most nearly
perfect Arab that she had ever seen, and that he epitomized the
horse Crabbet Stud had tried to breed for nearly 100 years.”
Time flies when you’re having fun and it wasn’t long before
we moved to our Martinez place with an acre and a half. There we
met Brent and Kathy Echols who were preparing to receive a herd
of Arabians from a dispersal sale in Wyoming. They would arrange
to auction them and were being sold by Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Cole
of Evenston Wy. Included was the Aulani daughter Naulana out of
Jinn, a Nasik daughter. The Echols knew that Sandy was interested
in Aulani breeding because of her half-Arab filly and asked her if
she wanted to buy the mare. There was no question about it and
she agreed to take her. Poor Naulana had been starved and was
in such bad shape that she was loaded into the trailer last so that
if she died she could be easily disposed of. Despite her condi-
tion, she arrived in November 1973, and Sandy nursed her back
to health.
As soon as Naulana was healthy enough, she was sent to Aur-
ab. It was then that Sandy met Carol Mulder, who taught her about
the history of the Kellogg Arabians. About Naulana, Carol said,
“Naulana is absolutely gorgeous! She has captured my fancy more
than any mare I have seen for years! She is so beautiful she just
takes your breath away as she walks towards you. Then when you
see the rest of her, the impression only grows. She just radiates
class, quality, style and Arabian breed character.”
Naulana’s foal, Aurik, was born in April 1975, and he went on
Aurab
Aurab
Aurab
Naulana & Aurik
26 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
to sire 22 foals. He had excellent conformation and a gentle dis-
position. His athletic ability was unsurpassed and our daughter
Debbie rode him in a number of local shows. Two of his fillies have
played important roles in our life’s story; Shawzina born February
1988, and Aur Serafina born April 1992. Through a series of unfor-
tunate circumstances within a few years, these were Aurik’s only
surviving offspring when he died in 1997.
Now comes a part of the story that, when I began to look at
pedigrees and reflect how things worked out, I’m amazed at
Sandy’s luck – with some chance and fate thrown in.
So it was, that in a way that she can’t quite remember; maybe
word of mouth or an ad, she was directed to a ranch in Vacaville
where Lee and Joyce Moody, owners of the stallion Pepe (Gabilan
x Pepita by *Latif) had a mare for sale. The time was late fall or
early winter and there had been a lot of rain. In a very muddy pad-
dock were a number of mares milling around almost knee-deep in
muck. Miidj (Fernas x Shethar by Ghazi) was among them.
In a separate stall and small paddock was Pepe. His fore legs
were ravaged. A few years earlier he had been in an accident
where the rotten floorboards in the trailer he was in gave way and
he was dragged for some distance before it was discovered. He
could walk and he could breed mares and he had bred Miidj in the
spring of 1974.
Although the mare was dirty, Sandy could tell that Miidj had
a shape that reminded her of Aulani. Her head left a bit to be de-
sired but the rest of her looked pretty good. A deal was struck and
Sandy bought her for $800. We brought her home and the next
spring Shawzi was born.
When you look at Miidj’s pedigree you will see an excellent
example of chance, luck and fate coming into play, and like Alar-
ieha, Miidj was a cull. An examination of her pedigree will show
her to be almost 100% Crabbet with just a touch of Spencer Bor-
den and WR Brown for good measure. The same can be said for
Alarieha except that WR Brown and Homer Davenport made their
contributions. Of course, at the time Sandy could not have known
how significant these mares would be.
For the next several years no breeding was done. We were in
the process of starting a new job and moving to our present place
in Sanger. And, of course, when we got set up there, things really
started to rock ‘n’ roll.
Sandy explains to me that she had an inner voice, a need, an
unexplainable direction that guided her in her acquisitions and
breeding decisions. She called it her “gut feeling.” That is another
thing that Sandy can do - like a chess master who can plan ahead
five or six moves, Sandy can visualize the results of future breed-
ing, although it can take years to achieve that dream.
I have to say that there were times that concerned me when
she culled horses. If she knew they wouldn’t work in the program
she sold them cheap. However, the good horses brought us a good
price and fortunately there were more good horses than culls.
One of her earlier experiments was with older mares that had
breeding problems. She had acquired Naulana and Miidj and each
had given her foals. Then she was given Rahla, another Aulani
daughter. The thing that tickled me was that Naulana’s number
was 7716 and Rahla’s was 7717. It seemed quite amazing to have
two Aulani offspring considering he had had so few purebred
foals. But try as hard as she could, Rahla could not get pregnant.
Sometime later, Dick Skinner, who worked with the Hearst horses,
offered Sandy a Ziyadi daughter out of Aulani’s dam Follyat but
again, she was unsuccessful in getting her pregnant. Later, a mare
dropped into her lap as if she had fallen from heaven that had a
major influence on one special person as well as us. But, that story
in a little bit.
Sandy kept in contact with Diane McIntyre, offering to lease
Alarieha. At the same time, Patience Prine was looking for a mare
to breed to Aurab to replace a mare that she had lost. So it hap-
pened that in 1974, Patience leased Alerieha and took her to Au-
rab. The next year Hi Voltage+/ was born. A very successful show
horse with over a dozen championships won; he also sired 42 off-
Aurik
27April/May 2013
spring; eleven of them purebred Arabians.
Alarieha’s blood is found in most of our stock, especially in
the most brilliant moving of our horses. Alarieha was extremely
light and airy in her movement; she appeared to hardly touch the
ground when moving. She had extreme hock and knee action, with
great length of stride. She always gave these traits to her foals.
Alarieha was so very kind and gentle in nature and she was an
excellent mother and has passed this down to her daughters.
In 1975, Sandy bred Alarieha to Aurab and in 1976, Aurieha
was born. At this point in time Alarieha was living with us and she
was again taken to Aurab in 1978. On Friday, July 13,1979, Aulrab
presented himself. Since then, Sandy has not considered Friday
the thirteenth to be unlucky . “Aulrab was born out in the field at 5
pm on a 109 degree day. He was so big and well-balanced,” recalls
Sandy. “Such a sweet, curious, loving boy.”
Sandy subscribed to Arabian Horse World and in an issue that
came out in the late 1970s, she saw an ad for Lewisfield Magic+/
who was standing at stud on the east coast. That old eyeball of
hers saw a very good horse. Later she was happy to see that he
had been relocated to New Mexico. “Ah ha,” says she, “He’s getting
closer.” In early 1979 she saw an ad placed by Otto Hackel in Bak-
ersfield announcing that Lewey was “back in California.” Aurieha
was bred to him that same year and in 1980, Aura Magic was born.
She produced 10 foals, two of which are notable; Aur Emerald and
Aur Silver Myst.
Lewisfield Magic+/ was also bred to Alarieha and on Friday,
March 13, 1981, she gave us Magic Alarieha. Again, Friday the thir-
teenth has not proven to be unlucky as she is the dam of Aulrab’s
most famous son, Aul Magic+/.
Also in 1980, Ken and Laura West bought Ibn Awad++/ (Awad
x El Sikada). Remarkably, Ibn Awad++/ would 30 years later be-
Hi Voltage+/
Alarieha
Aulrab 4 hours old
Aulrab at 2 months old
28 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
come one of the most influential stallions in the advancement of
our breeding program.
East of us, on Hwy. 180 is a foot hill community called Squaw
Valley where many of the residents have set up small ranches. In
early 1981, a couple from Squaw Valley called on us to inquire if
we could temporarily board a horse they had just bought while
they were setting up a place to keep her on their five acre place.
We agreed to do it and they brought a lovely gray mare, GF Silver
Mystery (* Silver Vanity x Miss Mystery by Ga’zi), whom they had
bought from the dispersal sale of Earnest Golden’s Golden For-
tune Arabian Ranch. Sandy’s good eyes saw a very good mare.
At about this same time, Sandy got a call from a gal in South-
ern California asking if she could bring her Tennessee Walking
Horse mare to Aulrab. “Well, of course, bring her up.” The mare and
owner, Georgia Cheer, arrived the next weekend. She told us that
she worked for a publisher of dog and cat breed magazines doing
the layout and designing the ads and writing the editorials and so
forth. She left her mare and then came about every other weekend
to visit. I guess a place in Minkler beats LA anytime.
About two months into our boarding agreement with GF Silver
Mystery’s owners, they told us that they were going to send the
mare back because they realized they couldn’t afford to keep her.
Sandy knew that this was a great mare and knew that she needed
to have her. We had no way to buy her so Sandy hammered out
a deal with Georgia to buy the mare and we would take care of
her. So, in August 1982, she and Georgia bought the *Silver Vanity
daughter. Like the other two mares that had come her way, Mys-
tery was almost totally Crabbet with some Ali Pasha Sherif blood
contributed by Spencer Borden. Mystery gave us Aur Vanity (ex-
ported to Australia), Aur So Vain (dam of top foals), Aur Mystic, and
Aur Mystique (and his first son, Mystic Aulrab, exported to South
Africa), in addition to a stallion for Georgia, CR Silver Monarch.
Lewisfield Magic+/
Magic Alarieha
Ibn Awad++/
GF Silver Mystery
29April/May 2013
It has been said that a young stallion’s first foal may not be
as good as those that would come later. That really didn’t make
much sense to Sandy since genes are genes even if the little fella
doesn’t quite know what he’s supposed to do the first time. A stal-
lion like Aulrab was a genetic powerhouse and his first colt, Aur
Vanity, out of GF Silver Mystery and born in 1982, was an excep-
tional animal.
Next issue will continue the story of Sandy Warren and Warren Park
Stud.
Aulrab
Sandy & Aulrab
30 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
R ecently one of my older mares passed away after battling a
chronic infection. The day before Kim and Mark Thomason
lost their legendary Crabbet stallion *Magic Domino AHS
+++//. A few days before that, I received word that an An-
glo named Skylark that I exported to the UK had died in a freak pasture
accident. It got me thinking about death and loss; about how we all
view the death of a beloved horse.
Early in our friendship, my friend Carrie said, “How hard death is to
take depends what you believe.” I had said those exact words so many
times over the years that it rang true. What do we believe happens
when our beloved horses die? My Judeo-Christian tradition allows me
to think that the spirit lives on; as if somehow the spirit leaps out of
the beloved’s body and into the air.
The day my old girl, Gem, passed away there was a blizzard on our
New York farm. The snow had been dropping for days. The ground was
frozen. A dark sad feeling hung over the place waiting for the sun to
break the gloomy spell. My niece, Abby tried to make it easier by doing
the chores so I would not have to walk past Gem. It was a great kind-
ness on Abby’s part. Yet it was not necessary. In my heart I believed
the spirit of Gem was no longer there. Gem had been sick for a long
time. I miss Gem. But my heart is not broken.
How we experience death has as much to do with what we believe
as our early experiences. If you grow up on a farm you experience the
cycle of life much more than city folks do. Foals are born and the old
horses pass on. Some leave us in their teens and some make it into
their thirties. Some do not survive birth and sometimes for no appar-
ent reason and without warning a young and healthy one dies sud-
denly. No matter how many times I experience it, it is never simple.
About a year and a half ago I lost my old guy Sammie. He was, as
we say my “love of your life horse.” Sammie had never been a simple
horse. He was large, complicated and challenging. He had opinions. He
was the opposite of easy going. From the first moment I saw him and
for the fourteen years after I loved Sammie with all my heart.
In retrospect, during the months proceeding his death Sammie
had not quite been himself. He suddenly required copious amounts
of food to maintain his weight. He was all at once agreeable to what-
ever I suggested. Sammie who had always been a larger than life
character suddenly appeared meek in his seventeen hand frame. He
had never made friends easily. Yet, there Sammie was in the middle of
the herd. I should have known something was up. The heart sees what
the heart wants to see. I missed the signs.
It was early fall and there was still plenty of grass for Sammie to
enjoy. On the particular day I found him he was lying down as if he’d
gone to sleep. At first I thought he was asleep. Every horse owner has
had that experience where their horse is sprawled out in the field. In
the split second before there is a flick of the tail or shake of the head
we think the worst. For the thirty- five seconds that it took me to get to
By Karin foley
Life with Horses: Of Love and Loss
31April/May 2013
one loss rips us to the core and another, while sad, allows us to go on
as we were. Losing Sammie changed me. I was broken from the loss
of him. I had arrived at that place called three degrees below pain. I
stayed there for a full year.
Our farm is narrow and deep. It goes uphill as you walk towards
the back. It is perfect for jogging my labs. So every day at least one
of the labs comes along as I check on the horses. My favorite lab is
a chocolate female named, Robin. Which, by the way is odd since, I
prefer a black lab. Robin has just celebrated her first birthday. She
is beautiful and sweet and has an ethereal quality. She is what you
would call an old soul.
A few months ago Robin and I were doing our horse rounds. We
decided to sit down and take a break.
It was not long before my thoughts turned to Sammie. Tears soon
followed and just as quickly I distinctly heard Sammie say, “Why are
you crying? I am right here.” I look down and saw Robin laying there
with her head in my lap and I was at once healed.
My grandmother, Grace Edna as she was known, used to say that
”trying to understand death is to try to make sense of the unsensible.”
Given that like many of the women in my family Grace Edna insisted on
an orderly universe it was a significant concession on her part to admit
that not everything could be explained. I have added her words to a
brief list of mantras that over the years have become a great source of
comfort during tough times.
Friends come into our lives. Friends leave. New friends are born
and old ones die and we are never quite the same for it. At some point
I heeded Grace Edna’s sage advice and stopped trying to make sense
of the unsensible. The spirits of *Magic Domino AHS +++//, Gem, Sky-
lark, Sammie and all the other magical horses that have passed on in
this lifetime live on through their children and their children’s chil-
dren and in the hearts of us who loved them. Sitting here with Robin
at my feet I am comforted by the knowledge that their spirits simply
live on.
Life with Horses: Of Love and Loss
Sammie I watched for a sign. Then I knew. Sammie had not struggled.
He had simply laid down and closed his eyes. Then he was gone.
Upon hearing of Sammie’s passing my old friend Diana comment-
ed, “What a way for Sammie to go surrounded by his friends. ” There
was no sickness, no tough decisions, and no what ifs?
For every single day for the year after I found Sammie I grieved. I
held onto that grief as I had once held onto him. I cannot explain why
32 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Lorraine Prowse
Q & A with AHA High Point Adult Amateur
33April/May 2013
Lorraine Prowse is a 28 year old resident of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada who had a hugely successful 2012. She was named AHA High Point Adult Amateur and her Ara-bian gelding Sur Teddy’s Magna was 2nd place AHA High Point Horse. At Canadian Nationals, this pair earned Na-tional Championships in Regular Working Hunter, Working Hunter AAOTR, Hunter Hack and Training Level Dressage ATR; Reserve Championships in Working Hunter ATR, Train-ing Level Dressage ATR and Sport Horse Under Saddle; and Top Ten titles in Training Level Dressage, First Level Dres-sage and Sport Horse Under Saddle ATR.
34 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
One month later, they were in Idaho
where they earned 8 National titles at
Sport Horse Nationals: National Champion-
ships in Working Hunter AAOTR, Training
Level Dressage AAOTR, First Level Dressage
AAOTR, Hunter Hack ATR and Hunter Hack
AAOTR. They were also Top Ten winners in
Training Level Dressage ATR, Sport Horse
Under Saddle ATR and Working Hunter ATR.
Lorraine showed three of her other
horses to National titles in 2012: Purebred
Jayded Moon+ National Champion Trail
AOTR and Top Ten Open Trail; DA Missy El-
liot+ - Top Ten Hunter Pleasure AAOTR 18-
39 and Footloose II to a Top Ten in Yearling
Sport Horse Colts/Geldings.
Lorraine and her late Arabian gelding,
Surphin Boy+// earned 10 Canadian Na-
tional Jumper Championships. They also
represented the Arabian breed in the Battle
of the Breeds at Spruce Meadows for several
years in 4 of the 5 events: Compulsory Skills
(dressage), Jeopardy Jumping, Trail and
Barrels. The only event that he did not com-
pete in was the Obstacle Driving.
Lorraine has a Bachelor of Science
degree from the University of Alberta
and is currently working toward her Pat-
ent and Trademark Agent designations.
How long have you been riding Arabians?
I started riding Arabians in 1997. I
started taking lessons at a local hunter
jumper barn and among the many horses
I road was a 20 something year old half
Arabian, she helped teach me to jump.
Christmas of 1997, my parents surprised
me by walking a 3 year old Arabian geld-
ing named Surphin Boy up to our front
door and I have been riding Arabians
and half Arabians exclusively ever since.
What horses do you currently own?
Sur Teddy’s Magna++/ , a 16 year old
Arabian gelding (Surokhan x HM Magna)
Jayded Moon +, an 11 year old Arabian
gelding (Surokhan x Jayda)
DA Missy Elliot+, a 9 year old Half-
Arabian mare (Triften x Bey Diva)
Footloose II, 2 year old Arabian/
Trakehner gelding (Windfall x RM Bey
Firemist)
Who is your favorite and why?
Sur Teddy’s Magna (Teddy) is my fa-
vorite. I started working with him when he
was 3 years old (he will be 16 this year)
and completed all of his training; I was
the first to ride him, jump him and show
him. He has been a constant in my life for
so long now that I can’t imagine him not
in it. I also really enjoy being able to com-
pete with him in several different divisions
including Sport Horse In Hand and Under
Saddle, Dressage and Working Hunter.
Who have your instructors been during
your career?
Susan Fyfe from Keno Hills was my first
instructor after I got Surphin Boy. I rode
with her from 1997 until 2010.
Since then, I have been riding with
Debbie Storey from Top Line Training. Deb-
bie trains DA Missy Elliot and Jayded Moon.
I have also been taking dressage les-
sons with Chris Collins since 2010 and am
lucky enough to get pointers from Cheryl
and Allan Ehrlick when we are at the same
shows (usually only Scottsdale, Canadian
Nationals and Sport Horse Nationals).
Who has had the greatest influence on
your riding?
I learned a lot from Susan Fyfe dur-
ing my time riding with her. As a partici-
pant in her tournament program, which
matches young horses and riders together,
I learned a lot about working with and
Surphin Boy , 10-time National Champion Jumper, at Canadian
Nationals (left) and competing in Battle of the Breeds (below)
Don
Stin
e Ph
oto
Chr
istin
sa W
eese
Pho
to
35April/May 2013
training different horses. In fact, it was
in this program that I was first matched
with Teddy. From all the information and
experience I obtained from Susan, I have
taken what I found useful and it has cre-
ated the basis of my training and condi-
tioning program for my horses at home.
What do you like/dislike about Arabians?
The majority of the Arabians I have
worked with are very intelligent and easy
to work with. They try hard and have great
work ethics.
Their tendency to be on the small
side is something that I dislike about
them. Being 5’10” tends to limit which
horses I can ride without looking silly.
What is your favorite discipline?
Of the classes I normally compete
in, working hunter is my favorite. How-
ever, my all-time favorite discipline is
jumper although I have not competed in
the division since Surphin Boy passed
away in 2007. I am hoping that it is a
division that Footloose (Ren) will en-
joy competing in, but that won’t be for a
while since he will only be 2 this year.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
I have been incredibly fortunate to
own several successful show horses, how-
ever my proudest accomplishment is Ted-
dy. When I first started working with Teddy
I did not know how to train a horse, did
not understand collection and had no ex-
perience starting a horse. As a youngster,
Teddy was sometimes difficult to work
with but I think a huge part of that was that
neither of us had any experience. He was
always quick to let me know if he thought
I was doing something wrong but he did
teach me very quickly that trying to suck
his head into place was not going to work
and was not collection. My proudest ac-
complishment was the day that Teddy and
I figured things out and really began work-
ing as a team. I can’t remember exactly
when that happened, but I do remember
the feeling and the huge smile on my face.
What are your horse plans for 2013?
The focus for this year will be on Ca-
nadian Nationals. I will also have the op-
portunity to compete at 2 regional level
shows which are being hosted in my
area (R17 off-site hunter/jumper and
R6 off-site sport horse) as well as West-
ern Canadian Breeders. If things go well,
there is also the possibility that I will
make take my first trip to US Nationals.
What has riding/training Arabian horses
taught you?
Riding and training horses has made
me more confident and has taught me
patience and perseverance. By work-
ing with horses I have learned how
to work towards a goal and become
much more adaptable when things
aren’t going quite the way I had hoped.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Regardless of what the future holds for
me, I know that horses will always be a part
of my life. In 5 years I hope to be show-
ing my homebred Half Arabian/Trakehner
gelding, Footloose II, in the Sport Horse
and Hunter/Jumper divisions. Other than
that, I haven’t really thought that far in
advance. At some point in time I think it
would be a lot of fun to ride some upper
level dressage tests and that is definitely a
goal for the future.
DA Missy Elliott and Lorraine with their Top Ten from Canadian
Nationals (below) and Jayded Moon+, 2012 Canadian National
Champion Trail AOTR (right)
Jeff Janson Photo
Aman
da U
bell
Phot
o
36 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
BiomechanicsA Series by Lisa MayPhotos by Sharon Larkin
Forty years ago Mary Wanless set out
to discover what makes someone ‘talent-
ed’. Now with six books, multiple DVDs,
and clinics worldwide, her “Ride With Your
Mind”TM (RWYM) method of rider coach-
ing explains how the talented rider’s body
shapes the horse’s athletic use of his body.
Her pioneering work has seeped into that
of many others who refer to rider biome-
chanics. Wanless’ strategies can be under-
stood most clearly from the source.
Where do riders find help learning
what talented equestrians can do? We
typically seek out those having competi-
tive success. Yet, research has shown that
naturally-able performers are less likely to
know how they do a skill than people who
have had to map the territory while strug-
gling to master that skill. Much of a natural
performer’s skill is unconscious. It’s hard
to explain something you haven’t had to
think about! It is also hard to transfer a
skill to someone whose body doesn’t do
the same things yours does.
It’s hard for a naturally-able athlete
to assess how most of us differ from them.
They do X, and Z happens. They tell us to
do X, and Z isn’t on the horizon. Traditional
teaching uses conventions of language
that relate to where we are going - the
destination. Most of us need fundamen-
tals - the G, H, I of how. No matter how dili-
gently our effort, working on X without the
earlier letters in place does not produce
the alphabet. RWYM starts by helping peo-
ple examine their own awareness of pro-
prioception (where they are in space). As
riders discover what they are doing now,
we then help them alter it through strate-
gies that work for their own bodies. Having
clarified where rider and horse are now we
assist them with how to take the next most
accessible step - the next letter in the al-
phabet.
RWYM is different from other instruc-
tion methods since it is a coaching strategy
that recognizes how different people learn.
We utilize learning theory to communicate
through three senses - hearing, sight and
kinesthetics (touch/movement) - to learn-
ers whose brains may utilize one approach
more easily than another. Many riders are
experiential/kinesthetic (feeling) learners
who, as children, found themselves bored
by the memorization and regurgitation of
the verbal/visual classroom. In college, I
had known hands-on /experiential immer-
sion: educators ask questions that help
students reflect on and define their direc-
tion - affirming and encouraging students
to think for themselves and find their own
way within large frameworks. But before
RWYM, I’d never had a riding instructor ask
me what I was feeling or noticing, and how
I might experiment to alter my results!
In a wonderful Teacher Training exer-
cise, Mary Wanless asks coaches to, “Imag-
ine strawberry as I keep repeating straw-
berry”. The result is a cornucopia of jam,
berries, pie, fresh, on toast, in cereal, on
cheesecake, in jars, picking them, a giant
one, little ones, the Beatles song, the print-
ed word, fruit stand signs, photographs,
the smell, the taste - evoked differently in
Ride With Your Mind Uses the Psychology of Learning
37April/May 2013
25 trainees minds. It’s a graphic demon-
stration that reveals how words evoke dif-
ferent images for different people. Rapid
change can be made in the control that
the brain/nervous system has of the body
when riders name their own feeling or pic-
ture words. Their own trigger words evoke
change in their own brain and their own
body much more precisely than any words
others can explain to them.
RWYM systematically employs verbal,
visual and kinesthetic contrast to guide the
rider. The human nervous system learns
by contrast. Through understanding their
‘normal reality’, we use contrast and exag-
geration to help riders find the difference
from ‘normal’ that is needed. In coach-
ing we guide and encourage the rider to
concentrate, examine, and compare what
their body is doing and how the horse is
responding, so that they can identify their
own path - their own body’s “map” toward
a riding objective. A coach recognizes that
she may not see all that is occurring. Only
with the feedback of rider and horse may
the three of them discover the specific so-
lutions for that horse and rider pair.
Mary Wanless tells the story of her
success as a non-player coaching a skilled
tennis athlete during her Applied Coach-
ing course. When encouraged to analyze
her own movements and given feedback
and support by a coach, the athlete can
find her way! In daily life we rarely expe-
rience communication styles that coach
rather than directing. It is ever so seduc-
tive to tell people what to do, rather than
guide them to identify their own route
toward changed perceptions and actions.
I see an answer. I want to take the rider
there by my shortcut. Yet my shortcut di-
rectives don’t equal the shortcut the rider
can define on her own map with the help
of a coach. The RWYM method is a route
that supports people learning indepen-
dently in collaboration with the horse.
RWYM acknowledges the psychol-
ogy of motivation. Coaches supportively
place the responsibility and power for
change, in the lap of the rider. Olympian
Kyra Kyrklund wrote in Dressage with Kyra,
“You can never teach anyone else to ride if
they do not actively take part in the learn-
ing process”. Only the rider can define her
personal map.
The way each individual organizes
her body in the saddle determines how
she influences her horse. Our horses mir-
ror us. Wanless’ strategies include tools of
mental awareness and body control that
underpin good riding. From the unique
starting point of each rider’s body RWYM’s
coaching methods enable riders to map
the territory they themselves have to cross
to arrive at good riding.
As athletes on horseback we can use
our own anatomy to communicate to the
horse a streamlined framework for move-
ment. Find out more about these strate-
gies for using the brain to communicate
with horses through behavioral science
and biomechanics! There’s a wealth of
information at www.Mary-Wanless.com in-
cluding coaches worldwide - with five in
the USA at www.RideWithYourMindUSA.
com.
Lisa May is an accredited RWYM coach
working with Wanless since 1997. Also a
Professional Association of Therapeutic
Horsemanship International instructor, she
travels for clinics from her home in Mary-
land www.IdylwildFarm.com.
38 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
*Magic Domino
Sherry Stewart with Magic Domino AHS in British Columbia Jo-A
nn C
ampo
ne P
hoto
39April/May 2013
*Magic Domino AHS+++//’s heritage
is filled with horses which have produced
National Champions in both in hand and
ridden competition in Britain and else-
where. His sire Ludomino is the only
Arabian ever to win the Supreme Ridden
Championship at the Royal Windsor Show,
which is awarded to the overall champion
at the show and must be won against all
breeds in ridden competition. Ludomino is
also the sire of the Gadebrook Stud mare
Zaharina, whose daughter Zaha is a noted
endurance competitor.
Ludomino is a 3/4 brother to Indian
Snowflake, dam of multiple British Na-
tional Champion Haroun and granddam of
British National Champions Nasib and Na-
jat. *Magic Domino AHS+++// is similarly
bred to Haroun as both are grandsons of
Ludo and of Hanif. Ludomino is by Ludo,
named Supreme Riding Horse at the Royal
International show and winner of the Win-
ston Churchill Cup. Ludo is a full brother to
1965 British Reserve Supreme Champion
Female Lilac Domino and a 3/4 brother
to 1962 British Reserve Senior Champion
Male Manto. Ludo was a fine sire. His son
El Santo was British Junior Champion Male
in 1970. His son Ludrex sired Donax, sire
of the British National Champions Zircon
Karisma, Zircon Nazeer (a National Cham-
pion sire himself) and Rishenda.
Ludo daughters were wonderful pro-
ducers. His daughter Ludoet is the dam
of 1986 British National Champion Sen-
ior Female Bint Ludoet, Another daughter,
Indian Snowflake, produced multiple Na-
tional Champion Haroun and Nimet, dam
of British National Champion Junior Male
Nasib and 1981 British Supreme Champi-
on Female Najat. Ludo’s sire is the very in-
fluential Blue Domino, who sired National
winners in Britain and in North America. 14
of his get are British National Champions,
*Magic Domino AHS+++//’s distaff
side is as distinguished as his sire side. His
dam Hamsfah also produced the outstand-
ing athlete Hachim, who was a successful
racehorse in the U.K. prior to his export to
Abu Dhabi. At age 4, he was the youngest
stallion ever to be granted Premium Stal-
lion status by the Arab Horse Society. He
completed his performance tests against
older stallions rated a Grade II. The gru-
eling test included show jumping over
doubles, a cross-country course, a dres-
sage test, loose schooling over jumps, a
vet exam and an inspection by the Presi-
dent of the Arab Horse Society. Hamsfah
is a 3/4 blood sister to 1984 Canadian Top
Ten Stallion *Shatir AHS as they are both
by the same sire and Hamsfah’s maternal
granddam is a full sister to *Shatir AHS’s
dam. Hamsfah is also a 3/4 blood sister to
Sherifah, a full sister to *Shatir AHS. Sheri-
fah is the dam of the superb performance
stallion Al Mesdam. He was the 2000 UK
International Ridden Champion (Arabian
competition), 2001 Champion Ridden
Stallion at the Horse of the Year Show
(HOYS) against all breeds, and 2002 Brit-
ish Reserve National Champion Ridden
Stallion in all Arabian competition.
Hamsfah is out of Marufah, a daughter
of the multiple British National Champion
By Arlene Magid(excerpted from original, published in Crabbet Arabian World)
*Magic Domino*Magic Domino AHS+++// stood alone among pure Crabbet stallions in North America. He was the first Arabian stallion to be ap-
proved by the Canadian Sport Horse Registry. No other straight Crabbet stallion in North America has as extensive a show record (his
honors include 4 U.S. Top Ten titles in sport horse halter, a U.S. National win in dressage, 10 regional dressage and sport horse show
hack titles, and 5 regional titles in sport horse in hand and numerous wins in open dressage competing against all breeds).
*Magic Domino AHS+++// has sired 28 get who have been successful in the show ring, earning regional and/or National titles,
including National Championships in hunter hack, dressage, sport horse show hack, sport horse under saddle and sport horse halter
and top ten titles in hunt pleasure and hunter over fences. His remarkable record as a show horse and sire is only part of his story, as
his superb temperament has won the hearts of his owners and many fans. A great champion with a great heart!
AHS
40 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Manto. Marufah is a paternal sister to 1973
British Supreme Champion Female Azara
and to British Reserve National Champion
Geldings Mantardi and Mansar. Marufah’s
sire Manto is a 3/4 brother to twice British
Supreme Champion Male El Meluk.
Magic Domino was bred by Anne
Brown of England’s Gadebrook Stud. Anne
is an internationally respected breeder
of Arabian athletes who have excelled in
dressage, endurance riding and racing. She
has bred and/or owned some of the very
finest British bred Arabians. Her stallion
Croix De Guerre (Sky Crusader x Someone
Special) represented Britain at the World
Endurance Championships in Rome in
2003 and achieved 8th place with the Brit-
ish team, the very first time he represent-
ed his country internationally. Gadebrook
was founded in 1969, breeding palominos
and Anglo-Arabs, but Anne became seri-
ously interested in Crabbet bloodlines in
1986.
Anne states she was fortunate in her
mentors in Crabbet breeding. “I was lucky
enough to be guided at the outset by
Carol Carpenter (owner of Ludomino, sire
of *Magic Domino AHS+++//) and Geof-
frey Plaister, who bred Hamsfah the dam
of *Magic Domino AHS+++//’. She was
sired by Hanif, the *Silver Vanity son bred
at Crabbet and aquired by Geoffrey when
it dispersed in 1972,” Anne comments.
Anne’s extensive experience and knowl-
edge of conformation enabled her to hit a
home run with *Magic Domino AHS+++//,
who was one of the first foals she bred
in her straight Crabbet program, and his
dam’s first foal for her.
*Magic Domino AHS+++// earned his
first in hand triumph as a 3 year old. Not
only did judge Dianne Whittome put him
first in his class, she also awarded him
Youngstock Champion against the other
fillies, colts and geldings, and then Re-
serve Champion of the show against all of
the other class winners! *Magic Domino
AHS+++// had begun his winning show
career in style.
Sherry Stewart is a lifelong horsewom-
an whose grandmother, Margaret Trethew-
ey of Coniagas Ranches in Maple Ridge,
British Columbia, was one of the early
breeders of Arabian horses in Canada.
She imported the Crabbet bred mare
*Rishafieh (originally imported to Amer-
ica by Roger Selby) and her son Ferishal
en-utero to Canada.
Sherry recalls: “When I was learn-
ing to ride, my grandmother’s stable of
Arabians and Half-Arabians was slowly
winding down. These accomplished
show horses were the ones I rode grow-
ing up, and I began to show as I became
more capable. Later, when I had mar-
ried and returned to my grandmother’s
ranch, I wanted to rekindle the Arabian
presence there and decided to purchase
an Arabian stallion who could be taken se-
riously as an open sport horse. With the
interest in warmbloods as performance
horses, it seemed that anything with Ara-
bian blood was not taken seriously in the
performance ring. What I wanted to do was
to find a larger than average Arabian stal-
lion and promote him to the sport horse
aficionados.
“My search took two years. I had been
sent a copy of Arab Horse Society News by
a British breeder because of the article in
it about Ferishal (there was a trophy at the
British Nationals awarded in his memory,
hence the article), and in the back of that
issue I found an advertisement featuring
*Magic Domino+++//. He was just two
years old.”
Anne received the unexpected inquiry
about *Magic Domino+++// - Sherry was
prepared to buy him sight unseen, but
Anne insisted that she come to inspect
him as it was such an important purchase.
Sherry loved Domino on sight and knew
that he was the horse she had been look-
ing for, and so the deal was done.
Brenda Driedeger worked with him as a
five-year-old year and solidified his train-
ing, readying him for his British Columbia
Sport Horse competition. Her dressage
background was invaluable in gaining two
of his most important honors, becoming a
Trakehner approved stallion and also win-
ning high point show hack at the British
Columbia Sport Horse Show against all
breeds. This title was a provincial champi-
onship for all of British Columbia.
*Magic Domino AHS’s 1996 Canadian
Trakehner inspection notes read: “As an
Arabian he is one of the best in this coun-
try in the classic Arabian type. We evaluate
Arabians for their use or value in Trakeh-
Jo-Ann Campone Photo
41April/May 2013
ner breeding. Remarkable in his powerful
movement, especially in canter, good stal-
lion expression and type. His withers and
croup show the typical Crabbet conforma-
tion He has very good nerves and was very
well handled. We were given the privilege
of seeing him under saddle in medium
dressage; very convincing.”
“We also showed him in two all Ara-
bian shows where he did quite well but I
really wanted him to shine was at the Brit-
ish Columbia Sport Horse Show, because
by beating all of the best warmblood stock
that were competing in our province he
made his mark and a name for himself,“
Sherry comments. “His win there increased
demand for his stud services, and we were
helped by Dr Juan Semper, the renowned
AI expert who helped us make Domino’s
semen available worldwide. I still have 30
straws of his frozen semen.”
Unfortunately many of his Canadian
born progeny were not registered because
they were bred by people who wanted
performance horses and had no plans to
show at Arabian shows so their breed-
ers felt there was no need for Arabian or
half-Arabian registration. Another impor-
tant distinction *Magic Domino AHS+++//
achieved in Sherry’s ownership was his
Canadian Sport Horse Phase One Ap-
proved Stallion.
“When he was three years old I pre-
sented him to the Canadian Sport Horse
Association and he was accepted with
a very strong showing. The inspections
for entry into this registry are very strin-
gent. Stallions must be at least 16 hands
tall, have 8 inch or larger cannon bones,
possess a good temperament and exhibit
conformation that enable the horse to be
‘built to last.’ He was the highest scoring
horse at the inspection. Two years later
they informed me that he would need to
pass his performance testing to be accept-
ed permanently into the Canadian Sport
Horse Registry. This was a new ruling and
came as a surprise to the owners of a num-
ber of young stallions.
“When I sold Domino to the States I
hoped that Kim would achieve his per-
formance qualification so he would have
permanent status. She did this with his
competition in dressage so he is now a
permanent Canadian Sport Horse Bronze
Approved Stallion,” explains Sherry. Sher-
ry had reluctantly decided to sell *Magic
Domino AHS as she knew he could achieve
far more with the right owner in the U.S.A.
“Many Canadians take their top sport
horses to the U.S.A. to compete but with
a young family and my obligations on the
ranch that was not feasible, and I felt if he
got into the right hands he would fulfill
his potential in dressage and as a breed-
ing stallion. I set the stage for Domino’s
success-he did the rest, “ says Sherry.
“Mark and Kim Thomason were the first
people I shipped Domino semen to, they
were huge fans and they have been able
to see my dream to completion. Domino
had such a great home with them. It has
taken his breeder, Anne Brown, myself and
the Thomasons to bring this horse to his
full potential.”
Kim’s involvement with *Magic Domi-
no AHS+++// happened because Dr Lynn
Artress, who owned Crabbet Arabians,
worked with her husband Mark. Dr Artress
was the final owner of the great Crabbet
stallion *Silver Vanity. When he found out
that the Thomasons had an Arabian stal-
lion but no mares, he offered them mares
from his own herd. Eventually they bought
two mares from him, the Oran and *Sil-
ver Vanity granddaughter AF Orans De-
light who is double Oran, and AF Touchof
Vanity, a granddaughter of *Silver Vanity
whose sire is a grandson of Indian Magic.
Thus Kim had two mares whose pedigrees
contained the same great stallions as
*Magic Domino AHS+++//.
Kim recalls: “We really liked what we
saw in the Crabbet breeding and decided
Jo-Ann Campone Photo
42 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
to look for a high percentage stallion to
breed to AF Touchof Vanity. I had seen an
ad for Domino in Canadian Arabian News
and just couldn’t get him off my mind, so
we contacted Sherry Stewart to get semen
shipped to us. Vanitys Magic AD was born
in March 1996. She was one of the easiest
foals I had ever dealt with, quick to learn
and also very beautiful.
Kim’s first meeting with *Magic Dom-
ino AHS+++// was auspicious. “We had
gone on a skiing holiday to British Co-
lumbia in January 2000,” she says, “and
we were near where Domino lived, so I
asked Sherry if I could see him in person.
Sherry was thinking about leasing him and
wanted to know if I would be interested,
which of course I was. Unbeknownst to
me, my husband Mark had already talked
to Sherry about buying Domino. Sherry
made arrangements to take Domino to a
farm nearby with an indoor riding arena.
When I saw him for the first time, I real-
ized that his pictures do not do him jus-
tice. I was blown away! He was absolutely
beautiful. Besides the obvious things that
took my breath away when I first saw him,
his eyes made me feel I could see into his
soul. There was an instant connection be-
tween the two of us.”
Mark had actually bought the horse
before they left Canada, hoping to make
him a surprise gift to Kim, but there were
issues with his transportation to the U.S. so
Mark had to tell Kim what was happening.
As it turned out, the transporter brought
*Magic Domino AHS+++// to one of their
locations in Lexington, Kentucky and Kim
couldn’t wait three more days for his de-
livery to Tennessee so she drove to Ken-
tucky herself and brought him home in
April 2000.
With Kim, *Magic Domino AHS +++//
had an exceptional show career both in
hand and under saddle as a dressage
horse, both in open and in all Arabian
competition, including five U.S. National
titles in sport horse halter and dressage.
He earned his Bronze Premium Status with
the Canadian Sport Horse Registry with
his accomplishments in dressage. He has
been recognized by the USDF in their All
Breed awards for Arabians in dressage. He
was chosen as the Eastern Crabbet Ara-
bian Horse Association Horse of the Year
in 2006, and in 2004 he was chosen by
the Arabian Horse Owners Foundation as
a “Living Legend” and invited to attend
the Arabian Horse Celebration in Denver,
Colorado.
What makes all his achievements even
more impressive was that they have been
accomplished with Kim as his amateur rid-
er, not working with a trainer. She says of
him: “Domino has been a wonderful teach-
er. We have had to learn things to get here
rather than having someone who knows
what they are doing teach one of us first.
He gets the idea quicker than I do and then
Photo Courtesy of Mark Thomason
BobT
arr.c
om P
hoto
43April/May 2013
gently requires I learn to do it right. He has
always been a kind teacher.”
Perhaps Kim’s most treasured memory
is of *Magic Domino AHS+++//’s Living
Legend presentation in 2004. It enabled
her to meet his breeder, Anne Brown, who
also helped Kim get him to Colorado. “Ac-
cording to the program, Arabian Horse
Owners Foundation ‘Living Legends’ have
been selected for their contributions to
the Arabian horse in America. They may
be stallions, geldings, or mares. They are
recognized for their importance in many
fields of Arabian endeavour,” Kim explains.
“The award is made only once every 25
years and Domino’s nomination was a
complete surprise to us. We did not know
anything about it until we were notified of
the wonderful honor. Only 10 horses had
been selected from over 650,000 regis-
tered purebred Arabians. ”
*Magic Domino AHS+++//’s achieve-
ments in the breeding barn equal his show
ring accomplishments. He has 61 regis-
tered get, 28 of whom have show records
in Arabian competition (and as Sherry
Stewart explained, there are likely a num-
ber of unpapered offspring excelling in
the open show world as well).
• Dominique++ U.S. Top Ten Half-Arabian
Hunter JTR and Hunt Pleasure JOTR 14-17
• Watch Me UF+// 12 National titles in
dressage, sport horse under saddle, hunter
and sport horse show hack including U.S.
Reserve National Champion Half-Arabian
Sport Horse Show Hack
• Angels Legacy+++// 7 National titles
including Half-Arabian Sport Horse Mare
In Hand, Sport Horse Show Hack and U.S.
Reserve National Champion Half-Arabian
Second Level Dressage (note: she is an
Anglo-Arabian)
• KF Almaz++// 15 National titles including
Canadian National Champion Half-Arabian
Sport Horse Show Hack and Sport Horse
Under Saddle, Canadian Reserve National
Champion Third Level Dressage and U.S.
National Champion Third Level Dressage
• Magic Enchantress AD++++// U.S. Top
Ten Half-Arabian Sport Horse Jackpot Filly,
Sport Horse Mare in Hand, Sport Horse
Mare in Hand ATH and Sport Horse Show
Hack
• Magic Schonmadchen AD U.S. Reserve
National Champion Half-Arabian Sport
Horse Jackpot Filly
• Magic Delight AD U.S. Top Ten Sport
Horse Jackpot Filly
• Irresistible Magic U.S. Top Ten Half-Arabi-
an Sport Horse Jackpot Filly
• Magic Silk AD U.S. Top Ten Sport Horse
Jackpot Filly
Owners of *Magic Domino AHS+++//
get report they have superb tempera-
ments and great natural talent.
Sadly, Magic Domino AHS+++// passed
away suddenly in January at 24.
Afterword by Kim Thomason
Domino was a surprise gift from my
husband Mark. He had no way of know-
ing the love affair that was started from
the moment I first looked into Domino’s
eyes. As a little girl I had always dreamed
of owning a very special horse, that dream
came true the moment Domino came into
my life. He was 12 years old and I was no
longer a little girl when we started our
lives together, but when I was with Dom-
ino it was “Magic” and I was still that little
girl.
I remember going to Lexington, KY to
pick Domino up just so I could get him
home 3 days earlier than the transport
company could get him to Cookeville, TN.
This started our traveling time together.
We traveled from Denver, CO, to Ocala FL,
to Lexington VA and KY, to Conyers GA, all
through Tennessee, and places between.
We went to shows, clinics, lessons, and ex-
hibits. He was always a good ambassador
for the Arabian breed, for Crabbet Arabi-
ans, and for our farm no matter where we
went or where we stopped.
He was always willing to let someone
give him a pat on the neck or feel his soft
muzzle. Domino was always very gentle
with kids, especially small children. He
won many a leery child over by gently tak-
ing a treat from their small hands. Domino
gave many special rides to those that met
him. He was quite the poser for pictures
too. He has pictures taken by visitors, at
the KY horse park and shows, all over the
world.
Domino gave me the chance to do
things I never even dreamed of. He made
me look better than I am. I literally think
Domino just took me along for the ride
and “What a ride it WAS!”
Riding Domino whether it be at home
or at a show was wonderful. Domino al-
ways took care of me. He taught me so
much, more than I ever taught him. Dom-
ino always tried to do what you asked of
him even when we were learning some-
thing new. He learned it faster than I did
much of the time and then would require
me to do it correctly, but if I was not, he
would politely let me know.
Domino will always be an incredible
wonderful part of my life.
One day we will meet again in heaven
when we cross over the rainbow bridge
together, until then, in my heart, Magic
Domino you will always be. Thank you for
being my friend. Love, Kim
P.S. I miss the daily shoulder and back rubs.
44 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
TURN BACK THE CLOCK
HRH Radjurby Kat D. Walden
Photo Courtesy Creeky Routson
H.R.H. Radjur (“His Royal Highness”), a 16 hh palomino geld-
ing by “The Fabulous Fadjur” out of a grade cremello mare called
Nellie, spent his whole life as the backyard horse of owner-trainer
Creeky Routson of Walnut Creek, California. He was foaled in Feb-
ruary, 1963, and died at age 25 in 1988. A respected dressage
instructor, trainer and “S” judge, Creeky continues to pass on the
lessons that she and Radjur learned together.
Until Creeky retired Radjur from competition to give freestyle
exhibitions, which he enjoyed more than doing tests, the gelding
was one of the top ten dressage horses on the West Coast. In the
1970’s there were no dressage classes at all-Arabian shows, so
Radjur was shown only in all-breed competition. Up until 1975, he
had won over 100 trophies and 20 rosettes given by the California
Dressage Society for scores higher than 60%. He won the Western
American Dressage Championship in Pebble Beach, California, for
Second Level, and in 1975, for Fourth Level and Prix St. Georges.
The photo at right shows the pair at Pebble Beach. After 1976, in
Intermediare, Creeky said he continued to win all his classes as
long as she took him to dressage shows.
Although Radjur was capable of performing most of the
Grand Prix level movements, he showed them off only in exhi-
bitions. There Creeky could ask for movements in an order that
suited Radjur’s temperament and abilities better than the contem-
porary formal dressage tests in use by the United States Dressage
Federation (USDF) at that time. Radjur was always a bit eccentric,
and as he grew older, Creeky catered to him enough to keep him
a happy performer. The pair gave exhibitions at Jack Tone Ranch
Horse Management Clinics—home of his famous sire--at the Ara-
bian Horse Fair in Reno, Nevada, and at all-Arabian horse shows.
At one Diablo Arabian Horse Association (DAHA) show
where Radjur and Creeky gave a lunch-time dressage exhibition,
she also entered him in several classes just for fun. With Creeky
he won the Stock horse class and a Western Pleasure class, and he
took third in a second Western Pleasure class with a different rider,
winning High Point Half-Arabian of the show!
This accomplishment is not as unusual as it seems on first
read, because Creeky started Radjur’s show career as a stock horse
and participated in a number of Monte Foreman clinics with him.
Because he only tolerated cattle to please Creeky, she shifted to
jumping and eventing. The change suited Radjur, and they won
the Training Division at a Concord-Mt. Diablo event, where Charles
DeKunffy saw them perform. DeKunffy believed the gelding
showed great dressage potential, so for the next five years, Creeky
and Radjur progressed under his sometimes forceful tutelage.
They received additional instruction from Olympic judge Colonel
Gustav Nyblaeus.
Working with some of the best instructors available in their
fields helped Creeky to make the most of Radjur’s natural abili-
ties and gave her the riding and training foundations upon which
she based her livelihood. Although Creeky moved on to breed Ha-
noverian horses and to train and compete several other horses to
FEI levels, Radjur remained her cherished first dressage horse and
buddy of her teenage years for the rest of his life. She eventually
purchased a purebred Arabian gelding to be her trail horse, giving
him up to her oldest son when he wanted to ride and show him in
dressage. Currently (2013) she has a young Anglo-Arabian geld-
ing just starting his dressage career. Creeky still enjoys judging
dressage at horse trials and events, and she has earned the right to
judge dressage at the highest levels, but she is also willing to teach
riders who aspire not to show but only to being the best partner to
their horses that they can be.
45April/May 2013
McCool Photography
46 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
The 2011 show year was starting off to be great for my
Half Arabian gelding Show Biz Shah (Ultra Bey x Faith)
or as we call him, Busy, and me. We were training hard
and doing very well at all the qualifying shows for SHN. I
knew this was the year we were going to bring home of those
gorgeous Arabian trophies! What happened there was some-
thing I couldn’t have imagined.
Earlier on our fateful day, I had an amazing ride warm-
ing up over fences with Busy. I could not wait to get into the
show ring the next day. I untacked him, freshened his water
and hay, and left with my mom, sister and husband to grab
some lunch. We had just ordered our drinks when we got the
call. Busy was totally suspended from the top of his stall by
his left front hoof. We ran out of the restaurant and made it
to the stall just as Busy had finally fallen free.
According to our stall neighbors he had reared to look
over the stall to see his friend next door and got his hoof
caught between the top metal and the top tongue-and-grove
wood board. There was about a 4-inch gap. He thrashed
around for about 20 minutes until his hind legs kicked out
the boards below. Then for about 5 more minutes he was to-
tally suspended until the boards gave way and he came down
hard. He ended up cast in the corner of this stall but allowed
the vets and other helpers to get him up safely.
When I got to his stall he was standing, but you could
see his shoulder had dropped a good 12 inches from where
it should be. He also had
scratches all over his legs
from thrashing around. Ini-
tially, the outlook was bad.
The vet even told my hus-
band that Busy would not
make it through the night
from the extreme amount
of stress he was under.
Busy was given some shots
for the pain and swelling
while we discussed what we
should do with him. After a
while, the vets agreed that
he was not going to be able
to get onto a trailer to make
it to Rood and Riddle. So we
padded his stall with extra
shavings and the very kind
Horse Park staff added slits
so Busy could easily see his
friends on both sides of his
stall.
Once the vet told us
there was nothing else we
From Setback to Comebackby Donna SaldarriagaPhotos by Denise Stenstrum
47April/May 2013
while I let him finish the entire bottle. He even got the
strength to lift his head a little after he drank it all. By this
time, mom had called the vet back at Rood and Riddle and
he was on his way. We decided Busy had to make it to their
facility one way or another. In a little while, we got him up
and loaded on the trailer. When we got to Rood and Riddle,
Busy was attended by 9 vets, not vet techs, actual vets. He
was placed in a padded stall and given DMSO intravenous-
ly. Busy ended up staying the whole week of SHN at Rood
and Riddle because his enzyme levels were constantly on
the rise from the amount of damage to his shoulder. He had
nearly torn the entire muscle in half. Once his week was
over, he remained in Lexington, KY for a month at a friend’s
farm where he stayed on stall rest with a few trips to hand
graze each day.
Once we finally got him home, he was secluded in our
one-acre paddock for three months. During that time I
couldn’t ride him at all. After 3 months, I could start walking
him bareback, and we very slowly progressed from there.
In June 2012, Busy was ready to show again at the Blue
Ridge Show in Lexington, VA where we competed in just two
Sport Horse Under Saddle classes as well as the Champion-
ships where he won Champion in both!
This year, we were finally able to get back into the dres-
sage ring. All of the second half of 2012, I worked with
Busy on stretching and getting him to loosen up again. If
he hadn’t have been injured at SHN 2011, we would have
been ready for First Level, but I decided to hold him back
one more season in Training Level so I wouldn’t but any extra
strain on him shoulder.
As it turned out, Busy really didn’t need to be held back
because we placed first in both dressage tests at the Heri-
tage Arabian Classic on March 15. To top it all off, he carried
me with my 22 week old growing baby in my belly! He has
taken such good care of me and my growing baby girl during
every single ride since I became pregnant. I cannot wait to
give Sport Horse Nationals another shot with my strong boy,
Show Biz Shah, and my 2 month old baby girl and husband
there to support us.
From Setback to Comeback
could do, we walked to a
vendor to grab some lunch
and come back to watch
over Busy. We were only
gone for 10 minutes, but
when we came back, Busy
was laid out in his stall and
I couldn’t see him breath-
ing. I instantly ran into
the stall, sat down, and
cradled his head in my lap.
I thought for sure I had lost
him. Then I thought, well
maybe he is just exhausted
and dehydrated. I asked
my mom to grab me a bot-
tle of his favorite drink, red
Gatorade.
I squeezed the liquid
into his mouth and a few
seconds later he started
slurping! I noticed his
breathing start up again
and he even opened his
eyes and looked at me
by Donna SaldarriagaPhotos by Denise Stenstrum
48 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
A journey of a thousand miles starts
with a single step. For Stacey Burdick-Taul,
it has been a journey of true enlighten-
ment when it comes to riding. Her current
upper-level dressage partner is the pure-
bred Comandr-N-Chief+//, a 1996 geld-
ing sired by Rio de Janeiro and out of The
Chief Justice daughter Shilo Liberation.
Stacey started out as a teenager riding
Western Pleasure and saddle seat. She
then worked her way into showing Hunter
Pleasure very successfully. How, you may
ask, did she get to where she is today -
showing at the upper levels in dressage?
Back in 2001, Stacey’s current horse
had required a long-term layoff, so she
asked her friend Duane Esser if he had any
horses she could ride just for fun while
hers was recovering. Duane knew Chief
was just hanging out at his owner’s not
doing much and suggested Stacey should
lease him. She took him home and liked
him so much that within a month she de-
cided to buy him.
They started out showing in Hunter
Pleasure, for which Duane had trained
him, and always did fairly well. After a few
years had passed, Stacey was ready to try
something more challenging with Chief.
She had dabbled a bit with her previous
horse in dressage and had even taken a
few lessons in 2004.
One day on a whim, Stacey took Chief
to a dressage clinic, at which Eugene
Abello was the instructor. “I told him that
Chief was my hunter pleasure horse, but I
thought I would look into buying a dres-
sage horse next year. Eugene has always
laughed about that, he told me that day
Converting Comandr-N-Chief+//
49April/May 2013
that Chief WAS my dressage horse,” re-
counts Stacey.
From that day through 2005, Stacey
and Chief took monthly dressage lessons
together, which proved more than a bit
challenging as neither had any experi-
ence to speak of in dressage. They set out
to learn together, not always the easiest
way in which to do it. “I wanted to do all of
the training on my own, just depending on
coaching to guide me,” says Stacey.
Their journey was not without difficul-
ties. Stacey credits Duane with imparting
in Chief an amazing work ethic and focus.
But, being a rail horse trained to always
pick up the inside lead made it tough to
convince Chief it was okay to counter
canter and do flying lead changes. Stacey
laughs, “Chief was sure he was breaking a
major rule. He emotionally struggled with
that for a long time.”
Another long discussion was getting
Chief to stretch his body out and like it
there. His previous training had required
quite the opposite. As for Stacey, her big-
gest challenge was properly sitting the
trot. Having never ridden an experienced
dressage horse made it difficult for her to
develop the proper feel, nevertheless she
persevered and conquered it.
When asked what she considers her
greatest accomplishment thus far, Stacey
responds, “Dressage is beginning to make
true sense to me! There are a lot of wins
that mean so much, but a ribbon has never
been my ultimate goal. Understanding
classic, soft dressage has been. I sat out of
show seasons from time to time because I
could feel that I needed to step away from
Converting Comandr-N-Chief+//
50 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
what I was working on and re-address the
basics. Chief and I have 13 national titles,
which is something I never thought I would
accomplish in my showing career! But, the
goal of understanding and working my
way up the levels classically has actually
become a riding addiction for me.”
After a year off in 2012 due to a sur-
gery for Stacey, strengthening and getting
into the ring at I-1 is the first order of busi-
ness for 2013. This talented pair is ulti-
mately aiming for the Grand Prix level to
be competitive at both Arabian and open
dressage shows. They have spent the past
year in training with Susan Posner, a local
open dressage trainer, strengthening their
basics in order to perfect tempi changes.
“We’ve gone back to revamp our knowl-
edge of the canter before we can move
on,” says Stacey. “My goal is to add Inter-
mediare 2 this year. I will show I-1 and
may need to start back at some Prix St.
Georges, but really want to move on and
force ourselves to meet those one tempis
head on and figure them out this year!”
With determination like that, there is
little doubt of their success!
BobTarr.com Photo
51April/May 2013
October 2004
Took our first dressage lesson
February 2005
Went to Florida for a week to take lessons and get started. We
never showed training level, began at first level.
April 2005
Began taking monthly lessons, a Saturday and Sunday each month.
Show season was first and second level.
September 2005
Showed at our first SHN, 4 classes and received 3 top 10’s.
I would take lessons April through October or November and be
on my own until the next spring. Did this from 2005 through 2011,
training primarily with Eugene Abello, but would meet his partner
Brian MacMahon at larger shows.
2006 Season
Showed Second and Third Level. Marilyn Mell hauled Chief out to
Idaho for me. 2006 SHN we were Reserve Nat’l Champ SHUS ATR;
National Champion Second Level ATR; Top 10 in Second Level
AAOTR
2007 Season
Third and Fourth Level. This year we had a great regionals, but
were having problems with sitting on our hind end and collecting
without holding each other up - struggling a lot with self carriage.
Had a lot of problems at SHN, scratched the majority of our class-
es. Began hauling down to Huntsville, Alabama for 2-3 weekends
during a show season to ride with Brian.
2008
Decided to take the year off of any competition and concentrate
on training and working more on our basics. Worked on improving
our collection and self carriage
2009
Showed Fourth Level and PSG. The only Arabian show we went
to this year was SHN- We had to head to strictly open shows for
these levels. I asked Brian if he would be willing to show Chief in
the open Fourth Level and open PSG at SHN. The really neat thing
to me was realizing that Brian was able to show my horse success-
fully when I was the one that did the training. Brian had sat on
Chief for 15 minutes in June, and rode him about 30 minutes the
day before SHN started, and told me Chief felt correct and he felt
good about trying to show him. Brian was third in both his nation-
al classes with Chief, and was the top scoring purebred. I was Top
10 in both Third and Fourth Levels and Reserve Nat’l Champion in
PSG. This was the only time Chief has been shown in dressage by
anyone other than myself.
2010
Intermediare was proving to be a very large leap for Chief and I,
so I decided to again sit the show season out and concentrate on
schooling. Flying lead changes and full pirouettes were TOUGH
to learn. To date we are always working on improving our tempis.
2011
Returned to showing, continued PSG and added I-1. Had some
back soreness issues we had to work out over the 2010 winter, so
we did not start showing until the end of June at Region 14. We
only entered 3 shows that year, including SHN, so we only had 4
attempts showing I-1 before SHN. 3 months was not quite long
enough of a show season to truly feel prepared for SHN. We had
some back soreness show up for a couple days at SHN, made it a
tough show and the rides were a little disappointing, but were still
happy with our effort. By the time you get to Intermediare and
Grand Prix, there are no longer amateur classes so my only option
is to show with the professionals. We were: Top 10 in Intermediare
1; Top Ten in Open PSG and Reserve Nat’l Champion in Amateur
PSG
I felt as though some of the back soreness was stemming from
our continued struggle with not enough softness. We would be
“locked” in his neck. I wanted to find someone local to work with,
to help me at shows. Needed to step back to my basics again and
improve what has been my biggest struggle: honest self-carriage
and softness while maintaining my connection. Started riding
with Susan Posner, now take a lesson every two weeks with her.
2012
February I had a personal medical emergency that prohibited me
from riding for 3 months after I had been off riding for 2 months
prior. Since I am the only one that rides my horses, Chief and I both
got out of shape very quickly. My core muscles were very weak, so
I decided to begin at training level and work my way up the levels
over several months as we became strong. Gave me a great op-
portunity to go back and confirm or correct every movement. That
was a great teaching tool for Chief and I to really try and finesse so
many thought processes together.
Step by Step with Stacey and Chief
52 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
It’s Never Too Late
It’s Never Too LateHow Sarah Asby had a dream,amended it, then made it happen
Sarah Asby always had a dream. She
was the owner of a nice Arabian Sport
Horse mare and she wanted to breed a
horse that she could eventually ride to a
National Championship, preferably in dres-
sage. Sarah was taking lessons at a local
dressage barn in Oregon where they hap-
pened to own and stand a very successful
grey Oldenburg stallion named Ideal. (Ide-
al is the son of the influential French Anglo-
Arabian Inschallah, who has also achieved
fame as a Breyer horse.)
At the time, Sarah could not afford the
stud fee, but arranged to work it off feed-
ing at the barn. She threw feed and hay for
two and a half years, “My friends were very
impressed with my bicep development,”
laughs Sarah.
She was eventually rewarded with a
very spunky filly she called ‘Imnaha,’ after a
river in Oregon. Sarah raised “Immy” from
birth, and from there, set out to accomplish
the dream.
The filly started out with a bang, scor-
ing a premium foal rating at the Oldenburg
Inspection. Because her dam Alu Minchah
(Khalief x Gazmariah) was in the Oldenburg
Main mare book, Immy was eligible to be
approved and branded by the ISR Olden-
burg registry.
When she was ready, Immy’s dressage
training began. At some point though,
things weren’t going so well with her train-
ing, and her progress became very slow.
Sarah was eager to be riding her, but that
wasn’t working out as planned. Her trainers
found her difficult and things just weren’t
clicking. It was getting frustrating for Sarah,
who was forced to ride other horses or not
show at all. By the time Immy was 6, Sarah
had been on her only a couple of times.
“It was hard at first to change my plans
for her from dressage to hunter/jumper but
it became clear early on when we tried to
show her in dressage classes she just did
not like the work. At the Scottsdale show
she ran out of the dressage ring during a
class when we passed the gate at A which
had been left open,” Sarah recalls.
It was then that Sarah decided it was
time for a change of plan, as no one was
getting any younger! Sarah had endured
a lot of criticism from her friends and ac-
quaintances regarding the wisdom of this
project and investment as a whole. She was
told by many of her horse peers that her
breeding choice had been a waste of time
and money.
As luck would have it, right around the
same time, Ahna and Scott Bowman had
moved their sport horse barn from Scott-
sdale, AZ to Oregon, and had much expe-
rience showing and training Arabian and
Half Arabian hunter/jumper and dressage
horses. Sarah and the Bowmans became
acquainted through their club, Arabians
In Motion, and Sarah decided to move her
horse and give the Bowmans an opportu-
nity to train her young mare.
From the beginning it was clear to Ahna
that Immy had abundant athletic ability,
she just wasn’t happy with her job. To cross
train her a little, she was started over some
fences. She loved jumping so much that it
became her reward for tolerating the flat-
work. Sarah wasn’t sure what to make of
the whole thing; she had her heart set on
dressage and hadn’t jumped a horse over
a jump in about 50 years! You see, at this
point Sarah was 69 years old.
“The hardest thing for me about going
over fences was overcoming the negative
thoughts that ran through my mind of be-
ing too old,” says Sarah. “Many of my well-
meaning friends warned me not to get hurt.
Having an honest horse like Imnaha has
made the transition easier.”
Sarah and Imnaha showing in dressage
53April/May 2013
Showing great courage, Sarah agreed
to let Ahna take Immy in the direction she
thought she should go, and they would
work the rest out later, such as Sarah reac-
quainting herself with jumping. In the in-
terim, Taylor, Ahna and Scott’s daughter and
a very talented junior rider, was looking for
a Half Arab to compete in Hunter/Jumper
as her own Half Arab, Lady Loria++++//,
had been retired from jumping to pursue
upper level dressage.
Taylor and Immy were a perfect fit.
Sarah took lessons on her older, depend-
able dressage horse while Taylor and Immy
racked up some experience and show mile-
age. Sarah knew she would have to work
hard as Immy was not just any horse – she
had a huge stride and a big jump. Therefore,
Sarah resigned herself to suffering through
working without stirrups and anything else
asked of her in lessons in order to succeed.
She was determined to ride and show her
horse and do it well, even at age 70.
No one could have predicted how tal-
ented Immy turned out to be. To quote
Ahna, “She was so balanced and sensitive
to the bend and aids, she had what I would
consider an ‘automatic’ lead change in two
weeks. Her scope was amazing, and to call
her brave would be an understatement. I
wish every horse was this easy and pleas-
ant to train.”
Immy’s 2011 season began with Scotts-
dale as her first big show and second rated
show of her career. She never looked back.
By 2012, she and Sarah had begun to come
together and things started to get exciting.
The mare had become so dependable, that
Sarah was able to take lessons on her, and
they were jumping! Once again, Sarah’s
friends told her she was nuts to be jumping
horses at age 70, never mind trying to go to
Sport Horse Nationals to compete against
the best of the best. Sarah was undeterred
– she had heard it all before.
So far that year, Immy had racked up
an amazing amount of wins, including mul-
tiple Regional Championships, as well as
Canadian National and Reserve Champion-
ships with Taylor. Sarah had also ridden her
to a Regional win, and had mastered a small
course at a show early in the year.
It was time for Sport Horse Nation-
als. As well as her horse was doing, Sarah
was nervous. She was slated to ride in the
Half Arabian Hunter Hack AAOTR. Well,
that’s not a cream puff division with Alexis
Doughty in it and several other competitive
folks and their horses. She had had to learn
this entire discipline all over again with a
somewhat green horse underneath her.
In the end, the dream was meant to
be. Sarah got through it without having a
heart attack, and also won Reserve National
Sarah and Imnaha after winning their Reserve National Champion
Champion. It was an amazing reward for
their challenging journey together.
“The highlight so far was definitely Na-
tionals - winning a Reserve Championship
on her in the AAOTR Hunter Hack class.
Equally as rewarding was my son, Nate,
showing her to a Top 10 finish in the ATH
Sport Horse In Hand class. He has helped
me raise the horse and they work well as a
team. He has mild cerebral palsy but long
legs and is able to run her on the triangle
to show off her wonderful suspended trot,”
says Sarah proudly.
Imnaha ended up a tied winner for AB-
HJA High Point Hunter/Jumper horse of the
show. Imnaha was also ridden by Taylor to
several other Championships and Reserves
at Sport Horse Nationals. These wins with
Imnaha also played a large role in Taylor’s
AHA High Point Youth Award win this year,
which she won by the largest margin ever.
Imnaha also finished the year as an AHA Top
Ten High Point Horse out of 2,291 horses.
Sarah is now 71 and Immy is 8. They are
currently working together to get ready for
jumping courses for the coming show sea-
son. Taylor and Immy are currently showing
in the 3’6”-3’9” jumpers at open shows and
doing quite well.
Fortunately, sometimes time does not
run out on a determined woman and her
dream.
Imnaha and her dam at the
Oldenburg Inspection.
Photo by Scarlett
54 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Top HA/AA Sires & DamsOF THE 2012 SPORT HORSE NATIONALSBy Peggy Ingles & Arlene Magid
The top ranking sires and dams of Half
and Anglo Arabians at Sport Horse Nation-
als in 2012 are a diverse mix of breeds and
bloodlines.
Interestingly, the two partbreds that
won the most have French origins. Im-
naha+//, earned two National Champion-
ships in Working Hunter ATR and Hunter
Hack ATR; three Reserve Championships
in Green Working Hunter, Hunter Hack and
Hunter Hack ATR and three Top Tens in
Sport Horse Under Saddle Open and ATR
and Sport Horse In Hand Mares ATH.
Imnaha+// is by the Oldenburg Ideal
, whose sire was the influential French
Anglo Arabian Inschallah. Inschallah was
highly prized by the Germans as a founda-
tion sire for Oldenburgs and sired several
Olympic dressage medal winners. Ideal
was imported from Germany and became
the top sire of premium ISR/Oldenburg
foals in the U.S. and is approved GOV, ISR/
OLD NA, Selle Francais and RPSI. One of his
daughters is the highest scoring ISR/OLD
NA mare ever recorded.
Anglo Arabian mare Church
Creek++++// earned 3 National Champi-
onships - Working Hunter AAOTR, Hunter
Hack and Hunter Hack AAOTR; two Reserve
Championships in Hunter Hack ATR and
Sport Horse In Hand Mares ATH and two
Top Tens in Working Hunter ATR and Sport
Horse In Hand Mares. Her sire is the French
Anglo import Baladin d’Oc who stood at
Virginia Tech. He himself was a FEI dres-
sage competitor despite his pedigree of
jumping and eventing bloodlines. Baladin
d’Oc was approved by the American Hano-
verian Society, Selle Francais NA, and ISR/
Oldenburg NA.
Oh Say Valay, dam of Church Creek,
was entered into the Oldenburg NA Main
Mare Book in 2006. Sired by Oh Say (by
Hoist the Flag), a horse that jockey Bill
Shoemaker said was a better horse than
his 1982 Preakness mount, he earned
$78,000 and had sired earners of over
$16 million at his death in 2002. Her dam,
Spoonavalay was by the popular stallion
Carnivalay, who sired durable runners that
earned over $2 million a year from 1996
Interestingly, the
two partbreds that
won the most have
French origins.
55April/May 2013
through 2001, including 38 stakes win-
ners. He also has a reputation as a sire of
great steeplechasers.
The Friesian stallion Darktanion sired
Dark Prankster+++//, the top winning
dressage horse at SHN, earning 3 National
Championships in Fourth Level, PSG Open
and ATR; Reserve Champion in Sport Horse
Show Hack ATR and Top Tens in Sport
Horse Show Hack Open and Fourth Level
Dressage ATR. Darktanion was sired by
Jildert 299 and out of a Ster mare. He was
awarded 2nd Premium and High Merit at
his inspection. His offspring have earned
bronze in the AWS; and Reserve National
Champion Sport Horse, 1st Premium, High
Merit and Ster at FEIT/FHH inspections.
Darktanion earned a High Point Champi-
onship in the Tri-State Dressage Society in
2008.
Dark Prankster’s dam, Czapranka, is
a pure Polish mare. All four of her grand-
parents were imported to the USA. Her
sire Vezanka is a grandson of US National
Champion Stallion *El Paso, sire of Na-
tional Champions in halter, reining and
pleasure driving including U.S. National
Champion Mare *Wizja. His get have pro-
duced National Champions in halter, west-
ern pleasure, country pleasure, country
pleasure driving, English sidesaddle, na-
tive costume, sport horse carriage driving,
hunt pleasure, and dressage. Vezanka’s
sire *Veza is out of a full sister to 2 Polish
National Champions. Vezanka’s dam *Su-
zanka comes from one of Poland’s most
successful racing dam lines, that of Triple
Crown winner *Sabellina. Czapranka’s dam
Czapral is also an *El Paso grandget, giv-
ing Czapranka two lines to him. Czapral’s
paternal granddam Czatanoga is the dam
of U.S. Reserve National Champion Stallion
*Czeremosz and her maternal granddam
*Mimikra is a full sister to U.S. National
Champion Park *Meczet.
Czapranka’s purebred son, Czentinel
(by A Sentry), is an accomplished endur-
ance horse having recorded 2710 AERC
miles. Her Half-Arabian offspring by Dark-
tanion include MDA Darby +/, a 4-time
US National Top Ten Hunt Pleasure; MDA
Cinco De Mayo, a Regional Top 5 in hunt
pleasure.
Plezar+ sired C J One For The Mon-
ey+//, winner of three National Champi-
onships in Sport Horse Show Hack Open
and ATR and Sport Horse Under Saddle
ATR; and four Top Ten titles in Second
Level Dressage Open, ATR and AAOTR and
Sport Horse Under Saddle Open. Pure Pol-
ish Plezar+ is a Canadian Top Ten Native
Costume winner and a regional champion
in pleasure driving. His sire Gondar also
sired the supremely versatile Go Royal
Comandar+//, a multiple National Cham-
pion Working Cow Horse as well as a Na-
tional Champion in hunt pleasure and a
Top Ten winner in show hack. Gondar is by
U.S. Reserve National Champion Park and
National winner sire *Zbrucz out of Na-
tional winner producer *Gontyna. Plezar+
is a maternal brother to Top Ten Country
Pleasure and Native Costume Phlite+/ and
to Primroza, dam of 3 National winners,
2 of them National Champions. Plezar+’s
dam Patraza is by Negatraz, sire of 34 Na-
tional winners including Monogramm, a
World and National Champion sire whose
ideAl
imported Oldenburg. (Inschallah{AA} x
Pamela {Old}), sired Imnaha+//
56 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
1
2
4
7
1
4
2
6
7
57April/May 2013
3 Khemberry Bey V+//, a Huckle-
berry Bey son with multiple National
Championships himself, sired DM Khem
Latte+//. Ed Moore Photo
Feuertanzer, a Trakehner sired by
Martini *Pg*E*, sired two SHN winners:
Jazzy Cadence+ and Mondavi F++++//.
Plezar+, an Arabian by Gondar,
sired CJ One For The Money+//.
Rob Hess Photo
Darktanion, Friesian, is the sire of
top ranked dressage winner Dark Prank-
ster+++//. Photo by Gail Finger
Alu Minchah (Khalief x Ghaz-
mariah) is the top mare of SHN, with
having produced both Imnaha+// and
Arosenthyme MA++++//.
Photo by Scarlett
Knight Invader, sire of two SHN
winners: Elexxus Knight+/ and Spirit Of
The Knight+/.
Courtesy Tammy Mendonca
Scimitar, an imported Hanoverian
by Silvio, is the sire of LJS Sublime+/.
Photo Ursula Ferrier
Cabalito, an imported Hanoverian
by Cordoba, sired SC Cirrus Wind++++//.
Photo courtesy White Hedge Farm
1
4
2
6
5
3
7
8
55
3
8
58 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
get have excelled in sport horse competi-
tion.
His dam is a Hackney, Hallmandale
Lady Bretta, who has also produced full
siblings with National and Regional wins
in Hunter Pleasure, Sport Horse, Country
English Pleasure and Dressage.
Al Jassur Laddin, an Arabian, sired the
Anglo Arabian One More Round ++++//,
who was National Champion in Working
Hunter, Reserve Champion in Working
Hunter AAOTR and ATR; and Top Ten in
Sport Horse Under Saddle Open and ATR,
SHIH Open and ATH.
Al Jassur Laddin has two regional
championships as a sport horse stallion
in hand (He was gelded at age 6!). He has
three lines to U.S. Reserve National Cham-
pion Stallion Fadjur. His sire Al Irhad Lad-
din+ is a regional champion in western
pleasure and a multiple regional cham-
pion in trail. (He was gelded at age 13).
Al Irhad Laddin+ is a grandson of U.S. Na-
tional Champion Stallion *Aladdinn and
is linebred to *Naborr, sire of National
Champions in halter and performance.He
also traces to the National Champion sires
Bamby, Indraff, Skorage and Fadjur.
Al Jassur Laddin is out of Somkinda-
wonderful, a maternal sister to twice Top
Ten Halter and four times Top Ten Hunt
Pleasure DA Twilight Zone+/. Somkinda-
wonderful is a granddaughter of multiple
National Champion Stallion and Western
Pleasure Khemosabi++++//, sire of 110
National winners. Her dam, National win-
ner producer Fiezona, is a granddaughter
of U.S. Top Ten Stallion Gamuzon and U.S.
National Champion Park *Oran Van Crab-
bet.
One More Round’s dam is a Thorough-
bred named Winifred, who had raced 24
times and later was a very successful show
hunter. She was sired by Priority, a Grade 2
stakes placed winner of $173,000 sired by
Native Royalty. Winifred’s dam, Regency
Doll, was by Ardent John, a stakes placed
earner of over $130,000, who traces back
to Man O’War.
The imported black Hanover-
ian Rosenthal is the sire of Arosenthyme
MA+++// who earned two National Cham-
pionships in Training Level Dressage Jun-
ior Horse and Sport Horse In Hand Mares,
Reserve Champion in Training Level Dres-
sage and Top Tens in Sport Horse Under
Saddle Junior Horse and Sport Horse In
Hand Mares ATH. Rosenthal has sired over
90% Premium Oldenburg foals and two
Special Premium foals out of only a few
in the US. One of those is the Half-Arabian
RosEbony (x Bey Ebony Rose) who went
on to achieve Verband Premium Mare
status. Half-Arabian son Raayder (x Afire-
light) earned a National Top Ten in the
Yearling Sport Horse Colt/Gelding In Hand.
Rosenthals Minuet+ (x Ambres Blue Angel)
is a National and Regional winner in Sport
Mares In Hand.
Rosenthal is ranked #3 in the 2012
USEF Leading Hunter Sires and has previ-
ously been ranked #1 in Dressage Breed-
ing Sires. Rumors (x WB) was USDF Horse
of the Year and won the Fillies of 2004
with a score of 85.5% giving her the high-
est score in the open classes at Dressage
at Devon earning the Breeders Award
´Born in the USA.’
Rosenthal’s sire is Rubinstein I, an ac-
complished dressage performer, he had
40 wins at Grand Prix level, was a member
of the 1996 Olympic team, sired 89 state
premium mares and 66 approved stallions.
Khemberry Bey V+// is the sire of DM
Khem Latte+//, who won National Champi-
onships in First Level Dressage and Sport
Horse Under Saddle; a Reserve Champion
in Sport Horse Under Saddle ATH and two
Top Ten titles in Training Level Dressage
AAOTR and First Level Dressage AAOTR.
Khemberry Bey V+// has 21 National
titles in english sidesaddle and show hack
rosentHAlan imported Hanoverian by Rubinstein I, sire of Arosenthyme MA+++//
59April/May 2013
with multiple National Championships in
show hack. He is also the sire of multiple
National Champion Dressage DM Vivid
Khemistry+/. He is by U.S. Reserve Na-
tional Champion Futurity Colt and English
Pleasure Huckleberry Bey++, sire of 104
National winners.
Khemberry Bey V+// is out of Khemad-
era, also dam of Khemberry Bey V+//’s
full sister, multiple National Champion
Mare and National Champion producer
Keepsake V and full brother Huck Finn,
sire of a National Champion in dressage.
Khemadera was from the first foal crop of
multiple National Champion Stallion and
Western Pleasure Khemosabi++++//, for
many years the breed’s leading living sire
of champions.
DM Khem Latte’s dam is an unpapered
Hanoverian mare, Finessa.
Scimitar is the sire of LJS Sublime+/
who was National Champion in First Level
Dressage AAOTR, Reserve National Cham-
pion in First Level ATR, and received four
Top Tens in Training Level Junior Horse,
Training Level ATR and AAOTR and Sport
Horse In Hand Geldings ATH.
Scimitar is an imported Elite Hanover-
ian stallion, registered with the ISR/OLD
NA, American Hanoverian Society and RPSI.
Scimitar is the only son of the very popular
German Oldenburg sire Silvio (by Sandro)
who stood in the U.S. Silvio produced 13
licensed stallions and 17 States Premium
mares who went on to show in jumping
careers. Scimitar’s mother Carballina is a
States Premium daughter of the legendary
Holsteiner stallion Calypso II.
As a yearling, Scimitar was Champion
Colt and Reserve Champion young horse
at Dressage at Devon. As a 4 year old, he
won the stallion class and placed second
under saddle. Scimitar successfully com-
pleted his 100-day Stallion Performance
Test at Rancho Murieta with an overall
score of 111.55, ranked 6th overall with
very high rideability scores. Scimitar also
competed up to Fourth Level Dressage.
He has sired 3 licensed sons, one is
an FEI dressage horse ridden by Olympian
Bent Jensen. He has a son competing with
Anne Kursinski in jumpers in addition to
an Advanced event horse. One of his sons
was high score at Dressage at Devon win-
ning the Breeders Award ́ Born in the USA´
Grand Champion. A Scimitar daughter, Sas-
safras, was given the highest performance
test score by the American Hanoverian So-
ciety and thus became a winner of the Dr.
Walter Hartwig Prize for best North Ameri-
can-bred Young Horse in 2009.
LJS Sublime’s dam is BA Aprils Folly,
one of the few Arabian mares in Book I of
the RPSI. She has produced all Premium
foals including two Gold Premium. BA
Aprils Folly is a predominantly Egyptian
mare. She traces in sire line to US Reserve
National Champion Futurity Colt Shaikh Al
Badi, founder of one of the leading fam-
ily of sires in Egyptian Arabians and sire
of National Champions in halter and per-
formance. BA Aprils Folly also has a line to
the Egyptian import *Ghalii on her sire’s
side, he sired a National Champion in hal-
ter and was the grandsire of National win-
ners in several performance disciplines.
BA Aprils Folly has two lines to National
Champion sire Zab, who was bred by Hen-
ry Babson, on her sire side.
BA Aprils Folly is out of WJ Double Dal,
a double granddaughter of the straight
Egyptian Dalul, who was a U.S. National
Champion Futurity Colt, U.S. and Canadian
Top Ten Stallion, and a National Champion
sire. Dalul get have produced National
winners in dressage and trail and National
Champions in show hack and halter. In tail
female BA Aprils Folly traces to Serela, a
full sister to Top Ten Stallion and National
winner sire Muszkateer. Serela is by the
Crabbet import *Serafix out of the Polish
import *Muszkatela.
Feuertanzer sired two SHN winners in
2012: Jazzy Cadence+ who earned 3 Top
bAlAdin d’ocan imported French Anglo Arabian, (Flox x Forteresse), is the sire of
Church Creek++++//
Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech
60 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Ten titles in First Level Dressage Open,
AAOTR and ATR; and Mondavi F++++// (x
MRR Suite Dreams) Winner of a National
Championship in Third Level Dressage, a
Reserve Champion in Sport Horse In Hand
Geldings ATH and a Top Ten in Fourth Lev-
el Dressage.
Feuertanzer was a Premium Trakehner,
although his performance test was never
completed due to an injury. Sired by Mar-
tini *Pg*E*, a multiple USDF HOY Champi-
on Grand Prix Dressage stallion who stood
1st or 2nd on the USDF Leading Sire list
for 8 straight years.
Cabalito is the sire of SC Cirrus
Wind++++// who earned a National Cham-
pionship in SHIH Geldings, two Reserve
Championships in Second Level Dressage
ATR and AAOTR, and two Top Tens in Sport
Horse In Hand Geldings ATH and Sport
Horse Under Saddle ATR.
Cabalito is an imported Elite Hano-
verian, approved GOV, who passed his
11-month State Stallion Performance test
and final 100 day test while still in Germa-
ny. Cabalito is one of
the few licensed sons
of the very elegant and
popular Hanoverian
State Stallion Cordoba,
the sire of FEI dressage
star Worley (World
Cup). Cordoba placed
fourth in his stallion
performance test. Due
to his outstanding dres-
sage qualities, he be-
came a member of the
famous Celle Chestnut
Quadrille as a 6-year old.
He has been standing at
Celle since 1993. Cabalito’s
dam Bianca also produced Wolkenglanz.
Cabalito was a successful show hunter
and jumper before retiring to the breeding
shed.
SC Cirrus Wind’s dam is Dessert Wind,
whose sire, Hu-Warwind, is linebred to Na-
tional Champion sire Ferzon, with 2 of his
lines to him coming through U.S. National
Champion Stallion and English Pleasure
Raffon++. Dessert Wind’s dam Athena
Royale is a daughter of the Polish import
*Piechur, a U.S. Top Ten Stallion, European
Champion Stallion and National Champion
sire. Athena Royale’s dam Royal Tesa is by
Canadian National Champion Native Cos-
tume and U.S. Top Ten English Pleasure
Royal Grand. Royal Tesa is a granddaugh-
ter of the all time leading Crabbet sire of
champions *Serafix and of U.S. Top Five
Cutting *Centaur, a Polish import.
Arabian A Friendly Fire is the sire of
Shezaffirecracker+//, who earned a Na-
tional Championship in Carriage Pleas-
ure Driving Gamblers Choice, a Reserve
Championship in Carriage Pleasure Driv-
ing Timed Obstacle and four Top Ten titles
in Carriage Pleasure Driving Working, Car-
riage Pleasure Driving Turnout, Carriage
Pleasure Driving Reinsmanship and Car-
riage Pleasure Driving Obstacles.
Afriendly Fire is a multiple regional
champion in pleasure driving and country
pleasure driving. Afriendly Fire is by U.S.
Top Ten Park Afire Bey V, the breed’s all
time leading sire of champions. Afriendly
Fire is out of National Champion English
Pleasure and Informal Combination Flare
Bask, a daughter of National Champion
sire Bask Flame. Afriendly Fire is also the
sire of several other National winners in-
cluding 2012 Canadian National Cham-
pion Country Pleasure AATR 40 & Over
Born of Fire W sport horses and National
Champion Sport Horse Carriage Driving
Fire Opal++++//, who is a Half Arabian.
Her dam is Foxy Style, a Saddlebred
sired by Foxs Legacy out of a Flight Time
daughter. Both dam and sire trace to
6-time World Grand Champion 5-Gaited
Wing Commander. Foxy Style has pro-
duced 3 full siblings that have regional
wins in dressage, halter, hunter pleasure
and carriage driving.
Taliesen is the sire of WCS Ring O
Fyre+//, winner of two National Champi-
onships in Carriage Pleasure Driving Ob-
stacles and Timed Obstacles; and three
Top Ten titles in Carriage Pleasure Driv-
ing Turnout, Drive & Ride and Gambler’s
Choice.
Taliesen is an American Saddlebred
sired by Sultan’s Santana, a World Grand
Champion Fine Harness Horse who sold
for over $1 million in 1982 and was one
of the highest ranked sires of the breed.
Taliesen’s dam Captive Moment was a full
sister to a World Grand Champion. Talies-
A friendly fire(Afire Bey V x Flare Bask) is a regional driving
champion and sire of Shezaffirecracker+//
Phot
o by
Stu
art V
esty
61April/May 2013
en himself had 8 wins with two Champion-
ships in driving.
His dam is Justishamba, who has pro-
duced 3 champions from 4 registered
offspring. She is a daughter of The Chief
Justice+//, a U.S. and Canadian Top Ten
Stallion, Canadian Top Ten English Pleas-
ure and US Top Ten Informal Combination.
The Chief Justice++/ sired National Cham-
pions in multiple performance divisions
and his daughters are noted broodmares.
26 have produced National winners in-
cluding such National Champions as Justa-
fire DGL (english pleasure), PS Afire Chief
(park), and Rumina Afire (country pleas-
ure). Justishamba’s dam Miss Tishamba
also produced multiple regional champion
country pleasure General Jackson+/. She
is a daughter of U.S. National Champion
Pleasure Driving and National winner sire
Hillcrests Tishamba++, whose sire Tisaan
was the first Scottsdale Champion Stallion.
Miss Tishamba’s dam is Hillcrests Imaraza,
a paternal sister to U.S. National Champion
Mares Lallegra and Imarfa++.
Knight Invader is a Friesian who sired
two winners at SHN; Elexxus Knight+/ (x
Black Lexxii) who won six Top Ten titles
in Sport Horse Show Hack Open and ATR;
Second Level Dressage Open, ATR and
AAOTR; and Sport Horse Under Saddle. His
other offspring is Spirit Of The Knightt+/ (x
Desertt Passion), who won three Top Tens
in First Level Dressage Open and AAOTR
and Training Level Dressage Open.
Knight invader’s sire, Warn 335, was a
First Premium stallion known for his pow-
erful gaits. Warn’s dam Mefrou was the
dam of many champion Friesians. Knight
Invader’s dam was sired by Sir Lancelot
who appeared in the movie “Lady Hawke.”
Knight Invader never competed but
is trained for exhibitions featuring high
school dressage maneuvers. His Half-Ara-
bian get have earned 20 National Cham-
pionships and Reserve Championships, 57
National Top Tens and over 200 Regional
titles in Hunter, Show Hack, Sport Horse,
Dressage, Driving and Costume.
Top dam for the SHN is the purebred
Alu Minchah, who is in the Oldenburg Main
Mare Book in addition to holding Regional
Championships in Sport Horse In Hand.
Her two offspring at SHN were Imnaha and
Arosenthyme MA+++//, both discussed
above.
Alu Minchah combines Polish and
American lines. Her sire Khalief is a full
brother to multiple National Champion
Pleasure Driving Khazzan+/, a sire of
National winners in halter and english
pleasure. Khalief is also a full brother to
National Champion sire Sher Khan. Khalief
is by Negatraz, sire of145 champions &
34 National winners & 52 National win-
ner producers, the most famous of which,
Monogramm, has sired World and National
Champions. Khalief is out of Bajalee, a
daughter of Canadian National Champion
Stallion, U.S. Top Ten Cutting and Reining
and National Champion sire *Bajram. Alu
Minchah’s dam Gazmariah is by halter
and English pleasure champion Gazarr++,
sire of 10 National winners in halter, hunt
pleasure, english pleasure and western
pleasure. Gazmariah is a granddaughter of
Gazon, sire of U.S. National Champion Stal-
lion and English Pleasure Raffon++, and of
the straight Egyptian Disaan, grandsire of
many National winners in halter and per-
formance.,
Arabian Chainti produced two winners
at SHN: Lady Loria++++// (by Hanoverian
Lanthan) and BSH Vintage Isabella++ (by
Selle Francais Pascal Depau). Chainti is
by the straight Spanish stallion TA Esca-
landoso, a son of multiple halter cham-
pion SR Rico, maternal grandsire of 2012
U.S. Top Ten Training Level Dressage ATR
Xenya. SR Rico is a paternal brother to
Arabian mare Chainti (TA Escalandoso x Fadney Ms Chablis) is the dam of two SHN winners: Lady Loria++++// and BSH Vintage Isabella
Arabian mare BA Aprils Folly, the dam of LJS Sublime+/ Photo courtesy Lazy J Sporthorses
Finessa is a Hanoverian and dam of DM Khem Latte+//
62 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Pascion S, dam of U.S. National Cham-
pion Sport Horse Jackpot Colt, Reserve
National Champion Hunter Hack Junior
Horse, and Top Ten Training Level Dres-
sage Junior Horse, Training Level Dressage
AOTR, Hunter Hack AOTR and Green Work-
ing Hunter Czantiago++/ and U.S. Reserve
National Champion Hunter Hack ATR and
Top Ten Green Working Hunter and Hunter
Hack JTR Yo+/. TA Escalandoso is a mater-
nal grandson of *Barich De Washoe, 28
National winners, 92 champions and 40
producers of National winners.
Chainti is out of Fadney Ms Chablis,
who is linebred to *Raseyn through US
Top Ten Mare Ferneyna and U.S. Reserve
National Champion Stallion and National
Champion sire Saneyn++. She traces in
sire line to U.S Reserve National Champion
Stallion Fadjur, one of the breed’s most in-
fluential sires.
Additional Sires of two or more Half/Anglo Arabian winners:
Winterprinz (Warkant/Weltmeyer/Sender) - Hanoverian
Watermark – National Champion Training Level Dressage, Reserve National Champion Training Level Dressage
Junior Horse, Top Ten Sport Horse In Hand Geldings
Whata Tiny Dancer – Top Ten Sport Horse In Hand Mares
Titan – American Warmblood
Shineontitansilver – Top Ten Training Level Dressage AAO, Top Ten Training Level Dressage ATR
Titans IO - Top Ten Training Level Dressage Open & Top Ten Training Level Dressage ATR
Casini+/ - National Champion 2nd Level Dressage, Top Ten 3rd Level Dressage
Prince Sawda (Veneto x Princess Edna {NATAF]) - Arabian
Sawdas Lady Pasha – Top Ten 1st Level Dressage
Sawdas Nelita+/ - Top Ten Sport Horse Show Hack, Top Ten 1ST Level Dressage Open, Top Ten Sport Horse Under Saddle
MHR Nobility (*Elimar x Har Nahra) - Arabian
Ability – Reserve National Champion Jumpers, Top Ten Speed Jumpers
Winsomes April Fool++++//– Top Ten Green Working Hunter, Top Ten Hunter Hack, Top Ten Sport Horse In Hand Mares
Open & Top Ten Sport Horse In Hand Mares ATH
KB Omega Fahim++++// (Amir Fahim x Amyrah Adhemah) - Arabian
KB Khalila Fahim+++/ - Top Ten 2nd Level Dressage
KB Jull Fahim+// - National Champion Intermediaire 2 Dressage , Top Ten Grand Prix Dressage
Additional Dam of two or more Half/Anglo Arabian winners:
Solnika (Soldat x Chica) – Arabian
MJ Dot Com+ by MJ Fusion (CWB) - Top Ten Sport Horse In Hand Geldings Open& ATH
MJ Erika by Whirlwind II (DWB) - National Champion 2 YO Sport Horse In Hand Fillies
63April/May 2013
A picture is worth a thousand words...
One of the best ways to learn all about your horse is through
ancestor photos.
Spring Special from
Arlene Magid Arabian Horse Consultant
Buy a 2 page prose pedigree study or an 8 generation electronic pedigree
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64 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
Continued on page 91
By Helen Donnell
Photo Courtesy Eventing Nation
Helen was a dressage demo rider with her Arabian Stattok at the
USEA Instructor Certification Program National Symposium with in-
structor Linda Zang in February and shares her experience here.
The theme for the dressage portion of the Instructor Certifica-
tion Program was how to get from scores of 6 & 7 to 8 & 9. Linda
Zang emphasized repeatedly, at all levels, that the quality of the
gait is the ceiling - the score for a particular movement cannot be
higher than the quality of gait during the movement. So the key
to raising test scores is to raise the quality of the gaits. This pre-
supposes that the horse has “3 good gaits” and that there are no
major/serious gaps or problems in the basic training. The horses
selected to demon-
strate all consis-
tently score in the
mid 30’s or better
at their level (equal
to 65%+ in regular
dressage).
I was in the
first rider group
of the day, which
sadly meant a lot of
standing and walk-
ing while Linda
laid her foundation
with the audience.
She was pleased
with my horse,
Stattok’s, walk and
trot, but noted that
he was tight and not through enough in canter to score above a 6
or 7. The other horse in our group was less balanced in trot, and
was used to illustrate exercises for improving that gait. Most of
the change was in the rider, who tended to collapse to the inside
and let the horse rush forward in a flat/on the forehand frame.
Our canter work was short due to the time constraint, but high-
ly productive. Linda noted that Stat was bulging his outside shoul-
der very slightly. She asked me to do one step of leg yield off the
rail (towards the leading leg) which worked like magic. Stat’s back
came up and his canter became more jumpy. Instant change from
a 6 to an 8. I’ve since been playing with this in our dressage work
at home, and am seeing a consistent improvement in Stat’s canter
and counter-canter (works there too). It’s very subtle - themore I
do this, the more I find that I only need the thought of leg yield to
achieve greater straightness.
Another oft-repeated theme of the morning wass that the
inside aids bend, the outside aids straighten. Linda feels North
American dressage riders and judges place too much emphasis
on bending, and
not enough on
straightness, espe-
cially in the lower
levels. We should
be straightening
first, then bending,
not the other way
around.
The other place
she sees North
American dressage
(not just the US,
Canada was well
represented in the
clinic) going off on
a dressage tangent
is the extreme em-
phasis on having
lower level horses “stretch down.” European riders, in contrast,
emphasize riding the younger horse in an uphill balance, and only
stretching down as far as the horse can go without losing that up-
hill balance. Riding ‘down’ puts the horse heavy on the forehand,
making it that much harder to learn upper level movements and
Dressage with Linda Zang
65April/May 2013
Mobile Horse SupplyYour personal shopper for the dressage enthusiast, is happy to add the work of yet another local artisan, Sue Kolstad, to our collection of unique gifts. Sue does beautifully hand painted in porcelain glassware in many styles that make great gifts and prizes. Her work has been used at several CDI’s as prizes, with great response. Personalized work is also available upon re-quest. At MHS, we also create custom coats, browbands, matching ties and many other items that
MOBILE HORSE SUPPLYUnique/Creative •• York, SC www.mobilehorsesupply.com
Bob
Haa
rman
s
you will not find elsewhere. We also carry a full line of tack and clothing that have been tested and approved by local trainers. Please visit our website and soon-to-be online store. Sue’s work will also be available for sale on-line. We also embroider several of her designs on clothing.We also carry a full line of quality tack and supplies and specialize in the hard-to-find and special order items. If we don’t have it, we will do our best to find or make it!
Happy [email protected]
66 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
If EA Cygnus+// could tell you about himself, he’d boast. He’d start by telling you that he is the only Arabian to earn a USDF JR/Young Rider Grand Prix Horse of the Year Award. He would remind you he is only the second horse in the country to earn a USDF Horse Performance Certificate at every level of dressage and that he is in the top 50 horses of all time for number of USDF Grand Prix tests completed in his career (72). He would go on about his four national championships and five reserve national championships, and how he taught a horse-crazy teenager from North Dakota how to ride, making it sound like he planned it all.
And then I would gently step in, as I often do with Cygnus, and tell the real story.
Success with Cygnus
The building of a winning partnership between a girl and her horse
by MiMi stAnley
Don
Stin
e Ph
oto
67April/May 2013
Success with Cygnus
Don
Sti
ne
68 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
THE ROAD TO CYGNUS
That tale begins before Cygnus and I met. Growing up riding my
mom’s old jumper, Ibn Bee Zahr, and my Half-Arab pony, Merry-
legs+//, gave me the skills and courage I would need to handle
the journey that was ahead with Cygnus. One taught me to be as-
sertive and keep my heels down while the other taught diplomacy
and the art of getting a horse on the bit. I rode Merrylegs in the
last USDF Young Rider Clinic that Conrad Schumacher instructed,
where I began to understand what real dressage meant. It was
also the event that made me realize I needed a schoolmaster. At
the age of 15, when I saw an ad for a grey Grand Prix Arabian geld-
ing named Cygnus, I immediately knew he was the horse I was
looking for, but actually getting him was another matter. Bringing
him from Louisiana to our farm in North Dakota involved a 3,4oo
mile trip and some creative financing. We maxed out a low-inter-
est credit card, refinanced the family pickup and trailer and Cyg-
nus’ owner agreed to take payments over the course of a year. My
end of the bargain was to work our training horses for free through
high school.
BUILDING A GRAND PRIX PARTNERSHIP
Cygnus and I meshed right away, but he was not a quiet or tol-
erant schoolmaster. He wants to call the shots and requires a com-
pletely focused ride. In those early days, Cygnus regularly tested
my ability to stay aboard, especially with his penchant for rec-
reational shying, but we pushed through to a great first summer
together as I learned his rules. We were able to get most of the
scores for my USDF Silver Medal and we were Reserve National
Champion Fourth Level at the Canadian Nationals.
Mimi with PR Merrylegs and Cygnus
Cygnus and I meshed right
away, but he was not a
quiet or tolerant
schoolmaster.
BobT
arr.c
om P
hoto
69April/May 2013
Continued on page 91
The next season I started showing him in the FEI small tour
(Prix St. George and Intermediare I), finishing my silver medal and
the I-1 scores for my gold. During a double show weekend, I de-
cided to change our final ride to Grand Prix to see if we could
pull it off. Adding piaffe, passage, one tempis and zig-zag canter
half-pass was quite a chal-
lenge. Our first time to ride
it was in the ring! While
our test was far from per-
fect, it was an exhilarating
confidence-builder.
With conscientious
work and me listening
carefully to my horse, we
made consistent progress.
Later that summer, we got
one of the scores for my
gold medal at Grand Prix
and five “almosts” be-
tween 58 and 59.7. Those were painful. At this point, we were
ready for Conrad Schumacher to help us form a real Grand Prix
partnership.
MAXIMUM EFFORT
Our next challenge was getting a crafty Cygnus to work as
hard in the show ring as he would schooling. The same horse that
could perform 41 flaw-
less one-tempi changes in
training might choose to
quit at four in competition
if I let my guard down for
even a moment. To encour-
age him to put in maximum
effort more consistently,
I focused on keeping him
through to my hand with
the power on. We went out
to the fields to school the
hard work, like piaffe, pas-
sage and pirouettes. Ask-
ing for these movements on a hill increased the difficulty, making
the ring work seem easier. It also helped to only ask for a few steps
of piaffe at a time, give him a sugar and praise him, gradually ask-
ing for more steps. I became his personal cheerleader. With two
more seasons of training we were able to complete my gold medal
and Cygnus’ Grand Prix Horse Performance Certificate. The most
amazing award was winning the USDF Jr/Young Rider Grand Prix
Horse of the Year in 2008.
Another element of our train-
ing that improved his overall per-
formance was adding freestyle
into the mix. Cygnus loves working
to music -- the bigger and louder,
the better -- so his Aladdin-themed
Kur came to life. With this, his regu-
lar Grand Prix execution improved
and he gradually became more ex-
pressive in his performance. I still
had to work for everything I got,
but he was seeing me as a better
leader.
That season we decided to
compete in the FEI freestyle at the 2009 Sport Horse Nationals
in Kentucky. Torrential rains, nearby construction and flapping
ringside tarps got the better of Cygnus in the Grand Prix where
he bolted across the ring, but he pulled off a National Champion-
ship at Intermediare 2. On the final evening, just as the music
started for our freestyle, he reared. The audience loved it, think-
ing it was planned but I was sure
surprised! Cygnus went on to give
a fire-breathing performance and
was named National Champion. I
was so proud; he had given me ev-
erything he had.
PURSUING DRESSAGE’S “ROYAL
FLUSH”
By 2010 Cygnus was a more
finished reliable Grand Prix horse
& I a better rider and we had nu-
merous great rides at Grand Prix.
That year he was National Champi-
on Sport Horse Show Hack where
he put in a “mostly” stellar performance. I say mostly because at
the hand gallop he struck at a loose strap on his bridle & almost
Don
Sti
ne
Don Stine
70 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
by Dave McAdoo, Tobruk TrailersA flat tire is no fun. A flat tire on a loaded horse trailer can be a catastrophe. Here are a few tips you can follow to minimize trailer tire issues in your travels.
Do my trailer tires need replacing? It’s difficult to tell by just looking at most tires whether or not it’s time to replace them.
The tread will almost never wear out, we simply don’t pull a trailer enough miles to worry about it. What we should worry about is dry rot which is a factor of the age. Visual inspection for any small cracks, bumps or bulges in the sidewall can indi-cate a problem starting to happen. You can help delay dry rot by storing the trailer on a concrete pad, gravel, or even on boards to keep the tires off the ground. Sunlight and the ultraviolet rays are also the enemy. Tire covers are inexpensive and can help to keep the sun off the tires.
How can I tell how old my tires are? If you bought the trailer used you need to determine the age of your tires. Every tire manufactured has a Department of Transportation series of num-bers on the sidewall; these numbers indicate use, strength, size and other information. The number begins with DOT and then includes numbers and maybe letters. Example: DOT U2LLLMLR5107.
The DOT number may not always be visible from the outside of the tire. It may be on the inside so you’ll have to crawl under the trailer with a flash-light. The most important numbers in this series are the last four digits a they indicate the week and year of manufacture. In the above example, the tire was made in the 51st week of 2007 and therefore probably needs replacing. Anything over 5 years old is going to be suspect.
Sometimes, you’ll get a brand new trailer with tires that have been stored in a warehouse for a while. If they’ve been stored in a dry, dark place that’s okay. Manufacturers buy tires in large quan-tities and keep them until needed so don’t panic if your brand new trailer has tires that are six months or even 12 months old/
What do I use for replacement tires? Most trailer manufacturers recommend and use ‘ST’ or Special Trailer tires. They have stiffer side-walls than ‘LT’ or Light Truck tires and are better equipped to handle the weight. Never use ‘P’ or Passenger tires for a horse trailer.
Trailer tires may be bias or radials, but keep in mind that although radials will cost more, they generally have better high speed durability and should last longer under heavy loads.
Always check the air pressure and maintain the pressure to the tire manufacturer’s guidelines that will be printed on the sidewall of the tire. Load range ‘C’ tires are usually 65 lbs., load range ‘E’ are usually 80 lbs. and ‘G’ range tires are 120 lbs. of pressure. Proper tire pressure will go a long way towards extending the life of your tires. Be sure and check the spare too.
Trailer Tire TLC
71April/May 2013
• Sport Horse Nationals Judge Brigitte Simmons - Dressage
• Working Hunters, Jumpers & Dressage
• Sport Horse In Hand & Under Saddle Splits
• Dressage Classes Added: PSG, I-1, I-2, Grand Prix
• New Home of Sport Horse Nationals
• Youth Championship Trophies
• Great Prizes! Neck Ribbons, Garlands, Trophies, Coolers
August 1 - 4, 2013Virginia Horse Center • Lexington, VA
Eastern Arabian Horse ShowEAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lynn
Kau
fman
www.eastcoastShow.comwww.eastcoastShow.com
72 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
DressageA Series By Sue Kolstad
Life would not be as we know it with-
out the horse’s intricate role in our history.
It is because of our need for various jobs
that we have created and developed so
many different breeds and diversities in
our equine partners. The need for conti-
nuity in our ability to progress within the
boundaries set by the horse’s faculties
has been the base for a common set of
training rules which govern all horsemen
worldwide. Our history with the horse
dates back over twenty five hundred years
throughout Europe, and so it is with great
pride that the America’s have created and
developed the western horse in a relative-
ly short period of history.
In this series of articles, I will be ex-
plaining how dressage is the basis for
training in disciplines other than the one
which carries the title of “Dressage.” I
have trained and competed in the disci-
plines which I’m writing about and have
used dressage to build on and improve
the quality of training every type of horse.
I love to study the history of man’s journey
together with the horse on our earth and
as I research the subject I find it fascinat-
ing to learn about how much of what we
do today in nearly every discipline goes
back to the cavalry. One of my greatest
teachers, Mykola Pawlenko, who rode in
the cavalry in World War II used to tell me
there is nothing new today which wasn’t
discovered by the great masters. As I look
into the history of Dressage, I realize more
and more just how true those words are. I
intend to show you in this article the many
similarities in the foundation for western
which parallel dressage in a fundamental
way.
Xenophon, a Greek Warrior and Com-
mander, is credited with leaving us the
The Western Horse
The Base for Equestrian Disciplines
Don
Sti
ne
73April/May 2013
first surviving treatises of horsemanship in
400 B.C. His work is the foundation from
which all classical principles of riding are
built upon, and the reasons will soon be-
come clear. One of the traditional battle
movements in those days was a very fast
impulsive gallop down the career where
the horse had to be brought back sharply
on his hocks and turned immediately in
either direction. (Does this sound like a
reining pattern?) The first priority was to-
tal maneuverability. The riders hands were
occupied with shield and sword, so the
desired result was an easily balanced war-
horse, trusting and obedient. (How about a
cowboy roping a steer?)The type of horse
Xenophon preferred to execute these ma-
neuvers was primarily the Iberian, Span-
ish, or Barb.
The horse was extinct on the American
continent when Columbus arrived in 1493
with thirty horses. The first horses to come
to America were primarily Spanish horses
in the sixteenth century and it is from
these horses combined with the English
Thoroughbred that the American Quarter
Horse was created. In my first article about
the Arabian Sport Horse, I mentioned how
the Thoroughbred family tree comes from
the descendents of the Arabian horse.
Janus, a grandson of the Godolphin Arabi-
an, is credited as being one of the founda-
tion sires crossed with the Spanish horse
to create the Quarter horse. The Spanish
horses which were brought to the Ameri-
cas by the Spanish Conquistadors after
being set free, turned into the American
Mustang over time. They discovered these
horses had innate “cow” in them which
goes back to their heritage of having been
bred to fight bulls over the centuries in
Spain, and thus they became the founda-
tion stock for the quarter horse of today.
The cow horse was developed to maneu-
ver from the cowboy’s seat and legs, free-
ing his hands for work on the range. It was
also necessary for the horse to engage
and come under easily with the haunches
in order to be balanced enough to per-
form with lightness and agility. All of these
qualities were requirements for the ideal
Greek war horse which is the base for the
ideal western performance horse of today.
The horse has been man’s partner
throughout history. The need for a war
horse coupled with the need for a serv-
ant required a mastery of the horse. We no
longer require the use of the horse for war
or work purposes in today’s world so the
horse has become our partner and friend
in sport. The challenge of matching others,
excelling in skill, dexterity in the saddle, is
the basis of the inexhaustible number of
equestrian sports in today’s world. Where
ever there is a horse and a man, there will
be competition to suit the needs of their
immediate surroundings.
The western saddle is unique to the
cowboys of the American West. It was de-
signed specifically for roping cattle on the
range with the horn primarily for wrapping
the rope around and the base being large
enough to distribute the weight evenly
over the horse’s back. It is with great pride
that we can brag that western saddles and
western horses have influenced Europe
and are being exported to Europe at an
accelerated rate in the last 15 years. The
Great American West fills our country with
our own history of the horse and we have
created an entirely unique style of riding
and competitions which have its founda-
tion from the mastery of the California
Vaquero, whose style and horsemanship
Xenophon, forefather of dressage
clearly resembles that of Xenophon.
Today’s western horse comes in all
shapes, sizes, colors and breeds, as long
as the horse is somewhat compact and
able to balance itself easily. The sport
of western riding has blossomed in the
twentieth century with a remarkable vari-
ety of events which make vastly different
demands on the horse and rider – reining,
cutting, working cow horse, western pleas-
ure, western riding, trail, barrel racing,
pole bending, to name some of the most
popular ones. Although western style rid-
ing carries a label which separates it from
“English” style which was brought here
from Europe, the same basic principles
of training and horsemanship apply to all
horses and horsemen. After looking back
into the history of man’s partnership with
the horse it is easy to understand how
the principles of dressage apply to man
and horse working together as partners to
perform in harmony. A correct posture or
seat, good balance, timing, subtle aids or
“cues”, soft hands and the ability to coor-
dinate it all results in bringing the horse to
the rider’s disposal.
These are essential elements for riding
both western and in the sport of dressage.
Although western has taken a different
Don
Sti
ne
About Suesage.
Her love for the horse has led her in
many directions and she has enjoyed
horses in multiple disciplines into which
she has incorporated her background of
dressage. Sue has evented through pre-
lim, competed in combined driving, hunt-
ers, jumpers, endurance races, as well as
showing sport horses, including stallion
presentations. She has imported many
horses from Europe which have gone on
to produce champions in the US. Many of
her students have won medals and cham-
pionships through all the levels up to GP.
Sue is devoted to education and the clas-
sical development of the sport of Dres-
sage, which consumes her life. Not many
people can say, “I love what I do and I do
what I love”
Sue Kolstad is an S rated Dressage
Judge, a recipient of all three USDF med-
als, Bronze, Silver and Gold. She has been
active in Dressage for over 30 years. Her
resume includes a teaching degree in edu-
cation, Riding Instructor Certification from
UW River Falls Wi., Vi Hopkins Symposium
for Riding Instructors, participation in all
educational potions of the USDF Instruc-
tor Certification program.
Sue has trained and competed many
horses through FEI levels including three
at Grand Prix. Her background includes
training extensively with a European Mas-
ter for several years as well as continuing
to train and clinic as often as possible with
top clinicians and respected professionals
both in the US and abroad. She is an avid
reader and student of the history of dres-
74 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
path, the basics come from the same ori-
gins. Many of the move-
ments resemble one an-
other, for instance a spin
is a form of a pirouette,
a side pass is similar to
a leg yield or half pass,
and head set resem-
bles the curved neck
and arched back when
a dressage horse is on
the bit. The western
shows offer freestyles
which are judged very
much the same as the
freestyles in dressage
and many times western
riders have paired with
dressage riders to give
exhibitions at competi-
tions to demonstrate the similarities. Now
western dressage is becoming popular
at many breed shows and it looks like it
is taking off. The first time I was asked to
judge it, my response was enthusiastic as
long as I could remain true to my stand-
ard of requiring a pure three beat canter.
I was delighted to discover that was part
of the directives for the lope in western
dressage.
Many times riders come into dressage
from a western pleasure back ground.
When I re train a western horse for dres-
sage I can count on it understanding how
to give to the bit and reach forward and
down. I have to teach it to go more forward
and come up to the contact rather than
back away from it. One of the biggest dif-
ferences between western and dressage is
the first and most fundamental principle
from the training scale used in dressage,
“rhythm,” which means purity of gaits. A
75April/May 2013
dressage horse is required to have a four
beat walk, a two beat trot, and a three beat
canter. The western pleasure horse has
been slowed down to a point where many
times the purity of the gait is compro-
mised. Lack of forward energy and expres-
sion of gaits is one of the biggest differ-
ences between a western pleasure horse
and a basic training level dressage horse.
The basic principles of gymnasticising
the horse to build strength and develop
correct muscles from dressage can eas-
ily be applied to any horse and enhances
the physique and longevity of the horse’s
body. The reason many dressage horses
are competing well into their twenties is
because of the foundation of using train-
ing methods to build and strengthen the
animal as an athlete. If more trainers and
judging standards would adopt the train-
ing scale which is the established “bible”
of training rules worldwide in dressage,
horses would stay sounder longer across
the board. History shows us where the
western horse finds its origins, and now
that dressage is working its way into the
western world, the future is yet to be told.
I hope this article has helped to en-
lighten the readers as to how dressage
is the foundation for all good riding and
when applied correctly enhances the
performance in every arena. The sport of
Dressage takes these principles to another
level and has developed into a separate
field of competition in today’s world, but
the inherent principles of dressage apply
as the basic foundation of training for all
horses. A line from a famous poem in the
ancient Koran reads:”Thou shalt find hap-
piness all over the earth and thou shalt be
favored above all other creatures, for to
thee shall accrue the love of the master
of the earth”. Long is the road which the
horse has travelled with us throughout our
history. What remains of the past today
are the things which we will use as build-
ing blocks for the future. Classical princi-
ples have stood the test of time and hope-
fully will continue to do so for the future
of the horse in sport.
76 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
T aylor Bowman didn’t set out to win the AHA High
Point Youth of the Year Award in 2012, but she
did and in unprecedented fashion!
2012 didn’t seem a likely year to try for it;
there were only 5 Arabian shows on the Bowman Sport Horses’
schedule, 1 regular local show, 1 Regional and pre-show, and Ca-
nadian Nationals and Sport Horse Nationals. What she did have
going for her were some very nice, but challenging horses to ride.
They included BSH Vintage Isabella, a 4-year-old Arab/Selle Fran-
cais mare bred by her family in her first year of showing under
saddle. Next was the 9-year-old half sister to Isabella, Lady Loria
++++// whom Taylor had already had much success with, but was
now retired from jumping to concentrate on dressage. That left the
8-year-old stallion Annapolis ++// and the 8-year-old mare Imnaha
+// owned by Sarah Asby as her purebred and half Arab hunters.
They were both only in their second year of showing over fences
and still pretty green.
To some that might have seemed like a big load, but Taylor was
very excited and up to the challenge of riding these different hors-
es in all the different disciplines. Sometimes the hardest part was
just getting all the tack and wardrobe changes done at the shows!
Taylor also found it challenging to
keep up with school and still put
in enough time with the horses. As
a freshman dealing with her first year
in high school, she knew she had to keep her
grades up. She has always had her eye on
a full or partial scholarship to a top univer-
sity with a good equestrian team, so grades were a l w a y s
going to be a factor. Just in case she hadn’t given herself enough to
do, she was also on her high school equestrian team competing in
three 4-day meets during the year. (She ended up earning her let-
ter for 2012 and was a gold medal winner in Equitation over fences
and Dressage in Oregon High School Equestrian Team - OHSET -
competition)
Right after the Region 4 Championships in June, it became
clear that even with only 2 shows left on the year for her, she was
competitive for the Year End Award. Since these were both Nation-
al shows, there were a lot of points up for grabs. Up to this point
she was having an amazing run; competing in over 30 classes at
Region 4 Championships and pre-show. The majority were earned
while never doing worse than a Top 5, and spanning almost every
sport horse discipline, including Hunter/Jumper, SHIH, SHUS, Dres-
sage, and Equitation.
From there, she never looked back. She went to Canada with 3
of the 4 horses; Imnaha +//, Annapolis ++//, and Lady Loria ++++//.
When she left for home, she had won 9 National Championships
and 5 Reserves. Some of those Championships were in very com-
petitive classes, such as Hunt Seat Equitation NTJ 14-17 and Ara-
bian Sport Horse Under Saddle, as well as many hunter and jumper
classes.
It seemed clear she was on a roll and pulling way ahead in the
points. Taylor got really excited about the possibility of winning
the High Point Youth Year End award and being able to put that on
her resume for college applications. Sport Horse Nationals was
next, and that show netted her 3 National Championships and 7
Reserves including one very sentimental win in the Half Arab SHUS
Junior Horse (Reserve Champion) on the 4 year old Half Arab mare
BSH Vintage Isabella bred by her parents, Scott and Ahna Bowman
Taylor Bowman’s
Don Stine Photo
Taylor and Imnaha +//
77April/May 2013
Taylor Bowman’sJe
ff Ja
nson
Pho
to
78 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
and out of their mare Chainti. She also had another big win on
Izzy’s half sister Lady Loria+++//, (also out of Chainti) winning the
First Level Dressage ATR. Taylor and Lady Loria+++// also rode to
the USDF All Breeds Youth Championship Training Level, and the
USDF Reserve Championship First Level, as well as being Reserve
Champion Training and First Levels at Oregon Dressage Society
Championships.
In the end, there was much to be proud of. Her year as a
14-year-old junior was very successful. She ended up winning the
AHA High Point Youth Award by 532 points with a total score of
905.5; the widest margin ever. She had managed to get through yet
another year of tolerating her mother as her trainer, and she had
forged some great new relationships with some amazing horses.
She now also had some good stuff for that college resume!
As of last week, Taylor and Imnaha have parlayed their winning
ways into success in the open Hunter/Jumper world winning the
Reserve Championship in the Children’s .95 Meter Jumper class
at the Spring Hunter Jumper Opener in Oregon at Mt Hood. She’s
very excited to be showing off what our Arabs can do, and looking
forward to another great year.Taylor and Lady Loria++++//
Cyn
die
Plan
ck P
hoto
79April/May 2013
Elaine Kerrigan:
Very attractive head set nicely on a well-shaped neck, though a
little thicker than ideal at the throatlatch. Neck blends very well
into the withers and shoulders with a good slope and long hu-
morous, giving this horse a conformation that should be able to
produce lift and reach of the forehand. Good saddle position as
a result of the withers being set well into the back and the for-
ward position of the forelegs. The loin could be stronger and show
better development. The hindquarter and gaskin muscling could
show better development. This is needed to produce the carrying
power to balance the lovely forehand. Adequate bone with fairly
correct leg conformation with hocks set in a sturdy low position.
Judy Hedreen:
In assessing this horse for an open sport horse, we see attractive
gray with a harmonious top line. A pretty head with a big eye and
a well-set neck that is long enough, especially if considering a
dressage career. The horse is a little thick in the throat latch which
might effect its’ ability to come onto the bit. There is a pronounced
wither that could extend a little farther into the back to ensure
a secure saddle fit. The shoulder has a good slope but could be
longer which would produce a better angle with the humerus, al-
lowing more freedom of movement. The front legs present more
serious issues. In this picture, the horse appears very straight,
Conformation ClinicWith Elaine Kerrigan,Judy Hedreen, and Peter Mileo
almost to the point of being back at the knee. The straightness ex-
tends through the pastern, which may not provide enough shock
absorption. The back is long enough and connects to a good hind-
quarter. The angles from hip to buttock to stifle form a nearly per-
fect equilateral triangle. The hip connects to a good gaskin. The
hock is low enough but could have more breadth, giving greater
strength to the joint when doing upper level movements.
Peter Mileo:
Nice head and neck which is attached nicely to shoulder. Good
shoulder angle. I’d like to see a bit more forearm or less cannon
on the front legs though this opinion might change if I saw him in
person. Hard to say. Front pasterns look a bit upright. Short back,
loin could be a bit stronger, hind end looks well angled and of suf-
ficient length compared to the rest of his body but it is not very
deep and doesn’t tie into the gaskin. Well let down hocks. This
horse looks like he would make a nice balanced athlete.
Elaine Kerrigan:
Sweet expression on this horse, but am unable to comment on
the placement of the head on the neck. Neck does appear to be
more developed on the underline than the topline, especially at
the withers and shoulders. Shoulder angle is steep and the with-
ers could lay further into the back. As the withers appear to be
placed almost directly above the forelegs, this compromises sad-
Purebred #1
Purebred #2
80 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
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dle position. Loin is a bit long and the hip is showing a steep an-
gle. Showing some hindquarter and gaskin muscle development.
Adequate bone, though hock angle appears more open than ideal.
Pasterns are a bit long. The pose of this photo makes for a difficult
evaluation.
Judy Hedreen:
Not a traditional conformation picture; it is difficult to reliably
judge this horses’ sport horse potential. She has an attractive
head with an intelligent and soft look. The neck appears to be
of good length, but is rather straight on top. The wither is well
defined and extends into the back. The shoulder is long but quite
straight and with a shorter humerus, the reach of the front legs will
be limited. The front legs have good bone with a nice relationship
between upper leg and cannon. Unlike horse number one, which
had straight pasterns, this horse’s pasterns, front and rear, have
too much angle. While long, angled pasterns will give a smooth
ride, it is a weakness in structure that predisposes a horse to injury
from too much stress on tendons and ligaments. In this photo,
the horse appears to have a long loin with the lumbosacral joint
behind the point of hip. With this and the over-angulation of the
hind leg, the horse may not have the ability to adequately come
from behind to lift the front end.
Peter Mileo:
Pleasing face, head and ears. Neck is hard to judge with this photo
but it appears to lack shape and looks planky. Shoulder looks to
be a tad more upright than ideal. Humerus looks of good length
setting the horse up for a good stride in front. Nice flat knees
and good front pastern angles. Longer loin than ideal and not a
smooth coupling. The rear legs appear to be straight in the hock,
and the pasterns in the rear look soft. Especially the right rear,
which is doing most of the rear weight bearing. If the loin was
stronger and shorter this horse’s balance would change and be
more positive than it is. Hind end adequate in length and ties in
to the gaskin well. I don’t think this horse is going to be the most
athletic horse due to the loin and straight back legs.
Elaine Kerrigan:
Pleasing head set on a neck of good length and shape. Neck ties
smoothly into the withers and shoulder, however the shoulder an-
gle is steeper than ideal. Withers could tie further into the back
for a nice saddle position, however saddle position is helped by
the forward placement of the forelegs. Nicely developed loin and
hindquarter muscling, which makes me think of a good training
and riding program. Good bone showing a sturdy
conformation for sport horse activities.
Judy Hedreen:
This horse has a pleasing look and overall harmony for a sport
horse type. The pretty head connects well with the neck. The poll
could be longer, and the throatlatch is clean. The neck is a good
length for dressage or jumping and connects well with the with-
er. The wither should be more pronounced, which may develop
with age and muscling. Lack of a good wither makes saddle fitting
more difficult. The shoulder appears rather straight and the hu-
merus could be longer for more freedom of movement. The front
leg looks quite good with enough bone and good pastern length
and angle. The back and loin look of good length and strong. From
the photo angle, it is difficult to tell about the lumbosacral joint
and length from hip to point of buttock. However, the hindquarter
looks to have good angles and extends down to a well-structured
hind leg with good angles.
Purebred #3
81April/May 2013
Peter Mileo:
Interesting to compare this horse to Purebred #2. This looks like
horse number 2 with a better loin and hind legs. Same straight-
er shoulder but the neck is better shaped and set better on the
shoulder and out of the wither. The knees are not as flat as Pure-
bred #2 but both have short cannons and good pastern angles.
Tighter loin gives this horse better balance. Better angles in the
hind legs and also has a hind end that ties in to the gaskin well. I
believe this horse would be more athletic than Purebred #2.
Elaine Kerrigan:
Pleasing head, though a bit long, set on a shorter than ideal neck.
Neck show a good shape, but is rather thick at the thoatlatch. Neck
does tie smoothly into the shoulders, however the shoulder angle
could be more sloped. Withers tie well into the back and fore-
leg placement is adequate for a fairly good saddle position. Loin
appears adequate in development though the excessive hind leg
length from stifle to hock has placed the hindquarters higher than
the forehand. This is often a difficult
conformation to overcome. Would like to see more overall muscle
development and I wonder if this is a youngster in the gawky two
year old range, as being shown in a bridle.
Judy Hedreen:
Very pretty, feminine head with a big eye on this nicely colored
grey. As a two year old, the filly looks to be in a growing stage,
higher behind giving an overall downhill appearance. Therefore,
some of the comments today may not apply to this filly when she
is mature. The neck is well shaped and long enough, although
set a little low and is fairly thick for the size of the horse. This,
coupled with steep shoulder and shorter front leg, may cause
the horse to travel on its’ forehand. The front leg is quite straight
and needs more bone to match the body. I would like to see more
pronounced withers for a secure saddle fit. The withers may gain
height with development and muscling. The back is of good length
with a good loin. The croup could be longer and have less angle.
The hindquarter is well developed with a good gaskin, hock and
bone. The angles of the hindquarter suggest the horse is some-
what sickle hocked. The overall appearance is attractive, and with
maturing she should make a fine riding horse.
Peter Mileo:
Pretty head, neck looks a bit short and thick but well shaped.
Straight shoulder, flat knees, short cannons, upright pasterns
matching the shoulder angle or lack of. Butt high with a weak loin
and what appears to be a poor coupling. Hind end angles are not
good. The length from point of hip to point of buttock looks quite
a bit longer than point of buttock to stifle. I would guess this horse
has a short stride behind and have trouble tracking up under itself.
I’d like to see better angles in the hock as they aren’t straight but
not well angled either.
Elaine Kerrigan:
Attractive head, with a bored expression, placed on a well shaped
neck that ties smoothly into the shoulders and withers. Adequate
angle to the shoulder and withers are placed well into the back,
along with forward enough positioned forelegs, making a fairly
good saddle position. Nicely developed loin and hindquarter cou-
pling and muscling showing correct and beneficial training and
riding. This is important since the hocks are set a bit high creat-
ing a taller hindquarter than forehand. Plenty of good bone for a
sturdy athlete.
Judy Hedreen:
This two year old is an attractive and harmonious sport horse type,
Half-Arabian #1Half-Arabian #2
82 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
which at this stage of development looks like a promising hunter.
A nice well-shaped head is connected to the neck with a clean
throat latch. The neck is long enough sitting on the shoulder well.
While the shoulder could be longer, it has a nice slope and joins
a long humerus creating a very good angle. This should allow for
freedom of the shoulder and a long reach. The front legs are set
well under the shoulder, with good bone, length and angles. The
wither needs greater height and definition for a good saddle po-
sition. The back is long enough with a strong loin flowing into a
well-developed hindquarter. The hip-buttock-stifle angle is more
open than the last horse which should give a longer stride. The
gaskin and hock are broad and well-shaped. Overall, a promising
prospect, whose expression asks, ‘can I quit posing now?’
Peter Mileo:
If this horse were a bit lower in the hind end or taller at the wither
he would be a very nicely balanced horse. Basically if his forearm
were a couple of inches longer he would also have a better shoul-
der angle and not look downhill. Other than that small feature
he would be the best of the 6 horses in my opinion. His legs are
well let down with short cannons and low set hocks. The legs are
nice and plumb. His shoulder is of an acceptable angle and his
humerus is of good length. In spite of the fact he is a bit butt high
he is probably a good athlete.
Elaine Kerrigan:
A plain head, with a pleasant expression. Neck attaches low to
very prominent withers and shoulder is steep in angle. Care must
be taken to make sure of a well fitting saddle. Coupling of loin to
hindquarters lacks sufficient muscling. Hind leg joint angles, espe-
cially stifles and hocks, are very open and could be cause for diffi-
culties to develop the strength for long tern sport horse activities.
Judy Hedreen:
This horse has a pleasant expression with a soft eye, although it
lacks overall harmony. The throat latch is clean and the poll long
enough. The neck is a little long and set lower on the shoulder
than desirable. This may make it difficult for the horse carry itself
in balance. The wither is pronounced and could extend farther
into the back. The back drops off moving into a weak loin. The
lumbosacral joint is behind the point of the hips, which can result
in a lack of muscle development and strength involving the back
and hindquarter. The croup could be longer and be less steep.
This back connection and hindquarter may lead to unsoundness
and back pain during a dressage or jumping career. While this
horse is not a competition sport horse type, it may well be a good
and trusty companion giving hours of pleasure.
Peter Mileo:
Let’s start with the positives. His legs are well let down. Cannons
in front look short and the hocks are set low. Legs look plumb,
knees are flat and pasterns have good angles. The neck is of good
length and shape but set low. His head looks pleasant with a low
set eye. His shoulder is a tad straight, not terrible, his back is OK
but his loin is weak and it appears his Lumbar/Sacral joint is too
far back from his point of hip which would mean among other
things that he is not going to handle weight well. He will also have
trouble tracking up under himself in my opinion. His hind end has
good angles but lacks length and depth. What really throws him
out of balance is the fact that his center circle is longer than his
front or back circle. If his loin was shorter and stronger he would
be pretty well balanced.
Half-Arabian #3
83April/May 2013
About Elaine About PeterAbout Judy1970 saw the beginning of Kerrigan
Bloodstock, with the goal of producing
Arabian sport horses. With that I pursued
dressage, endurance and a little jumping.
With a special interest in the bio-mechan-
ics of horses and riders, I also have an
extended education as a large animal vet-
erinary technician and as a graduate of the
USDF judges learner program. KB Omega
Fahim++++// is a stallion of my second
generation. He has achieved 4 USDF Na-
tional Champion awards at FEI level dres-
sage, and 4 AHA Sport Horse National
Champion awards at FEI level dressage. He
has offspring that have also attained USDF
and AHA Sport Horse National Champion-
ship awards. KB Omega Fahim++++// has
been inspected and approved for breed-
ing purebred Shagya-Arabians.
Peter Mileo has been breeding Arabian
horses since 1990. He started with Fad-
jur line horses and evolved toward CMK
horses. After several conversations with
Sandy Warren of Warren Park Stud hoping
to breed a mare to Aulrab he discovered
a coming 2 year old colt by the name of
Magic Aulrab and purchased him. After
a short show career they started riding
endurance where Peter feels he learned
about what makes a good horse. “Regard-
less of bloodline or even breed a horse
needs to have balance, well let down legs
and solid legs and feet.” Peter has studied
many videos of horses under saddle and
at liberty from Arabs, Warmbloods and the
great Standardbred mare Monimaker. This
has given him a well rounded knowledge
of what a good athlete is and why.
Judy has been breeding sport horses
since 1981. She is the breeder of Far Star
that represented the USEF and American
Hanoverian Society (AHS) in the 2003
World Championships for Young Jumpers
in Belgium, ridden by Laura Kraut; Ani-
mation, winner at Spruce Meadows and
Champion at Indio; Agincourt, winner at
Spruce Meadows and Champion at Indio
under Hap Hansen; and USDF Horses of
the Year Ghita and Coco Chanel.
Judy was a USEF ‘R’ dressage/sport
horse breeding judge for 14 years, a mem-
ber of the USDF Sport Horse Committee
for 10 years, and is a current member of
the USHJA Breeder’s Committee. In 2007,
Judy was appointed as a judge to the Han-
overian Mare and Stallion Committee.
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84 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
the most decorated sport horse in history
www.TranquillityHorseFarm.com ~ (908) 966-3200
*
2004 Arabian Stallion$5,000 Stud Fee
The highly respected Arabian
breeder Ruth “Bazy” McCor-
mick Tankersley died February
5, 2013, at her home in Tucson, AZ at the
age of 91. Mrs. Tankersley was the fore-
most Arabian horse breeder in the US, with
having bred over 2,800 horses.
Her website contains this welcome
message, which offers the reader insight
into this amazing woman. “I’m Bazy Tank-
ersley and during this magical journey
of over 65 years, I’ve owned about 2,500
Arabian horses. As a child I secretly dedi-
cated myself to the preservation of the
amazing qualities of
the Arabian horse and
hope to keep improv-
ing the breed, making
it ever more beautiful,
with better dispositions
and endowed with even
greater athletic ability.”
Mrs. Tankersley
bought her first Arabian
at age 19. She began
her world-renowned Arabian breeding
program in 1941 when she and her first
husband, Peter Miller Jr., moved to Arizona.
It started as a 40-acre horse she named Al-
Marah, which translates to “a verdant gar-
den oasis.” In 1949, she moved the farm to
Maryland, and then permanently returned
to Arizona in 1975.
With the specific goal of breeding an
athletic horse with a gentle disposition,
she searched the world for breeding stock.
Her foundation stallion, whom she said
“fulfilled my dreams and defined my men-
tal image of the ideal Arabian horse,” was
Indraff, the first son of Raffles. Indraff sired
254 purebred Arabian foals, and had more
than 2,700 grandget.
After the death of Britain’s Lady Wen-
tworth of the famous Crabbet Stud in the
late 1950s, Mrs. Tankersley imported the
largest single consignment of Arabians
ever made from England.
Of the Arabian temperament, she has
been quoted: “Disposition is undoubtedly
inherited. I have a rule here, that I have to
be able to walk in the stall of any stallion
and put on a stable halter with no chain
and lead that stallion out without any
problem. If not, he is a gelding. I don’t care
how good he is – because I think there is no
excuse for an Arabian not to have a superb
disposition.”
In an interview, she also said she had
strict rules regarding the management of
her broodmares. “If a mare doesn’t pro-
duce better than herself, I don’t keep her.
If she does, I still want to sell her when she
is around 12, to keep her better daughters,
and let her go do some good for somebody
else.”
Regarding her philosophy, she said in
an interview just last August, “The best
husbandry practice is to let Arabians live
with minimum stall time and a maximum
amount of time enjoying the company of
other horses.”
Her father was US Senator Medill Mc-
Cormick and her mother, Ruth Hanna Mc-
Cormick, was an Illinois congresswoman;
both were in the newspaper industry.
In 1949, her uncle, Robert R. McCor-
mick, who published the Chicago Tribune,
named her as head of the Washington
Times-Herald. It was a short-lived position,
due to her uncle’s meddling, but it was
there she met her second husband, Garvin
“Tank” Tankersley.
From her first marriage Mrs. Tanker-
sley had two children, Kristie Miller, a bi-
ographer and author of “Ellen and Edith:
Woodrow Wilson’s First Ladies,” and Mark
Miller, who owns Arabian Nights, an Arabi-
an horse dinner theater in Kissimmee, Fla.
She and Tank had one daughter, Tiffany,
born in 1970 who died in 2012.
Mrs. Tankersley
also had a passion for
education. She started
two schools in the East
and founded the St.
Gregory College Prepa-
ratory School in Tucson
in 1980.
In 2001, Mrs. Tank-
ersley donated her
85-acre property at 4101 N. Bear Canyon
Road to the University of Arizona, who
will continue to use it as a working ranch.
Over the next two years, her son Mark will
be moving the herd to Florida to maintain
Mrs. Tankersley’s vision with the help of
her longtime manager, Jerry Hamilton.
She is survived by her two children,
two stepchildren, six grandchildren and
two great-grandchildren.
Two books have been written about
Mrs. Tankersley and Al-Marah Arabians:
“.. And ride away singing,” by Mary-Jane
Parkinson, and “A field of Arabians,” by Su-
zanne and Jake Page.
Bazy Tankersley: Farewell
85April/May 2013
the most decorated sport horse in history
www.TranquillityHorseFarm.com ~ (908) 966-3200
*
2004 Arabian Stallion$5,000 Stud Fee
www.TranquilityHorseFarm.com
86 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
AWS INSPECTION AWARDS
Windy Creek Arabians is pleased to announce the results of the
American Warmblood Society’s National Inspection awards. Two of
their 2012 colts were named winners in the Weanling colts class.
Purebred colt WCA Hy Voltage (Hy Wynds x CD Mariachi), pictured
above, was the gold medal winner with a score of 83.35%. Half-
Arabian colt Hy Pryced Diamond (Hy Wynds x Ole Lady in Dia-
monds) was the silver medal winner with a score of 79.35%. The
class is not divided by breed so all horses compete equally.
To date WCA Hy Voltage and his sire Hy Wynds remain the only
two Arabians to attain Supreme status (score of 80% or above)
with the AWS. Additionally, Anglo-Arabian colt Hy Class Affair (Hy
Wynds x Celebrity Affair), pictured below, attended a RPSI inspec-
tion where he was scored as a Silver Premium foal. WCA is very
pleased with Hy Wynds first foal crop and looks forward to their
success in the future.
BITS and pieces
ISR/OLDENBURG NA INSPECTION
From Prairie Rose Training Center and the Stanley Family of Bis-
marck , ND:
We now own 3 horses that have been approved by the ISR Old-
enburg registry! Our Arabian mare PR Sun Kyst (The Midnight Sun
x PR Brandywine), her 2012 filly PR Conkystadora above), and our
2011 filly PR Conradina (below), attended the most recent ISR-Old-
enburg NA Inspection in MN and all qualified.
PR Conradina and PR Conkystadora are both sired by Hilltop
Farm’s Hanoverian stallion Contucci, the 2009 USEF Dressage Sire
of the Year. The fillies are now branded Oldenburg and double-
registered Oldenburg and Half-Arabian. (Photos by Ashley Blegen)
87April/May 2013
BITS and pieces (continued)
EVENTING NEWS
The 2013 Eventing season has given us a few Arabian-bred hors-
es to cheer for!
Canadian Olympian Jessica Phoenix has been competing the UK-
bred Half-Arabian Erodium (Emilion {DWB} x Calamintha by Dhruv)
for owner Vanessa Fenwick. At Poplar Place, they were 2nd in Ad-
vanced, 14th in the CIC*** at Red Hills and 12th in Advanced at
Pine Top.
Halimey Go is an Anglo-Arabian sired Trakehner stallion (29.91%
Arabian) ridden by Michael Pollard and owned by the Halimey
Go Syndicate, placed 1st at Rocking Horse in Preliminary, a 1st at
Ocala Winter Horse Trials in Training and a 14th in Preliminary at
Poplar Place. He is sired by Askar AA, who competed in the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta.
Riesling De Buissy, a French-bred Anglo-Arabian (27.18%) ridden
by Will Faudree and owned by Sterling Silver Stable, won Inter-
mediate at Pine Top Advanced after a 2nd in Preliminary at Pine
Top Winter. Last weekend at Southern Pines they finished 8th in
Intermediate. His sire is Oberon du Moulin, a winning Grand Prix
jumper, and his dam is O Vive.
Lauren Kieffer’s Anglo-Arabian Vermiculus (Serazim x Wake Me
Gently) earned a 5th in his first Preliminary at Rocking Horse after
a 4th and 6th in Training in February.
The last event for March in Florida was Rocking Horse HT, where
both Halimey Go and Vermiculus went head to head in Open Pre-
liminary. They were tied for second place after dressage with a
26.5, both went double clear in stadium and they were tied for
first! Cross country usually separates ties, but they both went dou-
ble clear again! Halimey got the win as he was 3 seconds closer to
the optimum time.
At Galway Downs International, the 18-year-old homebred Anglo
Arabian Oz Poof of Purchase (Sidi of Magic x Regalbatim), pictured
above, ridden by Katherine Groesbeck, held the lead at their first
Advanced after dressage and cross country, but dropped to 4th af-
ter a stop in stadium. Poof is the oldest of 3 full siblings includ-
ing Oz The Tin Man that Katherine rode to victory in the CIC2* at
Galway last March.
Entries have closed for Rolex KY 3-Day Event and there is at least
one Arabian-bred entered.
Houston is sired by Thoroughbred Reputed Testamony and out of
a 3rd generation Anglo-Arabian, Amnesty, from Ann McKay’s amaz-
ing breeding program. Her sire was the Anglo Quartermaster (Yan-
kee Lad {TB} x Jane Morganroth {AA}) and her dam the Anglo Quest
(Gadd John Dee {AA} x ReRegret {TB}).
Houston is owned and ridden by Daniel Clasing of White Hall, MD
who grew up riding Ann’s homebred Arabians. We wish them the
best of luck!
Phot
o by
Liz
zie
Hal
l
Phot
o by
WN
CPh
oto.
com
Riesling De Buissy
88 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
GRAND PRIX JUMPER
There’s an Anglo Arabian on the California jumper circuit that is
making quite a name for himself on the world stage. Misti Cassar
and Poeme d’Amour started competing in Grand Prix jumping com-
petitions in 2012 and surprised everyone by winning or placing in
the money each time.
Imported by Misti in 2009, Poeme is a 16.1 hand 10-year-old
gray gelding sired by Ryan d’Anzex out of Jacinthe Du Maury by
Fol Avril and bred by Cendrine Dutrait of Elevage De Buissy in Lim-
ousin, France.
Misty showed him lightly the first few years she owned him due
to knee replacement surgery. Their first Grand Prix together was
the $30,000 Pebble Beach in July, where they finished 10th. Next
came a win in the $30,000 LA International Welcome Stake and a
third place in the $50,000 LA International Grand Prix in Septem-
ber.
October continued the winning trend with a 3rd in the $35,000
Sacramento International Welcome Grand Prix and two wins in the
$30,000 National Preview Grands Prix the same week.
Starting back up at the HITS Desert Circuit in January, Misti and
“Mister” garnered a fifth place in the $33,000 HITS Desert Classic
GP and an 8th in March in the $15,000 Level 8 Jumpers in which
the fences are 4’9”.
With big plans to compete overseas in the World Cup and World
Equestrian Games and ownership syndication a possibility, the sky
is the limit!
We will have more on this outstanding Anglo Arabian in our next
issue, including an in-depth interview with his breeder and owner.
BITS and pieces (continued)
CROSSEN ARABIANS NEWS
Crossen Arabians originated with the purchase of their main herd
of Arabian horses at an auction in Hillsdale, N.Y. in 1986. Since
then, the Arabian breeders have branched out to breeding not
only purebreds but additionally, half-Arabians, and Warmbloods.
The Crossens primarily breed Sport horse type individuals for dres-
sage, hunter/jumper, and also a few western mounts to add to the
mix.
Last year Tom Crossen, Jr. showed four horses in both the Sport
horse and western pleasure divisions at the Reg. 16 Championship
Arabian Horse Show. Highlights of his winnings are: Champion-
ships in both First and Second Level Dressage-ATR with CA Gari-
mond+/. CA Dezarae-another Crossen bred horse won a Reserve
Championship in Arabian Sport Horse Under Saddle, Junior horse
and Top Five in Arabian Western Pleasure-Junior horse. Tom also
competed on CA Charisa, another Crossen bred horse, in the Ara-
bian Western Pleasure Select Rider ATR class and won the Champi-
onship. Khoncise, who started his show career in western pleasure,
was re-trained by Tom to the dressage discipline. Khoncise won a
Top Five in what was his first year competing in that division.
In the open circuit, Tom showed a two year old Hanoverian fil-
ly, Rhyana, at three different USDF Breed Shows and won three
Championship Fillies in hand classes with her. Additionally, Rhyana
went on to win the Reserve Championship in the Adequan/USDF
Dressage Sport Horse Breeding for two year old fillies. This was
up against all breeds that competed throughout the country. Tom
also showed Ripley CA to a 3rd place in the Yearling division. Both
horses were also bred by Crossen Arabians, LLC.
Jeff Janson Photo
89April/May 2013
90 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
As I work through the following chap-
ters, I’ll be looking at specific issues as
they relate to the Classical Training Pyra-
mid.
Problem 6: My horse is “spooky.”
This horse will spend an entire lesson
spooking and trying to get out of work if
you let him. Take a lot of time warming
up this one! If you are in a hurry, don’t
ride. Time is your best friend. Before you
mount, walk the horse around the full are-
na in both directions. This will give you an
idea prior to mounting where the horse is
going to spook.
You can try kicking and spanking the
horse each time he spooks, but in my
opinion you will get nowhere. The horse
will just be more afraid of the object or
area in question, and you will teach him to
fight rather than work. Then the behavior
becomes learned and a way for the horse
to avoid work altogether. This reaction can
be dangerous for the rider, too.
This horse must learn that the line of
travel is sacred. When you can keep the
horse on the line of travel, you will win. It
doesn’t matter right now what gait you are
in.
This is where you must take away im-
pulsion in order to gain submission. Once
you have mounted, walk around the arena
both ways again. No doubt the horse will
spook at something. Quietly halt and allow
the horse to look. Pat and encourage him
rather than punish him. You will feel the
“brain return to the body.” Often he will
audibly breathe. At this point you are able
to influence the horse again. Put your leg
on and encourage a step or two forward. It
may take a while in order to get past the
“ghost.” But he must go past on your line
of travel, even if it takes 10 minutes with
two steps of walk and halts in between.
When you have gone around the arena
both directions at walk, start on a circle at
either end—or perhaps in the middle of
the arena. Pick the place where the horse
has the most confidence. Using your later-
al bending, work to get the horse stretch-
ing longitudinally over the back as well.
By using the inside bend you will help get
the horse more obedient to the inside leg.
Once your circle is relaxed and obedient,
start making it a bit larger at each end.
Slowly work the circle until the horse is
quietly going around the entire arena.
Using a shoulder-in will help im-
mensely as horses usually do not spook
about something in the interior of the
arena, and by taking his vision away from
the rail in shoulder-in, you are taking the
horse’s line of sight away from the spooky
objects. This also gives you more control
with your inside leg for the line of travel.
The horse needs to think your aids are
more interesting than anything he might
see outside of the arena. When he is busy
thinking about your requests, he is not fo-
cused on spooking.
If you have a place where the horse
still spooks, quietly walk past that point,
reward him, and then trot on. Eventually
you will be able to trot by that spot. Al-
lowing the horse to spin and twirl with you
kicking and spanking will only increase the
frequency of the naughty behavior.
Repeat the same circle exercise the
other direction. Don’t forget the horse usu-
ally spooks more on his stiff, long side than
on his supple, short side. Just because the
left eyeball thought all was okay, doesn’t
mean the right eyeball feels the same way!
Repeat the circle exercise at canter.
You will note after a month, the horse
will still be looking but will allow you now
to keep the line of travel. You may not al-
ways have the same degree of impulsion,
but this, in time, will get better too.
In a dressage test, now you can keep
the mistakes to one movement only,
whereas before, this bad behavior influ-
enced several marks.
Continued from page 14
Always So Basic
Continued from page 7
Saddle Fitting
seasonally, it’s a good idea to have the fit
checked more frequently. And if you no-
tice a change in the balance of the saddle,
or if your horse develops issues with sad-
dling or performance that have been trou-
ble-free in the past, please call your fitter
ASAP. While it may not be your saddle, it’s
an easy thing to rule out, or correct. Re-
member that saddle fitting is an ongoing
process, and the more vigilant you are, the
happier your horse (and you) will be.
•••
Kitt Hazelton is a lifelong horsewoman. She’s
worked as a dressage trainer and instructor in Los
Angeles, CA and southern VT, and has been fitting
saddles since 1998. She’s an Associate Member
of the Society of Master Saddlers (North American
chapter) and sells, fits and repairs saddles at her
Panther Run Saddlery (www.pantherrunssaddlery.
com). She’s also a dedicated martial artist (Koro
Ken Karatedo, 3rd degree brown belt), avid gar-
dener, amateur photographer and prolific writ-
er. You can follow her adventures in saddle fitting
at www.saddlefitter.blogspot.com.
91April/May 2013
Continued from page 64
Dressage with Linda Zang
Continued from page 69
Success with Cygnus
frame. Stretching the neck down should
be done without lowering the raised with-
er.
Linda noted that Arabs, Friesians, and
other horses with a high neckset often
get ‘stuck’ at the base of the neck, and
that this must be overcome before correct
progress is possible. She was pleased that
Stat is “unstuck.” It was a nice validation,
because I spent the first two years of
Stat’s dressage work overcoming that
very problem. Credit goes to my regu-
lar dressage coach Stacy Parvey-Larsson
for persisting until we made that break-
through. I look back at prior horses and
trainers and realize that was a key piece
missing which limited our ability to do up-
per level work correctly.
I was able to watch two of the three
later groups, after settling Stat in a tape
pen at the trailer. For the other riders, lots
of small changes produced big improve-
ments. Riders displayed over and over the
value of having eyes on the ground, even
for an Olympic gold medalist (I think she
told Leslie Law to put his left hand down a
dozen times in 20 minutes!)
The other big piece for me was the
discussion of how to ride half pass. Again,
this was a contrast of the practice/teach-
ing/judging in NA vs Europe. We tend to
emphasize keeping the body parallel to
the long side, with the neck moved to the
inside of the chest and quarters wrapped
around the inside leg. Training in Europe
introduced Linda to the idea of riding half
pass as a traverse on a diagonal line. Put
the neck and shoulders of the horse onto
a diagonal line from the start letter to the
completion letter, then ride traverse. Ev-
ery horse showed a better quality of gait in
half pass, trot and canter, when ridden this
way, though a few riders had a ‘walk and
chew gum’ problem on the first attempt.
I’ve played with this a little bit at home,
and am finding it challenging but help-
ful. Challenging because the rider must
be better organized and prepared sooner
so as to identify the correct diagonal line
to put the horse on, and then keep the
horse’s neck and shoulders on that line.
Happily my regular dressage trainer
has been working quite a bit with Linda
this winter. I was much looking forward
to resuming regular lessons in March, but
with the EHV outbreak that plan is on hold.
So I’ll watch the clinic video and get eyes
on the ground to watch me and see what
we can do with Linda Zang’s insights.
took the bridle off his head! Cygnus had a
blast & loves his victory lap.
A new challenge now seemed within
our grasp. He had 7 of the levels needed
to complete his USDF Horse Performance
Certificate at all 9 levels of dressage. For
each level the horse must achieve 10
scores above 60 percent from 4 different
judges in a minimum of 4 different com-
petitions and include 4 scores of the high-
est test of that level. Our goal required at
least 90 qualifying scores. Although it’s
an achievement so rare it could be called
dressage’s “royal flush” I believed for Cyg-
nus it was possible. In 2011 we went back
after those missing Intermediate I and II
scores.
The start of 2012 was scary with Cyg-
nus’ Equine Metabolic Syndrome and
Cushings Disease intensifying resulting
in a slight laminitis episode. We got him
through it & continued on for our last
score. It came at his first show of the sea-
son. Cygnus was now the first Arabian and
the second horse of any breed to achieve
this distinction. We were also able to
complete the scores needed for my USDF
Musical Freestyle Gold Bar & Cygnus at 22
did his first Grand Prix Special test. He got
a 64 percent! Then it was back to Grand
Prix aiming at Sport Horse Nationals.
There we missed our goal by .6 percent
with a jig step at the walk & 17 instead of
15 one tempis. It was a hard pill to swal-
low but Cygnus was sound, fit & excited
about life so the most important things
were in place.
THE FUTURE
While it would be tempting to view
success with Cygnus as a string of accom-
plishments, my own view is that success
is the everyday journey with him and the
privilege of working the important details
of the upper level dressage horse. Look-
ing at 2013, those details will be in focus.
There is room for improvement in things
such as more engagement of his right hind
leg and suppleness through his ribs to
make his half passes bigger. I am so lucky
to have a horse that can and still wants to
work at 23. I am still learning from him,
but now he’s learning from me, too. We
are aiming for a season at Grand Prix and
Sport Horse Nationals, but it’s all up to
Cygnus.
Spring Is Here!Eira HRN (*Ecaho x S S Heiress)
Filly (Audacious PS x Breathless V)
Saint Sebastian (Saint Sandro x Haely Mercedes)
Colt (Masada Mazal x Nile Roze+)
Colt (*Romany River Tailsman x Cymply Precious)
Spring Is Here!Colt
(Masada Mazal x Nile Roze+)
Mirabella Bey (Mirage V++++// x Kholela Bey+++//)
Colt (*Romany River Tailsman x Cymply Precious)
Colt(*Doran SBFAR x JAS Silver Eyes)
Saint Sandro’s Silhouette(Saint Sandro x Shes All Girltalk)
ServicesOur Services Directory is available for just an annual fee of $25 (6 issues). Subject Headers created as needed. Not for Stallions or Horses for Sale.
FARMSRIMROCK EQUESTRIAN CENTER, Ashley Wren, Billings, MT• Hunters, Jumpers, Equitation
www.RimrockEquestrianCenter.com • [email protected]
MYSTIC RANCH ARABIANS, Karen Ernst, Herald, CA • Breeders of Arabian Sport Horseswww.MysticRanchArabians.com • [email protected]
Blue Moon Farm & Training Center • Sophie H. Pirie Clifton • Training, Clinics, Instruction thru the FEI levels Tryon, NC • [email protected]
94 The Arabian Sport Horse Magazine
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MYSTIC RANCH ARABIANS, Karen Ernst, Herald, CA • Breeders of Arabian Sport Horseswww.MysticRanchArabians.com • [email protected]
Blue Moon Farm & Training Center • Sophie H. Pirie Clifton • Training, Clinics, Instruction thru the FEI levels Tryon, NC • [email protected]
95April/May 2013Obsidian SilkTF Psymreekhe x Sweet Silk V ( full sibling to Sundance Kid V)
15+ HH, Homogygous Black StallionSCID & CA Clear Sweepstakes NominatedShipped Semen Available
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780-352-0332 | Fax: 780-312-2506 • [email protected] | www.toddehret.com
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Tex
Kam
Pho
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