Fifty-five first through twelfth grade riders earned a total of $10,000 for greater Los Angeles area schools’ libraries in the Riding For Reading Class held last September.

  Riding For Reading is a non-profit (501 (c)3) organization dedicated to promoting reading, literacy, and education through equestrian sports and activities. This year four different shows will host a Riding For Reading Class, including Gold Coast 6 here at LAEC and the Woodside Labor Day Classic in northern California. The Pin Oak Charity Horse Show in Houston hosted a class and the Oregon Summer Classic will as well.

  For more information: www.ridingforreading.org

  Welcome to summer! Loads of web site projects are in development, look for launch announcements in upcoming newsletters. Speaking of newsletters, there will be two coming your way in June at the Blenheim shows, so don’t miss out. Consider advertising – announce, promote, congratulate, thank – be a part of the newsletter craze!

  We’re excited to welcome Katie Kotarak to the EquestriSol team. Interning with us for the summer, Katie will be a senior at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana next semester. Come say hello – she’ll be joining us at many of the upcoming Southern California shows this season.

  We love hearing from you, keep the feedback coming...

Watching the Grand Prix with Leopoldo Palacios

BY JACKIE MCFARLAND

  Who better to sit with during the $50,000 Grand Prix of California at Showpark Ranch & Coast Tournament than the course’s illustrious designer? Often named by other designers as a mentor, I was fascinated by the mind behind the man known as Leopoldo Palacios.

How did you become a course designer? What is your horse history?
LP: I come from a horsey family in Venezuela. My father had horses; I rode and competed up to the Grand Prix level. My older brother, Jesus Eduardo Palacios, was a fantastic rider. He won the Grand Prix at the National Horse Show in 1960.

  I have worked as a contractor, mostly hotel construction, all my life and used to course design on the side as a hobby. That started in the 1970’s. It got to the point that I would split my time, about twenty-five weeks a year as a contractor and twenty-five weeks as a course designer.

  When I retired from construction a decade ago, I followed my passion and started course-designing full time. My first job designing in the United States was in Ocala about 20 years ago. I designed for the Olympics in Sydney nine years ago.

Your course design mentors?
LP: Three influenced me the most – Pamela Carruthers, Dr. Arno Gego and Bert de Nemethy. I was an assistant to all of them. Arno was the course designer at Aachen for 20 years and established the Aachen School of Course Design; I worked with him quite a bit from 1980-85.

How do you determine difficulty for the field?
LP: For me the most important part is to know the riders. They are essentially my customers in every class. I believe that course designers need to tailor make courses for the field we have. Not so easy as to have too many clean, not too hard.

  Course designers are like chefs. We take height, distance, scope, time allowed, the way we use the materials, positions of the jumps, shadows, terrain plus a dash of this or that – when we put the various ingredients together successfully we make a great course. Our job is to make it work for different types of horses – a variety of tests for horse and rider using our ingredient options without overdoing it by making too salty or too spicy.

  I am happy that here we have three types of horses clean so far today [for the $50,000 Grand Prix of California], – a small, catty horse, Nadia (Will Simpson), Kaskaya (Jill Humphrey) is a medium horse in size and Urian (Guy Thomas) a large horse – all different types, all able to go clean.

How does the course like the one today evolve for you?
LP: I take many steps to create this course. First I research courses I’ve designed in years past to see what questions I’ve asked. Then early in the week I determine where I will place the triple and double combinations for the Grand Prix and I’m careful to save the footing around this area when building other courses. Throughout the week I see who my real customers are – what possibilities I have for designing a course where the best on that day will go clean. After this step I start to decide if these combinations will stand-alone or have related distances leading up to or after them and where they will fall in the course, early or late. Then I begin to connect the combinations to develop the rest of the course. I am careful to choose how the jumps relate, not having too many similar types in succession and choosing different striding in the lines. Put this all together and I’ve produced a track. Riders need to understand the track. The psychology of the rider is so important.

Analyzing the track...
It is key to note here – and one of the most essential lessons – that we analyzed the track, not the course. The technical questions asked aren’t just jumps with height or width, but how the rider approaches the jump, what track will keep them within the time allowed and how they mentally handle the challenges on the track. For this particular course Leopoldo presented a number of mental puzzles including a steady seven to a long one stride, to a long two stride in the triple combination towards the end of the course. Many the rails (and some of the riders) fell due to the above.

LP: I made the ride to the triple combination a bit too difficult for the field. My mistake is that the second element is a bit solid with a gate, which is backing horses off more than I had planned. The riders’ mistakes are happening because they need to steady early in the seven so they are coming forward for the ride through the triple. Too many are riding steady as they jump in.

And your future?
LP: Time passes and I am getting old [laughs] but I work with a wonderful team of course designers around the world – I learn from them and they learn from me. I am designing almost non-stop through The Masters in Spruce Meadows in September.

We would love to follow Leopoldo and his fellow course designers as they trek around the world designing tracks that challenge riders at all levels. What an interesting life they lead, constantly considering how to challenge on course. Thank you Leopoldo!

A Silky Start with a Blue Ribbon Finish
Lisa Thorpe follows her passion with OTTB’s in Silks to Show Ring

BY ERNA ADELSON

  I spoke with Lisa Thorpe about her latest venture, Silks to Show Ring Thoroughbred Foundation (SST), at a very fortuitous time. It’s the thick of Triple Crown season where the recent horse racing jewels include a long shot in Kentucky Derby victor Mine That Bird and a new pinup girl in Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra (a top ten Twitter trending topic on race day, in fact). Even though these two speed demons were ridden to thrilling wins and walked off the track unscathed, memories of the tragic Eight Belles and Ruffian accidents still come to mind. It was Eight Belles, the 2008 Derby runner-up who was euthanized on the track after breaking both front legs, who inspired Thorpe to start SST last year.

  Some thoroughbreds, like Rachel Alexandra, are without a doubt born to race, but the ones that do not inherit a racehorse mentality are often left without many options. This includes those on the sidelines due to injuries and racehorse retirees who are finished on the track. If a new home isn’t available, these horses often end up at auction and at worst are sent to slaughter. Lisa, who spent much of her career riding thoroughbred hunters, has seen these non-racing horses find their forte, and from this experience, her program was born. “After reading about a descendant of Seabiscuit saved from slaughter and then Eight Belles died, I knew I needed to do something for these horses,” Lisa said. “Honestly, at the track, the horses are well taken care of, as they are on the show circuit. I’m not necessarily rescuing horses—ones who have suffered abuse—it’s just when they are no longer racehorses, there is nowhere for them to go, and it’s such a heartbreak,” she explained.

  Lisa Thorpe is a former competitor who also ran a training business with husband Joe Thorpe after a successful junior and amateur career. She retired from competition to raise son Jonathon, now grown and married, as well as spearhead Show Circuit Magazine for over a decade. Establishing Silks to Show Ring is the next step in her equestrian evolution. Lisa adopted her first horse, the stallion Pink Hair, from the Del Mar Racetrack when he was sidelined with a sesamoid fracture in September of 2008. After several months of rest and rehabilitation, “Pink” is a total lapdog, and Lisa came out of retirement to begin riding him.

  “Just handling and giving them a safe place to be is completely worth my time. Pink is a dream to hack, and the fact that he is happy is the biggest reward. It’s clear that he is proud of himself again. I just want these horses to be happy for the rest of their lives, and I’ve seen that it can happen.” It’s hard to miss the emotion in Lisa’s voice as she recalls re-training the once-successful racehorse. “It takes a lot of patience, kindness and a soft hand, but these talented horses are smart and great prospects. When I was competing, nearly all hunters and jumpers were thoroughbreds—that was when there used to be a non-thoroughbred class!”

  Other trainers can attest; Rebecca Atwater, founder of Santa Barbara Stables, has a successful string of thoroughbreds in her hunter/jumper barn. “We did a clinic the other day with Laddie, registered as Easy Charm, and the clinician was completely taken aback when I told him that Laddie was a full thoroughbred,” she says. “He automatically assumed that this big guy was a warmblood. We call him the Seabiscuit of our barn—he’s been such a success with [rider/owner] Marina Da Silva throughout their hunter career together.” Da Silva and Easy Charm are now competing in 3’ 3” and 3’6” divisions at local and ‘A’ shows.

  Ultimately, to get this sort of testimony from more trainers and to see thoroughbreds back in the show arena along with the warmbloods are the goals that inspire SST. “In the long term, I would love to have horses find new homes on a weekly basis, establish a fostering program with retraining for 90 days at other barns, and then getting thoroughbreds into the show ring up to the top levels again,” Lisa said. “There’s a high-score hunter/jumper thoroughbred award through San Fernando Horse Show Association at the B level, which is a start,” she noted, “but I would love to see them compete at the ‘AA’ shows.” She further explained in an enthusiastic tone “If I could get division sponsors, I would love to have a thoroughbred hunter class, and help to establish a funnel for these horses to have a second career.”

  SST’s second horse, the filly Silver Scrumptious, came from Silver Charm lineage. She was with SST for just four months before she found a new home with a family in Yucca Valley. The adoption fee for the even-tempered mare was just $1,000, with the conditions that Lisa is given regular updates on her progress and she is never raced again. Thorpe ideally would have five horses at a time, but she is doing the best she can with present resources. Currently, SST fosters two horses, so since Silver Scrumptious found a home, Pink—still on his way to a full recovery—and another Silver Charm baby, Silverado Man, are currently kept at Bliss Canyon Investments in Bradbury Estates (previously the stables of late Saudi Prince Ahmed bin Salman’s The Thoroughbred Corporation). Along with Lisa, hunter/jumper trainer Amy Hess of Hess Equine, whose husband is racehorse trainer Bob Hess Jr., Barbara Thompson, Wendi Stone and others have helped to train and care for the horses. “Everyone has contributed so much. Amy is familiar with both worlds, so she really understands the horses,” said Thorpe. “Even my veterinarian has given discounts on treatments.”

  “I think we have been able to do this on such low overhead so far because everyone likes to give back. Many of us who rode in the 80’s owe our success, even our careers, to thoroughbred horses. Just taking one on in their string or donating time makes a difference in a thoroughbred’s life and also how they are viewed as show horses. They still have so much to give. Silverado Man, my current project, came right off the track with his head up like a cobra, but in under a week of care he has mellowed and is a wonderful, sweet horse.” With adoption fees ranging from $500 to $5,000, Thorpe estimates, the benefits of adopting OTTB’s are multiple – certainly a reasonable investment in this economy, potentially more cost-effective than importing a warmblood. Plus many of the horses are solid competitors who would relish in a second chance to excel. The time spent training and bringing them down off the track creates a strong bond between horse and owner. And sometimes the alternative for these horses is death by slaughter, so a new lease on life is clearly a benefit.

  “I know there are thoroughbreds out there who have already been successful in their second careers, and I would like to give them some recognition,” Lisa says. “So please send me your stories! Just knowing that there are others out there is important for the breed to reclaim its place.”

  Lisa is looking for your stories, donations, or willingness to adopt. Contact her at silkstoshowring@aol.com or 909-392-0838. Website: www.silkstoshowring.com.