Congratulations

BY JACKIE McFARLAND

  On Monday July 7th, four months after announcing the short list, the USEF Ad Hoc Committee on Selection will name the US Olympic Equestrian Team for Show Jumping. With only Aachen remaining for the short-listed ‘A’ Team, the pressure is on.

What Has Happened to Date:
  On March 10, 2008 the USEF Ad Hoc Committee for selection chose six horse and rider combinations based on their performance in the Selection Trials and four other pairs were given a bye.

  The six top performers included Laura Kraut, Nicole Shahanian-Simpson, Anne Kursinski on two horses, Charlie Jayne and Kate Levy.

  Two top riders, McLain Ward on Sapphire and Beezie Madden on Authentic, were given byes before the trials began – meaning they were automatically chosen to be on the short list and did not have to compete in the trials. After two trials Jeffrey Welles and Armani were also given a bye. Will Simpson and El Campeon’s Carlsson Vom Dach were awarded the final bye after solid performances in all the trials with the exception of the last, where the horse was unable to compete.

  These top ten were divided into two groups of five to participate on two European Tours before selecting the final team to represent the United States in Hong Kong this August.

Ad Hoc Selection Committee:
    George Morris
    Frank Chapot
    Michael Endicott
    Eric Hasbrook
    Candice King (alternate selector)

  Michael Endicott, who’s been on this committee since its inception six years ago, explained how they work. George and one selector are present at each event. “The entire committee discusses overall performance; everything from the jog to the jump. Essentially any details that would affect the team,” Mike explained. “It’s purely about performance, how this horse and rider will represent us.”

Will’s Will
  We had the opportunity to speak to Will when he was home briefly after representing the USEF on a European Tour.

JM: What was the most challenging aspect to the European Tour?
WS: The language barrier was sometimes a challenge. In Germany they changed the order and put 6 horses ahead of me and I didn’t understand until I was already schooled and ready. Had to prepare again once I knew. Some shows run exactly on time, others run late – it seems to depend on the country.

JM: Tell us about Carlsson Vom Dach.
WS: We bought him in April of 2007. He’s 12 years old and at the peak of his career. We knew he was special and it started to show last summer at Spruce. Good at 1.40m, 1.45m and then we did three 1.50m Grand Prix in Europe, returned to Spruce for the Masters and when we came home we started to discuss the best plan. We did the three World Cup qualifiers – Del Mar, Las Vegas and LA National and then we trained on a variety of surfaces at home – grass, sand – we jumped some big courses.

JM: How do you feel about his performance in these high-pressure situations?
WS: We had only competed at 1.50m before heading to Wellington for the trials at 1.60m. He stepped right up. Went in and came out fresh. He came out of the European tour fresh – it’s an unknown whether a horse will go through the trial system and come out like he has. Every time we ask a question of him he has the right answer.

JM: Who helped you prepare for the trials?
WS: Roger, an excellent horseman who’s been grooming for me for 10 years, set jumps. Eva was also my ground person. She was in Europe too. And she’s attending law school.

JM: How was the team experience in Europe?
WS: The team had great camaraderie. I have a great relationship with Anne. Nicki makes a really good teammate. The kids came to Rome and we spent time together as a family.

JM: How does it feel now that the tour is over?
WS: It hasn’t sunk in yet. I feel very fortunate to have a wonderful horse that is really hot. I’m fortunate to even have a chance. I do feel that everything is right: right horse, right time. We are fit and ready.

  As we anxiously await the news on July 7th, we wish Will all the best and thank him for his time.

BY LAURA WARE

  This week, while we junior hunter riders were reduced to showing in the dirt arena at the far end of the horse show grounds, the pony kids took center stage, galloping around the open grass field that sits between the Grand Prix field and the food area. This was appropriate, however, as the Oaks Blenheim June Classic III was home to the Zone 10 Pony Hunter Finals.

  Always a fun class to watch - those pony kids are so adorable and such amazing little riders - the Zone 10 Pony Finals is open to all pony/rider combinations, and has three phases: model, under saddle and over fences. Ribbons are awarded to twelfth place for each phase, along with a champion and reserve champion for each height section, and an overall champion and overall reserve champion.

  This year’s overall and large pony champion was Hannah Von Heidegger on A Hoof and a Prayer. Along with A Hoof and a Prayer, Hannah, 11, rides several other ponies and horses, and was gracious enough to answer a few questions I had about this event.

Laura: How long have you been riding?
Hannah: I’ve been riding since I was three, and began showing in the short stirrup when I was six.

Laura: A Hoof and A Prayer is a large pony, how long have you been showing in the larges?
Hannah: I just started doing them at the beginning of this year.

Laura: Tell us a bit about your pony, A Hoof and a Prayer.
Hannah: I got A Hoof and a Prayer (his barn name is Happy) last fall, and started showing him this year. He is pretty smooth, has a long stride, likes long distances, and takes me to the jump a little bit. He’s a little different to ride than my other ponies because you have to keep more pace in the corners.

Laura: What is he best at doing?
Hannah: He’s best at jumping. He has a great jump!

Laura: Did you show any of your other ponies at Zone 10 Pony Finals? How did it go with them?
Hannah: I showed Simply Magical (in the mediums) as well as A Hoof and a Prayer. Simply Magical got an 86 in the model, and 86 in the hack, but in the jumping I got a score of 63. I had a little bit of a mishap. I moved up too much to the distance, and ended up chipping. So, on A Hoof and a Prayer, I tried to be a little more patient and visualized my course before I got on and imagined what it would look like in the ring.

Laura: That’s awesome that you were able to fix your mistakes and do so well on Happy! How are Simply Magical and A Hoof and a Prayer different?
Hannah: On Simply Magical you just have to stay steady through the whole course and can find the distance pretty easily. Simply Magical is also pretty slow, you have to make sure he doesn’t slow down too much in the corners, and that he doesn’t
cross canter.

Laura: Do you have any strategies for modeling your ponies?
Hannah: I try to wait until the judge is a couple of horses away so my ponies don’t move when the judge is watching, and I make sure I have a cookie or mint in my hand to keep my ponies’ ears perked. Luckily, both my ponies are great modelers so they are not hard to model.

Laura: What do you think about riding on the grass?
Hannah: I like it! It’s different, because it is bigger, but it’s fun to be in such a big ring on a pony. You have to have more patience to ride on the big field, which makes it harder. Sometimes, if you’re impatient and try to chase down the jumps on the big field you end up chipping. They also had long bending lines in the courses, which I liked, because they tested your eye.

Laura: What are your riding goals for this year? The future?
Hannah: I’d really like to be champion on one of my ponies at Indoors this year. It would be great to be the first to win Zone 10 Pony Finals twice in a row. I would like to start in the junior hunters next year.

Thanks for your time, Hannah, congratulations, and good luck with your riding goals.

Laura Listens is brought to you by Laura Ware. Winner of the 2007 LAHSA Junior Medal Finals and a recipient of the 2008 WCAR Jumper Rider Grant, Laura rides with First Field Farm and often trains with Archie Cox. She is very successful in the all three disciplines on her own mounts as well as catch riding other horses.

BY SHOWMOM.COM

  Moms, daughters and tack stores seem to bring out the best and the worst in our relationships. Visiting the tack store together can be a unique experience. There are those trips when it is a shared experienced with smiles, thanks, and even good fun looking at the newest hot color for riding pants. Then there are those trips that become a tug of war between parent and child. Tough on the sales staff!

  I recently visited a tack store at one of our shows and had an opportunity to watch a number of mother-daughter exchanges. Somehow the tack store has become not only a place to shop but a place where mother and daughter dynamics, both positive and negative, are on full display. We had a few supplies and a gift to pick up but mostly I think my daughter wanted to walk around checking out every section of the store. So I sat in a chair and watched.

Shopping Phases:

Pre-teen
  As I reflect on tack store shopping with daughters, I think there are three distinct phases. Pre and early teens provide the greatest challenge. These riders are caught between stages of childhood and being a teenager. They have lots of opinions and have mostly decided they know more than their parents. They can be rude, loud, demanding and full of self importance one moment but clinging, quiet and needy for parent contact the next.

  My approach to tack store shopping at this age is to avoid scenes and leave the child in the hands of another adult whose opinion the child would be more be more likely to respect. I once left my child with a clerk (prearranged plan) to outfit her for A Circuit showing. This was a time period when she never liked the color of the pants or the look of the helmet and when no color show shirt or jacket was acceptable. In short, she was being a pre-teen brat. The clerk did wonderfully, got her outfitted with humor and assistance from older riders in the store. All left the tack store smiling and without an unnecessary tug of war.

  At this age, however, I still expected manners in the store. Any scene or loud demands caused me to leave with the credit card still in my purse – no clerk or other shoppers should have to experience our children’s bad behavior. I often watch and wish more of us expected some baseline of manners or civility from this
age group.

Older Teens
  The second group is the older teens – those riders with the confidence of ‘I know who I am and I know what I want.’ Shopping with them brings its own challenges since they definitely always know more than we do and seem to want only the best, latest, and most fashionable. They know what is in and what is out and will happily share that information with Mom who seems to be at least one season behind.

  This is a great age to learn about budgeting, fads vs. trends, and needs vs. wants. If they get everything they want, how do they learn about what they need vs. just what they want at the moment?

  Most are approaching a time when they will go off to college and the concept of living on a budget is a great one to learn. How many of those fads end up on the closet or horse trailer floor – how about buying things that will last more than a couple of horse shows? Hunter and equitation classes tend to follow a rather conservative dress pattern so shopping for looking the part is often more important than shopping for the newest fad.

  This age group has fewer scenes with Mom but this is the age when they would rather go to the tack store with barn friends or the trainer – it can be a time when Mom sits out the shopping experience to leave some space for growing up. I had my own shopping buddies – other moms who were in a similar space. We made up our own trips, guessed what the girls might pick out and generally enjoyed ourselves. It was also our time to catch up, share kid stories and exchange parenting tips.

Young Adults
  The third age is the young adult amateurs – confident, calm and back to inviting the parent along to shop. They are comfortable in their own skin and actually like shopping with Mom. They probably also like the credit card in your purse since this comes off your budget and not theirs. These young women seem to know the value of what they have and understand that they don’t need as much stuff as they thought they did a couple of years before. They even pick out things, try them on and say I don’t really need that – how long have we waited to hear that phrase?

  Tack stores are an important place to communicate your values. Ask your daughter to set an example by being considerate to both the accompanying parent and the sales staff. Poor behavior towards the parent, the trainer or the sales clerk is not acceptable. Courtesy, respect and appreciation are expected in the tack store as well as the show ring.

Teachable Moments Abound

Some examples:
  - Set a budget for the week of showing to demonstrate how to create a budget and live within it.
  - Note rude behavior when you witness it in others and discuss it,
at a later time, with your child.
  - Explain the history of equitation and why dark jacket colors are the norm. Helmets must fit correctly for safety reasons – not to protect our hair. Think of all the helpful conversations you can generate out of a shopping trip.

Watch and Listen
  Shopping trips can be good opportunities to step back and really observe our children. What are their tastes? How do they process and think about purchases? What values do they display? I would take a moment to watch and listen to opinions expressed as well as actions taken. Is it a good time to have a discussion on how their behavior is received and how it could affect their future? All parenting seems to be about strategy and finding the right moments for those many small conversations that shape our children into adults.

In the tack store – let’s be savvy show moms with great kids.

For more tips, resources and articles for ShowMoms, visit: ShowMom.com

BY TAMMY CHIPKO

  Our West Coast representatives collectively had fabulous results last week at the Spruce Meadows Skyliner Tournament in Canada. Congratulations to everyone who competed! Some results:

What a great week for the West Coast horses and riders competing in Calgary! Congratulations again and best of luck with the remainder of the tour.