Gladstone 2011 was wonderful. Gladstone always is. I say that as though I have been there a great many times, when in reality I have been twice, plus once more for a Developing Rider Clinic. There is something special about the place, the history, and of course it is always an honor to compete there. However, competing in the Brentina Cup with Rifallino, affectionately known as Henry, made this year exceptionally special.
Henry is a horse I got in Holland through my former boss Egbert Kraak. I first met Henry when he was five when he came to Egbert’s Sale barn in Holland during the time I was working there. I really liked the horse. He had a powerful rocking canter and a lot of personality. I only rode him a couple of times and then a woman from Belgium bought Henry for her trainer to ride. When you work in a sale barn, a lot of horses come and go, but there was something special about Henry. I knew him right away when he came back to Egbert after Henry's owner and her trainer had a falling out. This all happened right at the time that I was getting ready to move to Germany. Again I rode Henry a couple of times, remembered his canter right away but then I moved on. I kept in contact both with Egbert and friends at the stable in Holland, generally keeping up to date and also keeping an interest on how Henry was doing. After two years in Germany I had to head home. I stopped over at Egbert’s for a couple weeks to organize the flight for my horse Urbanus, Henry was still there. Still not sold due to a number of reasons. Henry has a pretty good spook in him, much more so when I got him than he does now. He was not talented enough and/or too much work for a top pro. He was too difficult and unpredictable for an amateur to ride. Henry was in the “no-horse’s-land” of sale horses. Never the less there was, and still is something very special about Henry, his presence, personality and athleticism. I rode him while I was there and still loved him. Loved the challenge of him, loved everything about him despite the fact that he just about fell flat on his face in the middle of an extended canter while spooking at the lawn mower on the other side of the hedge. Egbert contacted Henry’s owner from Belgium and she came up to watch me ride the horse. A week later I was in the back of KLM cargo plane with Urbanus, also known as Flem, and Henry, side by side, the two Bay Dutch horses. That’s the story of Henry and how I ended up with him.
The road between that flight and Gladstone 2011 was a long one. I started with Henry in 2007, which was the year I moved back to California to be with my dad. I got a job as head dressage trainer at Denville-Kanani Farms in Danville California and began working through Henry’s issues. In 2008 we did 4th level with scores ranging from 58% to 72% depending on the day. We came in close to dead last at the CDS Annual Championships with much leaping and spooking at the ring decorations. In 2009 I found a great trainer in Tina Steward, DVM. Tina, who is not only a trainer but a vet, horse chiropractor and former GP rider herself, had great training solutions and insights for both Henry and Flem. We moved up to the PSG and I-1, our range of scores stabilized, no longer dipping into the 50’s, and mostly staying in the mid to high 60’s, with occasional 70’s. At that point it was more about giving him something challenging enough to do in the ring that he would stop being such a dingbat. It wasn't about getting huge scores, it was about getting miles. At the last minute I entered him in the USDF Region 7 Championships for 2009. I hadn’t been planning on doing this, fearing a similar outcome as the year before. He ended up 3rd in the Open PSG in a class of 30 with a 67.+%. Not a bad turn around from the year before.
A few weeks later, I moved to Kentucky. One month later we were on our way to Florida. In Florida we started doing CDI’s. We would typically get one higher score and one lower score. Sometimes the first day was better and sometimes the second day was better. In the end Henry and I made it to Gladstone for the I-1 Championships for 2010. We finished about where we started in the ranking, which was near the bottom. Keeping in perspective that nearn the bottom was still the top 15 in the nation. The thing is you have to start some place. I prefer to go out there now and get my experience and make my mistakes while no one is particularly close attention. It was pretty amazing that we made it last year. I was shocked and happy to have just been able to make it at all, let alone on a horse like Henry.
Brentina Cup wasn’t something that was around when I was growing up. After Young Rider’s that was it. I didn’t do Young Riders. I had a nice horse that I got as un-broke three year old when I was 16 and he was doing well in competition. I knew that it would be a long shot for him to make it to Young Riders in time and money would have also been an issue for my dad and I. So I decided to work in Europe instead. When I came back five years later there was this thing called Brentina Cup. I had never heard of it and then just sort of blew it off because I was going to age out and I didn’t have a horse that was ready. Then they raised the age limit. The dressage Gods had momentarily smiled on me. Henry was going well and so Brentina Cup became a realistic goal.
The winter of 2010-2011 in Florida Henry was between levels. We had the One Tempies, the Piaffe was ok but the Passage was still a struggle. Henry is not naturally inclined to the Passage. In that I mean he does not have the kind of trot that my younger horse Flem has. Flem has the kind of trot where you get him hot from the leg, close the hand, sit just so and … well would you look at that … Passage! Alas that is not Henry. Henry needs things explained more then that, and seeing that he is the first horse I have put all the training on to this level, as well as one of the first horses I have ridden at this level (aside Pikardi), it’s been a little like the blind leading the blind. However, this also makes it extremely rewarding when the horse and the rider finally do get it. The great thing is once you’ve taught one horse to do it, it’s a lot easier to teach the next to do it. For Henry and I it was three weeks extra in Florida training intensively with Robert Dover and two days of hand work with Juan Matute that got us over the hump, and to the place where we could put together a test worthy of the show ring.
Some horses are naturals at Piaffe/Passage. As I mentioned earlier, Flem is one of these. You can sometimes spot them as young horses by the fact that when they get hot under saddle they take on the Piaffe rhythm as a natural reaction to tension. That’s what Flem did at age 3. Then you have horses like Henry who are athletic but maybe not quite as naturally inclind to the right rythm and techniqu. In this case someone like Juan who is a very good at in-hand work can make a huge difference in the horse’s understanding of what he is supposed to be doing with his legs, and the timing in which he should be doing these things. For Henry the hand-work helped quite a bit. Once the horse has the idea then you can run with it. It’s just getting over that hump.
Henry had just reached the point where we could get through the test and do a variation of everything we needed to do. It was part way through April, we had until August 1st and a limited number of shows in which to qualify in order to make the cut off for the Brentina Cup. Henry and I trekked to Virginia for the first score, then to KDA at the Kentucky Horse Park for the second score. We threw in Raleigh for the third score, though that wasn’t originally in our plans. Raleigh, despite the fact that it was still qualifying, ended up being our drop score. Doing the show did pay off because the next week we won the CDI* at Majestic View. Finally Henry and I went back to North Carolina for our last score, which turned out to be well worth the trip. We scored a 70% in our first I-2 and a 73% in our last Brentina Cup qualifier, bringing Henry up the list to be ranked second in the nation.
That's the behind the scenes version of the lead up to Gladstone 2011. The show it self went well. All the trekking around collecting scores and participating in developing rider clinics paid off, as did the warm up show two weeks before.
The warm up day before the first class I was a little tight. I had a lesson from Debbie MacDonald who was there helping the Brentina Cup riders and I remember feeling like I couldn’t even sit the trot. “Just work your program” Debbie said to me. 'Program...right…I have a program… what’s my program?...I don’t know, I’ll just trot around for a while…maybe canter. Good grief'! Debbie is great and is wonderful help, but in that situation I missed my everyday help. I was relieved when Kathy showed up and was there to warm me up for the test the next day, thus proving the point that it’s important to have your everyday person there to help you do your everyday routine.
Despite my efforts to not be stressed I was concerned about this competition for the warm up day and also a little on the first day of showing. When you ride a horse that can sometimes be a little unpredicable, it makes you worry about which horse you are going to have this time. The fact that it was my only year to participate added some presure. Lastly, doing the the Brentina Cup and doing it well, is in part a way to gain recognition in the High Performance Dressage community as an up and coming competitor. I felt I had a lot I wanted to put forward coming into this competition on a challenging horse that I had trained myself.
The first test was quite respectable. Everything went well and even the mistakes that we made were not enough to ruin the test. We had two glitches, one was mine, after the canter zigzag half pass, and the other one was more Henry’s. He had a moment of thinking halt on the last center line of Passage-Piaffe-Passage. The Changes were a highlight of the test which makes me proud because the Changes used to be an issue for Henry, and I personally struggled with learning the one’s. The ride was good enough for third. Without the mistakes maybe it would have been second. I was super proud none the less.
There was a break day between the two classes, which gave me a day to relax and ride. Kathy and I agreed that the canter tour was good and that we should focus on the trot Passage and Piaffe. Henry was very good, and we kept the work to a minimum. The second show day everything came together. The warm up was excellent, I was focused, relaxed and confident so much so that could smile and laugh. I had to get after Henry a little for a better Piaffe and to insure that he wouldn’t quit on me in the ring. He didn’t, in fact he nailed pretty much everything. I think this is what they call "being in the zone". We got 8’s and 7’s on the pirouettes and in the end we won the Young Rider Grand Prix class. Not too bad for a horse that just learned the moves for the GP that same year and was competing against seasoned Grand Prix horses. The second day’s score was almost enough to make up for the mistakes of the first day. We were .3% shy of winning the entire competition but settled for a very close Reserve Champion.
Henry’s owner, Nelly, was at Gladstone to see it all and she was thrilled. I could not have dreamed of a more wonderful owner than Nelly. She did not berate me for my mistakes and in her eyes we won. We won not because the scores were close, because of odds that we over came to get there. My first trainer, Heidi Riddle, was also there to see it all happen and that was very special. I trained with Heidi from the time I was seven until the time I was eighteen. She instilled in me a foundation of good basics and a love for knowledge. It was very special to have her there.
Gladstone 2011 in short, was a important milestone. I’m very proud of where we came from, what we went through to get there, how we performed, and where we are heading. Since Gladstone, Henry has had some nice hacks in the backfields of Woodspring, a good clinic with Morton Thomason and has begun whittling away at the Grand Prix. This week the focus has been on improving his suppleness, flexibility and maneuverability in his canter for the zigzag. In the Trot/Passage/Piaffe we have been working to improve his balance, electricity and rhythm. Today Henry did a much improved and balanced zigzag practice and is also showing a new and impoved understanding for the Piaffe and Passage.
It’s been a good week. Tomorrow a hack outside, Sunday a day off and Monday it's back to work again.
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 02:28PM 
