Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2015 i Practical Horseman

When I first started competing many years ago, I wasn’t very confident. I regularly psyched myself out by saying that I just wasn’t good enough. Since then, I’ve figured out that confidence comes from three areas: an appropriate horse, a good trainer and the right attitude. In every issue of Practical Horseman, we try to help advance your riding skills with our training stories. This month, there also are several articles that speak to the less tangible quality of attitude. Hunter rider and trainer Tom Brennan, for example, taps into the power of positive thinking (page 40). When there were nasty online comments about his riding position, he posted a printout of the comments in the tack room along with a note to his students saying there are many sideline…

Based at Fox Covert Farm, in Upperville, Virginia, Jim Wofford competed in three Olympics and two World Championships and won the U.S. National Championship five times. He is also a highly respected coach. For more on Jim, go to www.jimwofford.blogspot.com. Editor’s note: This column has been widely read and discussed in both the United States and Europe since appearing online several years ago. In view of recent serious accidents, Jim believes the topic is more relevant than ever. We’re reprinting it here with some minor revisions. Jackson Browne sings, “I’ve been waiting for something to happen, for a week, or a month or a year.” For my part that “something” was a recent series of tragic accidents. There is no doubt that eventing is at a crossroads, and we need…

Though there’s a bevy of new shows and circuits, many of Zone 10’s vintage equestrian competitions are going strong. The 94th Flintridge Horse Show, evolved from the Flintridge Children’s Show, is still held in April at the famous Flintridge Riding Club and still benefits a Los Angeles area hospital. The Del Mar National celebrated its 70th year in April, having grown from a one-week, multi-discipline county fair competition into three separate weeks of Western, dressage and hunter/jumper action for frequently packed houses in the Del Mar Arena. The Portuguese National Horse Show will mark its 58th year this September and the Memorial Day Classic at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center just logged its 35th round. In the Bay Area, the 40-year old Menlo Charity Horse Show carries on proud traditions.…

When Catherine Jackson’s trainer, Tom Brennan, entered her in the handy hunter class at the 2012 Upperville Colt & Horse Show, she thought it was just a warm-up for her Junior Hunter classes. “I had no idea that there was a $10,000 prize. Tom helped me come up with a really cool, hard course. I just went in and had a lot of fun, and we ended up second,” she remembers of her Paul & Eve Go As You Please Handy Hunter round. Two years earlier, Catherine never would have imagined tackling a class like this with such an assured, easygoing attitude. Her first horse habitually refused jumps, which destroyed her confidence. “We didn’t have the budget to buy a fancy horse, so we bought a green one with potential.…

Hardback; 368 pages; Regnery Publishing; $27.99; www.regnery.com In this New York Times bestseller, author Robin Hutton weaves together the fascinating tale of Sgt. Reckless, a short-statured Mongolian-bred mare who emerged as one of the little-known heroes of the Korean War. Bought from a Korean boy for a few hundred dollars, this 13-hand pony, who originally was bred for the racetrack, would become a vital member of the U.S. Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marines. As a Marine, she was dubbed “Reckless” for the recoilless rifle her platoon carried—a weapon so dangerous it was nicknamed the “reckless” rifle. The spunky mare toiled through battle, braving minefields and flying shrapnel, to transport the rifle as well as vital grenades and ammunition to the soldiers. Her feats of heroism were so distinguished,…

USET Foundation Announces Dressage Fundraiser The U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation launched a new fundraising effort specifically for U.S. high-performance dressage programs, The Dressage Challenge. Longtime horse owners and U.S. dressage supporters Claudine and Fritz Kundrun will match $1 for every $2 in gift commitments made by December 31, 2015, up to a total of $500,000. The challenge’s goal is to raise $1.5 million over the next four years to support a world-class program that will put the United States on top of the podium at international championships such as the Olympics and World Equestrian Games. “This is a very exciting opportunity that has the potential to take the United States high-performance dressage program to the next level,” said USET Foundation Executive Director Bonnie Jenkins. “We are so grateful to the…

Active on various U.S. Hunter Jumper Association and U.S. Equestrian Federation committees and boards, Tom Brennan says that he wants to “make sure there is always an avenue for people like me” and “to ensure that the industry—the shows, governance groups, etc.—serve the sport, rather than the sport serving the industry. If we can make it a sport again and all that word encompasses—sportsmanship, ethics, honor—I think we’ll be better off and will see more opportunities for everyone.” Exploring another role, Tom also served as the official commentator for the USEF Network’s coverage of the 2013 and 2014 Pre Green Incentive Championship and U.S. Hunter Jumper Association International Hunter Derby Championship as well as the 2014 World Champion Hunter Rider Finals. He aims to keep his commentary positive, just as…

The seeds for international equestrian competition in California were planted when the Del Mar Fairgrounds hosted the World Cup Jumping Finals in 1992, but the year 2000 marked a new era for the West Coast. That’s when former Olympic rider Robert Ridland, now U.S. chef d’équipe, paired with businessman R.J. Brandes to bring a portion of the Olympic selection trials out West for the first time. Also in 2000, their company, Blenheim EquiSports, along with Las Vegas Events and the late John Quirk helped stage the debut of the World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. In 2001, the company staged the first outdoor CSI-A in the United States, bringing a bevy of international stars to San Juan Capistrano. After so many years of Californians—Anne Kursinski, Candice King and Robert among…

The son of Irish trainers Catherine and Michael Kenny, Darragh Kenny won a lesson with an American trainer in 2007 after finishing first in a special class at his native Ireland’s famed Dublin Horse Show. He was set to redeem his prize by working with Missy Clark when he had an accident and was out of action. Two years later, he finally was able to keep his appointment with Missy and then went on to ride with her and her husband, John Brennan, for four years. After working with trainer Don Stewart, for whom he rode hunters and jumpers, then starting his own business, Oakland Ventures LLC, Darragh competed a succession of horses who gave him a reputation as a steady winner and one to watch whenever he’s going against…

ATTEND the historic 162nd annual Upperville Colt and Horse Show, June 1–7, in Upperville, VA. Relax under the shady oak trees and watch the $100,000 Jumper Classic, hunter championships, sidesaddle classes, breed classes and more; www.upperville.com. HEAD TO the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, CA, June 5–7, to learn from the nation’s top clinicians and treat yourself to some world-class shopping; www.horsexpo.com. SUPPORT breast-cancer research at the Potomac Valley Dressage Association Ride for Life. Held June 20–21 in Upper Marlboro, MD, this popular event features a dressage show for all levels. Since its inception in 2004, the event has raised more than $550,000 for the Johns Hopkins Breast Center; www.pvdarideforlife.org. WATCH your favorite riders at the Atlanta Summer Classics horse shows in Atlanta, GA, June 10–14 and June 17–21.…

World Cup Victors Going into the final round of the Longines FEI World Cup Final, April 19, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat was so far ahead of the other competitors, he could knock down two rails and still be champion. By the time he and Albfuehren’s Paille turned to the last jump in that round, they had one rail down. But Guerdat was more worried that he’d have time faults. “I just went as fast as I could to the finish line. Unfortunately, there was a big fence in the way,” he joked at the press conference. The large oxer did come down, but the pair made the time and captured the top spot. A day earlier, Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro defended their World Cup title,…

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