ESDCTA MAGAZINE
COLLECTIVE REMARKS
WWW.ESDCTA.ORG January 2022
Table of Contents 3
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Equine Portraiture
President’s Message
Bending a Horse Correctly
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Amateur Dilemma
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Horse Treats
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News from Outside the Ring
COLLECTIVE REMARKS
Happy New Year! I hope everyone is weathering the cold January weather with a stiff upper lip, which probably isn’t too difficult considering the frigid temperatures. I’m sure everyone is hoping that 2022 finally sees an end to the pandemic; I’m quite optimistic, considering information from some epidemiologists who are predicting that the virus will continue to mutate into a less and less deadly version by the end of this year. Let’s hope they’re right. Unfortunately, due to the recent rise in Covid cases, the Board has decided to again hold a virtual awards presentation on Sunday February 27th, similar to the one we organized last year. Look for an email soon with all the details. On a positive note, this year’s show season is shaping up to be one of our best – most dates for the major shows and cross-country schoolings are locked in. Dates for clinics, educational opportunities and grants will be emailed out as they become available. Don’t forget to visit the website periodically for all the updated information, and to view the flip-book which is the replacement for the printed Omnibus. I wish everyone a very successful competition or fun-filled year, in whatever way you choose to enjoy your horse – try not to lose sight of the reason you’re involved with horses. They are wonderfully therapeutic, great gym apparatus replacements, soft and furry, and love you when you give them carrots and apples (or peppermints)!
President
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Board of Trustees OFFICERS
Phone only before 9 p.m. please
President
Holly Cornell
president@esdcta.org
732.208.8715
Vice President
Ellen Brindle-Clark
vicepresident@esdcta.org
609.351.1054
Secretary
Ruth McCormick
secretary@esdcta.org
201.240.4505
Treasurer
Betty Adduci
treasurer@esdcta
610.564.9169
3340 Curley Ct, Mullins SC 29574 Executive Board Dressage at Large
Jena Rondinelli
datlargeMAL@esdcta.org
732.814.1117
Eventing at Large
Jennifer Duelfer
eatlargeMAL@esdcta.org
732.598.3077
Dressage Competitions
Dr. Lisa Toaldo
dressage@esdcta.org
201.874.0373
Eventing Competitions
Janice Pellegrino
eventing@esdcta.org
Marketing
Erin Gale
marketing@esdcta.org
Membership
Vacant
membership@esdcta.org
Membership
Heidi Lemack
membership@esdcta.org
609.306.8221
Finance
Gary Maholic
finance@esdcta.org
215.489.1557
Education
Victoria Shilton
education@esdcta.org
6093511054
Youth
Stephanie Warner
youth@esdcta.org
NJEAB Representative
Carolyn Montgomery
crunner141@comcast.net
Awards
Becky Kuc
awards@esdcta.org
Calendars/Activities
Mia Zimmerman
activities@esdcta.org
Grants
Holly Cornell
grants@esdcta.org
Equipment
Wilma Pfeffer
dressage@esdcta.org
OFF BOARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Newsletter
Meredith Rogers
newsletter@esdcta.org
Vacant
nominations@esdcta.org
Omnibus
Mia Zimmerman
calendar@esdcta.org
Show Results
Lori Kelly
results@esdcta.org
Nominating
Become a friend of the ESDCTA on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @ESDCTA 4
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CROSS COUNTRY... News Across Our Region COMMUNITY NEWS
Milestone
If you’re reading this, you are probably a member of ESDCTA, but I’m sure you know of someone who rides dressage or events who is not a member. You know all about the wonderful things offered like educational programs, clinics with big name trainers, horse shows, year-end awards, and not least, that sense of being part of a community of likeminded people. The more members ESDCTA has, the better the programs we can offer. Our membership numbers are also important considerations when state and local governments decide on legislature that affects us (like open space), and we advocate for our sports (We helped get better footing at the HPNJ). Please reach out to your equestrian buddies and tell them about all of the benefits of membership and have them sign up. The more the merrier!
Please Contact Linda Marciante if you know any ESDCTA members who have achieved any Milestones. Success at a show, regional/national/international award, new horse, or anything else you want to celebrate.
WHAT’S YOUR TALENT?? Let us know what you would like to help us with in 2022. All skills and interests wanted. Have an idea? We want to hear about it. Remember, this club is what YOU make it. Contact president@esdcta.org if you are interested.
NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
Have a great article that you would like to share? Please send article to: Meredith Rogers: newsletter@esdcta.org All submissions are due by the 15th of the month. Due to space considerations, the editor reserves the right to edit submitted articles. If necessary, articles will be edited and returned for your review. AND YOU GET VOLUNTEER HOUR FOR EACH STORY!
e-mail: lindalbbf@gmail.com
MEMBERSHIP QUESTIONS For membership questions including updating physical or e-mail addresses please contact: Heidi Lemack membership@esdcta.org
2022 ADVERTISING RATES
MEMBER NON-MEMBER FULL PAGE $100 $130 HALF PAGE $65 $85 QUARTER PAGE $40 $60 BUSINESS CARD $20 $30 CARD FOR 3 MONTHS $45 $65 CLASSIFIEDS $10 $15 Deadline: 15th of prior month Email: newsletter@esdcta.org Please have electronic ads in Adobe PDF or .jpg format
You will receive an invoice for ad via email. Send Payment to: Betty Adduci 3340 Curley Ct, Mullins, SC 29574 Email: treasurer@esdcta.org
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Bending a Horse Correctly By Earlen Haven, Country Haven Woodstown, NJ Let’s talk about bending the horse. Whether it be a circle, serpentine, corner or whatever, our aids need to clarify to the horse what we want. When you want to bend a horse, apply your inside leg on the girth (to tell him to move his shoulder and his “middle” out to start the bend in the body). Our outside leg drops slightly behind the girth to tell the haunches to stay in (clarifying the bend in the hind part of the body). Our inside rein is applied in a soft squeeze and release to ask the horse to look to the inside enough that you can see the inside corner of his eye (completing the bend for the horse through his neck and front end). Our outside rein allows the horse to stretch slightly on the outside of his body (to allow the bend in his body). Be careful not to hold and pull on the inside rein because that actually throws the horse’s weight on the outside shoulder; thus, he will drift to the outside of the curve that we desire. Don’t lose contact with the outside rein. Just follow the horse’s stretch so we allow him to bend his body. We sit heavier on our inside seat bone so he knows to turn in that direction, since a horse moves underneath your weight. I actually encourage pushing your outside thigh inward toward the pommel which actually lightens the outside seat bone, to clarify the weight of your inside seat bone more. You almost feel like you could put a piece of paper under your outside seat bone so the horse clearly feels only your inside seat bone. When you are coming down the center line in a dressage test, your weight should be even on both seat bones to tell him to stay on a straight line. When you’re ready to turn at C, apply the aids that we just discussed so he can understand what he should do with the various parts of his body to make the turn. To make a smaller circle, the horse needs more bend or curve to his body. Thus the rider must allow the horse to stretch more on the outside by slightly yielding the outside rein. To ask the horse to enlarge a circle, a rider needs to lessen the bend in the horse’s body by steadying the outside rein and I might momentarily sit on the outside seat bone.(See diagram) When your horse is looking and bent to the outside on a bend, he often is not quite balanced. He falls on his inside shoulder and is actually unable to bend correctly to the shape of the circle. As a rider, try to understand what your various aids are actually telling your horse. Some common errors: Pulling on the inside rein so the horse’s head is coming toward your inside knee actually throws the horse’s weight on the outside shoulder and he will be bent to the inside but drift toward the outside thus making a larger circle. Sitting on the outside seat bone again will move your horse to a larger circle since they move underneath your weight. Having the inside leg too far back actually swings the haunches to the outside and allows the inside shoulder to drop in, not allowing the horse’s body to curve to the shape of the circle. Dropping contact on the outside rein will cause the horse to fall on the outside shoulder since the horse (being ridden from the inside leg to the outside rein) stretches to curve his body around to establish contact on the outside rein causing him to drift to the outside thus making a larger circle.. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 856-769-1916 or Earlen@countryhavenfarms.com. 6
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Amateur Dilemma By, Meredith Rogers
I have a vision for Leo and I and it involves passaging down centerline in our Grand Prix debut. It’s a long-term vision and sometimes it can be hard to not get discouraged or to even give up when it seems like we’re stuck. Maybe the highest we’ll go is where we are right now (wherever right now is)? However, having that vision keeps me trying. And, I call it a vision and not a goal. To me a goal is a more concrete destination, for example, a goal of mine is to get a good half-pass. Goals are extremely important, but when you’re at the bottom of the well, a vision is what will get you out. It’s the larger purpose. It also helps that I’ve had a good friend who’s been a role model for me in this area. He had a vision to open a gym, and not just any gym, but a premier destination that involved state-of-the-art workouts with a human touch. From the very beginning, he envisioned both the big things (what classes he wanted to offer) and the little things
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(how the lighting would be spaced), and everything in between. But almost nothing went as planned. His plan was to have all of the construction and his doors open within a year of acquiring the property (a struggle in and of itself). He had setbacks from the very beginning, and it took more than two years of holdups that were often heartbreaking. The biggest hurdle was when hurricane Ida poured four feet of water inside the building, ruining a good portion of his equipment, halting construction, and bringing with it mud and debris that needed to be cleaned out of every crevice. Other people would have given up, but not my friend. His vision kept him going, and I wasn’t the only one inspired by it. In the days after the storm, a large contingency of his clients, friends, and family came out to help with the clean-up. His vision was back on track. This month his vision came to fruition and he opened! If my friend could overcome all of the barriers that were put up in front of him, I can figure out a way to get to Grand Prix. Of course, some of this is out of my control. Leo has a large say in this, and he doesn’t share in this vision. But, when things aren’t progressing, I think of my friend, daydream about tempi changes, and dig in again. If you live in the area and are looking for a great place to work out (and with someone who understands equestrians), check out my friend’s gym. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 200 Washington Street Rocky Hill, NJ 08553 609-297-7389 www.ironcorebootcamp.com
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Equine Portraiture By Paige Zimmerman
For this month’s article, I thought I’d write about my “side hustle,” which is freelance equine portraiture. One of my favorite works to date is an 8” x 10” colored pencil portrait of a gelding named Vortex that I created last year. To begin, the client sent me several reference photographs of the horse. I ended up selecting one main photo to work from and then another that gave me more insight into the details around the horse’s eye. I used standard drawing paper and Prismacolor pencils. To get background information on the horse, who I had never met before, I asked my client what his personality was like. To be able to make a good equine portrait, one has to have some understanding of the animal’s personality, just as you would with a person. She told me that he was a very confident horse and loves attention, and from that I knew to draw him with a soft eye and calm facial expression. I started by developing a pencil sketch on the drawing paper. Once that was completed, I began to go in with the colored pencils, starting with the horse’s eye, as I always do. The eye is the most important area of the portrait, since you can show a lot of different expressions through modifying details in the eye. I always begin with that part of the face. Once I finished the eye, I slowly moved to the ears and mane. Then I eventually worked my way down the face, with the nose being the last part of the face to finish. My process is very strategically moving from what I feel are the most important areas to the least important ones. I always end my portraits by working on the neck and shoulder.
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For this portrait, I used much more detail than ever before in my other drawings of horses. My process was much more strategic and precise, as well. Even though it took me much longer to complete, I feel that the end product showcased the horse’s expression and likeness much better. I also discovered new methods of layering the colored pencil and creating the desired tones. Artists who paint in oils spend a lot of time studying color and learning how to color match, and even though pencil is a completely different medium, I was still able to experiment with layering colors until I ended up with the exact tones I was looking for. In the past, I had only used gray and black for black horses, which ended up looking too flat. This time I layered in a lot of brown tones for a warmer and more realistic look. It was very satisfying to work on, and I will be using the knowledge I accumulated while working on this project to create future pieces. Seeing the animal come to life on paper gives me a lot of motivation to continue creating. I work to find ways in which I can show the animal’s true personality on paper, which requires a lot of focus on the small details that give expression to form. Working with horses, which I do nearly every day, provides me with a solid understanding of all the elements and idiosyncrasies of equine anatomy, which allows me to use both reference images and my own knowledge to render the horse. The process is also incredibly therapeutic for me, and I love to help others memorialize their beloved family members in works of art they can enjoy. I’m very thankful to USDF for their annual art contest. This particular portrait won the 16-21 art category in 2021. Also, thank you goes to Lendon Gray for referring this client to me. She was fun to work with and I really enjoyed the project. I’m very much looking forward to the next one!
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Horse Treats By, Meredith Rogers
Human beings often take for granted what they are surrounded with, but every man-made object had to be invented at some point. Here’s the history behind some common items we equestrians use every day. The first saddle was thought to have been invented in 365 CE by the Sarmations, who used their horses in battle (but also sacrificed them to the gods). In case you didn’t know who the Sarmations were, they were of Iranian descent, originated from Central Asia, migrated to the Ural Mountains between the 6th and 4th century BCE and eventually settled in southern European Russia and the eastern Balkans. They are also thought to have invented stirrups. The first evidence of bit use is from 3500-3000 BCE found at a site of the Botai culture in ancient Kazakhstan. However, bitless bridles have been found from later time periods, so it’s not known if the bitted or bitless bridle came first. The first bits were made of rope, bone, horn, or hard wood. Metal bits were first used between 1300 and 1200 BCE, and were originally made of bronze. The first horse stables were built by Ramses II, who ruled Egypt in 1302-1237 BCE. The stables were huge at more than 180 square feet and housed 460 horses, which were bred for war, recreation, and hunting. The horse trailer, or “horse box”, was invented in 1836 by Lord George Bentinck, a man in the UK who needed a more effective transport for getting his favorite horse from one racetrack to another. Prior to that, horses were ridden between racecourses, which could take up lots of miles and many days, and made for a tired horse. Of course, the first horse trailer had to be pulled by what else…horses! Six of them to be exact. The first motorized horse trailer came in 1914 to help the British army transport injured horses during WWI. In the 1950s and 1960s horse trailers began to be manufactured in the United States.
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News from Outside the Ring Form Versus Function When we think of “horse” we all have our own vision but they all seem to have the same general anatomy. Well…that may not be true in reality. New research has found that different horses even within a breed can have such different vertebral columns that they don’t even have the same number of vertebrae! This difference can impact flexibility, which can affect an individual horse’s ability to perform certain jobs. The researchers ran computed tomography (CT) scans on the backbones of 77 fresh equine cadavers representing Warmbloods, Shetland ponies, and the semi-feral Konik horses. Only about 50% had the “normal” 29 back vertebrae (18 thoracic, 6 lumbar, 5 sacral), including only 53% of Warmbloods, 38% of Shetlands, and 78% of Koniks. Some of these horses had only 28 vertebrae; some had 19 ribbed vertebrae, and some had asymmetrical rib cages, with fewer ribs on one side than the other. Differences were also seen in about half of the Warmbloods in the spinal processes of C6 or C7. If all that wasn’t interesting enough, the ponies had the greatest spine variations, with many having 30 vertebrae. Further research will look at how these differences affect equine performance. Baby News Wondering why we haven’t heard much from Olympian, Laura Graves? Well, it seems she was pregnant! She and her husband, Curt Maes, welcomed a daughter, Mackenzie, Elaine Maes, just in time to get a tax credit for 2021. Laura and her husband have been married since 2020, and they currently live in Geneva, Florida. Interesting tidbit: Laura is the third rider on the 2016 US Olympic dressage team that competed in Rio to have a baby this year. Alison Brock had a son in July and Kasey Perry-Glass had a son in November.
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BUSINESS MEMBERS Jersey Palms Farm
Rhythm and Blues Stables
177 S. Stump Tavern Road Jackson NJ, 08527 609.213.5745 KWLYNX@comcast.net www.jerseypalmsfarm.com
108 Old York Rd. Hamilton, NJ 08620 609 306-8221 RBLStables@aol.com www.rhythmandbluesstables.com
Anjelhart Equestrian Center
Irish Manor Stables
38 Millers Mill Rd, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514 609.758.7676 lacavacreations@aol.com www.Anjelhart.com
718 Sergeantsville RoadStockton, NJ 08559 908.237.1281 info@irishmanorstables.com www.irishmanorstables.com
Good Times Farm
Heart’s Journey Stable
278 Jackson Mills Road, Freehold, NJ 07728 732.409.2882 gtts@optonline.net www.GoodTimeFarm.com
425 Kromer Road Wind Gap, PA 18091 610.863.6616 mmorehouse@epix.net www.heartsjourneystables.com
Equisential Equine LLC 111 Snyder Ave Bellmar NJ 08031 717.649.4799 bryner.2@gmail.com
EVENT CALENDAR ESDCTA’s Calendar contains the complete and up to date list of ESDCTA’s registered shows. It also contains other activities that ESDCTA feels are important to our community. Click the link to view The Event Calendar
https://www.esdcta.org/home/omni-calendar/ 16
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WWW.ESDCTA.ORG January 2022 COLLECTIVE REMARKS
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