ESDCTA MAGAZINE
COLLECTIVE REMARKS
WWW.ESDCTA.ORG July 2022
Table of Contents 11
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ESDCTA Championship Show Here’s an important “heads up” to help you qualify
President’s Message
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Amateur Dilemma
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Horse Treats
Dressage Is Like Patting Your Head and Rubbing Your Tummy at the Same Time
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News from Outside the Ring
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Show Results
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Summer is here and the first heat wave is past, but unfortunately another is right on its heels. I hope everyone is enjoying all outdoor activities with your horse, and taking advantage of all the shows that are now open and running. To check the Omnibus flip-book, click here: https://www.esdcta.org/home/omni-calendar/omnibus/ If you would like a spreadsheet-type list, click here: http://www.esdcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Calendar-as-of-6-8-2022.pdf Since the Omnibus and Calendar are updated frequently, check the website page frequently https://www.esdcta.org/home/omni-calendar/ for all the latest. Be kind to your horse – give them a nice rub down, cooling bath, and plenty of treats. And make sure to take care of yourself in this heat too.
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 FULL PAGE $100 HALF PAGE $65 QUARTER PAGE $40 BUSINESS CARD $20 CARD FOR 3 MONTHS $45 CLASSIFIEDS $10
NON-MEMBER $130 $85 $60 $30 $65 $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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Amateur Dilemma By, Meredith Rogers
I heard a great talk given by an excellent speaker at a work conference I attended a couple of months ago. The speaker’s name was Allen Gannett and his talk was about creativity. He started by bringing up the composer, Mozart. You’ve probably heard that Mozart was a child prodigy, writing his first composition at the tender age of 3.5 years of age. Well, it turns out that while that fact is true, first off, it was very bad, and second off, he didn’t just wake up one day and come up with his score. The real story is that at 3 years of age, his father hired the best musicians and composers in all of Europe to teach young Mozart and he made him practice for hours and hours each and every day. Even after another 10 years he wasn’t very good, despite endless practice until finally he was. The next story Allen told was about Paul McCartney. Again, it is true that Sir Paul woke up one morning singing the tune Yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, but by the time he came up with the melody, he had spent practically his entire life studying music. Allen gave a third example about Ted Sarandos, cofounder of Netflix (and TED Talks). I won’t go into the details but Ted was infatuated with movies and television since a very early age, setting him up to start Netflix. The moral of these stories is that coming up with a great idea is not a flash of genius. Instead, it is the culmination of studying and thinking and practicing and obsessing over a singular subject. These bright ideas came out of their inventors’ subconscious, but it was their conscious minds that studied and thought about and practiced and obsessed over that allowed the subconscious to have its moment in the sun. That’s also why great thoughts come to us when we’re in the shower or doing something mindless. It’s when our conscious mind is quiet enough to hear the subconscious. Well, that’s nice but what does that mean to us as equestrians? I had that same question, so I asked. My question was about sports in general because let’s face it, we’re a niche. Mr. Gannett answered that with physical pursuits, the top athletes practice all the small components of their chosen sport (eg, dribbling, passing, inside leg to outside rein, etc.) so that when they’re in the heat of a game or competition their subconscious can put all the pieces together to “bend it like Beckham” or half-pass like Isabell. So, what does that really mean for us? It means that if we really want to do this riding thing well, we just need to work at it. Talent means very little. Read articles, watch videos, study the trainers in the warm-up ring, ride as much as you can. Basically, immerse yourself in all things horse. Do these things and you too can pull it all together and ride competently. Of course, that’s easier said than done since life gets in the way but it is impowering to know that we all have it in us. Ride on! 6
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Dressage Is Like Patting Your Head and Rubbing Your Tummy at the Same Time By Paige Zimmerman
From June 20-23, I had the wonderful opportunity to audit a clinic with Susanne von Dietze hosted at our home base at Va Pensiero in Pittstown, NJ. I am so grateful to have been able to watch and learn from the wide variety of horse and rider pairs that rode with Susanne, including my trainer, Olivia Steidle. The clinic boasted an incredibly diverse group: it encompassed young horses, old horses, Grand Prix horses, hot horses, lazy horses, warmbloods, thoroughbreds, ponies, and everything in between. There was something to learn from every lesson and I was very impressed at how Susanne was able to appropriately challenge but also encourage all of the horse and rider pairs. I was on the edge of my seat! Exercises Susanne is Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel’s cousin, and I have ridden with Felicitas many times in clinics over the past 5 years, so it was very interesting to see how parallel Susanne and Felicitas are in their training. Susanne had a ton of interesting exercises and tools in her toolbox to help each rider bring out the best in themselves and their horses. The first exercise that stuck with me was when Susanne had a rider raise each hand alternately when rising the trot. The goal of the exercise is to keep the contact and the horse’s head steady while the hands move. This exercise really proves that the bit is a balance tool, and when the rider’s hands are moving in rhythmic motion up and down alternately, the horse’s head doesn’t have to move. You can rise or sit during this exercise, or widen and narrow the hands inside of raising and lowering them. Another challenge is to change diagonals and keep the hands moving. She had some riders combine the two exercises, encouraging them to raise one hand and widen the other. It is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time! I was amazed at how the horses got much softer and steady in the contact when the riders let go and just focused on the rhythmic balance, dexterity, and suppleness of their arms. A second exercise I enjoyed watching was the straws and sponges exercise. Susanne gave the rider a straw to hold upright in each hand and also a sponge to hold in each hand. She explained that the straws should point 45 degrees forward. If they point straight up, it means the wrist is tight. Flat down means the hands are dropping the horse onto the forehand. And if the straws cross, that means the rider is not keeping their thumbs on top. The purpose of the sponges is to aid with the softness of the hand
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in the half-halts. You can squeeze the sponge, but the hand has to go forward when squeezing. The half-halt doesn’t come backwards. Rather, in the half-halt, the rider’s hand is giving so that the horse has something to stretch their neck out to and they can feel as if they can sit on the hind end without restriction from the front. Susanne also used scarfs and polo wraps to help riders feel how they can influence their horse’s shoulders. For some riders, she wrapped the scarf beneath the horse’s shoulder girdle and up to the rider’s hands. For other riders, she simply wrapped the scarf in front of the horse’s chest, like a breastplate, and back to the rider’s hands. This helped a lot of riders both stabilize their hands and also feel how their half-halts can lift the shoulders up instead of driving the horse onto the forehand. Susanne also explained that there’s no shame in using the scarf to help rebalance yourself when you fall out of alignment, since it is better to balance yourself on the scarf than on the horse’s mouth. An exercise I was extremely fascinated by was the use of pinhole glasses. Susanne had Olivia ride with pinhole glasses on! She explained that it mimics Sally Swift’s famous “soft eyes” exercise. If you stare through the glasses with “hard eyes”, you only see holes. However, if you let your eyes wander and relax, you can see the whole picture. She said that this was the closest you can get to riding with your eyes closed! Sometimes when we close our eyes, we feel a lot more balanced and in tune with our bodies since our sense of vision has gone away. The glasses create a kind of relaxation throughout the body, and they give amazing feedback about where there is unevenness or stiffness. When Olivia put the glasses on, she automatically fixed a slight crookedness in her shoulder/spine that she and Susanne had been working on since the beginning of the lesson. It was amazing! I definitely want to ride in the glasses and get that feeling of being completely in tune with my body when riding. Lecture The first day of the clinic, Susanne also gave us an incredible lecture about the importance of breathing in dressage. The breath connects through all the physical and emotional structures in our body. Breath brings oxygen to the muscle. Losing oxygen means losing coordination and brings negative tension (cramping). Muscles around the spine don’t always “say” when they are tight and tired like our leg muscles do. We always think we can do more. However, we lose coordination since we aren’t getting enough oxygen to those important riding muscles. When we learn to breathe effectively, we can ensure that we keep this oxygen flowing. She also explained that when we inhale deeply, the diaphragm contracts, which pulls on and expands the lower back. Thus, breath is the biggest tool we have to treat the lower back! There is a massive line of fascia (connective tissue of all kinds between muscle, body, skin, bone, 8
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etc.) along our backs, which is essential for riding. The fascia that goes over our back, starts in the eyebrows (!), goes over the head, all the way down the back, and right to the toes. The lungs are within this fascia, and so when we influence how we breathe when we ride, we influence that entire line of connective tissue through our back! To help teach us how to breathe effectively, she had us do an exercise with balloons. We blew up our balloons with a single big breath, and then we experimented with letting the air out of the balloon slowly vs. letting all the air fly out and having it fly away uncontrollably. The balloon represents our lungs. If we exhale slowly and deliberately, we have much more control over the lungs. If we exhale quickly and let the air fly out of the “balloon”, the horse falls apart beneath us because it’s a signal for pain. Slowly exhaling is a nice “shrinking” feeling and allows for much more mindful body control. There are 3 phases of breath: passive, active, and expansive. Breathing to the depth of all three phases helps increase lung volume, and lungs are a very trainable tissue. Yawning is a good example of this. When we deliberately take big deep breaths and fill the capacity of our lungs, it is like a good stretch to those muscles. Since we can easily switch between using the lungs consciously and subconsciously, there is an “endless variation of breath” that we can play with in our riding. Susanne also explained to us the many different kinds of breath we can experiment with. There is warm air, which we can create by exhaling warm and moist air. This kind of air deepens the breath and comes from the low belly. It releases, calms down, and elongates. Then there is the “S” breath. Start with a quiet S sound and make it slowly louder. This is a squeezing breath that gets stronger over time, and it activates lower ribs. We can also use it in rhythm and make it into a staccato breath. Then there is cold air, which is quick and sharp as if you were to blow out birthday candles. You need power for this kind of exhalation, and you can strengthen your back with this breath. This breath tells the horse to have “more”: more power, more energy, etc. We can use these different kinds of breath throughout the different gaits to help the horse. In the walk, we can use deep breathing to feel the rhythm and promote relaxation. In the trot, which has the fastest rhythm, we can find a steady rhythm of inhales and exhales with each step (though it is important to exhale more than you inhale, such as: inhale 3 steps, exhale 5 steps). We can also get a good connection through the corners through breathing, such as by inhaling into the corner and then exhaling down the long side and vice versa. In the canter, breathing has a flowing rhythm like a wave. Horses use their diaphragm and breathe with every stride of the canter, and so breathing is very important during the canter so that they don’t hold their breath too. They get winded quickly without having a breath with each stride.
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This is also important for the flying changes: if we hold our breath into the changes, so does the horse, which creates tension, and often results in failed changes. Susanne emphasized that breathing is very personal and can vary for different levels of activity. Breathing also influences our concentration and mental state, which affects how we ride and influence our horses. When we master breathing, it assists our riding unconsciously! Conclusions A statement that Susanne left us with that really stuck with me was: “What is good riding? It’s not the level. It’s when, over a period of time, the horse and rider together become more beautiful”. This really resonated with me because in the end, good dressage training is not only for the sport of dressage, it is simply good horsemanship to develop both horse and rider to be the best they can be. Thank you to Lauren Sammis and Va Pensiero for hosting such a wonderful clinic, and most of all thank you, Susanne, for coming to share such invaluable knowledge with all of us riders and auditors!
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ESDCTA Championship Show is October 15, 2022 Here’s an important “Heads Up” to help you qualify By, ESDCTA
Each person who shows has reasons: testing your skill on that particular horse, seeing how the horse is advancing in his training, trying to earn a ribbon or other awards, showing with friends from your barn. More than anything, we hope you enjoy riding and have some fun in the process. If you are going for Year-End Awards or want to show at Championships, ESDCTA is asking that you please track your own show results for this season. Our process is likely to be similar to 2021 in that we are asking you to complete a short form documenting your show results. Here’s why: For many years, ESDCTA members received postcards saying “you have qualified for the Championship Show”. They were accurate as long as we had received show results from each ESDCTA-listed show organizer, which did not always happen. The laborintensive process was cheerfully executed by long-suffering volunteers who retired about a year ago. Some of you remember this song: “Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone. They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.” – Joni Mitchell Our club misses our old, manual process, but not surprisingly, no one has volunteered to take over the role. Anyone out there want the job? Please contact: results@esdcta.org. Our members work hard each year to qualify for the Championships and to earn Year-End Awards. A big goal of ESDCTA is to encourage more to participate and also to make the recordkeeping easy for our members. We are working to find a way to automate these results; however, we are finding that it is not as easy as we would like. Fox Village Dressage, Horse Show Office, StartBox, and other software enable show organizers to handle entry and results online, and ESDCTA has its membership system. We are looking to “marry” our members’ show
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data and their membership information. Ideally, we would notify you or have an easy way for you to look at your show results and confirm that you met the qualifications for ESDCTA Year-End Awards and Championships. Unfortunately, this will not be ready for the 2022 season. What you can do now: Please keep your test coversheets. Also, if a listed show has not sent its results in, please encourage the show organizer to do so. The webpage displaying results, and which has all the information on how show organizers can submit results, is https://www.esdcta.org/show-results-2022/. Qualifying Scores for the 2022 ESDCTA Championship Show:
GOOD LUCK this season!
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Horse Treats By, Meredith Rogers
Watching a beautiful horse in motion is like gazing at a great master’s painting – it transforms us in a way that only great art can. Throughout history, the two have often been combined. The first record of horses in art are from cave paintings, such as those found in the Lascaux caves, which are thought to be around 16,000 years old. Horses were a common subject of Egyptian (5000 BCE – 300 CE) and Grecian art (1000–300 BCE), and later Roman art (500 BCE – 300 CE), but then faded in significance during the Christian (350–500 CE) and Byzantine (500–1500 CE) periods, when religious themes dominated. They enjoyed a resurgence during the Renaissance period (14–15th centuries), with perhaps the most famous representations being by Leonardo da Vinci. During the Baroque era (17–18th centuries), it was common for famous people to be painted on their horses, and equine sporting art also became popular. Horses were also a familiar subject during the Romanticism period of the mid 18th century. Geoge Stubbs, born in 1724 became known as “the horse painter,” and his art is some of the most anatomically correct (and beautiful) representations. Horse racing and other horse sports were prevalent subjects of 19th century art, and the Impressionist painter, Edgar Degas, often painted racing scenes in addition to the ballerinas he’s famous for. And horses in art continue to be enjoyed into the present.
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News from Outside the Ring Rutgers Event The Rutgers University Equine Science Center is hosting its annual “Summer Showcase” on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. The event is being held at the Equine Exercise Physiology Laboratory on College Farm Road on the George H. Cook Campus in New Brunswick. This is a FREE event that is open to the public. You can get a laboratory tour to learn about all the great research Rutgers is involved with, see a treadmill demo (my personal favorite as I used to work in that lab), learn all about equine anatomy and pasture management, and engage in other fun activities. Perfect for all horse lovers 8 years and up. They do request that you register using the link below.
Time to Celebrate Our very own Dr. Carey Williams has won the 2021 Governor’s Award for Horseperson of the Year! The award was bestowed at the Annual New Jersey Breeders Awards Celebration held on June 1, 2022, at the Horse Park of New Jersey. Dr. Williams has served Rutgers University as the Equine Extension Specialist since 2003. Her research is focused on equine nutrition and exercise physiology, and she is a leader in the field of antioxidant supplementation and oxidative stress in horses. In her “spare” time she events and contributes back to the New Jersey horse community through volunteer work with ESDCTA and the Horse Park of NJ.
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Show Results ESDCTA
Below is a list of show results that have been submitted since last month. Please click the link to access the Show Results page on the website: https://www.esdcta.org/show-results-2022/ Applewood Farm 5.18.22 Alexandria Equestrian 2.12.22 Alexandria Equestrian 3.26.22 Bit-O-Woods 3.13.22 LVDA Schooling Show 1 5.21.22 LVDA Decades of Dressage 5.22.22 Saddlebrook Ridge 4.2.22 Saddlebrook Ridge 5.14.22 SLM Dressage 4.15.22 SLM Dressage 5.15.22 Suddenly Farm 4.23.22 Suddenly Farm 5.22.22 LVDA Decades of Dressage 5.22.22 Saddlebrook Ridge 6.4.22 SLM Dressage Show 6.8.22 Hidden Creek D&CT 6.12.22 Suddenly Farm 6.12.22 HJS Combined Test 6.16.22 Good Times Farm 6.18.22
If you are an organizer or secretary and haven’t submitted your results yet, please send them (any format is fine) to: results@esdcta.org Thank you! 16
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Calling All Eventers!!! NEW CROSS COUNTRY COURSE IS OPEN IN SOUTH JERSEY! Country Haven Farm has refurbished and expanded their cross-country course to 50+ jumps. They are as low as 1’and up to 3’3” with a few higher ones. It includes a bank, a trekehner, coffin, skinnies, hogs back, a mound, a stream, a snake fence, a fan, etc. The course has both woods and open fields, and many of the jumps are adjustable. Come one come all to school. Instructors are welcome with their students as well as individual riders with a ground person. $40 Also, we have 150’ x 250’ ring with special footing and stadium jumps, as well as a dressage ring that can be large or small. $20 Combo fee: $55. If you go to our website (Country Haven Farms https://www.countryhavenfarms.com/) you can see photos and descriptions of most of the jumps. It also gives you approximate driving times to Woodstown, NJ from various places. Call Earlen Haven for more info or to schedule a time @ 856-769-1916.
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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 610.730.8016 mmorehouse07@gmail.com 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/ 18
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