July/August 2021 USDF Connection

July/August 2021

Official Publication of the United States Dressage Federation

FOCUS ON

HORSE HEALTH

Buyer’s Guide to the Prepurchase Exam (p. 44) Handling GMO Conflict (p. 20) Raise Your Training Standards with Sue Blinks (p. 30) Dr. Hilary Clayton on Donzi MC

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USDF CONNECTION

The Official Publication of the United States Dressage Federation EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Stephan Hienzsch (859) 271-7887 • stephh1enz@usdf.org EDITOR Jennifer O. Bryant (610) 344-0116 • jbryant@usdf.org CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Hilary M. Clayton, BVMS, PhD, MRCVS EDITORIAL ADVISORS Margaret Freeman (NC), Anne Gribbons (FL), Roberta Williams (FL), Terry Wilson (CA)

An official property of the United States Dressage Federation

TECHNICAL ADVISORS Janine Malone, Lisa Gorretta, Elisabeth Williams SENIOR PUBLICATIONS COORDINATOR Emily Koenig (859) 271-7883 • ekoenig@usdf.org

YourDressage delivers exclusive dressage stories, editorial, and education, relevant to ALL dressage enthusiasts and is your daily source for dressage!

Look for these featured articles online at YourDressage.org

GRAPHIC & MULTIMEDIA COORDINATOR Katie Lewis (859) 271-7881 • klewis@usdf.org ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE Danielle Titland (720) 300-2266 • dtitland@usdf.org

USDF OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD PRESIDENT LISA GORRETTA 19 Daisy Lane, Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 (216) 406-5475 • president@usdf.org VICE PRESIDENT KEVIN REINIG, 6907 Lindero Lane, Rancho Murieta, CA 95683 (916) 616-4581 • vicepresident@usdf.org SECRETARY MARGARET FREEMAN 200 Aurora Lane, Tryon, NC 28782 (828) 859-6723 • secretary@usdf.org TREASURER LORRAINE MUSSELMAN 7538 NC 39 Hwy, Zebulon, NC 27497 (919) 218-6802 • treasurer@usdf.org

EDUCATION

REGIONAL DIRECTORS REGION 1 DC, DE, MD, NC, NJ, PA, VA BETTINA G. LONGAKER 8246 Open Gate Road, Gordonsville, VA 22942 (540) 832-7611 • region1dir@usdf.org

“A Way to Learn How to Ride Shoulder-In”

REGION 2 IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, WV, WI DEBBY SAVAGE 7011 cobblestone Lane, Mentor, OH 44060 (908) 892-5335 • region2dir@usdf.org

Multiple time Adequan®/USDF Breeder award recipient Maurine “Mo” Swanson shares the secrets of this movement, complete with helpful diagrams.

REGION 3 AL, FL, GA, SC, TN SUSAN BENDER 1024 Grand Prix Drive, Beech Island, SC 29842 (803) 295-2525 • region3dir@usdf.org REGION 4 IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD ANNE SUSHKO 1942 CliFFord Street, Dubuque, IA 52002 (563) 580-0510 • region4dir@usdf.org

COMPETITION

REGION 5 AZ, CO, E. MT, NM, UT, W. TX, WY HEATHER PETERSEN 22750 County Road 37, Elbert, CO 80106 (303) 648-3164 • region5dir@usdf.org

“A Lesson In Courage”

REGION 6 AK, ID, W. MT, OR, WA PETER ROTHSCHILD 1120 Arcadia Street NW, Olympia, WA 98502 (206) 200-3522 • region6dir@usdf.org

A Region 1 rider shares about her feisty and fiery Quarter Horse, who went from a ranch horse reject to a dressage champion.

REGION 7 CA, HI, NV CAROL TICE 31895 Nicolas Road, Temecula, CA 92591 (714) 514-5606 • region7dir@usdf.org REGION 8 CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT DEBRA REINHARDT 160 Woods Way Drive, Southbury, CT 06488 (203) 264-2148 • region8dir@usdf.org

ACHIEVEMENT

REGION 9 AR, LA, MS, OK, TX SHERRY GUESS 18216 S. 397th East Avenue, Porter, OK 74454 (918) 640-1204 • region9dir@usdf.org

“Sunni Side Up”

Celebrate #PonyPower on YourDressage with exclusive pony content, including this story from a proud Fjord owner in Region 2.

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS ACTIVITIES COUNCIL SUE MANDAS 9508 Bridlewood Trail, Dayton, OH 45458 (937) 272-9068 • ald-activities@usdf.org ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL BARBARA CADWELL 324 Benjamin Street, Fernandina Beach, FL (715) 350 1967 • ald-administrative@usdf.org TECHNICAL COUNCIL SUE MCKEOWN 6 Whitehaven Lane, Worcester, MA 01609 (508) 459-9209 • ald-technical@usdf.org

COMMUNITY “Dressage on the Last Frontier”

Equestrians in Alaska have the same goals and aspirations as those in the lower 48 states, but face far different challenges before they head down centerline.

It’s YourDressage, be a part of it!

Visit https://yourdressage.org/ for all these stories & much more!

USDF Connection is published bimonthly by the United States Dressage Federation, 4051 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511. Phone: 859/971-2277. Fax: 859/971-7722. E-mail: usdressage@ usdf.org, Web site: www.usdf.org. USDF members receive USDF Connection as a membership benefit, paid by membership dues.

Copyright © 2021 USDF. All rights reserved.

USDF reserves the right to refuse any advertising or copy that is deemed unsuitable for USDF and its policies. Excluding advertisements, all photos with mounted riders must have safety head gear or USEF-approved competition hat. USDF assumes no responsibility for the claims made in advertisements. Statements of fact and opinion are those of the experts consulted and authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the policy of USDF. The publishers reserve the right to reject any advertising deemed unsuitable for USDF, as well as the right to reject or edit any manuscripts received for publication. USDF assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. All materials must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Questions about your subscription or change in address? Contact USDF Membership Department, 859/971-2277, or usdressage@usdf.org.

POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: USDF, 4051 IRON WORKS PARKWAY, LEXINGTON, KY 40511. Canadian Agreement No. 1741527. Canada return address: Station A, P.O. Box 54, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6J5.

2 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

USDF Connection

JULY/AUGUST 2021

Volume 23, Number 2

Columns

36

4 Inside USDF

They Keep the Dressage Wheels Turning

By Sue McKeown

6 Ringside

The Great Equalizer

By Jennifer O. Bryant

Departments 16

Sport Horse

Is Turnout Too Tiring?

By Heather Smith Thomas

20 GMO

36

Veterinarian, researcher, and author Hilary Clayton has forever altered our understanding of sport horses

By Amber Heintzberger

Conversations on Training

By Beth Baumert

50 Reviews

By Kelly Vencill Sanchez

44

Buyer’s Guide to the Prepurchase Exam

Expert advice on which tests and diagnostics you need—and

which you might be able to skip—in evaluating a horse for purchase

McMiracle Worker

30 Clinic

She Knows Dressage, Inside and Out

By Penny Hawes

24 Salute

Features

Conflict Management for GMOs

By Natalie DeFee Mendik

New books reinforce dressage’s origins

By Jennifer O. Bryant

56 My Dressage

All About Beau

By Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez

Basics 8 Sponsor Spotlight 9 Collection 52 Rider’s Market 54 USDF Connection Submission Guidelines

On Our Cover Dr. Hilary Clayton isn’t just a world-renowned equine-biomechanics researcher; she’s also an FEI-level dressage rider and one of the newest Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductees. Get to know her on page 36. Photo by Carmen “Queca” Franco.

54 USDF Office Contact Directory 55 Advertising Index

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

3

Inside USDF They Keep the Dressage Wheels Turning What do all those USDF committees actually do? Meet the ones in the USDF Technical Council.

H

appy summer, everyone! I’m writing this column in my role as the at-large director for the USDF Technical Council. I can see your eyes glazing over already, but before you turn the page, I hope you’ll allow me to tell you a bit about the six committees that make up this council—and, more important, why and how the work they do impacts you.

The Competition Management Committee, chaired by Kevin Bradbury, helps to support and train the management staff of both schooling and recognized shows. This past year, the committee assisted in reviewing the US Equestrian (USEF) rules that needed to be modified as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they also created guidelines on how to run para-equestrian dressage classes at the shows. Each USDF region is represented on the committee, and the members act as mentors to any managers who want some guidance in organizing and running shows.

The Freestyle Committee, chaired by Janet “Dolly” Hannon, supports USDF-level freestyles, including helping to train judges to judge freestyles, helping to write the freestyle tests, and working with competition management to determine music format and other requirements at shows. In 2020 the committee helped to create a remote freestyle-education program that USDF group-member organizations (GMOs) could host.

The Instructor/Trainer Committee, co-chaired by Lilo Fore and Sarah Geikie, facilitates USDF programs to create excellence in the instruction and training of dressage riders and horses. The USDF

FEI-Level Trainers Conferences and the USDF Instructor/Trainer Program fall under the auspices of this committee. Members have had to be very flexible over the past year, as well, using Zoom to conduct roundtable discussions throughout the year. They were able to hold an FEI instructor workshop and to promote three candidates at that level. There are USDF-certified instructor/ trainers at all levels throughout the country. Find one in your area by visiting the USDF website (usdf.org) and navigating to Education, then to List of Certified Instructors.

The L Program Committee, chaired by Lois Yukins along with vice-chair Trenna Atkins and co-chair Joan Darnell, focuses on the cornerstone of USDF’s education programs. The USDF L Education Program provides training not only for prospective dressage judges, but also for all dressage enthusiasts.

Completing the entire L program and graduating with distinction is the first step toward becoming a USEF-licensed dressage judge. The L Program Committee is also responsible for the selection and training of

4 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

the faculty members who design and teach the program curricula.

The Judges Committee, chaired

by Gary Rockwell, takes over the education and training of dressage judges after they become licensed.

This committee and the L Program Committee work together very closely.

This past year, the Judges Committee has had to pivot its training sessions from live events to remote continuingeducation programs, which have been very successful. And to highlight the progression of education, the Judges and L Program Committees jointly created a remote “Taste of the L Education Program,” which was a hit during this pandemic year.

The Technical Delegates Committee, chaired by Jean Kraus, is tasked with providing education for both prospective and licensed TDs. The committee members have had their hands full reviewing USEF’s COVID-related rule modifications and, when competitions resumed, ensuring that the modifications allowed shows to run in a safe environment. Jean’s committee created several remote training modules and plans to develop more, to help with the continuing education of all TDs. The work of the volunteers on all of these committees is critical to the success of sport and our passion for horses and dressage. The committee chairs are happy to hear from any USDF member regarding their activities, from suggestions to feedback on things that maybe didn’t work so well. Feel free to e-mail me at suemckeown@charter.net and I will pass your comments on.

USDF FILE PHOTO

By Sue McKeown, USDF Technical Council At-Large Director

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Ringside The Great Equalizer Whether we’re royalty or regular folks, we’re all equal in the eyes of our horses

utterly. She was so excited, I thought she was going to have a stroke or get us kicked out of Beval’s, or both. I finally looked up and, sure enough, there was Jackie O., looking exactly as she did in the magazines and on TV, outsized sunglasses and all. I had more or less the same reaction that I’d had to my close encounter with Prince Philip—Gee, it’s a kick to see these famous horse lovers just doing their thing with the rest of us horse people—while Mom, being of the generation that could tell you exactly where they were when President John F. Kennedy was shot, said later that seeing Onassis in the flesh was overwhelming, a blinding history-before-your-very-eyes moment.

It’s an inescapable fact that horses are expensive, and so it follows that the equestrian world attracts more than a fair share of the wealthy and privileged. But the horses, of course, don’t know and don’t care whether their humans are rich, famous, or titled. Regardless of whether you are a captain of industry or the nobility, if you can’t ride well, you’ll look just as inexpert

6 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

as any other struggling equestrian, albeit perhaps in nattier attire.

That’s the wonderful thing about horses: They are the great leveler. Not only are they just as likely to misbehave or to fall on the forehand with royalty aboard as with anyone else; they also serve to unite anyone who shares a love for them.

A passion for horses can break the ice and evaporate socioeconomic differences. (I like to imagine that Queen Elizabeth II would enjoy chatting with me about horses more than making receiving-line small talk about things like hats and the weather.)

Prince Philip wasn’t one of us, yet he was one of us. At his passing, which we memorialize on page 15, we mourn the loss of a horseman who did much to advance the sport. And we marvel at our equine partners’ ability to strip away social distinctions and to illuminate what really matters: our common passion for horses.

Jennifer O. Bryant, Editor @JenniferOBryant

MICHAEL BRYANT

I

met HRH Prince Philip at the 1994 FEI World Pairs Driving Championships in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Well, not exactly. What actually happened was that, tramping enthusiastically around the marathon course at our first time attending a combined-driving competition, my mom and I paused to watch a few pairs navigate one of the obstacles.

Standing not far from us, and seemingly all by himself, was Prince Philip, looking like everybody else with his outdoorsy attire and his wellies or some other sort of sensible footwear.

I may have smiled and nodded timidly; I don’t recall. I do remember thinking that it was pretty cool to encounter royalty out there in a field in New Jersey, just enjoying horses and horse sport without any fanfare.

On another occasion, when Mom and I were in the Gladstone area for some equestrian event, we stopped at the venerable nearby Beval Saddlery. I was soon absorbed in the rows of fragrant leather goods and equine paraphernalia while Mom casually browsed. That’s why she was the first to spot the notable fellow tack-shopper while I remained oblivious—that is, until Mom began whispering my name from the other side of the display rack.

“It’s Jackie Onassis! It’s Jackie Onassis!” Mom hissed, her attempts to keep her voice quiet failing

Photo: Sharon Packer Photography

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Collection Bits and Pieces from USDF and the World of Dressage

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Tokyo Dressage Short List Announced ★ Remembering John Boomer ★ Little Makes History at Kentucky

IN THE FRAME Marilyn Little and the 16-year-old Oldenburg mare RF Scandalous (Carry Gold x Lario), owned by Jacqueline Mars and by Phoebe and Michael Manders, got some impressive air time on their way to winning the dressage at the 2021 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI5*. Story, p. 14.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

9

Collection US Equestrian on April 28 announced its dressage short list—12 riders and a total of 15 riderhorse combinations—for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games:

US Dressage Short List Announced Warmblood gelding (Spielberg x Contango) owned by Sasha Cutter for Nuvolari Holdings and Amy Roberts Ebeling Jessica Howington, Wellington,

THE CONTENDERS: The 2020 US Olympic dressage team will be selected from this talented group

Katherine BatesonChandler, Wellington, Florida, and Alcazar, a 2005 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Contango x Ferro) owned by Jane Clark Susan Dutta, Wellington, Florida, and Don Design DC, a 2010 Hanoverian gelding (Der Designer x Sir Donnerhall); and Figeac DC, a 2009 Oldenburg gelding (Fackeltanz x Diamond Hit), both owned by Tim Dutta and the rider Ben Ebeling, Moorpark, California, and Illuster Van De Kampert, a 2008 Belgian

Florida, and her own 2007 KWPN mare, Cavalia (Sir Donnerhall x Gribaldi) Charlotte Jorst, Reno, Nevada, and Kastel’s Nintendo, a 2003 KWPN stallion (Negro x Monaco) owned by Kastel Denmark Olivia LaGoy-Weltz, Haymarket, Virginia, and Rassing’s Lonoir, a 2004 Danish Warmblood gelding (De Noir 3 x Loran) owned by Mary Anne McPhail and the rider Adrienne Lyle, Wellington, Florida, and Salvino, a 2007 Hanoverian stallion (Sandro Hit

10 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

x Donnerhall) owned by Betsy Juliano LLC; and Harmony’s Duval, a 2008 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Rousseau x Riverman) owned by Duval Partners LLC Steffen Peters, San Diego, California, and Suppenkasper, a 2008 KWPN gelding (Spielberg x Krack C) owned by Four Winds Farm and Akiko Yamazaki Jennifer Schrader-Williams, Olympia, Washington, and Millione, a 2003 Danish Warmblood gelding (Milan x Rawage Quintus) owned by Millione Partners LLC Sabine Schut-Kery, Napa, California, and Sanceo, a 2006 Hanoverian stallion (San Remo x Ramiro’s Son II) owned by Alice Womble Alice Tarjan, Oldwick, New Jersey, and her own 2010 Hanoverian mare, Candescent (Christ 3 x Falkenstern II) Nick Wagman, San Diego, California, and Don John, a 2008 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Johnson x Goodtimes) owned by Beverly Gepfer; and Ferano, a 2010 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Scandic x Parcival) owned by Elizabeth Keadle.

Given pandemic-related travel and other restrictions, in lieu of mandatory competition in Europe preceding final team selection, US Equestrian instead organized a US Dressage Short List Mandatory Observation Event, June 8-12. The venue, the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida, was chosen in part because the temperatures and humidity during the evening classes are expected to be similar to conditions in Tokyo.

The final team selection— three team spots plus a traveling reserve—were to have been announced by June 21. Tokyo Olympic dressage competition commences July 24. Get the latest Olympic and Paralympic news at Tokyo2020.jp.

US EQUESTRIAN GRAPHIC

OLYMPIC GAMES

OBITUARY

MEET THE INSTRUCTOR John Boomer

John Boomer, who took the reins of The Dressage Foundation (TDF) after his father, TDF founder Lowell Boomer, stepped down, died March 21 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was 92.

corporate communications, advertising, PR, and advocacy. Boomer was also a US Army veteran and an active participant in civic affairs in and around Lincoln.

JENNIFER BRYANT; COURTESY OF SHEILA BUSCHETTE

TIRELESS PROMOTER: Representing The Dressage Foundation with wife Lynn at the 2004 USDF convention

The Boomer family—Lowell, wife Gladys, and sons John and Jim—all rode, and Lowell Boomer was instrumental in the founding of the USDF in 1973. Seeing a need for a philanthropic organization to offer financial assistance to those wishing to advance their dressage involvement, Lowell Boomer established TDF in his home city of Lincoln in 1989.

Raised in Lincoln, John Boomer earned a BS in business administration from the University of Nebraska. He had a successful career in business, starting out at his father’s Boomer’s Printing Company in Lincoln (which also was home to the original USDF office). He went on to work for Business Week magazine in New York City and for United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, Connecticut.

Later, back in Lincoln, Boomer and his wife, Lynn, founded John Boomer Consulting Services Inc., which helped clients with fund-raising,

TDF was a significant project for both John and Lynn Boomer, who together managed the organization for more than a decade during their retirement years. To date TDF has awarded nearly $3 million in scholarships and grants.

“John Boomer had big shoes to fill,” said TDF president and CEO Beth Baumert, “but he made his father’s dreams his own, carrying the ball well into his own retirement. He had amazing organizational abilities that he passed on to me, and I’m grateful for that. The Dressage Foundation will continue to grow and support the sport we love, but for those of us who knew John well, there will always be an invisible little force—that familiar little nudge—that says, ‘Go for it.’

We’re all fortunate to have had him in our lives, and he will be missed.”

Boomer is survived by his wife of 66 years, Lynn; sons John Jr., David, and Mark; and their families.

Sheila Buschette, Billings, Montana Sheila Buschette is a USDF-certified instructor/trainer at Training and First Levels. She holds a BS in equine studies, is an Eagala Certified Equine Specialist, and was the first person from Montana to become a USDFcertified instructor/ trainer.

PIONEER: Buschette is the How first USDF-certified instructor/ I got trainer from Montana started in dressage: I have loved horses all my life and grew up ranch and “back yard” riding.

I participated in 4-H and all its education possibilities. Getting a degree in equine studies was logically the next step. I met a wonderful instructor, Katrina Tiensvold, who introduced me to dressage, and I was hooked!

I wanted to become certified because: I think of USDF certification as ensuring that my students are getting the best in classical education.

The certification process stepped me way out of my comfort zone, but I gained so much confidence. I received affirmation of what I was doing well and learned so much more.

I also made some very good friends.

Training tip: Never stop learning!

Dressage is a journey, not a destination. My dad used to say, “When you stop learning, hang up your spurs.”

Contact me: (406) 672-9378 or crazeyhorselady@yahoo.com.

—Alexandria Belton

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

11

Collection USDF BULLETINS L Program Accepting Faculty Applications

The USDF L Education Program is accepting applications for new faculty members who meet the following requirements: • USEF “S” dressage judges for two or more years • Experience in teaching in a classroom/lecture-style environment • Willing to serve on the L Education Program Committee and to assist in working toward the committee’s goals.

Please contact the L Program Committee liaison at lprogram@usdf.org for an application and additional information. The deadline to apply is November 15, 2021.

See You at the Great American/USDF Regional Championships!

Check the Regional Championship Competitors page on the USDF website to verify that you’ve qualified for the 2021 Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships.

Have You Qualified for the USDF Regional Adult Amateur Equitation Program?

To qualify for a USDF Adult Amateur Equitation Regional Final class presented by Big Dee’s Tack and Vet Supply, riders must earn a score of 70% or above in an applicable dressage-seat equitation class or qualify at any level (excluding freestyles) for the Great American/USDF Regional Championships. A USDF Adult Amateur Equitation Regional Final class will be held in conjunction with each of the nine Great American/USDF Regional Championship competitions.

Planning to Compete at the US Dressage Finals?

Be sure to visit USDressageFinals.com as you begin your preparations to compete in the 2021 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. The Finals prize list is now available online, and declarations are open.

Horse/rider combinations must declare their intention to participate by completing the Declaration of Intent form by midnight on the day prior to the first day of their Regional Championship competition (including any open-class day before the start of championship classes). There is no fee to declare, but horse/rider combinations must declare at the level(s) and eligible division(s) in which they intend to compete.

If you qualified for the US Dressage Finals in 2020, in order to utilize your carryover eligibility for the 2021 Finals, the nomination process must be completed between July 1, 2021 and August 31, 2021.

12 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

All-Breeds Declaration Deadline Approaching

The deadline to declare a horse for the 2021 USDF All-Breeds Awards Program is August 1. Submit your horse’s breed-registry papers and completed All-Breeds Awards Declaration Form to the USDF office prior to August 1.

Check Your Scores

Check your scores on USDFScores.com. If you spot an error, e-mail scorecorrections@usdf.org or call (859) 971-2277. Score corrections must be reported by October 15 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Nominate for the USDF Regional Schooling Show Awards Program

The USDF Regional Schooling Show Awards Program offers yearly regional recognition for nominated horse/ rider combinations. Four award divisions (open, junior/ young rider, adult amateur, and non-professional) are available for USDF group members. Nominate now on the USDF website under Awards / Regional Schooling Show Awards.

USDF Benefit Classes

USDF benefit classes support dressage education in the US though USDF educational programs. Winners receive special USDF awards! Ask competition management to host a USDF benefit class.

Scores Do Not Expire for USDF Horse Performance Certificates

Even if your horse earned the scores last year, you can still submit an application for a USDF Horse Performance Certificate. Easy online application is available on the USDF website under Awards. See the USDF Member Guide for complete award requirements.

Youth Recognition

Congratulations to the following USDF members, who achieved US Pony Clubs (USPC) dressage specialty ratings in 2020: A Dressage: Anna Douglas; CT; H-A Dressage: Maija Liisa Luttinger, IA; Elizabeth Morgan, FL; C-3 Dressage: Quinn Gilman, HI, Lily Koorejian, CT, Julia Magsam, KY, Geri Messinger, NC, Camille Pitre, MS, Savannah Ranes, CA; C+ Dressage: Sierra Kuzmeski, MA; Marin Roth, IL. And congratulations to these adult USPC members, who earned USPC dressage specialty ratings in 2020: B Dressage: Joan Leuck, WI; C-3 and C+ Dressage: Cass Crandall, AK. For more information about this recognition program, visit the USPC website at PonyClub.org.

PARALYMPICS Collier Featured at Team USA Media Summit Para-equestrian dressage competitor Sydney Collier represented her sport at the Tokyo 2020 Team USA Media Summit. The April 7-9 virtual event, organized by the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), gave sports journalists the opportunity SPORT SPOKESPERSON: to interview Olympic and Sydney Collier represented Paralympic hopefuls as well as USOPC officials and para-dressage at April’s Tokyo service providers about their 2020 Team USA Media Summit plans for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Collier, 23, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a past US national para-dressage champion. She rode for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and was the youngest competitor at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

Naturally, many questions concerned the 2020 Games’ postponement as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Asked how she’d coped, Collier said that at first she was “very upset” by the delay, “but I have kind of reframed my mindset toward it and taken the time to reflect on things that, if I hadn’t had this extra year, I might not have had time to do, just regarding my mental mindset and my physical preparedness…. I kind of see it as the silver lining to the whole situation, and I’m deciding to treat it as an asset to me, going into Tokyo.”

Tokyo para-dressage hopefuls continued to train virtually in 2020, said Collier, adding that she was lucky to be living in an apartment at the barn where she rides so that she didn’t lose any saddle time during the pandemic lockdowns. She said she’s also learned the importance of mental training: She meditates, does visualization, and has weekly sessions with a sport psychologist to help her stay mentally resilient, “no matter what’s going on in the world or what uncertainty is happening. That’s something that I definitely neglected in Rio,” she said, “and it was the missing piece when I was on the team there, and it’s something I want to do better.”

The US 2020 Paralympic dressage mandatory observation event was set for June 17-20, 2021, at the CPEDI3* Tryon, North Carolina, with the nominated entry to be announced by July 5. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games commence August 24; learn more at Tokyo2020.jp.

THE NEAR SIDE

UNIVERSITY

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

13

Collection EVENTING It was a very different kind of Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian this year. COVID-19 restrictions meant that there were no huge crowds cheering on their favorites and no spectators wandering through a large trade fair at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

about 301,700 plays by more than 43,000 site visitors.

The first day of CCI4* dressage ended with a three-way tie among three Americans: Tamra Smith on Danito, Doug Payne on Starr Witness, and Elisabeth HallidaySharp on Cooley Moonshine, all on a score of 28.1. In the CCI5*, the USA’s

THREE-PEAT WINNER: 2021 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI5* champion Oliver Townend on Ballaghmor Class

One aspect of the competition did remain the same: Great Britain’s Oliver Townend rising to the top, making 2021 his third victory in a row. He took the title not aboard his previous winning mount, Cooley Master Class, but with his “backup” horse, Ballaghmor Class.

At the 2021 event, held April 21-25, a CCI4* was held in conjunction with the CCI5*, which brought the total number of horses presented at the first horse inspection up to 63. Those who followed the action online via the USEF Network were treated to two very competitive events. According to US Equestrian, online viewership was up 2.5 times over 2019, with

Marilyn Little on RF Scandalous posted a dressage score of 21.7— the best at the event since 2009, when Bettina Hoy and Ringwood Cockatoo scored 19.2 (as adjusted for the modern scoring system).

On day two of dressage, Smith and Canadian Colleen Loach broke the CCI4* three-way tie.

Riding EnVogue, Smith produced an accurate, flowing test despite a challenging warm-up with the mare spooking at a video camera to score 25.4. Loach scored a 27 on Vermont for second place. Then, aboard Mai Baum, Smith scored just 0.1 point behind Little to finish the CCI5* dressage in second place with 21.8.

With rain predicted for Saturday’s

14 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

cross-country, the five-star entries were given the morning times to afford them the best run. Townend ran clear on both of his mounts, finishing in first place with Ballaghmor Class and eighth with Cooley Master Class, despite the fact that both horses lost a shoe on course amid rain-slicked footing. Finishing in second, Boyd Martin on On Cue was the highestplaced American after cross-country.

New Zealander Tim Price on Xavier Faer rounded out the top three.

The CCI4* contenders then took to Derek de Grazia’s course.

Of the 40 starters, 15 were eliminated on course and 14 finished without jumping penalties. No one finished under the optimum time.

In the final trip of the day, dressage leaders Smith and EnVogue jumped clear with 9.6 time penalties, good enough to maintain their lead.

Townend’s Sunday had an unhappy start when Cooley Master Class was eliminated at the second horse inspection, meaning that the rider now needed a fault-free show-jumping round on Ballaghmor Class—which he achieved—to win.

Martin also needed to jump clear to retain second place, but a rail at the first element dropped him to fourth, which still secured him his second Land Rover/USEF CCI5* Eventing National Championship. Price and his wife, Jonelle Price, finished second and third, respectively.

An unlucky rail plus 1.2 time faults cost Smith and EnVogue the CCI4* win. The title went to the USA’s Alyssa Phillips on Oskar, who had been tied for fifteenth after dressage on a score of 32.3, then incurred 5.6 time penalties but no jumping penalties on cross-country. Phillips produced one of only five fault-free show-jumping rounds. HallidaySharp on Cooley Moonshine rounded out the field to finish third.

—Emily Koenig

AKDRAGOOPHOTO.COM

Townend Wins Third Consecutive Kentucky Crown

FEI FILE PHOTO; SUSANJSTICKLE.COM

OBITUARY

OBITUARY

HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh

Idocus

HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died April 9 at Windsor Castle in England. He was 99.

The husband of Queen Elizabeth II, to whom he was married for 73 years, Prince Philip was known in the equestrian world as the longest-serving president to date of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of horse sports. He led the FEI from 1964 to 1986 and was succeeded by his daughter, Princess Anne, who served as FEI president for the following eight years.

Princess Anne’s sport of choice was HE TOOK THE REINS: HRH Prince Philip, a eventing, but Prince medal-winning combined-driving competitor, Philip preferred polo, helmed the FEI for a record 22 years which he played with great success until the age of 50. When he decided to retire from that sport, he sought another equestrian discipline and decided to give combined driving—which parallels eventing with its dressage, marathon, and cones phases—a try. He became enthralled by the sport and within a few years had risen to the international level, winning team gold at the 1980 World Driving Championship and bronze in 1978, 1982 (placing sixth individually), and 1984. During his tenure as FEI president, he brought combined driving into the stable of FEI disciplines and helped to standardize international rules.

Prince Philip was also instrumental in the creation of the FEI World Equestrian Games, having lobbied for such a competition for many years before it was staged for the first time in Stockholm in 1990, according to the FEI.

The international dressage competitor and noted sire Idocus (Equador – Eretha, Zonneglans) died March 23 at DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, California.

He was 31.

Christine McCarthy Wemyss, who also owned Idocus’s dam, imported the Dutch Warmblood stallion from the Netherlands as a weanling and raised him at her Royal Starr Farm in Bedford, New York, sporthorse expert THE COMPLETE PACKAGE: Idocus with Scott Hassler Courtney King-Dye recounted in his July 2009 USDF Connection article, “Idocus: All-Around Sport-Horse Champion.” Hassler met Idocus at his stallion testing as a three-year-old and rode him for the next three years, after which Olympian Lendon Gray took over and trained and competed Idocus through the FEI levels.

Gray’s then working student Courtney King (later King-Dye) occasionally rode Idocus, and eventually King and Idocus became a competitive pair.

With King, Idocus won the Grand Prix at Dressage at Devon (Pennsylvania) in 2006, competed at the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup Dressage Final, and contested the 2008 US Olympic dressage selection trial (at which King made the team aboard Mythilus). During a break in their partnership in the early 2000s, Idocus returned to Europe and was paired with Dutch rider Marlies van Baalen, who rode him for the Netherlands at the 2004 FEI World Cup Dressage Final and on the Dutch team at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games before the stallion returned to the USA in 2005 and resumed competing with King.

Later in 2008 Idocus moved to DG Bar Ranch to stand at stud and to serve as a schoolmaster for the then junior rider Ashlyn DeGroot, a granddaughter of DG Bar’s founders. The stallion, who was sought after for breeding throughout his career, sired many outstanding offspring, including the licensed stallions Olivier and Opus.

Online Extra Watch The Royal Family Channel’s video celebrating Prince Philip’s enthusiasm for combined driving.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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Sport Horse Is Turnout Too Tiring?

Believing that lost energy will hamper performance, some dressage riders limit turnout.

We posed the question to a trio of myth-busters.

M

ost horse owners agree that turnout is beneficial, but the amount of time horses actually spend out of their stalls can vary greatly—from as little as an hour a day to living outside 24/7. In some parts of the country, horses are turned out during the day in the winter months and overnight when it’s hotter, especially if the turnout area lacks shade.

Stamina-Builder or Energy-Sapper?

“I think most people want to do what’s best for their horses, but ‘what’s best’ may vary,” says La Cygne, Kansas,-based dressage trainer, breeder, and international competitor Emily Miles.

“If a horse is a little lazy,” Miles says, “it’s probably good for that

OUTDOOR LIVING: Horses at Wally Woo Farm in Kansas enjoy plenty of time in spacious pastures

There are many reasons that turnout time may be limited, but one is some trainers’ and riders’ belief that too much play time makes horses too tired to perform at their peak—especially in reference to night turnout or living outside, and when the horse in question is an upper-level performer.

We wondered whether there’s any truth to the perception, so we asked two well-known dressage professionals and a sport-horse veterinarian to weigh in. Here’s what they had to say.

horse to build stamina outside when he’s not in work, because then he doesn’t resent the work. If I’m lazy and not in great shape and someone is trying to get me in shape, I might resent the work. By contrast, if I’m walking around doing something I enjoy, it’s OK.” Astute dressage trainers and riders “do so much with conditioning, diet, et cetera, that [turnout] shouldn’t make a difference” in a horse’s energy level, Miles believes.

“The rider is responsible for figur-

16 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

ing that out,” she says. “I don’t think it’s really a matter of energy diminishing; I think the bigger issue is whether the horse is safe with that much turnout, or if it is feasible to have that much turnout. The rider has to judge it. Maybe the horse feels better with an hour of turnout to walk around and self-exercise before being ridden. Or maybe the horse feels better if he has an hour of turnout afterward, to have a chance to stretch his muscles after he works, as a perfect cool-down. Or maybe he wants to go back to his stall and have an hour to just relax.”

Turnout is always beneficial for horses, says FEI-level trainer and competitor Alyssa Pitts, of Snohomish, Washington, whose mounts regularly top the annual Adequan®/ USDF Horse of the Year standings.

“A relaxed and happy horse can only do better for the rider,” Pitts says. “Some of the best horses I’ve had, like [past Horse of the Year champions] Quintessential Hit and Selestial R, didn’t go out with other horses, but in summer they were always outside 24/7 and it didn’t hurt their performance.

“My young horses are also out as much as possible,” Pitts continues. “Last year Regiment was [Adequan®/USDF] First Level Horse of the Year, and he goes out with other horses. One of my other young horses, Valentine, is now five years old, and he and ‘Reggie’ are best friends. They live together 24/7 outside in summer. Horses are not meant to live in a box.”

As for the energy issue, top horses don’t wear themselves out in turnout because they are so fit to begin with, Pitts says.

COURTESY OF EMILY MILES

By Heather Smith Thomas

Risk/Benefits Assessment The horse’s risk of injury and his own mental-health needs are top of mind when Celia Goodall, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVS, is asked about turnout.

“Turnout is very beneficial, but there are conditions for which I do not recommend turnout,” says Goodall, who treats many dressage horses in her Goodall Equine LLC practice, based in Cochranville, Pennsylvania. “Every year I see horses injured during turnout.”

Goodall is quick to add that “Even in perfect conditions, horses can get themselves into ridiculous situations. I’ve seen horses get hurt in stalls, too. There’s no right or wrong on this issue; it depends on the horse.”

Horses are routine-oriented, and change can create stress, Goodall points out; so bear that in mind if you contemplate changing your horse’s turnout schedule.

“If that horse is accustomed to going out every day for an hour,” she says, “it is important for this to continue, and to do the same thing every day.”

A horse’s age and stage of life, plus his behavior in turnout, guide Miles in deciding when, how, and how much.

For their development during those all-important first few years of life, the young horses mostly live outside at Wally Woo Farm, the family-owned facility that Miles operates with her mother, sport-horse breeder and Fourth Level USDFcertified instructor Jana Wagner.

“The horses here either belong to us or to people who have their horses in training with us,” Miles says, and so “we have total control over what we decide to do with the horses. We also have broodmares, young horses, and stallions versus just training and competition horses,” she adds.

Like Goodall, Miles views injury as “the biggest risk with turnout.

That’s the scariest part with my USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

17

Sport Horse

PLAY DATE: Buddies at Alyssa Pitts’s farm in Washington state wrestle for control of a toy while turned out in a small all-weather paddock on a wet day

competition horses, because turnout can be dangerous if the horses are not smart about it. I have one Grand Prix gelding who goes out every morning and is super quiet. He spends two or three hours at turnout and is awesome. Some of the stallions, by contrast, are not so good,” she says.

Another factor Miles considers in determining a horse’s turnout situation is “whether your horse is good with other horses. One of our horses that competes is in a pasture with mares and foals. She comes in to work and goes back out and is totally fine with living 100 percent outside.”

The flip side is whether that social butterfly is OK when taken away from the herd. Says Miles: “One of our other mares, the moment you bring her in she’s whinnying and wondering where her herd is, and she’s upset.”

At Pitts’s stable, “a lot of my horses go out together,” she says.

“My challenge for turnout is location. Here in the Pacific Northwest we get a lot of rain, so we have to use all-weather turnout paddocks for most of the fall and winter and early spring. They are small, but we still put some horses out together if they get along and don’t beat each other up. My preference would be to have them out in big pastures on many acres of grass, but that’s not always possible.”

Pitts says that “our culture and tradition in the western US is to let horses be outside and be horses.”

That management approach, she believes, “is also better for his physical well-being. A horse that’s standing in a box most of the day isn’t doing

No Turnout: Managing the Stalled Horse at Shows

18 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

TURNOUT SUBSTITUTE: To help horses relax and stretch their legs while at shows, many competitors get them out of their stalls for periodic hand-grazing sessions

COURTESY OF ALYSSA PITTS; JENNIFER BRYANT

D

ressage competition sometimes entails stabling overnight at a show grounds. If your horse is accustomed to turnout, how best to cope with the abrupt change in routine?

Kansas-based dressage professional Emily Miles makes sure that her competition horses—even the ones that live outside most of the time—at least tolerate being stalled.

“At shows there are usually no options for turnout,” Miles points out, “so no matter what the horses do at home, it is important for them to be able to know how to be in a stall 24/7.”

Managing the change in living arrangements may require altering other aspects of the horse’s routine, Miles says: “If your horse is used to lots of turnout and is uncomfortable in the stall at a show or has too much energy, this is no reason to limit turnout at home, but we need to learn how to deal with the extra energy and challenges.”

For instance, hand-walking, hand-grazing, or lungeing may help a horse to relax and unwind. Some riders find extra warmup time or even a second, earlier exercise session some hours before the test to be helpful. You may need to experiment to determine the strategy that works best for your horse.

the natural things a horse needs to do, and is not functioning the way a normal horse is supposed to. A horse in the wild walks many miles each day, which is healthier for feet and legs, heart and lungs. When grazing, the head is down—the natural position for eating—and it’s better for their airways to be outside. For me, there is no reason I would ever want a healthy horse in a stall as opposed to being outside,” concludes Pitts, who calls herself “a bit of an outlier in the dressage world because I also trail-ride my horses and do things a bit differently.”

Pitts adds that “I find it easier to work with and train horses that live outside. They are in a good mental state, and it makes my life easy. The more confined they are, the more nervous energy you have to contend with, which isn’t necessarily positive. I think it’s better that the horse comes in ready to work, with a clear head and relaxed.”

how much running around is OK for their horse.”

It can be nail-biting to watch one’s precious dressage partner cavorting in the paddock, but that’s part and parcel of owning a horse, Pitts believes.

“My philosophy in working with horses is to always remember that they are living, sensitive beings who prefer to live in a herd,” she says.

“The horse doesn’t know what its [monetary] value is and doesn’t

care. I try to forget what their value is and just let them be horses, even though it’s sometimes difficult.”

Idaho-based cattle rancher and freelance writer Heather Smith Thomas has been writing about horses and cattle, and raising and training horses, for 50 years.

Convenience doesn’t always equal results.

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO KICK THE CUP!

The Individualized Approach Miles recognizes that the owner of a horse stabled at someone else’s facility may have fewer options regarding that horse’s turnout schedule, paddock size, and so on.

“We are fortunate here because we can control these things and not have to worry about which boarder wants what, or if the owner of the property doesn’t allow this or that,” Miles says. At Wally Woo Farm “we can dictate who goes out first and who goes out for how long. We know which ones get along and which ones don’t, and what works best. We know how various things affect a certain horse, and we keep track of it: If a horse was really good today, was he out all night, or better because of something else?”

Based on our experts’ input, the choice to turn out, and for how long, has more to do with risk tolerance than with avoiding equine fatigue.

As Miles puts it, “Each person has their own comfort level regarding

RESULTS FOR YOUR HORSE

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

19

GMO Conflict Management for GMOs Dressage enthusiasts have strong opinions. Here’s what to do when those opinions differ.

By Penny Hawes

I

n any group, occasional conflict is not unusual. When the members of the group are passionate dressage enthusiasts, the stage is set for a potentially contentious situation.

Fortunately, serious disputes among board members of USDF group-member organizations (GMOs) are not all that common, but they can and do arise. We asked GMO presidents and board members, as well as an organizational and leadership consultant, to share their advice on handling and defusing conflict.

ruffled feathers (“a very good person but very, very sensitive”), a touch of social awkwardness (“people with their hearts in the right place but lacking the necessary people skills”), or a “strong personality” that can steamroll others’ opinions, that one person can be a bit of a challenge to manage—although our sources say the extra effort is often worth it. (“It’s easy to sit down with her and discuss why we’re seeing things differently than she is, and have amicable, reasonable, adult conversations and come to agreements.”)

didn’t say a word, and we’ve never seen her at a meeting since.”

South Florida Dressage Association (SFDA) president Barbara Harty recalls the time that a member who attended an open meeting “disagreed with a decision made by the events chairperson. She was verbally abusive during the meeting. We called an emergency board meeting the next night. We agreed to tell that person that the rude behavior is unacceptable. She dropped off, but so did the events chair, saying, ‘I don’t need this!’—but that’s the only serious case over fifteen years.”

One GMO president who asked not to be identified recounts the tale of a fill-in board member who made “some rather nasty social-media posts.

She was taken aside quietly and asked to leave, at which point she turned around and sued the club.”

NOT IN HARMONY: When conflicts arise, GMO leaders need to know how to handle them

That One Person…

Most GMO officials describe their boards as cohesive—consisting of likeminded folks who get along well and who serve their organizations relatively peacefully and effectively. That is, except for “that one person,” as several sources put it.

Some GMO boards, we’re told, contain one member who requires special handling. Whether it’s easily

There are, however, a few war stories. A guest at a Rocky Mountain Dressage Society (RMDS) board meeting once behaved badly enough that the GMO “sent them a letter and said if they came to another board meeting and acted that way, we would escort them out,” says longtime RMDS member and office manager Beth Geier. “We have a member who’s a police officer, and he came out to the next meeting. The person

20 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

Some GMO boards have found that written policies are effective buffers against potential conflict.

“People used to joke that I’m the policy wonk,” laughs New England Dressage Association (NEDA) president Iris Berdrow. “I wrote policy for everything, because if you’ve got a policy and it’s written down and you [receive] a question, all you have to do is pull out the file and say, ‘But here’s what we agreed to.’”

That paper trail, Berdrow says, aids in quashing conflict because the board can point to the policy and say, “No, we said this is what we’re going to do.” To the challenger, the board can respond: “‘If you want to reassess the policy, put forward a motion, but this is what we said we were going to do.’ You’ve got to have a guidebook.”

“It’s really important to have

ANDREY POPOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

Policies Are Your Friend

policies and procedures and businesscontinuity plans. All of those are really critical to have in writing,” says Gregory Nielsen, a past CEO of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence who now trains boards and nonprofit executives through his Nielsen Training and Consulting LLC, Louisville, Kentucky.

However, Nielsen adds, “You could certainly have a written conflictmanagement philosophy, but a lot of it depends on the culture of the board.

Just because we have something documented doesn’t mean we have effectively managed conflict in the organization.”

The Role of Organizational Culture “The culture of the organization is very important,” Nielsen stresses.

“When there are tension points, do we have a culture of speaking one to one outside of the meeting, or do we allow it to spill into open conflict in the middle of the board meeting? Do we address conflict by e-mail, or do we have a culture where, if you have an issue with someone or there’s a tension point, do we have an expectation that it will be addressed face to face or over the phone?” He calls these unwritten norms “the softer skills part of conflict management that’s not addressed by policy and procedure. It’s more just the expectations of the team.”

At NEDA, board members strive to ensure that decisions are missiondriven, Berdrow says.

“We represent 1,400 members, so we always come back to, ‘What does our mission say that we’re doing?

What are we responsible for?’ We always come back to the fact that we signed up to do something for NEDA. So that issue of having a common goal has been really important.”

We Hear You: The Importance of Communication Our sources agree that one of the most important things a board can do to prevent or mitigate conflict is to

be clear and timely in all communication. Effective communication, they say, is vital in attracting and retaining new members, and it also helps to keep long-term members engaged.

“When people are confused or feel they haven’t been communicated with effectively,” Nielsen explains, “it promotes tension; it promotes dysfunction; it allows for external tensions and fears—rational or irrational—to creep into some of those relationships.”

Making GMO members feel heard and valued can go a long way toward keeping the peace.

As Berdrow explains, “There are some people who don’t feel like they have any power. New board members can feel they’re in this position, so you have to find a way to give them power and convince them that they have a right to an opinion; they have a voice there; they can contribute.”

“I welcome everyone’s ideas,” says Harty. “If someone has an idea or would like a position, we find a way to get them in that position.”

Nielsen suggests three specific questions for board members to answer: 1. What are the expectations of the individual?

2. How will they be supported in meeting those expectations?

3. What does accountability look like for this board?

“So, as a board member, I need to be clear on these three questions,” he says. “Does the board president or chair conduct an annual review of the board to determine its effectiveness?”

Berdrow has learned that it’s not only what the communication says; it’s also how and when the information is shared.

“Rolling out the message in the right way is critical,” she says. “When you decide something, you make a record of it, and then you then have to manage the rollout—the communication of that decision. We’ve had to be very careful about that: not just the language, but also who do

Submit your dressage stories, content, and photos to

yourdressage@usdf.org www.yourdressage.org

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

21

GMO we tell first, second, third and what do we do in the meantime, because that can cause further conflict.”

Hot-Button Item: Risk Tolerance Money is a top source of conflict in personal relationships. The same can hold true in organizations.

“Some people are really averse to risk; they don’t want to take any chances,” says Berdrow. “We’ve got a treasurer who is very cautious, which is great; that’s what you want in a treasurer, right?” But then “we’ve got event managers who don’t mind spending money on great big ribbons that are taller than people, and the treasurer is going, ‘What?’”

A GMO’s budget, Eastern New York Dressage and Combined Training Association (ENYDCTA) president Corrine Spaulding agrees, can be a point of contention. “There are a lot of different viewpoints as to how much we should spend on education, or how much we can lose on education. Some people feel we should always try to break even, no matter what, while others think, ‘Well, if it’s education and we have George Williams for the week, then it’s OK to lose a thousand dollars.’”

As Berdrow points out, a difference of opinion isn’t inherently a bad thing.

“We’ve got lots of areas where there can be disagreement, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s ‘bad’ conflict. It’s just coming back and saying, ‘What is it we’re trying to achieve?

What can we do, and what do we have to work with?’ It keeps the conversation going.”

Will a Change Do Your GMO Good?

An entrenched board may tend to repeat the same narratives with the same dynamics, which could potentially lead to frustration or worse.

Before Spaulding took over as president of ENYDCTA, some board members had been in their positions for more than seven years, despite two-year term limits, she says. As a

result, “They were extremely burned out. So I think that it’s definitely a wise idea to change the board every two to three years like it should be.”

Nielsen is a fan of bringing in new blood: “I think it promotes a diversity of thoughts, ideas, and perspectives on the board, which is critically important. I think of diversity broadly—beyond age, gender, ethnicity. So I think that intentionality of recruiting, and making sure you have a diversity of perspectives and thoughts, are critical.

Make sure the team is greater than the sum of its parts.”

But as we’ve discussed in past “GMO” columns, some clubs have a hard time recruiting any new board members at all. Term limits may be good in theory, but in practice sometimes they don’t work. Example: Southern Eventing and Dressage Association (SEDA) president Nicole Miller “stayed on for a second term because most of the board was retiring, and we needed to make sure there was some continuity,” she says.

New people usually bring change—fresh ideas, different ways of doing things, unique perspectives.

Continually evolving technology forces us all to adapt and learn. The sport of dressage itself evolves. Some people have a harder time with all that than others.

Nielsen calls the rate of change itself “a source of friction” and suggests that boards ask themselves: “Are we moving fast enough toward that mission, or are we going too fast and leaving people behind? Are we moving in lock step? Because if one person is going faster, it’s kind of like rowing a boat: If one person is rowing faster and one person is rowing slower, we’re going to spin around in circles. We need to be moving in unison.”

For her part, Harty feels that the SFDA board has the best of both worlds: a mix of longtime and newer members who enjoy sharing ideas.

(She herself is an old-timer, having served as president for more than 16 years.)

“We are such a cohesive group,

22 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

but we do have new members join the board,” Harty says. “Some of the newest members have the best ideas, and none of the older members are so set in their ways that they don’t welcome it. They’re like ‘Oh, that’s great!’”

The Assertive Approach A lot of people are conflict-averse— hesitant to disagree with others or to speak out, wishing to avoid an unpleasant interaction. But failure to address a disagreement can result in worse conflict down the road, according to Berdrow, who is an associate professor of management at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

“I think one of the worst things a board or an organization can do is to ignore the conflict and sweep it under the rug, because it only festers,” she says. “It’s sort of like your horse getting an abscess: You don’t know it, don’t know it, and then he comes out of his stall dead lame. And then you’ve got a lot of repair work to do.”

The key to a respectful yet assertive interaction, Berdrow says, is “to be able to differentiate the action from the person.”

“That’s one of the other things that I’ve learned through my professional life and teaching and volunteer work,” she says. “You have to be able to say, ‘You know, I really love you, but what you just did, I really don’t like.’”

Reminding disagreeing board members of the GMO’s higher purpose can be another effective way of defusing a budding argument, Berdrow says.

“In the end, why are we doing this? We’re doing it for the horses and the riders.”

Penny Hawes is a coach, writer, and experienced GMO board member. She lives in Virginia with her husband, daughter, and a plethora of cats, dogs, and horses. Visit her online at thehorseylife.com/usdf.

Salute McMiracle Worker Amateur rider and longtime horse-sports supporter Dr. Audrey Evans is a giant in the world of pediatric oncology

By Amber Heintzberger

S

he never had children of her own, but the world-renowned pediatric oncologist Dr. Audrey Evans is beloved by countless young cancer patients and their families.

The English-born Evans, 96, for two decades led the Division of Oncology at the Children’s Hospi-

middle school in north Philadelphia aimed at disadvantaged youth. She also happens to be a longtime rider and supporter of equestrian sports.

A Life in Medicine Born in York, England in 1925, Evans survived both World War II and a bout

In 1969, after Evans had been working at the University of Chicago for several years, pediatric surgeon and future US Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop invited her to open a children’s oncology program in Philadelphia, where she still lives today. It was there that she rekindled her youthful passion for horses, seeking peace and enjoyment away from the rigors of the hospital and her demanding career.

CHANGING THE WORLD: Co-founders Dr. Audrey Evans and former Philadelphia Eagles general manager Jimmy Murray pose with the McDonald’s mascot at the opening of the original Ronald McDonald House, in Philadelphia in 1974

tal of Philadelphia (CHOP). She developed the Evans Staging System for neuroblastoma, which is credited with reducing fatality rates by more than 50%. She’s also celebrated for her work in helping to grow the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at CHOP into a world leader in patient care and research.

Evans is also the co-founder of the original Ronald McDonald House, now a global charitable network that provides assistance and housing to families of children undergoing cancer treatment and other hospital care; and founder of the St. James School, a free, private

of tuberculosis at age 12 that resulted in a six-month hospital stay. Her parents encouraged her to get an education, and she overcame a learning disability to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor. She studied at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then in 1953 she arrived in the US on a Fulbright Fellowship to continue her education, first at Boston Children’s Hospital and then at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She completed her residency—the only woman among the male doctors—at the Royal Infirmary Teaching Hospital in England before returning to Boston Children’s Hospital.

24 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

Evans’ introduction to horses as a child in England consisted of borrowing a local deliveryman’s cart pony to ride around the countryside. But she put her equestrian pursuits on hold for a couple of decades to focus on academics and her budding career.

When Evans settled in Philadelphia, she discovered that the city is not too far from some of America’s most celebrated horse country: Pennsylvania’s Chester County, home to the famed Devon Horse Show grounds and to well-established foxhunting and eventing communities, among others. She began riding with the late Susie Buchanan, a fellow British expat who was active in dressage, driving, Pony Club, and other equestrian pursuits at her Mercer Hill Farm in Coatesville.

Later Evans began riding at Olympian and now-retired FEI dressage judge Jessica Ransehousen’s Blue Hill Farm in nearby Unionville. Evans took lessons from Ransehousen’s then assistant trainer, Todd Flettrich (who would go on to represent the US at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games). When Flettrich established

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his own training and teaching business at a nearby facility in the late 1990s, Evans followed. She clearly relished her time out of the spotlight and was an unassuming presence at the farm, making the two-hour round trip periodically to take lessons on Robin Hood, a teenaged gelding owned by Evans’ friend the late Gladys Miller. Evans especially delighted in riding “Robin’s” favorite movement, the flying change.

Evans’ involvement in the equestrian world extended well beyond her own riding. As she recounted to the equestrian-lifestyle magazine Untacked in 2017, over the years she owned horses for Flettrich as well as for top eventing riders Marcia Kulak and Phillip Dutton. One of Kulak’s upper-level event horses, Chagall, eventually became Evans’ dressage mount.

Dutton called it “an honor and a privilege to be a very small part of Audrey’s equestrian pursuits.

During her lifetime she has made such a huge difference to so many people, from many walks of life: in her medical work, her dedication to various charities, her commitment to her church, and also the equestrian world. Her love of horses and her interest in riding adds to her being an amazing human being.”

Horses owned by Evans competed at the Rolex Kentucky and Badminton CCI5* events. The Thoroughbred Dusky Moon, originally ridden by Dutton, was sold to Dutch rider Eddy Stibbe, who took him to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Evans was also active with her local USDF group-member organization (GMO), the Delaware Valley Combined Training Association.

In 1975, the Dressage at Devon show—which at the time was run by the DVCTA—moved to its current location at the Devon Horse Show grounds. Local riding instructor Sidley Payne had a son who had leukemia, and Payne and then DVCTA president Sally McCawley approached Evans to explore the idea

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

25

Salute

of presenting Dressage at Devon as a fund-raiser for the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at CHOP. According to the show’s media kit, “As a result, a wonderful 10-year relationship was begun. More than 250 hospital volunteers, most of whom were parents and families of the children being treated at CHOP, sold programs, served as ushers, operated and staffed the Souvenir Shoppe, the food booths and the Deli, the Wine and Cheese Café, the Beer Garden, the ticket gates, and the parking areas. It was inspiring to see oncology doctors volunteering and working alongside the families and patients they were treating.”

In 2006, Evans’ involvement with Dressage at Devon came full circle. Having become The Dressage Foundation’s Century Club pair #36—achieved through the riding of a dressage test by a horse-and-rider pair whose combined age is 100 or greater—earlier that year, her accomplishment and her many years of service to the show and its beneficiary were honored at that year’s Dressage at Devon. Under the Saturday night

lights before the Grand Prix Freestyle, Evans, then 81, and her Century Club partner, Robin Hood, then 24, took a sedate lap around the Dixon Oval and received an ovation and a bouquet of red roses.

Not Clowning Around: The Ronald McDonald House The burger behemoth’s red-haired mascot got the naming rights to the Ronald McDonald House, but Evans played an instrumental role in securing the sponsorship that made the charity happen.

After experiencing her own extended hospital stay in her younger years and then watching families struggle to pay for nearby lodging while their children with cancer were treated at CHOP, in 1974 Evans co-founded the original Ronald McDonald House, in Philadelphia. She also played a part in establishing the Ronald McDonald House Charities, whose programs now provide assistance for families worldwide, including more than 375 Ronald McDonald Houses.

Ohio mother of three Kimberly

26 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

Doing Things Her Way Some people worry they’re never going to get married if they’re not hitched by their thirties. Evans wed for the first time in 2005, at age 79.

The groom was her longtime friend and colleague Dr. Giulio “Dan” D’Angio. It was a “working wedding”: The couple were married at 7:00 a.m., celebrated with a quick breakfast at a café, and made it to work at the hospital by 8:00 a.m. D’Angio, a professor emeritus of radiation oncology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, died in 2018 at the age of 96.

When she retired at age 84, Evans fell into a depression and found that she needed a new focus. She has long been involved in her church, and she continued to be concerned for the

AKDRAGOOPHOTO.COM

WELL-DESERVED HONOR: For her contributions to Dressage at Devon and its beneficiary, and to celebrate her having completed her Century Club ride that year, Evans was honored at the 2006 show. She’s pictured riding her Century Club partner, Robin Hood, with (from left) former USDF president the late Lazelle Knocke; Robin Hood’s owner, the late Gladys Miller; and Evans’ first riding instructor in the US, the late Susie Buchanan.

Wyse learned firsthand the importance of the Ronald McDonald safety nets when her son was born in 2017 with major medical complications.

“We were in shock,” Wyse said.

“Our baby was transferred to a NICU that was far from our home, and I had packed an overnight bag with no idea about where I’d stay. A kind nurse set everything up for us, and I rolled in less than 48 hours post Csection, bleary-eyed and scared.”

Wyse and her family ended up staying in a Ronald McDonald House for about a month.

“The staff made sure I’d had something to eat, showed us to a beautifully appointed room, and made us feel at home,” Wyse recalled.

“They provided breakfast and dinner every day, and I had a place to go for a reprieve from the constant alarms going off in my son’s room. We had a room large enough to accommodate our entire family, including a private bathroom and plenty of amenities.

And they did it all for free. We’ve stayed there a number of times since then for our son’s various hospitalizations and surgeries. We never imagined that we would need this type of charity, but it made an enormous difference in our lives.”

welfare of children. Along with Rev. Sean Mullens of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in north Philadelphia, Evans co-founded the faith-based St. James School in 2011.

The school provides an education and a safe space for children living in poverty. As Evans told Untacked, “A good education is how you get along in the world. It’s the reason I had the life I did. Although I retired from medicine, I still had the ability to do something that could benefit humanity.”

Recognition in Print and on Screen For her extraordinary contributions to medicine and toward improving the lives of patients and their families, Evans has been recognized in newspaper and magazine articles, books, and even in film. (She even has her own Wikipedia entry.) She is the subject of a 2017 episode of the documentary series Modern Hero, about remarkable women and their achievements, available for streaming on platforms including Amazon Prime Video.

In 2019, author Heidi Bright Butler and illustrator Joyeeta Neogi published the children’s picture book Audrey Evans: Not Your Ordinary

Doctor. Butler’s son, Andrew, was a patient of Evans’ in 1999 and 2000 before he died of neuroblastoma. In the book, Butler recounts the many ways that Evans sought to cheer her young patients, from allowing families to bring pets to the hospital to handing out treats. When Evans worked at Boston University, Butler said, she even took a pet hamster named Tabitha on her rounds to bring smiles to her patients.

In a 2020 interview, Butler told The Philadelphia Inquirer: “When I read the book to children, I tell them that when Audrey was little, people didn’t expect her to do important things. I ask what they think made her able to do that, and they talk about how she tried hard and didn’t give up.

That’s an important message.”

A feature film about Evans, Audrey’s Children, by writer/producer Julia Fisher Farbman, is currently in development.

A Wonderful Life Evans will undoubtedly be remembered primarily as a titan in medicine and for her philanthropic achievements, but the equestrian community is fiercely proud to be able

GLOBAL NETWORK: Ronald McDonald Houses, like this one in Essen, Germany, exist worldwide to provide lodging and comfort to families of children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals

to claim her, as well. Dr. Evans has pursued excellence in many forms, and she has done so with compassion for people and for animals, changing countless lives for the better.

Amber Heintzberger grew up riding and competing and has traveled the world thanks to horses and equine journalism. She works as a freelancer writer, photographer, and author and lives in South Orange, New Jersey, with her family and a new “pandemic puppy.”

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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NOVEMBER 11–14, 2021 • KENTUCKY HORSE PARK

featuring over $120,000 in prize money New for 2021: US Dressage Finals Junior/Young Rider Classes at the national levels $50,000 in US Dressage Finals Travel Grant Funds Available To help alleviate some of the financial burden for those traveling the greatest distances to the US Dressage Finals, USDF is making up to $50,000 in travel grant funds available to eligible competitors.

FOUR IMPORTANT STEPS AND DEADLINES 1. Declare – Complete a Declaration of Intent for each level and division for which the horse/rider combination may qualify.

2. Qualify at one of the Great American/USDF Regional Championships.

3. Nominate – Each US Dressage Finals horse/rider combination is required to complete the nomination (preliminary entry) process.

4. Enter - Can nominate and enter at the same time.

US Dressage Finals Deadlines Regional Championship

Declaration

Nomination

1

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Thursday, October 21, 2021

2

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Thursday, October 14, 2021

3

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Thursday, October 14, 2021

4

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021

5

Wednesday September 15, 2021

Thursday, September 23, 2021

6

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021

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Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021

8

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021

9

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Above deadlines are midnight in the time zone of the specific Regional Championship

Entry Closing Date is October 25, 2021 midnight Eastern Time Deadline for Alltech stabling priority is five days after the nomination deadline for each region. See Official Prize List for more information.

For additional qualifying, declaration, nomination, and entry information visit

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Clinic Conversations on Training Our new series continues as Olympian Sue Blinks discusses the pursuit of excellence—and 3 exercises that can help you get there

I

n 1998, Sue Blinks rode into American dressage history with Flim Flam, a Hanoverian gelding owned by Fritz Kundrun. That year, the pair represented the US at the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Rome. Two years later, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Blinks and Flim Flam won a team bronze medal and placed eighth individually. They went on to win team silver at the 2002 WEG in Jerez, Spain.

Blinks grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and her initial, very solid

at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. During those years, she traveled regularly to Priscilla Endicott’s farm, The Ark, in Harvard, Massachusetts, to watch quarterly clinics with German master Walter Christensen.

Later, as Blinks tells it, she “actually rode in one of those clinics.” Christensen’s education became her North Star, and in 1985 she asked him for a job and moved to his stable in Germany for two years. When she returned to the US, Christensen set her up to

CLASSICALLY EDUCATED: You can’t cut corners if you want to succeed in dressage, says 2000 Sydney Olympic US team bronze medalist Sue Blinks. She’s pictured riding Robin Hood at the 2010 US Dressage Festival of champions at Gladstone, New Jersey.

dressage education was with nowretired FEI “I” dressage judge Marianne Ludwig. After college, Blinks earned her US Equestrian “r” judge’s license, and as a young professional she worked as the director of riding

work at The Ark, and those quarterly clinics continued. During those years, she would go back to Germany “for a month or so at Christmastime,” she remembers, “to fill in for those who were on vacation.”

30 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

Blinks met Kundrun while teaching his wife in Mt. Kisco, New York.

Kundrun had horses in Europe, and he sent them to Christensen for Blinks to ride. Blinks and Kundrun found Flim Flam in Germany in 1989 when he was a two-and-a-halfyear-old stallion. (“Christensen must have thought I was crazy,” Blinks says. “I don’t know why I thought I could succeed.”)

Later, when Flim Flam had advanced to the Prix St. Georges level, Kundrun arranged for Blinks to train with the late Dr. Uwe Schulten-Baumer, best known as the “Doktor” behind German superstar Isabell Werth’s early success. Blinks did three six-month training stints in Germany with Schulten-Baumer.

“It wasn’t daunting,” she says of the experience. “It was self-evident. It was what you do to achieve excellence.”

Today, nearly 20 years later, Blinks is helping others achieve excellence—and with her typical humility, she would say she is still pursuing it herself. In 2004, Blinks purchased the KWPN gelding Robin Hood (Jazz x Zep) together with sport-horse breeders Doug and Louise Leatherdale. That partnership grew, and she still works for Leatherdale Farms, with bases in Minnesota and Florida. (Doug Leatherdale died in 2015, and Robin Hood died in 2020.) We caught up with her at the farm in Wellington, Florida, this past winter.

Beth Baumert: What hurdles and stumbling blocks did you encounter during your formative years?

Sue Blinks: When I look back, I’m amazed at how unrealistic and

SUSANJSTICKLE.COM

By Beth Baumert

optimistic I was. Although I was humble, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to do everything possible to be an incredible classical rider, and my aspirations were always to do it really right.

The self-evident truth was that each step led to the next step, and there was no question in my mind that I was going there, wherever “there” was. I didn’t think I was going to the Olympics, but I was going to get better and better in search of excellence—which you never perceive you have achieved because you’re always trying to become even more knowledgeable and skilled. The Olympics are sometimes a natural extension

of that excellence—and they were for me.

Where did you get that attitude toward life?

I learned it from my dad, who was a scholar of his own passion. He was a pharmacologist, and he was constantly aspiring to be the best that he could be and the best this country could offer. It was commonplace that he would interact with international Nobel Prize winners.

That attitude was a constant in my life, so as I grew up, that was my thinking regarding my riding. I was going to put myself in a position to go to Europe, and I expected my

career to evolve. For me, of course it was horses instead of medicine, but that was the family philosophy: You’re on an everlasting quest for excellence. I was motivated by excellence instead of being motivated by ribbons. If you have this philosophy, you’re not attracted to mediocrity or cutting corners, or to smoke and mirrors.

Do you see others with this frame of mind today?

Yes. Examples like [US dressage Olympians] Laura Graves and Allison Brock come to mind. They were out there quietly pursuing excellence for years and years and years,

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For more information about Hospitality or other sponsorship opportunities, contact:

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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Clinic complete with failures and giving up and trying again.

Ali was training with [Swedish Olympian] Jan Brink in Sweden for a few years, during which she didn’t compete. Then she went to England with [Finnish Olympian] Kyra Kyrklund for a year and a half with no significant horses, just doing lunge lessons for her position.

Although she didn’t show, Ali might say that was the most valuable thing that ever happened to her. She was just building the obvious path; at least it was obvious to me.

I don’t know as much about Laura’s story, but I know she pieced it together with her horse. She rode with [former USEF dressage technical advisor and international competitor] Anne Gribbons, and when she arrived on the scene, she knew where she wanted to go.

Here’s a question that can guide our readers: Many riders are putting in enormous effort in terms of heart, soul, and finances, and some of them are on the wrong path. How do you know when you’re on the right path?

I think you choose the kind of mentors who fit and feel right to you. A moral compass drives those choices. I knew Walter Christensen for many years and was unknowingly “interviewing” him before I ever asked him for a job. I sensed he was a good human being because of how he interacted with horses and riders at The Ark. He enjoyed a good laugh, and helping the Americans in the beginning often provided that.

I remember when he was helping a middle-aged amateur with pirouettes. He asked her what her steps of preparation were, and she said, “I say, ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God,’ and then I just try to do it.” He loved that. So the bottom line is that I knew Walter Christensen well before moving to Germany to work for him.

And then...smooth sailing?

[Laughs] Hardly. In every situation,

you need to make lemonade out of lemons. There was a lot of that for me, and I think for many. Many students left Christensen because they only got a day off every three months and were mucking 35 stalls daily before breakfast at 7:00. But that was the way it was. You didn’t ride upper-level horses. You rode horses that were just being broke, but I remember him often telling me, “If you learn this stuff, you can do the Grand Prix.” He was saying, It’s not about tempi changes. It’s this basic work of straightness and rhythm and riding “back to front.” He would say, “It doesn’t matter. I know you’re only riding five-year-olds at best, but don’t worry. You’re learning what you need to learn.” And he was right.

Other riders at Christensen’s didn’t buy that. They wanted bells and whistles. They didn’t understand.

Christensen was talking about the basics: the gaits, the roundness, the connection, the rhythm. He was talking about the training pyramid. As a rider, you need to maintain those basic training-scale credentials throughout the training process. If those underlying basics are in line, you’re OK. That’s classical riding, and you need to maintain those basic criteria as you try harder and harder things.

I know that you weren’t spoon-fed either there or at Schulten-Baumer’s. How did you learn all that you did?

During my few days off at Christensen’s I would sit in the ring and watch instead of sleeping in, or Christensen would set it up for me to go watch [the late German master] Herbert Rehbein ride. Although you never got an hour’s lesson and he didn’t explain things to us, if you watched, you could see how the horses evolved. You could observe his decisions and garner maybe six words about this ride or that ride.

You needed to observe which horse in the barn had which treatment and why. You needed to observe which horses he would back off and

32 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

which ones he pushed. It was up to me to glean these things.

And at Schulten-Baumer’s?

Schulten-Baumer was uncomfortable if you would sit and watch, so I made myself useful by walking horses for Isabell [Werth] during her lessons so I could learn. (All her horses tack-walked for 20 minutes on a loose rein before she started.)

Although I was a paying customer in his barn, I helped the grooms, and he liked me because I was helpful.

In the process, I stole information.

He had no intention of giving it to me, but I was making lemonade out of lemons. I learned the most from Isabell when I was there.

How do you know when your basics are good?

That’s where your choice of sources is so important, because there are bad sources. You have to choose them wisely. Making those choices is within you. Ignorance isn’t an excuse.

Can you give us some exercises that prove that you are (or are not) on the right path?

Yes. I call these three exercises some of the “basic truths” in riding. Each of these truths is an exercise and also a test. The exercises test whether or not you should go on with your ride or, in a larger sense, if you’re on the right track with your training.

As you evolve as a rider with good instruction, you assimilate these exercises or tests and they become part of how you ride on a daily basis.

Sue Blinks’s “Basic Truths” in Riding As prerequisites for these exercises, I’m assuming that the basics are solid—that your horse goes from the leg to the hand and that he’s round.

These three exercises not only help to develop and gymnasticize your horse; they also serve as tests of your dressage training. Use them frequently to benchmark your progress

1

2

TEST OF CORRECT BEND: Molly O’Brien rides Sense of Purpose, a nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Patti Reed, on a 20-meter curved line (1) and a 10-meter curve (2)

and to help you determine whether your training is on the correct path.

Test 1: Create True Curves All dressage riders need to be able to ride a curved line with the horse truly straight and aligned on the curve. Once you finally achieve correct bend from the inside leg to the outside rein with the horse’s body following the precise arc of the circle, the test is to be able to give either the inside rein or both reins, with the horse remaining upright on whatever line you’ve described— not diving, not falling in or out, not leaning on one rein or moving the haunches or the shoulders off the line. Set it up, know you have the correct bend, give one or both reins,

BETH BAUMERT

1

and your horse should continue following the line of travel exactly the way you described it. Without proper bend the horse will fail the test, in which case you just go back to the drawing board.

Basic version: Ride 20-meter circles on both reins, first in walk, then in trot and canter. Then graduate to the smaller 15-meter circle.

Obviously, the smaller the circle, the more difficult the task.

Advanced version: Ride 10-meter circles, first in the walk, then in the trot and canter.

Test 2: Create Correct Connection with Changes of Flexion and Bend Most riders find it very difficult to gradually change the horse’s posi-

2

FLEXION EXERCISE: Subtle flexion right and left in the walk helps Molly test the connection into her outside rein

tioning (flexion), creating a correct connection through both reins without losing the shoulders. You need to be able to change not only the flexion but also the bend, while keeping the shoulders on the desired line of travel.

Basic version: Flexion changes to improve the contact. The basic version of this test is a Conrad Schumacher flexion exercise that he often did in the halt, but it’s easier when you do it with a little momentum in the walk and then the trot. It creates a very nuanced conversation between you and the horse.

Tracking right in the walk, practice establishing the connection first to one rein and then to the other.

Riding from behind (“back to front”), ride connecting half-halts into your outside (left) rein and give the inside (right) rein. Next, ride connecting half-halts by filling up the inside rein and giving the outside rein. Keep your horse’s body straight in flexion right as you connect to each rein.

Take your time with this, and reach an understanding with your horse.

This is a “slow motion” exercise.

When you’ve succeeded with true flexion, ask for counter-positioning (e.g., flexion left if you’re tracking right). If your horse is truly straight and correctly soft in the neck and jaw, you will see that the crest of his neck “flips” at the moment when the flexion changes from one direction to the other. Once you have the new flexion, practice establishing the connection first to one rein and then the other. Flexion right, connect left, connect right. Flexion left, connect right, connect left. Fill out this rein and connect. Fill out that rein and connect.

Ride this exercise in walk first, then in trot and canter. In the walk, be careful that you retain the rhythm and straightness in your horse’s body. There’s more momentum in trot, and that might be easier unless the motion is too challenging.

Changing the flexion in canter is in the tier of “more difficult.” This

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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Clinic 2

CHANGE THE BEND: To test her ability to retain a correct connection, Molly rides transitions between shoulder-in (1) and renvers, or haunches-out (2)

is a clear preparatory test for flying changes. This test can tell you if your horse is ready.

Advanced version: transitions between shoulder-in and renvers.

This exercise came into my life from Kyra Kyrklund at US Equestrian Team clinics in the 1990s, and anyone who rides with me for any amount of time establishes it in their warmup.

Start in the walk tracking right and ask for shoulder-in right. Then change the bend and transition to renvers (haunches-out). This basic test is about knowing that you have the horse’s shoulders upright and squarely within your aids on the line of travel, and that you can switch the bend easily while retaining a correct connection. Be sure that you can ride into each outside rein and give the inside rein.

To increase the degree of difficulty, practice riding transitions between shoulder-in and renvers off the rail, on the center line or the quarter line.

Beware of a common problem: If you bend right, the shoulders will want to slide left and vice versa.

Like changing the flexion, this exercise when performed in canter is another basic preparatory test for progressing to flying changes. It will

help you determine if you’re ready to go on to flying changes. In order to make a flying change, you need to be able to gradually go between counter-position, true position, counterposition, and true position, all the while retaining a correct connection with each outside rein.

Test 3: Create Longitudinal Elasticity Basic version: Halt-walk-halt and trot-walk-trot transitions. Riding forward and back is an incredible exercise for making the horse ridable and able to do harder exercises—and it’s very difficult to do it correctly.

At the basic level, do transitions between halt and walk, and then between walk and trot. Go down and up and down and up. Be sure that the “walk off ” lives in the halt and that you can go from walk to halt without pulling. Then do the same for walk-trot-walk transitions. The challenge is to be able to go forward and back without pulling. How do you come back without pulling? I think different riders do it in different ways, but I learned from Isabell Werth and her program that closing your thighs instigates the horse coming back.

Advanced version: Ride forward and back in the canter. At Schulten-Baumer’s, I spent six

34 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

Beth Baumert is a USDF-certified

instructor through Fourth Level and a USDF L program graduate with distinction. She is the author of When Two Spines Align: Dressage Dynamics and of How Two Minds Meet: The Mental Dynamics of Dressage. She currently serves as president and CEO of The Dressage Foundation. For many years she owned and operated Cloverlea Dressage in Connecticut and served as the technical editor of Dressage Today magazine.

BETH BAUMERT

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months on a 20-meter circle in canter until I could go forward and come back from my hips without overusing my reins. That was so important to them that there was no point in going on until I had that piece.

To practice this exercise, go from working canter to a more forward canter and back to working canter, but do it on your own terms—so that you can just lightly indicate that you want your horse to go more forward and then that he comes back without your having to use your reins. You must be able to choose the length of the stride and the number of strides.

If you count the strides, that gives you a deadline, which helps because the mental inclination is to reason, I’m just going to go forward a few more strides until I get what I want, but by then you’ve lost it and it never happens.

Many riders don’t yet have the feeling that if you organize your horse back a little bit, he’ll be positioned and waiting to go forward again. Then you have all you need!

That takes you to that higher level where you feel the collection in the extension and the extension in the collection. This exercise gives you that ideal feeling.

USDF Breeders Championship Series

2021 Series Finals Dates and Locations* North East Series July 9, 2021

September 11-12, 2021

KDA Breed Classic, Lexington, KY

NEDA Breed Show III & USDF North East Series Breeders Championships, Somers, CT

Mid-West Series

Western Series

August 20, 2021

September 18-19, 2021

The Kirkwood Show, Washington, MO

PEC Horse Park Dressage Show, Wilton, CA

September 5, 2021

September 28–October 3, 2021

Northwest Sport Horse Breeders Show II & USDF Breeders Championship Series Final, Auburn, WA

Dressage at Devon, Devon, PA

Please check the USDF competition calendar for USDF Breeders Championship Series Final competitions that may be added.

She Knows Dressage, Inside and Out Veterinarian, researcher, and author Hilary Clayton has forever altered our understanding of sport horses

BY KELLY VENCILL SANCHEZ

36 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

WALKING THE WALK: Dr. Hilary Clayton’s equestrian expertise informs her equine-biomechanics research.

She’s pictured aboard her Lusitano gelding, Donzi MC, at the 2019 Great American/USDF Region 2 Championships.

DIANA HADSALL PHOTOGRAPHY

I

f you have even a passing interest in sporthorse performance, rehabilitation, and conditioning or the impact of tack and equipment on horse and rider, chances are you’ve come across a study by Hilary M. Clayton, BVMS, PhD, Dipl. ACVSMR, FRCVS. Over the course of a career that’s seen her combine her talents as a veterinarian, college professor, and researcher, she has published more than 250 scientific studies, lectured at symposia and conferences around the world, and written seven books and hundreds of articles for magazines including USDF Connection.

At Clayton’s induction into the Roemer Foundation/ USDF Hall of Fame at the 2020 Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention last December, British FEI 5* dressage judge Stephen Clarke recalled (via virtual video clip) her “Biomechanical Perceptions of Dressage Performance” presentation at the Africa Dressage Forum in Johannesburg two years before: “The way you can manage to put across what could be pretty complicated stuff in such a clear, easy-to-understand manner has brought a light into many areas of the sport,” he said.

That ability to break down complex scientific ideas into manageable parts is one of Clayton’s gifts, says Michigander Mary Anne McPhail, who, with her husband, Walter, endowed the Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine that Clayton held at Michigan State University from 1997 to 2014.

“I’ve read a lot of Hilary’s research that goes to her peers, and I don’t know what she’s talking about—it’s over my head,” admits McPhail, who is a retired USEF “S” dressage judge and a longtime adult-amateur rider and competitor. “But when she talks to us, we get it. She can put it on a level that everyone can understand.”

Finding practical applications for her investigations has always been important to Clayton. “It’s not much good sitting in my lab where nobody else can see it,” she says. “It sometimes takes a while to make the leap from the scientific publication to the practice in a way that people can actually use. You do science at different levels.”

A secret to Clayton’s success might well be that she doesn’t observe horses only from the sidelines. She’s an experienced horsewoman, having competed in eventing, jumping, cutting, and combined driving. She’s earned her USDF bronze, silver, and gold medals and hopes to move her 13-year-old Lusitano gelding, Donzi MC, up to Intermediate I later this year.

Clayton’s experiences in the saddle and her regard USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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FEARLESS: Airborne aboard Rathgorman at a 1968 eventing competition in Scotland

for horses inform her research and vice versa. “I’ve always been interested in conditioning horses, how to make them fit for the job they’re going to do,” she says. “Learning about the biomechanics has given me more ideas about how to develop exercises to get horses fitter.”

A Growing Passion Nothing about Clayton’s early life growing up as the eldest of two

children in the English town of Matlock, Derbyshire, presaged her later achievements. Her father was an accountant, her mother a teacher, and Clayton was the only one in her family with any interest in horses.

Still, on visits to her mother’s family in southwestern Scotland, there was the chance to ride along the Firth of Clyde. “For sixpence, you could ride a pony about 50 yards with somebody leading it down the

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COURTESY OF HILARY CLAYTON

THE START: Pony ride on the beach at Prestwick, Scotland, circa 1957

beach and back,” Clayton remembers. “I would pester my parents all day long for another sixpence for another pony ride.”

Her horse-obsessed prayers were answered when she was 10, when a riding school rented a field behind Clayton’s house, and one day she looked out to see it populated with ponies. “I would spend as much time with them as I could, talking to them, petting them, feeding them,” she says. “On Saturday mornings, they went off to be riding-school ponies for the weekend.”

Eventually she got her parents’ permission to follow them, which meant a three-mile walk each way.

The cost for a lesson was three shillings, but Clayton’s pocket money was only two shillings. To make up the difference, she fetched groceries for a neighbor: “As long as I walked both ways, I had enough money to ride for half an hour.”

Foreshadowing her later passion for dressage, not content just to hack around the countryside, Clayton decided to train herself. “I would take whatever horse I got that week and just ride circles with no stirrups.

I didn’t do it very well, but I always wanted to be better.”

At 12 she joined the High Peak Pony Club. “We lived in an area where all the fields were divided by stone walls, so we’d jump those,” she recounts. “For me, it was always, ‘That’s a bigger wall than I’ve ever jumped— wouldn’t it be great to jump it?’”

During her time in Pony Club, Clayton was like a sponge, absorbing everything she could and filing it away for the future. “I would read and memorize every book about horses that I could get my hands on. I think the more you know, even though it might not seem relevant at the time, someday it’s going to be useful.”

From there she began competing in cross-country competitions and eventing, and dreamed of a career in veterinary medicine. “I really liked biology in school,” she says. “My parents would have liked me to have gone into medicine, but the only way I could see going to university and staying close enough to horses was to do veterinary medicine.”

At that time, veterinary practice was a predominantly male domain, but the lack of role models didn’t deter Clayton from entering the University of Glasgow’s famed veterinary college in 1968. “People tried to steer me away from going to vet school because they knew how difficult it would be for anybody to get in, and especially for a woman.” She smiles. “But I was determined.”

She found ways to ride while immersed in her studies, jumping horses for a local riding school and teaching riding lessons on weekends. She also served as captain of the university’s equestrian team. “I took advantage of every opportunity,” she says. “Sometimes it was a matter of creating opportunities— going out there and saying, ‘Have you got any horses I could train?’”

USDF FILE PHOTO

A Dream of Working with Sport Horses Clayton was newly graduated from vet school and working at a mixed veterinary practice in southwest Scotland when a thought nagged at her.

“I had this idea that I wanted to work with athletic horses, not just racehorses, which is mostly what we had in the practice,” she recalls.

“I wanted to understand how sport horses functioned and use that to train them better and keep them sounder. It was just a vague thought at the back of my mind because nobody was doing it.”

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES: Mary Anne McPhail (left) and her husband endowed the McPhail Dressage Chair at Michigan State University. Clayton (right) was the first Chairholder. They’re pictured at the opening of the USDF National Education Center in Kentucky in 2006.

Not only was nobody doing it; the field of equine sports medicine wasn’t yet a specialty. Still, Clayton returned to Glasgow University to earn her PhD in equine parasitology while concurrently working as an assistant professor in anatomy.

A fateful moment occurred in 1979-80, when Clayton accepted a one-year position as a visiting professor at Michigan State University, East Lansing. Her timing couldn’t have been better. The late Violet Hopkins had just begun holding national seminars for dressage instructors at her Tristan Oaks Farm outside Detroit, a program that paved the way for the USDF Dressage Symposiums, the USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conferences, and the USDF Instructor/Trainer Program. Clayton also met someone who would become a lifelong friend: dressage instructor and judge Maryal Barnett, who lived in the East Lansing area.

“Vi was very determined that Americans would learn to do this dressage stuff properly, and she would bring in European trainers,” Clayton says of Hopkins. “Maryal and I used to drive once a week to

Vi’s place, and I would get a lesson.

After that, Vi invited me to speak at some of her seminars.”

At one of those seminars, Clayton attracted the attention of someone else who would figure prominently in her life: Mary Anne McPhail. “I can’t recollect what Hilary spoke about, but I remember being very impressed with her intelligence and the substance of her presentation,” McPhail says.

Returning to Glasgow, Clayton had her sights set on finding a job in the US when a post teaching anatomy at the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine came up. “I thought, ‘Oh, a stepping-stone into the States,’” Clayton says. “I was there for 15 years.”

Though it might not have been part of her original plan, the job afforded Clayton the opportunity to delve into the kind of research in equine biomechanics that interested her. Other opportunities arose.

Clayton, who was a certified British Horse Society instructor in the UK, got involved with Canada’s fledgling equestrian coaching program, for which she later became an instructor

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and examiner. The need for information about equine exercise physiology and equine-conditioning programs for coaches inspired her first book, Conditioning Sport Horses.

Clayton’s interest in combining her love of sport horses with equine sports medicine continued to grow. “In the beginning, sports medicine wasn’t really medicine at all,” she explains. “The people who really got equine sports medicine going in North America were the endurance riders.

“It was all sort of a meeting point,” she adds. “I always wanted to ride and be a part of horses, and from there I wanted to be a veterinarian. And here was this whole new world just beginning to open up that brought together all my interests. It was the perfect place for me to go and move forward.”

While in Canada, Clayton began doing more dressage and also earned her judges’ cards for dressage, jumping, and hunters. She also

met the man who would become her husband, Richard Curle.

“We met through a mutual friend,” Clayton remembers. “We were taking her children to the local ski hill, and Richard joined us. He’s an expert skier and I’m terrible.”

(Skiing may be the one thing Clayton doesn’t do well.)

Right Place, Right Time Clayton’s next professional opportunity saw her return to Michigan, when she became the inaugural McPhail Dressage Chair at MSU. McPhail says she had no doubt that Clayton was the right one for the job.

“Naturally, we wanted the best to represent us, and I knew I wanted Hilary. She has such a curiosity. And once she got to Michigan State, there were so many things she wanted to investigate. We’ve all learned so much from her research in sport-horse mechanics, the inter-

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action between horse and rider, and the effects of various rehabilitation techniques. Hilary is one of a kind.”

During her time at MSU, Clayton established close ties with the school’s prestigious Arabian breeding and training farm, and she encouraged the start of its dressage training and competition program.

“I’d never had an Arabian, but I was impressed with their quality as sport horses,” she says.

One day, a small, plain gelding caught her eye. When she saw his student rider having trouble making downward transitions and getting him to stand still, Clayton got on to see if she could help. “It was love at first ride,” she quips. “My assessment of his problem was that he was simply an overachiever, which suited me just fine.”

The horse was MSU Magic J, named for the university’s famed alum, basketball star Magic

COURTESY OF HILARY CLAYTON

DOWN TIME: Snuggling a couple of felines with her husband, Richard Curle

MAGIC PARTNERSHP: Clayton earned her USDF rider medals and a slew of other honors aboard her Arabian gelding, MSU Magic J

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: At the McPhail Center, studying rider-analysis technology

COURTESY OF HILARY CLAYTON; MARY PHELPS

Johnson. Clayton purchased him a year later as a nine-year-old and began competing him at Training and First Levels. Seven years later the pair went down center line at Grand Prix. Together they earned her USDF bronze, silver, and gold medals as well as numerous national awards, both in the Arabian division and as a USDF adult amateur.

When Clayton retired Magic from competition, she donated him back to MSU, where he resumed his career as a school horse.

Making Life Better for Sport Horses FEI 4* dressage judge Lois Yukins, who chairs the USDF L Education Program, remembers seeing Clayton in the show arena: “She was riding the Michigan State Arabs and doing a wonderful job.” After seeing one of Clayton’s lectures, Yukins recommended her as a speaker to then-L program head Marilyn Heath. Clayton began sharing her knowledge with USDF-certified instructors as

well as with the L program faculty.

“Hilary would bring in judging concepts and biomechanics concepts,” Yukins recalls. “She talked to us about the back, the legs, the hooves, bitless bridles, the thoracic sling, and the nuchal ligament, as well as how horses propel themselves and carry weight. She’d say, ‘You can’t just focus on the hind legs.

You have to focus on why the horse can’t use the front legs correctly in order to rock back.’ One year she brought boxes of bones so that she could show us the horse’s back. She’s been so generous, and she went above and beyond to help us.”

Yukins credits Clayton’s input with improving the USDF L program as well as the US Equestrian judge-licensing programs: “Hilary made sure our comments made sense and that they were actually true. She really wants to make it better for the horses, and she can’t do that without the people understanding. If the only influence of judges is their words, then their words ought to be correct.”

Her Next Chapter Clayton, now 71, retired from Michigan State in 2014 after what she calls 17 “glorious” years. “Strangely enough, my days are not very different from when I was working except that I work at home and nobody pays me anymore,” she says with a laugh. “I still do what was always the most fun part of my job, which is transferring knowledge through writing and speaking, and this past year making webinars.”

While she enjoys having the time to tend the garden at the Michigan home she shares with Curle and their rescue dog and cat, and to volunteer at a local cat rescue (kitten-hugging is a favorite pastime), anyone who has worked with Clayton knows that taking it easy isn’t exactly her style. This past winter, during her annual pilgrimage to Florida, she balanced her own training and competing schedule with her continuing research on what she calls the Florida 2020 Project: Data collected by a team of researchers

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SOUGHT-AFTER TEACHER: Whether it’s USDF conventions (like this one, in 2017), L program sessions, or international symposia, Clayton is a perennially popular presenter

needed to perform a good piaffe.”

As she has been doing for nearly 25 years, Clayton writes articles for the USDF’s magazines detailing her research findings. Her contributing editorship began with “The McPhail Chair Report” in Dressage & CT in the late 1990s and continues today with her periodic “Sport Horse” reports in USDF Connection. Her groundbreaking equine-biomechanics findings—including the discoveries that the piaffe lacks a moment of suspension and that the canter pirouette is not three-beat—forced dressage traditionalists to reevaluate their old textbooks and even prompted the USEF Dressage Committee (now Dressage Sport Committee), of which Clayton is a former member, to rewrite descriptions of these gaits and movements in the USEF Rule Book.

And her insights into the effects of footing, bits, saddles, rider position, and more on dressage horses’ performance, health, and soundness have led to changes in materials, designs, management, and even riding and training theory.

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The sport of dressage, Clayton hopes, will embrace what the science can demonstrate.

“We’re not trying to prove anybody wrong or change the sport,” she says. “We’re trying to analyze what the sport is now and how you can treat the horses to keep them sounder and get them fitter and have them performing better.”

Clayton pauses to reflect on the fact that having cutting-edge technology to perform such calculations was unimaginable when she was starting vet school.

“I don’t think it would have been possible when I was 18 to say that I want to do what I’ve done because it didn’t exist at the time. You have to take your opportunities—with both hands.”

Kelly Vencill Sanchez is an awardwinning writer based in southern California.

JENNIFER BRYANT

from the UK, the Netherlands, and Sweden from 20 dressage horses in Wellington is being analyzed both by computers and by a group of FEI dressage judges organized by Yukins.

Explains Clayton: “We hope to teach the computer to recognize the different gaits and movements and to detect the qualities associated with high and low scores from the judges.” This summer, her team will also undertake an in-depth analysis of the counter-canter—how it differs from the true-lead canter, as well as the effects of turning radius on mechanics, how much horses lean into the turn, and comparisons between the canter leads and directions.

Another summer project—this one with UK-based equine-biomechanics researcher Dr. Sarah Jane Hobbs—will look at the piaffe. “We’ll study the horse’s balance and how exactly they adjust the angles in the fore and hind limbs to change the degree of uphill balance,” Clayton says. “I think this will have an impact on our understanding of how to teach horses the essential skills

Buyer’s Guide to the Prepurchase Exam

Expert advice on which tests and diagnostics you need—and which you might be able to skip—in evaluating a horse for purchase

NO PASS, NO FAIL: The prepurchase exam gathers data about a horse’s health and potential suitability so that the buyer can make an informed decision whether to purchase

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DUSTYPERIN.COM

BY NATALIE DEFEE MENDIK

T

he search for your perfect dressage partner has ended when you’ve found Mr. (or Ms.) Just Right. Now it’s time for the prepurchase exam (PPE). Buyers and sellers alike await the veterinarian’s findings anxiously, as a good PPE may seal the deal while unexpected results may cause the sale to fall through.

We wondered which tried-and-true PPE mainstays are still considered valuable today, and which latest diagnostic technologies might be worth considering.

In this article, veterinarians and dressage professionals share their insights on what to expect when you’ve come to this critical juncture in the horse-buying process.

Align Agendas and Expectations

JENNIFER BRYANT

While multiple parties converge for a PPE, the person who takes precedence is the person who is paying for the exam—the buyer, says Scott Swerdlin, DVM, MRCVS. Swerdlin is the president of Palm Beach Equine Clinic in Wellington, Florida, which serves as the official veterinary provider for the Winter Equestrian Festival and the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival.

“When a veterinarian performs a prepurchase exam, he or she represents the interests of the buyer and the buyer only,” Swerdlin explains. “What complicates that is there are multiple agendas. I always ask the buyer: ‘What are the expectations you have for this horse?’ It’s our responsibility to discuss those expectations and to make sure there’s not a disconnect between the buyer’s and the trainer’s expectations, and veterinary obstacles that may preclude those expectations.”

When a buyer engages the Palm Beach Equine Clinic to conduct a PPE, the practice sends the client a questionnaire, asking the person to explain the horse’s intended use and to note any specific PPE requests.

If the client’s trainer is involved in the sale, then the trainer’s and buyer’s plans should be aligned, notes Swerdlin. He cautions that the prospective buyer should understand all agendas in play: those of the seller, the seller’s agent, and the buyer’s agent.

“The only impartial party is the vet,” Swerdlin says.

“The vet is just the radar.”

Baseline PPE Start with the traditional, hands-on basics, advises FEI veterinarian Jackie Christakos, DVM, a staff veterinarian at Littleton Equine Medical Center in Denver.

“There is no substitute for a really complete look at the horse from a clinical perspective.”

HANDS ON: There’s still no substitute for the traditional clinical exam by an experienced practitioner. Mark Donaldson, VMD, DACVIM, palpates leg structures during a prepurchase exam at Unionville Equine Associates PC in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

A horse’s age, history, intended use, and price all may play a role in determining the scope of the PPE. Swerdlin explains that “a fourteen-year-old lower-level horse that perfectly suits the buyer’s needs would warrant a different exam than an eleven-year-old horse scoring high in the Grand Prix.”

Regardless, most PPEs include a fundamental list of assessments. Swerdlin describes his standard PPE protocol: “First I watch the horse come out of the stall, noting signs of habits like weaving or cribbing, if the horse seems overly anxious, and watching the horse’s interaction with the trainer or groom. I dictate the entire exam to preserve a complete record from when the horse comes out of the stall.

“Then I’ll begin a hands-on exam, bonding with the horse and giving him time to trust me. I get to know him while I feel down the back and croup, and along the tendons. I look for any evidence of past surgeries.

“An assistant then walks the horse directly away from me and back again in a straight line with a loose lead. I am examining conformation, movement, shoeing, and the condition of each hoof. Next, the assistant will put the horse on a small circle at the walk in each direction on the lead line, so the horse has to bend in each direction. I’m looking for symmetrical bending of the neck, back, and croup, and symmetrical steps in both directions.

“I’ll watch the horse trot a straight line from the front, the back, and the side. Then I’ll do flexion tests.

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CHECKING THE WHOLE HORSE: Donaldson prepares to examine a horse’s mouth and teeth during a PPE

“If the horse lacks impulsion, I’ll gently pull on his tail to test his balance. I may also see if the horse can back up with his head up. These give me a hint if there may be a neurological deficit.

“I’ll palpate the back, the neck, and the withers, and ask the horse to do carrot stretches to the left and to the right, as well as between the

front legs, to look at flexibility.

“While I’m holding the bent leg to do the hoof testers, I’ll palpate all structures. If I feel any abnormalities, like thickening or asymmetry, I’ll recommend an ultrasound.”

Swerdlin’s standard PPE also includes taking the horse into a dark space to examine its eyes, inspecting its teeth, and checking its external

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Testing, Testing Practically any diagnostic test can be a part of a PPE, if your wallet is big enough.

“If the buyer requests, we can do additional imaging modalities, such

MICHAEL BRYANT; JENNIFER BRYANT

IN MOTION: Jogging on a hard surface tests for soundness and also enables the veterinarian to evaluate the horse’s movement

genitalia (but without a reproductive workup unless the buyer requests).

He uses a rebreathing bag to check the horse’s respiratory function: “When you remove the bag, the horse takes a deep breath so you can listen to all four quadrants of the lungs. Some horses won’t let you do this, so when one does you can assume it’s a pretty level-headed and trusting horse.”

Next, it’s on to what Swerdlin calls “my standard set of radiographs”: four views of each hoof; lateral views of the fetlocks (unless the buyer requests more); four views of each hock; two to three views of each stifle; and the back, withers, neck, and poll.

Swerdlin takes blood samples for a complete blood count, serum chemistry, and a Coggins test. He usually also recommends a drug test, particularly if the buyer doesn’t know the seller well. (He points out that a negative drug screen can also benefit the seller: “Not everyone can get the same results with a horse; you don’t want the buyer to say in three months that the seller must have drugged the horse because the horse was so quiet then and now is excitable.”)

A veterinarian’s “eyes and hands are the best tools, which can then be followed up with specific modalities,” Swerdlin says. “If there are any abnormalities, I’ll discuss my findings with the buyer. Although some abnormal findings may not be problematic, anything that’s not normal should be noted in the prepurchase exam.”

JENNIFER BRYANT

as standing ultrasound and standing computed tomography,” Swerdlin says.

When Christakos conducts a PPE on a performance horse, “the orthopedic side is usually where most of our question marks come up,” she says. “We do a lot more imaging now than was done in the past. In addition to radiographs of the limbs and feet, there are now commonly images of the horse’s back and neck, which can be very important in dressage horses.”

Christakos considers radiographs “our starting point. In older horses with more mileage, there may [also] be ultrasound, such as of suspensory ligaments. We may utilize standing MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] in the lower limb if there’s a question about a soft-tissue problem or something that has been diagnosed in the past, to see if it’s still an active clinical concern and [to help determine] if we think we’re going to be able to manage this horse at this level going forward.”

Some buyers also request gastroscopy or endoscopy to check for gastric ulcers or upper-airway concerns, but Christakos generally cautions against performing tests— particularly invasive ones—for testing’s sake.

Diagnostics can be costly, “so I attempt to tailor the buyer’s expectations for the prepurchase exam to the buyer’s budget,” Swerdlin says.

Likewise, Christakos recommends discussing an estimated quote with your veterinarian before moving forward. She encourages buyers to include the cost of the PPE in their budget—to consider the exam not a separate expense but part of the horse’s purchase price.

The higher the sales price, the more extensive (and expensive) the

BACK CHECK: Because kissing spines can seriously impede a dressage horse’s career, many buyers opt to add spinal x-rays to the list of PPE diagnostics

PPE should be, right? Not necessarily, says Christakos.

“We have the idea that higherlevel horses get more in-depth imaging,” she explains, “but sometimes there’s just as much concern about risk in the lower-price-point horses—because those purchasers may feel they don’t have as much leniency in their budget going forward to manage the horse over time if necessary.”

One component of a sport-horse PPE that’s becoming more common, according to Christakos, is an undersaddle evaluation.

Not a part of most PPEs in the past, a ridden exam “is becoming more common as we have horses in more specialized careers or upperlevel work, so we can determine if they have any problems with specific movements or things of that nature,” Christakos explains. [

Arranging the Away-from-Home PPE

W

hat’s a buyer to do when they find a horse that’s located far from their own home base and their regular veterinarian?

To find a good veterinarian to conduct a prepurchase exam in an unfamiliar area, California-based dressage pro Merrie Velden recommends networking. Ask your instructor and equestrian friends if they know of someone in the area. If no leads turn up, then Velden recommends contacting a large equine clinic in the horse’s vicinity. Such clinics—some are affiliated with university veterinary schools, while others, such as the Palm Beach Equine Clinic (PBEC) in Florida, are operated independently—usually have teams of excellent veterinarians on staff.

Like the horse industry itself, the veterinary community is a small world, says veterinarian and PBEC president Scott Swerdlin. Your regular veterinarian may well be able to refer you to a trusted colleague in another city.

Videoconferencing technology has made it easier than ever for out-of-town buyers and their veterinarians to “attend” the PPE, even if they can’t be there in person. Velden suggests having someone present at the vetting take video of the exam while you and your veterinarian watch via Skype or another platform.

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Swerdlin is one who likes to see the horse go under saddle, preferably with the prospective buyer riding.

“At this point,” he says, “I’ll defer to the buyer’s representative and let them evaluate the horse and make the recommendation. It’s important to me that the buyer is happy and safe.”

My PPE Protocol: Dressage Trainers Weigh In The age of the horse has a lot to do with what FEI-level trainer/

Full Disclosure?

W

hether a horse’s veterinary records should be made available to a prospective buyer is an open question.

California-based dressage trainer, competitor, and sport-horse breeder Merrie Velden advises shoppers simply to ask for the horse’s medical history—and sellers to be forthright in providing information.

Especially if the horse is located a long way from the buyer’s home base, it can make perfect sense to ask for records beforehand, says Denver-based sport-horse veterinarian Jackie Christakos. “A baseline set of radiographs can be very helpful to review before traveling overseas to look at a horse,” she says. “Then updated imaging at the exam can be helpful when looking at changes.”

But “I don’t think it’s the veterinarian’s responsibility to ask for that information,” says the Palm Beach (Florida) Equine Clinic’s Dr. Scott Swerdlin, “and it’s up to the seller to determine how open they choose to be. It’s appropriate for the buyer to ask the seller for records, but the seller is normally not required to disclose the horse’s previous medical records.”

competitor and sport-horse breeder Merrie Velden requests in a PPE. “I buy a lot of unstarted horses for myself and sometimes for clients that want a better quality at a lower price,” says Velden, of Fresno, California. “The younger the horse, the more extensive I will go on the prepurchase. I’ll x-ray all the joints and check for OCDs [OCD, short for osteochondritis dissecans, is a developmental disease characterized by areas of abnormal bone and cartilage in affected horses’ joints].

Nowadays, we are also finding a lot more kissing spines, and in unstarted horses this is not so easy to detect in just an initial exam of the back—an older horse that has it can be sore in the back—so I often do neck and back x-rays on the young ones, too.”

If Velden hears a horse making what she describes as “an interesting sound” when he exercises, she adds endoscopy to the PPE diagnostics list. And “I will run blood if the seller is someone I don’t know. I like to get the prepurchase done fairly recently to when I tried the horse, so if something was done to the horse, it will hopefully show up in the exam. If I don’t have a history with the seller, I am really going to do my due diligence on the vet check. I prefer to do business with people I know and can trust.”

With her years of experience in the sport-horse industry, Velden has learned to trust her gut. “If I have a bad feeling—if someone is being kind of fishy—I don’t have a problem walking away,” she says.

And she realizes that a PPE can go both ways: “It’s not unheard of for a prospective buyer to look for problems as a way to negotiate for a lower price.”

A level of trust in the seller is also

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a factor for FEI-level trainer and coach Ruth Hogan-Poulsen, who divides her time between Plainfield, Vermont, and Loxahatchee, Florida.

Another plus is knowledge of the horse and its history.

“For an older schoolmaster, I may just get a baseline set of basic xrays, such as with a 12-year old Prix St. Georges horse that will never be asked to do more,” Hogan-Poulsen says. “I may do additional imaging, on the other hand, to look at tendons and ligaments on other horses.”

Vetting the Golden Oldie Age and wisdom come with a little baggage, which in horses may include issues like arthritis or bone chips. Velden, for one, doesn’t necessarily regard such findings as dealbreakers.

“For some people, finding the right horse isn’t that easy,” she says.

“They need to be open-minded at the vet check and not rely on one xray or one flexion test to determine if the horse has potential for them or not. A well-trained, quiet horse doesn’t come along that often, and not without something that comes up in the prepurchase exam.”

Velden continues: “I’m less concerned about how the horse traveled after the flexion, but rather what the vet felt while doing the test. If there’s possibly an issue, then I will go in that direction and find out why. I think people take flexion tests and x-rays literally to the point that they are missing out on great horses.”

She urges buyers not to “give up the perfect horse that doesn’t have the perfect vet check and buy a younger horse that does have the perfect vet check—because that young horse hasn’t done anything yet. There are so many good products now to help maintain the horse.”

Velden herself once purchased a Grand Prix horse with a known previous suspensory issue. “The only reason I had a vet check done was because the seller wanted it in the contract,” she says. “I knew he was what I needed, and my time with him was the best years of my life.

This is where you have to be smart: If the horse is perfect for you, then sometimes you have to compromise a little.”

Clear Communication It’s been known to happen that, during the vetting of a high-priced, successfully competing upper-level horse, a small abnormality turns up.

“This is a difficult situation,” Swerdlin says, “where good communication between all parties is important.”

As Hogan-Poulsen points out, “The buyer is paying for the prepurchase exam, so they own the exam.

In my experience, people are very open in sharing their findings with the seller and the seller’s veterinarian. This can be very helpful, for example, if the horse is plus-one on a flexion; you need to know why.

Maybe it’s something you can work with.”

Trust is crucial, says Velden. “I buy a lot of horses in Europe. I have a really good vet and a really good agent there who work well with my vet here, so I have a team. It’s so much easier now to transfer information between vets. Depending on what my vet sees on the x-rays, he may ask for more details, more x-rays, or even ultrasound on an older horse.”

Make sure that any time frames are communicated to those in the decision-making process, says Hogan-Poulsen, who notes that “sometimes a sales contract has a decision deadline.”

Transparency Is Key Most horse people have heard tales about shady sales transactions. A few high-profile cases have even ended up in court.

Hogan-Poulsen calls herself “a real stickler for transparency, particularly between the seller and the buyer, but also with the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent, and with the various veterinarians involved. Everything has to be aboveboard, including sales price and commissions.”

“I encourage everyone to communicate if possible,” says Velden, who adds that “I’m totally open about the sales price, so clients understand commissions and don’t have to wonder. If I am selling a horse, my vet is available if the buyer wants to find out more history.

Reputation is everything.”

The Results Are In. Now What?

The days of the “pass or fail” PPE verdict are long gone. Today’s buyer can expect to receive a detailed report containing the veterinarian’s findings, with an explanation of any abnormalities found and a discussion of the horse’s potential suitability for the buyer’s stated intended use.

“We inform the buyer if we feel the horse is fit for the use intended.

The ultimate decision is made by the buyer,” says Swerdlin. “We aren’t fortune-tellers, but it’s also not our job to stop the sale process. Our job is to do the best we can at that moment when we are evaluating the horse.”

The correlation between imaging and the clinical exam is important, Christakos says. For example, a change on a radiograph may be difficult to evaluate without clinical context: Is the horse lame? Did it respond to flexion tests? Has the joint

in question had issues or required “maintenance” in the past?

“From a risk-aversion standpoint, some purchasers want to radiograph everything, and that’s OK,” says Christakos, “but I think you have to correlate your findings of those radiographs with what the horse looks like the day you examine him.

Sometimes things you find on imaging may have been part of the horse for a long time and are not clinically relevant—and some things really are a big deal when you find them on imaging.”

For horses sporting a hefty price tag, Swerdlin recommends having a board-certified radiologist read the radiographs in addition to the client’s vet—especially if the horse is likely to be resold later, as the buyer then has a baseline report. However, he advises buyers to avoid asking the veterinarian for a recommendation based on radiographs alone.

Likewise, Swerdlin says, although the purpose of the PPE is to help the prospective buyer make an educated decision as to whether to proceed with the sale, please don’t ask the veterinarian to make the decision for you.

“The veterinarian may help educate the buyer; the prepurchase exam provides valuable information to facilitate the buyer’s decision.

Nevertheless, the ultimate decision to purchase a horse is up to the buyer and the buyer only.”

Natalie DeFee Mendik is an awardwinning journalist specializing in equine media. Visit her online at MendikMedia.com.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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Reviews Back to Our Roots New books reinforce dressage’s origins

By Jennifer O. Bryant

Fresh Take on a Classic Some dressage enthusiasts lean hard on classical teachings and “old masters” texts as their guiding lights. Others point to the cavalry. In truth, modern dressage incorporates both.

Start with a newly updated edition of the 1658 horsemanship classic

by William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle, known to most Englishspeaking equestrian enthusiasts as A General System of Horsemanship.

Xenophon Press has updated the 1743 English-language translation (although Cavendish was English, the original edition was in French) and restored the original title, The New Method of Dressing Horses (174 pp., XenophonPress.com). (“Dressing” in the title refers to the French verb dresser, to train, thus our term dressage.)

Xenophon Press publisher Richard F. Williams, who edited the text, explains in his introduction that his intent was to produce an accurate, accessible English-language version of the classic work, with modernized spellings and an inviting layout. The book’s format was chosen to allow full-page reproduction of the many sumptuous copper-plate illustrations that accompanied the original edition.

Cavendish was a world-renowned horseman, and his book stands as a “classical classic,” encompassing everything from breaking and training to the rider’s seat and all the way up to the haute école. The New Method of Dressing Horses belongs in

the library of every serious student of dressage.

The Military’s Greatest Horseman The cavalry had an immense influence on horsemanship, riding, training, and the equestrian disciplines as we know them today. Of the Army officers who led the charge, as it were, one name stands out: Brigadier General Harry D. Chamberlin (1887-1944). Chamberlin wrote prolifically about horsemanship and helped to revolutionize riding styles, particularly in the realms of eventing and jumping.

Anyone who doubts the connection between the military and dressage need only refer to a new collection, The Chamberlin Reader: The Education and Writings of Harry D. Chamberlin (250 pp., XenophonPress.com). Editor Warren C. Matha (author of the companion book General Chamberlin: America’s Equestrian Genius) has assembled the formative material behind Chamberlin’s early equestrian education—the horsemanship teachings of the US Military Academy at West Point—followed by Chamberlin’s own writings about his studies at the great equestrian schools in France and Italy, the evolution of the modern forward jumping seat, his experiences at the 1932 Olympic Games, the training of cavalry mounts, and more. If you thought that cavalry riding was mostly rough-and-ready stuff, then the detailed material on such dressage fine points as lateral work, use of the double bridle,

50 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

figures, and work in hand will quickly change your opinion and show the sophistication and the knowledge of dressage that every cavalryman was expected to master.

Yes, You Are Wired Differently from Your Horse One of the biggest mistakes an equestrian can make is to assume that her horse thinks, sees, and otherwise perceives the world as she does.

Most of us have learned that horses’ brains aren’t like ours, but we may not realize just how different our two species truly are.

That’s where neuroscientist Janet Jones, PhD, comes in. A researcher, former college professor, and former professional horse trainer, Jones has united her parallel passions and expertise in Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship (Trafalgar Square, 304 pp., HorseAndRiderBooks. com).

In an engaging and readable style, Jones explains how the senses differ between humans and horses— and, more important, why we need to know this in order to do better by our equine partners. She discusses the roles of horses’ incredibly refined perceptive senses, their emotions, and how they learn.

It is incumbent upon us to discover how best to communicate with our horses in order to handle, train, and ride them in the kindest and most humane way possible. Reading Horse Brain, Human Brain is an excellent start.

Training Adjunct Your horse can’t do the Hundred or the Teaser—Pilates mainstays—but he can, with some treats for motivation, work his core muscles and develop better mobility. So says Pilates instructor, certified personal trainer, and equestrian Laura Reiman in Pilates for Horses (Trafalgar Square, 192 pp., HorseAndRiderBooks.com).

Going beyond carrot stretches and belly lifts (although those are part of Reiman’s method), Pilates for Horses presents a comprehensive program of unmounted mobility exercises, stretches, lunge-line exercises, and more to address musculoskeletal imbalances, areas of tightness or weakness, proprioceptive issues, and more. Reiman progresses to mounted work, including stretching, lateral work, and cavalletti exercises.

Reiman’s explanations of the horse’s musculature and the accompanying illustrations are particularly good, and her real-life tie-in—photos and descriptions of how she used Pilates-based exercises to help rehab her off-the-track Thoroughbred after he was diagnosed with a neurological disease—makes Pilates for Horses that much more engaging and relatable.

Light, but Not Frothy Confession: When I see the overused words lightness and harmony in the title of an equestrian book, I brace myself for photos of horses piaffing on loose reins in picturesque settings, and text suggesting that every day in the saddle would be sunshine and butterflies if only I were purer of heart.

Therefore, it came as a pleasant surprise that Harmony, Lightness

and Horses (XenophonPress.com, 125 pp.) is an insightful look at, as the subtitle puts it, “integrating body and mind to ride your horse.”

Author Ylvie Fros is a Centered Riding instructor and human and equine bodyworker based in the Netherlands. Her little book combines those sensibilities, plus Fros’s studies of the Alexander Technique and of a Denmark-based approach called the Academic Art of Riding.

The result is not a how-to riding manual but, as Fros writes in the introduction, a look at “what you can work on in your own body and how you can train your mind in order to improve your riding and your relationship with your horse.”

If you’re familiar with the Sally Swift classic, Centered Riding, then you have a sense of what Fros is going for in Harmony, Lightness and Horses. Read Fros’s take on such concepts as “breathe into your halfhalt,” “pushing hands,” and “wag your tail”; you just might tap into a deeper understanding of this complex endeavor we call dressage.

Show-Ring Style Guide For those of us who can’t whip out flawless mane and tail ’dos on command, stash a copy of pro grooms Cat Hill and Emma Ford’s World-Class Braiding Manes & Tails (Trafalgar Square, 41 pp., HorseAndRiderBooks.com) in the tack trunk.

A follow-up to Hill and Ford’s excellent, comprehensive WorldClass Grooming for Horses, WorldClass Braiding is intended as a handy stall-side reference. It’s spiral-bound so pages lie flat, and the coated paper stock is extra-sturdy to help it survive being thrown in grooming kits, propped up next to inquisitive noses, and sprinkled with slobber.

Rubber-band braids, yarn button braids, running braids, hunter braids, French-braided forelocks and tails— they’re all here, in concise descriptive text and tack-sharp photos.

Intro to Dressage Gail Hoff learned a lot about dressage from her late husband, the Chilean-born Maj. Hector Carmona, with whom she owned and operated Los Alamos Dressage Center in New Jersey. Hoff, who now resides in California, became a dressage professional herself, and now she’s an author, with the first of a planned trilogy of dressage manuals now in print.

Part 1 of Harmonic Dressage (63 pp., Amazon.com) focuses on “Optimizing Your Seat and Use of the Aids.” (Parts 2 and 3 will address techniques and methodology, respectively.) With instructions based on the pyramid of training, Hoff presents a simple introduction to the dressage fundamentals: rider seat and position, use of the aids, gaits, transitions, and such key principles as the half-halt and “in front of the leg.”

There’s nothing new here, as Hoff herself writes in her introductory text, but Harmonic Dressage, Part 1 could serve as an appetizer for the dressage-uninitiated. It could be particularly helpful, as the cover graphic suggests, to the aspiring Western dressage rider who’s looking to learn about the basics.

Jennifer Bryant is the editor of USDF Connection.

USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

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USDF CONNECTION | July/August 2021

55

My Dressage All About Beau A partnership filled with unplanned adventures leads to dressage success

AGAINST ALL ODDS: Kat Harlan and her 26-year-old FEI-level Thoroughbred, Dandy

low to help build him up, she burst into tears, confessing her suspicions that her largely self-taught dressage training had been mostly incorrect.

Beau was Kat’s first horse, bought as a three-year-old for $2,000 on her thirtieth birthday. He had been retired from racing after getting kicked in the starting gate, and Kat found him living in a ramshackle chicken coop on an old farm.

Although she felt sorry for the sweet gelding, she didn’t really want the lanky, awkward youngster—but he was all she could afford.

Shortly after Kat bought Beau, they struck out on a cross-country trip to Delaware. It was late when they arrived at one overnight stop in Maryland, so Kat set up a highline to keep him safe until morning. When she went to check on him during the night, Beau was gone. She called the

police, but no one had reported seeing a loose horse. Kat began to panic.

Beau had wandered through the woods to the bank of a wide river.

He had apparently waded in to get a drink and was swept away by the current. He floated and swam two and a half miles down river, where the following morning a man spotted him in the water. The horse was just a half mile from the point at which the river empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Knowing that the wild currents could easily take down a horse, the man ran to get his pontoon boat and guided Beau safely to shore.

That ordeal would not be Beau’s last narrow escape. When a hailstorm blew in during a spring trail ride, Kat took a shortcut home. The only obstacle she encountered was a shallow 10-foot-wide stream that appeared to be an easy crossing, but what Kat didn’t know was that it was an irrigation runoff. Horse and rider sank into the sludgy, swampy depths.

Kat bailed off, but Beau was trapped, just steps from the bank, unable to get traction on the slippery stream bed. Neither animal control nor a veterinarian was able to help.

The final rescue attempt would be to get a helicopter to hoist the horse, but after resting Beau was finally able to lurch himself out of the mire.

Kat had bought Beau as a prospective jumper and eventer. Beau was more than willing, but he began to have soundness problems with his right hind leg. Kat found a cowboy trainer who looked at Beau and watched her ride. He advised her to learn to ride correctly—to feel her horse’s gaits and to be able to direct the placement of his limbs—or else, he warned, she’d have to give up on the horse. Kat walked Beau for six months and learned to feel what he

56 July/August 2021 | USDF CONNECTION

was doing with his hind end. That was the beginning of their dressage journey.

Kat took some dressage lessons but mostly rode in her back yard in Colorado, using her horse’s shadow as visual feedback in lieu of arena mirrors. She and Beau learned shoulder-in and showed a few times at the lower levels, but the pair had never done half-passes or flying changes before I met them in 2017.

Beau and Kat made remarkable progress. Beau is the most honest, safe, and bombproof horse I have ever met—the kind most trainers only dream of having. In 2019 Kat earned her USDF silver medal on Beau, and last year the pair showed successfully at the Intermediate level.

Today they are schooling the Grand Prix movements. Kat and I hope she’ll be able to show for one more season before semi-retiring Beau, now 26, to become a full-time trail horse and occasional schoolmaster for other students. What’s more, Beau has remained sound without injections or supplements.

Although Kat admits to occasionally feeling that “I don’t deserve to have this horse with all the mistakes I’ve made,” those who know her devotion to Beau would say otherwise. After all, as she puts it, “Everything I’ve done around horses in the last 23 years has been all about Beau.”

Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez, of Arvada, Colorado, is a USEF “S” judge and a Grand Prix-level rider and trainer.

She is a faculty member of the USDF L Education Program.

COURTESY OF KAT HARLAN

W

hen Kat Harlan and her then 22-year-old off-thetrack Thoroughbred, Dandy, arrived to take their first lesson with me, she declared: “I want to show at Prix St. Georges.”

I smiled but privately doubted that “Beau” would make it to that level. Besides his advanced age, he was thin and under-muscled, especially over his topline. When I suggested that Kat ride Beau long and

By Debbie Riehl-Rodriguez

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