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WOW! One of our Hearthstone Farm Schoolmasters has
qualified for the 2010 World Equestrian Games in
Kentucky!!!!
When the e-mail came asking if I would be willing to
loan one of my horses to a para-equestrian from Mexico
who wanted to ride in an international competition held
in mid-May near Chicago, my first thoughts were a jumble
of questions: Would she ride well enough to be safe on
one of them at the show? Which of my horses would
tolerate and perform well for a rider with a serious
disability? Could we get the passport required for
international competition processed in time for a show
only 6 weeks away? Do I want to go to all the trouble
that this endeavor would require?
I
decided to explore the matter further. To qualify for
the 2010 World Equestrian Games, para-equestrian riders
(riders with various levels of permanent disability)
need to earn a minimum score at an international
competition. The only such horse show in North America
was scheduled to take place in mid-May at Lamplight
Equestrian Center in Wayne, Illinois, along with the
United States Para-Equestrian National Championships.
Bringing a horse all the way there from Mexico City was
a bigger undertaking than rider Fernanda Otheguy could
manage. She wanted to try to qualify on a borrowed
horse.
As
we e-mailed back and forth, I started to believe the
project might not be a total disaster. Fernanca has a
nice Dutch Warmblood at home in Mexico City, which she
competes successfully against able-bodied riders at
Third Level. She sent me a video of one of her tests.
Not bad!
When she arrived at my stable in April to try out four
of the horses, I knew we could make it work. Despite a
debilitating condition that leaves her arms and legs
without much strength and only limited control, she has
developed her riding skills in a way that, other than
strength level, she can communicate with the horses much
the same way any rider can. The problem remained that
she not only needed to practice two required dressage
tests but also develop a freestyle in only three days,
something that can take months normally.
It
was clear that the 17 hand gray Oldenburg gelding Riese
was the best match. Fernanda sat well on him, and he
listened attentively to her, trying his best to decipher
her subtle aids. They started to develop a good
understanding of each other. During the three days we
had in April, it was clear that there would be more work
to do to bring the tests up to the quality needed to
earn the scores that would take Fernanda to the 2010
World Games, but the basis was there. She also made an
excellent start on developing her freestyle, having me
film her lessons so that she would find music to suit
Riese’s gaits.
During the April visit, we also started the process of
applying for the passport needed to compete in an
international competition. Just gathering all the
information needed and starting to fill out the forms
took 5 to 6 hours. It is much more complicated than
what is needed for a normal horse show, and usually
takes a few months to complete. It involves vet exams,
inoculation records, hand-made drawings of the horse and
its markings, as well as a complicated system of
prerequisite paperwork. However the United Stated
Equestrian Federation has a very costly but efficient
option to expedite the paperwork, once the owner gets it
all correctly submitted, so that was the route we
pursued.
Since I was to be in Europe for much of the time between
Fernanda’s April visit and the show in May, my long-time
student and upper level rider Jenny Schwandt was
enlisted to get Riese in better show shape as well as to
shepard along the passport process. We could never have
done show without her!
Fernanda came to the stable again three days before we
were to ship to the show. We stretched the limits of
Riese’s
 tolerance
with daily sessions that often lasted an hour and a
half. There was a lot of work to do, practicing
portions of the tests. We also needed to revise the
freestyle to meet the class specifications, and change
the patterns to emphasize the movements Fernanda and
Riese could do well together. She also rode another of
my schoolmasters to perfect some of the concepts we were
working on.
Fernanda showed extraordinary focus and worked hard on
every detail during those days……not only the riding, but
also her plan for warm-up, her attire, grooming Riese,
and even her diet. I have seldom worked with a rider so
determined to search out every way to maximize her
performance. Even more to her credit, she always
maintained a calm and gracious exterior, despite the
pressure she was under to succeed in this, perhaps her
only chance to qualify for the 2010 Games.
When the day came to ship to the show, Jenny Schwandt
again stepped in to help with hauling the horse, then
care for the horse during the competition. Riese had
been shown through Intermediare II before I bought him
to serve my students as a schoolmaster, but I had never
seen him at a show. Luckily, his always-calm attitude
at home carried over to the show grounds. He settled in
and enjoyed touring the arenas with Fernanda in
preparation for the first day of the show.
Rain drenched the show all day Friday, stopping just a
hour before Fernanda’s late afternoon ride in the Team
Test competition. Riese didn’t let the sloppy footing
and puddles bother him and put in a clean, correct
test. Everyone was pleased, including two of the three
judges. They had Fernanda placed first! A high score
for another rider by the third judge on the
international panel put Fernanda and Riese second in the
final results, but with a score much higher than that
needed to qualify for the World Games. Fernanda was on
top of the world!
Day Two brought high winds and cold temperatures, but
again Riese went about his job in his always-reliable
fashion in the Individual Test. Another second place
and very good score insured Fernanda’s qualification for
the World Games. We all celebrated! Fernanda was the
only rider in the competition on a borrowed horse.
Riders had brought their mounts from as far away as
Florida, New Jersey, British Columbia, Seattle……all over
the USA and three other countries!
Sunday was sunny, warm and perfect for freestyle day.
The many rides to music were very entertaining and
beautiful to watch. When it was Fernanda and Riese’s
turn, we were prepared to enjoy her ride, but had little
expectation of success. They had only practiced it
twice, and it was a difficult pattern, with potential
for mistakes. Well, they did have some mistakes, but
Fernanda’s brilliantly quick thinking turned lemons into
lemon-ade. She covered her mistakes well enough that
the judges place her first! She won the competition!
What a wonderful finale to a great weekend! We got to
hear the Mexican national anthem played as they accepted
their ribbon and then did their honor round in the
arena, showing off with a few steps of passage in the
process.
Fernanda will probably be able to bring her own horse to
Kentucky for the 2010 Games, but it was Riese who helped
her get there. We are very proud of them both!
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