Surefire Year-End and Convention Report
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year—let’s hope it’s a great one for everyone! It’s been a while since I last posted but I always seem to keep myself busy during the winter, mostly by vacationing this year! I think it’s always important to mix in pleasure around work, and I was fortunate enough to go to Hawaii with my family. Usually we go at the end of January or February, but this year we decided to go over Thanksgiving so that once I got back to competing in the new year, I wouldn’t have to interrupt my schedule. Also, my brother didn’t have to buy a plane ticket for my little niece because she was still under two (her birthday is January 14), so it worked well for everyone.
I came home from Hawaii and three days later went to the annual meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. My friend Vicky went with me which was great, not just because she’s a good friend, but also, because I’m still unable to talk normally as a result of my stroke last year, people think I’m either foreign or drunk, so I needed her as a buffer. You’d be surprised how many people look at you differently when you talk funny—I would have too, before my accident. To add to the already incredible weather they had in Scottsdale, to have my friend with me was such a bonus.
Although I’m always active on some committees and attend for those, I think the annual meeting is also a great opportunity for all of us to educate ourselves about different aspects of our sport. I especially enjoyed Training Tips from Top Riders and also the Young Rider to Olympic Rider session, where the point was made that we don’t really have a pipeline to get our Young Riders into the Developing Rider system. As co-coordinators of the Young Riders and Juniors Committee, Tim Murray and I are going to work on revamping the program to begin to rectify this deficiency. We have a couple of great Area Young Rider coordinators ready and armed to help us. Our focus will be getting more kids into the Young Rider program, and then figuring out how to funnel these Young Riders into the Developing Riders program. We’re looking at incentives for riders, such as a grant from the USEF that Young Riders can apply for if they’ve had good results at the Championships, as well as more training opportunities for Young Riders that will hopefully encourage them to sign up for our programs.
I also attended the PRO meeting at the convention. We have done a lot in the two years since the organization was started. I believe supporting PRO and our initiatives will help the sport of eventing by elevating the quality of events in this country, which will in turn help and support organizers, attract more sponsors and spectators, and directly benefit horse trials, owners and riders. We have changed the membership fee to make it more cost effective to become a PRO member at the base level and we’re also planning a lecture/demo series this year in conjunction with a series of derby-cross events around the country.
Another PRO plan is to create a network of junior competitions, where younger riders will be able to apply to be observed at different events. At end of year we’ll choose three kids that will win a week of training, one with me, one with Marcia Kulack and one with Gina Miles. Young riders would have to be PRO member to be considered. We’re also talking about PRO members teaching clinics in each area of the U.S. which will be discounted in an effort to get more people to involved and make PRO members more easily accessible. The hope is to help people understand that PRO isn’t just about PRO riders, but exists to help the whole sport and is about people coming together for the good of eventing.
I also listened to Ollie Townend’s speech at the convention. I know some found his humor a little inappropriate, but I thought he very honestly described his life and career and really enjoyed his candor.
I returned home from the meeting to bitter cold weather in Virginia. Depending on where you live, the month of December often means difficult weather for riding. I don’t have an indoor so have to ship to one, which I did as much as I could, even riding once with Phillip when he came down to Virginia to do a small clinic. We then gave all our horses five days off so that everyone could enjoy the holidays while Miguel looked after the horses and a friend of mine looked after the house. I think everyone here at Surefire had a great Christmas. The Tracy sisters went on a cruise, Helen went to see her family in Indiana, and Megan went to see family in southern Illinois. I went home to Colorado and got in some much needed skiing.
I’ve just arrived in Aiken and am settling down and I will give you an update soon about how things are going. I’m glad to get the year started and can’t wait to get back to competing to see how well my training has gone for me this winter.
Fairhill
We were lucky this year at Fairhil-we only had rain on Thursday. The footing was perfect and the weather was great for a change Friday through Sunday. Why Not (Wyatt) did his dressage test on Friday and I thought he was really good. He was a little stuck in both his turns-on-the-haunches, and maybe had a little but too much angle in his one haunches-in, but I thought for the most part it was a lovely test. I thought it was going to be marked better than it was, that he would be on a 49 or 50, but he ended up on a 53.
I also coached Meghan O’Donoghue, who had a nice test on Thursday on her horse Pirate. She had one turn-on-the-haunches that wasn’t great, and maybe lacked a little movement and energy, but she is on the right path. Pirate is a great horse, we just need to have his trot better. I didn’t see Clark’s test on Thursday but the some of dressage I did catch both days in the 3- and 2-star wasn’t the best I’ve seen.
I liked the courses a lot, the only thing I didn’t like was I thought the roping was really tight and I felt it made it hard on the horses because of the tight turns. It’s interesting how you can change a course by roping it a certain way without ever changing the fences. I thought the course was a lot for Wyatt and I was actually nervous because you want things to go well for your rider (Phillip), owner (me) and grooms (Emma and Kelly). Like any horse that is green at the level doing their first two-star, you never know what to expect. Wyatt was good, though Phillip told me he thought Wyatt said to him after three minutes, gosh, I’m really tired, but Phillip told him he had to keep going and he never looked back. Wyatt didn’t have a bad jump but was sometimes hard to ride to the jumps because he was looking at everything instead of the jumps! I was happy that he cooled out really well.
Meghan, on the other hand, had an unfortunate fall at 11A, the jump on the top of the hill before going down to the creek. I think her horse didn’t read the fence that well. Both of them are okay and I’m sure she’ll be even more determined next time. Meghan must feel like she’s been ready for a two-star forever now because she had such bad luck this summer when she missed Young Riders due to an abscess. At least there’s always next year.
Wyatt was great Sunday in the jog, although he does need some more manners about how to jog—funny that all my horses are like that. I thought the show jump course was a good one and Wyatt didn’t let Phillip or me down. He jumped awesomely and I don’t think he rubbed a pole. With a clean ride, he moved up from seventh to third. I am so grateful to Phillip for riding Wyatt and for being a part of True Prospect. Emma and Kelly do such a great job taking care of the horses and everyone is so professional it’s a treat to be included in their barn.
I also helped Canadian Rebecca Lee all weekend in the two-star. She had a good event to start and I think she knows now what she needs to work on. It was fun to get the chance to know and teach her, and I think she’ll be hard at it this winter improving her skills like the rest of us.
On a sad note, I went to see Jen Simmons on Saturday night in the hospital after her fall from JB’s Star. I’m glad she’s physically okay, but of course I feel really badly for her. He was a great horse and will be missed. Sometimes life is not fair.
Young Horses in Training
I’m going to spend the next couple months trying to get some of the young horses sold and working on myself. I’m lucky to have five youngsters in to handle and break that belong to Melinda Walton and Larry Smith. They have a great breeding program going and I have three two-year-olds and two yearlings to play with. They’ve been here for about a week now and this week we have a special guest appearance at the farm, my good friend David O’Connor, who is working with all the babies, teaching my staff and improving my own skills in working horses in hand. It’s amazing how much you can learn from other professionals to add to your own program. I think the horses and all of us are going to have a really fun week with him.
 
David working with two of the young horses. In one session he had them loading in the trailer and jumping over water filled ditches.
Surefire Fall
Fall Horse Trials
My young horses went to Middleburg Horse Trials and Anwar continued his success in the Training division. I should be smarter about entering my horses because they really should be in the Training Horse, not OT, divisions. Nevertheless, Anwar was competitive and finished second. Anisa rode Allie and she did a good job, though she had a pilot-error stop at the bank.
Meghan rode both Allie and Anwar at Morven Park Horse Trials and was good on Anwar, finishing 6th. She had a stop on Allie at the water in the Novice, but said it was completely rider fault. I’m really lucky that the girls have been running my horses for me all year. They’ve done a great job—like horses, though, people aren’t always perfect.
Speaking of not being perfect, Meghan got eliminated in the dressage at Loch Moy on Anwar for forgetting her test three times! She thought she was correct, but when the judge explained her error Meghan didn’t understand and got the movement wrong a second time. The judge explained it again, and she did it wrong a third time! They did let her finish the test but they were eliminated. On the other hand, Allie won the Open Novice with a 28 in the dressage. She did have two rails in show jumping, both behind. Poor Allie, she’s just waiting for her day to shine. All horses mature at different times, but mark my words, that horse is going to be famous one day.
While I am on the subject of our young horses, please visit our sale page—we have some of the nicest young horses for sale that we’ve ever had. BB LaRue is probably the best-bred horse I’ve ever had in the barn, and if you want something special, she’s it. Both Cedric and Charlie are pretty awesome as well. Charlie has really fancy trot and Cedric one of the best canters ever. Bebe, Cedric and Anwar could event or would also go in the hunter ring.
Thoughts on the WEG
I was lucky to get to see the WEG eventing with my parents. I know some are disappointed in the U.S. team’s performance, but having competed at the World Games and Pan Ams as well as quite a few international-level events over the years, my perspective is this: It was only one weekend and sometimes things just don’t go your way. Of course every rider has to look at themselves and how to better their performance, but in the end, just because you’ve had a great year or have won something recently, you can’t always have the result you want on the weekend. And a weekend’s performance isn’t necessarily a true measure of a rider’s, a horse’s or a team’s quality. To be honest, we had some unfortunate luck. I can guarantee that no one involved with our team wanted to do badly, it’s just not their nature. All our riders wanted to win the gold, why wouldn’t they?
I think it’s important to remember that team and individual success is often cyclical. Not to take away from the Canadian team—they were amazing and peaked at just the right time for the WEG—but it remains to be seen where they’ll be in two or four years. David was so smart about how he planned everything out, he had a vision and made those riders believe it, but I bet even he didn’t expect to win the silver. So what do the Canadians do from here? The best thing they can do is what they did to win their medal— support their team, fund their riders, find more horses. Like the U.S., they don’t have much depth. Look at what happened to Pippa Funnel—she was on top of the world and then was gone for five years—she had to make up more horses. In her autobiography, she talks about how after the Atlanta Olympics, all the officials were replaced and the entire program re-evaluated because of the poor performance of the British team. We haven’t seen much of Andrew Hoy for a while, either—it’s not like he isn’t riding, he’s just building his string back up. Riders and teams just have highs and lows and support shouldn’t be denied because of a bad result or even a bad year. If you look at Andrew Nicholson’s year, it wasn’t stellar, but no one lost any respect for him and he won both team and individual bronze at the WEG.
There are a lot of opinions about what went wrong in Kentucky; my opinion is that the best thing to do now is to get behind our team and support them. Eventing is a great sport, let’s not blame but instead figure out how to make it better. I care deeply about our sport at the elite level, where I hope to be competing again, at the developing level, where I coach many younger riders including the Area IX Young Rider team, and at the amateur level, which I support through teaching, clinics and also our Surefire Farm Horse Trials. I can appreciate the value of all these aspects of our sport, even though my personal focus has primarily been international competition, and yes, trying to make the team.
So we go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get better results. We look at riders, coaches, owners, the selection process, horse trials, vets and funding. All these go into the equation. I think we are in a building phase in this country in our sport. We’ll be back on top at some point, maybe even by 2012. It is a process and things have to also go our way.
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is starting to put money into our sport because we’re considered a high medal count sport, meaning that we have a good history of medaling at the Olympics. More money can help the U.S. Event Team’s prospects; how the money is allocated is a good question. I don’t have all the answers, but based on my experience I think that for our elite riders to be more competitive at international events, they need to compete as much as possible at the highest levels, whether it’s in the U.S. or overseas. There’s no substitute for getting out there against the world’s best under the added pressure of large and unfamiliar venues, big crowds and tough competition. I read Boyd’s blog and his opinion about funding riders, and though I don’t disagree—and I’ve benefited from overseas competition grants—I do think it’s essential to support both our established and up-and-coming riders and horses. Great riders don’t happen overnight, and you only get better by doing it again and again and again.
I see no problem with riders proving themselves in the U.S. first—we have some great events—but from my experience, competing in Europe is essential to truly understanding what’s required at the elite level. To me, it’s important to remember that this is a process, and the results aren’t always going to be what we want. That doesn’t mean the experience isn’t valuable. Typically, for every good event you have, you might have five that aren’t so good! The recent success of our riders at Boekelo was fantastic, but imagine if they’d had a worse result—would that have made the cost unjustified or the experience less valuable for Sinead, Will, Doug and Tiana? From my perspective, the expense is justified regardless the outcome because you return a more educated rider with a much better understanding of what it takes to be the best. You return inspired by the quality of riding, the level of competition, the hugeness of the sport in Europe, to be a better rider yourself. Ask Sharon White, who competed at Blenheim for the first time this year. She told me it one of the most inspiring things she’s ever done. It ups your game, even if you don’t get the result you want.
Europeans compete much more often at big events than we do. Maybe one option is to send riders with several horses to Europe for a few months to gain experience. Of course, we all have businesses to run, but I would try to make it work for the opportunity regardless of what I’m sacrificing at home.
I feel the time to financially support our emerging riders is once they’ve proven themselves by working hard and being competitive, by bringing along horses, and by demonstrating they can raise money themselves to help fund their careers. I do think that many people in our sport go on their own too quickly, before they really have the knowledge they need to be as good as they can be. Piggy French was with Pippa forever before she went out on her own. Our Developing Riders program is helping some to support emerging eventers, but it’s going to take a while to expand. In the last three or four years, we’ve named A and B Squad lists and also the Developing Riders list, from which Jenny, Sinead, Doug and others have benefited. Developing Riders get help from Mark and some funding, opportunities such as going to Burghley to watch, and funding to compete overseas. Training grants and sponsorship are another way all our riders are supported. Will Colemen received a grant from Jackie Mars to go to Blenheim; we need more people like Jackie behind our horses.
I know I’m stating the obvious, but along with providing competition experience and adding depth to our rider list, we also need more depth in quality horses. Buying and bringing along horses is expensive, but most of us know what were getting into and the sacrifices we’ll have to make. Even if we have to beg, borrow and steal we’re not going to let lack of support get in our way, nor do we feel entitled. With that all being said though, there is a point for most of us where it becomes nearly impossible to self-finance, so we find ways for others to help us. $800 horses are few and far between, they’re great when they happen but it’s unrealistic to count on them.
It takes a long time to build experience with one horse. Not only that, but horses have a way of getting hurt, and not every horse is going to end up being a top horse. If I were to buy three five-year-olds, I can guarantee that they wouldn’t all develop into four-star horses. Typically, it takes three to four years to make a horse up, and then you have $100,000 into it. It’s not a short-term project. I think it’s hard to find quality horses, and when you do, to afford their development or find sponsors to back them for a long time. My good friend and past owner, Chips Chester, as well as Annie Jones, Nina Gardner, Mark Hart, the Segals, Nanki Doubleday, Rebecca Broussard, Faye Wolf, Jackie Mars, Dick Thompson and others are amazing people because they support our riders time and time again and they love our sport. We need to attract more people like them. The Event Horse Owners Task Force has been organized to support upper-level riders by promoting sponsorship, and is looking at ways to fund horses.
Most of the horses I’ve bought that were more experienced, I’ve been able to afford because they had problems that I took a gamble on. Even Phillip’s Woodburn had to be retrained, and it’s taken quite a while to get him to where he is. William Fox-Pitt paid a million dollars for a horse, but he still had to take the time to develop a relationship with him. I would love to start with three five- or six-year-olds so if they didn’t work out, I could sell them on. I’ve learned you have to go through a lot of horses to know which are going to be top eventers. The great thing about our sport is that our horses come in all shapes and sizes. If you took the horse I won two medals on at the Pan Ams—Shared Dreams—you would never think he would make the team. But he had heart and soul, just like all the horses that make it to the highest levels. Look at Boyd’s horse Neville Bardos—two years ago they didn’t think that he was good enough to go to the WEG, but he and Boyd are such triers! The reason my horse Waterfront isn’t competing at that level anymore is that he’s just not capable, even though he was an incredibly successful three-star horse. Sometimes you have to try at the four-star level several times till you’re sure, because it’s not always clear-cut.
We just have to keep developing horses. Buck’s horses had great years the last two years. Reggie he built up, and Titanium was on the WEG list this year. If you had asked Buck if that were going to be the case, he would have said no, not because he didn’t believe in the horse, but because he’s come along so quickly. My horse, Why Not, has developed into a very competitive two-star horse in two years but it’s still a process no matter how you do it. Why Not isn’t a four-star horse yet—he’ll get there in two years if I’m lucky. Becky has had Comet a long time, same with Alison and Arthur. Phillip has a group of really nice horses, but Karen only has a couple, Boyd has two, Kim has one, Amy has two and we’re competing against countries like Germany and England where riders have three or four to pick from plus two more horses in the background and two nice preliminary horses behind that.
The WEG was one weekend, and if held a weekend earlier or later there might have been a different result for the U.S. That’s how life goes. Do we all want to win a gold medal? Yes! That’s the nature of competition. Even if you’re on top and win the gold, you can’t rest on your laurels. You have to consider how to make your program better all the time but I think we’re mistaken if we don’t show support for our WEG team, if we don’t say to them, “You are great, so sorry we didn’t get the results we all wanted. As far as I’m concerned, I know you wanted the gold as bad as we did, maybe next time. Thank you for representing our country, we believed in you.”
Our riders finished as a team and qualified for the Olympics. Being fourth isn’t all that bad! Do you think the Canadians thought they would win silver medal after their dressage? It’s not over till fat lady sings, and that’s what drives us all.
Late Summer Update
Rebecca Farm
It’s been a while since I’ve given an update. J.R. went to Rebecca Farm in July—Phillip and I decided it was worth a gamble to see if we could win some prize money. He had a pretty good dressage test, though Phillip thinks he’s still a work in progress (but aren’t they all). J.R. was awesome on cross-country, he only had 2.0 time and Phillip told me the time was really hard to get. He said he had to go flat out to get close but felt that J.R. was up to the challenge. Unfortunately, he had two rails in the show jumping. Phillip felt as though he had jumped him too big in the warm up and made him try too hard, and when he got in the ring, J.R. was holding up in the air too much and had the two down behind. I think Phillip maybe didn’t trust him to jump clean, and just needs to get to know the horse a little better and I’m sure their partnership will improve. Unfortunately, on the first gallop after Rebecca, J.R. came up with a funny looking leg. It turns out he has a small tear in his tendon and is out for the fall.
Young Rider Championships
The Championships were held at The Kentucky Horse Park in late July/early August. All in all, we had some good and some bad—that’s horses though. Anisa Tracy on Tigger VIII and Brittany Lunney on Cool Dancer were on a combined team in the two-star with two Area V riders coached by Mike Huber, Karen Shull on Fernhill Figaro and Jacob Fletcher on Falson Splash. That was a great thing because Mike and I are both really competitive so we were sure we were going to win the gold! We were off to a great start with everyone having good dressage tests and Anisa winning the dressage. Unfortunately, Anisa’s horse hurt a tendon cross-country, so she wasn’t able to show jump on Sunday. Brittany had a good cross-country in spite of some time, and a beautiful, clear show jumping with just one time penalty to finish eighth individually.
The one-star kids did well in the dressage—Kendyl Tracy was third on Ever So Lucky, Julia Spatt was eighth on Tazzmania and Kaylin Dines was 28th on Simply Ben. All three girls were clean and fast cross-country but unfortunately, show jumping didn’t go as well. Poor Kaylin forgot her last jump and was eliminated, and both Julia and Kendyl had three rails. They both got ribbons, but I know they were disappointed with their results.
The Young Rider Championships were a good event and I saw a better quality of riding overall than last year. I’m excited that the decision has been made to keep the Championships at the horse park because I think it will help it grow from year to year. It’s such a great venue and everyone likes to have the opportunity to ride at Kentucky. I think locating the championships there permanently will make it easier to secure sponsorship and for the teams to raise money. The organizers can make it something special, with more prestige, like it’s supposed to be. Maybe then more kids will realize it’s really an important stepping-stone—the Junior Olympics for our sport.
Millbrook
We decided not to run Syd at Millbrook, but we did take Why Not and Phillip was really pleased with him. Since Wyatt was doing his first Intermediate he didn’t run him for time, but they ended up second! Phillip thinks he’s a really nice horse, although he does jump really huge into the water!
Katie Prudent
The two weeks after Millbrook, I got to do some lessons with Katie Prudent on Anwar and Why Not. Anisa and Kendyl Tracy came with me; Kendyl had lessons on her mare, and Anisa had lessons on Jack, Tremaine Cooper’s horse. It was really fun because I got to be in a lesson with some of the short-listed riders, and then Kendyl and I went to Culpepper on the day Katie helped all the short-listed riders at the show. I think it’s a great thing that we have Katie involved in out sport and am glad the powers that be decided to use her after my poking and prodding and telling them how great she is. She’s so smart about what she does and so simple at the same time. I think that Katie’s a great teacher, and she teaches along the same lines as I do. She believes in practicing the same things, forward and back, turning right and left, etc.. She makes all the exercises that you do about those things. You always start on the flat with her before you start jumping. Most of us don’t practice those simple things enough, which are not so much about dressage, but about your horse listening to you. Watching everyone at the show, I think they all benefited from Katie’s instruction as well as just the plain practice. I think sometimes we don’t make enough time to do the jumper shows because we’re so busy eventing, but I think it should be on everyone’s mind to try and do four to six shows a year.
By the way, Kendyl did two days of Culpepper and she was better and better and it made a real difference for her at Seneca Valley. She had four rails at Surefire and three rails at Young Riders, and at Seneca she jumped double clear in the Intermediate.
Richland
Next on the docket was Richland at the end of August. We got special permission at the last minute for Wyatt to do the CIC** because Phillip is hoping to run him in the CCI** at Fairhill in the fall. When I spoke with Phillip, he said the horse was ok in dressage, but when I looked at the results, he was second out of over 30 horses! He’s so cute and pretty broke for his age, and of course Phillip doesn’t get to ride him except as shows. Phillip said he was great cross-country but his watch didn’t work, and although Wyatt’s pretty fast, he said I need to work on teaching him to gallop. He suggested I take him to the mountain at Karen and David’s so he can learn to gallop by pushing himself up the hill. He was clean in the show jumping, but Phillip felt like he hadn’t done the best job on him and that the horse was clean in spite of him, finishing second to Sinead’s horse. A nice connection is that Sinead actually competed Wyatt in the Novice at Middleburg in 2008, the year I got him. She was working for me at the time and I was gone at a clinic so she rode him. Sinead and I actually talked about it this weekend at the AECs. She was saying how much fun it was to see Wyatt doing so well with Phillip. Sometimes we want to get a made horse because we think it’s going to take so long to produce our own, but it’s not that long ago that Wyatt was just starting out.
American Eventing Championships
I had the pleasure of going to the AECs in September. I talked my mom into going with me because I was thinking that if I hadn’t been hurt, I might be doing the selection trials myself. It was great to watch knowing that our team would be selected, and I wanted to have a preview of all our horses and riders and see how things were coming along. My mom and I got there on Thursday night and watched dressage all day Friday with Katie and Henri Prudent. Katie was helping everyone with the show jumping and wanted to observe everyone from start to the finish. I thought most everyone did a pretty good job in the dressage, and in my mind, Becky had the best test even though she didn’t end up first. She didn’t miss a thing. Allison’s horse was equally good, but Allison had several small rider errors.
I think the horses that went cross-country needed the run. Poor Karen—to have a stop at the second fence—I’m sure she was kicking herself. But, it was also a wake-up call and maybe just what the doctor ordered for her. The rest of her round was great, same with Becky and Holly’s rounds. Stephen’s horse was good but looked a little rusty because he hasn’t been out that much this year, same with Amy’s horse. She opted to do only part of the course. Will Faudree’s horse looked great; Boyd and Buck and Phillip didn’t have to run their main horses because they’ve all been on form. I thought the competition overall was great, and Carl’s place is fantastic, I just wish they had done a better job with the footing for the track as it was quite hard. Other than that, Carl is an amazing supporter of our sport, a great host, and if you haven’t been to his farm you should try to get there.
The morning of show jumping, I helped Katie and Henri jump all the short-listed horses first thing so that they could have a warm up plan for later in the day. I have to say that I’ve never seen our horses and riders go so well in the show jumping—it was a pleasure to watch. I’m sure the selectors have a hard job in front of them in deciding the team and the individuals for the WEG. By the time you read this, they will have already been announced.
Fall Plans
Syd bumped his leg in the field, so we’ve decided to give him a couple weeks of walking and not do a three-star this fall, especially because Phillip can’t get a run in on him before Fairhill. We plan on him doing Kentucky next spring. As far as Wyatt goes, our plan is to have him do the two-star at Fairhill with Phillip. I’m also lucky enough to be able to go to the WEG with my mom, dad and Tom.
We do have some new staff at Surefire—Meghan O’Donoghue has come to work for me, and Helen Morris is here from Indiana as a working student with her horse, K.C. Megan missed Young Riders because her horse had an abscess, so she hopes to do the two-star at Fairhill along with Kendyl Tracy. Megan has also brought a couple nice young horses with her to sell, and we have a new horse in the barn from Melinda Walton and Larry Smith. She’s for sale as well—what a mover and jumper this one is. Please check out our Sales Page as we have some really nice horses at Surefire this fall. I’ll try to do an update after the WEG—hopefully it will be great! Go U.S.!
John Chapman “Chips” Chester, Diplomat and Equestrian
Chips owned Surefire eventers Task Force, Syd Kent and Why Not. We all miss him!
John Chapman “Chips” Chester, 80, died peacefully at home on July 9, having been diagnosed with brain cancer. He was born and raised in Milwaukee and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, attended Milwaukee Country Day School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Princeton University, and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. As an undergraduate, he majored in German and English literature, participated in Théatre Intime and the Triangle Club, and was unanimously voted “Most Unconscious Member” by his senior class. Mr. Chester became an enlisted man in the Army in 1953. His division was set to deploy to Korea when the war ended and he was reassigned to occupied Germany to oversee war crimes prisoners. After marriage to Clara Paige Mills of Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1956, his career in the Foreign Service led him to stations in Germany, Yugoslavia, and Malawi, where he served as chargé d’affaires and received an award for “heroic services” from the Malawi government. A career switch in 1970 moved Mr. Chester to Capitol Hill where he worked for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives serving under, among others, Peter Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Clement Zablocki (D-WI), and Dante Fascell (D-FL). He was the staff facilitator of numerous House and Senate interparliamentary conferences with Europe, Mexico, and Canada, and undertook Committee missions to Asia and Africa in the early 1970s evaluating Peace Corp operations, a subject on which he was a recognized expert. He wrote an autobiography entitled From Foggy Bottom to Capitol Hill: Exploits of a GI, Diplomat and Congressional Aide. In addition to devotedly serving Princeton’s Class of ’52, Chester was an avid equestrian. After his retirement in 1987, he took horseback tours through many countries of the world, including Mongolia, Argentina, Latvia, South Africa, New Zealand, Iceland, as well as several European countries and US states. He was a member of the Fairfax Hunt, serving a term as President, and owned horses competing in international events. He is survived by siblings Marion Read and William Chester, by three children, John Chester, Isabelle Chester, and Charles Chester, by seven grandchildren, and four horses. Services will be at All Saints Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland at 2pm on Friday, July 16. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to the International Crisis Group (www.crisisgroup.org) or Lift Me Up! (www.liftmeup.org).
Chips, Jan and Task Force at The WEG
From Jan:
Chips owned Task Force, Syd Kent and Why Not for me. He also kept a couple hunt horses, Max and Clementine, at Surefire, and was a big part of the Surefire Horse Trials. Chips had always been an avid supporter of horses and the hunt, and he helped make my international dreams a possibility through his generous support. In 2003, when I was faced with selling my Advanced horse, Task Force, Chips bought him for me and supported us for the rest of Task Force’s career. He went on to compete at Badminton, Blenheim and Kentucky, was an alternate for the Athens Olympics and the highest place American horse at the World Cup in Malmo Sweden, won the 3-star at Jersey Fresh, and competed as an individual at the World Games in Aachen, Germany among other accomplishments.
After all we had done with Task Force, Chips bought Syd Kent for me in 2007, telling me that if I was going to go for it, now was the time because I wasn’t getting any younger! I might have been insulted, but Chips was right. Syd has had an impressive career so far, and his young horse, Why Not, bought for me as a five-year-old, is about to move to Intermediate after a very competitive lower-level career.
Chips never shied away from coming to watch his horses, and whatever the weather and no matter how far he had to travel, he was always there to cheer us on. He was a real character with a huge heart, and is deeply missed.
Mid-Summer Report
A lot of things have been happening at Surefire over the past month! First the Surefire Farm Horse Trials at the end of June, after that being inundated with Area IX Young Riders here to train for the championships at the end of July in Kentucky, my upper-level horses competing with Phillip, and of course my own riding, with therapy for my speech and hand fit in between all that!
The horse trials were a great success. I think this was the best year so far, despite the heat. We did run late on Saturday, but the course was the best yet and most everyone seemed to have had a great time As always, there are some things we still need to improve. I think we have to consider how to make the water better for the Training horses next year. We ran the course differently this time, and perhaps underestimated how much the vendor area, located right near the water complex, would hold the horses, causing the water to become a harder question than we thought it would be. A positive change was that we enlarged the show jump area this year, which made the courses flow better. Thank you to everyone who supported the trials. I appreciate everyone’s hard work as well-we could not do it without you! I’m hopeful that in the future we can add a fall date.
  
Some of the great new jumps built for the event this year by Trav Schick and his helpers, Josh Sylce and Joe Stylos.
Photos by Joe Stylos.
As far as my riding goes, I've done a couple cross-country schools on J.R. and Wyatt. I feel like I’m out of practice, but all in all didn’t do too badly. I’ve also jumped Anwar, Syd and Wyatt with Katie Prudent. I’m finding that it’s hard to get back into it and keep my courage up doing something at which I used to be good. I have to remember that riding does take courage, and Katie was not soft on me at all! The lines she had me jump with Syd were very complicated and it took a lot for me to do it well. I’m sure I’ll be better the next time. I’m lucky that I have really nice horses, which certainly helps.
I still have no feeling in my fingers on my right hand, but I’m getting used to that. The other day I had to ride a short roll back to the right, and that was really hard. Like anything, I just have to get comfortable with it not being the same as it was before. I think I can overcome not having feeling in my fingers, but I have to be really aware of it. It’s forcing me to be more precise in my riding, and use my leg and core for strength, not my hand. Figuring out the timing of giving or slipping the reins has been hard, though. For instance, a horse like J.R. requires a lot of release over the fence, and I’m a little reluctant to give him enough rein because it’s hard for me to be organized enough allow the rein and then shorten them back up when I need to.
I’ve been really busy with the Young Riders from Area IX, who are at the farm to train for the championships. We also have a 2-star rider, Meghan O’Donoghue from Area IV, who has been at Surefire since middle of June. Meghan has ridden with me for a long time and won the Young Rider Intermediate at Surefire last month. Having the Colorado contingent here (minus one rider who couldn’t make the trip out and is meeting us in Lexington this week), has been a lot of fun and I have great girls. I would say I’ve been a good help to them and they’ve been really supportive of me. I think through this whole thing—my accident and recovery—I’ve found out who my real friends are and these kids are no exception. On a side note, my one Area IX 2-star pair, Anisa Tracy and her horse, Tigger, were named to the Developing Riders list. Go Anisa and Area IX! We hope to have a successful Young Rider Championships, so watch out here we come, going for the gold!
This summer, Kendyl and Anisa Tracy have really stepped up to the plate and are helping me run things here at Surefire. Meghan O’Donoghue is helping out, too, and Nikki Smith has been filling in when we need her.
Meanwhile, Phillip has been helping me with my upper level horses by competing them. He was second in the 2-star at Stuart on Syd Kent. I joked with Phillip that he had the uncharacteristic rail in stadium because Syd didn’t want him to show his mom up! When I first got Syd three years ago, Phillip was out of town a lot so he really didn’t know the horse because I hadn’t been bringing him for lessons. So now Phillip i getting to know Syd better and is learning things like how careful you have to be with his left lead because sometimes Syd gets worried about your right leg, and how you have to be really tactful in dressage to get a good test out of him. Syd may not be a top horse in the dressage yet, but he’s such a phenomenal athlete, I’m sure Phillip appreciates that. Not too many horses can jump like Syd!
Phillip said Why Not was great at Stuart as well. He was third after the dressage and was great cross-country and in the show jump. Wyatt had been a little bit fresh at The Maryland Horse Trials, so Phillip went a little slow on cross-country. He was quite wound up at the beginning of the course, but very good by end, and was his best yet at water, particularly the second water. Wyatt’s going to move up to Intermediate at Millbrook, and Syd will do the Advanced.
Inmidair competed at Maryland and won his Preliminary division. J.R.’s become such a great cross-country horse, it’s just so easy for him. Phillip is competing him at the Gold Cup CIC3*W at Rebecca Farm in Montana. Sharon White picked me and J.R. up in her trailer and took us to the BWI airport, where Emma (Phillip’s groom) met us with Syd and Wyatt in my trailer, which they had been using to transport my horses for Phillip to compete. I’ve flown horses overseas a fair amount, and the plane used to get the horses to Montana was quite a bit different! Instead of a lift to load them, the horses walked up a huge ramp into the plane. As they loaded two by two, stalls were built around them, and then two more horses were loaded, and more stalls built, until all the horses were in. It all worked out fine, though, and the owners of Rebecca Farm, the Broussard family, generously helped subsidize the cost to fly the horses. So J.R. left for Montana, and Syd and Wyatt came back home.
I’m taking all three to Waredaca in August to do the Training. Then, my plan is to compete Wyatt at the AECs in the Preliminary, but I’m still taking it one day at a time and I’ll see how I feel. The plan is also to have Phillip take Syd and J.R. to Fairhill, and hopefully that will work out. My hope is that I'll be the one competing my horses next year. The Surefire babies, Star, Allie and Anwar, will be back competing in August, too.
Jumping Again and Horse Trials Preparations
First of all, great news—I have been given the okay to ride. I had an MRI and MRA that showed my artery is completely healed and the blood supply is normal, so I have started riding more seriously. I got on the first day and walked, trotted and cantered and it felt great! I’ve been riding Syd, J.R., Waterfront, Wyatt and Max now for two weeks and I’m getting fitter all the time. I’ve even jumped Syd, Wyatt and J.R. a bit, and that feels great as well. I don’t have very much control of my right hand so I have to be really aware of holding onto the reins—I have to look down to see myself holding them because I can’t feel the reins at all. When I was on Wyatt I actually jumped a jump and let go of the reins—luckily he was very kind to me and pulled up!
I’m not ready to go to an event tomorrow, but the fact that I can ride and feel comfortable is great for my morale. Right now, three feet seems really big! My flat work is fine, but jumping will take me a little bit longer as I have to get used to having no feeling in my right hand. Some people thought I would have a hard time jumping because they equate my stroke injury with a brain injury, and they thought my timing would be affected. My timing is great to the jump, the problem is I can’t count the striding quickly enough in my head, and counting is how I always kept my rhythm. Now I have to feel the rhythm and that helps me out.
My foot is completely healed and I have also been given the go-ahead to exercise. I can’t run yet, but I’ll be able to in a couple weeks and I’m really looking forward to getting back into shape.
As far as everything else at Surefire goes, we’re in full swing preparing for the horse trials on the 26th and 27th. Kendyl and Anisa Tracy, Courtney Olmstead and now Meghan O’Donoghue have been really great staining, painting, roping and weeding. Ann and Hanna Krueger have arrived at the farm and they’re going to help out as well as get some lessons and compete. My nephew, Zack, will be here to help and my parents, Dick and Jo, as well as Helen Murray and Jill and Kelty O’Donoghue are coming to pitch in.
We have some good course changes this year for our event and quite a few entries and hopefully everything will go as planned. I’m really looking forward to everyone having a great time. Course builder Trav Schick and his helpers, Josh Sylce and Joe Stylos, have been here for a week and Tremaine Cooper, the course designer, arrived last night. And of course Tom has been a huge help all along—he built our new bank and organized the setting of all the dressage rings. I feel like I’m living in a frat house—usually there are a lot of girls around here but right now it’s all boys!
On a sad note, my dear friend, Chips Chester, is actually not doing very well as he’s been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He’s coming out to the event and hoping to see his horse, Why Not, run with Phillip. Chips is a really a special person to me and I am so fortunate to have him as a supporter and friend for so long.
Spring Horse Trials Report
First, I have to brag about my students for a little bit. Jessica Hampf, who rides for Canada, did her first Rolex Kentucky with her horse, High Society III. I’ve been helping Jessica for a while, and this year she stayed at Surefire for two weeks prior to Kentucky and worked with me. I was happy to be able to be at Rolex and help her, too. They had a great performance for their first four-star. She did have a stop on cross-country, but all in all had a great competition from start to finish. I was especially impressed with how well both Jessica and her horse handled the pressure, and feel they came out of the event for the better. It was really fun for me to not only coach her, but also to work with David O’Connor, the Canadian team coach, who was very impressed with the job I’ve done with Jessica, one of their listed riders. The Canadians had a great performance at Kentucky, and I think it’s due to all of David’s hard work.
To brag some more, another student, Anisa Tracy and her horse, Tigger VIII, were 2nd at the CIC 2-star at Fairhill in April and won the CIC 2-star at Chattahoochee Hills. Her sister, Kendyl, won her Preliminary division at MCTA and was 3rd in the CIC 1-star at Fairhill with her horse Ever So Lucky. Congratulations!
After getting back from Kentucky, we took J.R. and Syd up to Phillip’s so that J.R. could get ready for Jersey Fresh and Syd for Chattahoochee Hills. Phillip basically gave Silva Martin a schedule for them so that she could work with them on the flat. Silva’s been a huge supporter and good friend since I first met her and does an incredible job. Phillip just jumped the horses when he needed to, which I don’t think it’s the easiest job for him because doesn’t get to ride the horses very often. Phillip’s worked with me to make it affordable, and so has Silva, which I appreciate so much. They are a really nice combination for both Syd and J.R.
I didn’t go to Jersey to watch, but I know Phillip was disappointed with his dressage, feeling the trot work was very good but that J.R. fell apart a little in his canter work. In support of Phillip, the horse is not broke enough on the flat yet, and you almost have to get lucky in your warm-up with J.R. to time the whole thing just right for a good test. As far as show jumping goes, he was his normal brilliant self. Phillip now refers to J.R. as his little buddy. J.R. was on a little bit of a holiday after Jersey, and has just started back hacking this week. Plans are up in the air for him right now. Phillip and I are going to come up with a plan A for him and a plan B for me, but right now we’re just taking things one day at a time.
I did get to go to Chattahoochee Hills to watch Syd’s first competition back with Phillip riding. First, I went to have my hand operated on by my hand surgeon in Augusta. He had suggested I have the Carpal Tunnel operation to give me the best chance to regain more feeling in my right hand. My mom was kind enough to go with me. We drove down Wednesday night, I had the surgery Thursday morning, and then we drove down to Chattahoochee Hills, where I helped Anisa on the flat so she could have a lesson the day before she competed.
Phillip thought J.R. was the bee’s knees until he rode Syd at Chattahoochee! It was fun to see Syd out—he seemed so happy to be at a competition again, doing his job. He didn’t have the best score after dressage, but the test was actually really good—I feel he was better than his scored reflected. Phillip and I decided to let the Syd run around cross-country slowly because it was his first time competing since last July. He gave his usual unbelievable effort, and really tested Phillip at one point, spooking at a jump in the water. He almost jumped Phillip out the tack! When Phillip was done and I asked him how it had gone, he said, “The other horse (J.R.) is good, this one is great!” In show jumping, Syd was unreal. There were two clean rounds beside his; he was amazing! He was just jumping out of his skin. We forget how much our horses like this sport. I think if Syd were a person, he would have been smiling the whole weekend.
 Phillip and Syd Kent at Chattahoochee
My friend, Scotty Keach, rode Why Not for me at Plantation in the Preliminary, where he won, and also at Virginia. Virginia was very slippery on cross-country because of the rain, but Scotty said Wyatt was really good. Scotty has put a lot of time into Wyatt, but unfortunately for me, he has a job this summer in New Hampshire, and so Phillip is taking over the ride. I told Phillip to ride Wyatt to see what he thought of him, and that we would take it from there. I told him, “Wyatt’s better than you’d think.” After riding him, Phillip said, “You’re right, the horse is amazing.” He’s a funny horse; you have to get to know him a little a bit because he doesn’t trust people very much. Phillip’s going to ride him at Waredaca this weekend, and I think we’ll try and get him qualified for the 2-star at Fairhill this fall.
I sold Jack (Walstraed) to a girl named Julia Ennis, a student of Kim’s. They went to their first competition at Virginia and won their Training division. Congratulations! I’m so happy Jack has his own person who loves him. Kim says they’re like two peas in a pod.
I do have sad news that my groom, Lizzie, has left after taking such good care of me for the last two years. We’ll all miss her very much.
As far as I go, I’m still taking things day to day, which is all I can do at this point. I’m continuing with speech therapy and I’ll be doing that for a while. I also have hand therapy three times a week. Sometimes it feels like therapy is taking over my life, but if I want to get better I have to keep at it.
My foot is coming along after my surgery to fix the bones that were broken last summer that didn’t heal correctly. I have a boot on it now rather than a cast to keep it supported. I go back to that doctor on the 10th of June and should be able to start some real aerobic exercises after that. Hopefully, I will also start really riding after that as well. My plan is to start some light riding at the end of June and see how it goes. It seems like my hand is going to be the one thing that holds me back because I still don’t have feeling in some of my fingers.
I’m so thankful for the support I get, from my parents to Tom to Phillip and all my great friends. I couldn’t do it without all of them. I continue to get such nice e-mails and cards from people. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that because this isn’t the easiest road, that’s for sure. I’ve not gone a day without crying since my accident, but sometimes they are tears of joy as well. And I’m getting good at being an owner—at least one way I can still be a part of my sport and profession.
Update from Jan, May 4th
A lot has happened since I got home. First of all, I can now talk well enough to dictate my updates, which is a huge improvement. I can tell you that this has not come without a lot of work! Something you never want to have to do is to learn to talk again. People take speaking for granted, how to form all the letters and words and sounds with their mouth as I’ve been relearning to do for the last ten weeks. I still don’t sound like myself yet, and I’m not sure I will sound like myself when I get done with this—the doctors say that in about six months to a year I should be about as good as I’m going to get. That’s very hard for me to accept, but just like riding, I have to be patient.
I do outpatient physical therapy for my hand three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I have to work my right hand for ten minutes every hour to regain the flexibility. I don’t have feeling in my hand yet, but they think that it will come back. I hurt my median nerve when I fell and that is what allows a sense of feel in your first three fingers: thumb, pointer and middle. I have speech therapy Tuesday and Thursday and I practice that four times a day on top of the talking I do teaching or just speaking with people. My staff has been incredibly patient with me, as well as my mom, dad and Tom. I think I’m very lucky to have them. The hardest thing for me is that I can think about what I want to say and do, but getting it out of my mouth is so incredibly frustrating.
I do have more bad news—my foot, which broke last summer in a fall, didn’t heal correctly and I have not been able to wear normal shoes since. I have a bone protruding out of my foot that the doctors are going to cut off and I’ll be in a cast for six to eight weeks. I’m hoping I can get everything taken care of, so that by July I’ll be back on two feet with two hands and a horse! We all take these things for granted. I just have to deal with what I’ve been dealt.
On the horse side of things, I've been riding Chip Chester’s horse, Max. My mom or the guys in the barn go with me, at the walk only. It’s so nice to sit on a horse you can’t even imagine it! I’ve been teaching since I got home, too. I’m lucky because most people who ride with me know me well enough to understand what I'm saying, so I think they’ve gotten a lot out of our lessons. They seem happy to have me teaching them anyway.
 
Teaching Maggie Sharpe; lesson assistant Jo Byyny with Jan
I’ve been very lucky to have J.R. and Waterfront competed by Phillip, which has been mostly good, and sometimes not so good. As most of you know, Waterfront went to Kentucky. He was okay in the dressage, but had run out to the left at the coffin on cross-country. Phillip had been held for Ollie’s fall, and as we could see on the monitor, he borrowed a cell phone and dialed a number. We all thought he was calling me, but he was calling Evie to have her ask me what I wanted him to do. I told him it was up to him. He opted to retire Waterfront from the course. Everybody knows the rules—if you’re held you can’t use a cell phone at all or you will be eliminated. The more important point of this is about my horse running out to the left again at this level. If it had been me, I would have blamed myself, just as I did at Pau last year when I was kicking myself that Waterfront had had a run out and I didn’t feel I knew to get it done on him. He’s so tricky about the left rein and ducking out. Phillip said he gave him a really good ride, and that the horse just didn’t want to do it, because it was actually harder to run out than jump the fence. So I think this summer, I’ll use Waterfront to get back into my riding because he’s so nice and quiet, and then I’ll lease him to somebody to get miles at the two- or three-star level. He’s been a great horse for me—he’s been second at four three-stars and has won a couple of Advanced horse trials. He’s a great three-star horse, but as we all know, not every horse is cut out for the four-star level.
Meanwhile, Phillip has J.R. for this week so he can get him ready for the three-star at Jersey. I feel it’s good that Phillip’s keeping my horses going in their careers so they can do what they like to do. At this point, I’m not thinking I’m not going to ride again, so I want to have my horses on track for me when I’m back at it. Also, being an owner is a new perspective for me, and it’s kind of nice to see your horses go with someone else. It’s a really nice way to be involved in a horse sport—I hope everybody reading this gets the hint!
Also, as J.R. is getting ready to do Jersey Fresh, I have more exciting news—Syd Kent is going to do the Advanced at Chattahoochee Hills the weekend after Jersey. From an owner’s perspective, I was thinking I would wait until July or August to start Syd, but I think it’s better for him to run sooner and more fun for Chips and me to get him back out. Meanwhile, Jack and Wyatt are going to go to Plantation this weekend with Scotty Keach. Scotty and I traded stalls for rides so I could have someone to compete those two. I’m hoping Courtney will start competing Jack and Wyatt in June. And of course Lizzie and Courtney will be competing my three five-year-olds. All the youngsters are for sale, so anybody who wants a nice horse might want to look them up on the website while you’re here, and then come see them at the farm.
Between Jersey, Chattahoochee, Plantation and my foot operation, wish me good luck!
Update on Jan, March 23rd
After a very positive check-up with Jan’s doctors on the 15th, we left Aiken and drove home to Virginia. We arrived to stacks of cards and beautiful flowers that had been delivered to the farm, and Jan wants to be sure that everyone knows how much she appreciates people’s thoughtfulness, concern and offers to help. The support shown is truly amazing and brings tears to our eyes!
Jan is improving every day and in the last few days has begun speaking more and more words, at times stringing them together into short sentences. She’s even given Courtney riding lessons a few times! We put together a list of common expressions used in teaching riding that Jan points to and I then say out loud, and along with some pantomiming and a word spoken by Jan here and there, we get the point across. She also still uses her alphabet chart to spell out words for me to then say to the rider.
We all went to Vicky’s birthday party a few days ago, and Jan was able to “talk” using her alphabet chart, a few spoken words and charades. It’s been great to see dear friends and ease back into being around people.
We’re cautiously optimistic that Jan will continue to progress in her recovery, and are really encouraged by the improvements she’s shown lately. Her thought processes are fine, the articulation of those thoughts will slowly return with time and therapy. Physically, though her fractured arm is still in a cast, Jan is fully independent and able to take care of herself and go about daily activities without much assistance at all. She’ll begin speech, physical and occupational outpatient therapy this week, but just going about her day, interacting with others and being on the farm is all therapeutic and beneficial. Anyone who knows Jan knows that she’s working as hard as possible to regain her speech and get back to riding and teaching!
There’s also a new addition to Surefire Farm—as if we didn’t have enough to think about—a Lurcher puppy named Talisman.
Jan is so grateful to everyone who’s pitched in to make this all work, especially Lizzie, Courtney and Miguel for keeping the barn and horses going, and to Scott Keach and Phillip Dutton for stepping in and competing her horses. And a special thank you goes to Tom, for everything he does and his support.
Jo Byyny
March 23, 2010
Update on Jan, March 9th
We wanted to let everyone know how Jan is progressing since her fall at Pinetop, and to thank everyone for the incredible support we’ve received.
As a result of her accident, Jan’s carotid artery was dissected, resulting in a minor stroke that caused damage to the language area of her brain. This has affected her ability to speak but not her comprehension, so that she is fully aware of what is going on around her and communicates with her doctors and us using a variety of non-verbal methods. You can imagine how frustrating this is for her!
On Monday, she underwent surgery to repair her fractured arm, which required lots of screws to hold everything together. She’ll be in a cast for about six weeks. Jan’s working hard at speech and physical therapy, and will be moving to Walton Rehab for the week before heading home to Virginia and outpatient therapy.
We and Jan are so thankful for the expressions of concern and well-wishes from friends, supporters and the eventing community. We’re especially grateful to Lizzie, Courtney, Miguel, Anisa, Kendyl and Maggie for taking such good care of Jan’s horses and barn in Aiken, and to Christy for managing everything at home in Virginia.
Dick and Jo Byyny
March 9, 2010
Update on Jan, March 4th
Jo and I, Jan's mother and father, want to update everyone on her condition. Jan had a serious fall at Pinetop Horse Trials on February 28, was unconscious for about two minutes and suffered multiple contusions and a fractured right forearm. She was transported to the hospital in Augusta for evaluation and care. She is still hospitalized, but is stable, alert, oriented and walking. Her horse, Jack, is fine. Many have been concerned about Jan and she greatly appreciates all of your thoughts and prayers. We will try to keep you informed about her progress as things develop. She knows many of you care about her and wish her the best and we all thank you for your concern and support. Cards can be sent to Surefire Farm, 20490 St. Louis Rd., Purcellville, VA 20132 and we'll make sure she gets them.
Richard and Jo Byyny
March 4, 2010
Aiken
The Surefire crew is now in Aiken and like just about everywhere, we haven’t been blessed with great weather. But, the footing here is sandy enough that after about nine in morning, it’s soft enough to ride. The horses and Surefire crew settled in really well, no thanks to me but lots of thanks to Lizzie, Courtney and Miguel—I’m very, very lucky to have such a great staff. The only unfortunate news to start off 2010 is that I had to put Echo down, which was incredibly sad as she was a great dog and I miss her every day. Other than that, things are good. We have a nice addition to our team this year—Courtney Olmstead, Lizzie’s husband, has joined us. We miss Nikki Smith a lot, but she’s got a great position working for Buck Davidson and loves it.
As far as the horses go, I had some really good lessons with Oded Shimoni in mid-January. Will Coleman and I split the cost of bringing him up from Florida for a couple days—an expensive undertaking—and I had four lessons each day on Waterfront, J.R., Jack and Wyatt. Being able to ride all four was incredibly beneficial, and it was especially nice because I was able to ride Waterfront with Oded, who got on him before me both days. Because Waterfront doesn’t look the same as he feels, it helped that Oded understood what I was experiencing. He felt that Waterfront has balance problem but agreed that you can’t tell by looking at him. He was thrilled with all my other horses, and felt they had progressed since the last time he saw them.
Oded was pleased with my progress as well, but encouraged me to push for next level—no rest for the weary! Luckily, I thrive on that. Sometimes getting to that next level can be a little frustrating, and I might have shed a tear or two riding J.R. as we worked on collecting his canter. A bit of a lack of communication and frustration with myself may have gotten to me a little. J.R. is very difficult for me to ride because the half-halt is still unconfirmed, so in my effort to achieve collection and have him stay through in his back, I was confused about exactly what Oded was asking me to do. Sometimes you don’t know until you’re trying to do something that you don’t understand how to do it! And sometimes, pushing through the frustration of that is the best thing you can do. When you get to the other side, you can appreciate how educational the process is for you and your horse. Both J.R. and I learned a lot, and I think Silva Martin would be very proud of everything she’s helped me learn.
Toward the end of January I had a little break from reality and went to Hawaii for a week with Tom and my folks. It was great to see everyone and so worth taking the time to spend with them — you only have one family! Lizzie, Courtney and Miguel held down the fort and did such a great job that I came home, went to Full Gallop, and won on three of my horses! Everyone from Surefire got a ribbon except for my lovely young mare Allie (Twice a Star). My superstar “babies” Walstraed and Why Not won Training A and Training B (Wyatt on his dressage score of 23.2). The Surefire homebreds—Anwar, Star and Allie—all did their first event. Maggie Sharpe has an exciting new horse—she’s leasing Shared Dreams—which has been an education and pleasure for all of us. Maggie has great horses and with “Whitey” added to her string, I’m sure she’ll learn so much and gain lots of confidence. It’s so nice seeing the horse that made my career every day, happy as a little clam.
Full Gallop was extremely fun, and not only were my “babies” Wyatt and Jack superstars, the Surefire homebreds—Anwar, Star and Allie—all did their first event. Julia Spatt and Tazzmania came from Colorado to try and qualify for Young Riders (she’s the one on the cover of last issue of USEA magazine). It’s been really nice for us having her in the barn and educational for her. John Staples and I both try to help the Colorado kids as much as we can.
We moved quickly on from Full Gallop and four days later competed at Sporting Days, where everyone moved up a level. As you all know, some days are diamonds and some days are stones. I didn’t come home with all the blue ribbons this time, though the rest from the farm were very competitive. Po Tatham came down from Virginia to join us and compete her horses and was second on My Security Blanket in OTA and won TH on Astaire to the Future. Maggie Sharpe won the Young Rider Preliminary division on Shared Dreams and was second on Terryberry in OTB and fifth on F.I.S. Almighty Bruce in ONB, and Kendyl Tracy won the dressage in that division and finished fourth on Ever So Lucky.
As far as I go, I have to keep things in perspective when looking at the scoreboard. My horses were actually much better than the scores reflected, and I think that we’ll see a different result the next time out. Why Not was still a little worried about the water and my homebreds only learned from the mistakes they made on course. Jack deserves kudos as he was fantastic. He’s not ready to run for time, and even though it might be a little old-fashioned, I believe in waiting till they’re ready and moving up when it’s easy for them. Sunday afternoon I was scheduled to ride in the High Performance training session but decided it was just too much to try and fit in. I did ride J.R. Monday morning with Mark and then Waterfront with Oded.
With Mark, I had the half-halt lesson I’ve has for the last five years—if you feel like you’re repeating the same thing over and over again in your riding, I can give you all hope. Every time I think I’m doing it right, someone shows me another way to make my horse understand the half halt better. We dramatically pushed J.R. by slowing him down to really capture his hind legs. On my own, I haven’t been that aggressive getting the point across. I worked at really pushing the half-halt by changing pace in order to carry the hind legs back and forward again. Waterfront was excellent with Oded. He made me push the envelope as far as movement goes, and made sure I had a good connection on the outside reins—all great stuff to go home and practice and that’s what this is all about.
Last but not least, I’m pleased to report that Syd Kent is happy, fat and up to trotting for 15 minutes. We have a lot going on in a very short amount of time here in Aiken and I’ll try to keep everyone up-to-date. That’s all for now!
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