Surefire Eventing
  • HOME
  • SUREFIRE EVENTING
    • JAN BYYNY
    • SUREFIRE EVENT TEAM >
      • HORSES
      • SUPPORT
  • LESSONS AND CLINICS
  • SALES
  • BLOG
  • SUPPORT THE TEAM
    • SPONSORSHIP
  • CONTACT

Tremaine Cooper

3/16/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I think I’m still in shock that I won’t see Tremaine Cooper again. As I walked across the field here at Surefire this morning, I was crying and smiling at the same time, remembering all the time he spent here working on our cross-country courses. 

I first met Tremaine at Chesterland Farm when he was riding with Bruce. I also met his future wife, Marion, who was working for Bruce as his secretary, doing everything that job entailed. Tremaine was my friend, my student, the Surefire Horse Trial’s course designer, and someone to share laughs and argue with. In my mind, Tremaine also changed the sport of Eventing in Area 2 in a lot of ways as the mastermind behind the course at Morven Park.
 
One of my best memories of Tremaine is from last January. I needed to empty my manure cart at the barn and I couldn’t get ahold of Tom to help me. Anyone who knows Tom and me and our tractor, well, there’s some issues with me driving it… I can’t find the key, and if I do, I can't drive it because I normally can’t open door, and in the rare circumstance I can, I might sneak on it to move a jump or something, but it’s definitely Tom’s tractor. This particular day, I couldn’t finish the barn without emptying the manure, so I called Tremaine. He came over and kindly walked me through how to start the tractor, what the A, B, and C gears are, how to work the bucket, throttle the engine, how to go forward, how to back up and so on. Because of Tremaine I was successful and I was able to park the tractor, unhook it, and surprise Tom. As soon as I was done unhooking, my phone was ringing and it was Tremaine, just making sure I’d survived my mission and reminding me to turn the key off and take it out of the ignition. He was the best kind of friend.

I will be forever grateful for all the jumps and all the courses he designed for Surefire, all the people he’s introduced to Tom and me and our families, and all the fun we were able to share. My heart breaks for Marion, James, and Sadie, and his dogs, horses and chickens, and everyone else whose life was touched by Tremaine.
Picture
0 Comments

Jinshallah

3/12/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I have sad news from Surefire. I had to put down my Mom and Dad and my Jinshallah, who we called Gino, last week. He had always had a funny bump on his flank, and when I asked a vet a year ago what they thought it was, and they told me they thought it was his sternum, and I never thought twice about it. When my regular vet, Dr. Susan Johns, was in Florida in late February, I asked her what she thought it was, and she said if I wanted to know I should have it ultrasounded. I made an appointment with Dr. Carol Clark at Peterson and Smith. Come to find out from the ultrasound and now the necropsy, Gino had a tumor in his abdomen that was almost three feet long, two-and-a-half feet wide, and two feet deep. The biopsy results showed the tumor was cancerous. It was not attached to his intestines at all, so therefore he never had any digestive symptoms, but in hindsight, he was often grumpy about his right side. It’s amazing that he could jump and perform and never say no with that inside him. The last four days you could see where his belly had started to expand out and he was quite uncomfortable and spent a lot of time laying down. I felt like the only choice I had was to put him down.
​

Gino was one of the most amazing athletes—a great mover and he could jump a house. Of course he was brave as a lion and as clever as a cat, he was the whole package.

Picture
0 Comments

Ocala Continued

3/12/2021

0 Comments

 
This winter, Kaylin Dines has leased my horses Urrem and Volcan de Caverie for four months to do the jumpers. She came to Ocala to show for two week at the World Equestrian Center and did a great job, placing 5th and 8th in her first Classic, and winning a class on Urrem and placing 3rd in the same class with Volcan. It’s been super fun watching both the horses and Kaylin perfecting their skills. She will be back this week for two weeks of showing at HITS. 

This last weekend I did Steely in the Preliminary one-day at Rocking Horse and he was great in the dressage, had a rail down behind out of the combination in the show jumping, and was super cross-country to finish 6th. Hopefully he’ll get sold before I leave Florida, he’s such a nice horse! Storm did the Training and was great in the dressage (although I thought they were hard on his score), beautiful in the show jumping and fun and fast on cross-country. He’ll move up to Modified at Ocala 2. Layla, who I just purchased with my Mom and Dad from Marilyn Payne, did her second Novice. She doesn’t quite understand what her job is yet, but she’s getting the hang of it. She is and will be a super nice horse. Marylin came down to ride her horse, Double Entendre, in her first event this winter and had a super nice dressage, one down in the show jumping, and just a little time cross-country. She’s all prepared for Carolina International on her way home. It was really nice to have her two horses with me this winter and to spend some time with Marilyn and her friend Mary Bancroft. 
We don’t have a lot of time left in Florida but the girls and I have really enjoyed being at Mike and Cherye Huber’s Gold Chip Stables, which we have dubbed Goldfire Stables. I’ve been super lucky to have Kelsey Smith, who started with me last July, helping me all winter. Kelsey’s from Michigan and came to Surefire after a stint in the Peace Corp. Unfortunately for me, she’d always planned to leave at the beginning of April, so will be saying good-bye once we return to Virginia. She’s been an amazing help—super organized, has a great eye for detail, and she does everything with a smile on her face. I’m lucky, though, to have Jessie Biggs helping as well. Jessie came south with me to learn a little bit more about eventing and I’ve decided to hire her and am super excited to have her join the Surefire team.
Picture
Kelsey and Jessie
0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2025
    February 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    September 2023
    July 2023
    April 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Website by Bright Horse Communications