Trust Is Key for Catherine Tyree in Vermont
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HORSE SHOWS Catherine Tyree rebounded from a tough winter to win the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix with Don't Go at the Vermont Summer Celebration. hen entering the ring Trust Is Key For Catherine for the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Tyree In Vermont Grand Prix in East WDorset, Vt., on Aug. 13, Catherine Tyree hoped to win—not necessarily for After a tragic beginning to her season, she relies herself, but for her mount Don’t Go. on her strong relationship with Don’t Go to win “I wanted to pull it together for him, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration because he tries so hard every time we go in the ring,” said Tyree. “He’s Grand Prix. such a fighter, and if I have one down, it’s usually a mistake that I made. So, I really wanted to pull it together, and BY LAURA LEMON I was really determined when I went PHOTOS BY ANDREW RYBACK into the ring.” 108 The Chronicle of the Horse On—Laphaela, Raphael) when she ahead of their North Run barn purchased him at the beginning of 2013. mates Addison Gierkink and S & L $50,000 “He was just so simple and straight- Slingback. VERMONT SUMMER forward,” she said. “If I made a little “I missed a good chunk of the year, CELEBRATION GRAND PRIX mistake here or there, he wasn’t fazed and I really just wanted to try and East Dorset, Vt.—Aug. 13 by it at all, and he just kept going. He get back in shape and get comfortable has a really big heart, and I think that’s again in the ring as soon as possible,” HORSE/RIDER FAULTS TIME PURSE what drew me to him.” said Tyree. “So that was my main 1. Don't Go/ 0-0 40.45 $15,000 Tom, now 14, hasn’t proven Tyree focus. It took a few weeks to figure out Catherine Tyree wrong. Her trust in him helped Tyree my balance again, but I wanted to be 2. S & L 0-0 40.47 11,000 get back in the show ring this June after on my game as soon as possible for my Slingback/ Addison a tough accident five months earlier horses, because they try so hard every Gierkink at the Winter Equestrian Festival time.” 3. Sans Soucis Z/ 0-0 41.27 6,500 (Fla.), when her mare Free Style VH Tyree is about to enter her senior Michael Hughes Polderhof collapsed and died of what year at Northwestern University (Ill.). 4. Day Deam/ 0-0 41.56 4,000 Jimmy Torano Tyree said was a suspected aneurysm “I’m not writing off having a job in the while competing in a 1.45-meter class. real world,” she said. “I’m very open 5. Acardi Du 0-0 42.04 3,000 Huissoit Z/Sam Tyree went to the hospital after the to anything right now and just kind of Walker accident and suffered eight fractures in seeing what’s going to happen.” 6. Corleone/ 0-0 42.18 2,500 her foot. Two things remains certain: She will Catherine Tyree “I was on crutches until the end of continue riding, and she will always 7. Twan/Cormac 0-0 43.65 2,000 Hanley April, and then I started riding three have Tom. “I do know that horses are days after they told me I could walk always going to be a part of my life,” 8. Calumpi/Eliza 0-0 44.77 1,500 Month again,” said Tyree, 22, of Chicago. she said. 9. Denver Van't 0-4 40.24 1,500 “I spent a lot of time at the barn, Goemanshof/ actually, even though I was on A Learning—And Winning— Addison Gierkink crutches, and I just got to spend Experience 10. Captain Caruso/ 0-4 41.02 1,000 a lot of time with my horses,” she Since she stands at about 5'1", the Cormac Hanley continued. “Even if I don’t get to ride 1.40-meter and 1.45-meter jumps in 11. Casino Royale/ 0-10 48.36 1,000 them, just being around them is really the $10,000 Theory Welcome Stake on Amanda Strain special. I have such a good relation- Aug. 11 seemed to tower over Alexandra 12. Baldino 0-VW - 1,000 ship with all of my horses, and I love Pielet as she walked the course. Du'Rouet/Amy Momrow seeing them. This was the 14-year-old’s biggest Also competed: 13. Bling Bling/M. Leffler, 4; 14. “When I was coming back, Tom was class to date, and she and her trainer Offenbach Du Granit/L. Fischer, 4; 15. Waltraut/D. a really good horse to have,” Tyree Valerie Renihan of Findlay’s Ridge LLC Raposa, 4; 16. Virginia W Z/M. Hughes, 4; 17. Cal- las III/D. Torano, 4; 18. Cash Z/A. Alvarez, 8; 19. added. “I did my first class back on in North Salem, N.Y., wanted to use it Leander/L. Kelly, 8; 20. Risque Tout/A. Strain, 8; him, just because I know him inside as preparation for the fall indoor shows 21. Cordaba AG Z/K. Herrera, 8; 22. Vantina HPF/L. Sheridan, 8; Stalypso Dream/C. McGrath, E; Carlot/M. and out. The other two horses that I and the U.S. Equestrian Federation Leffler, E; Matilda/T. Erwin, VW. have are relatively new in comparison National Junior Jumper Championships to him. I know him so well that I felt Prix des States (Pa.). very safe and comfortable the first few “We walked the welcome, and times back in the ring.” [Renihan] was like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of Tyree began her two-week stay at Tyree’s gutsy round in East Dorset big. You have never done this before. the Vermont Summer Festival with a was the fastest of eight in the jump-off. We’re just going to do the high [junior win in the $10,000 Overland Sheepskin “I knew in the jump-off where I would jumpers] and be comfortable in it,’ ” said Co. Welcome Stake, but after 4-fault take a bit of a risk, and he was great the teenager from Chicago. “It was a lot rounds in the $30,000 Manchester & the whole way around,” said Tyree. to take in. And then [she said], ‘Well, at The Mountains Grand Prix and the “I think I really play off my relation- indoors, it’s going to be this big or even $10,000 Theory Welcome Stake, she ship with him. I was able to just keep bigger. So I say, why not?’ ” wanted to show that she and “Tom” galloping, and towards the end of the Pielet started training with Renihan could walk away with their first grand jump-off especially, I just went and in February, having only competed in prix win together. trusted him, and I never really had to the low and medium junior jumpers “He’s one that I can always count take back at all. He jumped great. He at the Winter Equestrian Festival with on,” she said. “He’s really competitive jumps really well out of a gallop, so I Co-Pielet LLC’s Helene VE (Diamant de in the ring, wherever you go, so I’m knew that I could just keep going and Semilly—Skippy II). But the 9-year-old always pretty confident on him.” trust that he would try to leave the mare kept impressing Renihan, so the Tyree instantly connected with jumps up.” team decided to try the High Junior/ the gray Oldenburg stallion (Come The pair finished just .02 seconds Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic at August 29, 2016 • chronofhorse.com 109 HORSE SHOWS the Showplace Spring Warm Up I (Ill.), With six horses competing in the Summer Festival with another win where Pielet and Helene VE were third. jump-off and only one other going in the $10,000 High Junior/Amateur- They’ve kept improving since. clear before her, Pielet decided to go Owner Jumper Classic, where Pielet “She was an investment from my for the blue. was also third on her other mount old trainer,” said Pielet. “She was only “There was a green oxer that was Borindy. meant to do the children’s jumpers huge,” said Renihan, “and in the jump- “She’s a lot of fun to train,” said and the low [juniors]. And then we off, she turned back inside to that thing Renihan. “She’s at the age where it’s all did the mediums and highs. She was and two strides away just kicked on and exciting, and she’s got a great attitude. only meant to start out little. She’s just met it perfectly. I thought, ‘Wow. That’s She’s got a great sense of humor, so it performing amazing, so we just kept impressive.’ ” makes it really fun, because you can going up.” “Going to the jump-off, I really just joke with her. And, you know, the other “You know, you watch her do the chil- picked up the pace, and I went for thing is you can put the pressure on her dren’s, and [you think], ‘Oh that works, it,” said Pielet. “I just wasn’t second a little bit.” but that’s right about what she is,’ ” said guessing it.” Pielet, who is about to start her Renihan. “Then they move up to the As a result, Pielet and Helene VE sophomore year at Highland Park lows, and you’re like, ‘Oh, she’s cute.