October 2013 EQUESTERA monthly publication of the Wisconsin Dressage & Combined Training Association President’s Message Greetings WDCTA Members! the state board. This year has just flown by. With October These will come the last of the dressage shows and all be horse trials of the season. Congratulations two-year to everyone who qualified for Regionals this terms. If year. Fingers crossed that we’ll have lots of you’d be WDCTA members going to the first U.S. interested Dressage Nationals Nov. 7-10 at the in running Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. for one of the And the Winner is.... positions, Speaking of shows and Regionals…if you please ask a friend to nominate you by 2014 is Just Around the Corner signed up for the WDCTA Dressage or October 15. Nominations can be sent to me WDCTA’s membership year will end on Eventing Awards Program for 2013, don’t at [email protected]. November 30, so our Membership Chair forget your Score Extraordinaire, Diane Brault, is getting ready Report forms must to send out renewal emails soon. Watch for be postmarked by her email. (Rumor has it there will be a October 31 in order “If te world was tuly a drawing for early-bird registrations.) Once for your scores to again, you’ll be able to use PayPal to renew count for year-end your membership. awards. In fairness ratonal place, men would to everybody, there Gracias are no exceptions And, last but not least, I want to thank made to this rule. everyone for being a WDCTA member this ride sidesaddle.” year. I hope it has been a worthwhile Participate and ~Rita Mae Brown experience for you. If you’d like to share Nominate new ideas for activities or about how you’d In more end-of-the-season news, WDCTA like to see WDCTA governed, please chapter officer and state board elections While we’re thinking about nominations, it’s contact me, or any member of the Board. are coming up fast. Do you have ideas never too early to start thinking about the We’d like to hear from you. about how your chapter should be run or members in your chapter who really make a activities you’d like to see your chapter difference. WDCTA recognizes up to four Enjoy this spectacular time of the year with offer? Why not run for a chapter officer Members of the Year at our Educational your horse. Happy trail riding! position? Have you always wanted to Conference & Annual Meeting each year. participate on WDCTA’s state board and Make sure your deserving members get help affect change at the state level? Now nominated by sending in a short description Mary is your chance to get involved! of how your nominee has contributed to WDCTA. Nominations are due by In November, WDCTA will hold an election December 15 to Board Secretary Melinda for three Members-At-Large positions on DeLuca at [email protected]. [1] COPYRIGHT © 2013 Wisconsin Dressage & Combined Training Association Crying “Uncle” or Soldiering On? Dressage is hard. Fun, but still hard in so many cord to our acreage makes it hard for us to get ON THE BIT ways. How so? Let me count thy ways... away together ... and on and on and on. Learning is not always intuitive. When I first Mark said, “You could quit, you know.” started taking lessons, I remember an instructor telling me that you define the bend I snuffled and sniffed and replied in a small and help turn the horse with the outside rein. I voice, “I can’t quit. I’m addicted.” was sure she misspoke and meant I should use the inside rein. Of course, that just resulted That cracked both of us up. in the horse turning its head while continuing in the same direction. Laughter is suppose to be the best medicine, and hopefully that includes helping wounds It’s time-consuming. Especially if you have heal well without stitches. (I just did not want horses at home. Stall cleaning. Buying grain, to go to the ER on a Sunday evening.) hay, shavings. Turn-out. Mowing. Filling water tanks, cleaning buckets. Even if you don’t keep Mark also reminded me that it wasn’t like horses at home, the time spent driving to and Regionals was a bust. That it was only Robby’s Caryn Vesperman from the barn, riding taking lessons, cleaning second show of the year and even though he tack. felt like a volcano on the verge of erupting, he Newsletter Editor basically handled the electric atmosphere by It’s expensive. When I think of the vacations I only being distracted and tense, which did could have taken, the car I could be driving, affect our score, and rightly so. In spite of that, the clothes, the jewelry, a bigger savings he and I still placed 7th out of 25 at Second account, it is eye-opening. (So I’ll keep them Level and were in the victory gallop. closed.) All advertisements, articles He was right, of course, but I always expect so and photographs (with The frustration! How many lessons for how much more of myself, especially when I know many years does one have to take to get my horse is capable of much higher scores. So photo release) should be “good?” then I blame myself. I say if there was a better submitted to the editor by rider on him, he’d really be worked at his true The pain. I have had more broken fingers than capability. That it’s so difficult to progress the 15th of the preceding the Green Bay Packer defensive line. And what when one is balancing so much ... full-time job, month of publication. about that collapsed lung from a slip and fall the farm, family, money, time. with my horse a few years ago?! Good friends of mine have made trips to urgent care, blown I absolutely love horses and thoroughly enjoy Ads and calendar of events out both knees, broken jaws and lost teeth. dressage. I’m grateful to be able to afford it. (Are we having fun yet?) I thank my lucky stars for a husband who submissions will appear in willingly takes care of the place when I go to both the eQuester and on The Incident That Gave Me Pause shows, clinics or travel for work (and finds When I got home from Regional Champion- Band Aids, antibiotic cream or finger splits the WDCTA website. ships at Lamplight Equestrian Center a few when I need them – which seems to be weeks ago, I was thinking about all of the frequently). My trainers and my friends also are above and started feeling down in the dumps. my inspiration and can usually get me back on Payment for advertisements track, both in the saddle and in my head. should be submitted via Of course, there was a trigger point to start my pity party: When I returned home and was Being nosy PayPal through the WDCTA dealing with the horse trailer, the grill of my So how do you keep from throwing in the trailer window came unhooked from above and towel? How do you handle your frustrations? website (www.wdcta.org) swung down, slamming the bridge of my nose. Do you just buckle down in your next lesson? or mailed to the editor. I doubled over holding my bleeding nose, let Do you give yourself a break and just go for go of a few expletive deletives and, with tears trail rides for a few weeks? Do you go get a in my eyes, said to my husband, “I think I manicure? Do you read books authored by CONTACT INFO broke my nose.” dressage experts for ideas and inspiration? (608) 455-2208 If you have thoughts to share about how you Mark led me into the house and got me a get over these humps and “soldier on,” send W1619 King Road towel. I looked in the mirror and thought, them to me. I’m sure others can benefit from “Stitches.” In dismay, I said to Mark that I your suggestions and personal experience. Brooklyn, WI 53521 didn’t know why I keep at this sport ... I’m not [email protected] any good ... I just get hurt ... it costs so much Until next month, enjoy your horses and the money compared to his sport of choice beauty of our Wisconsin falls (‘cuz we all know (golf) ... it takes so much time ... the umbilical the weather that follows!). [2] COPYRIGHT © 2013 Wisconsin Dressage & Combined Training Association A Trip of a Lifetime By Katie Foster one-time tempis one small step at a time, This year I had the incredible opportunity to the horse is able to travel to Europe to observe top trainers and remain in balance riders as part of The Dressage Foundation’s and confident in the Young Rider International Dream Program. changes. Then, after a few months of On our trip, we visited stables in both building upon the England and Germany. In England, we changes, the horse traveled to the stables of Kyra Kyrklund, would be able to Laura Tomlinson and Carl Hester. From perform an entire there, we flew to Germany where we diagonal of ones watched the prestigious World Breeder’s without losing his Championship for Young Horses in Verden confidence and for three days. We also visited the getting tense. Balkenhol’s stable, the DOKR (German team training center), and Hubertus Schmidt’s stable. TOP: Hannah Pierucci, It was an amazing experience to meet one of the selected so many top competitors in the sport young riders on the and observe and learn about their trip, petting Carl training programs.