The Gifted Fund

Beth Harris

On November 21, 2002 I was notified that I had been chosen as the USDF Region 6 recipient of The Gifted Fund scholarship for adult amateur dressage riders from The Dressage Foundation. I had to read the message several times and I even had my husband read it to make sure I wasn't dreaming. After I ran around the house jumping up and down, I was struck by how honored I am to have been selected from such a qualified and deserving group of riders.

Although I have been riding since I was 12,I didn't really start studying dressage until the fall of 1999. I had evented for some years prior to that, but dressage was just that unpleasant thing you had to do before you could go jump cross-country. Buying a horse that didn't want to come out of the start box, but had been shown to Third Level, changed all that. Three years later we have our USDF bronze medal, bronze freestyle bar, have shown at Fourth level, and I've developed a real love for dressage.

Double Dutch (aka. Fred) is 18 this year and even with supplements to maintain his joint health, I know that he will soon need to retire from upper level work. Although it eas a bit of a long shot, my plans for 2003 included trying to get my USDF silver medal. The training week funded by the scholarship brought this goal a little more within reach.

I arranged to take my week off in March to coincide with a Carol Plough clinic and in preparation for our first show of the 2003 season. In addition, I scheduled extra lessons with my regular trainer, Janet Herrmann, on my horse and several other horses in the barn. I was also able to enhance my regular fitness routine with some additional yoga classes and one-on-one Pilates sessions.

In my first session with Carol she asked what I was going to show this year. I laughed nervously and said we would continue showing Fourth level, but that I wanted to show Prix St. Georges before I retired Fred. I could tell that she wasn't quite sure how to respond to my ambitious goal, but we continued with our lesson. We worked on keeping his neck supple in the counter canter and maintaining the connection in both reins.

Like most horses, Fred has his issues, and Carol is always helpful by breaking things down to address one piece at a time. She says it's a challenge to work with his physical issues and limitations and that my next horse will seem easy in comparison. We worked on our medium and extended trot, learning to ask for just enough, but not too much, so Fred wouldn't become irregular behind. We also worked on maintaining the suppleness and not letting him cart me away in our lines of changes. It was a positive ride that identified a few areas that needed attention.

The next day we started out with the counter canter and there was a noticeable improvement. After some canter half pass we went straight to the canter pirouettes. After seeing my canter pirouette right Carol expressed concern about showing PSG, but then we showed her our left one and did the PSG trot work and she thought that if we worked a little harder that we could make it happen.

Armed with Carol's encouraging words and the underlying challenge I went to work with Jan. In addition to riding Fred that week I worked with a Training Level horse and a Third Level horse. Each horse had its own strengths and weaknesses and it was a good exercise in being able to adjust to the different responses to the aids to get the most out of each ride. The Third Level horse had a canter that I would call dreamy compared to Fred's -- his feels like you're riding over a washboard gravel road! By the end of the week I was very happy with our progress and amazed at how much we had improved as a result of the consistent training. Having the whole arena to ourselves that week was an added bonus!

Taking a week off with no other obligations also made it possible for me to actually make it to several yoga classes for the first time in months. It's so important to stretch and strengthen in this sport, but it also seems to be the first thing that gets dropped when trying to cram everything into an already busy life. In addition to my regular Pilates class that week I had two one-on-one sessions with my instructor. It was helpful to have her watchful eye as she made subtle corrections to my form.

I gave Fred some time off at the weekend and went to look at some horses in California and Colorado. Although I did not find a new partner on that trip, I saw some lovely horses and met some very nice people who seemed genuinely concerned that I find an appropriate horse.

Carol came back to our barn the next weekend and checked our progress. The half pirouette left got her seal of approval and overall she was very impressed with our improvement. We discussed test strategy and I was grateful for her useful insight from a judge's perspective.

On April 23, just a few days before our first dressage show of the season, I received the sad news that a good friend, Sheila Fenzl, had passed away in a riding accident. It didn't sink in at first, how could she be gone? We had just exchanged e-mails that morning. There was talk of canceling the show, but we all knew that she would have wanted it to go on. She was a very special person whose kindness, generosity and genuine concern for others were apparent to all who were fortunate to have met her. To simply say she will be missed hugely underestimates the impact of her passing. My goals now seemed so insignificant in comparison to the loss of the life of this very special friend. What about Sheila's goals? She had wanted to get her USDF bronze medal this year.

The show went on as planned and included a short break during which we remembered Sheila and acknowledged her passing with a moment of silence. I went ahead and rode, taking strength from recognizing how privileged I am to have known her and to be able to enjoy each and every moment with my horse. I rode Fourth Level Test 3 on Saturday. It was not one of our better tests. I rode early, the air was slightly damp and cool, and Fred was noticeably stiff.

On Sunday, with warmer weather, we made our Prix St. Georges debut. I had borrowed my trainers top hat and as I thanked her for everything she'd done to get us to this point she told me that the top hat had actually belonged to another very special person and horsewoman who passed away on Christmas Eve 2001. I felt truly blessed at that moment and cried some tears of joy as we cantered around the outside of the arena preparing for our entrance at A. We had a couple mistakes but received a score of 59.75%. I was elated!

I would like to thank The Dressage Foundation and The Gifted Fund grant selection committee for this incredible opportunity. In addition to their generosity, I could not have done any of this without a wonderfully supportive husband, patient and inspiring trainers, a great equine partner, his "support" team, and the Once Upon A Horse family of friends.