Jane Rutledge and Gandalf the Grey

Team #75

Having little living family, I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1962, serving overseas in Japan, Thailand and Vietnam (combat zone).  For hobbies, I won a judo black belt in Tokyo and a private pilot license.  At age 35 I had a stroke and retired as a Major.  Without functional legs, I maintained my hunter-jumper riding and learned to mount only using my arms and was jumping again, within three months.  The therapy worked.

left to right - Jen Gage, Janet Foy, Jane Rutledge on Mr. G.

I started breeding Hanoverians and my first mare, Tanya, won the American Hanoverian Society Horse of the Year Inspection in 1982.  Her daughter, Easter, won the Region 5 Champion of the three-day Eventing competition (1992).  Then I obtained my doctorate as a psychologist, from which I retired from private practice after ten years. 

My best friend, Janet Foy (then Brown), found Gandalf the Grey, a Hanoverian born in Germany, when he was eight.  Janet has been my dressage trainer for twenty years.  She saw us through Prix St. Georges last year when Mr. G. was 27.  We also trained with Hilda Gurney three months at a time for three years and she let me and my two Standard Schnauzers live in my trailer behind her house.  When I told her about joining the Century Club, she said "Go for it...Hilda."  With my dressage family, Mr. G., my Schnauzers, and Janet, life is great!