2010 Anne L. Barlow Ramsay Grant
Award Presentation:
The 2010 Anne L. Barlow Ramsay Grant was presented to recipient, Jennifer S. Williams, on July 24, 2010. Maryal Barnett, Board Member of The Dressage Foundation, made the presentation to Jennifer at Dressage at Lamplight.
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Maryal Barnett (right) presenting the Ramsay Grant plaque to Jennifer S. Williams. Paula Helm (left) also attended the presentation. |
Jennifer's Report from Germany:
2010 was an incredible year. I feel so fortunate and honored to have been selected to receive such a generous and important gift from The Dressage Foundation and Dr. Ramsay. My horse, Wistar, and I had an experience of a lifetime; one that I will never forget.
When I heard the news of being awarded the grant I was elated. I received the call from The Dressage Foundation January of 2010 early one morning as I was walking Wistar out from a fantastic ride. I was overcome with joy to know that the two years of hard work, higher Grand Prix scores and hours spent working on grant applications had all come together to allow me to experience this prestigious golden ticket abroad. My first call was to my mentor Steffen Peters to give him the great news. He has been very supportive throughout this 2-year process and had been instrumental in my achieving higher scores and higher quality work. I owed him a big thank you and he expressed his excitement for me. It was a great day.
I left for Germany on October 20th. I had a two-day haul from our lovely 70-acre farm in Roy, WA down to LAX for the flight across the Atlantic. Wistar was loaded on Friday the 22nd and we were on our way. My agent for transport was Jet Pets, and as always, Lindley was fantastic. We arrived into Amsterdam at 2 am pacific, 11 am local time. Wistar was unloaded and kept in the animal hotel until Klatte was cleared for his transport to Catherine Haddad’s barn in Vechta, Germany. This took about 5 hours. We arrived late in the evening and were checked in by Catherine’s assistant Casey Nilsson. Wistar traveled like a champ. He is content wherever he goes.
We began lessons a couple of days after our arrival. Catherine was tough but explained things clearly, concisely and was quick to acknowledge a good moment. We really worked on the influence of my seat and keeping my hands quiet. I needed to learn to get the job done quickly with my half-halt and to have a continually forward-thinking hand. The goal was to be able to push the horse through while giving the hand in a forward way and teach him to come together from his hind leg and not through force. This really resonated with me; Wistar instantly improved. We performed many excellent exercises that improved the horse’s ability to hear my seat while I gave subtle aids.
The time flew during my stay. While my riding became more educated I also learned quite a bit about stable management and competition preparation. The barn was very organized and this inspired me to implement slight changes to make real improvements at my facility. Catherine was gracious to allow me a back stage pass to the Stuttgart horse show where I was able to observe the warm-up to the GP, GPS, freestyle competition, as well as the awards ceremony. The crowd was so electric; it was incredibly motivating! It solidified my feelings of striving to make it to that level of competition among the world’s best riders. The tests flowed effortlessly and the riders were impeccable in their ability to give discreet aids. It was truly dancing!
I was able to meet many folks that were knowledgeable about breeding, riding, and sales. In every aspect there was something for me to learn and apply to my own business and everyday routine. What I found the most enjoyable about Germany and especially the area that I was in was that every weekend there was something horse-related. I visited the Oldenburg auction as well as the PSI auction. I was able to try some of the sales horses at various well-known barns all over the northern areas. At the PSI auction I had the great experience of seeing horses sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars and it was so satisfying to know that my gentleman, Wistar, possessed the quality that matched or surpassed many of them. This is my humble opinion of course.
During my 2-month stay, Catherine invited me to live in her home. She was super and cooked wonderful, healthy meals for me. I felt that I made a great choice in selecting her as my mentor during this time. She was brutally honest and I really respected her for that. Above all else I felt that she was looking out for my best interest and wanted to see me be successful. I made the decision to not show while I was in Germany, which was difficult, but I really wanted to make the absolute most of my training and time there.
I began the journey home on December 15th and was pulling down the driveway to Summervale Farm on the evening of the 18th. The travel home was uneventful and I was so relieved to have my boy tucked into his stall for the night. It was an interesting development but I just made it out in time leaving Germany when I did. The day after a huge storm came through leaving a lot of snow and closing airports for days. Wistar, a stallion, had to be home within 58 days of leaving the USA or would have faced 3 weeks of quarantine and the live covering of mares upon his re-entry. Getting home when I did meant only 2 days quarantine and no breeding. I felt blessed to make it home safe, to have learned so much in my time spent abroad, and to have had such an incredible horse to experience this with. Thank you for all of your support and generosity. I will endeavor to make this country proud and to disseminate all I learned during this experience to better Dressage. It was truly an honor.
My deepest and sincere appreciation,
Jennifer Williams and HS Wistar
Learn more about the Anne L. Barlow Ramsay Annual $25,000 Grant.
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