Lynn Whiteley and Bound Tree High Hopes (MN)
Team #942: Lynn Whiteley and Bound Tree High Hopes
From: Maple Plain, Minnesota
Ages: 71 & 29
Combined Ages: 100
Test: Training Level Test 1
I grew up on a farm in Massachusetts, where my family raised Morgan horses. I spent my youth showing pleasure, saddle seat equitation, and driving classes, as well as competing in 25, 35, and 50-mile competitive trail rides. My first dressage test was at the New England Morgan Show when I was 16 or 17, and although my teenage self thought I knew everything about dressage, my score proved that I definitely did not!
While conditioning for an upcoming competitive ride, I met my future husband, Glenn, who also owned Morgans. Later, when our children, Josh and Sarah, joined the local Pony Club, we switched gears to focus on fox hunting and eventing, along with raising a few Morgan foals.
I have my USDF bronze and silver medals, earned on two different horses – Tsunami, an Irish Sport Horse gelding, and Keegan, a Morgan/Rhinelander gelding. Tsunami, purchased when he was seven (an unstarted, freshly gelded, pasture stallion), earned me my First and Second Level scores, while Keegan, purchased as a four-year-old, helped me get my scores at Third and Fourth Level, and Prix St. Georges (PSG).
Bound Tree High Hopes is the last foal we bred. “Hyper” was supposed to be my husband’s event horse, but ended up only maturing to 14.3, so we “sold” him, for a dollar, to our daughter when she graduated from college. She showed him through Second Level, but dressage was not really his thing (he would prefer to drive or go for a bareback ride down the road), so he has been mostly retired for the last 15 years. He has graciously agreed to come out of retirement for one last dressage test for my Century Club ride. I feel fortunate that I am able to do a Century Club ride – something that I was not sure would be possible after a total knee replacement a few months ago – and to be able to do it on a horse that we raised is truly special.
The dressage world is different from what I grew up with, and I am incredibly grateful for all the help and instruction that I have received over the years from Sue Vikstrom and especially Alison Sader-Larson, who helped get me to PSG. Also, thank you to Kathy Theissen for helping get Hyper back into the “groove” for this ride!
