American Competition Opportunities

for Riders with Disabilities, Inc.


EQUESTRIAN UPDATE Newsletter MAY 2000

GREAT NEWS! We are working on ACORD’s 2001 Season—how about a spring show in Florida and two shows in the Midwest to add to our schedule!!?? Details will be forthcoming as we get our committees organized.

GEORGIA SHOW REGISTRATION PACKAGES are available. Please contact me if you want to join us at the Georgia show in July.

First Annual VARIETY SALUTE Benefit & Dressage Clinic with Jerry Schwartz at Indian Hills Training Center, Gilberts, Illinois, April 29 & 30, 2000

Love at first sight? Incredible luck? Amazing opportunity? Add 8 riders with disabilities to one top-notch dressage trainer in Chicago and what do you get? A whole much greater than the sum of it’s parts! Add in a professionally-managed benefit and equestrian performance that raised more than $12,000 and off we go down the road to Sydney.

The event was organized to fund several ACORD endeavors this year: sponsorship for the twelve qualifying riders’ expenses to get to the May Trials at USET, the Developing Rider Competition Camp at our Georgia show in July, the Team Challenge at the North American Young Riders’ Championships at High Prairie Farm in Colorado.

The Variety Salute was that extremely rare event—a combination of expertise, warmth, drive, compassion, beauty, skill, sharing, learning, talent, daring, teaching and hard work.

Carrie Schwartz and I worked non-stop from December through April to organize the first annual ACORD Variety Salute Benefit and Dressage Clinic for Riders with Disabilities at the Indian Hills Training Center in Gilberts, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The event was composed of several parts: two days of intense clinics for the twelve riders qualified for selection to go to Sydney with Jerry Schwartz, one of the best dressage instructors in the US; a benefit reception in the barn aisles with catered goodies, terrific beverages, handsome decoration and a huge silent auction; an extravagantly-produced performance with lights, camera, action featuring seven equestrian acts; the American Warmblood inspections and .… several news articles and the front page of the Chicago Tribune Metro!! .

Eight riders, six of them Sydney Paralympic contenders, descended upon the hamlet of Gilberts on Thursday, April 27 to be matched with one of Linda Fritsch’s fine horses and check into the luxurious Crowne Plaza Hotel in Elgin. The weather throughout the weekend was perfect, thanks to the Weather Goddess. (It was raining on Monday morning, of course, but we didn’t care going to the Airport.)

Friday found us schooling at the huge Indian Hills Training Center (the place is enormous—easily big enough to hold a World Championships) with a get-acquainted rider meeting with Jerry in the afternoon. (Not necessary for me to attend, I already loved the man.) The benefit performance rehearsal was scheduled for 5 pm; our ACORD VIP guests acted as the audience and were delighted with the calibre of the acts that Carrie had booked. We enjoyed our usual dinner and required laughter session together at the hotel (I would surely hate to be a waiter for this group) and appreciated the easy access throughout the hotel for the people using chairs.

Saturday dawned bright and blustery, moving us all inside for the first ride at 8 am. Each rider received a monogrammed saddle pad from The Tack Shop and ACORD T-shirts and enamel & gold pins. Riders had 40 minute sessions with Jerry (appropriately wearing his Australian duster coat) and lunchtime was spent with questions empathetically answered and ideas shared. Rides continued throughout the afternoon, Jerry intuitively connecting with each rider and delighting them all with his ability to communicate clearly and quickly. The riders all agreed with Linda Fritsch, Jerry Schwartz is "absolutely fantastic". And Jerry tells me that the feeling is mutual—he was impressed and moved by our riders’ determination and skill.

Carrie and I, with lots of volunteers, had bustled about decorating, organizing, setting up all day. By 5:30 most of us had returned from the hotel all clean and shiny to greet our guests. As Deb Lewin said when I complimented her on her outfit: "It’s easy, just put me in the cross-ties and hose me down". Truth is, Deb makes anything look easy!

Our group looked fantastic in our party clothes (some of us nearly unrecognizable) - what a luxury to have the time to shower and change after a long day in the sun and dust— and we greeted nearly 150 people who had come out to support us. They all admired the new Cadillac sport utility vehicle flanked with Home Depot’s flowers at the entrance. The silent auction items were beautifully laid out by Jennifer Kotylo and Leslie Kowitz, Rosanne Zink of Sault & Pepper Catering had extravagant stations of hors d’eouvres along the aisle—the bar was definitely the most interesting feature after a hard day’s work. "Mingle, mingle" was the cry, and mingle we did—old friends Howard & Martha Simpson came from Tempel Farms, Sandy Collins, our Team Challenge Coordinator at NAYRC was there, and we met lots of new people from every equestrian discipline, as well as "non-horsie people" interested in supporting our athletes. I was Producer Carrie’s trainee for the performance—my I learned a lot hanging out behind the curtains.

The performance began with Yvonne Barteau and Chimon, Grand Prix Dressage to music—precision, style and elegance, who could want more?. Yvonne was followed by Inger Roth, Bitsy and Fonzie, a skilled and comical dog and pony show. Terri Summer and the five darling Cadence Vaulters with Belgian Bo (the size of a small house) got everybody groovin’ with their energetic Michael Jackson routine. Bo had the best collected canter!

Ed McGlade, President of the Midwest Reining Horse Association, next did an exciting reining pattern on Hesa Dun It Dude to the music of Whitney Houston’s "I will always love you". The music was most appropriate, as this was Dude’s last performance with Ed, and we retired him in style with a ribbon rosette and carrots. The vaulters helped me lead him off "into the sunset" and the littlest vaulter came out to hold Ed’s hand. Not many eyes were dry as Ed said goodbye to the Dude.

Then the lights dimmed, the drums rolled and from the back of the arena burst a black stallion, completely at liberty. As Marsel careened around the huge arena showing his athletic self off and bringing gasps from the crowd, Kim Barteau appeared with two long white wands and began directing a routine to music, all without a piece of tack on the stallion. Even the non-equestrians were thrilled.

To the sound of Brenda Yost’s horn, thirty-six Mill Creek Hunt Foxhounds then flowed in like a river—they were well-trained, they were quick and agile—and they were cute! It seemed to us that whipper-in Meghan Richard knew every one by name as she cantered along behind the pack. Many in the audience had never seen hounds and horses work together before—it was quite a treat. Jim Campbell told the audience a little bit about ACORD, the riders we serve and the Paralympic contenders. Rounding out our evening’s performance were three talented Grand Prix Jumpers, Lauren Pries, Erin Glowe and Sara White zooming over pastel-colored flowered jumps on their gorgeous horses. A grand finale wound everything up and sent us all of for the sweets table and the last bids for silent auction items.

Sunday morning found us back in the saddle at 8 am for another round of instruction—Jerry was delighted with each rider’s concentration on what they had covered the day before. The horses were (mostly) well behaved, relatives and friends were dropping by, the press was shooting film and interviewing everyone, the warmbloods were being inspected inside so we could peek in and watch … a terrific equestrian day in the spring sun. The Variety Salute experience was just such a delight—we are confident that next year’s will be just as nice.

Tremendous thanks are due to all the riders, performers, the big group of volunteers, Emcee Van Pell, sound techs Jerry Schwartz and Stephanie Hoyt. We are very grateful to our sponsors and donors: Robert Oury of the Indian Hills Training Center, Town & Country Cadillac, Linda Wing of the Tack Box, Carousel Linens, Sault & Pepper Catering, Professional’s Choice, Dressage Haus Plus, Home Depot, Howard & Martha Simpson of Tempel Farms, Michiana Dressage Club, Troyer’s Saddlery, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Leather Therapy, and all the guests who bid madly on the silent auction items.

Heartfelt thanks to Linda and Ernie Fritsch for always being there for us with advice, hugs and those wonderful horses: Miss Jane Marple, Rochy, Chamonix, Lady, Bubble and Squeak. This wonderful first annual Victory Salute would not have been possible without the help of these excellent ACORD staffers: MaryJo Beckman, Jim Campbell, MaryAnne & Jerry Dalton, Joelle Devlin, Michelle Jordan, Sue Dobson Nora Grassmyer, Jennifer John, Hallie McEvoy, Theresa Zezulak, Dave Ryckman, John Weiner and the two greatest people in the world … Carrie & Jerry Schwartz.

From Deb Lewin: "You know there were a million other benefits, clinics and events going on that weekend all over the world, including ours … so that makes the Variety Salute ONE IN A MILLION … and it really was!" From Mary Green: "The Variety Salute Benefit & Clinic was a great learning experience for me … and the timing for it was perfect for the upcoming Selection Trials. I now know what to work on to obtain a higher score in competition. Jerry Schwartz was excellent in rooting out my riding problems and presenting different ways for me to improve.

Press? Did we get Press?? How about the front page of Chicago Tribune Metro Section—with two photos?? And every horsie magazine I saw had printed Hallie McEvoy’s press release. THANK YOU, Hallie!

Of course we’re already planning next year!!

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

By the time you read this, Selection Trials for the 2000 Sydney Paralympic TeamUSA will be coming right up in the middle of May where the talented six riders to represent us all in Australia will be picked.

It’s unfortunate for our group that the Olympic Dressage Selection Trials were moved to Florida due to a virus that could possibly affect the Olympic horses’ ability to travel to Europe for further competition right after Trials. But of course we don’t let a little thing like this slow us down, and we are very grateful to be using the USET headquarters the weekend of May 20

If you didn’t get to Trials personally to cheer on the contenders, plan to attend the USET’s Festival of Champions at Gladstone the third weekend in June where the 2000 TeamUSA riders will be competing in the 3rd Annual Challenge of Champions.

Four teams are formed, comprised of an athlete from each of the Festival disciplines: Driving, Show Jumping, Dressge, Eventing, the newest discipline Reining and our riders with Freestyle Musical Dressage. These teams’ scores from their respective competitions are compiled for an over –all Bradshaw Challenge of Champions winner. It’s an exciting challenge—last year, our Margo O’Callaghan was the tie-breaking ride!

Last year we knocked ‘em dead in our matching shirts and decorated golf carts, creating lots of attention—plan to be at Gladstone in June!

UPHA EXCEPTIONAL CHALLENGE CUP After talking with the folks at the United Professional Horsemen’s Association, we’ve decided to add the UPHA class to our Georgia show. The top six qualifiers in this class, which is held at shows around the country, are invited to compete at the American Royal in Kansas City in November. They ride in front of a huge audience on a big championship night. Deb Lewin from Texas took the Championship last year. UPHA and the American Royal throw a terrific reception following a lavish awards ceremony.

The class is open to all walk/trot English Equitation riders, 12 and over, with any disability, riding a mare or gelding of any breed. Independent riders are eligible, and may use a safety spotter in the ring if they wish. Riders are judged as a group on the rail in both directions, with individual workouts following. We are grateful to the UPHA for funding ribbons and trophies for this class and giving riders a chance for real VIP treatment at the American Royal in November.

ACORD AWARDS MORE THAN $4,000 to TWELVE PARALYMPIC QUALIFIERS

ACORD will fund hotel and travel expenses for the twelve riders qualified for Selection Trials at Gladstone. A very important part of ACORD’s mission statement is to support competition expenses for our athletes … we are most pleased to be able to do this for Trials. Our funds are raised by contributions from corporations and individuals … Carrie Schwartz deserves special recognition for organizing the first annual Variety Salute Benefit. We are grateful to you all!

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

I just received a flyer from the UNITED PROFESSIONAL HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION (UPHA) with a gorgeous color photo of Deb Lewin on her borrowed horse with coach Gail Pace and American Royal Horse Show representatives. Deb was the 1999 Exceptional Challenge Cup Champion. I must say everyone, including her horse, has a big smile. The horse has an absolutely darling face and looks like the type of horse you wish for on your way to a competition! (Webmasters comment (and brag   ;-). It was Cory, my 19YO TB mare that Deb rode last year at the Therapeutic Horsemanship Dressage Schooling Show. Also featured in several pictures {chestnut mare}on the ACORD website. Pictures were from her experience at the Paralympics in Atlanta in '96, Tim S.)

HELP WANTED: Come join us in paradise! Northern California is a great place to live, and BOK Ranch is a family-run success story for the past 15 years. Located in Los Altos Hills, about 35 miles south of San Francisco, BOK is looking for a riding instructor interested in working with children with disabilities. BOK is celebrating their 15th anniversary (seems like yesterday!) and has a terrific reputation with riders, volunteers and the community. Excellent on-the-job training is offered to a person with an equine background. The job is part-time, including Saturdays, with flexible hours and the program runs March through November. The starting rate is $18 per hour. For more information, please contact: Ann Kulchin at 650 366 2265 or email her at bokranch@aol.com.

"HORSE NEWS", April 2000, had a super article by Nancy Degutis and photos about Selection Trials and our need to use borrowed horses. The article chronicled the efforts of Colleen Mitchell from Hunterdon County, NJ as she made finding horses for Trials a priority. She also helped gather volunteers and grooms for the event. Colleen was at the USDF Annual Convention in Denver last December and heard Hope Hand’s speech describing our new USDF committee and the need for borrowed horses. Peter Lert, through CDS and USDF, has been very helpful getting the word out that we need quality horses for our international riders to compete on. The USET hosted a "Lend A Horse" open house in February where Kathy Whelan, Hope Hand and Barb Grassmyer were demo riders.

While talking with Trials TD Sandy Dota, HORSE NEWS’ Degutis became so interested in Dota’s background that she wrote a huge article about her, "Accident Opens Door to Second Career", in the same issue. A great photo of Sandy and Bo Diddley accompanied the article, which chronicled Sandy’s accomplishments over the years. The article began with Sandy’s marriage to her high school sweetheart (darling Louie is still a sweetheart!), through her riding, teaching, driving, international competition, judging, the 1993 National Horse Show at the Meadowlands, and her countless hours serving all of us with many equine organizations. As I’ve always said, Sandy Dota is a woman you can take anywhere—she’s been there, done that—and always with a smile and a nice word for everybody.

FRAN JOSWICK CENTER welcomes Don Jackson, that Stable Manager with the terrific public relations personality. Don was at Little Bit for three years; at Joswick, some of his new duties include program coordination, teaching and stable management. There’s a great photo of Don in the FJC newsletter with his arms around four women—I’m so lad to see that the move from Seattle hasn’t changed him!

Jana Holland writes us from Grand Prairie TX, just outside Dallas, after finding our Website. Jana gets "show fever" every spring, she owns a black & white pinto mare and found a great trainer, showing western nearly every month. Jana is gradually losing her sight. After she was unable to continue driving, she continued to show but it gradually got too difficult and dangerous. She has a great horse with the ability to do a lot of things. Jana has shown her in the ring, on trail rides, parades, barrels, driving, team penning (but this Texas mare isn’t very good with cows!). Jana knows there are lots of people like her out there (and I agree) and she wants to find them to get some ideas on how to continue to enjoy competition with her lovely horse. She works full time, so lessons at a therapeutic center are difficult to schedule. Jana says "if it had not been for my horse, I don’t know how I would have gotten through the loss of my sight". I think we can all relate to this, right? Jana, of course, would be welcome at any of our ACORD shows, but she’d really like to learn some tricks to continue showing locally. Please contact Jana if you have encouragement or some ideas about what kind of accommodations she can make to continue showing. Her email is: jholland@atriumcomp.com.

CERTIFIED HORSEMANSHIP ASSOCIATION—CHA Introducing a new program in 2000: Certification of Instructors of Riders with Disabilities (IRD). The program is designed to meet eductional and certification needs of instructors who provide therapeutic, recreational or mainstream riding for people with disibilities. Certification is available at four levels: a) Horse Handler b) Assistant c) Levels 1-4 d) Clinician. For more information, call 800 399 0138 or visit the website: www.cha-ahse.org.

SIX RIDERS SELECTED for the 2000 TEAM CHALLENGE at the NORTH AMERICAN YOUNG RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS at High Prairie Farms in Colorado

ACORD is pleased to announce the six talented equestrians who will make up our part of the 2000 Team Challenge, riding Musical Freestyle Dressage. : Becca Hart, Pennsylvania Bret Brannan, Georgia Amy Gee, Indiana Chris Lipe, Georgia Meghan Strigh, New Jersey Shoena Townsend, Missouri Team Challenge Coaches are: Mary Frankel Linda Fritsch Sandy Rafferty

We were certainly delighted to be invited back this year, even though the event runs right after our Georgia Show and Competition Camp, meaning some riders had to choose between the two. The NAYRC, presented by State Line Tack, begins on Tuesday, August 1, with the Team Challenge on Saturday at noon, and ends with a lavish Olympic-style Awards Ceremony on Sunday.

Two television networks will cover the event: Outdoor Life Network and Fox Sports! Thanks to Dutchess of ACORD Hallie McEvoy for organizing this special treat. Watch local listings for times.

NAYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for young riders, and equestrian athletes come from the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands to vie for the Championships. The competition in Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing is run under rules of the FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale, the international governing body for equestrian sport). The NAYRC is also designated an official United States Junior Olympics Equestrian Event.

We had a fabulous time at Tempel Farms last year and are looking forward to August with great enthusiasm! Jane McBride is our Local Honcho and already has great horses lined up for us. Sandy Dota will again serve as Chef d’Equipe, and the staff will be announced shortly. Of course we need volunteers! Just step right up, we can use your help. Please contact Sandy or me if you can spend a week with us in the gorgeous high plains of Colorado.

DONATING HORSES for RIDERS with DISABILITIES

We were recently contacted by a generous woman looking for a home for her lovely, sweet, friendly, talented thoroughbred who happens to have arthritis. Sandy Dota wrote an article several years ago which explains the parameters of a horse who might be suitable for a disabled rider. We’d like to share that article with you now. It applies to a therapeutic center and also to Competition Managers looking for borrowed horses.

THE "PERFECT" DONATION?

I'm sure that at one time or another, you've had a phone call that starts out, "I've got the perfect horse for your therapeutic riding program. He's practically a family pet, so you know he's dead quiet. We want to make sure he gets a perfect home for his retirement years."

But what does "dead quiet" really mean? And what about the"filly that is just a baby, so she has no vices and you could train her to fit your needs?" Or, how about the horses with the "littles" . . . just a little blind, a little deaf, a little lame, or he likes to "nibble" at you a little.

The following are a few prospective donations that were offered to several operating centers in New Jersey. I share them to give you the same chuckle I had upon hearing them. They are written exactly as received.

Of course none of these horses were accepted or even considered.

While some operating centers might have the facility to board, and the staff to train young horses, most do not. Also, some people think disabled horses are perfect for disabled riders. They don't understand the full scope of therapeutic riding and may think you're just giving pony rides.

Don't forget the legal implications that come with accepting an unsound horse into a program. For example, what if you accept a horse known to stumble because of navicular? Should the horse stumble, causing the rider to fall and get hurt, you may be liable for negligence resulting in legal action. Why? Because you knew beforehand that this horse was lame and prone to stumble.

When declining a donation, this might be a good time to extend an invitation to the donor to visit your center and see your riders in action. What better way to educate your equine associates! They'll see disabled riders walking, trotting, cantering, jumping and driving. Then, they'll understand your equine needs more fully.

The facts of what we do are pretty firm: a hippotherapy horse must have 2nd level dressage training minimum, a horse over 16 hands is too tall for sidewalkers, a tall horse that’s not completely sound can’t be used for an independent rider, many horses work at least 4 hours a day so they must be fit, horses who show are often shared by 2 or 3 riders and they better be fit, an international rider needs a very well-trained dressage horse who is also very safe.

Now this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a great home out there for My Therapist (Arty) who came to us from our website, it just probably is not at an Operating Center for riders with disabilities. You may know someone who loves to trail ride, would provide a good home and lots of love for a 17-year-old TB, a 16.3 handsome chestnut with a big blaze. He’s very friendly and loves people and children. He has no vices, and except for the arthritis, he is in excellent health. He has show and dressage experience. He needs a good home with lots of turn-out, arthritis medication, tons of love and carrots. Photos are available.

For more information, contact Marya Zubaty at 630 208 8099 email macink@aol.com.

THANK GOODNESS FOR E-MAIL! ACORD heard from Julie Givans at STABLE INFLUENCE in Chandler, AZ when they were planning their very first show. We gave all the advice we could think of, and just received a very nice thank-you email from Julie. The show was held the last weekend of March and … "everybody had a great time! Riders, parents and volunteers all said they enjoyed it immensely. We started very small with just Obstacle and Pole Bending, each divided into Walk, Trot with 2-3 aides and Trot with 1 aide. We got our feet wet and had a ball."

Now, we can probably look forward to a big show in a couple of years, since Julie was clever enough to keep the first one small and FUN! Wouldn’t you love to spend a winter week in Arizona?

JUST SET A GOOD EXAMPLE, I always say

At the California Dressage Society Annual Meeting, Clinician Kyra Kirkland and all her riders wore hard hats! Peter Lert also worked on a judge’s program the weekend before, and all the demo riders wore hard hats. Are we making some progress here, or what??? What a terrific example CDS is setting for all!

CALENDAR

June 24 Challenge of Champions at USET Festival of Champions, Gladstone NJ July Great Britain Internationals

July 25-30 4th Annual ACORD Georgia Show & Competition Camp, Atlanta August 1-6 Team Challenge at North American Young Riders’ Champs, Denver

Aug 17-20 Carriage Driving World Championships, Austria

Oct 14-15 TRAV Southern VA State Show, Lexington

October 7 3rd Annual ACORD SoCA Show, Rancho Cucamonga

Oct 18-29 Paralympics, Sydney, Australia

October 28 3rd Annual NoCA show, San Francisco

Oct/Nov 4th Annual ACORD Gulf Coast Show, Baton Rouge November NARHA Conference, Minneapolis

Nov 29 USDF Annual Convention, Cincinnatti Watch for details on new shows in Florida and the Midwest in 2001!

EQUESTRIAN UPDATE is a quarterly newsletter published by ACORD with input from members of America’s equestrian organizations.

EQUESTRIAN UPDATE covers competition opportunities for athletes with disabilities in the United States and internationally. Our goal: more athletes at more events

We welcome your items Please fax, mail or e-mail to: Judy Serie Nagy Fax 408 261 9438 5303 Felter Road, San Jose CA 95132 danivar@aol.com

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