western riding
From little old Collingham to Kentucky!
Lee Rutter is the head trainer at Oakridge Quarter Horses, Collingham near Newark, Notts but he has been globe-trotting big-style this year! Selected to represent Great Britain at the World Equestrian Games, he has had an awesome season. Here he tells us about his WEG experience.
Lee competed at WEG on a borrowed horse, ‘Setting Off Sparks’ from a USA-based Brit who had the British team’s interests at heart, Rosanne Sternberg (GB team-mate Francesca Sternberg’s sister). Rosanne has a ranch in the USA. ‘Sparkle’ is a 12-year-old mare who has earned many thousands of dollars and produced fabulous offspring. Oakridge’s owner, Lita explained “Lee had to compete
in Oklahoma to a horse show to trial the horses and where he showed Sparkle for the first time and scored 147 under two judges. He ‘plussed’ in 7 of the 8 maneouvres. (Each movement has a standard mark and the judges either add to it - a plus, or take away from it – a minus in order to arrive at their score). Then he spent the next fortnight getting ready for WEG.
on a borrowed horse, because my horse, Santa Cruz Whiz had picked up a minor injury in the summer that interrupted his training programme. We did not want to push him to make WEG. Lee was offered 2 other horses to lease for the event.” Santa is the horse on which Lee qualified for the WEG and also rode in the FEI bronze medal-winning team at the FEI European Reining Championships in 2009.
Lee left England in the last week of August and went straight to Sterling Quarter Horses, Rosanne’s ranch at Pilot Point in Texas, and was based there for four weeks prior to going to Kentucky. He rode a couple of potential WEG horses to try them out for the major competitions ahead. Lee and Sparkle ‘clicked’ straight away and they got along well. During the second week, they went to Tulsa
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They made the 16-hour drive to Kentucky from Texas, driving overnight. They left in the relative cool of the evening at 10pm and arrived at 3pm the next day, losing an hour en route due to the time difference. In order to acclimatise themselves, they were based at Mike Flarida’s ranch for a few days, where they enjoyed slightly cooler weather after the sizzling hot climate in Texas. Then they moved on to the WEG showground and did the trot-up the next day for the vet inspection, which went well.
The competition was spread over two days, with two sections each day, making a total of 4 sections, with one rider from each team competing per section. Lee rode in the second section on the first day. Lee and Sparkle scored a 216. “We had a slight bobble in our right roll-back. I was a very happy
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Reining Champion, Lee Rutter at WEG Photos by Paul Harding,
www.lewisharding.com
boy after that! This was only the second time I’d shown her. As a team we finished ninth,” he said. There were 5 judges giving their 5 individual scores and the highest and lowest scores are discarded. The judges can do a video review afterwards if needed to check any of the movements or scoring.
The selection process means that the top 15 scorers go through to compete as individuals as well and those placed 16th to 36th go into a consolation race and compete again. “I was about 16th or 17th so I had to show again, along with my team-mates Doug Allen and Francesca, so three Brits made it into the consolation round. Lee won this on a 217.5, their highest WEG score! Doug came second which got them both through to the Individual finals and the National Anthem was played and the rosettes awarded, watched by an excited Rosanne and many other enthusiastic supporters. Many of the competitors were interviewed for TV and video after their run, including Lee. All fantastic for team morale and the Brits’ standing in the sport.
In the Individual finals, Doug showed first and scored a 218, his best! Lee scored a 215 and was very
the Games. He’d like to thank Rosanne and particularly Lita and Graham of Oakridge QH for their support, his wife Becky (who is expecting another baby) and the children for putting up with him being away from home for 6 weeks and also thanks to his team-mates.
pleased to finish 15th in the World! Modestly he said he was very happy with that and the whole journey was a lot of fun. “The horse gave her all. She peaked in the consolation and it was awesome; she ran a really nice pattern but felt a little tired by the final but still tried hard,” said Lee.
As well as the actual competitions at WEG, Lee benefited from the expertise of Sean Pulley and Brad Giesbrecht in his run-up to
On arrival back home, it was straight off to another competition for Lee with the Oakridge team! At March in Cambridgeshire, Lee won the British Reining Open Championship on his usual top ride, Lita’s stallion Santa Cruz Whiz, who will stand at stud in 2011. Lee also won the Limited Open Championships on Custom Remedy, owned by Dawn Shakespeare of Notts.
“That was a great finish to the year and amazing straight after WEG!” said Lee.
So what’s next? It is the Europeans next year
and they are also planning for the next WEG in 4 years time with the Oakridge Quarter Horses programme of breeding or buying quality horses. In the meantime, Lee continues to train both himself and others,
western riding
so anyone interested in more details of Oakridge Quarter Horses sales, breeding or training, are invited to get in touch with this World Class team.
The brand new indoor arena is virtually completed at Oakridge and should be ready soon. New for 2011 is the Oakridge series of shows. From affiliated NRHA and AQHA to fun, unaffiliated family shows that everyone can enjoy, they hope to have something for everyone. Starting in March with a training weekend and show, then there’s a general Western Show/ All Breeds, another Training event and show in April, and on 16th April the Spring Slide with NRHA and BR classes, in July there’s the Summer Sizzler with AQHA/ NRHA / BR Show plus BBQ and evening entertainment, in August there’s a general Western Show/ All Breeds on 14th followed on 20th & 21st the Oakridge Shopping Fair equestrian & canine event, in September there’s the NRHA/BR/ AQHA Oakridge Championship Trophy Show , then in October the Halloween Unaffiliated Show open to all breeds. One thing is for sure….You are always guaranteed a warm and friendly welcome, whatever your ability and whatever event you attend.
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