Tokaimo 000, to Grand Prix. “Barbara is showing Intermediare I,” Elena says proudly. “She got her qualifying score for regionals and her first score for her gold medal.” Elena extends her gratitude for many friends, clients and sponsors who have helped her and Adesco along their journey to Grand Prix, including her annual trips to Florida for training and competition. Ware and Barbara Grove, Gretchen Levy, Michael Zweig and Tami Kowit are some of those who’ve stood by Elena, especially while she recuperated from her back injury.
Progressing to Grand Prix Both Elena and her horse are strong characters—tough and
Elena and Adesco C in canter, in the Developing Grand Prix Horse Championship.
competed Adesco C in 2007 at Training Level. Soon after, he had another break while she was pregnant with her second child, Max. In 2009, she faced a major challenge to her career. “Unfor-
tunately, when my baby was six months old, I broke my back in a horse accident,” Elena recounts. “So in Adesco’s training, he had some more time off because of my personal circumstances. But I knew he really wanted to come back to work.” “Adesco is the only horse I feel safe to ride,” she continues.
“I never worry about him bucking me off. [When I ride him] he knows and he’s taking care of me. He can buck when he’s free, and he does. I see him in the paddock when he plays and he’s pretty powerful with his bucks, especially when the girls come by.” Elena hasn’t yet bred Adesco C, although she has had him
checked for semen quality. She is planning to have the stallion approved through performance. (He is already approved by the RPSI and the CWHBA.) “He puffs up when he sees mares,” she remarks. “He just has this presence. He knows these are mares, and he tries to handle himself.”
Blue Moon The U.S. is searching for up-and-coming combinations, and
Elena and Adesco C could be one of those, at the start of the new Olympic quadrennium (2013-2016). Meanwhile Elena trains and instructs at Blue Moon Stables in Novelty, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, noting her work with horses of all types and ages. “I train clients’ horses that they can afford. I ask students what is their goal,” she explains. “I still train the classical dressage. We dance!”
Elena strongly admires and adheres to the classical
philosophy of the late Colonel Alois Podhajsky, famous Olympian, author and director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, who wrote, “’I have time’ should be the guiding word especially of dressage riders during the entire course of training . . .” Another favorite Podhajsky quote is, “Horse and rider should always be an aesthetic sight.” One of her clients at Blue Moon is her sponsor of five years, Barbara Grove. Elena has trained Barbara’s Trakehner stallion,
26 January/February 2013
determined as they’ve worked up the levels to Grand Prix. “To me the spirit is very important,” says Elena. “I like the spirit. You have to feel the horse’s spirit.” When she first met Adesco C, she appreciated his expression. “I saw that spark in the eye, and you want to see that spark in a horse.” After recovering from her accident, Elena first showed Adesco
C in Prix St. Georges in 2010, and in 2011 they were Region 2 Champions at Intermediare I. Early in 2012 the pair ventured into their first Grand Prix classes. She trains primarily with George Williams and has also received help from Lars Petersen. “You need somebody. I brought along horses to Grand Prix, but you need someone to be your eyes on the ground. George is really good.” In her training, Elena works to build her horse’s back muscles.
“With a bigger horse, it takes way more to carry all that weight and stay supple. I am building that back, building the hindquarter. We do hill work. Sometimes I ride him twice a day. I’ll do arena work, then I take him out and do the hill work. He loves that since he doesn’t realize he works.” Elena sees her horse’s strong points as his expressive changes and his innate talent for piaffe and passage. “He ‘sits’ and people
In posting trot, Elena encourages Adesco to start collecting the gait, as coached by Ernst Hoyos.
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