ROCKY DRESSAGE CHAMPS
Some riders face seemingly insurmountable struggles, in their riding and in tell us about their “bumps in the road”—and the sweet, sweet success that amazingly effortless when it is done well, anyone who has ever attempted
Agility at Any Age JANET AND BB
C
alifornian Janet VerPlank has ridden all her life always hoping to find her “perfect match.” In the end, she did, but it was a match she would never have predicted. In 2010, Janet was forced to retire her FEI mare because of
a broken bone in her haunch. They had been together since the mare was three and she was supposed to end up around 16 hands. Janet is 5’3”. The mare grew to 17.2 hands. Her search for a new horse lead her to Baronchelli
(Daddy Cool x Laniette by Dageraad). The imported Dutch gelding fondly called “BB” fit her just fine at 16.1 hands. The questionable issue could have been his age. When Janet bought him, he was four and she was 72. But their age discrepancy never entered her mind. Even though this university sociology professor ‘stole’
from her house fund, she assumed her new purchase would have to be young in order for her to afford the quality she wanted. And that was what friend dressage judge Natalie Lamping found for her at Belinda Nairn’s Inspo Farm in Florida two years ago. From the moment Janet saw him striding across the arena with an amazing walk, it simply never entered her mind that BB was not ideal. Her judgment was confirmed when the pair won the 2012
California Dressage Society Adult Amateur First Level Horse of the Year and took sixth place at the USDF Region 7 Adult Amateur First Level Championship. BB was six; Janet was 74. The accomplishment was especially sweet since Janet was not up to her best game.
Difficulties Arise That summer, Janet, a USDF gold medalist, and BB had competed at a Rancho Murrieta, California show where the extreme temperatures sent Janet spinning. “I hadn’t shown him much because he was and still is young. I went to the show because we needed a qualifying score which we got. But the next day I was so dizzy I could hardly walk across the room,” she recalls of her heat stroke.
18 March/April 2013
“At our next show I was so dizzy my trainer had to warm him up and I got on for five minutes before the test. That was a first for me. I had had surgery, like colic surgery, and they took a foot out of my gut that absorbs electrolytes. I would get so dizzy, I couldn’t trot. Now I drink electrolytes nonstop,” she continues. Anne Reynolds-Charm, who for ten years has taught and
trained out of Janet’s 40-acre farm and boarding facility in Fairfield, California, continued to ride BB at home. But so did Janet. “With Anne,
it’s nice to know someone has your back, like when I was on him the first time he was ever in a covered arena. He kicked the wall and leaped across the arena. I remember thinking ‘we’ve got to land, so I can figure out which way to turn.’ Anne was on a horse and yelled ‘TURN.’ That was teamwork.” Perhaps credit goes to her days as a ‘cowgirl’ and a
Janet and BB showing in 2011 at the CDS and USDF Region 7 Championships.
winning reining competitor for successfully keeping her in the saddle on this and other occasions. However, Janet doesn’t leave her riding to happenstance. She’s a regular at Pilates class and relishes the physical work of running a farm. In addition to working with Anne, she rides with U.S. “S” and FEI “I” dressage judge Lilo Fore and hosts clinics for Dutch “O” judge Francis Verbeek.
Managing BB She is also quick to take BB out of the ring. “I have always believed that with young horses you should take them out
Sheri Scott
BobTarr.com
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