TELL THEIR STORIES ROADS
so they learn to trust. I ride BB around my 40 acres and down the neighborhood roads. We go galloping in the field and do stuff that makes him happy and is not complicated. And I’ve always come home,” she explains with a laugh. “I’ve done it and Anne’s done it. I’m grateful to have her
to ride him but also I appreciate that she steps away. There is no reason to look sheepish about being an amateur,” says Janet, whose father taught her to ride when she was growing up in Aurora, Illinois, using the U.S. Cavalry horse mastership manual from his service in the ROTC. Last October, Janet and the exuberant BB headed south
for the eight-hour drive to the championships in Los Angeles, “which was a big deal,” she explains. “The first day of classes I went to the show office to scratch the warm up class because I knew he would be high as a kite in the new environment. I asked about schooling him but all the arenas were in use for the day. So I said ‘put me back in the class again.’” When BB is excited, he tends to bolt and buck a bit. But
to her surprise she could keep control of him in the class and they won it with a 70.6 percent. “He really suits me. He’s just so cute and extremely
affectionate. And he’s like a sports car. He can be extremely exuberant,” Janet says. That alacrity helped him be a star at the championships
but once home again, and after a good rest, Janet and Anne noticed that BB didn’t feel quite right. “He’s a very forward horse. It’s one of the things I love about him. But suddenly he lost his go,” Janet says. She fussed over his saddle and his shoeing, trying to find a reason for the change. In December, she took him to the University of California
at Davis Veterinary School, on the same campus where she is a lecturer in the sociology graduate school. She requested a full blood panel, which suggested that his diet needed a change. Currently, he is on a high protein and calcium supplement that is making a difference. The fact that this pair performed so well at the championships, despite the physical challenges Janet faced in the months before and those BB faced afterwards,
their life. Three winners at last year’s GAIG/USDF Regional Championships followed. Their stories serve as a reminder that, while dressage looks so it knows just how much effort and commitment is required to succeed.
demonstrates the tightness of their relationship, the determination of their temperaments and their talents as horse and rider. “Thank goodness I have a good horse and a good trainer.
We’ll get through it,” Janet says. “I don’t mean to mislead with an all-too-rosy impression of my ‘elder riding years.’ But horses and riding having been a lifetime commitment. It has never occurred to me that I should stop. And now, the only time I feel graceful is on a horse. So I’m pretty determined to keep going.”
By Patti Schofler
Janet and BB win the AA First Level Championship in August 2012 at the Golden State Warm Up, Cool Down Dressage show in Elk Grove, CA.
Warmbloods Today 19
Megan Sartore Sheri Scott
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