The Year of the Dragon GWEN AND NASH
T
he young rider had literally been waiting her whole life for this moment. The horse van pulled into the Pennsylvania farm after a grueling cross-country trip in
a heat wave so extreme that it was still in the 80s at 3:00 a.m. outside Pittsburgh. Seventeen-year-old Gwen Wojewodka was sure that her new horse would fulfill her dreams of a dressage partnership, victory rounds and happy days together. No more disappointments and tears as horses slipped out of her life. But that was almost
not so for the horse in the van, when two days later Nashville’s intestine flipped over his spleen and he underwent colic surgery. The vets removed one foot
of intestine and gave him a 50 percent chance of surviving. Gwen was devastated but determined not to lose this horse. It had happened too many times before.
How it Began At age seven, Gwen began learning to care for a family friend’s horses. Riding and dressage lessons followed as did her family’s first equine purchase, a Pony of the Americans (POA) trained to First Level. Bought without a vet check, trusting the owners whom Gwen had ridden with for a year, the pony went lame whenever she started work. When they found a suitable home for the pony, Gwen’s
mother Debby recalls with sadness, “We literally had to pull Gwen away from the horse. I’ve never experienced so much anguish. As a mother, I felt responsible for her pain and vowed to do my best to make her dream come true.” Gwen gave up horses for a few years due to the pain it caused her to lose her first pony. But the call was too strong and so the family was back shopping for a new mount. This time the vet approved a four-year-old Half-Arabian mare, interpreting any problems as within the normal range. “Gwen worked with her every night after school, riding and socializing her. She taught her the Parelli ‘seven games’ with ease and the mare trusted Gwen,” Debby recalls. However when the pair started ring work, the mare
was resistant at the canter. Vet exams concluded that her conformation would not hold up to dressage. It was another huge disappointment for Gwen. Debby remembers, “Gwen took the mare for her last trail ride with tears streaming and having second thoughts of parting with her. When the trailer came, we sent it away. The second attempt was in the pouring rain and the mare was difficult to load. So we put her back in the barn. The third time she went on and Gwen suffered heartache again.”
20 March/April 2013
Left: Gwen and her new horse Nashville. Above: Nash recu- perating from colic surgery right after Gwen purchased him.
Finding Nash Next came the torturous search, scanning the internet, viewing videos with friends and trainers, and 16 horse-hunting trips around the northeast in Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. They took one horse on a 30-day trial. That didn’t work out. They paid for three vet checks. Those horses didn’t work out either. About the time they
felt like ending the
pursuit, through a friend of a friend, the Wojewodkas made a connection with Liz Cornell, editor of Warmbloods Today, who advised that they find an older schoolmaster for Gwen. Liz reviewed numerous videos that Debby forwarded to her and suggested they consider a horse in California named Nashville. “Liz contacted California trainer Rebecca Rigdon and asked her to recommend someone local to test ride the talented Dutch horse for us,” Debby says. “The young woman who test rode him described him as having lots of potential and would need some retraining. We put our trust in Liz. The vet check said he was fine for a 16-year-old.” Gwen tried to keep her expectations in tow after looking
at so many horses. “You don’t want to be disappointed, but in his Fourth Level video he was so stunning. He demonstrated such a presence about him that the thought of being able to sit on a horse like that was mind boggling to me,” Gwen says. After his hot August night arrival, unfortunately, Nash
didn’t settle in very well and lost his appetite. Two days later Nash colicked. Under Gwen’s watchful eye, he made it through the ensuing surgery and she finally met the horse she had purchased. No longer lethargic and in pain, Nash emerged, warts and all. “He was a charmer right after the surgery. Everyone falls in love with him,” says Gwen. “He was determined to pull through.” His six month recovery proved to be a challenge. “I admit
I was afraid of him and worried he would pop his stitches. He was such a wild spirit with an attitude. And I guess I was a bit star struck over him,” she says. “I couldn’t walk him out of the barn for grass without him rearing and leaping around and roaring like a dragon.” He quickly earned the name “Dragon Boy.” In fact, the upcoming year, 2012, just so happened to be the Chinese Year of the Dragon. “It soon became our motto,” she adds with a laugh. “The show season of 2012 would be Nashie’s year. It would be the Year of the Dragon.”
Finally in the Saddle By November, Gwen began to slowly work him, but not without doubts. She would dismount wondering if she could
Debby Wojewodka
Debby Wojewodka
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100