likes it,” Sharon says. “He’s an amazing cross-country horse. In the beginning if he didn’t understand something, he’d turn around and run the other direction, but we lived through all that and now I’d put anyone on him to go cross-country.”
He is also one of the more personable horses in the
stables. “He’s hilarious, he rides with his head out the trailer and flaps his lips in the wind, like a Labrador – he loves it and it’s so funny! That’s his personality type right there, no worries in life at all!” After finishing tenth in his first Advanced at The Fork
and seventh in the CCI3* at the Jersey Fresh Three-Day Event this spring, Wundermaske, whose barn name is Patch, may head to England this fall for the Blenheim three-day event or perhaps to Boekelo in the Netherlands. Patch’s ownership is
now a group affair. Sharon states that Dale will always be an owner, and the horse also has another owner named Sheri Weber who came on board when one of her homebred horses was in training with Sharon but was struck by lightning. “She really wants a big- time horse so I ended up giving part of Patch to her,” explains Sharon. “It’s really good karma. She’s awesome, and helps support him, and it’s all good energy and a lot of fun.”
Reggie’s owner, Adrienne Classen, told EventingNation.
com, “In the ensuing years since Sharon took over the ride on Reg, she has become not only the trusted rider of my best horse, but one of my closest friends, which is something none of us could have predicted. I find, at least for me, that it is rare to make new very close friends as an adult, so this has been an added gift.” While Reggie has been recuperating and Wunder- maske and Don Shufro have been shining at the upper levels, Sharon also has some wonderfully bred young horses coming along. Adrienne Classen also has a five-year-old by a son of Riverman and Sharon owns a five-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred, both whom are competing at training level. Sharon is also riding another former racehorse named Star, owned by Kim Clark, who won the “Breeder’s Bridge to High Performance” contest sponsored by John Madden last year (see Warmbloods Today’s July/ August 2012 issue). “I’m really excited for
Sharon and her new mare Under Suspection won on their dressage score at Open Prelim at Fair Hill International in May.
those three horses. I also have a homebred of mine that I’m thrilled about. She’s pretty naughty right now but in the future she will be amazing! She’s working on Prelim right
Bright Future Coming back from his injury at Burghley, Rafferty’s Rules is now in full flat work and Sharon is hoping that he can do a three-day this fall. His story of recovery is one that should inspire horse owners everywhere. “First he banged a leg, which was no big deal, but then he ended up foundering because he was so fit and stuck in a stall,” explains Sharon. “It’s been quite amazing— thanks to our vets, I think he’ll make a full recovery. He became sound quickly, even with rotation of the coffin bone. We made him a special paddock and a stall with a deep sand pen to move around in, because it’s all about circulation. We did anything and everything to make sure he could move around a lot. Locking a horse—especially one fit for upper-level eventing—in a stall is so hard on them. My vet took x-rays a few days ago and said if he didn’t know Reggie, he wouldn’t know that he’d foundered. I think it’s important that people know this can happen and not to give up. Horses are tough!”
now but she’s like having a teenager in the barn. We just have to live through these years.” The newest face in the barn is “Under Suspection,”
a nine-year-old Holsteiner mare that just arrived from Germany. She previously did a couple of two-stars with German Olympian Dirk Schrade. “Marianne Ghabban bought her for me,” explains
Sharon. “She went to Blenheim and Burghley with Reggie, and she was really excited about the whole thing and wanted to become an owner. We spent months looking and traveling and trying to find the right horse and I’m really excited with what we ended up with. The mare just arrived a week ago and I took her to a dressage show right away, because Reggie got an abscess and couldn’t compete. She won her tests with 71 and 72 percent, so I’m psyched!” Sharon has certainly seen plenty of ups and down
in her career. With an enormously supportive group of friends and owners and many talented, promising horses as her partners, she is looking forward to achieving great things this show season and for many more to come.
Warmbloods Today 25
GRC Photo
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