going on with Winny. Her friends at the barn were also in- credibly supportive. “They let me ride their horses so I didn’t go crazy, and they made Winny ‘Welcome Home’ banners upon his return to the barn.”
2012 Back to Work, Just in Time After the third surgery, Winzalot went to a rehabilitation facil- ity for a few weeks where they did the belly band care and he was kept in a sterile environment. He had to continue to wear the band for four to six months after being released from the rehab facility. Even the towels that touched the wound had to be changed twice a day. Finally, in Feb- ruary of 2012, the vets said Winny could be ridden again, though he still needed the support of his belly band. “So, after six months off, I started riding him bareback with the band. In order to qualify for the NAJYRC in 2012, we had to be back in the show ring by the beginning of April,” she reports. The competition is held annually in July. For about a month and a half, she rode him bareback, getting him strong in his work and building up his stomach and back muscles enough so that he could wear tack again. In March, they were cleared to start riding with tack, but he still wore his belly band in his stall. Miraculously, they were back in the show ring by April. “His recovery was amazingly fast, probably due in part to the hours upon hours of hand walking we did before he was allowed to be ridden. And it helped that he was incredibly well behaved during his rehab,” explains Jamie. The pair qualified again for the NAJYRC in 2012, this time
in the Young Rider division since Jamie no longer was eligible as a Junior rider. They helped their team win the silver medal that year and gained valuable experience.
2013 Solid, Winning Performances In July of 2013 the twenty-year-old and her nine-year-old gelding took their third trip in four years to Kentucky for the NAJYRC and were clearly in top form, contributing to their Young Rider team gold with the highest score of the day (in either age division) out of 80 rides in the team test and winning silver in the Young Rider individual test and the free-
Above: Jamie Pestana guided her Winzalot to the highest scoring ride in the Young Rider team test at the 2013 Adequan FEI North American Junior Young Rider Championships in Kentucky to lead their team to gold. Right: A happy Jamie Pestana during the 2013 NAJYRC press conference after taking silver in the Young Rider freestyle.
20 November/December 2013
style. It was truly a fabulous comeback. Jamie’s response to it demonstrates how much her outlook on competing—and owning horses—has matured. “Before his surgeries, we had been drilling for NAJYRC.
There had been many tough competitions in a row and we were focused on doing well in Kentucky,” she says. ”Then when he got sick, it made me take a step back and remem- ber how much I care about him. He is not just my teammate or my partner in the show ring. He is my pet and my friend. While we all hold our horses to high expecta- tions, their care, health and happiness should always come first. One day he was a show horse, the next I would have been happy if he could have been my pasture pet. It really puts things into perspective. It also showed me so much about his heart, determina- tion and strength.” Jamie is in her third year
of college studying exercise biology at the University of California, Davis, with aspi- rations to go on to physical
therapy. She is studying abroad in Australia for the 2013 fall quarter. While she is “down under” her mother has taken over the ride on Winzalot and plans to show him at Intermediaire. Jamie, who is coached by her mother and also rides regu-
larly with Dennis Callin, Jan Ebeling, Adrienne Lyle, Debbie McDonald and Jeremy Steinberg, is philosophical about her future with Winzalot. “We are not planning anything defini- tive for Winny’s future. I do have one more year of eligibility for NAJYRC. However, we have decided 2013 will be Winny’s and my last year at Young Riders. I have had an amazing ex- perience there, but the travel from California to Kentucky is hard on the horses. Coming off a successful third year there, it seems a good way to complete my Young Rider career. The only reason to go back would be to try for that gold medal one last time. After considering the stress it would put on him and the cost just to try for one medal higher, it makes more sense to put the time and the money into continuing his training up the levels. Our next goal is to move up to Grand Prix, whenever that may be. With me in school and with my experience with Winny’s surgeries, I have found it’s better to not put an exact time frame on our goals. So Grand Prix may be this year or the year after. Whenever it is, I look forward to continuing to train and work with my amazing horse.”
Dee Kochensparger/MacMillan Photography
Allen MacMillan/MacMillan Photography
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