sons in those workshops, he ambled back to the barn with a big grin on his face—no really, he did! And as time went on, and no soundness problems of any
kind arose, it became more and more clear that he was eager to learn even the trickiest, most difficult movements. His pirouetes came without any trouble, and then the passage and piaffe, with more and more liſt and rhythm, until they reached at least the “satisfactory” level. Te hard part for Wind-
fall turned out to be the single tempis. He could do them, but preferred to just canter out away from them aſter four or so. Old habits die hard, and good event horses, if nothing else, are forward-thinking at all times. Cheryl just kept chipping away at this, until those 15 single fly- ing changes in a row came this summer, almost like a break-through. And so, with a combined
age of 82, Cheryl and Windfall decided to take a shot at Grand Prix, at a public venue, just once. Te timing worked out to do this at the Hoosier Horse Park on September 14 and 15, 2013. Cheryl had done this Grand Prix thing quite successfully before, with our homebred Trakehner mare Hera (by Garibaldi, out of Havel by Matador) but had not been in the saddle in a dressage ring in five years, and Wind- fall in four. So there was a lot of what we will just call “angst” going into it. Te goal was to prove competence, which Cheryl hoped would translate out to a 60%. An arbitrary line indeed, but reasonable as well. Off they went in the trailer one morning, big smiles
all around. She took great care to not leave out the tiniest detail of good trailering, and plenty of time was allowed to get adjusted to the strange place the day before the first of two rides. (Te Hoosier Horse Park was the venue of the 1987 Pam-Am Games, where Peter Gray won the individual bronze medal in Eventing on another ATA stallion, the great Amiego.) On the first day, Cheryl and Windfall entered at A with
alacrity and performed the test accurately, but without the same quality in the harder movements as they did at home, and Cheryl said she made some riding mistakes. Te score came back 58. 51%. Tat night she found it hard to sleep, a problem she vir-
tually never has. She worried about leting Windfall down. Tere was no doubt whatsoever that if she could string together a complete test with the same qualities that he was
Photos by Tim Holekamp
consistently producing at home, a score well into the 60s was in their reach, like the golden ring on the merry-go-round. But it was up to her, not him, in her mind. Five years out of competition weighs hard on one’s confidence. Te second day came bright and clear with a mid-70s
temperature and a light breeze. Perfect. Te tack was just right, the horse groomed, braided and spiffed to near- perfection. Te warm-up went well and once again, in they cantered. Tis time things were beter, for sure. But later when she reviewed the video, Cheryl saw riding errors that leſt her aggravated with herself. And yet it seemed like their performance just might make that magic num- ber she’d set as a goal. We waited, and waited, and back came the score: 59.22%! Naturally we were
leſt feeling frustrated
but, honestly, one player just could not have cared less - Windfall. He was so happy to be “out there” again, and try- ing his best and showing off and winning applause. It was a fabulous success. Just ask him, he is 21 years old and still grinning like a boy as he heads to his pasture.
Windfall began his career with Ingrid Klimke.
Tey won every CIC held in Germany in 1999, and also won the German Professional Riders’ Championship. At age nine he was purchased by Tim Holekamp and over the next eight years, under Darren Chiacchia, became the most ac- complished stallion in the sport, worldwide. He won the 2003 individual Pan-Am gold medal, the 2004 Rolex CCI**** (new format), and then earned one of the three scores that won the 2004 Olympic team bronze medal at Athens for the United States. He retired in 2009 with the sec- ond most award points (formerly grading points) of any horse in the history of U.S. eventing. His approximately 200 foals all over the world carry on his reputation today.
SPECIAL TRKEHNER SECTION Warmbloods Today 67
American Trakehner Association
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