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P I


ublisher’s Welcome


A Little Bird Told Me


t’s a given that athletes, especially serious competitors, share the all-important traits of persistence and determination to reach their performance goals. And when it comes to horse sports, it’s the added factor of teamwork and communication between


horse and rider that’s so vitally important, as horses are innately hyper-aware of their surroundings, sometimes causing undesirable behavior! But if things aren’t going as planned to reach our equestrian goals, how persistent do we remain? Sometimes all we have to do is


change course just a little bit, and voila, our horse is back on track. Other times, we need to stop, ‘rein back,’ reassess, perhaps with help from a professional, and then proceed with a whole new plan of attack, whether the issues are training-related or physical. It could be that eventually, when we’ve exhausted every angle, we finally realize that it’s best to simply give up. Perhaps I’m getting carried away here, sounding like ‘Debbie Downer,’ but in reality, there are those times when we need to say


‘enough is enough.’ Take for example, eventer Clark Montgomery’s interview (p. 20), where he shares his plight with the four-star event horse Falcon Flight—how the horse was amazing at home, but could never handle the show atmosphere. Clark eventually had to retire the horse, since selling him would be unfair to the horse and to the next owner. In the story about two jumpers who made the switch to hunters (p. 31), Hope and Ned Glynn were faced with a talented jumper who reacted in such exuberant ways aſter taking the bigger jumps that they began to think the horse was unhappy and possibly better suited in the hunter ring. Tis reassessment turned out to be spot on as the horse has won several hunter championships on the West Coast and is more recently thriving with his amateur owner. I have to boast about the article on sending your horse for training in Europe (p. 14). I found the owners’ experiences to be


fascinating as each one had different goals for their horses that led to even more different outcomes. Kudos to Kim Boyer, owner of the P.R.E. stallion Grandioso, who truly persevered to find just the right trainer aſter losing Olympian Courtney King-Dye (who suffered that tragic fall and coma while Grandioso was in training with her). As a result, Grandioso certainly has made his mark in international competition for Spain. Tis issue rounds out with a very good update on the Oldenburg’s jumping division—an important separation that has helped


put more and more Oldenburg jumpers in the international spotlight. We also bring you up to date on another breed known for producing great jumpers, the Selle Français. Te recent rebirth of the American division is important as breeders and competitors now receive support from this side of the Atlantic. You’ll also find the perspective of three riders in the first Charlotte Dujardin clinic quite interesting, as Charlotte definitely kept the riders and audience on their toes! I’ll close with my recent discovery of persistence and determination in the form of a little barn swallow who decided that she was


going to build her nest in my fancy Antares riding helmet. It dangles inconspicuously on a peg in my tack room. One day in late March, I went to use my helmet, and there was a surprise inside. I remembered seeing a bird flutter out of the tack room that day, so I knew instantly what the wad of hay and debris was inside. I felt a tinge of guilt as I destroyed almost two days of the little bird’s obvious hard work. But she wasn’t deterred so easily. Each new day when I reached for my helmet, there was a new nest inside for me to—sadly— remove. I wondered when she would figure out enough is enough—when was it time to give up and start over in a new location. For me, and maybe for you, giving up isn’t really giving up. It simply means we have a whole new start to look forward to and our


energies are best utilized in a new direction. Here’s to new nests, new beginnings and new goals, in and out of the saddle. Enjoy the issue!


Liz Cornell editor@warmbloodstoday.com


Our Mission: Warmbloods Today is the leading magazine in North America focused on the entire spectrum of Warmblood breeds. It’s a place where people from all aspects of the sport horse community can come together: amateurs, owners, trainers and breeders. Each issue contains interesting, informative and often heart-warming stories of peoples’ experiences with their horses, along with thought- provoking opinions from various professionals and amateurs. We cover all horses from European descent bred for the sports of jumping, dressage, eventing and driving including the Iberian breeds and American Warmbloods.


10 May/June 2014


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