POINT OF VIEW For most mares, passage is also not a problem. Their sensi-
tivity to seat and leg aids allows the rider to create the excite- ment needed to execute passage. Canter, on the other hand, can be a challenge. Lilo de-
scribes the correct three-beat canter like the motion of a dolphin—round, under and off the ground in the moment of suspension. “Mares often canter like a swimmer doing the breaststroke. They stay in the pushing mode, rather than the weight bearing mode,” she says. She recalls working with Debbie McDonald and Bren- tina, the dressage pair that successfully represented the
U.S. in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics as well as the 2006 World Equestrian Games. “It took hard work for Brentina to really create volume, going upward and over and for- ward in the canter rather than just forward. It took longer to develop the correct canter collection, but when she understood how to, she was able to perform in correct collection. The mares either don’t rotate or tuck their pel- vis under enough or bend at the loin as well as the other gender. They have more trouble truly letting go in the loin area, so throughness seems to be more difficult for them to achieve.”
Kathleen Raine’s Breanna
AS THE HIGHEST RANKINGMARE FROM THE U.S. in the top 100 FEI dressage horses, Breanna is the mare you want to put up as proof that girls can do the job of a Grand Prix horse in style. She is smart. She is hot. She loves to work. She never shows signs of heat. And she can sit. The 14-year-old Hanoverian (Brentano II x World Queen by
Weltmeyer) was picked out of the Elite Hanoverian auction in Verden, Germany, by David Wightman of Murrieta, California, as a four-year-old and has traveled suc- cessfully through the levels under the tutelage of his wife, Kathleen Raine. In 2006, Kathleen and Breanna won
the six-year-old division at the Markel/ USEF Young Horse Dressage Western Selection Trials for the FEI World Breeding Championship. The pair had a score of 9 on the final day, giving them an average of 8.8. The pair is competing well both here
and abroad. In 2013, the combination placed third at the USEF Festival of Dres- sage, second in the Grand Prix and third in the Freestyle at the Nations Cup com- petition in Hickstead, England, and third in the Grand Prix Special at the CDI4* in Lingen, Germany. This summer the pair heads for Europe to train with Johann
Hinneman, thanks to The Dressage Foundation’s $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize, where they are (hopefully) preparing for the World Equestrian Games. Many remember Kathleen’s mare Fidelia, the alternate for
the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and Reserve National Cham- pion at the USEF Festival of Dressage, whom Kathleen and David picked out as a foal in Holland. Both her mares, she contends, have the conformation to do
the Grand Prix well. Referencing the quote from Anky, Kathleen says, “How a mare performs depends on the conformation of the individual. I’ve never thought of a mare’s structure being a problem. I’ve heard temperament issues, but not structure.”
56 July/August 2014 Unlike the steady temperament of “Fiddle” from the get-go,
Breanna, owned in partnership by Kathleen, David and Dr. Jen- nifer Mason, is hotter and a bit more reactive. “But now, I feel like she’s with me and tries as hard as Fiddle. My mares have always really liked to work,” Kathleen remarks. “Breanna learned everything so easily. Everything has
come naturally for her. The main issue for her has been con- sistency and strength. She would always try to do something I asked, but she would get tired. Willingness takes a degree of fitness. She is getting the strength to continue as long as I want her to, and to build more expression.” According to Kathleen, her mare has no
problem with tilting her pelvis and “sitting” for piaffe, passage and pirouettes. “She can really sit. But it takes strength. She is so much stronger now. And I’m riding the pirouettes better in the competition arena. My show at Del Mar was really a breakthrough.” About the mare with an exceptionally
Kathleen Raine and Breanna win the 2014 San Juan Capistrano CDI-W Grand Prix with a 70.260%.
elastic trot, light on her feet, Kathleen de- scribes her as very personable, quite easy and sweet, adding she does not generally recog- nize when she is either in or out of heat. She is the mother of four embryo transfer babies, the oldest of which is eight, the youngest six.
“Embryo transfer may be why we are starting to see more
mares at Grand Prix,” says Kathleen. “Still today, the top horses in Germany, Holland and Britain are geldings and stallions. They keep the best mares at home to have babies.” Breanna won’t be bred again for some time. “We selected
her as a competition horse. So we don’t even want to take time off even to do embryo transfer. I don’t want to lose any of the fitness. And it’s right in the middle of our show season that you breed.” Kathleen is confident in Breanna’s ability and quality as an
international Grand Prix horse. Bringing her along in her dres- sage career has been both fun and rewarding, especially since one never knows what lies ahead and how far a horse can go.
Terri Miller
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