“Puff suffers from the seizure-like collapsing episodes approximately every three weeks.”
twenty years of dressage competition experience. With Darren’s help Aileen was soon learning to ride tempis and pirouettes. She began showing Puff in the Prix St. Georges and the Interme- diare 1 and, to Aileen’s own surprise, they qualified for and competed in the U.S. Dressage Finals at Intermediare 1 in 2013. “That was a really big year for us. I owed so much of our success to Darren,” she says. In 2014 Aileen made her Grand
Windsong and Aileen Dali at the U.S. Dressage Finals.
Sleepless Nights Veterinarians at Rood & Riddle contacted Dr. Joe Bertone, a California-based veterinarian who specializes in equine sleep disorders. After an extensive consultation with Dr. Bertone, Puff was diagnosed with night terrors and sleep deprivation. Horses average three to five hours of sleep per 24 hour
cycle, and sleep mostly at night. Deep sleep, also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or paradoxical sleep, accounts for approximately 15 percent of the total sleep pattern but is a critical phase for horses. According to Dr. Bertone’s research, horses can go several days without deep sleep, but then sleep deprivation begins to set in. Deep sleep usually occurs while the horse is lying
down because of the relaxing of the muscles which accompanies deep sleep. Horses who can’t or won’t lie down will tend to miss the deep sleep part of the sleep pattern and will become sleep deprived. Horses who suffer from extreme sleep deprivation will eventually collapse from exhaustion. Puff suffers from the seizure-like collapsing episodes
approximately every three weeks. “And when he falls, he goes down like he was shot,” according to Aileen. Because of this, Puff is kept in a large 14’ x 14’ stall with extra thick shavings and surveillance cameras. Each morning the video recordings are reviewed to see how Puff slept, before plan- ning his riding for the day. The sleep disorders began taking their toll on both Puff
and Aileen, and Aileen began to understandably have prob- lems with him under saddle. “It was becoming too much, and there were days I just wanted him gone,” she admits.
New Direction Then in March of 2013, Aileen began getting instruction from Darren Taplin, a USDF silver medalist with more than
Prix debut on Puff, still under Darren’s tutelage. Aileen and Puff qualified for
the USDF Region 3 Regional Championships, which were to be held in Florida that October, and Aileen began excitedly making preparations to travel to Florida. Then on October third, just two weeks before region-
als, the unthinkable happened. Darren, who had been so instrumental to Aileen’s success, succumbed to liver cancer and passed away.
“It was a really tough time and region-
als were really emotional,” Aileen says, “but I think Darren would have been proud.” Together Aileen and Puff quali- fied for the U.S. Dressage Finals again, this time for the Adult Amateur divisions of the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle. In November of 2014 Aileen and Puff competed at the U.S.
Dressage Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park, finishing fifth in the Grand Prix Adult Amateur and second in the Grand Prix Freestyle Adult Amateur. “It was a great experience,” Aileen recalls. “My mother probably hadn’t seen me ride since I was 15 and she decided to make the trip from Florida to Lexing- ton to watch--and I was at the finals competing at Grand Prix. This year will be hard to top!”
Next Steps Aileen says she tried to give Puff some time off after the finals but he seemed to hate it, so she put him back in work and soon his attitude was back to normal. Puff is now happily teaching the upper level movements to his devoted groom. Because of his sleep disorder and the stress it causes him to travel, Aileen says Puff’s show career will probably be limited now to shows which are more local, so he can sleep in his own stall at night. “Puff will be with me until the end; I don’t ever plan to sell him,” she says. A loving forever home is the perfect ending for Puff, an
incredibly kind, willing horse who has taught so many the joys of dressage.
Warmbloods Today 19
AC Lynch/
PSDressage.com
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