Second Level. She and Tally competed at Second Level Test 3 at the Rocking Horse Stables schooling show in Altoona, Flor- ida, earning an impressive 60%. Kay continues to ride and hopes to show both Tallahas-
see and Tango in 2016. Tally’s owner Laura is thrilled to have Kay riding her and continues to be one of their biggest fans. Kay rides both horses five days a week. She also has a degree in nursing, and when she’s not riding she spends her week- ends as a hospice nurse. To stay fit for riding, she went to a bodybuilder who gave her special exercises to do at home. “I do exercises for an hour every night,” she says. “Staying active keeps me healthy!”
Susan Reed & Jamaica Rain
Susan started riding when she was nine years old. At first she rode Western in a 4-H program before transitioning to saddle seat and eventually dressage. “My first job was on an Arabian farm,” she recalls. “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
Hailing from New Mexico, Susan has owned her Thor-
oughbred mare Jamaica Rain since conception. “I traded my diamond ring from my first marriage for her mom and I brought her Thoroughbred daddy here from Oregon,” Susan says. “The Jamaica part of her name came from Jamaica Kinkaid, who was writing short stories in The New Yorker magazine, which I loved.”
“We had a birthday party for her when she turned 28,” Susan remembers, “with a dozen kids and carrot cake, of course.”
Susan retired Jamaica when the mare was 30. Then she
learned of the Century Club. Her vet stress-tested Jamaica and gave the pair the green light to go for it. On a beauti- ful New Mexico fall day in November 2015, Susan and her 33-year-old partner Jamaica completed their Century Club ride at the New Mexico Dressage Association Cherry Tree Farm schooling show. When she’s not riding, Susan is working on getting a
couple of children’s books published, and she also teaches a writing class once a week to incarcerated women. “I don’t have a formal fitness routine other than stretches and yoga without fail every morning,” she says. Caring for eight horses also helps keep her fit, and she credits her earlier years as a dancer with helping to keep her body supple. Jamaica Rain’s granddaughters are named Mariah Rain and Brulant. “I’m toying with the idea of breeding Brulant,” Susan says. “Do I want to start another young one under saddle while I’m in my 70s? You bet!”
Russell Guinn & Mud Pie
Russell has ridden horses off and on since he was a boy on a farm in Walla Walla, Washington. His riding background includes a myriad of horse sports—trail riding and some calf roping in college, hunters in later years, and riding polo ponies while working in Pakistan, before meeting his current instructor Katie Gustafson in 1995 and transitioning to dressage. In 1997, Russell broke his back in an industrial accident.
In Jamaica’s younger years, Susan showed her through
Second Level dressage. She also bred her four times, result- ing in two colts and two fillies. She still has one of her daughters, named Abigail Rain. She also has two of her granddaughters. As Jamaica got older and Susan retired from her job as a school teacher, she began teaching riding lessons using Jamaica and several rescue horses. Jamaica was a favorite as a lesson horse. “We had a birthday party for her when she turned 28,” Susan remembers, “with a dozen kids and carrot cake, of course.”
40 March/April 2016
The injury resulted in permanent nerve damage, reduced sensation and the loss of the use of his calf muscles, which made horseback riding more challeng- ing. But he wasn’t about to give it up. Russell found the
Thoroughbred Mud Pie in 2000. “I have been blessed with what has definitely proven to be the best horse for me,” he says. Nicknamed “Muddy,”
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