there and nobody knows who I am or who my horses are. All the horses went well, I think even better than they were judged. My mare’s trot work isn’t in a place where she can move like a big Warmblood, she’s much more Thoroughbred-y than some of my other horses, and I was obviously a bit disappointed with her score after her best test to date.” The cross-country course at Le Lion d’Angers tends to resem-
ble an outdoor sculpture garden, with beautifully crafted but imposing obstacles. Tamie and Rory were third to go and she says the course was like nothing she’d ever seen before. Add the atmosphere of the large crowds on competition day, and it was a striking challenge for young horses. Tamie was thrilled that Rory was up to the challenge. “You don’t know what your horse is going to do until you put them in that situation,” she explains. “She’s a calm horse so I had a fair amount of confidence, but you just can’t practice jumping with a huge crowd. She was the first double clear of the day; and to be the first American-bred horse there, I was so proud of her. She was super brave and I was ecstatic.” Tamie has produced Rory since the mare was a three-year-
old and completing the championship course was an emotional achievement. “I was nearly in tears going across the finish line, because she’s all grown up! It’s nearly a 3-star course and she cantered around like it was easy for her.”
Another Injury But while her eye had healed well, Rory had sustained yet another injury on the road to France. Once again the mare was stoic about her discomfort, but Tamie noticed that she wasn’t performing at her peak on the last day of the event. “She had a couple uncharacteristic rails at Lion, and I recalled
that she had slipped and fallen in schooling before the event. We checked her out at the time, but we found out later that she’d actually broken her tail. Sunday morning before show jumping she tried to kick if you tried to blanket her; I didn’t think anything of it, but in show jumping, while she went well, she wasn’t as good as normal. I was pretty confident she’d do well and, when it didn’t happen, I was racking my brain and remem- bered that when she fell, she sort of fell back on her butt.” The veterinarian examined Rory and determined that she had either broken her tail or sprained it badly. “Looking back, she normally flips her tail, but she kept it in a very neutral position while she was galloping and jumping there,” Tamie recalls. “Also she’s generally not mare-ish so her behavior was unusual: she was acting kind of bitchy and that wasn’t normal for her. It made me feel better that she was so tough to get through all that and was very sound, but I felt so bad when we got home. You can’t really do anything for it—it just heals on its own. Fortunately it’s not bent, so you can’t even tell. She’s having time off anyway and we gave her anti-inflammatories after the show.”
TOP TO BOTTOM: And their off! Tamie and Rory at the starting gate of cross-country. The pair holding their own on the beautiful cross country course in France. Just after cross country, Shannon and Tamie help Rory cool off, with Cheryl Holekamp standing by.
Warmbloods Today 25
Judy McSwain
Jeffrey Fierens
Tim Holekamp
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