Cover Story: End of An Era and On to New Adventures for Pete & Beverley Fields of El Ammal Farm


potential. He created an intensive training pro- gram for her and a friend. She his horses as well as her own horses, and he taught her a lot about horsemanship and classical methods. My mother’s equestrian interests leaned to-


By Lara Fields Lyvers My parents, Pete and Beverley Fields of El


Ammal Farm in Charlotte Hall are officially retiring this month and headed south to sunny Florida after running a successful lesson, train- ing and breeding business for over 50 years. My parents met in 1965 on a blind date. Tey


fell in love and were married just a year later in March of 1966. Te newlyweds lived in Florida for about a year while Dad was working for the Martin Company. He then got a job as a civil- ian for the U.S. Navy and moved to Southern Maryland where they opened El Ammal Farm in 1968. Te farm was first located closer to Waldorf but in 1979, they moved to the current location in Charlotte Hall. Both my parents were natural teachers and


loved imparting knowledge and encourage- ment to their students and horses. Together they embarked on a 53 year journey that in- cluded training horses, teaching lessons, breed- ing sport horses and becoming judges and U.S. team coaches. Oh! And they also published Conditioning the Horse in the 1980s for U.S. Pony Club.


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An Eventer… My mother Beverley Fields first sat on a horse when she lived in Texas and her father let her rent horses at a local stable. After riding there a few times, she got in trouble with the owner because she wanted to teach the horse to rear like Silver on Te Lone Ranger. In a short amount of time, she got the horse to hop up on command! After that, she just dreamed of horses and knew that someday she would ride and train horses. When Mom attended Mary Washington Col- lege in Virginia, she drove all the way to the Po- tomac Horse Center once a week for her lessons. She was definitely hooked, but being a very stu- dious and serious French and Spanish Language major, she tended to her academic studies more than her riding at that time in her life. Later on, while living in Florida, Mom met a Danish instructor who immediately saw her


wards the sport of Tree-Day Eventing and she began competing in the 1970s. Her first event horse was a 16.2 hand Saddlebred/Torough- bred cross named Santoman. He had no event- ing experience, and in those days, everyone started at Training level as there was nothing lower. About two weeks before her first horse trial, which was at Great Falls in Virginia, Mom decided she should probably take a show jump lesson since she had never done a course before. She ended up taking a lesson with a very young Phyllis Dawson, who has since gone on to compete at the Olympics and runs her own training facility in Virginia. It was at that first event that she met Henry


Stuart Treviranus, who was a founding mem- ber of the U.S. Combined Training Association (now the U.S. Eventing Association). Trevira- nus suggested that she work with former Hun- garian Cavalry Officer and Tree-Day Event rider, Major Bela Buttykay. She evented several horses at Training level over the years, includ- ing another full Saddlebred, Red Storm Rising, and also competed in Competitive Trail Rides. But her real love was Dressage. Mom gained her FEI Dressage experience on


a small, homebred Arab stallion named El Am- mal Shageya. He was the son of my father’s 100- mile national champion Endurance horse and


training. She has always deeply understood the true sense of Dressage. We have a saying to our students, “Dressage isn’t A method for training, it is THE method.” She read many books written by such dressage greats as Podhajsky, de Kunffy, and Klimke. She believed she could help horses and riders by adhering to the classical principles, regardless of discipline, breed, or aspirations. Because she came to riding late in life, Mom was studious, believing in reading, studying theory, and putting theory into practice. She was agnostic about a horse’s breeding, pedigree, and fanciness. She would always reward correct training. Her love of Dressage led to a career as a li- censed judge that lasted for more than 25 years. I have always admired her ability to get to the heart of a test and provide good feedback so that riders had direction, not just a score. She wanted riders to understand the connection between what they felt versus how they scored. Mom judged classical Dressage shows, the


dressage phase in Eventing, and also Para- Dressage, however, she loved judging event horses the most. She found that they could be entertaining, from the pair that just got through dressage because they had to, to horses that were a little frisky, to the few that really got it right. She loved the fact that eventers just get into the ring and go!


An Endurance Rider… My father Pete Fields, was born in the Bronx,


NY, and grew up on Long Island. He didn’t start riding until his late teens when he and his two brothers went out West a few times to camp, and started riding there. Dad fell in love with that type of open riding and ranch horses. His love of riding out in the open led to a com- petitive career as an Endurance rider starting in the 1960s. Dad began with limited distance, and with judged one- and multi-day rides. He rode bareback at his first 25-mile ride. He also loved to play games on horseback


Beverley Fields on the homebred El Ammal Shageya competing at Intermediare II.


was from a Texas Arabian stud farm. What he lacked in flash and talent, he made up in a high work ethic and kindness. Under the tutelage of the late Wendy Carlson, mom successfully com- peted the stallion through Intermediare II and they were on their way to Grand Prix when an injury ended his career. Shageya retired from competition and sired two lovely fillies.


… Becomes a Judge My mother has always been a true student of


and was able to run with the horse and swing up at a gallop. He could grab another person and help him swing up and around on the back, as well. He was a natural horseman, with a kind and easy nature. He was at peace while on a horse and on the trail. His sense of adventure and joy on the trail


rubbed off on me as a little girl. Starting from when I was about four years old, he took me out with him on training rides. I held onto his waist while riding on the back of his champion mare El Ammal Shoho, sometimes for 20 miles. When I was older, I would go out by myself for HOURS on my horses just enjoying nature. Both my parents were founding members of


continued... THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | MARCH 2022 | 29


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