Author: siteadmin

by Karen Healey | From Riding Magazine December 2016 Issue

Evolving Trainer Certification Program aims to help professionals, their clients and the sport.

We’ll be talking a lot about the evolution of the Trainer Certification Program at this month’s USHJA Annual Meeting in Palm Springs. I can’t go into much detail before that, but I can talk about the reasons why the TCP came into being in the first place and why we’re proposing changes to it.

The TCP came about from long-standing worries among veterans like myself that the basics of real, George Morris-style horsemanship are being lost. We sought a way to preserve and promote this long after those of us who’ve been directly influenced by George are gone.

The decline of horsemanship threatens our sport because it’s the foundation for training programs that create rewarding experiences for clients and thus help to sustain and grow the sport. Understanding basic horsemanship is paramount for the horse’s welfare and longevity

I was talking recently to Kelly Farmer (one of the country’s best Hunter riders). One day she was Best Child Rider at the Devon Horse Show and the next day she was working for Don Stewart, standing at the in-gate with a grooming box and a rub rag in hand.

Many of today’s top trainers started as grooms and working students – Andre Dignelli, John Madden and Frank Madden, just to name a few. In my day, “working student” didn’t mean sitting on a trunk, waiting for the groom to tack up someone’s expensive horse that you have the privilege of riding. I went to work for George as a groom, hoping to be discovered. What I did discover was that I loved teaching and had an aptitude for it. However, in the process I mucked stalls, groomed, braided, drove the truck and waited for the vet at midnight to treat a colicky horse. I also had the opportunity to work with some of the top vets in the country and picked their brains endlessly. Riding was just one part of my education.

There are no shortcuts. It is only through years of hands-on involvement that the top trainers of today have achieved their goals.

Having that kind of experience and mileage impacts the horses. It has so much to do with having a feel for their well-being. I can get on a horse that’s not limping, but sense if something’s not right. Maybe the canter going to the left just doesn’t feel right. It enables us to be proactive, recognizing and dealing with issues before they happen.

Weighty Responsibilities

Many young trainers don’t really know or appreciate the responsibility that is attached to the purchase of a horse for a client. Whether it is from Europe or out of the show ring at Devon, you need to be very sure that you can replicate the program that made the horse a winner. It’s very easy for a client to become suspicious after even one expensive mistake.

The TCP encourages and acknowledges trainer education. It already provides a way for prospective clients to see that a pro has completed the education component and to see a resume posted by the trainer. But most new clients won’t recognize in those resumes the difference between winning as a rider and the ability to identify, produce and maintain a winning horse or rider.

Our new proposals create levels of certification, enabling a client to really research a trainer’s credentials. They will make it clear whether a pro has produced riders and horses who have won at various levels. It has always baffled me that people spend more time researching what kind of TV to buy than they do choosing a trainer for their children or themselves. The new TCP proposals are meant to encourage and facilitate more meaningful research.

From the professionals’ perspective, we’re aiming the TCP at the younger professionals who actually want information and want to find ways to get educated. Grandfathering in trainers of a certain vintage and experience is part of the plan. The proposed levels reflect the reality that nobody becomes a premiere trainer all at once. You build on it, from local to regional to national.

All of us on the TCP committee have been working like crazy to present these changes at the USHJA meeting, but I want to emphasize that there is still room to expand and we really want feedback, especially at the local level. We expect people to point out things we may not have thought about.

TCP changes will be part of the Update on Sport Integrity session, Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 2:45 and during that same day’s TCP committee meeting at 4. Hope to see you, and more importantly, hear your feedback then!

Original article posted here.

by Karen Healey | From Riding Magazine November Issue

USHJA Annual Meeting in Palm Springs offers opportunity to affect change in the sport.

The annual United States Hunter Jumper Association convention comes to Palm Springs Dec. 11-15 and I look forward to seeing a lot of friends from around the country. I hope, too, that West Coasters will take advantage of the convention’s proximity and continue or begin getting involved in the governance of our sport.

New USHJA president Mary Babick has identified apathy as a major issue and, from my vantage point, I certainly agree that it’s a small group of the same people usually doing the majority of the volunteer committee work that serves all members.

My feeling has always been that if you want to change things, you can’t just stand at the back gate and bitch. There’s a process in place to implement change and if you want change, you need to get involved.

I also know that it can be intimidating as a newcomer to national governance issues. Whenever I’ve been chairman of an open forum at the convention I try very hard to make sure we are not dismissive of anybody or their ideas, but it does happen. If you’ve identified a subject you want to influence, come to the meeting with a thick skin and do your homework.

All of the rule change proposals for this year are available on the USHJA website, www.ushja.org and they have a comment period that extends through Nov. 11. Take a look at the proposals and get up to speed with those that are of the biggest concern to you. Then check the convention schedule and plan to attend the committee session where that topic will be addressed. Even after the formal comment period, the reason we discuss the proposals at the convention is to get more feedback.

Sometimes people come to a convention, speak up in a session and, if the vote doesn’t go the way they wanted, they feel their voice wasn’t heard. That’s usually not the case. You have to understand that most topics have been discussed and debated at least two or three times before they’re put forward as a rule change proposal.

Committee members represent different parts of the country with different concerns for their constituents, and, ideally, that enables discussion of how a proposal might affect all regions and all levels of the sport. But, even though the proposals have already been through a long vetting process before they get to the convention, a lot of times the committee members agree that someone has raised a good, new point and the proposal might get held for further work.

Be Prepared

If you feel strongly one way or another about something, come armed with a lot of good reasons. You can change the mind of a committee. It happens. For example, one of the projects I’m passionate about is the Trainers Certification Program. About five years ago, the committee introduced the concept of certifying trainers at different levels. There was a small but very vocal group of people who derailed that process. I wish we had taken their input and still gone forward with the levels, but it’s an example of how things can change from input at a convention.

The Trainer Certification Program committee, by the way, has a retreat before this year’s convention. We’ll be coming to it with a very important presentation dealing with mandatory certification for trainers and implementation of safe sport practices. This will be part of the USEF Sport Integrity session, on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 2:45. We urge anybody interested in this topic to attend.

I’ve been attending the national conventions for 30-plus years. I was never intimidated about speaking up! It helped that I established a strong business and earned people’s respect early in my career thanks to some great clients, like Meredith Michaels Beerbaum, and to people respecting my system and work ethic.

I did have to scrape together the funds to attend those first few years. Committee members and everyone else attends on their own dime. Keep in mind you don’t have to attend all five days. Look at the schedule and go on the days when there are sessions of most interest to you. Share a hotel room with a friend to save money and be aware that attendance is a business expense for professionals. (Confirm that with your accountant, of course.)
There’s a social aspect to conventions that makes it fun and adds a networking component that can help your career.

First Steps

For those looking to get involved, I suggest hooking up with the USHJA’s Young Professionals Committee. Also, starting on a local level is a good way to gain experience and credibility for when you want to contribute on a national level. The process of serving on a national committee begins with putting your name on an interest list. When we re-seat a committee, we take into account representation based on geography and various levels of the sport.

If you get on a committee, you have to show up and participate. Often there are a number of people on a committee who don’t even call in for conference calls and put absolutely no effort into it. We recently did a major re-seating of the equitation committee. Some members who were on it for a long time were dropped and very offended and some of the new people we put on did not participate. So, if you want to be part of it, be ready to put in the time, effort and, occasionally, travel.

In addition to the Equitation and Trainers Certification committees, I currently serve on the Emerging Athletes Program and Officials Education committees, all areas I’m passionate about. I honestly can’t estimate how many hours a week I put into it, but it’s a lot. It’s just part of my life.

See you in Palm Springs!

Original article posted here.

by Karen Healey | From Riding Magazine October 2016 Issue

Ride your horse well & don’t crack under the pressure!

There is nothing quite like the pressure of a medal finals, as those contesting the current season of finals know all too well. Whether it’s the regional, younger age medals like the 14 & under Rosewood and PCHA Horsemanship Finals or the recently-held Maclay Regionals that qualify riders for a national championship back East, there’s a lot at stake.

Whatever medal or medals you target, preparing for them is something that happens all year. That’s the first way to reduce some of the pressure. My approach has always been that my riders should not see something in any finals that they haven’t practiced at home. I always set courses at home that reflected what they would see, and more, at home, so that when they get there it’s easy.

Most of the year, we practice elements of a course at home—pieces and patterns, not a whole course. But, ideally, I like to get the kids home for a week before a big final and set an actual full course. That week, the riders walk the course, do their warm-up as they would on the day of competition and jump the full course.

Technically, the at-home courses would be as challenging, or more, than I expected to see in the final—based on the class specs and, often, being familiar with the course designer. But they would not be higher. I’d typically keep the courses at 3’3”, even for a 3’6” medal. By definition, a lesson includes repeating the exercises and the horses don’t need that extra wear and tear of jumping at their maximum height repeatedly.

The day of the big class is not the time to try anything tricky in the way of preparation. On the day of the final, you just want a nice warm-up, to walk the course and to tell your students, “Look, you’ve done this before. You can do this.”

Relax!

The priority is to help the riders stay relaxed, to give them whatever they need to get into their own zone, to tune out the commotion and to actually be hearing what I’m saying. The tension in the schooling ring can be quite high and with all that’s going on, sometimes the challenge is getting the rider to listen to my voice and let me help them with what they’re doing.

Early on, I brought in a sports psychologist, Dr. Ken Ravizza, to work with my riders going into the medal season. He works with professional athletes and Olympians in various sports and I think at first, 25 years ago, he didn’t quite understand what I was talking about with the pressure of a medal finals. I had him come out and sit with my riders at a show, before a finals, and it was then that he understood it. I’ve heard several Olympians say their big medal finals as juniors were the most pressure they’d felt as equestrians and that doesn’t surprise me.

Some riders have the temperament to handle it better than others and some need some help. The most common thing I’ve always told my students, no matter the final, is that your first responsibility is to ride your horse well.

You have to forget about the results. The results will happen.

Critical Development Step

Over the years, there has always been some complaints or suggestions that equitation and medals have become an end unto themselves, rather than a preparation for going further in the sport.

I’m an adamant believer that these divisions promote a foundation of riding that teaches them to ride a track and a rhythm, to ride smoothly and accurately. They aren’t a be all and end all for riders, but they are critical to every top rider’s development. People have said 2012 Olympian Reed Kessler skipped the medal divisions in favor of a concentrating on jumpers when she was a junior, but that’s not true. She stopped the medals earlier than most do, but she did them and was very competitive in them, from a young age. They all did. McLain Ward, Kent Farrington, Meredith Beerbaum, Lucy Davis. They’re all products of this system.

Another thing that medal finals do is teach kids to produce on the day, with one horse, in one class. This is a critical skill at the highest levels of our sport. It’s a very different scenario than having a string of jumpers to ride throughout the day, or several in one class, and often hunters to campaign in another ring, and having so many chances. Instead, they have to walk in prepared to win with one horse.

Although we have a lot of medal classes, I think most trainers are good about helping their students target the right ones and most understand that qualifying for them should be done on a normal show schedule, not point chasing.

Having realistic goals and taking satisfaction in achieving your own personal best are important. If you’re targeting the Maclays Regionals in September after only moving up to the 3’6” medals in June, be aware that you are competing against riders with a lot more mileage and experience. Feel good about your personal best and know that next year you won’t be as intimidated.

What medal you should target all depends on where you are in your riding career and your circumstances. Going back East for a national final is not an option for everybody, so it’s nice to have the regional finals that we do.

One thing for sure is that a rider and a horse cannot stay in peak form from the second week of August to the first week of November, which is the time frame encompassing all the local, regional and national medals. Some of our 14 & unders are qualifying for their age group medals and also the bigger ones like the Maclay and the USET Talent Search West and for that, you really need to have two horses – especially for the USET, which requires a jumper type horse, for sure.

Some of our medals are evolving. For example, it’s going to be an interesting year for the USET Talent Search. (The West Finals were set for Sept. 22-24 in San Juan Capistrano, and Karen is set to be a judge/course designer, along with Kirstin Coe, of the East finals, at Gladstone, N.J ., Oct. 7-9. Cynthia Hankins and Schuyler Riley were set to judge/course design the West Finals.)

I’m on a USEF High Performance Jumping sub-committee tasked with evaluating the Talent Search and we’ve been having a debate about the gymnastics phase. It stems mostly from the fact that it wasn’t clear what was wanted in that phase. The Talent Search overview states that this phase is supposed to show riders demonstrating the skills they exhibited on the flat over an “intensive gymnastic course with quick turns and shortening and lengthen of their horse’s stride while maintaining rhythm and balance.”

Now that the fence heights are a solid 1.2M and this is clearly a jumper-oriented class, there is agreement that we don’t want them having to do things like pull up and trot over jumps. That doesn’t happen in a jumper class. So this year, Beezie Madden and Anthony D’Ambrosio designed eight gymnastic patterns and we judges/course designers have to incorporate three of them in the gymnastics phase.

That requirement prevented me from using a gymnastic element of my own design in Gladstone – because of the size of the ring and the number of jumps involved. We’ll see how that goes.

We’ve also talked about getting rid of the gymnastic phase in favor of a speed round in which speed is as important as going clear; typically with substantial deductions for going over the time allowed and bonuses for being under. Historically, our riders have a hard time with this round at the World Cup and World Equestrian Games. We are always playing catch-up. So, that’s something in discussion for the Talent Search, too.

Congratulations to everyone who’s already solved this season’s pressure puzzle with a medal win or good placing and best of luck to those still in the hunt for these big wins. They are stressful but worth it.

We’ve got some great riders out West. Let’s go kick some East Coast butt!

Original article posted here.

by Karen Healey | From Riding Magazine September Issue

This season’s show jumping events pose a great chance to watch and learn, but don’t copy the wrong thing!

‘Tis the season for great show jumping. The revamped Longines World Cup Jumping NAL league and the third year of the Longines Los Angeles Masters bring increasingly accomplished horses and riders to the West Coast. It’s great news for the sport and it’s a great opportunity to learn by watching, for riders, trainers and fans of any experience level.

Learning by watching was a big part of my background. We grew up with very good horsemen, but not the most sophisticated training methods. I had a feel for horsemanship, though, and observation was a big part how I learned. Not just about riding but about turn-out, including everything from how the braids should look to a horse’s proper weight and coat condition. Watching contributed a lot to one of the things I am best known for: preparing a horse to go into the ring.

You want to watch the horses and riders in their actual competition round, but honestly, there’s not a lot you can learn from that 80-second trip. It’s the culmination of a lifetime of horsemanship and training and there’s so much going on at that point that you can’t see.

At lower level shows or in young horse classes, you may see pros use a round more for schooling purposes than to win and can learn from that. But when there’s big prize money at stake, most of these guys are relying on training methods put in place years ago and honed to the point of push-button control. At least that’s the goal.

The warm-up ring is where you can really learn something about preparing a horse, especially if you are willing to get up early and visit the schooling area several hours before the class starts. That’s when the top riders are flatting their horses similar to how they would at home between shows. Warming up, stretching and building their muscles and suppleness and going through exercises to test or reinforce responsiveness to what my student Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum simplifies as the “stop and go, right and left” aids that become more important the higher the fences get.

At the Longines Masters, to be held at the Long Beach Convention Center this year, the warm-up ring will again be in the middle of everything. You can literally grab a nice meal, stake out a spot on the rail and study some of the world’s best. Last year, that included Rolex Grand Slam winner and Olympic gold medalist Scott Brash, our own Olympians Beezie Madden and McLain Ward and many others from the East Coast and well beyond. Riders that we don’t see out here on a regular basis.

Pay special attention to riders who have a similar build to you. Watching a 6’2” German rider with legs of steel is not going to help your technique a lot if you’re 5’2”. Of course, it won’t hurt to watch those guys but you’ll get the most take-aways from the riders whose body types and physical capabilities are similar to yours.

Go early in the week and early each day to see how they hack their horses. Then come back later in the day to see how the same pairs warm up before their prime-time classes.

At the World Cup classes in Sacramento, Del Mar, Thermal and Las Vegas, the schooling rings are easily accessible to all, ticket or no. Stabling for horses competing in FEI competition is tightly restricted but access to the warm-up arenas is not limited.

With the influx of riders from other countries, you’ll see different riding styles. Of course, the American Forward Riding System, advocated by my mentor George Morris and others, is 100 percent ingrained in my soul.

It’s very well accepted at the high levels of show jumping around world, but you’ll still see riders who don’t employ it. I admire their success, but I don’t admire the riding style: often riding behind the vertical, posting back on the cantle. That makes me crazy!

If you do see that, by all means, don’t copy it! Don’t copy the wrong thing. I remember for years in Canada, every single kid rode with those “puppy dog” hands because that’s how 1988 Canadian Olympian Laura Tidball-Balisky rode. Her hand position had nothing to do with her talent, her ability or her feel or any of the rest of it; it was just a habit. It didn’t make her great. In fact, she was great in spite of that.

What I see way too much of now is a low, sawing hand that comes from a concern for a cosmetic false flexion. I saw this giving a clinic recently in a remote part of the country and I asked the riders where they’d seen this hand position.

“Dressage” was their answer. I asked if they’d seen Edward Gal or Steffen Peters ride like that? No! If they’d seen those riders, they would have seen perfect flexion coming from behind and in a horse that is perfectly balanced. But what the riders had focused on was the head position only and they were using draw reins and other artificial aids to achieve it by force, without gaining the hindquarter engagement and impulsion that makes it occur naturally as part of proper overall balance.

So, make the most of these terrific jumping competitions that fill up our fall and run through early spring. When the World Cup Finals were in Las Vegas last spring, I was at the schooling ring at 6 a.m. checking everybody out. Part of good horsemanship is realizing that there’s always more to learn.

Original article posted here.

Congratulations to all of our riders and trainers at Capital Challenge! Elli Yeager was Reserve Champion of the Taylor Harris Insurance Services National Medal Finals. Madison Goetzman and our Contelido were Reserve Champion 13-14 Equitation (trainer Stacia Madden), and Emily MacLean and Cambridge were Reserve Champion 15 year old Equitation as well as top 20 in the North American Equitation Championships (co-trainer David Bustilos.) Last but not least our amazing trainer Tasha Visokay won the Winter’s Run Sportsmanship Award!! Great work team and good luck on the remainder of indoors!

Congratulations to all our participating riders on a great Regionals. Claire Follmer and Ransome Rombauer finished 5th and 7th, respectively. Great work girls!

To read full press release click here.

ASPCA Maclay Regional Finals West
Place – Rider – Horse – Trainers
1. Genevieve Meyer – Coral Reef Cruise Z – Vinton and Ann Karrasch
2. Miela Gross – Exquisite – Emily Esau Williams
3. Alexandra Ladove – Beau Van Het Keyershof – Robyn Stiegler
4. Michael Williamson – Long Island Ice Tea – Patty Ball
5. Claire Follmer – Arezzo – Karen Healey Stables
6. Sydney Hutchins – Gaudi – Elvenstar
7. Ransome Rombauer – Lalonde – Daniel Ighani and Karen Healey Stables
8. Kayla Lott – Caracas – Elvenstar
9. Mitchell Endicott – Freedom C – Pegasus Show Stable
10. Kelsey Fenger – Charming – Liz Hutchison