For several years now, I have been interested in going to Palm Beach for the winter dressage experience. 1998 was the year. My plan was to go for two weeks of solid instruction with Sue Malone-Casey, my coach; no showing, just an intense learning experience. Here's how it went.
I left Huntsville on Thursday, February 5th with Huey and Zeus, heading for Loxahatchee (just west of Palm Beach), the site of White Fences, with a weekend stop in Wellborn, Florida for the event at Valhalla. I competed Huey and was in a three way tie for first place after dressage, after stadium and after cross country in a class of 20. I was very pleased that he took a second, with time penalties being used to break the three way tie for first. I left Wellborn on Monday morning and arrived at White Fences that evening. We got Zeus and Huey off the trailer and into their stalls, met some of the local folks and got myself settled into a room in the barn apartment. Lessons started the next morning at 10 o'clock and it took me that long to get all my horse stuff organized and in place, and I had wondered what I would do with all my time! The second horse was to be ridden at 2:15 so I took the time to turn both horses out; there are turnout paddocks which are used even though there are alligator stories, but I did wonder if they are not more tales than fact. I am sure that we didn't see an alligator while we were there and my dog, Tara, certainly investigated all the puddles and water spots.
My accommodations were in the groom's apartment (located in one end of the barn) which gave me a small bedroom, no air conditioner, and a shared bath, living room and kitchen. I had come prepared with sheets and towels but no coat hangers and no lamp. It also turns out that this particular area has very bad water so you must purchase water for drinking and be careful when you brush your teeth, just don't swallow any of it. It turns everything orange and one of the grooms we met said she used to have blond hair -- we saw red hair!
There were four of us in the apartment, one man and three women. They were a nice group and I enjoyed what time we did spend together which isn't much when your day begins at 6:45 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. We did swap a few tales of "our day" but mostly everyone put in a shower bid and collapsed into bed. I did like being so close to the horses for night check. I would stay in the apartment again but I would pack a living kit of two sets of towels, soap dish, cleaning supplies, plates, silverware, a glass, and fans for me and the horses. Since one dog and two cats were already in the apartment, management had decided on a "no more pets in the apartment at this time" rule, so one of the other occupants and myself had to improvise--one of my roommates put her dog in the tack room and took him for a walk when she did her late check. Tara slept in my truck at night. She did much better with this arrangement than I did and was quite ready to get into the truck for bedtime. She had interesting days with many friends to play with and new sights.
This was a severe weather time for Florida with El Nino and since there are few covered arenas in this area schedules were made and changed as the weather moved in. Sue Malone-Casey, my coach and our dressage clinician at Steel Prize Stables, would have the next day's riding schedule written up on the board by late check so I would know when I went to bed when I would ride my first horse on the next day. Feed time for the full board horses is 8 o'clock so Huey and Zeus got to go out into a turnout paddock while I went to get Tara and go to my trailer for breakfast. Usually I rode my first horse at 8 and the second at 12 or 1. The earliest I rode was 7 o'clock and the latest was 5:30 p.m. With the weather changes we met the "standard schedule" twice -- so I did not get to visit other farms as often as I wished to watch other FEI level lessons. White Fences is a "show" facility which has permanent horses and at this time hosts two shows: the Gold Coast Opener and the Dressage Derby. At the Wellington Show, which was held the first weekend I arrived, there were 4,000 horses most of them being hunter/jumpers with the dressage competition being the stepchild of the show. As I understand it, the dressage tents are the ones placed on the new clearing and after they get it trampled down and looking right then they move in a hunter tent and clear another area for the dressage people. There were about 100 tents of circus size which held approximately 100 stalls and booths in each, and a wealth of golf carts which is a going business on the Wellington grounds. The hunter "set ups" are still the most impressive -- the big stables have flowers, benches and golf cart plug-ins -- a place for everything and everything in its place. There are also turn-out paddocks on the show grounds and they cost $3,500 for the "season" which is approximately 3 months!! The trade fair was an enjoyable blend of excellent tack, jewelry, art and food stores. They were located at the entry and then again further in the tent area. There were many rings -- four dressage rings and three hunter rings plus the grand prix jumper ring. All were going with competitions or warm-up for horses getting ready to compete. There were 37 dressage classes starting with Training Level and going through Grand Prix. The dressage show ran four days starting on Thursday and ending on Sunday.
During the Wellington Show I found myself standing between the warm-up ring for the Fourth Level/Prix St. Georges tests and the warmup ring for the Grand Prix Jumping ring. Two hunter riders came by on foot and spoke to the person standing next to me about having done their jogs for the day which led the person and myself to discuss the importance of personal fitness. At that point I turned to face none other than George Morris. I immediately sucked in my stomach! While I had met him during my younger/hunter days, I would not claim to "know" him but I did enjoy our brief conversation.
The next weekend had two activities. The USET trainers clinic with Klaus Balkenhol held at Mary Anne Mc Phail's since she has an indoor arena, one of the few in the area. White Fences is a closed community of lovely homes, stables and riding arenas -- barns with total screening to protect horses against the bugs but no indoor, or covered, riding arenas. Many of the stables which have living quarters are leased out to professionals from around the United States for the "season" -- usually the end of December until the end of March and the rates are set to make up for the remainder of the year when business is almost nonexistent. I understand after the Wellington Shows are over at the end of the season, the tents come down, the merchants disappear and the area is a ghost town...but, oh my, during these three months is the area spectacular. Farriers are flown in from all over according to the professional's desires, which caused Sue and I to create an "Only in Florida List":
Only in Florida does your farrier have a hobby of collecting antique Rolls Royces
Only in Florida is your barn totally screened
Only in Florida can you select from flavored dog water
Only in Florida do you see a stretch limo waiting outside of Publics
Only in Florida will you run into Robert Dover in his riding breeches at the local grocery
Only in Florida will you see Sjef Janssen, Anky van Grunsven's Netherlands trainer, standing at the ring side and not coaching.
Only in Florida will you warm up with Robert Dover, Dorothy Morkis, Sue Blinks, Kenneth Dyrby, Gunnar Ostergaard, and Bent Jensen all getting ready to ride the same test!
Only in Florida does the Vet make barn calls in his Mercedes with a vet pack in the trunk.
Only in Florida do four equine vets wait in line to service clients in the same barn.
Only in Florida do you hack down a road with Dorothy Trapp Crowell on Molaki.
Only in Florida do you call the laundry lady -- horse laundry is $1.00 a pound and personal laundry is $.80 a pound. Picked up and delivered the next day.
Back to the weekend of the USET Clinic -- Mike Poulin arrived at White Fences to stable his horses and students who would be participating in the Klaus Balkenhol trainers clinic. Any participation in this clinic was by USET invitation only. I did not get invited; Sue did. Balkenhol conducted the clinic in German. He had an interpreter who expounded on his comments for the auditors. If not involved in this clinic you could go down to Miami for the dressage show being held there on Saturday and Sunday.
I joined Sue and Jessica Ransenhousen at a small dinner and listened to stories swapped among dressage-in-the-know members as they discussed the past Olympics in Atlanta and the upcoming World Games and the next Olympics in Sidney. It was interesting to hear about the horses and riders as they cope with the same problems but on an international level--shipping farriers around the world, redoing your freestyle overseas because your horse has increased his engagement so much you must make changes in the program, horse lamenesses, difficulties with scheduling, feed, grooms--all the things we face at home.
I attended a clinic given by Monty Roberts which was interesting to me since I had read his book. He, his wife, son and support personnel are on a tour of the United States to promote the Join Up non-profit program they are now sponsoring. There was a large tent set-up where his wife's art was displayed and for his book signing. The seats in the stands were $40 and around the round pen the white plastic chairs were $70 each. (I understand that in Montgomery the tickets went for $20.) There were around 400 people present and we saw Monty, who was introduced by his son, work one horse, take a book signing break of 45 minutes, and then come back and work another horse in the round pen. Monty is quite personable, speaks well and his son seems to have inherited these traits. It was quite a slick production .
Being in this atmosphere and taking two lessons a day underlines the intense focus a rider must have to succeed in dressage at the upper levels. It is very stressful to be concentrating every day on the smallest/largest mistakes that you are making and working to correct them and to correct the horse. I have two very talented horses, one on the brink of third/fourth level competition and one training Prix St Georges/Intermediaire. We schooled each horse every day on throughness and connection; this was also the drift of the Klaus Balkenhol USET clinic. If you have connection, if becomes easier for the horse to be ridden correctly through the upper level movements such as half-pass, piaffe and passage. It is important not to allow yourself to be distracted by non-essential events while schooling a movement. I am not sure this intensity is for everyone but it certainly gives you a peek into the power of dressage and the ability to answer how you wish to proceed with your own goals.
The biggest single thing I learned from my two week experience is the laser like intensity which is required to bring a talented horse up to the FEI level. I have taken many clinics of two days riding one horse and some riding two horses. I have done six of the five-day USDF Major Lindgen Dressage Seminars. But nothing as intense as two horses in two privates per day for an extended period.
28 February 1998
Huntsville, Alabama