Practical Horseman Dressage Today Extra Volume 22

Who would you invite to join you if you and 10 of your closest friends had the opportunity to spend a day with Grand Prix dressage rider Silva Martin and her three-day-eventer husband, Boyd? That’s a question Daphne Soares, of Long Valley, New Jersey, had the opportunity to answer when she won a contest sponsored by Dressage Today, Practical Horseman (DT’s sister publication) and Purina Horse Feed. The clinic took place at Boyd and Silva’s farm, Windurra, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, in September (2016). Silva is a Grand Prix dressage rider who represented the United States on the gold-medal-winning team at the 2014 Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida, and Boyd is a member of the U.S. Eventing Team and competed in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Daphne and six of her…

Jen Garutti, of Flemington, New Jersey, is an IT project manager for a financial services firm, Pony Club DC, an active event rider, wife and mother of two. She grew up in New England active in Pony Club and has evented through Preliminary level. She took an 11-year hiatus from riding while her kids were little and got back into eventing in 2015. Her Connemara/Quarter Horse pony mare, Labras Leannon, was the highest-placed pony at the 2016 American Eventing Championships (AEC). Rumsey Keefe, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, is a stay-at-home mom with an eye-catching off-the-track Thoroughbred, Eighttofasttocatch, who won just over $1 million as a racehorse racing from age 2 to 9, including winning the Maryland Million Classic three years in a row. They placed second in Beginner Novice at the AEC,…

Though they compete in separate disciplines, Boyd and Silva Martin are a team in life and work, and they help each other bring the best out in all of the horses at Windurra, regardless of discipline. Cross-training over fences and in the open helps Silva’s dressage horses become brave and more athletic, and Silva is able to fine-tune Boyd’s event horses’ dressage training to give them an edge in eventing competition. The young dressage horses school in the arena only two or three days each week. Boyd and his assistant riders or Silva’s working students might take them out across the fields, through streams and up hills and across uneven terrain at a good strong trot. Another day Boyd will set up basic jumping exercises—just a few small fences or…

Daphne Soares rode her OTTB Anakin. She got him off the track as a 2-year-old, and they are schooling Preliminary level eventing. Nancy Seybold, of Washington, DC, works as an information architect on public health and biomedical/health info websites. She grew up riding hunter/jumpers but has been eventing for more than 10 years, competing through Preliminary level. She hopes to compete again at Preliminary with her current horse, a Percheron/Thoroughbred cross currently going Training level. “I hope to grow old and gray doing dressage and galloping through the woods with my husband,” she said. Ryan Keefe, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, is a high school student. Her mare, Secret, a Cleveland Bay, is her first horse after moving up from a pony and the pair is competing at Training level. Ryan…

Q What is the best way to help my horse recover after a challenging training session or competition? A There are steps a rider can take both before and after exercise to help his or her horse recover from an intense training session. For example, consistent training in the lead up to competition and the approach to the warm-up will positively influence recovery. Dietary strategies like choice of feed and supplements can have a big effect on recovery. And supportive therapies can be implemented after training to optimize a horse’s recovery. Proper Conditioning. The steps to optimal recovery for a horse actually begin well before the training session itself. For example, make sure that your horse has been properly conditioned for the level at which he is training and competing.…