Don’t Lose that Lucky Penny! Competition Rituals

When Big Brown lost the Belmont Stakes, some folks speculated that it was because he was no longer receiving steroids. Another chimed in to say that no trainer changes anything — not even his underwear — if his horse is winning.

That got me thinking about some of the rituals and good luck charms that many of us use to help calm our nerves before a competition. I’ve compiled these from several bulletin boards and from my own experiences — so the “I” in these is not always me. Just as well, because I’d be just crippled by all these rituals if I had to do them all.

• I have a favorite saddle that I ride in when I’m worried about certain jumps. It’s a Wintec with the equisuede seat and not the fanciest saddle that I own, but I’m pretty sure that it will keep me on over almost any jump.
• Lots of people clean their tack and boots the night before a show, sometimes in a specific order.
• I have lucky underwear and socks. And I always put my right tall boot on before my left.
• I also have specific socks and underwear depending on the discipline of the show.
• I have a lucky bracelet I like to wear.
• I have a certain gold ring that I always wear for competitions, but I take off other jewelry.
• I have a penny that got into one of my tall boots. I never take it out.
• I have an Irish coin (with a horse on it) that I put into my jacket pocket.
• I never put my gloves on until I’m on deck.
• Aside from the lucky leopard print tall boot socks, I cannot wear anything new in a show or I’ll have a bad ride. If its something minor, like gloves or a hairnet, then I’ll crash a jump or have refusals. But if its something like new breeches, shirt, helmet, etc., I’ll fall, and the more major the item, the more major the fall.
• My husband can’t watch. When he does, something bad always happens.
• We have a friend we have gone to a lot of shows with that believes if she sees Magpie birds on the way to the show it means good luck and a good show.
• I have a lucky pair of riding socks that I wear on Day One of a show – they have dancing Hawaiin ladies on them and they are like 10 years old now (the ladies are looking a bit stretched by now).
• I make a song play list of “inspirational” music that I listen to on the way to a competition to get my confidence up.
• I always use a dark blue hair elastic. I seem to ride better with that color than with any other.
• I have leather spur straps and one side has leather that broke off. I always put that broken spur strap on my right foot, and the good strap on my left foot. If I dont do it that way, I have a bad ride.

Lorenzo the Flying French Man: A Modern Take on Trick Riding

Take the tradition of trick riding, add some great music, dramatic scenes from the beaches in France, a team

Lorenzo and his Lusitanos

of Lusitano horses and a handsome young french man and you have all the ingredients you need for international success. Lorenzo empathetic communication with his horses often requires neither bridle nor saddle as he guides them over (and under) fences and through the waters. Lorenzo has a large following and he has been the featured performer at many international events.

The 30-year old Lorenzo (ne Laurent) began trick riding on his Camargue pony at the age of 6 and gave his first performance at age 8.

Lorenzo performing in 1988 on Niasque

His web site is wonderful and well worth a visit, both for the photos and for the music. Sit back and enjoy the show!

Riding for those who find sitting too boring!

Roman Riding by Don Anderson

When we were kids, many of us tried standing on our horses, riding backwards, or doing other simple tricks. But the people who take this seriously show that trick riding is a sport in and of itself.

What we call “trick riding” — standing on top of one or more horses, or dangling precariously off one side — originated with the ancient Romans, who stood on their horses to race, and with Russian Cossacks, who used trick riding in battle as a form of psychological warfare and as a way to outmaneuver the infantry.

Montie Montana

In the early 1900s, trick riding became of staple of wild west shows and rodeos with men and women attempting more and more daring feats and competing in trick riding events. If the photos here make you want to learn more, visit RodeoTrickRider.com, which has a lot more detail (and great photos!) about trick riders past and present.

Vera McGinnis was one of the Most Celebrated of Earliest Trick Riders

Looking at the old photos you realize that these folks took some serious risks. Take Vera McGinnis, shown to the left. Her most famous trick was the under-the-belly crawl at full speed. She is also credited with inventing the “flying change”, which involves leaping from the back of one galloping horse to another during relay races.

Leonard Stroud also was known for crawling under his horse, but also did some excellent jumping tricks like the one shown here, or jumping over a car.

Leonard Stroud Jumping

Here’s a trick that stands up even under today’s competition!

L. Tyndell Jumping a Team owned by Buck Lucas

At the same time as trick riders were gracing wild west shows and rodeos, the use of trick riding also became an important circus act. Poodles Hanneford grew up in a circus family and was one of the most

Poodles Hanneford was one of the most famous circus trick riders.

famous trick riders in this genre, even appearing in a movie with Shirley Temple. He was the first trick rider to do a back somersault from one running horse to a horse following behind. He also invented a move called the “step off” where the rider, standing on a galloping horse, steps off straight legged then strolls off. Poodles remains the only trick rider who was able to step off to the side, rather than off the back of a horse. Hanneford is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing a running leap onto a horse at a full gallop then stepping off, running and leaping back up again 26 times in a row.

The tradition of trick riding has continued with a new crop of talented riders, many of them women. Drawing on the history of their predecessors these are shows that still take your breath away and which still show trick riding to be an “extreme sport.” This is certainly something you should not try at home.

Wendy Lattin performs a "tail drag."

Shelby Cummings performs the Stroud.

Trakehners – The Oldest Warmblood Breed

When I was horse shopping 12 years ago, I wasn’t in the market for a Trakehner. I didn’t really have any breed in mind. Mostly I wanted a horse to event. A horse that would have good enough movement to produce a decent dressage test, enough jump to keep me out of trouble, and brave enough to go cross country. Perhaps if I’d had a better idea of the rap that Trakehners get, I might not have bought him — they are reputed to be hot, stubborn, and sensitive with a reputation for unsoundness.

Kronefurst is by Instrafurst out of Karin, he's a 17 year old Trakehner

Twelve years later, I still own my Trakehner. Yes, he is sensitive, and certainly he can be stubborn, but he’s also very brave, athletic and built like a tank. He’s been very sound and he’s been a ton of fun. He is a horse that needs an individual approach, but if you are willing to work with him, he is a pleasure.

Trakehners are the oldest of the warmblood breeds, having been established in 1732. Their official name is “The East Prussian Warmblood Horse of Trakehner Origin”, a testament to their origin in the region of East Prussia that once belonged to Germany, and which was lost during Word War II to Russia.

The origin of the breed was a small, locally bred horse called a “Schwaike.” It was know for its versatility and endurance. The Trakehner breed resulted when the Schwaike was crossed with English Thoroughbred and Arabian stallions.

King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, the father of Friedrich the Great, developed the Trakehner breed because he saw the need for a new type of cavalry mount for the Prussian army. War tactics had changed and now required a lighter, more comfortable horse with more endurance and speed than the heavier horses previously needed to carry armor and haul heavy equipment. The horses had to be attractive enough for his officers, but tough enough to survive harsh situations and come out sound. So he chose the best horses from seven of his royal breeding farms, and in 1732 moved them all to the new royal stud at Trakehnen.

This video shows young Trakehner horses in training — it certainly makes my foxhunting days look tame in comparison!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czY6pAflb3w

Up until the Second World War, the Trakehner was a most successful breed; it excelled as a military and endurance horse, and even did light draft work in the fields. As a performance horse, the Trakehner also gained visibility. Trakehners won the gold and silver medals in dressage in the 1924 Olympic games. In the 1928 Olympics, a Trakehner won the bronze medal in the three-day event. And, in 1936,  Kronos, won the gold medal in dressage, while Absinth won the silver. The gold medal in the three-day event went to Nurmi.

Kronos won the Gold Medal in dressage at the 1936 Olympics.

Nurmi won the Gold Medal in Eventing at the 1936 Olympics

At the end of the Second World War, however, the Trakehner breed was nearly wiped out. In October of 1944, as the Soviets closed in on Trakehnen, orders came to evacuate the horses from the Trakehnen Stud. About 800 of the best horses were hastily transferred both by rail and by foot. Most of them, together with all their documentation, fell into the hands of the Russian occupation forces and were shipped to Russia where their papers were lost.

The private breeders and their horses were not allowed to leave until January of 1945, when the Russians had broken through the last of the German lines. The evacuation — on foot — became known as “The Trek”. Hitching their precious breeding stock to wagons laden with personal possessions the East Prussians left with about 800 horses. It was the dead of winter. Snow was deep upon the ground, and the broodmares were heavy with foal. Many horses were left behind to be claimed by the advancing Soviets and many were lost or let loose along the way to be eventually taken in by the conquering troops or to die. In fact, only 100 of the horses survived and those were in precarious health.

Woermann won the Gold Medal in Dressage at the 1954 Olympic Games.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s breeders struggled to rebuild their stock and it was several years before Trakehners again were seen in international competitions.  In 1954 in Tokyo, the  Woermann won the gold medal in dressage, and in 1968 in Mexico City, the Soviet Trakehner-bred horse Ichor won the gold. 1972 saw the gold and silver dressage medals go to Trakehner-bred stallions, the gold to the Swedish-bred Piaff under West Germany’s Liselott Linsenhoff and the silver to Pepel of the USSR under Dr. Elena Petushkova. Some lovely video footage of Pepel and Dr. Petushkova can be found on YouTube:

All in all, the breed has rebounded with great strength and today’s Trakehners excel in many disciplines. In Europe they are widely used for eventing, and the success of stallions like Windfall II have brought more attention to the breed in the US. Ironically, Trakehners were the first warmbloods to be imported into the US and were initially very popular. There were then surpassed by breeds such as the Hannovarian and Dutch Warmbloods which were considered to be more “amateur friendly.”

The breed is more distinctive in its appearance than many other warmbloods partially because they are the only warmblood breed with a closed stud book. This means that while some Thoroughbred and Arabians are approved for breeding, no other warmbloods are ever used. Because of the influence of the Thoroughbred and Arab blood, Trakehners are typically more refined than other warmblood breeds. They also have more of the temperament characteristics associated with them.

My own Trakehner was not approved as a stallion by the American Trakehner Association. I’ve never found out why, but his back is a tad longer than is ideal. However, he shows many of the ideal characteristics of the breed; athleticism, bravery, soundness and sensitivity. Now that I’ve seen some of the old videos and photographs of the breed, I also understand why he’s such a great horse to foxhunt: it’s in his blood.

Equestrian Events in the “Modern” Olympics

The equestrian events at the Olympics are the only event where men and women compete against each other, and the only event where human athletes partner with animal athletes. It is one of the aspects of the Olympics that provides a direct link to the sports played at the ancient games. Unfortunately, there are no longer chariot races or races (bareback or otherwise).

In fact, the Olympic events that we watch today — dressage, eventing, and show jumping — have evolved significantly over the past century. For example, women and civilians were not permitted to compete in equestrian events until 1952. Before then, equestrian riders were commissioned officers and eventing was a sport that evolved from military exercises — in Germany, this sport is still called the “militaire.”

Equestrian events made their debut at the Paris Olympics in 1900. Three events were contested: show jumping, high jump, and long jump. Hacks, hunters and mail coach (I can’t find a description of exactly what that entailed) were contested but not considered official Olympic sports.

The Italian rider Giovanni Giorgio Trissino won a gold and a silver. He narrowly missed making Olympic

Riders on the steeplechase course at the 1912 Olympics.

history by winning two medals in the same event. Competing with two different horses in the high jump, he jointly won the gold medal and finished in 4th place on his second horse.

After 1900, equestrian events had a hiatus until 1912. At that Olympics the elements of eventing were

Ake Hoek of Sweden and his horse clear a fence at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. (IOC Olympic Museum/Getty Images)

introduced, along with dressage. Polo was briefly an Olympic event in 1924.

The Olympics of 1932, in Los Angeles,  were unusual — from an equestrian standpoint — no team medals were awarded because no team had three riders finish the course. In comparison to the current Olympic competitions, which is typically less technically challenging than a **** event, Olympics in the 1930s and 40s were know for their extremely difficult jumping courses. At the 1948 London Games, Mexico won a suprise gold medal ahead of Spain and Great Britain simply because no other team finished!

The first woman to medal at the Olympics was Lis Hartel won an individual silver medal in dressage at the

Lis Hartel was the first woman to win a medal in an equestrian event.

Helsinki Olympics in 1952. She repeated her win in 1956 when the equestrian events for the Melbourne, Australia Olympics were held in Stockholm, Sweden due to Australian quarantine regulations. Her accomplishment was more remarkable because Hartel had overcome polio and was still paralyzed from the knees down.

Feet Looking Good!

Four weeks into the mission of “regrow hooves”, my big Trakehner Kroni is finally feeling pretty good. We had torrential rain yesterday, so I booted him up and took him out for a hack figuring the footing would be nice and soft. He was eager to go and showed none of the soreness that had plagued him over the past few weeks. There was no forging, no short steps, just a happy horse.

Of course, I’ve tried so many things — Formula4Horses, Durasole, Wunderhoof — that I’ve no idea which of these has made such a difference, or whether it’s just been a question of time.

Regardless, it was great to be back on him.

Equestrian Hippodrome of Ancient Olympics Uncovered

Aerial view of the site of the ancient hippodrome course in Olympia. Each side of the starting-place is more than four hundred feet in length, and in the sides are built stalls, according to Pausanias (Book VI 20.10-15). (Credit: Image courtesy of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)

With athletes now gearing up for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, I think it’s fascinating that the ancient hippodrome, where equestrian events were held in ancient Greece, has been excavated by sports historian Professor Norbert Müller, of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and fellow researchers Dr. Christian Wacker, who is a sports archaeologist from Cologne, and and Dr. Reinhard Senff, chief excavator of the German Archaeological Institute.

For more than 100 years archeologists have probed the site where the ancient Olympiad was held, but most people believed that nothing of the hippodrome had survived. The area described in old texts had been flooded by the Alfeios River and covered with silt.

However, using geomagnetic and georadar techniques, which explored to depths up to eight meters, the team was able to identify water courses, ditches, walls and rectilinear structurer that extended along a stretch of almost 1200 meters, which was most likely the race course, which ran parallel to the stadium. Structural remains of the temple of Demeter — known to be near the hippodrome — were discovered in the spring of 2007.

The complex had a length of 1052 meters and a width of 64 meters, not including the earth walls built for the spectators. The starting-gates stretched the full width of the racecourse.

Two of the biggest equestrian events in the ancient Olympic Games were chariot races and horse races. All equestrian events took place in the Hippodrome. A full circuit around the Hippodrome was four stades, or 769 meters, although distances varied at different sites. At Olympia, a full circuit was eight stades, or 1,539 meters. Two turning posts marked the beginning and end of a race at either end of the level arena. The chariot races included the tethrippon for a four-horsed chariot for twelve laps; the apene for two mules pulling a chariot; the synoris for a two-horse chariot for eight laps; the synoris for two foals pulling a chariot for three laps; and the tethrippon for four foals pulling a chariot for eight laps.

Chariot Races were first recorded by Homer in the Iliad and were among the most popular Olympic events.

Each race  consisted of four to 60 chariots that were required to complete seven to twelve laps around the circus. Charioteers placed the fastest horse on the right side so that they could make turns around the turning post as fast as possible

The chariot itself was nothing more than a type of cart that consisted of a set of wheels which had a floor and a waist high guard in front to prevent the driver from falling out. Since the chariots were very light and fragile, collisions almost certainly meant that the chariot would be smashed and the driver seriously injured or killed. During the race violent collisions were expected, although deliberately crashing into an opponent was illegal. Even if a racer didn’t crash, the posts at the ends of the center dividing wall of the arena that marked the bounds of the track posed a dire threat. The driver had to make a turn on the outside of the post and because these turns were extremely sharp, they often lost control or were ejected from their chariots.

A race began by a procession into the hippodrome where the names of drivers and the chariot owners were announced. After the procession, the participants were loaded into mechanical starting gates that were staggered to allow racers on the outside to leave before those on the inside. The race didn’t officially begin until the final gate was opened. Another set of devices called an eagle and a dolphin were used to signify the start of the race and to indicate the number of remaining laps.

Of all the events, chariot racing was one of the few that were performed by clothed participants due to safety reasons and the eminent threat of bloody crashes. Although women were officially prohibited from participating or even watching, a few accounts of them doing so were documented. A few women were allowed to drive the chariots because they were slaves, commanded to drive by their masters. Only one was a noble woma: Cynisca, the daughter of Spartan Agesiaus II, who won two races.

Horse races were also an Olympic event. There were separate races for horses, mares and foals.

The horseback competitions included the keles for full-grown horses, the kalpe for mares, and the race for foals. The course was six laps around the Hippodrome (4.5 miles). Jockeys rode without stirrups and sometimes without saddles, although they often had whips.

One thing that hasn’t changed since ancient times: horse sports were reserved for the wealthy as only they could afford the upkeep!

Gray Horses: More than Just Old Age

Talk about a missing link: Researchers in Sweden have discovered that gray horses carry an identical mutation that can be traced back to a common ancestor that lived thousands of years ago. An international team led by researchers at Uppsala University say this mutation also enhances the risk for melanoma. The paper is being published in the July issue of Nature Genetics.

About 75% of grey horses older than 15 years of age have a benign form of melanoma that in some cases develops into a malignant melanoma. As a result, the study has also given new insight in a molecular pathway that may lead to tumor development. The gray mutation does not change any protein structure in the horse but it affects the genetic regulation of two genes. The researchers found that the white horses carry an extra copy of a DNA segment located in one of these genes.

Another aspect of the mutation is that it appears to predispose gray horses to the development of melanomas.Researchers believe that the gray mutation stimulates the growth of melancocytes, and that this leads to a premature loss of the melancocyte stem cells needed for hair pigmentation. Instead, the mutation promotes an expansion of melanocytes that causes skin pigmentation. Learning more about the action of this mutation may well help us better understand the development of melanomas in humans, too.

The “graying out” of a gray horse resembles the graying experienced by humans, but it occurs on a much faster time frame. Gray horses are born black, bay, brown or chestnut, but begin to gray within their first year. Normally, they are completely white by the age of six or eight. About one horse in ten carries the mutation for graying with age.