By Nancy Jaffer
May 9, 2018
A horse show manager’s tenure usually is measured in terms of several years—if the person in question lasts even that long.
So it’s very unusual when someone manages a show for three decades, as Tim Cleary has with the Garden State Horse Show. But then, Garden State—which wrapped up its 68th edition last weekend—is a very unusual show.
Tim, an associate professor of equine studies at Centenary University and a lawyer to boot, is stepping down from his Garden State post.
Tim Cleary is known for his commitment to the Garden State Horse Show. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“It’s the right time for somebody newer or younger to come in; it’s a good time to go. I’ll stay on the committee and certainly do everything I can for the show,” said the Hackettstown resident, 61.
Tim is a veteran of the Junior Essex Troop, which stages Garden State at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. Originally based at its own farm in West Orange, the troop was open to boys between the ages of 10 and 18 who trained in the cavalry tradition, cared for the organization’s 25 horses and maintained the stables. At its peak, troops A and C in West Orange had 120 members. Some boys, notably the late Roger Haller, who became the 1996 Olympic cross-country designer, also rode at Union County’s Watchung Stables in Troop B.
Troop was founded in 1931 by officers of the 102d Cavalry Regiment, New Jersey National Guard and incorporated in 1943 “to encourage patriotism, to foster the love of horses among boys and to train boys in horsemanship, cavalry drill, marksmanship, military training and discipline.”
The bonds that Troop’s regimen created are beyond durable; they’re unbreakable. Men who started a half-century or so ago with the organization are still incredibly close. Think “Band of Brothers” and you’ve got it.
Troop’s annual horse show—which originally gained recognition decades ago as the country’s largest competition for junior riders—has always been a spring highlight in New Jersey. In the days when it was held at the West Orange farm, indelible recollections include trying to cross the stream to get to the outside course (not every horse was eager to do that) and the drill that ended with riders in plumed helmets jumping their horses through a flaming arch.
A tragic turning point came in 1981, when the show’s manager, Jamie Griesenbeck, died in a fire a few months before the competition. Faced with “a steep learning curve” in addition to sorrow and adversity, the troopers and their advisers as usual rose to the occasion and made sure the show went on.
“We had to scramble around like crazy to figure out how to run a horse show, because we didn’t know how the mechanics worked,” said committee member Ed Jeklinksi of Cedar Knolls, noting experts in the horse show world were gracious about offering advice.
When the troop farm was sold after the 1983 show, the competition (which had become a show open to all years before) moved to Chubb Park in Chester under the direction of Rodney Seelig, the show’s chairman. It outgrew the Chester location and moved to its current home in Sussex County in 1987.
“Rodney really kept it together for such a long time,” said Brian Colquhoun, a Morris County-based veterinarian who ended his 36-year stint as one of the show’s announcers this month.
Garden State grew to be New Jersey’s largest hunter/jumper show, but bad luck with the weather and changing times have cut back on entries.
Still, the fixture has carried on with the devotion of the former troopers. The troop itself did not last beyond the late 1980s, even when it went coed. Originally, the goal of those involved with the show was to re-form the troop for a new generation with proceeds from the competition, but the era for an organization of that nature has passed into memory.
“It became clear to all of us that maybe we did hold out a little bit of a pipe dream and this generation may not be into that kind of thing,” observed Brian.
“I think that vision has started to fade in everybody’s mind a little bit. I think we see we’re never going to get troop back, but we’re bound to each other. We had so many shared experiences.”
Troopers’ families are part of the scene as well. Ed’s daughter, Lauren, met her husband, Ryan Black, when she was working at the show and he was on the jump crew. Lauren is pregnant now, and Ed notes she will be having “a troop baby.”
“It’s in your DNA,” Ed maintained.
Committee member Bill Bonstein of Chester met his wife, the former Kim Hewitt, at the show in West Orange 40 years ago when he overheard that one of her students was trying to deal with a broken martingale.
Coming to the rescue, “Bill ran to the JET barn and came back with one, saving the day. And that was our beginning together,” said Kim.
Tim, who had served as the director of horsemanship at the West Orange farm, was a natural choice to be Garden State’s manager.
“It was like he was born to run the show,” mused Bill.
“He knows everybody and doesn’t walk 10 feet without someone grabbing his sleeve.”
Ed, who joined Troop at age 10 and is now 63, noted, “it’s just amazing how much time Tim puts into it before the show even starts. I’d get there by 7 a.m., and Tim was always there before me.” Their day didn’t end until 7 or 8 p.m. through the run of the five-day show, as well as the two-day preview show the previous weekend.
Part of the key to Tim’s success, apart from knowing everyone’s name and being very fair, “is his patience and understanding. He listens,” said Ed.
Brian, who knew Tim from their days as troopers, pointed out, “Our best and oldest friends are all troop guys. Maybe it was the shared experiences during a very formative time in our lives. It was a unique organization, and one for which we were in the right time and place.”
Tim Cleary (left) and others involved with the Garden State Show share a salute reminiscent of the Junior Essex Troop Days. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Tim joined Troop in 1957 and rose through the ranks, leaving as major in 1975. That honor even landed him on the old quiz show, “To Tell the Truth.”
As he thought back on what made Troop such a lasting experience for so many, Tim explained, “The horses were the bond. We all loved horses and we were learning great old cavalry skills on how to take care of horses.
“The military framework taught you leadership. As you acquired a new rank, you became another level of a leader and became in charge of people. It taught lot of responsibility, not only for the horses, but also, you became responsible for each other, too.”
When he was director of horsemanship, Tim said, former troopers started coming back to run the show “in the spirit of what we had learned. It’s not about the money, it’s trying to be service-oriented and give people a good show.”
The show donates to charity, with Centenary a beneficiary in terms of scholarships.
Brian noted how much things have changed in the show world, and Garden State has “felt the pressure, with all the extra time in Wellington, when Tryon opened up, people going to Kentucky.”
There was a day, Bill pointed out, when the upper level of the New Jersey show scene was basically just Garden State, Middlesex (now at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Monmouth County), the Sussex Farm and Horse Show and Monmouth (now in Somerset County at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.) Other big shows have developed since in the state, including the Princeton series in Somerset County and The Ridge in Warren County, while HITS in nearby Saugerties, N.Y., has also become a stop on the circuit.
The Garden State committee will come up with a new manager, whether it’s someone from within or an outsider, said Tim, and together, members will chart what’s ahead for the show.
There has been some discussion of packing it in and turning it over to another non-profit, but Tim believes, “I think that’s pretty far off in the future. There’s still a pretty active committee that enjoys it.”
And for many of the riders who come back every year, it’s a treasured tradition.
Did you miss the Land Rover Kentucky 4-star? Didn’t take the trip to Badminton? Make up for lost time this weekend by getting your eventing fix closer to home at the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event.
The competition is held at the Horse Park of New Jersey, 626 Route 524, Allentown, N.J., where new footing has been installed in the grand prix ring.
Dressage for the CCI 2- and 3-star events begins May 10 and continues through May 11, when the CIC 2- and 3-star dressage also will be held.
Cross-country for all divisions starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 12. On Sunday, May 13, the final horse inspection is at 8 a.m., with CIC show jumping at 10 a.m. and the CCI jumping beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Tailgating by the water complex is popular at Jersey Fresh. (Photo©by Nancy Jaffer)
Jersey Fresh, presented by B.W. Furlong Associates, is the final U.S. qualifier for the FEI World Equestrian Games. The 150 entries for the event is a record, and will include such crowd-pleasing riders as Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Buck Davidson and Jessica Phoenix.
For more information, go to jfi3d.com.
The ranks of NCAA equestrian competition continue to increase. The newest addition is UC Davis, with a great vet school and a noted agriculture school as well.
The once-threatened nationwide NCAA equestrian program is now going from strength to strength as an entity, with more schools joining. Equestrian (along with beach volleyball!) will be added to the women’s interscholastic competition roster at UC Davis.
There already is a club equesrian team at Davis, but NCAA will begin on a limited competition schedule this autumn. Coaches and staff will be hired over the summer.
Associate Athletic Director Anissa Nachman said, “horses are typically donated or loaned to programs. So getting both the riders as well as the horses at the same time will obviously be a lot of work.”
Israel is building a formidable team that could make the squad a factor in Nations’ Cup show jumping competition. We know the usual powers–Germany, the U.S., the Netherlands, France, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and a few others, but Israel may soon have to be considered as a possible medal contender.
None of the riders were born in Israel. Daniel Bluman, who rode in the Olympics for Colombia, changed his nationality, along with Alberto Michan (Mexico), Danielle Goldstein (U.S.) and now, Californian Ashlee Bond. This is a group with potential.
You know equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) are good for people. But what about the horses involved?
A study by the Rutgers University Equine Science Center’s Gwendolin E. Stableford Endowed Equine Research Fund came up with potentially groundbreaking research for those interested in the therapies as a way to help veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This was one of the first trials that focused on not only the effects on the human side of this type of therapy, but also on the horse.
The study was conducted at the Monmouth County Park System’s Sunnyside Equestrian Center in Lincroft for five days in April 2016. The center works with the community to provide therapeutic riding and activities to people of all abilities. Volunteers from SPUR (Special People United to Ride), guided seven veterans from Lakewood Veterans Affairs during the trial.
Blood samples were used to look at specific markers in the blood, such as the hormone oxytocin, which is frequently described as the love or happiness hormone. “To our knowledge, this is the first report of the measurement of oxytocin in horses used in EAAT programs” stated ESC Director Karyn Malinowski.
“If the concentration of this hormone increased during the trial, we would be able to suggest a positive effect on the horses,” she said.
The other hormone analyzed was cortisol, the “stress hormone.” An increase in this hormone would indicate that the horses were stressed by their interactions with the veterans.
Rutgers students from the Department of Animal Sciences were shown the proper method of attaching and securing ECG monitors to the horses so measurements could be taken throughout the session. The readings from these devices allowed the team to look at heart rate variability, or the natural variation in time between consecutive heart beats.
The study demonstrated that “EAAT resulted in a reduction in heart rate in horses on both session days, suggesting that EAAT were not perceived as being stressful to the horses,” stated Karyn.
“Coupled with the fact that there were no changes in plasma cortisol, these findings imply that in horses experienced with EAAT, the interaction with PTSD veterans did not result in a stress response.”
“Participants also reported a significant decrease in symptoms of anxiety and depression, along with other symptoms of psychological distress.”
Because this was a pilot study, more research with a larger number of horses is recommended over a potentially longer time frame to study the long-term impact of EAAT on horses. Karyn would also like to add heart rate variability measurements and blood sampling to the human side of any additional research as a way to better evaluate the interactions between horses and humans.
The study has been published as an open access paper, accessible for free here:
http://www.j-evs.com/article/S0737-0806(17)30776-1/fulltext.
Or listen here to a webinar that was given at Rutgers.
The Friends of Lord Stirling Stable will host the annual Spring Nature Ride April 15 the trails of Somerset County Park Commission’s Lord Stirling Stable at 256 South Maple Avenue in Basking Ridge. The hour-long ride, open to those with no experience as well as those who know how to ride, will begin at 8:30 a.m., with check-in at 8 a.m.
Junior riders 12 and older who are not currently enrolled at Lord Stirling may participate if accompanied by an adult for the walking ride on 18 miles of trails.
Guides will accompany riders to point out and attempt to identify plants, birds, and animals.The fee is $35 for members of the Friends of Lord Stirling Stable and Lord Stirling Stable students; $40 for non-members who are Somerset County residents and $50 for non-residents. Participants are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Late registration accepted if room permits.
Certified ASTM/SEI equestrian helmets and boots or shoes with hard, smooth soles and a definite heel are required and may be borrowed from the stable office at no additional cost. Riders must be at least 12 years of age, weigh less than 200 pounds, and must be enrolled with registration forms available in the stable office or online at www.flss.org. For directions to the stable, call the office at 908-722-1200 ext. 5010.
Information on other Somerset County Park Commission activities may be found on the Internet at www.somersetcountyparks.org
Are you stressed? Too bad. Here’s the more important question to be asked–how’s your horse doing?
Get the answer via an April 12 noon webinar with Dr. Carey Williams of Rutgers University.
“Are You ‘Stressing Out’ Your Horse? Understanding Types of Stress & How to Manage or Reduce Each,” is the topic for the conversation. Want to join in? here’s the link
March 26, 2018
Swimmer Michael Phelps. Track star Carl Lewis. Para-equestrian Annie Peavy?
Why not? Annie is one of seven finalists for the AAU James Sullivan Award, which has been won by Phelps, Lewis and so many other top U.S. athletes—but never by an equestrian.
Presented since 1888 by the Amateur Athletic Union to an outstanding amateur athlete in the United States, it would be a major statement on behalf of the American para-equestrians who work so hard to beat the odds and shine on horseback.
“It is a great honor to be nominated for this award, along with many other highly respected athletes,” Annie said.
Annie Peavy in competition
“I began riding as a form of physical therapy, never imagining how many amazing experiences would come from it. From my first local show to my first Paralympic Games, the joy I have for this sport has never faded.”
Annie rode in both the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ and the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Her achievements last year included a win in the Grade IV FEI Team Test and Individual Test, as well as a second place in the Grade IV FEI Freestyle Test at the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival CPEDI3-star.
She and her equine partner, Royal Dark Chocolate, Rebecca Reno’s 10-year-old Oldenburg mare, went on to win the Grade IV FEI Team and Freestyle tests at the Bishop Burton CPEDI3-star in Great Britain.
Annie Peavy with Grand Prix dressage rider Heather Blitz. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
They were the overall champions at the 2017 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships, sponsored by Deloitte at the Tryon International Equestrian Center, home of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games. The pair also helped the Deloitte U.S. Para-Equestrian dressage squad earn top honors in the team competition.
Annie is known for cheering on her teammates and handling herself with grace, whatever the results.
Her father, Ed Peavy, views Annie’s finalist status as a “big deal” for his daughter, who suffered a stroke before she was born.
“I could never have imagined that the little girl who started on a therapy pony (and just wanted to trot) now has a chance to be the first equestrian to win this prestigious award.”
Voting for the winner runs through March 29. You can vote here once a day per device, tweeting to #Peavy4sullivan as many times as you can.
“We’re so proud of our daughter, and for all the amazing Paralympic riders who are her friends and her teammates. Your votes are for all of them,” Annie’s father said.
“This is the best two weeks of my life,” Dick Feldman liked to say about the Lake Placid Horse Show, which he served as chairman for more than a quarter-century.
Dick, who died last week at 83 after a long illness, was devoted to the two-week fixture in upstate New York.
“I don’t like it — I love it,” he declared more than once about the show whose board he joined in 1987.
His enthusiasm ran from the big picture of what it took to run the show, right down to picking up lost children and loose dogs.
If an exhibitor didn’t have sufficient shavings for a horse’s stall, he’d deliver them himself when necessary.
During the show, he would ride his horse over from his nearby Woodlea farm at 7 a.m., going around the entire grounds inspecting things and making sure everything was safe, always ready for more work on the project to which he devoted himself.
“The horse show business is a hands-on business,” he once explained.
Richard M. Feldman
“He wears the show on his sleeve,” Lake Placid’s technical coordinator, David Distler, commented a few years ago.
“His heart’s in the right place. He wants to make Lake Placid one of the top shows. He wants everyone to come and love it.”
Dick’s philosophy toward those who are part of the show went this way: “If you treat them as if they were your family, they will treat you like you were their father.”
Margie Engle, a regular at the show, once noted, “He’s a friend to everybody. If you need something, he’s there. He’s not the type of person who’s nice because of who you are. I’ve seen him talking to a leadline kid who’s nervous about going in the class. Whatever he can do to make people enjoy themselves at the show, he does.”
He was employed for 40 years with Lehman Brothers, where he became the company’s youngest national sales manager and then a senior vice president and managing director of investments,
But it was horses that were a lifetime focal point for Dick. Although his family was very involved in racing (they owned 1987 Belmont Stakes winner Bet Twice), his real interest was show horses, fox hunters (he served as master of the old Hidden Hollow Hounds in New Jersey). His involvement also extended to being a trustee of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.
“The Lake Placid Horse Show Association and the entire world of equestrian show jumping mourns the loss of Richard M. Feldman,” said Philip Richter, who succeeded Dick as the show’s chairman.
“He worked tirelessly to improve our sport and threw his heart, soul and wallet into making the Lake Placid Horse Show one of the most popular and best managed shows on the “A” circuit.
“It is an honor for me, as the new chairman of the Lake Placid Horse Shows, to continue to build upon his legacy, momentum and success. Richard positively impacted many lives in the world of equestrian sports and on Wall Street. His influence and dedication will be greatly missed by his friends, family and all those who were lucky enough to know him. The Board and Executive Committee extends our deepest sympathies to Richard’s family, and in particular to his wife, Diana, who, alongside Richard, has played a key role in the decades-long success of the Lake Placid Horse Shows.
When he was given the key to the Olympic Village and inducted into the Lake Placid Hall of Fame in 2009, Dick said, “This is my Academy Award. To be honored by the town on behalf of the horse show is a great honor and I have overwhelming gratitude for the town. This is the pinnacle of everything I’ve done and I am so thankful to everyone in town, not only for this honor, but also for all they have done to support the horse shows.”
Memorial services are tentatively planned for New York City in April and for Lake Placid during this summer’s horse shows, June 26 – July 8.
Memorial donations may be made “In Memory of Richard M. Feldman” to the Lake Horse Show Association, 5514 Cascade Road, Lake Placid NY 12946.–Nancy Jaffer
