USEF extends suspension of competitions

by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 25, 2020

It’s not really a surprise.

With so much uncertainty about restarting the economy in the midst of the pandemic, the U.S. Equestrian Federation has extended its previous deadline for resuming competitions, training camps, clinics and other activities from May 3 to May 31.

As USEF CEO Bill Moroney explained the reason for the extension in his memo to members, in several states, “it appears” that restrictions such as the “stay-at-home” orders put in place by Governors are making a difference.  While he noted federal, state and local governments are discussing plans for re-opening the environment, it won’t happen overnight.

This would have been cross-country day at the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star, but all we have are memories from last year, like Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg at the Head of the Lake. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)

As Bill mentioned, reopening likely will involve a gradual easing of restrictions over several weeks, which may vary greatly state-to-state, as well as within the states themselves. That could result in a staggered regional start-up for competitions.

“The success of these plans is predicated on a mindful and responsible approach to easing restrictions while also maintaining best practices that we have all learned and adopted in order to reduce exposure to and transmission of the COVID-19 virus,” his statement said.

“Once USEF competitions resume, we must all continue to support and maintain these best practices as part of our daily activities to help prevent further disruptions to our lives.”

When the suspension expires, competitions must comply with requirements issued by USEF for operating sport horse competitions in this environment. USEF has been developing competition protocols for safely operating competitions and mitigating the risks associated with COVID-19.  Once that is finalized, the protocols will be provided to competition organizers, along with other risk mitigation tools.  In addition, all the information will be accessible to everyone on the USEF website.

It was just a year ago tomorrow that we watched Oliver Townend win Land Rover Kentucky. We should be at the Kentucky Horse Park this weekend, but instead, well, you know. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)

USEF also has been working on amendments to qualification and selection processes for USEF-owned and named events (such as the Pony Finals) as well as how USEF Horse of the Year awards and ranking lists are calculated.  The federation has started announcing modifications that “will make the process as fair as possible for all participants, despite the disruption to the competition year and the likelihood of a staggered regional start-up.”

Granting exemptions to the junior competitor age restrictions, equine age restrictions and equine eligibility restrictions based on competitive experience are under discussion, but USEF states it is still too early to make definitive conclusions on these issues.

Many show organizers had hoped to resume competition during May. Let’s hope they can do it in June. This affects everyone from the grand prix and double A level down the line.

Cathy Brogan, regional supervisor for the New Jersey Region of the U.S. Pony Club, said a dressage show set for May 31 at the Horse Park of New Jersey, cross-country fun day and U.S. Eventing Association horse trials have been called off due to this announcement.

“Everything planned for this year will have to be canceled,” she said, noting this will also include WOW camp for 2020, although she said local Pony Clubs may do something on their own later this year. But even that remains to be seen.

“So 2020 will go down in history as the year that wasn’t–for the horse world–graduations, both high school and colleges–sad, but something we all are stuck with accepting.”

A bit of sentiment for shows long past

by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 12, 2020

I’m getting nostalgic for the good old days, like a month ago, when I actually went to a horse show B.P (before pandemic)–as opposed to simply looking at the “virtual” competitions that have blossomed on-line.

But a surprise package that came in the mail recently from one of my readers, Ann Wilson, enabled me to take a big step back and visit a completely different equestrian era in New Jersey. She sent along 1949 programs–in pristine condition, I might add–from the Rock Spring Charity Show at the Rock Spring Riding Club in West Orange and the Montclair Horse Show at the Montclair Riding Club. They ran during a period of equestrian growth and revival, as shows regained their footing following mass cancellations (sound familiar?) during World War II.

It was a time with far less prize money, if there was any; when trophies, ribbons and recognition were enough for most of those competing. Though often covered by newspapers as a social event, the equestrian sport that appeared far less sophisticated than it is today was no less hotly contested, The inherent joy of taking part made it meaningful for those involved, because that was the biggest payoff 16 years prior to the first U.S. outdoor European-style show jumping grand prix held in Cleveland.

Both of these Essex County shows, now long gone, were well before my time. Even so, I recognized some of the names in the programs, most notably those of Nancy Jane Imboden, who went on to win the AHSA (now USEF) Hunt Seat Medal finals later that year; Gen. Alex Rodzianko, a Russian émigré who rode with Capt. Federico Caprilli, “the father of the modern forward seat;” Show Jumping Hall of Fame member Johnny Bell (McLain Street) and Gerry Gearhart. (I remember well the Gearhart Chevrolet Stable of saddlebreds.) I saw John Y.G. Walker’s name listed on the board of the Montclair show. He was a key figure at the National Horse Show, where his son, John Y.G. Walker III, now is the first vice president.

Frank Chapot (whom Ann referred to as “Frankie” when she wrote to me), took part in both competitions. A teenage Frank was aboard the lovely dapple gray Chado, the horse after whom his farm was named.

The late U.S. individual Olympic show jumping gold medalist Bill Steinkraus used to call Frank “Chado” as a nickname. Frank’s widow, Mary, and daughter, Laura, still run Chado Farms in Neshanic Station, and another daughter, Wendy Chapot Nunn, rides as an amateur. A multi-medal Olympian and U.S. show jumping team coach, Frank died in 2016 at the age of 84.

Ann recounted, “I had been a fan of Frank Chapot since my first years at Watchung (the Union County Park Commission stable that was then in Summit), where he first rode.

Frank Chapot at Maclay presentation, 1947 National Horse Show. (Photo by Ann Wilson)

“I was thrilled when he won the (ASPCA) Maclay at the Garden (in 1947) and made sure I was in the ring to take a photo of the presentation.” I wonder how she got the candid shot; they were quite strict in terms of who could be in the ring for presentations more than two decades later, during the years I covered the show there.

The Montclair program (nearly every show had a program in those days) also included some rather quaint ads, such as a full page for Hahne’s department store, a brand discontinued in 1988, and Doops, an East Orange shop touting “beautiful furs, gowns, coats, suits, millinery.”  I flipped a page and saw Kauffman Saddlery was offering “riding needs for all the family” with “show habits” for $55, breeches for $5.95 (if only!) and a Pariani saddle at $140.

Shows today, are of course, totally altered from how they were presented in the years just after World War II. When I asked about the differences she has witnessed, Ann, who became interested in horses after riding at camp in 1943, pointed out there have been “vast changes in popularity of different breeds.”

The evidence is the type of competition offered at the 1949 shows, from Walking Horses to bareback horsemanship and lots of gaited classes. Skipper Schroeder won both the hunt seat and saddle seat titles at Rock Spring, which in itself tells you how different times were then from the current age of equestrian specialization. (In 1941, Bill Steinkraus won the finals of both the saddle seat Good Hands equitation championship and the hunt seat Maclay at the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden.)

Ann recalled that for the jumping, “Back in the ‘40s, one saw all breeds winning. Then for years, the best jumpers were thoroughbreds and now successful jumpers descend from various European breeds.”

Barbara Rankin on Chesty and Ann Wilson on Baby, right, at Watchung in June 1945.

It was also a different culture. Female riders listed in the programs were respectfully referred to as Mrs. or Miss, while the men generally had a Mr. before their names; the American Horse Shows Association application blank in the programs offered a senior membership for $5 (now it’s $80, but with a lot more benefits), while the Rock Spring booklet advised that all exhibitors were invited to a party at the Rock Spring Corral Inn after Saturday’s show. You could come in your riding clothes for parties like that, but for others, they often were dressy affairs.

Among those listed as competitors in Rock spring’s Open 3-Gaited class was Julius Glaser, who owned the Hanover Farm Stables on Route 10 in Whippany, where Sullivan Davis was the trainer.

Ann, a lifelong resident of Maplewood, recalled, “I went to the stable there and eventually Dave (as he was called) taught me to ride, to post at the trot and ride at the canter, in my case, a small miracle.  He was the perfect instructor, very patient.”

Ann Wilson on Stretch at Triple Lake Ranch in Roxbury during the late 1940s.

Dave is best known in the hunter/jumper world as the trainer who gave a good foundation to the show jumping Leone brothers, but he was much admired in the saddle horse world and also trained Morgans and Arabians. In fact, he could train an equine of any description.

He schooled Ann well, so that during the 1940s, she rode at Triple Lake Ranch in Succasunna (a part of Roxbury), where people from New York would spend weekends.

“Because the guests would always get their choice of horses, I would be obliged to ride those which were difficult and control them with light hands.  It was good experience for me,” she said.

Thanks for the programs and photos, Ann. I loved spending a few minutes visiting a place where no one had ever heard of Covid-19 and social distancing, or for that matter, $5,000 saddles and jumpers selling for millions of dollars. I’m know there are more than a few of you still out there who were around for those years.

It seems like a simpler time, though I realize folks living then were dealing with their own brands of complexities, but it’s still fun for those who are house-bound today to take their minds off the current situation and get a peek at how things used to be.

Coping with the cancellations

by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 2, 2020

They canceled Britain’s famed Wimbledon, two days after America’s famed Devon Horse Show became a no-go. So while equestrian sport is hardly alone in calling off its competitions in the midst of the pandemic (see Olympics, Final Four, Kentucky Derby) it’s impossible not to be depressed by the continuing roster of shows that won’t be held this year (or have been tentatively postponed). This morning’s radio “sports news” was short (and not so sweet), with the only item being the imminent cancellation of the British Open golf tournament.

In the midst of all this, however, the loss of Devon was a particular blow. To paraphrase a famous song title, we believed, “There’ll always be a Devon.” It speaks to the seemingly perennial nature of this show, which started in 1896 and has been held annually except for three years during World War II. And now this year.

McLain Ward has taken many victory gallops at the Devon Horse Show. (Photo © 2018 by Nancy Jaffer)

Like so many attending the country’s largest multi-breed show on Philadelphia’s Main Line, I always breathe a happy sigh when I come through the gates at the end of May and see everything looking the same as it has for many decades, all painted in that special shade of blue..

David Distler, who co-manages the show with Peter Doubleday, said they looked at postponement, but weren’t able find the right spot on the calendar where it could offer the country fair, the saddlebreds and coaches that are as much a part of the ambience as the hunters, jumpers and equitation.

The big problem with this lockdown, as David pointed out, is “you don’t know where the end’s going to be. People have to make plans.”

The country fair and the carnival are integral components to Devon’s appeal. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)

Like everyone else, he’s living with scuttled special plans. Judging at Germany’s Aachen show was on his bucket list, and he was set to do it in June. Except that Aachen was postponed, to no “date certain” as they say, and who knows if it will even be held?

McLain Ward, the Devon fan favorite, is missing a chance to add to his record of 11 victories in the Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon, named after his famous mare who was a winner at the show and enjoyed a retirement ceremony there.

I asked what he thinks about the big question, which is where are we going now, and when, as well as what will it look like when we get there?

“In the short term, with any crisis, especially a financial crisis,” he told me, “there’s always going to be some adjustment. We rebound and normalcy will return to some degree. I’m an optimist, I always believe that. Maybe some horse shows, some businesses, some professionals…will unfortunately go out of business; some others will come up and fill the gap. That’s the way of the world; we have to navigate it, so we’re not the ones who go by the wayside. For sure change is going to take place, you need to be ahead of the curve as athletes and as administrators.”

He was, of course, a top candidate for the U.S. Olympic team. The International Olympic Committee said that athletes who qualified for the 2020 Games will be good for 2021, but it’s different for horse-rider combinations because they can’t be selected off what they did 18 months or more before the Games.

“A lot of peoples’ situation will change, some will improve and some will not improve,” McLain pointed out.

“The internal process of qualifying in each country I think begins again. Those of us who were shortlisted have to start the process again in 2020 and 2021,” he said.

What about athletes who don’t have the same horses they had this winter, or what if their horses are going to be too old by next year to be selected for the trip to Tokyo, I  asked.

“There’s a ton of questions that need to be answered on a grand world scale that are far more crucial than sports, then breaking it down to sports in general and individual programs,” noted McLain, who is waiting it out in Wellington, Fla., at the moment with his wife and two daughters.

“It’s a little difficult to find motivation day to day with not knowing where you’re going next. In the grand scheme of life it’s a small problem compared to what many are dealing with right now. I try to remember that when I’m going in circles here.”

He’s optimistic that the way American shows are put together “will play in our favor trying to get back to some sort of schedule and normalcy at some point.

We’re an exhibitor-funded, sport not a patron-funded sport, compared to Aachen that wants to put 72,000 people in the seats every day. Our shows in reality are funded by the entry fees so they’re not that concerned with how many spectators are in the seats.”

Devon (can’t get it off my mind) is a special stop for hunter riders and equitation competitors, as well as jumpers. Junior riders often have Devon as their ultimate goal of the outdoor season. That means it’s also key for top equitation trainer Stacia Madden of Beacon Hill Show Stables in Colts Neck, who will be heading back from Florida to her New Jersey farm later this month.

A highlight of any hunter rider’s yaer is competing at Devon. (Photo © 2018 by Nancy Jaffer)

What’s her plan?

“I’m just trying to keep everything in perspective,” she said.

Stacia Madden

“Although we all do this because we enjoy the competition, we also do it for the love of the horse and love of the sport. I’m thankful I have a business I’m able to keep running, I’m thankful that can be outside and I’m thankful I own a business that’s kind of secluded on 22 acres, and we can hunker down because a lot of the staff lives on the property. Although I’m disappointed not to be showing, I’m trying to realistically look at how grateful I am that everybody is safe and healthy and that I’m able, for the moment, to stay up and running and hopefully weather the storm.”

In Florida, her customers have been allowed to flat their horses under strict protocols. When she gets back to New Jersey, she sees it as “a nice break to let the horses down a little bit” after the demands of the Florida circuit. I heard a long time ago that when disaster strikes, you’re supposed to make as few changes as possible and try to ride the wave. We’re trying to stick to our normal schedule as best I can, but being very, very cognizant of what I can do to help speed the process of flattening the curve (of the virus).

She has been kept busy cancelling housing reservations for riders and staff involving shows that would have been held through the Upperville, Va., show that was supposed to be held in June but has been moved to September.

Stacia, who has trained dozens of national equitation champions, knows that there could be issues around qualifying for finals. She said she has seen emails of people offering various suggestions and realizes that whatever happens “it’s probably not going to be standard.”

“If we get to show, great. If we are going to keep our horses and staff and customers and peers healthy and happy and try to get them ready for ‘20-21, so be it.”

I’m taking it show by show,” she stated.