by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 20, 2020
It obviously was Steve Teichman’s destiny to become the U.S. eventing team’s farrier.
The career path that made him one of the most respected practitioners of his trade around the world began in an unusual way when he was just 13. Steve’s father came up with what he thought was a bright idea to sidetrack his son’s artistic inclinations, since he preferred the teen to focus on eventually getting a “proper” college degree.
“I know this guy who shoes horses in Delaware. Why don’t you go work with him for a summer? Maybe that will satisfy some of your creative instincts,” Dad slyly suggested.
Turns out he was right–except that it backfired.
“This is where the hand of fate gets involved,” Steve recalled with a smile.
“I did that, and there wasn’t any looking back.” He had found what he was meant to do. Even though Steve went on to get a degree in biology, he was shoeing horses on the side while in college and never stopped.
Steve’s father “wasn’t really happy” with the way his plan turned out, but legions of horse owners, veterinarians and team members over the years have been incredibly grateful that Steve pursued what appears to be his pre-ordained profession, from which he retired this month.
Steve Teichman in a familiar pose with handfuls of shoes by his truck. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Jim Wolf, who managed the U.S. eventing teams in the 1990s and into the 21st century, called Steve “just a genius. He’s an artist, an engineer, all those things you need to be a good farrier.
“He’s the whole package and such a great person to have on team trips, such a great influence on everyone about how to be a human being.”
Steve did his utmost to get horses in shape to compete, but he also had the same type of consideration for the horses.
“He could always figure out how to get the horse comfortable,” said Jim, yet at the same time, “If Steve said a horse shouldn’t go (into a competition) then it shouldn’t go.”
Steve’s expertise has been unique.
“What made him so good was in solving a crisis, he was able to see the big picture,” commented Oldwick-based Dr. Brendan Furlong, who served as veterinarian for the eventing team.
“His understanding of micro- and macro-anatomy of the horse’s foot is probably greater than any other person I’ve ever interacted with,” observed Brendan, calling Steve, “an incredibly clever man.”
Brendan Furlong and Steve Teichman have watched many horses go over the years as they blend their expertise to solve problems. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
He got to know Steve while treating horses ridden by two-time eventing world champion Bruce Davidson. In the early middle 1990s, Brendan recalled, a lot of U.S. riders were training in the United Kingdom, where the Americans were having problems getting farriers who would do things the way they wanted them done. The answer to that was drafting Steve, who began working with the team in 1997.
Here’s a story that demonstrates Steve’s inventiveness. When the team went to the Open European Championships at Burghley, England, that year, one horse had torn off a shoe on cross-country and as the time came for the horse inspection, the competition’s farrier was nowhere to be found. He had the forge, the steel and everything else that Steve needed to use if he were to fix things (he couldn’t transport his own equipment overseas, so he was reliant on the local man’s truck.) Steve came up with an inventive remedy for the bar shoe he lacked–nailing an ordinary shoe on the foot backwards to provide support for the trot-up. The horse passed the ground jury’s scrutiny, Steve finally got access to the truck and was able to produce a regulation bar shoe so the horse could compete in the show jumping phase.
In the days when he worked in the blacksmith shop at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, Steve thought about pursuing a veterinary career, then decided against it.
“I just felt this industry needed the help so badly, I decided to stay with it,” he said.
Steve gives his next move some thought. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
And that was the way things went until this week, the last time Steve completed his regular shoeing jobs. Although he still will be involved with some consulting, help the industry out with a few clinics and take on a special case here and there, at the age of 62, he decided it was time to step aside from his farrier business.
“Physically, it’s really hard,” he said.
“I don’t want it to get the best of me. It controls your life. It’s hard to take time off with the quality of horses we do.” In a regular (non-Covid) year, he noted, “by now, you would know where you are every single week until April. It’s pretty grueling.”
Yet he still is thinking of the greater good for those who keep on shoeing horses. He spent three and a half years getting a master’s degree in equine locomotion with Britain’s Royal Veterinary College and just finished a 38-page paper on toe surface modifications and how they affect break-over.
“It was really fun to do. I only wish I was 40 years old when I did it,” he said wistfully, “but when it’s published, it will be good to get it into the hands of farriers. This industry needs that.”
While in the last 30 years he thinks there may have been as many as 35,000 peer-reviewed articles in veterinary journals, he estimated there have been only 10 articles on that order for farriers.
The college sent over professors four times a year to meet with students in space provided by the University of Pennsylvania.
“They started this program because they wanted farriers to research and ask questions if they needed answers; vets look at feet differently than a farrier,” he explained.
As difficult as it was to think of retiring from a regular shoeing schedule, Steve pointed out, “There are a lot of other things I really enjoy doing, too.”
He’s had a parallel career producing art and doing silver and metal work, as well as engraving. A gallery or show is his next ambition, and he plans to have a website.
Some of Steve’s engraved bracelets. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Steve got his training for engraving from men who dealt with firearms. He worked on people’s firearms at his house after getting a federal firearms license. But when he moved to Unionville, Pa., firearms weren’t allowed in a residential neighborhood, so that was the end of that.
“What am I going to do with all these skills,” he wondered, then had his answer in short order.
“It was much more profitable to work on a bracelet, and safer,” he realized.
He’s planning on taking some time to go to Florida with his partner, Laura Rowley, who is an animal communicator and intuitive healer. The two don’t work together, but every once in awhile, her insight will help him out. He recalled being on the phone one day with a client whose horse had a lameness problem, when Laura overheard the conversation and told him, “it’s not in his feet, it’s in his back.”
A good friend of Steve’s is Patrick Reilly, New Bolton Center’s chief of farrier services and director of the applied polymer research laboratory, who also got a diploma in equine locomotor research from the Royal College.
He calls Steve, “The hardest working farrier I know. He’s honest about what he can do and what he can’t. He’s happy to talk to you about it. I would consider him very definitely to be a role model.”
Patrick, who moved to Unionville from New Hampshire, recalled a funny incident when his son, Patrick, came home from the first day of first grade and was very disgruntled.
When his father asked what was wrong, he explained, “I got into an argument after I said my father was the best farrier because he works at New Bolton. And this other kid said, `No, my father’s the best farrier.’” That was Marshall, Steve’s son, and there aren’t many places in the U.S. where two elementary school pupils would have a conversation like that!
Steve’s last turn with the team was the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, where the U.S. eventers qualified for the Olympics.
“A lot of the team’s medals belong to Steve,” said Jim Wolf.
“We wouldn’t have medaled nearly as many times as we did without Steve. We had gold medal horses and riders, but I have to tell you we had a gold medal backup team and he was a star player.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 31, 2020
It was nearly everything a show jumper could hope for–a victory in a 4-star grand prix worth $213,300, over a track laid out by an Olympic course designer, and against an all-star field that included some of the sport’s biggest names, McLain Ward and Kent Farrington among them..
Only one element for a perfect class was lacking as Devin Ryan won the National Horse Show Grand Prix on Eddie Blue tonight: There wasn’t a cheering crowd to salute his achievement, because Covid rules meant fans couldn’t attend the competition, which was watched in person by just a few exhibitors. And Devin really missed having spectators at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena when he went through the timers in 35.13 seconds as the pathfinder in a seven-horse jump-off.
Devin Ryan and Eddie Blue on their way to winning the National Horse Show Grand Prix. (Photo by Elaine Wessel/Phelps Media Group)
“I wasn’t sure I jumped clean, because I rubbed a couple of back rails on a couple of oxers,” he told me.
“I go through the timers and there were a couple of people clapping, but it’s not like a roar that you get from a crowd to really know when you jump clean.” He wondered, “`Did I jump clean?’and then they announced it, and I was like, `Ah, yes.’ That was the only thing that was little bit weird.”
That’s if you don’t count having your temperature checked at the facility every day, but the routine is becoming old hat now for people showing through Covid.
Devin left nothing on the table for his colleagues. He won not only the Leading Rider title, he also collected the Groom’s Award, since he took care of Eddie himself all week. The only help the Long Valley horseman got was from Long Island friends, Myrna Treuting and her daughter Ali, who set fences for him.
Just one other rider, Spencer Smith, was clear in the tie-breaker over the Guilherme Jorge-designed course. He was aboard Quibelle from Georgina Bloomberg’s Gotham Enterprizes, finishing in 35.26 seconds. The fastest jump-off round, 33.71 seconds, belonged to Paul O’Shea on Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu, but he had a rail to finish third.
Devin taking his victory gallop. (Photo by Georgie Hammond/Phelps Media Group)
Eddie, an 11-year-old Dutch warmblood owned by LL Show Jumpers LLC, wowed the international ranks in 2018 by finishing second in the Longines FEI World Cup Finals in his first appearance at that competition and then being part of the U.S. gold medal team later that year at the FEI World Equestrian Games. Will the Olympics be next?
Last year, with the Tokyo Games scheduled for July 2020, Devin was “a little conservative with him, hoping to be a discretionary pick for the short list. Then Covid hit.”
He didn’t do much traveling once showing resumed, trying to run his business in New Jersey and knowing his customers didn’t want to travel too far. So he lived in a camper at HITS in Saugerties, N.Y., for much of the summer. Eddie was 12th in the $500,000 grand prix there, but after that series ended, he didn’t show for six weeks before going to Tryon, N.C.
“He’s doing what you want a championship horse to do,” said Devin. Eddie, a son of VDL Zirocco Blue, has been clear or had 4 faults since starting to show again, with the exception of his first class out, the Welcome at Tryon, where he had two rails down; Devin said he “felt rusty” after his layoff but soon got back into the game.
Noting that things are “sort of getting shut down right now” in Europe because of Covid, Devin is grateful for the shows in Tryon and Kentucky.
“I’m glad that they are holding these events and proving they can hold them and be safe,” he said.
“It’s good for the sport.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 30, 2020
A third-place finish in the Adequan®/ USEF Para Dressage National Championships last weekend signified a triumph of will and commitment for Alanna Flax-Clark.
Even traveling to the competition in Tryon, N.C., took some resolve during the Covid crisis, since she has underlying conditions dating back to the 2008 life-threatening infection that left her coping with a variety of challenges when the initial symptoms subsided.
“I didn’t know whether to go or not,” said Alanna about the championships, adding, “I was nervous about the number of people and horses in one place. I was thinking about cancelling at the last minute.”
As Michel Assouline, the U.S. para dressage technical advisor noted, “Some (para) riders need extra precautionary measures to minimize a Covid risk of infection because of a weak immune system. In fact, some riders didn’t make the journey to Tryon because of the risk traveling poses.”
Alanna heading to the arena with trainer Sara Schmitt. (Photo by Lindsay Y. McCall)
But Alanna did wind up heading south from New Jersey with her Califon-based trainer, Sara Schmitt. She knew it was the right decision when she saw how well things were handled, with plenty of space in the stabling and a new arena, even as classes from the Pennsylvania National and Washington International shows were being held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center.
Staying in an Airbnb nearby and skipping a party also added to her sense of comfort. Alanna cited dressage show manager Monica Fitzgerald for doing a “fantastic” job.
“It’s hard to have everyone’s needs met and have a dressage show and the hunter/jumpers there at the same time,” she noted. “We did feel safe. People were good about wearing masks. It was part of your outfit.”
After breaking 70 percent for her freestyle to Abba music, it was obvious the situation suited Alanna, 37, and her mount, El Paso, affectionately known as Taco.
Alanna and Taco. (Photo by Lindsay Y. McCall)
“Overall it was three of our best rides, the most consistent, the most reliable, the most harmonious. I felt like it was our best show overall,” said the rider, a former special education teacher who has only been competing since mid-2017.
“In spite of everything that’s been happening this year, Sara has really been good about figuring out how to push me, push my horse into developing better gaits, developing confidence, allowing me to ride a more forward trot, increasing my accuracy and geometry,” said Alanna as she reflected on how things have developed in 2020.
“Those are easy things to get better points automatically. I think my feel as a rider has gotten much stronger. Even if Sara schools him for two minutes, I get on Taco and I feel like I have the confidence to school him for the way I need to, which a year ago I can’t say I was able to do. I think all those things are pointing me i the right direction for where I want to go.”
As she observed, “Dressage is such a cool sport, you never stop learning. I can continue to develop my skills constantly.”
This year’s show was a happy contrast with the 2019 edition, where bad luck plagued Alanna. Taco lost a shoe and she lost her reins in one test, a real problem since she can’t close her fingers around them and has to put her hands through loops to guide her horse.
Alanna, who was an alternate for the team competition at the Tryon show, was on top in the individual Grade II Division standings of those who walk and trot in their tests. Her composite championship score of 67.948 percent put her behind two big names in para dressage, Rebecca Hart (77.029) who took the tri-color on Rowan O’Reilly’s El Corona Texel while competing in Grade III and Sidney Collier (76.147) reserve champ aboard Going for Gold LLC’s All in One in the Grade I Division.
Alanna shows Taco the blue ribbon they won for their freestyle. (Photo by Joanna Frantz)
Commenting on Alanna’s progress, Sara observed, “She’s very consistent and the judges are starting to recognize her, but Taco is not the quality of those horses.” (Tex and All in One).
“We’ve been working hard. I feel good about what we’re doing, but it’s nice to see it reflected in the judges,” Alanna commented.
Sara is, of course, pleased that her student is making measurable progress.
“She is a lot stronger and her horse is a lot stronger,” Sara noted about Alanna, who as of last month was ranked 14th in the world in her division.
When Alanna first came to her several years ago, “she couldn’t ride for 10 minutes,” Sara recalled, while noting how her endurance has increased dramatically.
Alanna is riding more and also works as special projects manager for Mane Stream in Oldwick, where it serves individuals with physical, developmental, emotional and medical challenges through equine-assisted activities, therapy services and educational initiatives.
This winter, Alanna will be headed to Florida for competition and training, with the Paralympics as a goal. While next summer’s Tokyo competition is fast approaching, she will have more time to refine her game and perhaps get a second horse with the 2022 World Championships and Paris 2024 on the horizon.
At this point, however, she said, “I just want to focus to being in the present.”
She said she couldn’t do what she does without Sara; Maggie O’Leary, the assistant trainer and Caelyn Adams, her groom. Alanna also is glad for the support of her family in California, happy they are able to see her ride via the livestream that is ubiquitous since Covid.
Michel noted, “It was hard for Alanna this winter to continue training because of strict lockdown restrictions where she lives, but we managed to do regular online remote coaching and riding session analysis. Alanna has a good coach and she has really come from strength to strength since moving from California to New Jersey two years ago.
‘Having regular support from a coach makes a difference. I give support to both Alanna and her coach. So Alanna’s work ethic and move to her personal coach have produced great results. She is very strategically focused.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Oct 11, 2020
The ad Kevin Babington placed in the local newspaper during the late 1980s read something like this: “Young Irish lad specializing in problem horses…”
That rang a bell with Deborah and Richard Roslowski of West Amwell, who just happened to have a problem horse.
“We said, `Let’s give Kevin Babington a chance,’ and he’s been our buddy ever since,” noted Deborah.
The Roslowskis and their daughters were Kevin’s first clients after he came over to the U.S. from Ireland. Today, they sold Ride for KBabs T-shirts and I “heart” K Babs dog treats during the second annual Babington benefit show at Duncraven in Titusville, Mercer County. They were among the many volunteers who pitched in to make the show happen because of their commitment to Kevin.
Deborah and Richard Roslowski. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Last year, the show was held six weeks after Kevin suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a fall during the Hampton Classic grand prix. It ended a riding career that had brought him close to an Olympic medal and left him as a quadriplegic in need of expensive medical care. A group of friends, led by one of his former employees, Jennifer Cassidy of Lambertville, organized the benefit that raised nearly $60,000.
“When I heard about the accident, I just thought, `I’ve got two able hands’ and this is what I thought I could offer. It’s been huge, the incredible support of the staff,” said Jennifer, adding, “I just made the right phone calls to put this together. Everyone stepped up to the plate.”
The Irish flag was proudly on display at Duncraven in honor of Kevin’s homeland. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
This year, the funds haven’t been counted yet, but entries closed two days early because so many people wanted to ride in the show. Then there were the donations for raffles and sales of items like those the Roslowskis had at their table in front of the stables. It was more challenging to present the show this year because of Covid restrictions, but the enthusiastic turnout overrode that situation.
With lifetime care for someone in Kevin’s condition estimated to run as high as $5 million, money is a key issue. While Kevin, 52, has improved since his accident, he is still confined to a wheelchair.
He has a bit more movement here and there than he did a year ago, and can teach using a headset to connect with someone in his ring, or virtually for students who are at their own barns. But he requires extensive physical therapy, while he has fewer clients seeking his expertise than he once did.
Kevin had a remarkable career in grand prix show jumping until his accident.
So the Duncraven show is special not only for fundraising, but also so people can keep a connection with him.
“It means everything. It means people are still behind him and haven’t forgotten the person he is and what he’s still trying to achieve,” said Kevin’s wife, Dianna, who spent the day at the show thanking everyone and visiting with old friends.
Dianna Babington with a banner that says it all about the Babington cause. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“It’s so expensive to keep him moving and put him in the best possible place for recovery. Without the fundraising, we would never be able to do it,” she explained.
It helps pay for the gas in the car that gets him to therapy, for prescriptions, for a nurse when he needs one and the cascade of so many other costs involved in an existence that is very different from the life he enjoyed before the accident.
“These fundraisers really make all of that happen and allow us to keep going. If not, the alternative is probably a shorter lifespan and much less opportunity to recover,” noted Dianna, whose devotion and efforts for her husband and their two daughters never flag, even as she teaches lessons herself.
Duncraven is where Kevin ran his business for years, so the show had the air of a reunion.
“ Most of the people who come here are from the tri-state area and have had some kind of interaction with Kevin or know of him and heard what a great guy he is,” said Dianna.
“It’s really nice to have people turn out.”
The rings stayed busy at the benefit show. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Kevin would have liked to come to the show, but logistically, it was impossible for him travel from his base in Florida. So Dianna kept him involved with the day through FaceTiming him and sending photos of the activities.
The Roslowskis’ daughter, Julie Koveloski, was one of those who organized raffles and donations. She started riding with Kevin when she was 10 and noted, “He was like a brother to me, and like a son to my parents.”
Karen Raach, a Pennsylvanian, who handled the silent auction at the show, met Kevin six years ago when she won an auction bid for a lesson. Then she “fell in love with the family” and started taking lessons from Dianna.
Karen Raach, Julie Koveloski and Jennifer Cassidy. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
One of the items sold at the show is a face mask in the Irish colors designed by Gretchen Ober with the “S” that stands for Superman. Kevin got that nickname, Karen said, when a horse at a show in Ocala three years ago got his leg stuck in a brushbox as people gasped, and did nothing. Kevin, however, jumped off his horse, rushed over to free the horse, and got him under control.
“The people who owned the horse gave him a Superman hat the next day. Ever since then, he’s been called Superman,” said Karen, noting Redfield Tack donated half the masks and a sponsor paid for the others.
There were many such generous donations. Monica Ward of Equ Lifestyle donated two air vests, worth $1,000 each, which has particular significance because since Kevin’s accident, more jumper riders are wearing the vests in an effort to protect themselves from an injury like the one Kevin suffered.
A shamrock fence had special meaning at Duncraven. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
Stephanie Valducci, who lives on Long Island, sometimes had to drive for as long as four hours (the traffic!) to take lessons with Kevin. She remains his student, but virtually, noting, “it was amazing, it was like he was in the ring with me, even though I was in New York and he was in Florida.” Training with Kevin, you’re part of the family. Anything to support them,” she said; in her case, that was sponsoring a schooling jumper division.
Jennifer, who hopes the show can be two days next year, had many people to thank for this year’s effort, including the trainers who came and brought their clients, the volunteers, secretary Mary Norris, Duncraven owner Tim Fedor, Nancy Wallis, who designed the courses and filled in where needed, as well as Katie Benson, who helped with the prizelist and supplied jumps.
It takes a huge amount of work and devotion to put on the show, but as Jennifer noted, if the situation were reversed, “Kevin would be doing the same thing for anyone else.”
Those who couldn’t make it to the show and want to help the Babington Family Trust can send contributions (which are not tax deductible) to 13254 Casey Road, Loxahatchee, Fla., 33470.
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 21, 2020
When you’ve fallen off your horse, then ended up sporting a black eye and bloody nose after another ride, it may seem that you didn’t have a good day on the cross-country course. But if you earn a nice trophy at the end of the process, it’s a great day after all,
That’s how it was for Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp, who had her downs and ups at the Plantation Field International Horse Trials in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
The first downer literally involved hitting the ground, when Flash Cooley ran into trouble at a massive ditch and oxer, the sixth fence on the 4-star Short route.
“He’s a wonderful horse he’s only eight years old,” said Liz, who led him off the course after her tumble.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Flash Cooley are none the worse for wear after a tumble on cross-country. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“He is still green and very careful. That was a huge fence– he just panicked a little and jumped into the middle. We’ll drop him down a level to finish off his season easy and happy,” she said.
He was her second mount of the day. Cooley Quicksilver had gone around the course previously without incident and finished 13th.
Once Liz had time to catch her breath, she was up again on Deniro Z, the winner last month at the MARS Great Meadow International event in Virginia. All went well for her until the eighth obstacle, a combination.
“I had a little bit of an exciting moment at the first water, just where he jumped so big in, and then I got really deep to the skinny,” she recalled.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z at the foundation wall, an iconic Plantation Field backdrop. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
She got smacked in the face by his neck, and that was some blow.
“I was seeing double on the way to the coffin,” she said, referring to the upcoming three-part combination.
“Luckily, my vision came back just before I had to jump in,” she said with a smile. Liz galloped the rest of the way with a very bloody nose and an eye that was turning black, but all she talked about was how her mount took over when she needed him.
“It shows what a great horse he is. He just jumped in (to the coffin) and didn’t look at it. He’s a world class horse. I’m just lucky to ride him,” said Liz, who envisions a great future with the Dutch warmblood.
“I would hope the Olympics happens and I hope I’m there on him. I think he’s as good as any horse could ever be. I just think the world of him.”
She was spot-on the optimum time of six minutes, 22 seconds. Only two other riders of the group that finished from the original field of 53 were able to make the time, though no one else got it exactly. Liz led since the beginning of the event, adding 0.40 time penalties in stadium jumping to her dressage score of 26.40.
Phillip Dutton had been right behind her with his brilliant horse Z since the beginning of the competition with a dressage score of 27.30, but he wound up with two time penalties on cross country to finish on 29.30 in second place.
“I thought it was a great competition and the cross-country caused a little more trouble than expected – the time was tight,” he noted.
Another view of the foundation, as Phillip Dutton rides through on Z. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Phillip, who is on the board of the event, missed the crowds who normally attend. The U.S. Equestrian Federation prohibits spectators because of the Covid situation.
He noted that a few months ago, the board was trying to decide whether an event could be held under the circumstances.
“We had to keep it kind of bare-bones, since we wouldn’t have spectators, etc. coming in. But people wanted to run their horses and we wanted to give them that opportunity,” he said.
“All credit goes to Denis and Bambi Glaccum and Mary Coldren, who put it all together.”
Woods Baughman, a 24-year-old assistant trainer to top-level rider Sharon White, finished 10 seconds slower on cross-country than Liz with C’est La Vie 135. But his trip was good enough to move him up to third on 36.90 penalties after finishing 10th in dressage and getting time penalties in stadium jumping, going from 10th after dressage to sixth following stadium.
Woods Baughman on C’est la Vie 135. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“We’re going home happy,” said Woods, who calls his 12-year-old Holsteiner “a real machine. You just point him to the jumps and he takes you there. He can put up a bit of a fight but you just kind of have to let him go and do his thing and have a blast.”
In Saturday’s 3-star, Maya Black rode FE Black Ice to the title. Plantation Field has special meaning for Maya, who grew up on Whidbey Island, Wash., and is the cousin of dressage Olympian Adrienne Lyle.
“I think this was my first East Coast win in the 4-star many years ago,” Maya recalled with a smile.
Maya Black and FE Black Ice. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“So it’s been a very special event for me. I’ve always come here and love this event, the feeling of it, a pretty big atmosphere. It’s always just been such a blast.
“If I had my way I’d be able to come here again with more horses in the future,” she said. Maya was referring to the fact that the property owner cancelled the event’s lease after a website’s allegation that the Plantation name was racist and wasn’t welcoming to people of color.
Plantation refers to a place where trees were planted, and of course there were never slaves there because it’s in Pennsylvania. (See the On the Rail item on this website for a further explanation.
“If there’s anything we can do as riders,” said Maya, “we will get behind the event and the people who put it on and try to make it something we can enjoy for many years down the road.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 18, 2020
As 1978 wound down, Denis Glaccum knew he was in trouble. With little time until his end-of-year deadline, he was not close to making his quota as a salesman for IBM.
Inspired by something he read in an article about kids with cancer, he put a sign on his car that stated, “You may give up hope, but don’t give up trying.” He saw it every day as he got in his vehicle, and it encouraged him.
“I made my quota on Monday, Dec. 31 of that year. I can remember jumping up and down and yelling,” said Denis, flashing back to how excited he was after doing what he had to do. That wouldn’t be the last time he achieved a goal.
It was, he said, “a lesson that changed my life. I was not going to give up,” noted Denis, president of the Plantation Field Equestrian Events series of horse trials in Pennsylvania. Even at age 79, after dealing with some health problems, his determination hasn’t taken a hit.
Denis Glaccum speaking at the 2019 U.S. Eventing Association annual meeting.
“We as individuals do have the ability to make things happen,” he believes, and proved it again this year in the face of Covid restrictions that put many 2020 equestrian events out to pasture.
When he returned to Pennsylvania after a winter spent in Aiken, S.C., everyone was telling him, “We won’t be able to do it,” that the future of the Plantation Field horse trials this season looked bleak,
He was having none of it. When the first two trials on the schedule had to be cancelled as the U.S. Equestrian Federation banned all licensed competitions from March 20 to June 1, the June trials became a must-do. And so they happened, a tribute to his doggedness.
“We were the first sporting event held in Chester County in June, one of three held on the same weekend around the country,” he said proudly.
Doug Payne in an iconic Plantation Field cross-country setting. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Another obstacle, more difficult than any he ever faced in a long cross-country riding career, came up when Plantation Field’s landowner, Cuyler Walker, announced he would no longer lease his land for eventing after this weekend’s international horse trials.
He took offense at the Eventing Nation website’s campaign to change the name of the event. The website contended the world Plantation had uncomfortable racial connotations, even though it referred in this case to the planting of trees, and obviously, Pennsylvania was not a slave state. (See the story in the On the Rail section of this website for details.)
Denis, however, is no stranger to dealing with controversy and always fights back. There are many stories attesting to that.
Molly Bliss remembers what he did for her when she was seeking a berth on the U.S. squad for the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Sweden. She was training in Britain, the youngest rider with the American contingent, and found herself “treated very differently by our coach at the time. He had made it clear that he thought women riders were not up to the same standards as men.” She was not invited to go to the WEG with the rest of the riders.
“Heartbroken, I went into London for the day, assuming I would be flying back to the States that week,” she recalled.
“While I was gone, my mother back at home called Denis. He immediately came to my defense and by the time I had returned from London that evening, Denis and (USET Executive Director) Jack Fritz had made it very clear I was back on the team and would be going to Stockholm.” Molly, who finished capably there, said, “I’ll forever be grateful to Denis for standing by me then and for always being one of my biggest supporters.”
Olympic eventing medalist Jim Wofford calls Denis, “One of these invaluable people that are basically behind the scenes who make the sport grow and improve. He can be difficult because he sees what he wants to do and goes and does it.
“He doesn’t always bring the bureaucracy with him. All of his efforts are well-intentioned and have led to improvements in the sport,” added Jim, citing the wonderful competitions that have been held at Plantation since its transformation from fields to a venue.
Denis organized the memorable Chesterland event that began in Pennsylvania in 1976, then moved to Fair Hill, Md., to run events there before a disagreement with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources led him to start the events at Plantation Field. Being outspoken has not always made things easy for Denis, but he’s not the type who asks that things be easy.
“I decided I would rather open my mouth and be wrong than sit silent,” he noted.
His dedication has been recognized many times. In 2001, he won the Wofford Cup for his contributions to the sport, he’s a member of the U.S. Eventing Hall of Fame and formerly served on the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Three-Day Event committee, as well as being secretary and vice president of U.S. Eventing’s predecessor, the U.S. Combined Training Association.
For him, it’s always been all about horses and making the sport better. Denis grew up in South Orange, N.J., and rode with the Junior Essex Troop, going into the organization as an 11-year-old private.
Dennis learning to jump in 1953.
Members of the Troop, founded in 1943 as a cadet auxiliary of the Essex Troop of the 102d Cavalry, New Jersey National Guard, wore military uniforms marked with the insignia of their rank and handled many tasks at the organization’s West Orange farm. Their activities ranged from courses in marksmanship to rides of 20 and 30 miles where troopers stayed the night in the field with their horses.
The program cost his parents $75 a year and the discipline instilled in him not only fortitude, but also a passion for hard work.
Denis as a member of the Junior Essex Troop (the National Guard Armory is in the background) jumping for the Netherlands trophy at the troop farm in West Orange.
“The only thing I did well at that stage of my life was ride,” said Denis, who came of age during the infancy of eventing in this country. He rode in the 1960 Olympic trials in California, and knew so many figures who grew the sport in this country. As he talks about what things were like 60 years ago, he peppers his conversation with a host of famous names; Philip Hofmann, first president of the U.S. Combined Training Association; Olympians Brig. Gen. Franklin (Fuddy) Wing and Maj. Gen. Guy V. Henry, as well as Max Palmer, who guided the Junior Essex Troop.
Denis competing at Pebble Beach on Wait-a-Minute in 1962.
The officials in those days, he recalled, were all ex-cavalry, operating in an environment much more structured than today’s, “where you learned how to conduct yourself.”
Brian Murray, a member of U.S. Eventing’s board of governors, has known Denis since 1963. He remembers him from that time as “a character; he was focused. He was eight years older than I was. I didn’t really understand eventing in those days. But he was doing something none of us were doing, he was a very good rider and a very driven guy, even then.”
Denis has an important partner in his wife, Bambi, a granddaughter of Amory Haskell, the first president of the Monmouth Park Racetrack. New Jersey’s most prestigious flat race, the Haskell, is named after him.
Bambi recalled her first encounter with Denis at a party she didn’t want to attend. Her mother cajoled her into going, saying prophetically, “You need to go to this party because you might meet your future husband there.”
And that’s just the way it happened. She found herself sitting next to Denis and had no idea who he was, so she asked, “Do you ride?”
Denis took it from there. The couple has two children, Ellie and John Amory, and five grandchildren.
Of living for more than half a century with Denis, Bambi, who serves as secretary of the eventing series, said, “He has an opinion about everything. I’m never bored. He has always loved horses, and if push comes to shove, the horses take precedence over everything.”
The couple has three horses, one of which is an off-the-track thoroughbred that Denis still rides.
As he talked about his involvement with the sport to which he has dedicated his life, Denis said, ”I always got more satisfaction if the horses go well or improve, or if the kids I was teaching improved, than necessarily winning anything. My thing in eventing still is I can go to one of the low-level trials and laugh the whole day. I see people enjoying themselves, I see people doing a sport that requires many traits or skills that do not exist anywhere else anymore in our society.”
