Sonoma CDS Member - Christine
Rivlin-Henke with Lyra at the USEF Gladstone 06
 By
Christine Rivlin-HenkeJust thought I would give a recap of our
Gladstone trip for the USEF finals. It was really a great experience!
After going to the January 2006 HP qualifier at Rancho Murieta.Stacey
McCarthy Lyra’s owner) and I decided we would to qualify
for the USEF championships this year, That didn’t leave
many shows as the HP season start basically July 1 and ends in
June at the actual championships.
We qualified by successfully competing in January at Rancho
Murieta HP (high performance) show, April Murieta CDI and DG
Bar in May! After those three shows, we ended up about 11th
in the country...and they invite the top 12. As late as of
June 5 there were still six people really in contention
for the last slot. The final results/invites came out on June
6....four days before we were supposed to leave!! We had done
some prep work just in case...like car, hotel reservations,
but nothing really for Lyra. So, on that Tuesday..from work
Stacey scrambled to make plane reservations for Lyra with the
thought that she would fly with her. That in itself is quite
an ordeal. Since Lyra would be flying on a Fed Ex plane and
Stacey going as groom...there is not the normal security check
as if you were on a commercial flight. They first check that
you have all your faculties about you, WITH references. I guess
they want to make sure you aren’t going to have a hysteria
fit as you are flying with the horses!! Then, you are required
to submit all this information about yourself .including a
10 year work history, criminal background check, etc...to make
sure you will not be hijacking the plane!
After arranging Lyra’s flight I bought my ticket....which
was not so easy or cheap. being that I was leaving in four
days! I ended up going from SFO.to Seattle...to New Jersey...taking
about 12 hours and substantial cut out of my checkbook!!
On Friday June 9, I packed up Lyra for Oakland airport with
her five boxes!! We had already shipped out three boxes of
equipment to my uncle’s house in Pennsylvania... Her
flight out was fairly uneventful. She flew with a harness race
horse going back to New York and one of the paraolympic horses
also going to Gladstone. Oh, I forgot to mention after all
the security checking Stacey...they didn’t get all the
paperwork done in time, so she ended up getting another flight
out of SFO on Friday..so she could be sure to meet Lyra at
the other end!
Lyra arrived in Philadelphia Friday night about 11PM. She was
then transported about two hours to Gladstone where the championships
were being held. Stacey called and said Lyra arrived safely
around 1AM. The next two days before I came, Stacey just walked
Lyra and lunged her a bit..got her settled in.
I arrived on Sunday night and was out at the barn to ride on
Monday AM. The barn was really pretty. Everything is super
green with all the rain they get. The facility is inside a
golf course, so it’s really nicely maintained. The competition
arena is up on top of this hill, there are two outdoor warm
ups and small indoor..all really nice footing. The barn
is all brick and stucco...old, but huge stalls, with tons of
shavings. The Intermediare horses are all downstairs and the
Grand Prix horses upstairs...it was weird you could hear the
GP horses walking around upstairs above us! We shared a tack
room with Jan Ebeling.
On Tuesday I got a lesson from Steffen Peters. We then sat
down to watch the other horses school. We watched Klaus Balkenhol
school Guenter and Steffen. The quality of horses was quite
amazing.
On wed we all rode in the morning, as the jog and draw for
times was Wed afternoon. The jog was uneventful and all the
horses passed for both the I-1 and the GP. We then had the
draw....hoping I wouldn’t be first. I ended up fifth..pretty
good draw.
Thursday was the first competition day and everyone was a bit
nervous/excited. The warmup arenas were great though as there
were only 12 horses total, one arena and all the horses were
so well schooled there were none of the usual warmup arena
problems!! It was quite a sight though to walk into the warmup
and see Klaus Balkenhol, Robert Dover, Kathy Connelly, Leslie
Morse , Lars Petersen and Michael Poulin schooling people,
and Jan Ebeling, Guenter Seidel riding! Steffen Peters was
great and helped me warm up all three days of showing. Our
PSG ride was just ok. Lyra was actually a bit tired and behind
the leg...which is not like her AT all, so we had some big
mistakes. She decided she forgot how to do a few of the four
and three tempi changes!!!!!!!! These are usually her very
strong point, so that cost us. We ended up 10th with a 63%,
but I was really happy she was well behaved other than the
costly mistakes.
Friday was the Intermediare...this is usually our better test.
Again, Lyra was fantastically behaved and not high or spooky.
I thought our test was much better in many ways, but unfortunately
she still wasn’t doing the prescribed number of changes!!!
Oh well!
Saturday we had off and just watched the Grand Prix’s.
The horses were all really good, but Steffen’s ride on
Floriano was really miles above the rest.
Sunday it got really warm...really humid (the rest of the days
the weather was amazing..not hotter than about 80), but we
ended up fourth to go in the freestyle, so we were done by
about 10 AM thankfully. I had a really great freestyle. Got
all the changes and the judges. especially Anne Gribbons liked
it. She gave us a 72% and Uwe Mechlem gave us a 71%! We ended
up eighth in the freestyle and 10th in the overall competition.
They had a really nice honor round for everyone stating that
we had the best horses in the country and what an honor to
be invited! This was really nice.
The trip back proved to be a bit more difficult. We could not
get Lyra a flight back into Oakland, as no other horses were
going there and to have her go alone in a pallet to Oakland
would be 10k!!! So, we arranged for her to leave on Tuesday
AM. The 20th of June and fly into Los Angeles. Jan Ebeling
offered us a stall at his place o transport Lyra directly home
from the airport. I almost drove down to meet her after calling
Leslie Webb who generously offered me and Lyra a place to stay
for the night. But at the last minute we did manage to find
transport home on Wed AM. So, as Lyra was on the van to Jan
Ebeling’s...Amy Ebebling called and said the barn wouldn’t
be open on Wed AM for Lyra to be picked up at 6AM. Luckily,
Jan’s groom Katelin offered to get her on the van for
us...we were so appreciative. Then she was vanned from the
Ebeling’s to Hollywood Park racetrack..where she had
to spend the day before coming up North. Then as she is on
the way to Hollywood Park..Bob Hubbard says they will drop
her off on Friday AM!!! This is Wed! They told us AFTER she
was already on route..they wouldn’t make the whole trip
back to Petaluma..but only to Golden Gate Fields. AFTER she
already left. needless to say I had some chioce words for them.
In any case she only made it as far as Golden Gate fields where
I picked her up On Wednesday AM about 12:30 in the morning.
The lady driver said to me...”she sure looks great for
a horse comig out of quarantine”...to which I replied
she didn’t come out of quarantine, but a national horse
show!! She looked tired and hot and happy to see a familair
face. She arrived home safe and sound!!
The entire experiece was fantastic for me and I’m so
thankful to Stacand Paul McCarthy (owners) who have been really
supportive and made some BIG fianancial sacrifices to get us
to be able to go!! The best part of this whole story is we
found Lyra four years ago in Germany at a backyard barn with
little training! She had a big head, no neck and a bad clip
job! Stacey looked pretty unsure when I said we should buy
this horse!! But, it feels great to have done all the training
myself and Lyra has been amazing. She just keeps getting better.
She is a wonderful horse with a huge heart!!
 Gladstone
w/Christine & Lyra June 9-20
By Stacey McCarthy
I never ever expected to have a horse talented enough to be competitive
at the national level, much less go to Gladstone and compete with some
of the stars of American dressage. When I got Lyra, four
years ago, I thought she had lovely gates, but I didn really know
at the time that I was buying a horse with a lot of talent.
Christine Rivlin-Henke, my trainer, and I were pretty realistic about
her. She was long-bodied, so collection would be a little difficult.
I purchased her from a private family, a small breeder, and they bred
for jumping. She has all jumping blood lines, so her blood lines didn
help much in predicting talent in dressage.
When Christine first mentioned trying to qualify for the I-1 Championships
at Gladstone, I thought, OK, right, whatever. When it actually
became a possibility I became a little nervous! We might actually go
to, (and have to pay for!) this thing.
The top 12 HP (High Performance) qualified US horse/rider teams at I-1
and Grand Prix are invited to go to the Championships. Because we were
ranked in the lower part of the group, there was no way of knowing for
sure if we were going to be invited until very late in the game, making
for some up and down emotional moments in the weeks prior.
CDI and High Performance (HP) qualifiers are held around the
US every weekend, keeping averages in change mode constantly.
Additionally, each horse/rider combo has the option to drop a low score,
which isn reflected in the posted standings. So you don
really know if you are still in the running.
We literally didn't
know for sure until 7 days before she had to get on the plane!
When we were invited to come, I looked at the costs of flying a horse
out to New Jersey. They were exorbitant. I called my husband, who is
in the Army and stationed in Texas, and asked him what he thought. My
husband pointed out to me that it was a once in a lifetime experience
and after 30 years of riding and training, I should go.
Since there were no other horses qualified from Northern California
it was difficult to find horses to fly with Lyra from Oakland to New
Jersey. It would have been easier for her to go from LAX because there
were horses going from Southern California, but I didn want to
ship her down there and still have to fly across country. I thought that
was just much to ask of a horse.
The details were overwhelming at times. It was near impossible to get
FAA security clearances to accompany Lyra on the plane (at least on short
notice). Then Lyra had to be transport to and from the airport at both
ends; arrangements had to be made for the hotel and car.
Figuring out
what was needed was challenging. Lyra needed feed for two weeks. Hay
had to be delivered. Grooming supplies had to go. All this made getting
my regular luggage together seem simple. I also work a full-time job,
so all these arrangements had to be made while working. At the end, I
was feeling crazed
Due to the short notice my FAA clearance didn come through in
time, so I wasn able to accompany Lyra on her flight. So after
Lyra was loaded in Oakland, I had to rush over to SFO catch the first
flight I could get to New Jersey. I was a nervous wreck until the van
finally showed up in Gladstone at 12:30 a.m. with Lyra tired but otherwise
OK.
The Gladstone facility is gorgeous, if a little worn around the edges
(100 years old). Between when I arrived on Friday night, and
when the show started on Wednesday the place was transformed with beautiful
flowers, landscaping and red, white and blue bunting hung everywhere.
The main ring and both outdoor warm ups had just received new rubber
footing which was great to ride on but weird when the sun made the smell
of rubber permeate the air! The stalls are really big, and Lyra settled
in pretty well after she got rested and more horses began to arrive to
keep her company.
The first few days were a bit surreal. Like getting used to riding in
the same ring as Gunter Seidel while he is being coached by Klaus Balkenhol.
Christine also rode with Steffen Peters and Floriano; Leslie Morse with
Tip Top. Robert Dover was also there coaching a rider from the sidelines.
And to be in a show environment where every horse you see is wonderful
and talented was an experience I certainly never had before!
It was obvious we were newbie most of the riders had
competed at Gladstone before and knew the ropes. Everyone was friendly,
though very focused until after the first class or two, when everyone
relaxed.
The USET staff and show management were friendly and helpful
with our many questions and requests.
The spectators were also whowho of well-known American dressage
riders: Carol Lavell, Robert Dover, Charlotte Brehdahl, Debbie McDonald,
to name just a few we saw.
Lyra and Christine comported themselves very well at the show. There
are no warm-up classes at the Championships; the very first class, PSG,
counts for 35 percent of your overall score; then I-1 45 percent, I-1
Freestyle percent. After some mistakes in the early classes, they hit
their usual stride for the Freestyle, finishing up that class with a
68.9 percent, with several scores over 70 percent from international
judges. Their overall placement at the end of the Championship was 10th,
the same ranking they went in with. The competitors placing above them
were all seasoned national and international riders, making this all-in-all
a very successful first outing!
Going to Gladstone was a great experience. I so glad we were
fortunate enough to have this wonderful and rare opportunity!
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