So here we go with me putting myself on the line with 20 predictions for 2010. Some are “horsey” and other general and I will start with the latter.

1)  America will finally have health-care for every citizen, thanks mostly to President Obama.

2)  People in the United States who were so sure it would be the downfall of our nation will find out that this just isn’t so and life will go on just fine, even better than fine for those  in need.

3)  The situation in Iran will continue to escalate to the point of revolution as more people find the courage to stand up for true democracy and the right to live free lives, even if they are perhaps gay, though that can’t be possible there, right?

4)  There will be a new rise in HIV numbers in young people in the United States and elsewhere due to a lack of a strong message that AIDS is not just some manageable minor chronic illness.

5)  On the brighter side, the economy and markets will continue to come back.

6)  Joe Zada will get his “just deserves”.  (In the meantime, I heard you can see more of him by typing in his name on Youtube. Enjoy!)

7)  The World Equestrian Games in Kentucky will be the best games ever, breaking all sort of records.

8)  Canada will implement new extremely strong programs for Juniors through Elite International combinations which will produce very successful results in the future at all levels.

9)  Canada will also show more depth of  world-class Grand Prix combinations than it has had for decades.

10)  And, by the way, Canada will defnitely be in the hunt for a team medal in Kentucky.

11) That being said, Holland will win the gold in the Nations Cup at the WEG’s and will also have at least 2 of the top 3 spots in both the Special and the Freestyle.

12)  Germany will work very ahrd to regain their former prowess as the strongest nation in the world in Dressage, but it will take longer than they have to do this by October’s Games.  Any medal will be lucky for their team.

13)  England will be a strong contender for a team medal, even silver again after the European Championships.

14) Did I mention that I will be working harder than ever to ensure Canada’s success in 2010, despite the fact that I was supposed to be retired and this is only a “part-time job”? ( And I would be retired if it were not for Joe Zada. But I have let all that go….. can you tell?)

15) Steffen Peters will be the biggest U.S. hope for a medal, and if he can beat a few of the top guns out there now, either in Florida at the Masters, or in Europe in the summer, he will have a strong shot at an individual medal.

16)  Robert Ross will continue to be the most amazing partner anyone could ever hope to have in their life and be ever more successful in both real-estate and all his other endeavors.

17)  Simon will continue to completely rule our lives with his total adorableness.

18)  Jessica Ransehousen will finally be rewarded for her lifetime of hard work, dedication and honesty. I love it!

19)  I will join with a legend from another discipline to conduct a very special symposium, the likes of which no one has ever seen before.

20)  And last but most definitely not least, my Mom will live to see her 82nd birthday on New Years Eve and ring in the new year along with my 86 year old Dad and our dear friend,Mercedes, who is like a 2nd mother to me and is 85. What could be better than that!

I wish all of you and your loved ones a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

Cheers!

RD

I haven’t heard from a lot of you in a while now and have come to the conclusion that it must be my fault for just not including you. And so I’ve decided to start a new blog called , “Horse Stories”. If you have a story that is hilariously funny or incredibly scary, I want to hear it.  The best story at the end of January will get a personal gift from me.

To start off, I thought I’d tell you about one of my favorite lessons ever.  This is absolutely true, but I will change the names to protect the innocent. :) 

I was teaching a clinic at a private small farm in North Carolina owned by one of my very good students who had moved to begin his own training business. It was on about 10 acres with a cute small barn and my student was clearly trying very hard to make a good impression on me and the others who were in attendance.

He rode into the arena which was set at the far end of the 10 acre field at a walk and just as he was almost to X, this big gelding simply turned around at the walk and calmly began to make his way, step by step, back out of the arena, across the field, through the only slightly open gate (imagine my friend with his long, skinny legs hiked up on top of the saddle so they wouldn’t get rubbed off on the fence), into the barn and into his stall.  Now, this did not happen without an effort to stop it from happening. My friend was using every bit of strength he had in his arms to pull back on the reins or to turn this moose in horse’s clothing back, while I was somewhere between dumbfounded and hysterical laughing! I mean, he didn’t take off running - he didn’t even break to a jog for one tiny step. It was like watching a plow horse marching through deep mud to sew a field as, step by very slow step, he walked back to his stall.

Well, that meant war!  This plug had to go right back to that arena and learn his lesson and go to work. On went a lunge-line and out came the lunge whip and off we went out of the barn and back to the arena. I even closed the gate on our way back through, in case the culprit tried to get away from me and fly back toward the barn. All went well until we arrived back at the arena and, once all four feet were safely inside, I unsnapped the lunge-line.

And just like watching an elephant in slow motion, the beast turned again and began his march, stepping over the edge of the arena while my friend, now with both hands on the left rein and his feet up on the dashboard, did all he could do to absolutely no avail.  Now I know I should have been horrified and done something heroic, but all I could do was laugh at the top of my lungs as my friend was again being taken back across the field to the gait which, of course, was now closed.  At this point I realized I had to do something so I ran to help bring him back again, but the closed gait really pissed the big oaf off and he changed his plan which was now to scrape my student off along the fence. Once again, with one leg hiked up above the saddle, the horse’s plan B was foiled.  That is, until he got his eyes on the cluster of trees in the center of the field. And off he walked. like a Sherman Tank, directly into the trees to deal with his unbelieving would-be master, knowing that, once in the middle of all those branches and tree trunks, my friend would be no more than a pesky fly to get rid of. And he was right. Off came my student, just before being done in by a low hanging branch, and the war most assuredly had been won. Horse 2, Human 0!

Sometimes, though I love horses, I have the responsibility to tell people the words they would rather not hear - like this just might not be the right one for you, or maybe you should try jumping it. In this case though, I could only come up with one bit of wisdom. As fall was almost upon us, I told my friend to go out and by a large set of antlers, glue them on this animals head somehow, and let him out in dear season with hopes that some half blind hunter might put us all out of our misery!  (Only joking ….. don’t start writing in from PITA, ok?)  I still laugh out loud when I think of that lesson.

Cheers!

RD

Hey guys!
Sorry for taking so long to write my first article, at first I thought it would be easy to juggle college, work, and writing, but boy was I wrong! So, I had to prioritize and leave the articles out until I had some free time.

Well my first semester of sophomore year went alright (grades weren’t bad at all but I wasn’t exactly pleased with them as they weren’t what I’m used to getting) and I’m now drawing close to having to finally decide on a major or possibly even transferring from UNC to UF (which is  a great school but not quite up to par to UNC).  At UF I can major in computer engineering (which isn’t offered at UNC) and the price tag of going to college would be significantly cheaper,  while at UNC , I can double major in either Business Administration and Math, or Business Administration and Computer Science but have to deal with out of state tuition and is not quite as close to home as I would like. Any feedback on that would be greatly appreciated…

I got a job as a referee for Intramural Sports, which is a great job since there’s flexible schedules to fit my studying and I get to be around the athletic department constantly (seeing as how the favorite thing in the world is playing/watching  most sports).

I’ll do stories as break goes on but I’ll leave you guys with a previw

This video is of a tradition at UNC during final exams, where a flash rave is organized in one of the libraries and is meant to just lighten the mood up during the very tense exams….party for 10 minutes, and then go back to studying…ENJOY

I LOVE NEW YORK!  I know that sounds corny but I just do and I can’t help exclaiming it.  I can’t believe that 10 years ago I never would have thought I could stand living there, what with the noise, so many people, trash and crime. But once I spent time in the city during the time that Robert broke his shoulder and we had to spend 3 weeks at our friend’s place on the upper east side (across from Barney’s), that did it.  I fell in love.

So, going up for Christmas from Florida where I’m sorry but there has not been even the slightest of holiday spirit in the air, we arrived in Manhattan and immediately felt that indescribable feeling of electricity that was made even stronger by the snow on the ground and the amazing lights everywhere, not to mention the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. Now for a Jew to go on and on about Christmas spirit shows that this is something which truly transcends religion and goes to that which speaks to our soul.  It’s about kindness, generosity, and childlike joy which abounds in such places like New York at this time of year.

We went to a lot of shows during the week, but 3 stood out for me.  Radio City’s Spectacular is just that. It is pure fun for children and adults alike every single year.
The next show was not a play but rather the movie, Avatar, which I thought was one of the best things I’ve seen since Star Trek last year. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to go back and see it in 3D as I know that will be even twice as spectacular!
And then there was my favorite Broadway show in years - Memphis.  Our friend, Josh, was kind enough to get us great house seats through other friends of ours, Fran and Nick, who happen to be business partners and producers of the show. Memphis is just plain fantastic, with one show-stopping number after another, and more talent than most other shows put together. If you have the chance to get to the city, definitely see Memphis. I guarantee you will leave the theater thanking me for the advice.

And now I’m back in Wellington, happily united with Simon who is laying at my feet with a bone in his mouth and snoring. I guess I had best get ready to follow his lead as it’s back to work tomorrow with more Canadian riders arriving for the season. I hope everyone had a Merry, Healthy, and Peaceful Christmas!

Cheers!

RD

So, we just walked out of seeing Hair on Broadway and I’d have to say it was better the first time around, some 30 odd years ago. It’s not that the songs weren’t fun and well performed. I think two things bothered me a bit. One was the fact that what was a very adult theme with extremely sexual topics and even frontal nudity was shown to a packed house full of children, presumably many of which were from non-American families on Christmas vacation. OK, maybe I’m a prude, but I would never have taken my six year old to this one. The second thing is that, despite the fact that I love and remember all the songs from my own times when my hair went down to my shoulders, this ensemble didn’t bring them as strongly to life as in the good old days.

So, my score for HAIR is a 7.5 on the Dover Scale. Tomorrow is Radio City in the afternoon followed by Finian’s Rainbow in the evening. Later tonight we still have a little Christmas party with friends and then we’re going to see Avatar in 3D.

I LOVE NEW YORK!!!

Cheers!

RD

Robert and I are up in Manhattan for Christmas and have just come back to the apartment from a great dinner at Klee in Chelsea. So It’s as crazy as ever in the city but even with all the traffic, the snow on the ground and the electricity in the air immediately changed my mood. It’s not that I was at all depressed, but it just hasn’t felt like Christmas at all down in Florida this year. Well, it sure does up here!

We have no less than one show to see each day, starting with Hair tomorrow afternoon and of course, Radio City on Christmas day. So If I miss a day of posting on my blog, please forgive me as it just means I’ve either been drinking too much to see my key board or I’m just plain tuckered out! -kll try to keep updating along the way though with critiques of each play or musical we see.

I wish aLl my friends around the world a wonderful Christmas and lots of love!

Cheers!

RD

The new High Performance Committee as well as Christine Peters and I have been hard at work preparing for our first official Training Sessions of 2010.  Well, I thought there would be sessions but, as it turns out, because the season actually begins quite a bit later on the west coast, there will only be one WEG declared rider in Southern California when I am out there January 9th and 10th. With that in mind, Dressage Canada will pay for that rider’s entrance in my private clinic at Dove Hollow Farm, and we will reschedule a time when the other riders are all there.

ON the other hand, one week later on January 16th and 17th, the training session at Stillpoint Farm in Wellington will be jam-packed with declared combinations. A minimum of 13 to 14 rides a day are going to keep me extremely busy from early morning until the sun sets, but I have to say I am very excited to see all the east coast Canadian talent in one place.

I have already been working privately with some of the riders and horses who arrived early in Florida and, let me tell you, they have really made great progress. My plan is to tailor training and competitive strageigies  for each combination along with their personal trainers if they have them, so as to ensure that every single rider feels absolutely confident that they are being supported by me and Dressage Canada to the fullest extent possible.

Besides training sessions, this will entail a series of mock or schooling shows using friends who are top judges to score our riders’ tests and keep track of each combination’s improvements during the winter. I will leave no stone unturned in my quest to produce an extremely well prepared squad with depth in the number of combinations which can score over 70% consistently. Trust me, when you’ve been around the block as many times as I have, you can tune in pretty quickly to what is necessary to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle in the right place. If that sounds over- confident it is par for the course. I’ve been called that along with a lot of other names for decades, but I also know that a huge part of my success has been because I have a high degree of confidence while still, most of  the time at least, seeing the situation realistically.

At the end of the day, I have enormous faith in many of our Canadian combinations - far more that I honestly thought I would have a few months ago before I took the job.  I am, as they say in ski terms, stoked and am pretty sure the riders are equally excited to get underway with the Florida and California show seasons.

Just one more thing, Canadian riders - I am asking that you guys and ladies work and spend time together like a team. I want to feel that you are truly there for each-other, to pump each-other up and do what you can to build a very high morale within our group. I know that you will all be competing ultimately for 4 spots on the team, but when you are not riding down that centre-line, I expect everyone to root for and cheer the other on. When one of us does well, we all do better, and the best way we can show that is by heart-felt encouragement and mutual support. As I promised, I will put 150% into helping to create a medal winning team, but it will require 100% from everyone else involved and that includes being  there to help and support each-other in any way we can.  With this mindset, I promise Canada will be a force to reckon with!

Cheers!

RD

As 2009 comes to a close, I cannot help reflect on all the many things, both good and bad, which transpired during the year. The overwhelming truth though is that, despite all the controversies in our little Dressage world as well as the “real world” out there, I feel certain that there is more to be thankful for and look forward to then ever.

I continue to have great belief in President Obama, no matter how vocal the right wing fanatics get in their desire to see him fail, even at the expense of the American people.  I trust him and his administration to keep bringing us back to the place of financial security which we enjoyed during the Clinton Presidency, while also doing his best to resolve wars he inherited and bring health-care to every citizen in our country, a right everyone deserves.

Robert and I celebrated my Dad’s 86th birthday last night and will do the same for my Mom’s 82nd next week (She’s a New Years Baby!) and nothing could make me happier than knowing my folks are well enough to toast their special days and the coming New Year once again! And I am excited and hopeful that Robert’s Mom, Julie, and possibly his brother. David, will be moving out to our area in West Palm Beach from California so we can all be closer together.

Simon , our Schnoodle, is now one and a half years old and could not be a more loving, sweet natured pet. He is pretty sensitive and has had some skin and digestive problems and each time I take him to the vet makes it ever more clear that I adore him. In other words, he had best live to be very, very old!

It seems that everyone involved as a victim of Joe Zada has received a letter from the FBI recently letting us know our rights as victims of a crime which they are prosecuting. I feel pretty certain that justice is about to be done, finally!  It won’t necessarily ever bring back all the money which so many of us lost, but will hopefully ensure that he and others like him, of which there are unfortunately way too many, cannot harm any more people  the way we were harmed.

I am also very hopeful for the direction of the sport of Dressage.  Having sat on the FEI Dressage Task Force for the last year along side some wonderful colleagues,  we all shared the common goal of making our sport healthier and better embraced by the public. There is no doubt that a part of this change is in the judging of Dressage and I personally am thrilled to finally see scores for the very best combinations in the world averaging out to be commensurate to a “Very Good” ( 90% or over).  I firmly believe that during 2010, we will see scores, at least for the artistic part of the Freestyles, earning 10’s. Remember that a 10 means “Excellent”, not “Perfect”. More and more we will see excellence being rewarded as it should have been for so many years, but for the thinking that by doing so we risked something.  What, I have no idea!

I have been working very hard on many fronts to help create an extremely successful Canadian Dressage Team. The process has been most rewarding, especially due to the wonderful support from really everyone: riders, trainers, owners, sponsors and officials. I feel very confident that 2010 will bring in a new era for Canadian Dressage on all levels, as there could not be greater commitment than what I have been witnessing as I travelled across the country.

We have lost some dear friends in 2009 and my prayers and thoughts continue to go out to their families and loved ones. We miss them but I know they are in the most peaceful and beautiful place imaginable.

To all my friends around the world, I wish you the Happiest of Holidays; full of peace, good health, prosperity, joy, and
                                                                                                                    L O V E !

Cheers!

RD

Ingred Lin and her beloved stallions, Quemacho and Queba

It’s strange sometime that you go through life knowing who someone is but never really paying much attention to them. I knew Ingred Lin (as Ingred Pollack) for many years, or thought I did. I knew that she had battled breast cancer and had seen her at many dressage shows riding various horses over the decades.

But it wasn’t until last summer when I moved my horses to Tuny Page’s Still Point Farm that I really got to spend time with Ingred as her Lusitanostallions, Quemacho and Queba, were being trained and shown by my friend, Lisa Wilcox.  For a long time I would sit on one side of the viewing area and Ingred would sit on the other, as I taught my students and she watched Lisa.  But you know me - when I watch something and have an opinion about it as to how it could be better, I just can’t help myself.  And so I started making a little suggestion here and there to both Lisa and Ingred, and lucky for me, they received it with thanks and allowed me to keep on helping in small ways here and there. More importantly, I got to chat daily with Ingred and really got to know how fabulous she was as a trainer and more importantly, as a person. She absolutely loved her horses and they returned that love to her every day.

In the last months, as it was obvious that Ingred’s health was failing and she was growing more ill and weaker, it was even more clear that her inner strength, wisdom and dignity was shining ever more brightly with each passing day.  And even as she could no longer speak, Ingred would text me about her thoughts on the horses and how excited she was with Lisa and their training.  I understood that her long battle with cancer had been so long because of her great love of her family, friends and animals, for which she dedicated her life.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Ingred’s family and all those who love her, of which there are many, many!

One thing is for sure - if there is a heaven, and I do believe there is, then Ingred has already spent the last 24 hours assuredly in the presence of the greats like Nuno Olivero, Willie Schultheis, and Herbert Rehbein and ridden some  of the most amazing star horses of the past, just to see how they feel.
And she’s probably thinking, with a chuckle, we would be so lucky to know all the things she knows now.

Here’s to you, Ingred. You will be sorely missed but never forgotten!

RD

So here’s the thing; everyone knows I am a huge fan of “So You Think You Can Dance”, and I absolutely love the dancers and choreographers on the show. But what the *#%! happened this season?

I was sure from the beginning it was going to be bigger and better than ever, with amazing auditions and the usual exciting week in Vegas. And all looked great even as the top 20 hit the stage back in Hollywood with what I thought was the first of many “3rd” judges, Adam Shankman, sitting on the panel. But then it happened - Adam appeared the next week and the next week and the next, and we finally realized he was there to stay and the refreshing viewpoints of the many fabulous experts we had grown to love were now delegated to only having the roles of creating dance routines for the contestants.

I thought I could live with that until I kept waiting and Waiting and WAITING for my favorite choreographer, Mia Michaels, to give one of her enormously inspirational dance routines to one of the lucky couples. Every kid on that show remarks that nobody else can make them grow as Mia. And then the next news broke - she had quit the show - and I for one would like to know exactly why! I pray she is healthy and there is nothing impeding her amazing life and career.

Week after week of the same three judges, without Mia, Debbie Allen and so many of the others we had known to love to hear from, and it was only truly the dancers and a few of the choreographers like Sonya that made me keep tuning in.

The final blow for me was the finale which, in former seasons, was held at the Kodak theater to sold out crowds. Not this time! Same venue and same three judges on the competition night and all done in one hour which didn’t even allow the dancers to do solo performances in their own style as they rushed through 3 dances and didn’t even use some of our favorite choreographers. That being said, they did dance great, and I was excited and hopeful that the “Results Show” would be better.

And it was, for the most part. The guest performances were all terrific, but I would have rather seen them the night before and all again at the Kodak Theater, especially for such big stars. In the end, they called the names out exactly as I predicted, though I had hoped for Jacob to win on merit. Russell had been a huge inspiration though so I was almost as happy for him. Mostly, I was just let down by the lack of production value and seemingly “bottom line” priority which SYTYCD gave me the feeling came at the head of the list this season.

Will I watch next season? Absolutely! But I hope that enough fans write in and tell them, like me, to bring back the old format and Mia along with it!

Cheers!

RD