And counter canter is not a skill starting colts would help develop. Also underlines the importance of somebody doing the teaching who knows what the heck they are doing.
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She did say OTTBs, so presumably not starting colts.
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I think some of you are missing my point. On this thread, people pointed out that young people who already have 1.30 horses may not be all that disadvantaged, and they asked how you could give a leg up to young riders that donât have those kind of resources. That was the starting point for my comments. I never suggested that the young riders shouldnât have a trainer helping them develop their horseâI suggested the young person should have to do the actual riding. I also suggested that a big, institutional problem in the current American system is that you have young riders who have only ever ridden horses that are already fully trainedâand they are being trained by their European competitors. I donât think they will ever catch up withâfor exampleâthe scrappy Irish young riders, if they only ever ride made horses, that their competitors made. And I pointed out that our modern American starsâthe ones with consistent staying powerâgrew up riding a lot more than made horses, to include blood horses, young horses, problem horses, etc. Anything and everything. Several people have come back to suggest that none of those skills are relevant to the modern 1.60 classes. That is where I think people are being naive. I donât think you acquire the level of sophistication needed to dominate at the upper levels for years across a variety of horses by skipping the phase of your development where you rode anything and everything under the sun, and learned how to train and finesse your own blood horse.
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For those of you scoffing at the notion that a good young rider should be able to train their own horse, and ride horses of all stripes:
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Katie talks a good game there, but sheâs as much a part of the problem as the anonymous trainers she refers to in the article. She complains that Reed Kessler only ever rode the best horses money could buy? SHE WAS REEDâS TRAINER. But Iâm pretty sure the entire goal of her being Reedâs trainer was to get her to the Olympics. If the best way to get a kid to the Olympics is to retrain OTTBs, Reed would have stayed home and retrained OTTBs. But she didnât; she rode the best horses money could buy. And she got to the Olympics. Mission accomplished, well done team. But Katie comes off as a do as I say, not as I do kind of person here. She talks out of both sides of her mouth.
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https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/tbt-jones-boy-first-world-cup-final/
I think she is saying buying the best horses money can buy to get to the Olympic is no substitute for the kind of hard work on hard horses you need to do year in and year out to actually get to that level and stay there
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Yes, that is what she is saying, but when it came to her being tasked with getting a kid to the Olympics, the kid rode the best horses money could buy. Under Katieâs tutelage. And the kid got to the Olympics. And then five years later, Katie complains in a national magazine that the kid under her tutelage rode only the best horses money could buy. Hence my accusation that she is talking out of both sides of her mouth, do as I say not as I do. Difficult horses for other trainersâ students, the best horses money can buy for mine. Sheâs a hypocrite.
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There are a number of people assuming in this thread that horses at the top level donât have a lot of blood, or arenât difficult to ride, or both. Bad assumptions. Plenty of those horses have a ton of blood.
The OTTB (or non-OT TB) is not the golden goose of the horse world. Theyâre horses. Theyâre horses that are not purpose bred for that level, and while they may have been The Horse for that level 30 years ago, thatâs not the time weâre living in now. Being able to retrain an OTTB to do a jumper course is not going to be the skillset that people with the goal of riding on the Nations Cup teams need to do that - itâs not whatâs keeping them from doing it now.
Having a horse thatâs purpose-bred for what youâre asking it to do is not equivalent to having an easy road to getting there.
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Also, just gonna retweet this.
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But thatâs not what this program is about. Getting an International caliber horse takes more than already going around a 1.30. They are not working the grass roots level. They are working at getting the bridge between the 1.30 and the World Cup.
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âIf not, where are the young riders with talent but without financial resources or competitive opportunity to be on this leaderboard?â
This is the issue I have with the program. Admittedly, the quoe is from the Chronicle article, not the 501©(3) itself. But when USEF is trolling for $$$, having a program thatâs supposed to help those âwithout financial resourcesâ give awards to people who certainly have more than most just drives it home that USEF doesnât give a ratâs a$$ about its bread and butter members.
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Thatâs an interesting point. I donât disagree that USEF isnât exactly laser focused on grassroots members, however, Katie and Laura are arguing that there isnât enough focus on young, not Uber rich, professionals who want to be on the US teams. They are attempting to create a pipeline for those riders to get sponsors with team horses to support them in that attempt. If USEF didnât have that dual focus (international and grassroots), there might be more grassroots support. I agree that the dual focus makes for conflict but Iâm not certain that either Katie or Lauraâs program could or would do anything about solving that problem.
As far as I can tell, USEF has absolutely nothing to do with this venture.
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Sound? Been shopping lately?
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This isnât USEF money. It is private funding.
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The USEF isnât mentioned in the article or on the website linked in the article.
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Sounds to me like some of the issues raised here arenât necessarily with the program itself or its stated objectives, but rather with the choice of inaugural candidate(s).
Skylar Wireman seems like she would be an excellent choice. Iâm sure there are others.
Having said the above, if itâs privately funded, the deck is already likely to be stacked towards specific individuals. And to a large extent, thatâs probably just going to be the way it is.
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Is there something wrong with their first two candidates Carlee McCutcheon and Trent McGee?
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I think folks are fixated on Carlee, but their second candidate, Trent McGee is actually pretty in line with what folks are hoping for. And unlike Skylar, who I agree, works so hard, he wasnât a trainers kid.
He has pretty humble beginnings, I think his first nice horse was a green rising five year old when he was 12 or 13 maybe? He eventually became an assistant for Archie Cox and got the ride on a very quirky tiny mare of Lucy Davisâ. I think he started in the 1.20s and got competitive in the local grand prixs. Iâm not a big fan of Archieâs or necessarily how Trent schools horses, BUT I will say, he is a hard worker and has ridden every type of horse. For sure, he has grit and work ethic, so a part of me is really happy to see him get this spot.
He moved over to Katieâs this year I think to be an assistant there. He does feel like he has the background and character folks on these boards want for these types of opportunities. And while I will roll my eyes at some of these press releases talking about efforts to broaden the sport, I do think having models like him gives people some small hope, and more importantly shows the importance of working hard. I would guess the most important thing he learns from Laura and Katie isnât even on the horse, but more so how to cultivate relationships with owners to support him.
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Nope, not to me. Iâm just commenting on some of the reactions up thread. As far as I can see, their money, their initiative, their rules and their choices.
