Our three 2020 Fall Festival Show first time grant winners summarize their experience at the WDAFL show hosted at the Grand Oaks.
[columns] [span4]
Mackenzie Clark
“Just take a breath next time” were the words that snapped me out of the ensemble of thoughts streaming through my mind at the end of my first test of the weekend. I really don’t think I exhaled once, not even during the movement of ‘free walk’ on a short diagonal. WDAFLs Fall Festival held at Grand Oaks Resort was my very first rated show, and it was an experience I am very unlikely to forget. I am so thankful! To Joanne Lanzisera, the president of WDAFL, Carlie Evans, the show secretary, and Kim Benson, my amazing coach. I would also like to extend a tremendous amount of gratitude to the Judges, Ring Stewards, and Volunteers that make these shows possible, you are the backbone of the showing business and we wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
My name is MacKenzie Clark, and horses are my life. Through Western Dressage I have been able to attain goals I never believed were possible for myself. I grew up riding cowponies and trying to break colts by myself, I fancied myself a horse trainer at 14 years old. Ha. Hahaha. Edit. Having grown up on my grandparents ranch in South Texas, it was hard not to. I have goals to be in Germany for an internship by the time I’m 25, and to have my bronze medal with USDF and bronze buckle with WDAA by the time I’m 22.
My journey took off in August 2019, I was 18 years old, when I landed a job grooming for a professional show jumper, I didn’t even know being a “groom” was something people did as a profession! From there, I discovered the moon and shot for it. Since then I’ve groomed hunter jumpers, eventers, and classical dressage horses. I’ve learned to gallop thoroughbreds, make braids as small as the first joint in my little finger, how to clip to National Hunter Derby standards, how to get hot swollen legs cool and tight, and to be extremely proud of ones work, yet humble and honest and kind. The horse industry has put me through tough times, and the horse industry has gotten me through them.
My experience with WDAFL was made possible by the First Time participant Grant Award, I was so stoked! I was able to achieve my riding goal, which was to just stay completely connected with my horse throughout the four tests we had planned for the weekend. Our first day was great, we breezed through our basic level tests with minimal anxieties and a fairly level head. My little horse Sunny was an absolute star, she tries so hard for me and I’m so grateful to her for all that she has taught me. The second day of the show was even better. After riding our first test in the morning, I napped on some shavings bags because WOW horse shows are intense. The second test we did was the best I have ever ridden in my entire life.
I could feel every footfall in our warmup, I knew what my horse was thinking, I felt her working hard to keep her frame, I felt myself grow this feeling inside me and I instantly knew we were going to have an amazing round. We jogged into the little warmup area before the court and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling. I rode the best I’ve ever ridden in my life for those short two and a half minutes it took us to complete the test. So now, not only do I have the incurable horse bug, I have the show addiction. Thank you so much for this opportunity, I am honored to be an advocate for this discipline and hope that I can give back to the organization by spreading knowledge and encouragement to others about Western Dressage.
[/span4][span4]
Sophie Andraea
My experience at Grand Oaks was unforgettable! There were so many amazing things that happened. Number 1: having been taught by Hannah so well that I got this far. Number 2: the experience of being with Buff. If it wasn’t for Buff, I wouldn’t have anyone to ride. Thank you, Buff! He makes me so happy. I was very excited to show 6 times over the weekend and the experience was great for both of us. Number 3: getting to stay on the Grand Oaks property – it is beautiful and a horse lover’s dream!
Ok, now let’s get into the funny stuff. In between mine and my teammates’ rides, Miss Wendy texted Hannah to tell her something was wrong with the R.V. and she needed her help. Hannah was with us at the cottage at the time, so we went over with her. Once we got to the R.V., we found out that the hatch wasn’t closing and it was about to rain. Oh no! We pulled a picnic table up close and instead of Miss Wendy saying “Hannah, I will give you a leg up” she said, “I will give you a leg yield up.” We have made a joke about it ever since. It might not seem funny now, but it sure was funny in person! Just imagine Miss Wendy throwing Miss Hannah up sideways onto the truck! That would have been even more hysterical to watch!
Overall, my experience at Grand Oaks was incredible. It was my favorite horse show I have ever been to! Thank you so much to all the people who helped organize it. I really hope to go back again next year!
[/span4][span4]
Elizabeth Furey
Hi, my name is Elizabeth Furey, and I was fortunate enough to be the recipient for the 2020 WDAFL’s Amateur grant winner for the WDAFL show hosted at the Grand Oaks. The horse I showed is named “Hickory” and his registered name is Hickory’s Nu Haida, he is a 16yr old Quarter Horse gelding. It felt weird to be riding a Quarter Horse again and not my Kentucky Mountain Horse.
My journey to this show started last year when I volunteered at the WDAFL Championship show. I wanted to go check it out and to help. At that point. I was just starting to get into western dressage and set a goal for myself to attend the show the following year (this year).
When I found out I was the grant winner I was thrilled! I finally had a chance to show at this event. I had a lovely partnership with a horse and was excited for it. That came crashing to a halt when my mare came up lame 7 weeks before the show. We knew it was not good and her odds of being able to attend the show were stacked against us. I was racing the clock to try to find a horse to ride and show because I did not want to miss out on this show. My trainer was nice enough to lend me her Reiner gelding, so six weeks before the show I had a new horse at my barn and was trying to teach him a new discipline. We had our challenges, but finally it was the weekend of the show and we were as ready as we could be.
When the show came, we had a nice schooling on Friday and a lovely dinner at the Grand Oaks. My trainer and I formulated a game plan for Saturday and went to bed. We got up early on Saturday and were ready to begin. Hickory was a little nervous and uptight and I was nervous and we had an error on our first test (what I get for talking about the error happening once before) he was trying to speed up
but I was happy. We went back to the schooling area and schooled in between our rides and had a much better test and no errors on my part. Our scores to me did not matter because I liked how he rode and was happy with what I did. We tweaked our game plan for Sunday.
During the break on Saturday they had the fashion show which was nice to see the diversity of outfits you can wear for Western Dressage, and the raffle brought a nice crowd. I did not win anything, but my trainer did. Saturday night was the costume freestyles, and it was lovely to watch and I enjoyed watching them. Hopefully one day I will be able to do one.
Sunday came and with the weather looking iffy, we wanted to be ready early so if we could be moved up in our times, we would be ready. He didn’t start off schooling nicely he was trying to ignore me and do what he wanted but I couldn’t let that bother me so we worked it out and went down to the show ring. Our first test went great, no errors and he was not trying to fight me, so I was thrilled! We decided to keep him moving and schooled more until it was time for my second test, it didn’t ride as great as the first one but considering what we had been working on at home and our challenges I was still very happy. I had my goals for the show and met them so I could not have asked for more. After the show Hickory went home and if I have a horse I can ride and compete with next year I will make it a goal to attend this show again next year.
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
[/span4][/columns]
