May 2022 Issue

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We cannot accept copyrighted photos without permission from owner. You must have permission before reprinting anything from East Coast Equestrian. For permission please call (717) 509-9800 or email steph@eastcoastequestrian.net By Sylvia Sidesaddle Well, hello again darlings, and we are in the thick of it now! Devon is on the horizon, and along with the best-in- the-US competition, cucumber tea sandwiches and exhibitor parties, it also signals the arrival of homegrown strawberries! And John Whalen’s birthday! Happy birthday John, Syl is hoping you’ll make an appearance! On to the scoop. Turns out Jessica isn’t the only equestrian in the Springsteen family. Mom Patti Scialfa has ridden all her life (who knew?) and dad Bruce began joining in in recent years. Patti’s Instagram account showed them riding recently on a windy Easter Sunday. Bruce, it seems, once gave Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder a lesson on a not- so-suitable school horse which took off for the trees. Syl won- ders: Is there a single darling out there who has not heard a version of that taking-off-for-the-trees story from every single non-rider they’ve ever met? Christianna Hannum has finished an award-winning documentary film about her grandmother, the late horsewom- an, open space preservationist and philanthropist Nancy Penn Smith Hannum . Mrs. Hannum was largely responsible for keep- ing all the beautiful Cheshire hunt country open space for eques- trian pursuits and her efforts are why the area around Rt. 926 in Chester County looks much as it did 150 years ago. There will be a screening of the film, Goodnight Ladies, including a Q&A with the filmmaker, at the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington on June 23. It’s a fundraiser for the Cheshire Hunt Conservancy. Ten dollars per person, cash at the door, how could you resist sweet things? Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event is still in the future as Syl writes. Sadly, local Boyd Martin has decided to withdraw his Maryland 5 Star winning mare, On Cue, from the competition. She pulled up a little less than sound. Obviously the team would have been among the top contenders, but as we know darlings the horse always comes first. Syl is sure she’ll be back soon. Racing is scheduled to start at Monmouth on May 7, under the most stringent whip rules in the country. Jockeys will only be allowed to use the whip for safety reasons. This is more restrictive than the whip rules under the new federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which are scheduled to go into effect on July 1. Those rules allow jockeys to use the whip six times during a single race, but not more than twice in succession. The Asbury Park Press reports that Mon- mouth officials have asked the New Jersey Racing Commission to implement HISA's (less strin- gent) version of the whip rules for the entirety of the 2022 race meet, and they feel there’s a good chance that can happen. LNP (which is the somewhat weird name for the Lancaster, PA newspaper) reports that two Pennsylvania state troopers are on desk duty after it was learned they shot a horse on a US Route 1 onramp shortly before mid- night on December 28. The horse had reportedly escaped from an Amish farm along Route 1 (a four-lane divided highway) and State Road 10, a fairly busy Chester County thoroughfare two miles from downtown Oxford, PA. It wasn’t until March that they were accused of potential animal cruelty. A state police spokesman said they “euthanized the horse after determining it was a safety hazard.” State police reg- ulations allow officers to employ a firearm to “kill a dangerous an- imal in self-defense or defense of another person or to terminate the suffering of a critically injured animal.” Also on the Horse Drop- pings police blotter (how often does this happen darlings?) the criminal case against Michael Barisone , the 2008 Olympic dressage alternate, has been resolved. Barisone was charged with attempted murder in the 2019 shooting of Lauren Kanarek , his boarder, tenant and student. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity on two charges. Three other charges were dismissed. The Long Valley, NJ resident, who has been behind bars for nearly three years, must now undergo psychiatric testing to determine if he is a danger to himself or the community. A hearing on the matter has been set for May 17. He is still facing a civil suit and a GoFundMe page has been set up by his partner, Lara Osborne , to raise funds to cover legal bills. As Syl writes, more than $23,000 of a $300,000 goal has been raised. New federal racing laws take effect July 1, and an an- nouncement of the agency that will enforce them is expected by mid-May. The agency, what- ever it is, will be charged with enforcing the anti-doping and medication control components of the new law. Syl’s darlings may remember that talks with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees drug testing for American Olympic, Paralympic and Pan American athletes, and which was selected to work with the industry on developing anti-doping and med- ication control rules, broke down over irreconcilable differences. The hope is that the enforcement agency (whatever it is) will take over drug testing in January 2023. Until then, states would continue to run their medication testing programs as they do currently. A recent study on the topic of ‘is riding actually exercise’ finds that yes, it is. Even a basic Western walk-jog-lope session can burn as much energy as a leisurely jog or brisk walk, the study finds. The basic session, which included 18 minutes of walking, 12 minutes of slow jog trot, 10 minutes of fast posting trot, and five minutes of loping, actually burned more calories than a more intense five-minute reining pattern or a two-minute cutting pattern. While it was not a particularly heavy workout, it still offered the riders a moder- ate muscular and cardiovascular effort, researchers say. Syl’s question: how many steps does your Fitbit give you? We know that’s all that really counts, sweet things. In other research news, sci- entists in Prague have analyzed show jumping faults in a study of FEI five-star level athletes competing indoors. Their findings in a nutshell: Elite show jumpers are more likely to knock down bars later in the course than ear- lier. They’re also at an increased risk of faulting on vertical water jumps and combinations, espe- cially the first of the two fences in a combination, which had a fault rate in the study of 13%. On the flip side, horses are much less likely to knock down or refuse triple bars and wall jumps. During jump-offs, higher speed was associated with a lower fault risk—meaning these elite-lev- el pairings don’t necessarily sacrifice jump quality for speed. And mares ran slightly faster than stallions and geldings. Who else would tell you these things????? And finally, competition for kids is coming to the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA, this month. The 20th annual Inter- scholastic Equestrian Associ- ation Hunter Seat Equitation, Dressage, and Western/Reining Seat Equitation National Finals, for grades 4 to 12, will be under- way as the month begins. The Intercollegiate Horse Shows As- sociation Hunter Seat Equitation, Western/Reining Seat Equitation National Championship will follow May 5-8. Good luck to all the exhibitors! And that’s it for Syl for another month. Always remember to S.S.S. (Send Sylvia Scoop) at PAEquest@aol.com . And…be careful where you step (especial- ly you, John Whalen)! Warm Up Strategies for the Dressage Ring design the way you’ll approach each movement within the test. Even if you ride in front of mir- rors regularly, video footage is another effective way to evaluate your riding position and posture. If you’ve taken the time to implement the above ideas before your test, you’ll undoubtedly be in a much stronger and more confident mindset at your com- petition. Rick Silvia is a seasoned international Grand Prix compet- itor, USDF Gold Medalist, and the resident trainer at Journey’s End Farm in Glenmoore, Penn- sylvania. Rick’s students have won both Regional and National Championships, with Horse of The Year honors through the FEI levels. www.RickSilvia.com (Continued from page 41)