sept. appointments

A monthly publication of The Tryon Daily Bulletin

The Hoofbeats of the Carolina Foothills

F R E E

September 2011

Volume 5 Issue 12

Highlighting equestrian business:

Tawana Weicker's Warhorse

'It's time,' by Gerald Pack

'The Making of Norman,' by Catherine Macaulay

Muddy boots need mud rooms

by Gillian Drummond

Appointments

(Continued on page 4)

Business crafted from shortageby Barbara Childs

Four years ago our area was struggling through a se-vere drought, causing hay to become a scarce commodity.

Be lg i an owner Na ta l i e Iryshe found her source dried up, which led her to a ship-ment from the Midwest. She quickly thought, “Why not bring good hay down here and sell it?” That was the begin-ning of “The Hay Lady.”

Iryshe’s “hay roots” go back to her upbringing on a 1,600-acre dairy cattle farm in upstate New York, which she loved immensely.

Her dad depended on her in summers to haybine, rake, bale and unload the hay for more than 400 head of cows, hei fers and calves . Those years on the farm with her father’s teaching and guidance prepared Iryshe well.

Once she decided to start her hay business, Iryshe made two trips to upstate New York in search of the best hay for future customers. She visited 18 farmers in the east, central and northern parts of the state,

Hay fever

Natalie Iryshe turned a desperate need for hay, during a bad drought four years ago, into a business that is growing faster than weeds. Iryshe is now known as the 'Hay Lady' and recently built a cabin-like office where she greets customers. (photo submitted).

Appointments • September 2011 • p. 2

Appointments

Betty Ramsey, publisherSamantha Hurst, editor 828-859-2737 x 110

Fulton Hampton, marketing 828-859-2737 x 104Nick Holmberg, marketing 828-859-2737 x 114Make your “Appointments!”

fourth Thursday of every month (subject to change) in every home-delivered and newsstand copy of The Tryon Daily Bulletin. You can also find them for free each month, as long as they last, in tourism and equestrian businesses throughout the area. A p p o i n t m e n t s i s a m o n t h l y publication of The Tryon Daily Bulletin Inc., 16 N. Trade Street, Tryon, N.C. 28782.

To reach us regarding:• News i tems, contact Samantha Hurst, (828) 859-2737 ext. 110, e-mail [email protected] o m ; o r B a r b a r a C h i l d s , [email protected]; FAX to (828) 859-5575.• Advertising, billing or distribution inquiries, please call Nick Holmberg at the Tryon Daily Bulletin, (828) 859-9151.Appointments is distributed on the

Aug., Sept. & Oct. 20118 / 2 7 : B o d y / E n e r g y w o r k

clinic with Sandy Siegrist at Long Shadows Farm, Campobello. Info: [email protected].

8/27-8/28: Harmon Hopefuls at Harmon Field. Info: Noreen Cothran at 864-457-3557.

8/27: TRHC Schooling Horse Trials at Windridge Farm in Mooresville, N.C. Info: Laura Weicker 828-859-6109 or visit www.trhcevents.net.

9/3: Dancing Under the Stars – TROT benefit at FENCE. Info: 828-859-9021 or via e-mail at [email protected].

9/3-9/5: Labor Day Weekend 3-Day Hunter Clinic with Sara Underwood. Info: 864-276-8536.

9/5: GRPC Cubbing with Green Creek Hounds.

9/9-9/11: Harmon Classics at Harmon Field. Info: Lewis Pack, 828-894-2721.

9/10-11: Borderline Dressage at FENCE. Info: Kay Whitlock, 910-692-3504 or www.carolinadressage.com.

9/17: Harmon Hopefuls @ Harmon Field. Info: Noreen Cothran 864-457-3557.

9/17: FRC Schooling Dressage & Stadium at FENCE. Info: Margo Savage, 828-863-4924 or visit foothillsridingclub.org.

9/18: FRC Cross Country Schooling at FENCE. Info: Margo Savage 828-863-4924 or visit foothillsridingclub.org.

9/18: FHS Critter Crazy Event at FENCE. Info: Foothills Humane Society, 828-863-4444.

9/17-9/18: Paul Belasic Clinic at Blue Moon Farm. Info: [email protected].

9/24-25: Tryon Fall Classic at FENCE. Info: Classic Co., 843-768-5503 or visit www.classiccompany.com.

9/24-9/25: Carolina Carriage Club Pleasure Show at Harmon Field.

10/1-2: 36th Tryon Riding & Hunt Club Horse Trials at FENCE. Hosting the USEA/Chronicle of the Horse Adult Team Challenge. Info: 828-859-6109 or visit www.trhcevent.org.

10/9: 78th TR&HC Any and All Dog Show. Info: Laura Weicker, 828-859-6109 or www.trhcevents.net.

1 0 / 1 4 - 1 6 : P r o g r e s s i v e

ShowJumping Show at FENCE. Info: [email protected], 803-649-3505.

10/14-16: Second-annual Day in the Country. Info: Laura Weicker 828-8596109 or visit www.trhcevents.net .

10/21-23: Blue Ridge Hunter Jumper Association Classic Show at Harmon Field. Info: Lewis Pack at 828-894-2721.

10/22: Body/Energy work clinic with Sandy Siegrist at Long Shadows Farm, Campobello, S.C. Info: [email protected].

10/22-23: Beginner Combined Training with Nicole Watts. Info: [email protected].

10/23: Foothills Riding Club Schooling Horse Trials at FENCE. Info: Margo Savage 828-863-4924.

10/29-30: Icelandic Horse Show at FENCE. Info: Sara Lyter.

11/10-12: Jerry Tindell clinic for Horse/Mulemanship 1 and Nov. 13-15 for Horse/Mulemanship 2. There will also be a trail ride Nov. 16. Classes will start at 9 a.m. each day. This clinic is planned to be at Ron Freer's farm in Tryon. Call 760-948-1172 or check out Jerry's website, jerrytindell.com, for more information.


• Hay Lady(Continued from page 1)

Iryshe recently put up her new "cabin" location to welcome customers. As an added bonus she tends to keep around a few treats. (photo submitted).

inspecting the hay and how it was stored.

From the 18 farmers, the top three were selected as Iryshe's resources.

“This provides the con-sistency my customers want and I demand. Every bale is guaranteed and inspected. If one load of hay gets to a customer's barn and it isn't perfect, it is immediately re-placed,” Iryshe said.

“This hay business allows me to provide and enjoy my two passions in life: animals and people and in that order. So many customers have be-come friends and that is very rewarding,” she said. “When they tell me their horses love the hay and eat it before their grain, I know the horses are happy. That makes their own-ers happy and in turn I am very happy! You just can't beat that.”

Iryshe plans to be a perma-nent fixture at her cabin, where a rocker, cookies, cold drinks and a warm smile await every cus-tomer. A wooden plaque says it all-“Welcome to my cabin.”

I ryshe’s goal is to provide top-quality hay to all the horses in Polk County, and make many

new friends in the process. Since locating to her cabin

more than nine weeks ago, she has obtained 90 new customers. Iryshe believes in the personal touch with her

cabin and the welcome mat is always out.

“The cabin and the hay are

extensions of myself, so this is a very personal endeavor and not just a job,” Iryshe said. “It is so nice to leave home in the morning and say, ‘I am

“The cabin and the hay are extensions of myself, so this is a very personal endeavor and not just a job.”

-- Natalie IrysheHighlighting equestrian businesses going to my cabin’ instead of

going to work. I have found my niche in Polk County and the horses, the people and the hay all fit!”


TROT prepares for fall

Fall classes will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday (non-mounted) and Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings, starting on Tuesday, Sept. 6 and ending on Saturday, Nov. 12. Makeup lessons will be available the week of Nov. 14 for any lessons missed due to weather or other reasons. (photo submitted)


by Barbara Chidls

Four years ago Tawana Weicker was introduced to making biodiesel and glycerin soap after one of her English senior students explored the process for her graduation project.

Weicker decided to learn how to make biodiesel herself. Part of her routine included washing, washing and more washing of her oil buckets and containers.

Since she had access to veg-etable oil and accumulated a great amount of glycerin as a biodiesel product, she discovered a soap recipe and made her own liquid degreaser.

It worked well and her family began using it around their home on a regular basis. After several months, the cleaning soap and glyc-erin bar, which she called Warhorse, was passed along to family, friends, and co-workers.

Weicker also gave it to restau-rants as a reciprocal thank you for vegetable oil. This gave her a unique and kind way to barter for her biodiesel supplies.

In addition, high school and college students visited her shop regularly to learn about biodiesel chemistry. They left with samples of brown glycerin soap; Be Kind shower gels also evolved from this history.

"The cool thing about making Warhouse, a non-toxic cleaning glycerin soap, is that it is environ-mentally friendly," Weicker said. "It is also sustainable and loaded with glycerin. Other than food and water, soap is in high demand in homes and businesses. I like the fact that my biodiesel production gives me the basic ingredients for a natural multipurpose cleaning soap."

Weicker said all true soap is made from a process called saponi-fication, where oil is added with lye and water to make soap. She said she does not have sulfates in her soap nor does she add synthetics to artificially adjust the ph level. The ingredients used are vegetable oil, glycerin, water, lye, apple cider vin-egar and essential oil. The amount

of glycerin she has in her cleaning soap is unique - at 40 percent, she said. In order to verify that her glycerin content and the distilla-tion process produces pure, quality glycerin, she has it lab tested.

"I love adding soap products to my process of recycling," said Weicker.

Warhouse can be used to clean

household and barn needs and also to remove laundry stains. Weicker said the best aspect of the product is that there are no added harsh chemi-cals to breathe or touch the skin.

"Cleaning is part of everyone's life, and some do it for a living," said Weicker.

She is currently working on a pet shampoo as well.

Weicker's goals for her shower and bath gel, Be Kind, are to keep going with what she has produced and developed with her glycerin products.

"Warhouse has recently been introduced to the markets, and the Be Kind shower gel, which is


Tawana Weicker hard at work making her new products Warhorse and Be Kind solutions. (photo submitted).

Warhorse and Be Kind solutions creator Tawana Weicker


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handcrafted glycerin soap is also available," Weicker said. "They are scented with sweet almond oil and some have lavender. The shower gel is a product that is kind to your skin and to the planet."

The best part of this journey for Weicker started four years ago with one of her students, Elizabeth Russell.

R u s s e l l i m-pressed the panel of community judges with her biodiesel soap presentations. Russell is still in-volved by offering business advice and product development and market-ing

Weicker has also worked with two 4-H summer science camps. The chemistry teacher at PCHS has also introduced biodiesel processing in his chemistry classes.

"Sharing information is empow-

“Sharing information is empowering, and it is the best way to make education authentic.”

-- Tawana Weicker

ering, and it is the best way to make education authentic," said Weicker.

When Weicker was about 13 years of age, she lived a mile from

the Cotswold Farm in Mill Spring, and she worked there cleaning stalls and exercising Sadd-lebreds and Arabs until she left home for college.

"Horses require loads of time and care, and now I just enjoy watching them at Harmon Field on some Sunday mornings when I visit Mr. Dale, the concessions manager there, to pick up his oil and give him some of my lovely soap," said Weicker.

• Weicker(Continued from page 8)

Liz and Bob Weicker work to combine solutions for the Warhorse and Be Kind products. The work has become a family affair. (photo submitted).

Highlighting equestrian businesses


Consignment Tack Shop, LLC

Combining two of Tryon’s most recognizable traditions, the FENCE Wine and Art Festival will return this fall on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15, from noon to 5 p.m. at Der-byshire in Tryon.

The event will be presented by August Construction. The festival, a benefit in support of FENCE’s nature education and outdoor recreation programs, offers guests the opportunity to sample the fruits of the re-gion’s growing vit iculture along with artwork reflecting the Foothills’ rich arts and crafts heritage in elegant sur-roundings.

Derbyshire, is a planned

community inspired by tradi-tional English country living.

Regional vintners will offer wine tastings supplemented by light hors d’oeuvres and regional delicacies from area

caterers and restaurateurs. While enjoying these re-

gional offerings for the palate, guests will also enjoy view-ing work by artists from the Upstate and western North

Carolina, who will be on hand to discuss their work, available for purchase.

Tickets may be ordered se-curely online at www.fence.org or by calling 828-859-9021.

FENCE Wine & Art Festival

Thsi year will be the third annual FENCE Wine & Art Festival. The event funds nature education and outdoor recreation programs at FENCE. (logo submitted)


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Local artists Joan E. Mac- Intyre and Sarah Holmberg recently exhibited their work at an equine art show in Em-erald Downs Racetrack in Auburn, Wash.

Holmberg’s papier mache figure of Zenyatta won honor-able mention in sculpture.

Holmberg creates sculp-tures using the Tryon Daily Bulletin newspaper.

MacIntyre entered her oil portraits of Zenyatta and Gol-dikova, which won second place. The art show had over 200 entries.

- article and photo submitted

Exhibiting local equine works of art

Sarah Holmberg created this sculpture of a horse out of recycled Tryon Daily Bulletin papers. (photo submitted)


by Barbara Childs

Nikki Guerrazzi followed her father’s good advice in choosing a career.

“Do something that you love to do,” he said. And with that statement there was only one choice; a career riding, training and showing horses. Growing up in New Jersey, she rode every horse she could no matter what issues the horse may have had with training.

Guerrazzi went to Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., where she earned a degree from focusing on all aspects of equine studies, science and business management. Guer-

razzi moved back to New Jersey after graduating in De-cember 2004.

During that summer, while in Bristol to visit friends, she at-tended the small schooling show that led to her introduction to Jeanne Smith of Clear View Farm in Landrum, S.C.

Eddie Federwisch, director of equine studies at V.I., sug-gested to Smith, who needed a rider, that she contact Guer-razzi.

“It will be like the hurricane

meeting the tornado,” he said. “This could actually work quite well.”

Guerrazzi credits a large amount o f he r riding style and t e c h n i q u e t o Smith.

“This is where and when the pol-ish came and the details and sub-

tleties needed for showing pro-fessionally,” said Guerrazzi.

“Jeannie Smith gave me the opportunity to ride and train and show and her faith in me made me accomplish my riding goals,” said Guerrazzi.

Guerrazzi said the most enjoyable thing about riding and training is seeing and expe-riencing the improvement and response that each horse has in the process.

“Improvement with results is most important to me. It’s when the rider and the horse click, and the horse is happier and better when we are done than when we started,” she said.

Today’s goals for Guerrazzi include big improvements on the flat for riding her horses.

“How you ride your horse

Spotlight on Local

Equestrians


Nikki Guerrazzi rides in a recent Bud Derby. Guerazzi attended Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., and was later introduced to Jeanne Smith, owner of Clear View Farm in Landrum. Guerazzi credits Smith for having a big impact on her training. (photo submitted.)

Guerrazzi builds on skills at Clear View Farm


on the flat reflects how well he jumps,” said Guerrazzi.

The f la twork improves jumping, and she likes to spe-cialize in incorporating jumps into flatwork exercises.

The results are most enjoy-able and correct, she said.

Guerrazzi travels to barns and private facilities to help with weekly tune-ups and les-sons for students.

“I am so lucky to get to work with fabulous horses and train-ers, such as Mrs. Stephanie Kaneps. I always learn some-thing,” she said.

“Have saddle, will travel,”

• Guerrazzi(Continued from page 10)

is her motto as she freelances, as well as works from Clear View Farm.

Guerrazzi owns a 2-year-old filly that is branded Belgian with Rubenstein and Olden-burg bloodlines on her dam’s side and Balta Czar on the sire’s side. Her name is Jerzey Girl and she is a gorgeous bay with chrome on her legs and face.

There will be big plans for her training and riding as she grows and enjoys the handling and pasture grazing while growing.Jeanne Smith has been Guerrazzi's biggest influ-ence and professional model as she continues learning and improving.

Nikki Guerrazzi. (photo submitted.)


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Spotlight on Local

Equestrians

Terry Russell riding Denizen at Southampton, Long Island. Russell first began his career riding and importing horses while teaching at Yale University. He's worked with horses from Salut, a Horse of the Year in Grand Prix, to Indus, a conformation hunter of the year. (photo submitted.)

Foothills native carves out equestrian legacyW h e n T e r r y R u s s e l l

moved to Connecticut in the late 70s and taught at Yale University for four years, he got involved with importing horses from Europe.

T h e s e h o r s e s w e r e a l l well known, such as Salut (Horse of the Year in Grand Pr ix ) . He was Dutch and imported from Holland.

Another horse, Indus, out of Poland, was the confor-mation hunter of the year. R u s s e l l c o m p e t e d h o r s e s t h a t h e i m p o r t e d a t t h e Grand Prix level.

His famous horse, Deni-zen, was 3 when he started

him. He became the Ameri-can Grand Pr ix champion for two years in a row. Rus-sell has always h a d a n e x c e p -t i o n a l g i f t f o r spot t ing ta len t in a horse.

R u s s e l l a n d his wife, Susie, moved to Tryon in Green Creek in 1989 from Lloyd Harbor, N .Y. They had been showing and train-ing out of numerous stables there, including Caumset t Equestrian Center, Melody Farm and Prince Farm on Long Island.

The couple bought Fair Winds Fa rm in 1987 and t h e y b e g a n b u i l d i n g t h e

barn and r ings and put t ing up paddocks while s t i l l l i v i n g o n Long Island.

They had the barn apartment almost finished

when they decided to come down here for the win te r with some of their horses and clients’ horses. Need-less to say, they never re-turned north. They fel l in love with this area and Rus-sell felt he was coming back

to his home place.F a i r Wi n d s F a r m i s a

beautiful 80-acres farm set up for training, lessons and boarding.

There are numerous rid-i ng a r enas , a r ound pen , ba rn s , t r a i l s and va r i ous apartments. Terry and Sue offer lodging for horses and riders who come to the area to show.

Terry loves to fox hunt and is active in the Tryon and Green Creek Hounds when he finds the time away from the show horses.


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Terry is currently show-i n g h i s h o r s e , C e n t r o , a Belgian Grand Prix horse, who has been champion at many shows.

Te r r y ’s w i f e , S u s i e i s very involved in the farm operation and also rides and shows.

Terry still imports horses from Europe and he loves this work.

Both love Tryon and hope that the many farms here can al l work together to keep making this a great horse area for all.

Te r ry Russe l l i s o r ig i -n a l l y f r o m L a n d r u m . H e grew up here and rode with his father Bill and brother Vic in Charlotte.

His fa ther was a long- standing huntsman for nu-merous hunts.

Te r r y ’s c a r e e r s t a r t e d after high school, when he showed and was director of

“They fell in love with this area and Terry felt he was coming back to his home place.”

-- Terry and Sue Russell

• Russell(Continued from page 13)

Russell riding Lynard at American Invitational in Tampa, Fla. (photo submitted)

a riding school in Tallahas-see, Fla. He was offered a job r id ing and promot ing horse shows in Athens, Ga. Later he rode with his broth-ers, Bill and Vic.

Terry started riding inter-national horses at Pine Top Farm in Georgia.

Ter ry has competed on the Eas t Coas t i nc lud ing N e w p o r t , R . I . ’s J u m p e r Derby. He a l so competed i n Ha r r i sbu rg , a t Devon , Palm Beach in Fla. and at the American Invi ta t ional in Tampa.

His first Grand Prix show w a s i n P a l m B e a c h a n d Terry was then ranked in the top s ix6 r iders in the United States when he was in his 20s.


by Gerald Pack

September is nearly here.Time to bring in the field

hunters, put shoes on them, tack them up and start walk-ing them out to build up their muscles and tone their legs, backs and tendons in prepara-tion for the hunting season. As a rule, I find this takes about 30 to 45 days.

Here in the South, formal cubbing generally starts in October, with the official sea-son opening up on or around Thanksgiving day.

Growing up in this area and hunting with the Tryon Hounds, this was the tradi-tion. The hounds always went to Wisconsin for the summer, then returned to Tryon each fall where they were kenneled at the Mahler Farm and Chin-

quapin, which was on Ridge Road, now named Hunting Country Road in honor of this area’s long, rich tradition of foxhunting.

I never enjoyed anything more than hunting my own hounds and experiencing this incredible countryside with them.

Over the years, I hunted and rode to hounds throughout the world, taking part in some of the best runs a n y w h e r e . Bu t , t he r e ’s nothing like hunting back home on our fine rugged terrain.

Wherever you hunt, it is im-portant to do more than arrive at the meet on time and adhere to its dictates of etiquette.

Start by listening to the huntsman as he leaves the meet. His voice, along with the sound of his horn, is the com-

munication he uses with his hounds and the field — com-munication that is essential to riders, whippers in, horses and hounds.

Study the horn’s different blows. Only by understanding their meanings will you know what is going on around you. Believe me, horses and hounds know the difference between

the blows right away.

K e e p a good distance back until the hounds have the quarry up

and running. There is nothing more annoying to a huntsman than so much coffee housing with a field that is too close.

Once the run starts, you can move up and gallop with the hounds. One thing about chas-ing a fox or coyote, though. Only the hounds can smell the scent and run him as a pack.

People? Well, you can try to guess if you want. You may get lucky, sometimes.

Remember, fit horses and fit people are the name of the game. A rider needs to mount without a mounting block, duck under branches at the can-ter and gallop down hillsides, staying in the field for up to three hours.

Know your l imits . Stay within your capabilities. We have some very rough terrain around here. Don’t feel the need to give chase over it all at once. There is always another day to hunt.

At least, that’s my hope. But much has changed since the days when generous land-owners would open up their 1,000-acre properties for we foxhunters to use.

Today, only a handful of large landowners remain, hav-

It’s time


Then & Nowby Gerald Pack


ing been replaced by a huge majority of small, properties. This puts the obvious pressures on our sport.

As Master of the Greenville County Hounds for 40 years, I’ve had the opportunity to make hunts-men, masters and whippers in, of which I am very proud. They are true sportsmen, ca-pable of passing on the great tradition as it was passed on to me by some of the best and most influential people in the world. But I worry, will there will be a place for them to hunt in the future?

Years back, we had the most wonderful group of giving sportsmen in this area, all with

a great love of the land, who never missed the opportunity to encourage local people to come and participate with horses, any way possible.

Tryon Hounds never charged anyone locally to go out hunt-ing. At the Horse & Hound show at Harmon Field, every-one tasted the famous barbecue chicken, for free. Hunt mem-

bers made a point to speak t o a l l l o c a l l a n d o w n e r s , forging a part-nership that at its core, em-

braced the need for open space.This fal l , as foxhunters

prepare to gallop over the hillsides, the throaty notes of the hounds leading the charge, I hope they will take time to support the fight against land loss. Once our countryside is gone, it is gone forever.

Stay tuned.

• Pack(Continued from page 16)

Then & Nowby Gerald Pack

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Twin Oaks

Veterinary ClinicTwin Oaks Veterinary


by Catherine Macaulay

Not long ago while on holi-day in Florida, I caught sight of a big, gray horse hitched to a stock trailer parked on the side of the road. There was something about his unblinking gaze. The fellow appeared mildly curious as to my existence, looking at me as though I were a little bird in a tree.

No harm in taking a closer look. I was after all, on vaca-tion. But I would not stay long. Already I could see the horse’s job description being underwrit-ten by the young man removing a leather harness from the trailer.

I’d lived too long in cities, witnessed too many kind-eyed horses suffering in their unmov-able hardware, heads down, inhaling exhaust fumes, to feel much nostalgia for the business of commercial carriage driving.

Although, to be truthful, the death of my affections probably began on my wedding day when my husband and I climbed into our waiting carriage and waved good-bye to the small gathering alongside us.

Off we went, clip clopping toward our future, eager to see where the journey might lead. No matter the drizzle. We were young, innocent, embarking on a ride into the unknown as man and wife.

In hindsight, a pair of hand-brakes might have helped. Mo-ments into our ride, the wind rose up, launching our bony horse back into his prey-based evolution, two gasping newly-weds in tow.

By the time it was over, the poor animal looked as if he’d won the race, crossed the river and cleared the hurdles, trans-porting me into a mild state of re-sentment about carriage driving, where I’ve remained ever since.

But standing in the presence of the big gray, a south wind tousling my hair, I felt a sense of awe. The animal was mag-

nificent. He held the ground like an old, noble tree, his massive shoulders towering over the driver now heaving the black leather collar onto his shoulders.

Across the expanse of air, I spoke to him mentally, working to gain his good opinion. I as-sured him that he was in fact, a handsome carriage horse with a deep chest, fine head and neck, and some well-muscled horse-power in his limbs.

Why, you’re made for victory, I remarked, talking, but never speaking. Banquet tables should be spread in your honor, jousts commenced, tales told and retold of your greatness.

The fellow con-sidered my praises. Then, deeming them worthwhile and alto-gether true, he began making soft, chew-ing motions with his mouth, wholly content in his mag-nificence.

Thrilled over my ability to speak horse I edged into a con-versation with the driver, eager to investigate the origins of the majestic draft towering over-head.

His name is Norman, and the making of him as a carriage horse is a work in progress being undertaken by a young man with kind eyes and a quiet demeanor who goes by the name J.D. I watched as he tacked up the big draft, moving purposefully around his 2,000-pound frame.

As he worked, a passer-by emerged into the staging area, no doubt drawn by the same centurion gaze that drew me. Ea-ger to touch the hem of nobility, to pat its flanks or rub its nose, she reached up to him. Norman gently lowered his head to ac-commodate her.

In that instant, the old boy had me. He’d already won J.D. over. The moment his hands first picked up those lines, he said he

knew this was his horse. Calm and good-natured, the

11-year-old Percheron has al-ways shown a real willingness to learn, and J.D. is convinced it’s just a matter of time before he grows into a solid carriage horse capable of pulling twice his own weight.

Still, the task is never easy. Garbage trucks, four-alarm fires, street sweepers, helium balloons and plastic bags scuttling by in the wind all represent malevolent forces that threaten to eat a horse for dinner.

Then, too, there are the curious. In his new role as equine ambassador, Norman will be-come a one-animal curbside, petting zoo.

Perfectly normal citizens will sud-

denly feel compelled to intro-duce their dogs to him. Scream-ing infants will be held up to him in earnest.

His mountainous size will attract a hive of youngsters, all fearless in their tactile affec-tions as they buzz about his feet. Everyone will want to feed him peanuts.

Only two out of 10 horses ever make the grade pulling a carriage. But Norman is easy-going. He has come to the job well-broke, conversant in the language of driving. A former work horse for the Amish, the gargantuan 18.3-hander learned his cues in the harness—plow-ing, planting and haying the fields.

From all reports, the Amish work their pullers hard and sell them young. Norman was bought by a delusional, would-be knight straight out of Miami whose lack of riding acumen never tarnished his dreams of jousting in medi-

eval re-enactment tournaments.Having purchased his war

horse, he appeared on the land-scape lance in hand, a warrior mounted for battle — if only he’d learned to ride. Lacking so much as an hour’s experience in the saddle, this prince of the joust, nonetheless, did pursue his great desire.

Things understandably did not go well. And so, off Nor-man went, but not before he languished in his stall for a year, growing progressively thinner, his owner having ditched him along with the board bill.

Clad in black trousers and pressed white shirt, J.D. backed the big gray into the waiting carriage. There was a quiet confi-dence about this driver. Someone like him could easily convince a horse to relinquish his flight instincts and follow his lead.

Horses are J.D.’s passion. So, too, is driving. He’s been doing it since he was 12. For the past seven years, the former Virgin-ian has been working the car-riages for A Hitch ‘N Time — a small, four-horse outfit in central Florida owned by Barb Turcyn and Kathy Smith, self-avowed horse nuts who convinced their husbands nearly a decade ago to help support their modest venture.

Since then, they’ve been ply-ing the streets of Mt. Dora and the historic district of Orlando, driving each of their carriage horses three days a week, be-tween four and five hours a day. Financially, they get by.

They pay their drivers on time, keep up their horses’ health, float their teeth, scoop nine pounds of feed into every-one’s bucket each day, shell out extortionist liability premiums, and bring the farrier out to the

The Making of Norman


The Carousel

Horseby

Catherine Macaulay

“It was official. Loved that horse...” -- Catherine Macaulay


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• Carousel(Continued from page 18)

The Carousel

Horseby

Catherine Macaulay

farm right on schedule for those behemoth, steel shoes with bo-rium kleets. Not exactly a get-rich scheme.

Still, to their way of thinking, driving is a great excuse to play. Hindu weddings, hoedowns, bagpipe street parades — it’s all fun.

In the back seat of a carriage anything can happen, be it a wedding proposal or a final ride for grandma in the urn. And Nor-man has a beautiful trot.

Would I care to climb aboard and see for myself? They were heading out anyway, testing the skills of a new driver.

I accepted Barb’s invitation. She was right. Norman did have a great trot. And people really were friendly to passing car-riages.

The test driver seemed a bit

tenuous, but still holding an even pressure on the reins. All in all, an enjoyable…

Suddenly, Norman halted. Up ahead, an RV the size of a city block had cut a street corner, and in the process, impaled itself upon the stop sign.

Without a word, J.D. reached over and took the reins from the applicant.

"If that were me, I’d turn around,” urged Barb, seated beside me.

J.D. said nothing, his eyes still fixed on the men attempting to pull the sign away from the motorhome blocking the road. Taking his cue, Barb sat back, confident of his decision.

Me — not so much. Pssst! Norman, haw over!

The unspoken words flowed from my brain with singular urgency. Come on, you can do

it. Remember the old days in the fields when you’d reach the end of a row, then turn tightly back around to plow the next line?

It’s just a simple turn on the haunches. I know you can do it my friend. Barb said so. How about showing me…like now.

Norman never heard me or simply refused to answer. At the corner, the driver gunned the engine, sending the RV lurching in our direction.

For a brief sec-ond, I considered bailing over the

side. But that would be im-polite. I could only hope that somewhere in those slim leather lines J.D. had a dialogue going on with his equine student, one underscored by a mutual trust and respect.

Standing battle high, his black, leather collar weighing

his shoulders, the Percheron raised his head, snorting at the approaching monster.

"Norman — stand,” J.D.’s voice was steady.

The vehicle drew closer, attempting to squeeze by. I dropped my gaze, then smoth-ered a gasp as it passed us, devouring every last inch of space. Norman never moved. He stood foursquare to the threat, hooves to the ground, a law unto himself.

They dropped me off in town, then headed back toward the staging area. I watched as the carriage moved away, Norman’s back swinging, his enormous hooves striking the ground in a steady one, two beat.

“He wants to know where every road leads… He’s particu-larly fascinated with driveways. He wants to go into each one,” J.D. said.

It was official. Loved that horse.


Editor's note: Writer Bar-bara Childs tells of local events throughout our horse country through the eyes, and very long ears, of Dudley the miniature donkey. by Barbara Childs

The shows have been full of riders, horses and ponies and FENCE has been very busy during this show season of new classes and divisions. The hot weather and high humidity temps have not deterred the horses and riders.

Michael Kocher rode to vic-tory on Emma for the $2,500 National Hunter Classic at the First TR&HC Jr. Amateur Horse Show. Cate Pleper and Orchard Hills Bit captured the Children’s Hunter Pony Divi-sion at Fence.

Meanwhile, Nolan Thomp-son, owner of Catch a Kiss, was also champion. Megan Rosen-thal rode both ponies to a classic victory. Congratulations to all.

We recently welcomed Susie Dunkley, Robert Zandvoort’s wife, as they both came for his clinic here in Tryon at Joy Baker’s Woodview Farm on Aug. 16-18.

Dunkley has ridden in two Olympics in dressage represent-ing Bermuda, her home country.

The Motlow Creek Inter-scholastic Equestrian Associa-tion Team is growing with 20 new riders. New riders are Au-drey LeClair, Kathryn Hellyer and Liza Goodlett.

The Tryon Riding and Hunt Club Show at Fence showed Motlow Creek’s Absolut Peach and Liza Goodlett winning the class in the Pre/Child Hunter Division. Tommy Frick and Morlow Creek’s Lanzelot won

the Grand Champion for the Child/Adult Jumper Division and the High Farm Trophy. Lin-coln Russell rode Sally Frick’s Dutch Master to champion the First Green Hunter Division.

The Book Shelf in Tryon is open near the coffee shop on Trade Street and you can get all your equine books there.

Be sure to check out the books on donkeys - they are my favorites. My new book on "Dudley’s Dream - A Christ-mas" Tail is coming out soon. My artist illustrator, Bailey West, is working on all the il-lustrations for my story.

Bai ley West is Carolyn West’s daughter and she rides, trains and shows in dressage. It is sure to be a winner for children and adults. My editor, Barbara Childs, is my author and writes all my thoughts down in book form.

Mary Boyle, daughter of John and Cindy Boyle, is get-ting married next month. A family wedding at home will make this special day of nuptial celebration beautiful.

Congratulations, Mary, from all of us! Charles McDonald Steele is the groom. They will honeymoon in Australia for three months and then live in Germany.

Re-Ride, Too will open on Sept. 1 next door to Re-Ride in Green Creek. An art gallery with paintings from Joan McIn-tire and others will be featured as well as service for leather tack repair from Bar M Leather.

Be sure to check out the grand opening day.

We are sorry to hear that The Hungry Fox closed Aug. 19.


Equestrian community experiences month of champions, changes


Directions:Boil the eggplants ‘til soft and very crystal clear (they will be a bit brown). Drain, add some salt and pepper. Fry the onion in butter and add garlic. Add to the eggplants and mix in the cheese and then the eggs. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Top with crackers or herb dressing and serve.

DuDley’s eggplant casserole(an old charleston favorite)

4-6 eggplants cubed1 vidalia onion chopped1 stick of butter2 beaten eggs3-4 cloves crushed

garlic1 pkg. shredded cheeseCrushed crackers or herb dressing for the top

This restaurant has been home to patrons and equine artists for so many years, making The Hungry Fox a cultural tradition and a landmark in our com-munity. We wish Jenna and her husband the best in their new adventures.

I have been expanding my horizons here at the farm by noticing the tack room door slightly ajar. I pushed it and walked into a virtual party of molasses cookies on the refrig-erator (a low one), medicine cookies and there was also a delicious tin can full of apple and oat treats.

I accidentally (ha) pushed the medicine cookies in the trash pail. The apple and oat treats were divine.

My editor came into the barn to feed hay and saw me staring at her through the glass door. I

could read her lips, “Malus as-sinus est,” which in Latin means I am a very bad boy. When an embarrassing moment seems to overtake your dignity, it is best to poop. It relieves stress.

As she opened the door she roared, “Oh my gosh.” I hastened onward to my man cave and restored my dignity and munched my hay. Humans don’t understand my needs for exploring and curiosity.

I also noticed the workmen over the hill where I graze. They were sitting on the lawn eating their lunches when I decided to make a friendly visit.

They were trying to feed me grass as I gazed at their brown lunch bags. I love fruits and veggies and good whole grain breads and crackers.

Just then my mother drove out of the farm and noticed me. She shooed me back home and closed the gates! Rats. I com-forted myself with eating some forbidden raspberries.

ingreDients:

• Dudley(Continued from page 20)

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by Rich Metcalf, DVM

As many of you know, the horse has a total vision field of almost 350 degrees when its head is pointed forward, with small blind spots near its tail, directly in front of and above its forehead and directly below its nose.

It has a small frontal binocular, where the visual fields of both eyes overlap and provide greater depth perception, of 65 degrees to 70 degrees. The remaining visual field for each eye individually is about 146 degrees, resulting in a total visual field of approximately 215 degrees per eye and providing horses with excellent visual aware-ness of their surroundings.

Horses viewing an object at a distance of 20 feet have the visual acuity of a person viewing the ob-ject at 33 feet, or 20/33 vision, giving them 0.6 times the visual acuity of humans.

In contrast, horses have 1.5 times the visual acuity of dogs, and 3.0 times that of cats. Horses are believed to be dichromatic, with the ability to detect the colors red and blue, but not the colors yellow and green.

With that said, you should no-tice that the horses’ eyes are large, protruding and placed on the sides of the head. All of which makes a recipe for disaster and making many problems involving the equine eye a true emergency.

The first thing an owner notices about their horse's eye is not the

corneal ulcer or uveitis or other specific disease process, but other signs that say, “My eye hurts.” Often this may be an increase in tearing, squinting, abnormal swell-ing, a whitish color to the eye or sometimes blood.

As veterinarians, we run through a list of why these clinical signs are present, such as blunt head trauma, eyelid lacerations, corneal ulcers or corneal stromal abscessation (bacterial and/or fungal infections), uveitis, glau-coma, acute blindness or visual disturbances, or traumatic injury to the eye.

We carefully examine several aspects of the eye to determine which of the above problems is most applicable.

We evaluate the functional integrity of several cranial nerves, the vestibular pathways, the optic nerve and evaluate vision.

The eyelids are examined for lacerations, abnormal lashes and the third eyelid is examined for foreign objects or tumors. The nasolacrimal duct is evaluated for proper drainage.

Finally, the specific tissues of the eye itself are examined, the cornea, anterior chamber, iris, lens, and posterior chamber.

Blunt head trauma can result in fractures to the bones surrounding the eye, visual impairment, eyelid lacerations, corneal lacerations or ulcers or a ruptured eye. These require surgical attention.

Horses that have sustained head trauma and are acutely, totally blind usually remain blind forever. Corneal ulcers can be managed medically, but sometimes require surgery such as a corneal graft or a conjunctival graft.

Eyelid lacerations are easily identified, usually by a flap of skin hanging over the eye. They often occur to the upper lid and require careful surgical attention to assure the eyelid margins are aligned. Along with evaluating the eyelid laceration, the vet will examine the cornea for a laceration or an ulcer.

The cornea prominently pro-trudes from the side of the face, and is easily traumatized.

Any lesion that breaks the top layer of the cornea, the corneal epithelium, is an emergency. The cornea does not have blood vessels and its defense mechanisms are greatly reduced as compared with those of well-vascularized parts of the eye or body.

A normal cornea is exposed to environmental contaminants, bac-teria, and fungi. Therefore, all cor-neal ulcers should be considered infected until proven otherwise.

Cornea ulcers are often self-induced and can be simple, compli-cated, melting, bacterial or fungal. Clinical signs of a corneal ulcer indicate that “my eye hurts.”

These horses will often squint, their eyelids may be swollen, have excessive tearing and redness, and the cornea may be cloudy with edema or inflammatory cells.

The ulcer is confirmed with special stains, then samples are taken to evaluate evidence of bac-

teria and/or fungus and additional samples are used for culture to determine which drugs are ap-propriate. Surgical measures are sometimes needed to aid in the healing of ulcers.

Eosinophilic keratitis and for-eign objects are also culprits in corneal ulcerative disease.

Along with corneal ulcers, uveitis is a common problem in horses. Uveitis is inflammation of the uvea - the iris, ciliary body and choroid together.

It can involve the anterior chamber, in front of the lens, or the posterior chamber, behind the lens. It can be acute or it can be chronic and can lead to glaucoma and/or blindness.

Uveitis can have many causes, such as trauma, immune sys-tem dysfunction, lens induced, neoplasia, bacterial, etc... The most frustrating form of uveitis is Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU), which is characterized by repeating episodes of intraocular inflamma-tion that develop weeks to months after an initial episode subsides. Keep in mind that not every case of initial uveitis develops into ERU. Aggressive medical therapy is required initially and may be required long term.

Surgical options include slow release medicated implants and enucleation of the eye if it pro-gresses to become painful and blind.

Glaucoma is characterized by increased intraocular pressures. The normal eye is filled with aque-

They have eyes for you



ous humor, fluid, in an amount carefully regulated to maintain the shape and function of the eye.

In glaucoma, this balance is disturbed; fluid is formed more rapidly than it leaves the eye, and pressure builds up. The increased pressure damages the retina and eventually damages the optic nerve, causing blindness if not treated appropriately.

Glaucoma in horses is usually secondary to chronic diseases, such as ERU, trauma induced inflamma-tion, lens luxation, tumors, etc...

The goal of therapy is to reduce intraocular pressure as soon as possible. These cases are often unrewarding despite aggressive medical and sometimes surgical treatment.

So bottom line, if your horse’s eye hurts, have it evaluated sooner rather than later.

• Eyes(Continued from page 22)

Equine eye concerns:

• Bluntheadtrauma

• Eyelidlacerations

• Corneal ulcers orCornea l s tromala b s c e s s a t i o n( b a c t e r i a l a n d /o r f u n g a linfections)

• Uveitis

• Glaucoma

• Acuteblindness

• Visualdisturbancessuch as traumaticinjurytotheeye


by Gillian Drummond

One of the necessities of coun-try living is a mud room in every house, for children and dogs or, if you have a horse farm, for all the paraphernalia that riding includes.

Dirty boots from mucking out stalls and dirty dogs from playing in the mud all need a place to get resurrected before entering the house.

After talking to some of my clients and some horse farm own-ers we all agreed to the perfect in-gredients needed for a mud room.

First, a boot scraper outside the door, then plenty of hanging space, both hooks and built-in closet space.

The ideal closets would be lined in cedar so the good wool riding or hunting jackets would be safe from moths all year. And, of course, plenty of space for boot hangers.

Next, a shower in the adjoin-ing bathroom so that it is easy to strip and shower when you come in hot, sweaty and dirty from a long ride or hours in your garden.

A washer and dryer close at hand is also a must. There are many opinions on the type of floor to use, but all agree in the perfect mud room a drain in the middle of the floor would be nice as well as a hose connection.

You definitely need a utility sink whether you have dogs, are a gardener or just need a place to clean up messy projects.

Walls should be tiled at least halfway up and then hung with pictures and ribbons or whatever your personal preference should be.

With all of this, one might think that it needs to be a large space but, if well enough planned, it can be quite compact.

The latest thing for a mud room is a doggie shower, either a small tiled space with a special shower and hose just for your dogs or a special shower and hose put into the shower you have just

off your mud room for your own use. If interested, I suggest you go to www.apartmenttherapy.com and put in Dog Shower Inspiration. You can also go to

Transform your muddy room into an efficient mud room


www.rinseace.com for informa-tion on shower hoses and heads.

The choice in mud room floors is not really that extensive. The simplest is concrete, which can

be scored or have color mixed with it to make it quite attractive. Then we have a choice of tiles

This is a typical example of an equestrian familiy's mudroom. Any mudroom needs to have personality along with functionality. (photo by Gillian Drummond)


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• Mud rooms(Continued from page 24)

that can be used on a wet and slippery floor. Porcelain tile that has a textured or non-slip surface is the best choice and has a wide variety of looks.

Porcelain tile comes looking like stone, tumbled marble and even wood.

It comes in many colors and has matching or coordinating tiles of all sizes that can be used on shower floors or walls.

I have used porcelain tiles in several mudroom applications and my clients have always been pleased with the look and practicality.

At the moment, I am recom-mending porcelain tile to a horse farm owner that uses her screened porch as a mud room and for her two dogs to use until they are dry enough to be allowed in the house.

She also wants her porch to be attractive enough to use with her lovely wicker furniture when she entertains.

Please, never use ceramic tile on a mud room floor, it is always too slippery. Brick can also be used. Laid in a herringbone pat-tern, it is very attractive.

If you use slate or tumbled marble or granite it will have to be sealed and will not hold up well, but you can obtain the look using porcelain tiles.

Remember, the larger the tile you use the larger the room will look, so in a small mud room use the largest tile you can.

If the tile seems the least bit slippery, the smaller the tile and the more grout you have the less slippery it will be – a 2” square ceramic tile can be used on a shower floor because of all the grout with it.

If you would like to get deco-rative on your floor, a floor cloth,

which is a piece of linoleum painted with a pattern or a pic-ture and then covered with many coats of polyurethane, can be a nice decorative touch that is still impervious to dirt and water.

A mudroom is good place to have fun with color. Go ahead and be bold or fanciful.

This could be a great place for a wall painting of your favorite horse on one wall. Since you may have coat hooks on more than one wall, a wallpaper border can also be a good decorative touch.

Make your mud room not only a practical place but also a fun personal space for all of your family with pictures and show ribbons and art.

Gillian Drummond is the owner of Drummond House Co. For questions on how to create a stylish look for your farmhouse or stable, email her at [email protected].

Mudroom Essentials

• Bootscraper

• Closets lined withcedar

• Shower

•Washer & dryercloseby

•Walls tiled at leasthalfwayup

• C o n c r e t e o rp o r c e l a i n t i l e dfloors

• C o l o r a n dpersonality


TDB Fillers - page 6

North CaroliNa Discover the state you're in.

1-800-visit NC www.visitNC.Com

An update from Jennifer Baumert

Every couple of days I need to give myself a good pinch just to make sure I am not dreaming. This is really every rider’s dream.

I am in Germany training with Klaus Balkenhol, two-time Olympic team gold medalist and individual bronze medalist. On top of his achievements as a rider is a great depth of training from coaching students such as his own daughter, Anabel, Hel-en Langehanenberg and Laura Becholsheimer, just to name a few. Klaus was the trainer for the United States Dressage Team for many years as well.

I am here for a two-month period with Don Principe, a 12-year-old Hanoverian stallion showing Grand Prix owned by

Maryanna Haymon, and my own horse, DeWert, a 9-year-old Hanoverian gelding showing Prix St. Georges. I am very grateful for the enormous support of our equestrian community that helped make this trip possible.

A typical day here begins very early with barn chores - everyone stops for breakfast from 7-8 a.m. Most of the serious riding is done in the morning. The barn is closed from noon until 2:30 p.m. In the afternoon the young horses are ridden and many of the horses will sometimes go out for a second less strenuous ride. Usually everything is finished by 6 p.m. Saturday is a half-day and Sunday is off. Whereas only the young horses are turned out, all the horses get a lot of atten-tion and activity, including hand walks and lunging. I feel the horses are happy here.

Upon arrival Prince felt im-mediately at home. He is happy to be in Germany being spoiled by two American women! His owner, Maryanna, has been able to be here most of the time. Our daily routine usually begins with a session with Herr Balkenhol sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. A stretching or semi stretch-ing warm up is encouraged.

The first goal is to achieve a re-laxed swing in the back. The hind legs must be active, but the speed of the gait should not be too fast. This quality is then taken into the more collected work. Always we are being asked for more activ-ity behind but never allowing Prince to run. The half halts must go all the way through so that you can continue to build more activity behind without speed. I am constantly being reminded to give and let go. The result is a

wonderfully cadenced gait in true self carriage. For Prince and me, this is easily achieved in canter and a little more difficult in trot. I am pleased with our progress and realize it will take time for Prince to continue to develop more strength and for me to be-come more and more coordinated with my aids.

Herr Balkenhol has made tremendous improvements in our passage and collected trot. Also, just being here and watching the riding has upped my expectations as well.

We actually work on the same thing with DeWert. DeWert did not settle in like Prince and is actually still not quite himself. At first he did not eat and he was genuinely scared. This was surprising because it is a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere

Learning dressage on the other side of the world



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here and he is normally a very calm and confident horse. He is now eating well but is still a bit spooky and tight when I begin to work him. I am still trying to find an answer for what is bothering him but in the meantime his train-ing is going well.

DeWert is also achieving more balance behind and a more cadenced way of going. He is starting to get the idea of pas-sage and that is also helping his collected trot.

A few days ago Herr Balken-hol rode DeWert. At 72 years old he is still an absolute inspiration to watch. DeWert had been pay-ing very little attention to me but was immediately tuned in when Herr Balkenhol sat on him. The only problem for me was that it looked like he did nothing and when I got back on the feeling was much, much better.

I receive my lessons in Ger-man. Herr Balkenhol was very happy when he learned I could speak German. I took seven years of German in school and I lived here for almost one year. It has been a very long time since I spoke German regularly, though. I can understand everything being said to me but I express myself in very simple terms.

The work here is demanding but Herr Balkenhol’s approach is kind and with great understand-ing and respect for the animals. He truly loves horses. When the foals that are turned out near the arena run and play, Herr Balken-hol is always distracted from his riding or teaching to appreciate the moment.

I am doing my very best to ab-sorb every little bit I can here so that I can take it with me to share with my horses and students at home. I do wish that I could send some of this nice, cool German summer air to everyone!

• Germany(Continued from page 26)

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Sophie's first walk O w n e r L i s a O t t o , r i g h t , r i d e s a l o n g a s R a c h a e l Tessmer guides 2-year-old fillie Sophie out for her first walk.


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TR&HC Junior Amateur Horse Show

Campers from Camp Wayfarer in Flat Rock, N.C., showed up in force to participate in the first Tryon Riding & Hunt Club Junior Amateur Horse Show. Shown here are camper Audrey Schreck on “Warran” from Charlottesville, Va.; camper Jessy McLean from Ft. Meyers, Fla.; counselor Hunter Kay from University of South Carolina; camper Elizabeth Rickert on “Council Fire," from Cincinnati, Ohio; counselor Kaitlin Keaton from Davidson College; camper Ally Brotherton from St. Louis, Mo.; counselor Sidney Brown from USC; and camper Curry Sherard on “Lilly” from Spartanburg. (photos submitted)

Michael Kocher rides Emma for the win in the $2,500 USHJA National Hunter Classic at the first TR&HC Junior Amateur Horse Show.

Children’s Hunter - Pony, left to right, champion Cate Plepler (L), owner of Orchard Hills Bit and Nolan Thompson (R), owner of Catch a Kiss, accept the Champion and Reserve Champion ribbons. Jen Hicks, TR&HC assistant director, presents Megan Rosenthal, rider of both ponies, with a TR&HC saddle pad. (photos submitted)


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Zandvoort clinic

Robert Zandvoort leads a rider during one of his almost monthly clinics hosted by Joy Baker. (photo by Eric Olsen)

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