The idea of a benefit originated sometime last fall on one
of frequent visits to Jack Tone Ranch. While sitting under
Ye Olde Chestnut Tree recovering from a hard days clinicing,
the ever present sense of history , mixed with the quiet tranquility of
a 140 year old ranch, the welcoming hospitality of the Tone Family,
made this the ideal location for a benefit to raise money for our
international Team.
The Tone family are well accustomed to hosting large crowds of people,
from church benefits, to Open Houses, to centennial celebrations.
They open their gorgeous facility once a year to an educational
clinic combined with the very popular "Stallion Parade" to provide
information for the horse community on a wide range of topics from
Farriery to teaching young foals to lead. Proceeds from the yearly event
go to various organizations including IAHA, and WAHO. The family graciously
agreed to tailor their 41st Horse management clinic to the topic of
Endurance Riding and donate the proceeds to USET Endurance.
The event was a great success! The opening talk was presented by Jim Baumgartner
who explained the function of his invention, the 'Star' pad in keeping
sand and small rocks from building up under the pad, as well as providing extra grip
on slippery rock surfaces by extending the portion over the heel. Following
a lively question and answer session, Jim introduced Courtney Hart who delivered
a clear and knowledgeable presentation on feeding a high fat diet for endurance
racing. Questions ranged from the amount of available phosphorus in the
rice bran to how to integrate current feed programs to include the rice bran.
Audience enjoyed a lively repartee throughout the discourse between Jim and
Courtney.
Charlie Blackburn of Vitbran (co-sponsor for the event) was on hand all day
to answer specific questions related to rice bran products. Chris Knoch completed
the morning session by giving a concise description of the mental and physical
preparation required for Tevis, and how he was able to prepare and become
successful by winning the event twice. The underlying theme was to go out and
do the best you could do, and have fun. The Western States Trail Foundation
(represented by Larry and Candy Suddjian, and grandson Zak) were on hand to
promote the ride as well as petition for the re-opening of no-hands bridge.
A change of venue to the grassy oval in the front of the New Barn heralded
the start of the stallion parade. A long time favourite of the regular
attendees, a presentation of Fadjur descendents unfolded, capped with the
'Fadjur Endurance Team' parade headed by Jim Baumgartner and 'Sierra Fadwa',
Jack Enderle and 'Fad Silver', Dom Freeman and 'Fadjurs', and Becky Hart with
R.O. grand Sultan.
The educational portion of the day continued with Becky Hart discussing the various
aspects of shipping horses abroad by airplane, with a lively description of the
horses eyes growing larger as the plane became airborne. Mitch Benson followed
and addressed a wide variey of questions concerning the job of the USET vet. Probably
the most frequently asked question was how he was chosen to be the USET vet, (There
is *only* one for the US).
The modest, 6' 7" vet insists its because the riders can all see him above the rest
of the crowd, the rest of us really know how much we have benfitted from his
expertise, coolness under pressure, and knowledge of the sport.
One of the aims of the day was to bring international riding to the level of
the every-day rider. Valery Kanavy gave an inspiring talk on her philosophy of
riding in a Team event. Her moving account of hoping to do the best she could
do on that day, with her primary responsibility being to her horse really hit
home with the audience. Her warmhearted way endeared her to everyone, and seemed
to bring the dream of riding at top level just a little closer to all of us.
The session closed with a group photo of all the speakers and an informal
"ask the experts" discussion, after which we all adjourned for a really good
tri-tip and pasta dinner accompanied by Bud Tone's "homebrew" and Randy Sparks
Country band. Though the exact numbers are not in, the attendance was over
250 (pretty good despite a scheduling conflict with a local ride) and certainly
the feedback has been wonderful. A proposal might be to cycle the event between the
Pacific South and Pacific North every year to raise funds continuously from an
active endurance community, all the while providing education about the sport.
I would like to thank the speakers, Jim Baumgartner, Courtney Hart, Chris Knoch
Becky Hart, Mitch Benson, and Valery Kanavy, for providing such a wonderful
insight into the sport, Shirley Delsart, Mike Tomlinson and Judith Ogus
for supporting the International Booth throughout the day, Charlie
Blackburn from Vitabran for his generous sponsorship of the event, all of the
exhibitors, who (in addition to financially contributing to the event), provided
some really nice items for the raffle, and finally, the Tone Family for hosting
the event and allowing us all into their home to promote the sport of endurance
riding.
Tnanks to all who turned up and supported the event and did their share
for the sport that gave us the gold,
Dom
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Dominique Freeman | "Life is short, science is long" |
fadjurs@sadandy.hpl.hp.com | |
Hewlett Packard Laboratories, | |
Palo Alto, CA USA | |
Phone: (415) 857-8596 | |
FAX: (415) 852-8576 | |
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