Totilas v. Rath

With all of the controversy about Totilas and his new young German rider Matthias Rath, I decided to post a few of my own thoughts and share them with the “www.”

One of the most rewarding reasons why I shoot horses is to capture the bond between horse and rider. Whether it’s horses flying over 1.60m courses or galloping over unmovable natural (GYNORMOUS) obstacles in the cross-country field, it takes a certain level of trust, confidence, knowledge and experience. For me, owning, riding, showing horses taught me a lot about myself. Lucky for me, I didn’t have the entire world of dressage closely following my every move. With Matthias in one corner and Totilas in the other, it seems that the 2 are rattling each others’ cages and searching for solutions to progress.

Now don’t get me wrong, “Poor Matthias” is definitely not my opinion, but taking the reins on a very expensive (rumored 18 million Euros) and accomplished stallion is no task for the weary at heart – or the inexperienced. Was it fair for Totilas to get sold? Well, that’s water under the bridge. But oh, to be a fly on the wall (or Totilas’s croup) when he arrived in Germany.Was Matthias excited to have the ride? Was there a hint of over-confidence in his approach to his new partner? I can imagine Olympic Gold Medals dazzling in Matthias’ eyes – well, perhaps that is presumptuous, but to have that as a realistic goal in less than 12 months– isn’t that a secret dream that every competitive rider holds close to their heart? Opportunities like this are what some riders work their entire lives to maybe achieve, and Matthias got his go at the ripe old age of 26. Jealous, perhaps…who wouldn’t be?

Not being a hard core dressage rider, but very much respecting and enjoying my time in a dressage saddle, I would absolutely categorize myself as a jumper rider to the core. But if presented with the opportunity to ride Sapphire or Hickstead (RIP) I’m not sure I would instantly put on my boots and breeches and head out to the International Grand Prix ring. Maybe I’m a wimp and the daunting idea of being under the constant scrutiny of not only my coaches, owners, and competitors literally gives me nausea…But learning how to connect, partner, and communicate with such a brilliant animal–to bond at such a high level, and develop mutual respect and trust goes beyond money.

In my own experience, (hundreds of hours behind the lens and) in the saddle,  I thanked my horse daily for his resiliency and forgiveness of my mistakes. God knows we all make them and will continue making them. Contribute it to breed, personality, whatever — a horse’s ability to continue on in the midst of miscommunication is an admirable trait. One that is to be respected and not overused. Resiliency, in both horse and rider seems an absolute necessity in achieving success.

Like any relationship, forgiveness and resiliency are only a few of the many ingredients required in the true bonding process. Creating a bond that can withstand hardships, difficulty, misunderstanding, and inexperience may mean humbly being the first to approach the other. (Again, to be a fly on the wall during the training sessions with Rath and “Toto”). There isn’t enough money in the world that can buy a horse’s respect, understanding or true success. Gold medals — maybe. But consistent greatness takes more than money, it takes a connection – a bond that can blow scores of 80% out of the water! Not even the best coaches, riders, breeders in the world can purchase that “bond” that is shared between a horse and his rider. Edward Gal and Totilas absolutely brought dressage to a new level – attracting dressage and non-dressage (or even horse people for that matter) around the world. Separating Edward and “Toto” –even for all the money in the world, just didn’t seem right.

Many felt the blow of that divorce, and it’s easy to point fingers and mutter our high opinions of the situation. But I have to force myself to look ahead with optimism. That same hopeful optimism that sees potentials in OTTBs or hot headed horses…again, contribute it to beliefs, personality – whatever you’d like, but I think that if Totilas and Rath can get past this challenging and awkward “get to know you” time without too many bumps…they have the potential to achieve success beyond their pasts. We can all admit that it takes time to get past the “dating” phase and start learning how to really work and communicate through the daily challenges that rise up. I think what the transaction of Totilas shows us, is that there’s a bond between a horse and a rider, one that cannot be purchased. Will Matthias and Toto get there? Time seems to be the sole author of that ending.

This bond, it’s a one that can (and must) be earned through each drop of sweat, with every stroke of a brush, with the many tears undoubtedly shed. Every time our powerful horses allow us to place our feet into the stirrups and step into that sacred time of riding, is another opportunity for both to grow closer in their partnership and strengthen the bond which can draw out the best in both horse and rider.

For more information regarding Totilas and Matthias Rath, please visit: www.eurodressage.com

Related articles:

Totilas and Rath Return to the Ring at 2012 Paul Schockemohle StallionShow

Janssen Not to Train Matthias Rath Until after 2012 London Olympics

Rath-Janssen Alliance Sparks Controversy

Moments

A few “moments” between horses and their riders

Only in Wellington

A few quick images from my time in Wellington – 1 in particular that I haven’t ever seen before – can you guess which one? =)

In the midst of greatness, once again…

After my first time to Rolex in 2010, I thought for sure there was no way I would be attending the WEG (World Equestrian Games) that coming fall. However, come October 2010, I found myself in the midst of the world’s greatest! Horses, riders, photographers, media — it was overwhelming and an opportunity I did not take fore granted. This past weekend proved to be another one of those unforgettable moments that I  breathed in and photographed, not only through my camera, but also through my eyes — the beauty and greatness that constantly surrounded me.

Wellington is an incredibly unique and unexpectedly charming equestrian winter escape. The Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) is where the best of the best compete for 12 weeks to prepare for their coming summer show season, and more specifically this year — for the London 2012 Olympics.

Before I take you to WEF (which will have to be in another blog post), let me fill you in on the 2012 World Dressage Masters. YES, as I’m sure everyone has read on FB and well, everywhere, that Ravel and Steffen won the Freestyle, for the second year in a row (West side!) A foreshadowing of the London Games no doubt, minus Totilas, Jerich Parzival, and Mistral Hojris and every other top notch European dressage ponies, who didn’t make the leap across the pond.

The United States absolutely ROCKED the Grand Prix Special and the Musical Freestyle (losing only Friday’s Grand Prix to our northern neighbors – Canada). Losing to “Poppy” (Pop Art) and Ashley Holzer is nothing to be ashamed of. Not like they’ve never been to the Olympics or won a gazillion Grand Prix’s before…the 15 year old Dutch Warmblood strutted his stuff with Ashley smiling throughout the entire test. West Coast rider Adrienne Lyle (USA) and her magical mount Wizard, won Champion at their debut WDM. Following closely behind Adrienne and Wizard’s score of 73.244, Paragon and Heather Blitz (USA) thundered past the rest of the pack with a 72.044. For some reason, when I watched Paragon perform – he reminded me of a huge beast flying through the air on a Harry Potter movie. He is stunning and overwhelming in both expression and size. Heather raised this “little” guy from a baby, making it that much more rewarding to see the two perform.

Saturday night gave my chills chills. The level of difficulty that was executed in these freestyles was mind-blowing! Steffen and Ravel won (83.70) by .05% against GBR’s Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro (83.65) — “I’ve never done a better freestyle” said Steffen in an interview after his ride. My heart skips a beat just hearing those words. Being in the arena with 2,000 other people, and watching each movement unfold with confident perfection — greatness.

Enjoy the photos.

 

Timeline P.2 – May + June 2011

Ok, less writing, more photos =)

Starting with MAY 2011: Rolex Wrap-Up, Photo shoot (of me – Thanks Jeff Marsh Studios!), memorable shoot out at Rancho Polo with Aly, her trainer and her beautiful horses, and Young Life Barn Dance –Let the good times roll!! June was my BIRTHDAY month (29) – it was full of cupcakes, dinners, the new iPhone 4 (white), some traveling to the coast, Mom graduated with her BSN (Bachelor’s of Science, Nursing – Go Mom!!), lots of hiking, and time, OUT of the desert, beating the heat at The Oaks (aka: Blenheim Equisports’ summer series) out at San Juan Capistrano, CA. — July was a very bittersweet month and will have it’s own post. August – December — hold on to your seats!

My “Timeline” (Part 1of 2, possibly 3)

Thanks to the new “timeline” layout on the ever infamous social network Facebook – I was easily able to track 2011, making it a fun and adventurous journey down Memory Lane. 2010 had just ended, and 2011 was looking bright and full of new adventures. Being transparent and honest is a character trait that I always appreciate, so here’s to my Timeline of 2011 (aka: my year in review). I’m warning you now, it may get a little detailed =) Enjoy!

 

January started off with me being selected to be the official photographer at the Pentathlon World Cup #1. For anyone not familiar with the sport of pentathlon, it’s pretty exciting to watch and fantastic to shoot! It consists of athletes competing in 5 different sports: swimming, fencing, riding (equestrian show jumping) and the combo: run/shoot. Not a big deal right? Well, did I mention that it happens in 1 day – and all competitors have 10 hours to complete each phase? Athletes from all over the world came to the desert and competed for 3 days. They have the Qualifying round and depending on scores, only a certain number of competitors from each country compete in the Finals which consists of all 5 sports the following day. It was an international qualifier for the coming London Olympics and tension was high! My best friend Amanda allowed her horse Esperado (Andalusian/Dutch) to be used as one of the mounts. Amanda flew down and spent the entire

week with me – we had a blast doin’ the pretty girl rock all week.

In the midst of the Pentathlon World Cup, I was also out photographing and covering HITS Thermal for, well, a number of publications. Needless to say, my winter circuits are never dull. This particular circuit was definitely one for the books. Olympics, World Equestrian Games, Tour of Champions, European Championships… These are just a few of the words associated with the accomplished international rider (and native Californian) Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum — who decided to fly from Germany compete a few of her horses just 35 minutes from my house! Reading through my FB Timeline was a great reminder of my moment with Meredith. She was hard to nail down for the interview as she had horses, baby, husband and clients, but we walked (quickly), and she graciously answered all my questions during her “lunch break.” Admittedly, it’s not in my comfort zone to approach someone for an interview…and not just anyone, but MMB!

Walking away from that experience (with a photo of her an I as well…I couldn’t resist!) had me on Cloud 9 for about a week. Never in a million years would I have thought I would get an opportunity like this. Now, I realize that these riders are also very normal people – they don’t fly (ok, well some of them do aboard their horses) and they can’t make themselves magically disappear. But it’s always a privilege to be in the midst of greatness, especially in the sport that I know and love.

With HITS happening until mid-March, I somehow managed to photograph and cover Equine Affaire, Del Mar National (Western week) AND sneak away during the week to Scottsdale, Arizona with my other best friend and her Arabian horses. Oh yes, I spent a week in the land of bling, flowing manes, flaring nostrils, and hot-feisty arabs. It was everything you think (and more)! My best friend Danielle brought 2 of her horses down to show at the infamous Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.

Did I mention that she left with 3? While competing aboard her “princess” Bella, Danielle put in their last dressage tests and Bella and her earned their first and last roses. After their memorable ride, Danielle retired Bella (Bell-a-tosk+) on top and it meant the world to me to be able to capture those last moments of them competing together. Their story is bittersweet and touches the core of anyone who has ever truly bonded with a horse. Riding Magazine, California(a publication that I owe a lot to) published my article about the special relationship between Danielle and her Arabian mare Bella.

Ending the winter circuit in the desert was bittersweet. Having the equestrian world’s greatest right in your backyard is always a treat and spoiled is hardly the word. With the hunters and jumpers heading west for the spring circuit, I couldn’t wait to have an excuse to get out of the desert and see the beautiful ocean! Let’s just say that March and April (ok, all the way through June, but let’s not jump ahead) consisted of many trips to San Diego and San Juan Capistrano for the Blenheim Spring Circuit. Working with Jackie and Duncan at EquestriSol is nothing short of a blast. Not only do we get to hang around the horse show and “work” but who else gets to spend so much fun time with their super fun daughter CHLOE!!

Let’s back up slightly, March began with a short jaunt north (ok, a 1200 mile road trip) to Washington for our friend’s wedding at this old castle in the small city I grew up in (Lakewood). With the wedding and 3, no…wait 4 photo shoots booked; this trip was anything BUT relaxing. No complaints here! Attending a beautiful wedding in an old castle on a rainy and stormy day – it was an incredible trip.

Moving on (and probably finishing, for now) with April – what a great month. Returning for the 3rd time to the Kentucky Horse Park after my trip there as credentialed Photographer that previous October for the 2010 World Equestrian Games (WEG), and my first Rolex 3-Day in April 2010– it felt like I was coming  home. After 16 days (give or take, it was all a blur looking back) of shooting for 12+ hours each day at the WEG, the Rolex Kentucky 3-Day Event was a day in the park! Thankfully the weather held out, giving everyone a beautiful event. Cross country was fantastic, as always – however, I am NOT standing by the water (of course, I said that for every event I’ve been to at KHP) – New Year’s Resolution #1 for 2012: shoot anywhere other than the water at Rolex.   A silly joke that may only be funny to me, so my apologies.

It was a British weekend no doubt, with the Royal Wedding taking place and the Brits dominating three of the top five placings it almost seemed poetic that Mary King made history by winning not only the Rolex Kentucky 3-Day aboard her own King’s Temptress, but she also took Reserve Champion aboard another mount Fernhill Urco! After this historical weekend, Ryan and I took some time and hit the coast for a few weekends. Mixing work and play, we met up with the EquestriSol team at Blenheim (San Juan Capistrano, CA) and also spent time with our incredible friends Chad and Julie Cannon.

“In conclusion” (I couldn’t resist) of Part 1, I’ll leave everyone with one of our favorites spots: the beautiful Pacific ocean, San Diego sunshine and your feet in the sand. Part 2, coming soon!

 

 

 

Our November

First off, my apologies for the empty promises of blogging…in an effort to make up for it, I have a few extra long blogs for you to enjoy. Secondly, this blog is more about sharing than showing off any real photo skills, so enjoy the “unedited” images through a few different cameras and filters (thanks Instagram) and hopefully these photos achieve what I always set out to do: tell the story, that in this case is that of Our November.

CRAZY doesn’t come close to describing this past month! Work was phenomenal, and more importantly, we (more…)

Red cup reminder!

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(Red Starbucks Cup, Photo by Linda Jewell) — “When we’re together, every day is a snow day” — You remember snow days right? Crossing your fingers that when you woke up there would be a white blanket outside; checking the news to see if your school district was cancelled? Those were some of my favorite memories as a child. My brother and I would stay home, build snowmen and snow forts; have snowball fights with the neighbor kids and then come in for soup, sandwiches and movies! Now that my brother lives in London and (more…)

Cutest baby in the world – just sayin’

This weekend was a super special one as I got to shoot THE cutest baby in the world (sorry everyone else — it’s done) — ok, I’m kidding, but Hero Joy Saad (also known as “lil’ bear” is a 10 month old bundle of fun! How could she not be? Just sayin’, with parents like Kyle and Kerrie, oh and did I mention the 150+ (more…)

“These are a few of my favorite things”

(Thank you Danita Rogers for this photo || by Danita Rogers Photography) This isn’t a long post, but have had this photo sitting on my desktop and it encompasses 2 of my favorite things: high jumps, big beautiful horses and fashion-oriented riders (ok 3). Not that I’m against the traditional “look” but I guess I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of personal flare. You may have remembered last year, (more…)