Today is a meeting of the World Class Performance Scientific Advisory Group which is being held at the Animal Health Trust, and is only 10 minutes away from where I live so I have no excuse for being late. At this meeting we are discussing genetics research, boots and the pliance saddle system amongst other things. Over coffee there are two main items of discussion, although these do not directly concern the SAG. No prizes for guessing what these are. Rollkur, and the changes to medication under FEI rules.

OK. Rollkur. The FEI is in a difficult position. I would have to say that in many instances, Rollkur does not look nice. Is it proven to cause injury, pain or distress? To date, no. Can we be sure it causes pain and distress? No. Therefore it is hard for the FEI to act and ban it. In any case, what are they going to ban? The head going past the vertical? The head being more than 15° past the vertical for 5 minutes at a time? No more than a total of 15 minutes of Rollkur in every hour of exercise? I have to say I do not know that I have the answers, but I can think of some of the questions we need to be asking.

For example, does hyperflexion (using this term now as I am trying to deal with the science) inhibit ventilation (breathing)? Almost certainly. To what extent do different degrees of hyperflexion reduce the amount of air the horse can move in and out? Does this result in decreased blood oxygen levels? Does the horse experience a sensation of difficulty in breathing? We need more research, and fairly urgently, as the debate so far has been primarily emotive. There does not appear to be a “standard” Rollkur as far as I am aware, which means it is difficult to know what we should be studying. For example, we do not know how different riders introduce it to their horses. Some may do it over weeks. Some over months. Some may introduce it slowly, but start with a high degree of hyperflexion. Others may introduce it over a short period of time, but from a very low degree of hyperflexion. We have to know what we are trying to study in order to study it. But because the debate is so polarised and dramatic, we may now find it difficult to get riders who practice it to tell us what they do and allow us to work with them to define the science of it and its effects. We may well simply drive it underground so that it is never seen at competitions, but simply becomes a technique practised at home.

From a scientific perspective, I do not believe the FEI has the evidence to “jump” and make changes, and nor do I think they should do at present. I do believe there are other issues in equestrian sport which might well have a higher priority if we are looking to improve welfare. What do I think personally? If I am not used to putting my head on my chest, then if I started doing this for 10-15 minutes a day over a week, initially I would find it hard. After 1-2 days I might have pain in the neck and shoulders and reduced range of movement. If I kept doing it, that would probably go away. After a week I might be able to do this easily and without discomfort. If you then asked me to make it 30 minutes at a time, then I would likely go through the same process again. The fact that I can do it does not mean it’s “natural” and does not mean that it will not have long term consequences. But I don’t know what these will be, or if they will indeed occur, or when. And a more complicated thought occurs to me. What if Rollkur increased the risk of, for example, neck problems, but at the same time decreased dramatically hindlimb lameness or back pain in horses?

The progressive list. It all seemed to be going very well. Almost all the federations were in favour of the changes proposed under the “clean sport” initiative. Then it was all spoiled by the voting on the “progressive list” which will allow certain drugs commonly used in equine veterinary medicine to be effectively used closer to competition. This aspect of the clean sport initiative was introduced during the FEI General Assembly and there was clearly some last minute intense lobbying to get this through by the very narrow margin of 5 votes. This was a decision voted on by federations. The individual federations may have consulted their veterinary committees, but we do not know. We also do not know how federations voted as this was a secret vote.

So why are many people, and especially many of the top vets, so upset about this and what impact could this have? There are a wide variety of reasons. For many people this does not sit well within the ideal of “clean sport”. In fact, it looks like we have taken the medication issue and given it a very good wash on 100°C and then intentionally splattered it with mud, if you like analogies. This was not dealt with as a veterinary issue, and the veterinary community seems to be primarily against it. Let’s take bute. Many horseowners have bute around in their stables. Imagine a horse that goes lame the day before competition. You don’t have time to call your vet, so you give it a sachet of bute. The horse is better and you compete, with the horse breaking its leg or rupturing a tendon, or shattering a joint on the cross-country. Pain is there for a reason. It’s a warning that something is not right. Pain makes you take it easy. Pain is protective. That’s just one way to look at this issue.

Also, I saw that it was presented as a way to allow people to treat horses that have “muscle stiffness”. Muscle stiffness usually occurs as a result of trauma (e.g. bruising from falling or possibly partial rupture) or from tying-up or from over-exertion. If my horse had muscle stiffness requiring bute the day before competition, I would be very concerned. There is actually more of a case for allowing it after cross-country to ease knocks, sore feet and any muscle stiffness.

‘And now, what really may be the worst part of this whole debacle. As reported in Horse and Hound, the cost to the FEI to run the new clean sport programme will be over £1,000,000 per year. The biggest part of this is for the integrity unit – £270,000 per year. And it may come as a shock to see that the integrity unit is run by Lord Stevens’ own company. I thought this sort of thing came under conflict of interest? But what a great business model. Create a problem and then just happen to have a company that can solve the problem. That would be akin to a vaccine company creating a type of flu not seen in people, releasing it into the world and then supplying he vaccine to proect against it. That’s one for all of you who are into conspiracy theories.   www.flairstrips.com

- David Marlin, November 25, 2009

One of my new “projects” is local intermediate event rider Steph Casson. Steph is literally 10 minutes down the road and has a couple of very nice horses. Today I am going to go and watch her school her horses, maybe fit a heart rate monitor, and get some video. I’ll keep you posted on how she progresses this coming season.  www.flairstrips.com

- David Marlin, November 27, 2009

Quite unexpectedly, I have been offered and accepted the position of head trainer at the Gayla Training Center in Georgetown, KY. I start Jan 1st. I will still be taking in horses for training, as well as teaching and doing clinics, but I will be doing it in KY. 

Wendy has just done another small show with the team, with great success! She had a 58 in dressage, best advanced score of the show! Things are really going well for her. While she was away at that show, I went to IN to pickup her new dressage/cones carriage. It is a Hansmeier, and we are proud to be new dealers for them.

Also, after conversation that took about two years to complete, we are also dealers for Driving Essentials and their line of carriages, including Glinkowski and Bellcrown USA. Wendy will stay in FL until the after the southern shows are done.

- Sterling Graburn, December 8, 2009

This is exciting! Here’s my first blog entry:

We have finally made it to twenty-ten (to some) or two thousand and ten (to others).

It all started with a really nice 1920s New Year’s eve party at a lovely chateau in typical French style. The chateaux was massive; very glamorous, but with no bloody heating! Luckily we all wore fur and managed to stay warm by getting thrown around the dance floor, but as a consequence my feet were blistered and bruised! I couldn’t fit in to my riding boots, as my feet were so swollen. Even worse, I knew they had to, as I had a tense week ahead of me!

I tried my best to be on top form the next day, as we were off at 3:00 in the morning for some intense dressage training with Karin. And to pick up Troubadour (nickname: The Troublemaker) from boot camp, as he desperately needed Naughty Boys School for a couple of weeks! We finally arrived 12 hours later, with Flower (Marsh Mayfly) in a snowstorm. We went from one winter wonderland to another!

I couldn’t wait to sit on Troubadour after Karin had worked her wonders on him. He felt like a different horse and I was amazed at how much she managed to get out of him in such short time! Luckily, Karin thinks he’s very talented, but difficult, so she always puts so much effort into him.

I was also excited about bringing Flower along, although she had a sudden loss of interest when she realised it was dressage everyday! Especially when she likes to think she knows everything. I might need a bit more practise before I start scoring the same marks as Ruth! However, we very much enjoyed finding the right buttons to push on her.

When we finally got back home, as we were putting the horses out in the field, mum got kicked in the face – and with a sudden fall to the ground, she was unconscious! We ended up with 6 samu and a 4 firefighters in the horses field! All in all, she is on the road to recovery having spent a week in hospital with a broken jaw.

In the meantime, the weather hasn’t improved! Everything is either a  bloody ice rink or a skiing slope, therefore I went up to Paris for a couple of days to catch up with some British friends on their gap year, and to work on my portfolio. Hopefully one day I will be the next Karl Largafield!

I am now really looking forward to February, we have our first  event of the year which is on a sand track. All the big boys turn up with their frustrated horses, dying for a run! So it ends up being the most competitive competition of the season on Valentines Day!

Wishing you all the best for 2010,

- Candy Crawford, March 15, 2010

Well what a winter it has been! It’s hard to believe the season has started again as we are still in the depths of winter down here in Dorset! Even today, the sun was out but the school was frozen again! Anyway, we were lucky enough to escape some of the worst of the weather in November when we ‘nipped’ back to Australia for a fantastic few weeks in the sun. It was bliss – we even managed a week up in Queensland on the Barrier Reef which was the most amazing experience – snorkelling on the reef was incredible and the island we stayed on was a real island paradise – the clearest of seas, white sand and mangoes falling from the trees! Wow.

Anyway, before we rub it in too much (!) we were soon back in the UK and hit with the harsh reality of a stable full of horses and a deluge of snow! But we did what we could and dug our way to the walker and that was all we could do with the horses for the next few weeks. However, once we had tidied the tack room 5 times, oiled all the tack -  again  – and re-arranged the rug room there was only one thing for it but to ‘hit the slopes’, no…not quite Verbier… but the slopes of Dorset instead!!

Not really so glam but so much fun – see the pic!! Despite some very competitive sledging and quite a few kamikazi runs no broken bones were sustained and once the snow subsided it was back to business as usual with some very fresh young horses to climb aboard! Some tentative lunging went on for the first few days, but that couldn’t last forever and we had to face our fears and climb on them all. Luckily, we have a brilliant working pupil, Phil, who has been with us for several years, and he bravely volunteered to get on a few of the more explosive ones! Then to really get back into riding mode, we went out for a few fantastic days hunting with the South & West Wilts Hunt. We had such fun – lots of jumping and galloping, a few near misses and plenty of hip flasks being passed around! Neither of us could walk the next day though – we were knackered!
 
But now it’s down to the serious stuff – between the two of us we have 18 horses to compete this year at all different levels. So as you can imagine, the entries are a logistical nightmare, but our first batch will be out at the end of this week at Tweseldown. We have the advanced horses, Motion Bound and Danaan Prince doing the Open Intermediate classes and thenTouchalier, Mumbo Jumbo and Eyfords Fidelio doing the Open Novice classes. Eyfords Fidelio is an exciting new ride this year. He was bought for Sam to ride, from Helen West last Autumn – he is a very promising horse who has previously competed at two star, but he is extremely quirky so it will just be a case of building a partnership up slowly.
 
Other events for this month are Aldon next weekend, Gatcombe the weekend after and then Somerley right at the end of the month. We have 8 horses going to Aldon and Somerley so it is an incredibly busy start to the season! We have some lovely new rides for this year – the aforementioned Eyfords Fidelio has heaps of potential and then we have some very exciting young ones just beginning their eventing careers - Beaurepaire Nemo is a very smart horse – by Sandro Hit, he is really bred for dressage but not only does he move well, he also has the most fantastic natural jump. Touchalier, who is owned by a previous working pupil of ours and who Sam successfully competed a couple of times at the end of last season, is with us for full-time eventing at the moment – he is a horse with a real future and he will initially be aimed at Houghton Hall CCI** and then Blenheim CIC*** later on. Happy Times (the star!!) will be aimed at several CIC*** runs (rather than going through the rigours of a four star when he proved himself so well at that level last year) with the aim of having him at his prime for the World Equestrian Games in September – everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed!! Motion Bound is aiming at his first three star – possibly Saumur, and Danaan Prince is aiming for a later three star such as Bramham or Boekelo. We also have three lovely 4 year olds to get out competing – two of our own that we bought in Ireland last year, and one very special one by Lux who was also bought for Sam last Autumn.
 
To help us through the winter we have also had one or two ‘turn ups’! Fristly, we are lucky enough to have an ongoing sponsorship from Flair – a long term support to us, and we are looking forward to wearing the new white Flair strips this season! We have also secured a sponsorship deal with Amerigo saddles which we are thrilled about. Sam has ridden in Amerigo saddles for years and really rates them, so now to be working in conjunction with such a great product and company is fantastic. Also, along the sponsorship lines, Sam won the BETA TSM Rider Award – Sam was kindly nominated for this award by Equilibrium Products – a company that we have worked closely with over the last few years and who have been a fantastic support to us. The BETA award acknowledges the way successful riders work hard for their sponsors. An independent panel of judges selected Sam as this year’s winner! A wonderful surprise and we can’t thank Equilibrium enough for everything they have done for us. It was really exciting for both parties!
 
All in all, we have never been so busy!! But it is all incredibly exciting and despite the icey cold wind we are looking forward to cracking on with the season!

- Sam Griffiths, March 15, 2010

Life in Kentucky is good, despite the lack of Wendy! The weather seems to have finally broken, and it’s nice to get to drive outside of the indoor arena again! I have gotten to present the pony team at two different occasions. We here at Gayla Driving Center hosted and open house, sort of a “meet the new head trainer” gig. I rode one of the client’s horses, drove a pair, long lined one, drove the four ponies, and then drove an advanced single. Everyone had a great time, with tons of help from friends and clients. I think everyone went home with a better idea of what my abilities are and what they can expect from all of us here at Gayla.

Last Friday, we took the ponies to the Kentucky Horse Park to participate in an event produced by the University of KY College of Agriculture, Equine Initiative program. In short, it was a program designed to introduce various youth groups to the equestrian disciplines that will be competing in the World Equestrian Games this fall. We were the ones chosen to represent driving! Thanks to Janeene Jennings, I can show you pictures and video of our demo. I was very proud of the ponies. There were over 5,000 people registered to attend, and the ponies have not been working as a team very long. In fact, one of the leaders has been in the team OR a pair less than a dozen times I would guess. 

http://www.ca.uky.edu/Ky2010EquineYouthFestival/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urvbZsHnhHs  Intro and dressage phase

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBORwMx4zM marathon and cones phases

More exciting news: Phoenix Performance Products, Tipperary Equestrian division products is joining Flair Equine Nasal Strips as our sponsor, so look for Team Wysiwyg and myself sporting our new Tipperary gear in the near future! Thanks for all of your support and have a great 2010!   www.flairstrips.com

- Sterling Graburn, March 22, 2010

Having the season finally starting again, we were excited to get cracking on at the comps’ but unfortunately after long drives, they have always been cancelled, or are too dangerous to run on new ice and snow!
 
However to cheer things up, my sponsor Cheval Chic delivered lovely boxes of goodies and branded gear for both horses and I. They also supplied me with a very nice pair of De Niro patent boots. I love them and making out I am Katie Price! Even so, I confess when I am bored on Sunday evening I end up watching “what Katie did next.” I spied out a very nice white leather pair she was wearing! So those are next on the wish list!

Cheval Chic’s gear is all very snazzy and I end up walking around like the queen B in lots of different outfits.

Flair Nasal Strips which also kindly supplies me, has brought out some new white strips. Bright white ones which look really smart and flashy.
 
We managed to get some cross country training under our belts, but it wasn’t at Saumur though, as the whole set-up there is just miles of sand and it never defrosted.

So we ended up going to one of the nearest international events here called Mezziere en Brenne. It’s an animal watching Activity Park and it usually holds a CIC** in the summer in 35 degrees! I don’t know what’s worse really, the very cold or very hot. Dad was lucky and flew off to California to get a bit of sunshine; he likes to think he’s got nothing to do with the horses but, ended up spending his whole time shopping and comparing the different prices at local horse ranch shops!

I have managed to get a lot of show jumping training under my belt, and finally realise maybe it would be easier just to become a show jumper. A lot less things to work on and most of it is indoors anyway! Woody has rather enjoyed the jump offs. Racing around like a looney over big poles.
 
Hopefully my next bog will be a lot more juicy and full of competition chat. Ohh – I forgot to say my real name is actually Candida and we registered it on BE as Candy. For some reason it’s now registered in France and the French just can’t not pronounce Candy, but Cindy. Everywhere I go, I hear Cindy Crawford and if I hear that joke again I will scream!!  www.flairstrips.com

Speak soon,

- Candy Crawford, March 23, 2010

- Sterling Graburn, April 14, 2010

Anyway, all the preparation done and dusted, it was off to our first few cold and blustery events! Needless to say a few of them came out a little fresh to say the least! But we have still had some exciting results - Happy Times made a very competent debut at Aldon – he did a good test, just clipped the last show jump down, but then a lovely steady cross-country round – just what was needed after last year’s excitements! Motion Bound also put in a very promising performance in the Advanced Intermediate section at Gatcombe – he finished 10th in this very hotly contested competition with a lot of Badminton horses entered, so we were thrilled to be in the top 10 as MB is still relatively new to this level. It also made our trip to Gatcombe worthwhile as he was the only horse we took – so relief all round that there wasn’t going to be a long silent journey home! It was then on to Somerley, which, despite the organiser’s best attempts was a bit of a wash out and we ended up withdrawing a lot of our horses. However, those that did get a run, actually made light work of the conditions and Eyford’s Fidelio - Sam’s exciting new Intermediate horse, finished 4th in the Intermediate – putting in a very good clear round in the show jumping and a fast, clear xc and then Touchalier successfully completed the CIC** which was great news for us and his connections, as he is now qualified for Houghton Hall CCI** at the end of May.

Having done our best to get the Somerley mud off all the gear, it was then a quick turn around and up to Burnham Market with Motion Bound to do his first CIC***. Burnham Market is normally the coldest event on the calendar, so we went well prepared with crossing the arctic style clothing, but to our sheer amazement it was positively tropical, well, not quite, but the sun was out!! Extraordinary! And the ground was perfect. As we only took MB up, we decided not to take a groom with us and to make it a little mini-break in Norfolk for us all. So, having had strong words about sharing the grooming and not expecting the wife to do it all whilst the husband catches up with fellow Aussies(!), we actually had a really good weekend and Motion Bound flew around a tough three star track – his first one – and qualified in great style for a CCI***. So his plans now are for Saumur in May – all very exciting – we will try to win that title back, two years on! 
 
So, that’s really been all the events for March – it has just flown by! But some good results have got us off to an exciting start. Moving to a new area has brought lots of new business for us and we have some exciting young horses for this season – a lovely gaggle of four year olds will be out later this year, and we have picked up some fantastic new owners with lovely horses. We have also just completed our new 10-box yard and it is already (rather alarmingly) filling up with horses! We have never been so busy, but also have never had such a great team of horses for the future.

April is now just as busy with ‘first timers’ all getting out and about and off to Belton with Happy Times this weekend. Sam is then being flown out to America to watch Kentucky so that he is familiar with the venue should he get the nod for the WEG – so exciting but such a long season ahead of us and some high profile, consistent results very much needed. What will be, will be…..
 www.flairstrips.com

- Sam Griffiths, April 15, 2010

- Sterling Graburn, April 15, 2010