The Finest Care and the Best Horses: Dr. Schramme on the 2008 Olympics Part II

Welcome back to Dr. Schramme's interview for Three Days Three Ways. Read on for vet issues at the 2008 Olympics, those specific to eventers, and how event horses are so special.

Q. What kinds of issues did you see while there?

A. The first issue was about climatological conditions. The heat and humidity. There was enormous attention paid to making sure horses were hydrated and cooled. Every stable had air conditioning and misting fans attached to cooling tanks. That was the first big issue. On the whole we were lucky with the weather. For instance, with cross-country, there was a light drizzle. The sun never really came through very harshly and it rained slightly throughout. So it was the perfect climate for horses. Even for the finals of showjumping there was a typhoon announced. Since it was windy it cooled a bit and the typhoon didn’t come till then next morning. But that was a bit of chaos since the airport closed--but for the horses it cooled things a bit for the evening of the showjumping final.

The other thing you come across with competition horses, from my point of view, is mainly tendon and ligament concerns. We did more ultrasound examinations than radiographs. Horses would come up inexplicably lame the day before the competition and that kind of stuff. Tendon and ligaments are the main issue at that level.

Another problem if you travel these long distances is called “shipping fever”. It’s basically pneumonia. We want to make sure they don’t contract something like that.

Then there was the odd sick horse or horses not doing quite right.

Q. What was the most serious injury that you dealt with?

A. One of the eventing horses finished a course but had fracture a proximal phalanx. So that horse had to be transported back to the clinic with a splint. I think it had four screws put in then it was recovered in a cast and went home to Sweden.

Q. Was the smog a problem or concern or was it just a story?

A. No, not nearly as bad as in Beijing.

Q. Did you have a good time?

A. Absolutely, fantastic. I made some good friends from the vet team. I met some people from different countries that you usually don’t meet. There’s a lot of bonding that goes on. We were working towards a common goal and all the eating and sleeping is all pretty much done together. It was a good experience.

Q. What did you and the other vets do when you weren’t working?

A. I left this out conveniently! There were provisions for some time off. So we’d go shopping in Hong Kong. What else do you do in Hong Kong? We went shopping. You explore, go visit things. My family was out there too so we visited some sights and saw some places. We didn’t quite go to Disney Land with the kids but we saw some other things.

Q. Are there specific veterinary issues that you find specific to eventers?

Ligaments, tendons and heat stress since those [eventers] are the ones that go the hardest. Showjumpers and dressage horses don’t perform at the maximum level of exertion. But eventers have to be concerned about heat stress and that’s where climate comes in again. And since they go at top speed they get more tendon and ligament issues.

Q. What can eventers do to keep their horses sound and healthy?

A. One of the things these teams do is that they have very regular vet check ups. There’s no way of predicting when a horse will injure itself. But one of the advantages to this close monitoring is early intervention. That’s often the key. Not just from a fitness point of view but also from an injury point of view.

One thing I noticed it’s a different type [of horse]-- a different group of horses. These horses are better able to deal with chronic, low-grade, niggling injuries. You wonder why these horses aren’t more lame with the injury? Whether it’s a mental ability to discard pain or a love for the job. But you kind of have to throw out the rulebook in assessing injuries and whether a horse can perform with that injury. You think the average day-to-day patients will need two months off. But a lot of these [event] horses will keep going--and keep going well. The term the riders use is that the horses have a big heart. There’s a huge mental part of it. It’s not just physical. It’s how do they deal with an injury or niggling pain that would put another horse out of action. It’s not just a question of keeping a champion healthy. It’s how big is the horse’s heart as far as wanting to perform and enjoying the job? That’s a big difference from every-day vet practice that you have to get used to.

Even though sometimes have to protect horses against themselves you can’t just always stay on the safe side of the fence and say there’s a risk that this may effect the horses performance when the horse is able to continue to. Also, there are things the riders know better than you do as a specialist. You can’t just come in and make decisions. To be honest, the rider and the vet know more about the horse and how best to deal with it. So you give advice and you try and help them with things like should the horse continue or does it need to go for long-term rest? You can’t just make those decisions on a strictly textbook basis.

Q. Is there anything else you want to add?

A. One thing that was really outstanding was the organization provided by The Hong Kong Jockey Club. Their logistics team was outstanding. Nothing was left to chance. There was a contingency plan for everything from bad weather to terrorism. Sometimes it was hard on us have to be there so early! It was remarkable and very well prepared. I’m sure Olympic horses have never had this kind of care and attention that they received there. Everything was purpose built. Everything was brand new. It was a privilege to be a part of it.

From "All Creatures Great and Small" to the 2008 Olympics: Dr. Michael Schramme

Dr. Michael Schramme, DrMedVet, CertEO, PhD, Dip ECVS, went to the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong as part of an international team of veterinarians. He is currently the Director of Equine Surgery and an Associate Professor of Equine Surgery at the North Carolina State Veterinary School. He received his PhD in Equine Osteoarthritis in 2000 at the University of London, United Kingdom. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1985 at the University of Gent, Belgium. Dr. Schramme specializes in equine orthopedic surgery and lameness as well as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He gives you the behind-the-scenes look at the equestrian Olympics.

Q. What made you want to become a vet?

A. So many things involved. The main thing was a love for animals and nature in general. We always had animals at home in Belgium. I preferred the animal side to the human side. Something incredibly popular when I was teenager were the books by James Harriot, All Creatures Great and Small. My generation was influenced by those books and the wonderful BBC series. It certainly provided a strong background to persevere with one’s choice if one was so inclined. The other thing was how did you end up working with horses and that in itself was almost process of elimination. Once you get into vet school, in my time, it becomes clear that my female colleagues aspired to the small animal side and my male colleagues were more inclined towards the large animal side. I was always interested in surgery and though surgery for cattle is well developed, economically it’s less and less viable and

realistic. Surgery in horses is much more advanced and sophisticated. So you kind of drift into horses if you’re interested in surgery. Small animal surgery is a lot more sophisticated and advanced but horses are defining species for large animal procedures.

Q. Why did you decide to specialize in Equine Orthopedics?

A. That probably had to do with mentorship. My mentor was one of the pioneers of equine radiology at vet school in Europe. It’s something I hold dear. I was doing a lot of colic surgery and soft tissue surgery. As you move through your career it’s about finding a niche without even looking for it. When you work with competition horses the problem you will find is lameness. Inevitably you’re spending your time doing that and you want to get better at it.

Q. How did it come about that you went to Hong Kong in 2008?

A. When I was a resident at the Royal Veterinarian College in London a friend of mine was doing his PhD in fractures, etc. He became the Veterinary Services Manager for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. That was Dr. Riggs. [Before the Olympics ] it became clear it would not be practical to bring horses into China. Until Hong Kong stepped up they almost gave up on the Equine Olympics. Then Hong Kong stepped up with ability to deal with importing and quarantine and deal with infectious diseases. They held the Equine Olympics there because of the association with international racing for hundreds of years. The Hong Kong Jockey Club used to be British. Because of the British tradition in racing they are well equipped to deal with imports and exports of high performance horses. Dr. Riggs was approached to be the Veterinary Service Manager for the Olympics. He put together a team of international experts to provide on-site vet care. So that team was not associated with any national teams but with the FEI Team of Treating Veterinarians. Australia, USA, UK, Germany, China were all involved. There were about fifteen of us. I was invited as one of those fifteen. Three were board certified surgeons, of which I was one as well. There were also three board certified internal medicine specialists. There was also a whole team of vets dealing with doping control, quarantine and those kinds of things. They were separate from us.

Hong Kong Billboard for the Olympics

photo by Bibash Chaudhuri

Q. How long were you there?

A. For somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks. We had to be there before the first horse arrived by air convoy. And because we had to be there when the horses arrived and accompany them by convoy to the venue. We stayed until the last horse went home. With the exception of a few horses from Australia that had additional quarantine regulations.

Q. Where did you live while you were there?

A. We lived in an FEI hotel by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sha Tin Race Course. They had built the venue there for dressage and show jumping and there were two hotels close by for competitors and stewards. There was another venue at Beas River Country Club for cross-country. All the event horses had to travel there in convoy and back. There were complicated logistics involved with that. All the horses had to be there at the same time and then come back after cross-country. The convoy consisted of, if I remember correctly, 12 transport vans, which was enough to take 2/3 of the horses. So it had to go twice to take them out there and bring them back.

Q. What did your days look like while you were there?

A. They had a pretty organized system. Dr. Riggs was the Service Manager and had a roster together for us. At any given time there were four different slots to fill. So there was one team of two for flight duty. They would travel to the airport and back with the horses. One vet was on emergency clinical cover 24 hours around the clock. Then there was the routine clinic cover and the clinic reception and office as well as being available for specific team veterinarians. Then there was the surgery and medical cover from 7am to 8pm. There were two surgery vets and two internal vets. So there were five slots to fill with one or two people in each. There was a rotation drawn up between those different things.

In addition to that, whenever competition necessitated, we had two vets ringside and one vet with the ambulance. During cross-country we all went to the venue. We arrived at 4am and manned all the stations and made sure radio contact was provided. There were different stations out on course, in the stables, the ten-minute box and the finish lines. You know how it goes. We stayed out there and the first half came back with the first convoy and the second came back with second convoy.

Q. What kinds of issues did you see while there?

Find out what kinds of veterinary issues Dr. Schramme saw while at the 2008 Olympics in the next post......

The Inside Line: Derby Cross, Dinner, and Auction at Sharon White's Last Frontier Farm

The Inside Line: Your Inside Scoop in the Eventing World!

Today's Inside Line: TOMORROW, September 7th (Labor Day)

Sharon White hosts a Derby Cross, dinner with live auction at her own Last Frontier Farm.

If you’ve evented in Area II, you’ve seen Sharon’s orange and white rig at a competition. Unfortunately, that colorful truck and trailer are no longer on the road. Both vehicles were totaled in a scary accident on the way to the Cosequin Stuart Horse Trials. Sharon hasn’t ever hesitated to help a friend in need, and this is our opportunity to give back and help her out of a tight situation. Click here for the complete when and where.

Take a look at a few of the exclusive auction items:

• 1 year subscripton to the Chronicle of the Horse
• 1 week of vacation house in Maine
• Dressage Lesson with Lauren Sprieser
• Custom portrait session at VA Horse Trials with Brant Gamma
• 2 days of 2 tank scuba dives in Provo
• Photo Shoot with Josh Walker
• 1 year subscription to Horse and Hound
• A seasons pass for schooling at Gordonsdale
• 2 entries to Surefire 2010 Horse Trials
• Logo and Farm Sign
• Breeding to Hanoverian Stallion “Argosy” (not including collection and shipping/fees)
• Lessons with Boyd and Silva Martin
• Stubben Saddle
• Entry to Rubicon Horse Trials
• Lesson with Jimmy Wofford
• Hotel rooms for the WEG

That's not even the whole list! Click here for a more complete list.

So, to recap:

• You on your horse competing in the DerbyCross, think Fall in the air.
• Enjoying evening cocktails, how civilized!
• Bidding on a few of your favorite things, so very The Sound of Music, and
• Hob knobbing with eventing's inside crowd over dinner.

If you could possibly still have any questions about it click here for more details! Or call Kate Byron at (304) 724-7279 or Dawn Haney-West at (540) 454-0208 with any questions about the event, volunteering or ideas for the auction. Or send emails to teamorange@lastfrontierfarm.com.

Craig Thompson Part II: A Real PRO

In Part II Craig Thompson talks about:

• Professional Rider's Organization, how it got started and keeping the band marching. At least in the same direction.
• What Bull Riders and NASCAR have on eventers.
• How to make eventing an even better sport, and
• How you can be involved!

Q. What is PRO?

A. A very cool acronym, first and foremost. We got the cool acronym. It’s the Professional Riders Organization. There are five people on the Executive Committee and twenty on the Board. I started to sense from a bunch of us that we could do more. It felt like things had ground to a halt. There was a lot of talk about raising the profile of sport and putting it on par with tennis and golf, also the professional bull riders and NASCAR. I’m happy just getting it on par with show jumping and getting purses. We’ve got great and talented horses and riders but making a living is very hard. To me, when I am said and done I want an eighteen-year-old to say, “I want to event” and their parents don’t say, “Oh my god my kid is going to starve”.

The first step is to organize event riders, which is like herding cats. There are twenty five on the list who have made a financial commitment and a commitment of their time and energy. More spectators and prize money is on the top of everyone’s list. Then there are more mundane things—like benefits for members and retirement and insurance. We want a Pro Tour linking the best events. At the end of the day there’s a gap between the USEA and the USEF. The USEA does an excellent job promoting sports, the USEF does an excellent job of fielding teams and administering rules. But neither has an office of eventing development. Nobody is sitting around trying to raise money or link events in a series or figuring out how to get spectators to come and learn our sport and understand. That’s where most of us fall. There’s a demand for an organization to try to fill that gap.

Riders are great at hacking around the warm-up and talking about what’s wrong. Trying to do something about it is an effort to get people to put their money and time where their mouth is. Complaining is one thing; coming up with an actionable plan is another.

Q. What’s the story behind PRO? How did it get started?

A. I am a member of the Professional Horseman’s Council at the USEA, which tries to provide an organize and unified voice for riders. I got frustrated quickly. It’s very clunky in decision making and slow to react to events as they unfold. I didn’t feel like that was the answer. Several of us talked shop and had a few drinks and talked about what we should do. It’s easy to get people talking and thinking together in Ocala or Aiken in the winter. You’ll see the bull riders on TV and that came from twenty guys sitting around talking about it. Now the PBR has a pro tour and minimum prize money.

In 2007 I wrote an article for The Chronicle [of the Horse] laying out ideas, one of them being to create an independent think tank to develop and promote good ideas. PRO is a little of that—to incubate ideas and foster plans. Then, more specifically, I remember being in a local bar talking with Phillip Dutton and Mara Dean. We’re 3 very different people but we left thinking, yeah, we can do this. In 2008, when Darren fell on his head, a lot went wrong. As professionals we didn’t have the opportunity to say what did happen, what went wrong. We saw public and media finger pointing and didn’t have a way to respond to that. Mara, Laura, Boyd, Will Coleman, and I sat down and tried to answer questions on the Chronicle chat room--which was a disaster. We were shocked by level of anger and lack education on behalf those who were asking questions. There’s a big disconnect between public opinion and what we as riders know to be true. At the Fork Horse Trials last year we had a riders meeting. Fifty or 60 riders showed up, and we sat around and talked. I asked, “Do we need a professional riders organization to represent our interest?” The answer was unanimous—Yes.

photo by Emily Daily

We spent the summer game planning how to get this thing off the ground. I pitched it first at a hotel bar in New Orleans during the USEA Annual Meeting. People kept coming and by time I did the pitch in a big conference room in front of a couple hundred people, we walked away with an organization. There is the executive committee, a board, and members (anyone riding at preliminary and above) and also a participating membership (any fan). Monday night football has taught everyone about football. We need to do a better job of bringing fans to the sport, a better job of getting fans to know that it’s not just Kentucky. No other organization is trying to do that. That’s where we’re at now. That’s how it started.

Q. What is your role?

A. I guess my official title is president. That’s because at one of our very early meetings Phillip and Buck were going to the Olympics, Allison was headed to Europe, and Laura was stuck in traffic. My role is to be the public face and spokesman. Doing things like this interview, press conferences. Conduct the orchestra a little bit. That’s how I think of it. I keep everyone marching, if not in a straight line then in some formation.

Q. How do you know when you’re successful?

A. The British Professional Event Riders Organization was successful in the 1990’s. When funding withdrew it collapsed. PRO has to be self-supporting. Simply sustaining is a huge first step.

We are working with very closely with the Plantation Field CIC ** and *** in September. We wanted an event we could use as lab to see what PRO could do well. We want to work with the best events and make them better events. At Plantation we are trying to do things better. Better commentary: the NFL's John Madden idea; a concierge where owners and riders can hang out with good food and have a good time. We’re holding a silent auction leading up to Plantation with prizes from inexpensive riding lessons and course walks to a beach house in on the Gulf of Mexico and a tour of the Muppet factory in Manhatten. There’s also the $15,000 in prize money, which is huge. Next year we’d like to see a tour and give spectators and fans a reason to follow us from one event to the next. If we can pull all that off I’d say we were successful.

photo by Emily Daily

Q. How can amateur riders or eventing enthusiasts provide support or be involved?

A. The Participating Membership is a $35.00 and includes a quarterly newsletter. You can do things fans wouldn’t be able to do—get behind scenes tours and course walks. Fans need to feel like they’re part of the action. Need to know the horses and riders. Need to figure out which ones they like. Fans can be cheering at the water jump or a minority owner in syndicate, that’s great too.

Q. Anything you want to add or wish that I’d asked?

A. Come to Plantation Field and watch!

Craig Thompson: Eventer, Turkey Farmer, and One Bad Mo' Fo'

Craig Thompson slides accomplishments under his belt like he's going through the all-you-can eat buffet at the Golden Corral. He's a successful upper-level rider (he won the Area II Advanced Championships in 2008), coach (read his student's testimonials here), cross-country course designer, and event organizer (he founded Surefire and Maryland Horse Trials). He also spear headed the Professional Riders Organization (PRO), and, oh, he's raising turkeys at his Shadow Lane Farm in Aiken, SC. As if that wasn't enough he's charming, clever, and witty to boot. Yeah, he's one bad mo' fo'.

Q. Where are you from originally?

A. I grew up in central PA and went to college at Dickinson in central Pennsylvania; that’s where I started out. I based my professional career in Middleburg before moving it to Aiken two and a half years ago.

photo by Emily Daily

Q. How did you get involved in eventing?

A. Well, I always wanted to be a cowboy! But there are no cowboys in central Pennsylvania so I got involved in pony club. I watched Radnor and I thought that was the coolest thing-- I want to do that. When I was a Young Rider I got hooked up with Wash Bishop, he was the hot shot young riders coach at the time. Wash was the first person who made me feel like I could really be a professional and make a living. It’s all his fault.

Like everyone I sort of kept going. I’d go to Florida for the spring semester. I was never really interested in going to college or being anything other than horseman. My father was close to Dickinson and I could keep horses there. Also, the Dean had a daughter who rode so she understood leaving for a semester and that kind of thing. It’s her fault too.

photo by Sarah Andrews

Q. Do you have a favorite horse?

A. Well, I like all of them, that’s what keeps us doing it. There have been lots of good horses for me, and horses I learned from. Orion, who I took to Fair Hill CCI*** the past few years, is quite a good horse. I’ve had him since he was three. He and I are probably best friends. You can’t train a horse that long and not like them. He’s ten or eleven. He’s a bad mo’ fo’. He’s as intelligent a horse as I’ve ever trained with an eye that’s a little bit of a mad scientist. He’s always thinking and contemplating his next move. To grab a dog by the scruff of the neck, he’d love to do that. A dog, a small child. We have automatically waterers and we had to take his apart since he kept dismantling it. He’s a little bit like me as a mechanic: he can take it apart but doesn’t put it back together. He won’t be sound enough to keep as an upper-level eventer so I’ll take him over timber or into the hunter ring. That’s good for an eventer—brave enough for timber and nice enough for the hunter ring.

Q. Are you in a relationship?

A. My girlfriend and I have been together for four years and live together and run the business. She’s competed through the 2-star level and thinks of it as hobby. She won’t ride if it’s hot, cold out, or early in the morning. She’s way smarter than me.

photo by Emily Daily

Q. What about eventing makes you get up every day and do it again?

A. I would say the big picture is that I like to do lots of things whether its horses or outside of horses. [With horses] the quality of life is high. I ride horses on a beautiful farm and green grass and blue sky. If I had to do dressage every day I’d go insane. Riding cross-country is great, great fun. There are very few event riders who would say they do it for the dressage.

Q. What made you make the move from Middleburg to Aiken?

A. I had been coming [to South Carolina] for the winters for a long time and I’d get back to Virginia in April and it would still be winter. In 2006 I bought a house before moving back. The area is not unlike Ocala or Southern Pines— it’s seasonal and a great place to train horses. Last year we went North for the summer, a reverse migration. This year we decided to stay here. We own a farm, Shadow Lane Farm, here which I couldn’t do in Middleburg.

Q. What words would you use to describe your farm in Aiken?

A. Depends on the time of year. This time of year it’s quiet and peaceful. In the winter it’s bustling and overwhelming. This winter we hosted, for the second year, the Aiken Event Horse Sale, a bit of an experiment. We modeled it on the Aiken polo pony sales. We

hosted four clinics with Jules Anderson (known best for training Julie Richards, who went to 2000 and 2004 Olympics) and Natalie Bouckaert (now Pollard). We had an eventing camp, which was fun and hosted a couple ICP workshops (Instructor Certification Program). I’m a big believer in that you always have to be getting better. If you’re not improving you’re slacking off. By the time April 1st rolled around we were pretty frazzled. This time of year it’s sleepy and quiet and pretty nice. A farm always has to look for ways to make money and be useful. A farm always needs to be doing something.

My project at the moment is to raise 300 turkeys for Native Meats. It’s local, pasture-raised meats sold in South Carolina. The idea is to create a local food economy. I spend twenty years learning about horses, now I’m learning about turkeys! You’d think 300 turkeys would make a racquet but they’re pretty low-key. The horses don’t know what to think but they don’t seem to be worried. Farms used to do so much more, now they only do one thing. The time I spent going to England there were plenty of yards that were just eventers, but lots were also agricultural.

Above: Craig farming those turkeys!

Q. How would your students describe you?

A. Just like my horses: A bad mo’ fo’. I don’t know, I enjoy teaching and I try to get feedback from my students. One of the things that’s underrated is too much emphasis on 45 minutes in a riding ring. There’s not enough emphasis on the beginning, which is a calm horse. And before we get that we need a calm rider. It’s hard to think about a canter departure if you’re nervous. When you’re calm you can. I teach the mental game which is so successful. I try to talk about it because riders and students need to be aware that every top rider has had to develop a better mental game. Working on our mental game is free. You can work on it in bed at night or driving down the road. There will always be someone with a nicer horse, or one who’s faster to the jumps, but not someone who has a better mental game. I would hope they say I teach not just riding but also calm and relaxation. I hope they would say I teach it’s okay to make mistakes. The fear of mistakes is crippling. You’re better off making that new mistake than repeating the same old mistakes. It’s hard to get out and be brave enough to be wrong. That’s how we get better. And they would say I’m stunningly handsome and cool.

Q. How did you get involved in cross-country course building?

A. Well, I’ve always liked power tool and chainsaws and tractors. I got into course building with Morgan Rowsel, who builds the

courses at Jersey Fresh and helped him with a bunch of courses. When I started the Surefire Horse Trials I built pretty much everything myself with a bit of Morgan's help , same thing the second year when we added Beginner Novice and Intermediate. It’s a good way to spend a day. Building and designing [courses] go hand in hand. You have to have some clues on how to set up an exercise, which gives us clues on how to ride. Tremain Cooper, who designs Morven and Poplar among other courses, and I worked together. He helped me think about course design and that’s a good thing to have in a tool chest. You have a better opportunity to understand an exercise. Though course designers, like riders, have to be prepared to be wrong. Mostly it’s just something I play with at home.

Q. What about event organizing?

A. I started Surefire and Maryland Horse Trials from nothing, from the farm land. I did feel like as a rider I knew how I wanted it to run. I enjoyed it at the time don’t miss it a lick. Starting an event from scratch is incredibly time consuming, I would do it again if we owned enough land; I would want to do something unique and special. Like a $100,000 Advanced invitational.

Q. How do you do it all?!

A. Don’t take any of it or yourself too seriously. How’s that? That’s the answer.

Check back soon for Craig Thompson Part II:

What do Advanced eventers and cats have in common? Find out at Three Days Three Ways!

Jim Wofford Part III: Black Labs, Fly Fishing, and the Civil War

What does Jim Wofford think is different with upper level riders today? And what's he up to when not being an eventing legend? Let's find out...

The one thing missing is they don’t practice their galloping and don’t get practice riding at speed. There’s an outcry about eventing being dangerous. If you don’t know what you’re doing--any sport is dangerous. They don’t understand those techniques as well as dressage or show jumping. My goodness, Bettina Hoy and Ingrid Klimke, they ride upper level dressage for fun. Everyone is aware that Mark Todd won two gold medals in eventing. But did you know that he was 15^th in show jumping in 1988?

Below: Bettina Hoy. Photo by Emily Daily

That’s one of his least known, best performances. If you want to know why he’s the horseman of the century, that’s why. And he did it just to amuse himself. Bill Roycroft, the father of Wayne Roycroft (Wayne was Chef d’Equipe of the Australian eventing team and retired from the FEI committee), won Badminton on El Dorado, who was also 3^rd at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The modern event riders don’t even understand what the silver backs in the sport are talking about when they tell them about galloping and jumping at speed. They think the eventing speeds are fast. It is not the speed that is making the eventing dangerous. It’s the going fast out of balance that is bringing danger into the sport.

Q. If you had decided to take a path other than as horseman, what would it have been?

A. Never entered my mind. I did try some other things. I was very active for about 30 years in the horse organizations. I had an administrative career. When I retired in ‘84 I tried a couple of jobs in the real world and it was not going to work. At that time, fortunately for me, eventing took off and after about three years I was making more per year doing clinics on the weekend than I was working five days a week. So I thought, this is crazy, and set up shop again at Fox Covert Farm.

Below: Jim Wofford fly fishing

Q. What about when you’re not with the horses? How do you spend your time?

A. I love to fly fish, and during the winter I do a great deal of duck hunting, usually with a Black Lab beside me. Like the one laying here with me, Nacho, listening to make sure I’ve got it right. We’ve just taken his daughter into the family; her name is Peaches. She’s locked in the garage right now because she’s a bandit.

I do a great deal of writing now. I write a monthly column for Practical Horseman. I enjoy that greatly. They give me enormous latitude in the topics. As long as it’s about horses they pretty much accept it. So that’s a great deal of fun. I’ve just floated two book proposals and the editor has agreed to look at both of them more carefully so I’ll be working on those. I’ve written sort of a book of reminiscences called Take a Good Look Around. I don’t have anything that’s autobiographical in nature. I like to write about things I’m interested in, and writing my autobiography really doesn’t interest me. I’m much more interested in writing about dogs and horses and fish and that sort of thing. That’s pretty much my life.

Q. What interests you about the Civil War Era?

A. I’m interested in all sorts of military history because of my father’s history as a career Army officer. There are two aspects:

I had several relations in the war. There were Woffords on both sides of the Civil war just as most family’s had who had been in the country 150 years. The farm we purchased near the village of Upperville was part of Battle of Upperville which took place on June 18, 1863. It doesn’t happen so much anymore but people used to stop and ask if they could run their metal detectors and find they would find belt buckles and buttons and things.

Below: The Battle of Upperville from Harper's Weekly.

The major characters of the civil war were so interesting, amazingly interesting human beings like Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. The WWI statesmen were so dry and dusty and uninteresting, unimaginative. WWII characters were again interesting and fascinating: Patton and Churchhill.

That’s where my reading goes. Shelby Foote wrote a three volume history of the Civil War. He was featured in the Robert Burns TV program on the civil war. He was from Mississippi and spoke with a soft southern drawl. That’s program is absolutely wonderful, I believe he got the Pulitzer for his trilogy on the Civil War.

Q. Is there anything else you wish I’d asked but didn’t, or anything else you want to add?

A. I’m 64 and semi-retired and what that means is I don’t teach on a daily basis, I’ve rented the stables out and it’s occupied by a hunter-jumper, but I’m doing more clinics than ever. I teach as much per week at other people’s local facilities as I used to per day. So I’m still at it. I don’t expect to ever totally retire and not want to fool with horses and riders. I think the economy is going to be so weak for so long we won’t be able to entirely retire. I’m living proof if you do what you love to do you’ll never work a day in your life.

Jim Wofford Part II: Carawich and the Upper-Level Riders of Today

...Last we knew Jim wasn't sure if he'd be able to ride in the World Championship. See what happens next!

.....I had already looked around the scene in the US. Anyone that had a four star horse had stars in their eyes since they knew they had a good chance to ride in the world games. The rules were every country could send 6 riders, a team of 4 plus two official individuals, plus, an additional 6 national riders. So there were 12 slots. That is why there was such a scarcity of horses since any rider that had a potential horse didn’t want to turn loose of it.

Above: Jim Wofford on Carawich, Badminton 1979

It was about December 21st and I had given up. I thought my chances were pretty much over. And in December I called Lars and I said, “Lars, I’m looking for a horse for one of my clients.” I was looking for a school-master. I described the rider and what they could spend. He said, “Yes, yes, I’ve got several. By the way I have just hung up with Carawich’s owner who said Aly is expecting.” I said, “Call the owner back and tell them Carawich has been purchased.” I never rode him until he got here. I bought him untried. I rode him in the 1978 World Championship and was 10^th and on the bronze medal team. I was the Silver Medalist at the Alternate Olympics in 1980. We won Rolex in 1981. I am especially proud of that because, it was not the first event at Kentucky Horse Park, but the first one sponsored by Rolex.

Jim Wofford and Carawich

In the summer of 1981 we took him to Germany because the 1982 World Championships were going to be there and the USET wanted an advance trip to see the course and the footing. Carawich broke his coffin bone in his right hind. We had to ship him home and he was quite lame for some time, was 6 months in the stall. He did eventually recover. Then we retired him in 1984 and he is still here, buried in the South paddock.

Q. When was the first time you referred to yourself as a professional event rider when asked the question “what do you do?”

A. Probably not until after 1984. Notice the way I say that because in 1984 the Olympic games were still ostensibly for amateurs only. For those of us like myself who had to scratch around for a living we had to be careful how we structured our business. If we were declared a professional we could never ride in the Olympics again. We were very careful not to refer to ourselves as professional. I retired in ‘84 and did not refer to myself as professional until then. They changed the rule a few years after that. It seems like another world, it was just stupid. A total anachronism.

Above: Jim Wofford and daughter Jennifer

with The Piedmont Hunt early '70's

Q. How did you balance raising children with an international eventing career?

A. It was a little easier 30 years ago than it would be now. First of all there were not so many events. Typically we would go to three events in the spring and then Rolex and that would be the end of the spring season. There would be four or five events in summer and early fall and those of us with Advanced horses would go to one or two horse trials and go to someplace like Radnor. Our time on the road was nothing like what the professionals have to do now. In addition, the spring 3-day event took place much later in the year, the first weekend in June, and then the Fall Championships took place the weekend of Labor Day or after. We didn’t have to start training so early in the year. The ramifications of that is that no one had to move to Florida or Southern California, depending on where you were. Gail and I shake our heads and think we never could have done it. We were dedicated to keeping our two daughters in the local school. Gail would have had to live here alone with two girls or I wouldn’t have been able to prepare. It was a very different scene.

Below: Jim Wofford with Jack LeGoff 1981

The difficulties were that occasionally in those days the team would travel for quite a long time. I was gone three months before the 1972 Olympics and six weeks before the ‘68 Olympics. Then, let’s see, we were gone for five weeks in 1980. I went abroad one final time in ‘83 and was away for three months before Burghley. That’s totally out of fashion now. These riders fly back and forth across the pond like it’s nothing. Back then trans-Atlantic travel was quite a big deal. Now they go to as many events in three months as I would in a season, and ride ten times as many horses.

We had to do other things with horses to keep ourselves occupied. There was not enough eventing to keep you off the street. Mike Plumb and Mike Page both won the AHSA equitation medal. Kevin Freeman, Mike Plumb, and I rode steeplechase races. They both rode in the Maryland Hunt Cup and placed. I never rode in the Hunt Cup but rode a lot under rules, including 2^nd in the New Jersey Hunt Cup.

Jim Wofford in the 1981 Blue Ridge Point-to-Point

And that sort of all-around exposure is very difficult for these event riders to produce, because there’s always another event the next weekend. Current eventers don’t even know that they are missing that. The upper level riders are phenomenally better than we were in dressage. In the last five years they have become better than we were in show jumping but that is because they go to Florida early in the winter, right after Thanksgiving, and they spend six or eight weeks at the horse shows and jump their young horses. Now they’re getting that end of the education that we were able to provide ourselves.

The one thing missing is…….

Find out what upper-level riders are missing in the the third and final portion of the Jim Wofford's Interview by checking in next week!