Recap of Team Tryon at El Campeon Farm - Jan through March 2010
 

Most of us are home and wishing we weren’t, but the CA trip was a huge success for Team Tryon. 14 horses, ranging from Beginner Novice through Advanced departed January 22, braving wind and snow to make it to El Campeon, a beautiful equestrian facility in Thousand Oaks, CA, in time to set up and participate in the Team training Sessions.

The horses were excited to see the sun and especially enjoyed their large grass turnouts at El Campeon.  Team Tryon was able to take over the “upper barns” at the ranch, and literally, did not realize anyone else was there unless they ventured down to the main barn. Our horses were housed in two barns, one with tack and feed rooms a mini-kitchen, bath, and a large grain room to hold our supplements etc. The second had a smaller feed room, a large tack room with heat, and bathroom and hot/cold water for bathing.  Our accommodations were luxurious: a cut WAY above the usual on-the-road facilities.

Alan Berado, farrier extraordinaire who comes from the East coast to take care of the horses’ feet and shoes, brought his friend Eric, and went to work ensuring sound horses for all. Lucky for us, Eric practices in CA as the horses had a running bet to see who could lose the most shoes! We kept Eric busy fixing everyone’s Nikes after Alan left. Dr. Mark Revenaugh, USET Team veterinarian from Oregon, also joined us to review Devon and Leyland. Both were sound, energetic, and ready to show the world that Team Tryon is the Best of the Best.

Team Tryon has always been a group endeavor led by Amy’s legendary work ethic. Amy’ s long-time friend and international groom, Allyson Green, and Lauren Ferguson, Team Tryon’s traveling groom, competed their own horses in addition to spearheading the operation to guarantee healthy, happy horses. Mackenzie Wolfe (aka Mac), whose horse stayed home at the last minute, was assigned to care for the horses in the upper barn, and she ROCKED. Keep your eye on Mac: this girl will go FAR! Team Tryon owners and riders, especially those who flew in and out of CA in order to attend classes or complete job assignments, are indebted to Ally, Lauren, and Mac. They kept our horses, stalls and tack clean and the aisles raked as if we were at the Olympics. These talented and efficient young women rode all the horses when Amy was swamped and proved that it does indeed take a village to run a barn!

Galway was the typical first event of the season with its occasional blips and blunders. Despite some bumps in the road, Amy was the consummate professional and had some nice opening rides on Devon and Leyland. All in all, everyone got a good experience and left the competition with a plan in mind.  The team got straight to work upon their return to El Campeon, and the horses showed that we do have talent galore in Team Tryon thanks to Amy and her many skills. 

The horses had some super schools at El Campeon, which has its own HUGE Grand Prix field complete with ditches, banks, and a grob. For those not conversant in Grand Prix show jumping lingo, a grob is their version of our eventing coffin. Who knew? We utilized them extensively and I was amazed that the formerly “ditchy” horses looked like Rolex competitors jumping the triple bar placed over the Liverpool! 

Perhaps the most exciting news was the addition of Maris Burns to the USET Developing Rider list on her new horse, Max. What a wonderful opportunity for her. Watching her ride with Capt Mark was truly amazing. I wish I were 25 again!

Now, what would a road trip be without horses getting nicks, cuts, lost shoes and bruised feet? Mac was never without her trusty box of Epsom salts and proved that quality care can indeed make a difference.  Team Tryon invested significant time and supplies in keeping the horses going, under Amy’s careful eye, and all of them returned healthy, comfortable, trained to maximize their potential and still looking forward to their job!

I wish I could say we all killed it at Twin Rivers. Well, we started to kill it, but then the rain came. I have never seen a place get so swamped so quickly! The dressage held out and we managed to post some lovely scores. Team Tryon horses all behaved and were definitely in contention. However, the rain would not let up. The decision was made to pull out... we honestly felt the experience would have been negative for the horses to splash around in a squishy footing. The organizers had no choice but to cancel X-C on Saturday for all but the intermediate and advanced divisions (they completed their X-C on Friday afternoon, moments before the rain started). So off we went on Saturday afternoon to pack up wet clothes and get everyone on the road back to Mapleleaf. Ed. note: Sunday’s show jumping for intermediate and advanced (those were the two divisions Jemi, Amy’s mom, watched) was remarkably comfortable for horses despite soupy footing. The organizers, officials, and staff at Twin Rivers did a Herculean duty trying to counter the conditions brought by the weather and managed to provide some wonderful rounds on Sunday. Congratulations to Hawley Bennett and the other riders for sticking it out. Hawley’s win was well deserved and Team Tryon wishes her well on her journey toward the WEG for Canada.

I want to thank everyone for their support and for encouraging Team Tryon. The trip isn’t over, Amy and her horses returned to El Campeon for a week before heading back east with Ally, Maris, Max and the boys. We wish them all the best. Keep your eyes on the scoreboard because if the moons align correctly, Amy will be on two top horses at Rolex and then, we hope, the WEG.

Thanks to Jemi for helping to edit this, and of course, to Sam who keeps our website looking perfect. Cheers to all the friends, families, fans, and horses of Team Tryon during the remainder of the winter and let’s toast the coming of spring! Our wish for ALL events is good footing and safe riding. Keep watching the website for photos and updates.

GO TEAM TRYON!

Ashley Colonel

Four Star Management