Featured Rider - Will Coleman |
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Will Coleman (Part 1 of a 4 Part Series)
Twizzel
Argentius x Lady Bedford
German Westphalian / Thoroughbred Gelding
Owner: Rider & Jim and Sara Wildasin
It has been five years since I last rode at Kentucky. When the folks at Rolex Kentucky asked me to participate in this website promotion, I began to reflect on this rather large gap between the last time I rode at Rolex and the possibility of riding there this year. At Rolex 2004, I was twenty years old at that time and it was my second four star. I was inexperienced, to say the least, but I had a wonderful ride around the cross country, and finished as the highest placed young rider, making the entire week an incredibly positive experience. I was very much still learning how to ride, and most of my focus was on studying technique and developing the skills to compete at four-star level under the tutelage of David O'Connor. However, training and developing the horses themselves to four-star level was still largely a mystery to me, despite having done both Burghley and Rolex before I was 21. I realized that I knew very little, and, now looking back, it was after that Rolex in 2004 that a new chapter in my riding life began.
In 2005, I started school at the University of Virginia. My family and I sold one of my advanced horses, Fox-In-Flight, and later sold another one, Ratzi, leaving me with a couple young horses and one old campaigner, Second Hope. School took away some of the opportunities to compete, and so it made sense to take advantage of the time not spent traveling to events to focus on riding and training in its purest sense. I started studying dressage with Gerd Reuter, whose mentoring has now helped define how I approach training the horses on the flat, and who showed me the values of transitions and long-lining. My father being a show jumper, I started to spend more time in this world as well, and Anne Kursinski graciously gave me a lot of her time, inviting me to a couple horse shows to ride some of her horses when her back was giving her trouble. Similarly, Wiljan Larakkers, a friend of my father's in Holland, invited me to Europe to show horses indoors, a hugely beneficial experience. I also examined fitness, where Philip Dutton, who I believe is this country's preeminent master of conditioning, gave me welcome advice. All of these people, as well as the many others whose names number too many for me to mention them all, helped provide me with the backbone of a system or program for training and competing at top-level. It will never be completely fleshed out. There will always be more to add, but this period of time is where I began to construct the foundation for what my program would be.
During this break from competing at top level, I also undertook the task of bringing in some horses that would be ready to take on advanced eventing when I finished school, horses that I could develop to either sell or attract owners. Looking back, the most important acquisition during this time was a nine-year old German-bred Westphalian/TB cross named Twizzel (Argentinus/Lady Bedford xx). By the great Argentinus, "Ossi" inherited from his father a remarkably strong and vibrant personality. Talented but spirited, his physical skills have never overshadowed his wit and intelligence, and he has taught me more than anything the importance of making sure the horse understands the question before he can be expected to answer it. At our first advanced event, we had several stops, and I believe were actually technically eliminated for crossing our tracks. Whereas my two previous horses locked onto to skinny and corner lines with expert accuracy, allowing me to ride aggressively to deep distances, Twizzel much preferred a little time to assess the question and riding him too forcefully before he had a moment to focus on the line caused him to jump out of shape and lose confidence. Gradually, we figured each other out, and now I feel incredibly confident with him on the cross country, and he in me.
To be honest, I did not expect five years to go by before I would get the chance to return to Kentucky. But bumps in the road are inevitable in all walks of life, and a profession in the horse business is certainly not spared of those setbacks. In fact, we were hopeful that Twizzel would be at Kentucky by the spring of 2006, maybe in time to qualify for the WEG that summer, but less than four months after we had bought him, a cyst was found in his shoulder that required surgery and, at the time, seemed to doom his career. But, as his previous owner told me when we took Twizzel, he is a "fighter," and triumphantly returned to eventing in 2007. With a year of training under his belt, and following a great third-place finish at the Fair Hill International last fall, Ossi feels as good as he has ever felt to me.
After five years, returning to Rolex and four-star eventing this spring will be an exciting culmination of one of the most enjoyable periods of my young life, and will be markedly different from my last Kentucky. No longer am I just a participant in this wonderful sport, but now, at twenty-five years old, I am a working professional, and will be representing not only myself, but my business, my sponsors, my incredible groom Andrea Moreau, my program, and all my wonderful horse owners, notably Jim and Sara Wildasin, who now own Twizzel along with myself. We expect to do them all proud, and I can only hope that good preparation and a little luck give Ossi and I the chance to do that on the last weekend of April, 2009.
In 2005, I started school at the University of Virginia. My family and I sold one of my advanced horses, Fox-In-Flight, and later sold another one, Ratzi, leaving me with a couple young horses and one old campaigner, Second Hope. School took away some of the opportunities to compete, and so it made sense to take advantage of the time not spent traveling to events to focus on riding and training in its purest sense. I started studying dressage with Gerd Reuter, whose mentoring has now helped define how I approach training the horses on the flat, and who showed me the values of transitions and long-lining. My father being a show jumper, I started to spend more time in this world as well, and Anne Kursinski graciously gave me a lot of her time, inviting me to a couple horse shows to ride some of her horses when her back was giving her trouble. Similarly, Wiljan Larakkers, a friend of my father's in Holland, invited me to Europe to show horses indoors, a hugely beneficial experience. I also examined fitness, where Philip Dutton, who I believe is this country's preeminent master of conditioning, gave me welcome advice. All of these people, as well as the many others whose names number too many for me to mention them all, helped provide me with the backbone of a system or program for training and competing at top-level. It will never be completely fleshed out. There will always be more to add, but this period of time is where I began to construct the foundation for what my program would be.
During this break from competing at top level, I also undertook the task of bringing in some horses that would be ready to take on advanced eventing when I finished school, horses that I could develop to either sell or attract owners. Looking back, the most important acquisition during this time was a nine-year old German-bred Westphalian/TB cross named Twizzel (Argentinus/Lady Bedford xx). By the great Argentinus, "Ossi" inherited from his father a remarkably strong and vibrant personality. Talented but spirited, his physical skills have never overshadowed his wit and intelligence, and he has taught me more than anything the importance of making sure the horse understands the question before he can be expected to answer it. At our first advanced event, we had several stops, and I believe were actually technically eliminated for crossing our tracks. Whereas my two previous horses locked onto to skinny and corner lines with expert accuracy, allowing me to ride aggressively to deep distances, Twizzel much preferred a little time to assess the question and riding him too forcefully before he had a moment to focus on the line caused him to jump out of shape and lose confidence. Gradually, we figured each other out, and now I feel incredibly confident with him on the cross country, and he in me.
To be honest, I did not expect five years to go by before I would get the chance to return to Kentucky. But bumps in the road are inevitable in all walks of life, and a profession in the horse business is certainly not spared of those setbacks. In fact, we were hopeful that Twizzel would be at Kentucky by the spring of 2006, maybe in time to qualify for the WEG that summer, but less than four months after we had bought him, a cyst was found in his shoulder that required surgery and, at the time, seemed to doom his career. But, as his previous owner told me when we took Twizzel, he is a "fighter," and triumphantly returned to eventing in 2007. With a year of training under his belt, and following a great third-place finish at the Fair Hill International last fall, Ossi feels as good as he has ever felt to me.
After five years, returning to Rolex and four-star eventing this spring will be an exciting culmination of one of the most enjoyable periods of my young life, and will be markedly different from my last Kentucky. No longer am I just a participant in this wonderful sport, but now, at twenty-five years old, I am a working professional, and will be representing not only myself, but my business, my sponsors, my incredible groom Andrea Moreau, my program, and all my wonderful horse owners, notably Jim and Sara Wildasin, who now own Twizzel along with myself. We expect to do them all proud, and I can only hope that good preparation and a little luck give Ossi and I the chance to do that on the last weekend of April, 2009.