BEHIND THE SCENES WITH DEBBIE ROSEN
Apr 28th, 10
By Lisa Thomas
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH DEBBIE ROSEN
Debbie Rosen hails from El Sueno Equestrian Center in Los Angeles county where she has a thriving Event business which focuses on amateur event riders ranging from Novice to the 3* level. She has been in the training business for 25 years now, with approximately 20 full time students & several who trailer in for their lessons. El Sueno Equestrian Center is unusual in that there are 5 trainers on site who run their own independent businesses, and they are able to do it in peaceful harmony!
This is Debbie’s third return to Rolex, and her second on The Alchemyst, who she purchased four years ago from the Jackie Blackman (Ringoes, NJ) and Doug Payne had taken the then 6 year old Albert to the 1* level. Debbie’s prior horse, Gringosch, was her fantasy on four legs……a horse that she imported from Germany after falling in love with his sales tape, which was intended for another rider. She threw all caution to the wind & maxed out 5 credit cards to pay for this top level event horse, who had movement worth all the risk. He proved his worth by getting her Kentucky in 2004, but unfortunately pulled 2 shoes on cross country, requiring her to retire. A month later at home, Gringosh had a career ending injury in his stall, which required a year of rehab before he could come back into work. Happily, Gringosh does have a second career with Debbie’s working student who now competes him at 3rd level dressage & just completed her first preliminary level event this season.Her current partner, the Alchemyst, known about the barn as Albert, is quite the personality. This became quite apparent during our interview, when Albert took offense to our lack of attention to him & decided to free himself from his stall! He also objected to being put back in “time out”, which officially required an immediate lock down of the stall door. Oh well Albert, you should try escaping at an event that doesn’t have quite as many security personnel on site!!
Albert is quick, often naughty and with one mean buck that can confirm his athletic ability. He’s prone to drop a shoulder (again another characteristic confirmed in this morning’s dressage warm-up) and to go backwards when he should be moving forwards. Even with these quirky little challenges, he’s the most amazing XC horse that Debbie has ever ridden. The trick for Debbie is learning how to channel all his ability into a focused horse who can respect the job at hand. His dressage has become much more consistent & obedient, while he’s matured enough to respect the rails in stadium. Debbie was happy with his dressage performance this morning (a very respectable 62) where he was coming through well, but rushed a bit with his changes. Again her goal with XC & stadium is to harness his energy & to make sure that the external stimuli doesn’t distract him from the job at hand.
After the 2009 trip to Rolex, the plan was to run in the Rebecca Farms 3*. Debbie went in for her annual physical when her doctor found the lump that had gone undetected on her mammogram screening. An MRI confirmed stage 3 breast cancer which had spread into 3 of her lymph nodes. The result was surgery & 6 rounds of chemo, which just concluded on March 3rd.
Originally, it was a challenge to manage the cancer & to not let it alter her life. For Debbie, not working wasn’t an option. After recovering from the initial emotional reaction to this type of diagnosis, she had to regroup & figure out how to LIVE with cancer. What could she do to keep on riding & working with the ultimate goal being Rolex? Like most horse women, she was used to being independent & asking for a ride to the hospital was a frustration for her. What she found was that the process during chemo was quite predictable & she could come up with a regular plan to manage the side effects and the down time. Somehow she managed to teach every day and to consistently get on Albert. Her clients with horses in training were very supportive on the days that she didn’t have the energy to ride others….and her assistant trainer, Kara Kask was always ready to back her up. Her support group was in place and her consistent mental therapy was found on the back of her horse.
Debbie’s approach to managing her cancer has obviously been her recipe for recovery. Her last pet scan was clear, and the plan after Rolex is to head to Rebecca Farms & then the Galway 3*. She still has the challenges of 6 weeks of radiation treatments in front of her, but her hopes are that 6 months from now it will look like a speed bump.
Any competitor at the top level of eventing would concur that training for this sport requires true dedication, commitment & determination. Debbie has a unique psychological perspective that has allowed her to gain the upper hand on her cancer, but unfortunately she’s seen others fail at managing their treatment. Without sounding too stoic, she found that “training” for her treatments as one would train for the sport gave her the strength to conquer her illness. Cancer patients always say that if the cancer doesn’t kill you the treatment will…..& she wants to help fellow cancer patients triumph over their treatment so they can beat the disease. Debbie’s near term goal is to form an organization that unites athletes with cancer so they can empower one another to beat the disease. My gut instinct tells me that if she was able to find the determination to make it to Rolex, she’s got enough inspiration to make this goal happen as well.
Kick on Debbie!