by Elizabeth Stein
Most of us are never going to get to ride with George
Morris. It’s the inconvenient truth of our sport that there are only five spots
on the Olympic Show-Jumping Team and one is an alternate. Even though you might
not ever get to ride with any of the greats, that doesn’t mean that there are
not still plenty of opportunities to audit and learn from them. Youtube,
usef.org, and eqsports.net (just to name a few) are the places to go for most of
us, and maybe some top riders come to stables near you for the live experience.
This year though, one of my closest friends got the chance
to go down to Wellington, Florida and audit a bit of the George H. Morris
Horsemastership Training Session, and I get to live vicariously through her and
tell all of you about it. First though a
brief interlude into how we met just so no one’s confused on why I’m telling
this story.
 |
| Cristina Wiersma, Beezie Madden and Julia Wiersma. |
I met Julia Wiersma when I transferred to Northern Illinois University
last year. She was on the equestrian team and I had my heart set on joining. We
bonded over our love of horses (I know its totally a cliché but it’s the truth)
and now we’re roommates and I count her as one of my closest friends. So when
she told me she was going down to Florida over winter break, I was insanely
jealous not only because Chicago is cold and desolate, but also because she was
going to visit Wellington, or to be more specific WEF, and get to see the
George H. Morris Horsemastership Training Session.
As we all know, this year’s Training Session was different
than the past because there was no George Morris. Luckily, Julia and I were
able to audit one of last clinics George taught last year at Annali-Brookwood
Farm. However, even though the master wasn’t present, nothing was lacking with
Christine Traurig, Beezie Madden, Lauren Hough, Anne Kursinski, and Laura Kraut
at the helm.
Julia was able to relay her time at WEF back to me first
hand so I can share it with you and I’m not surprised by the positive
experience she had.
STAR STRUCK
“Being at Wellington was such an
amazing experience,” said Julia. “Just
walking onto the property was so exciting. I was just there on vacation with my
family and we were able to go visit on Friday and Saturday. Seeing Beezie Madden
and Laura Kraut was like seeing a movie star! It was such an amazing
opportunity watching Beezie ride and to listen to her teach. I’ve watched many
of George Morris’ clinics, and Beezie and Laura did a great job as the
clinicians for his Horsemanship Training Session. I thought it was a great
opportunity for anyone and everyone to go watch the clinic, especially since it
was free. Even though it was live streamed online, being there in person gave
it a more realistic feel. After each day at the clinic, I was able to get a
picture with both Beezie and Laura. I was definitely star struck by them and
was nervous to ask but they were so nice! They are my role models and I hope
one day I will be able to ride with them!”
Julia also shared with me another important part of the
clinic and that’s the sportsmanship and camaraderie it teaches outside of
riding. You always hear about it but its nice to see it in action. For IHSA, we
ride borrowed horses not only to practice on but at shows as well and to see
others in the sport participate in the same way and loan their horses to other
riders who might not have been able to participate otherwise, is always nice to
hear about.
As Julia stated, “Being on the NIU Equestrian Team, it was
great to see that people offered up their horses for some of the riders to use.
It means a lot to us when people so generously offer their horses."
Our sport giving back in such a unique way with clinics from
our top stars, really sets us apart from other sports, especially with the fact
this clinic in particular was free to audit and can still be seen for free
online. It’s opportunities like these from our top riders coming back to teach
up and coming riders and auditors that help to advance our sport in a real way.
Even if we won’t all get to ride with George Morris, its through clinics and
experiences like these that we can all benefit from his teachings.
To view the clinic online visit www.usefnetwork.com.
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