Horse Show & Clinic Coverage

Olds College Team Wins International Championship

by Judy Wardrope | June 14, 2007

Teams from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, the United States and Canada were invited to send three riders, one alternate and a coach to Delaware Valley College in Pennsylvania to compete in the second Intercollegiate World Equestrian Cup from May 29th to June 1st.

Canadians not only took the team championship, each team member won a portion of the competition and one member was the high-point individual, making it a clean sweep of the awards.

But the team from Olds College didn’t enter the competition expecting to win. Team coach and Olds College instructor, Cathy Chalack, said, “We were a bit intimidated. All the schools represented have a four-year program, except Olds College, which has a two-year program.”

Jennifer Smart, a second-year student and recent graduate, said, “Our expectations were to get a feel of the competition for future years. Not to be last would be nice, but to win was a huge surprise, especially against the elite squads. Some [of the other competitors] were grand prix riders in dressage and jumping and some were three-star eventer riders.” Her reaction to the win? “Fantastic! Wonderful!”

Putting it Together

Cathy Chalack, English Horsemanship and Stable Management instructor at Olds College, mentioned the competition to her students last year, but the 2006 competition was cancelled. When the invitation to attend the 2007 competition arrived, Jennifer Smart and Kelly McAdam got together to organize a team and find funding.

McAdam said, “We decided we would go because it was in the US and not going to cost a ton of money. We delegated, and it was student governed, but Cathy oversaw it. Jenn and I evaluated the first-year students along with Cathy.”

Smart said, “We got funding from a variety of sources: the AEF (Alberta Equestrian Federation), the Office of Advancement at Olds College and the Animal Science department of Olds College, plus a lot from Tess’ family. Equiproducts donated saddle pads, and Cavalier donated jackets and gloves and gave us discounts on other clothing. At first it was all out of pocket, but by the time we collect all the funding, it will nearly all be paid for.”

Pat Barrage of the Alberta Equestrian Federation said, “AEF is very pleased to support one of our key industry partners, Olds College, and their equestrian team. We’re absolutely thrilled with their results.”

Chalack said, “Olds College paid our entry fee ($250), the Office of Advancement gave the students a $1,500 bursary (divided four ways) and Extension Services paid us for taking promotional material. The College’s professional development program supplied $1,600 funding for airfare, meals, some accommodations and some of the car rental. My parents, Joanne and Jim Hole, provided $700 towards transportation and accommodation.” Coincidentally, Jim Hole is an Olds College graduate.

Johnston added, “We were lucky that it was just in the United States, not Europe, or we wouldn’t have been able to do it financially. We all have tuition costs or student loans.”

Next year’s competition is slated to be hosted in The Netherlands, and Olds College is considering hosting in 2009.

The Plan

Chalack said, “When we started to talk about strategy months before the competition, we asked ourselves, ‘What are our strengths?’ We said that the one thing we could control was the written test, and that teamwork usually shines in this type of competition”

Smart, who scored the highest mark of all 18 competitors in the written test with a 98%, said, “The written test was the one thing we knew we could control, so we studied, and we were all in the ribbons. In jumping [the plan] was adapting to the horse and paying attention to the track and pace.” 

The written phase accounted for 30% of the total mark and was based on the BHS Complete Manual of Stable Management. As a bonus, those who scored 95% or more had .4 points in dressage and .3 points in jumping added to their riding scores. Those below 70% had .8 and .6 points deducted.

The regulations stated, “In all riding phases, the competitor should demonstrate a soft, precise, working performance of the required test/course, exhibiting cooperation between horse and rider. The competitor should demonstrate a good position and a workmanlike ride.” The jumping and dressage tests were conducted aboard horses supplied by the hosting college with only a short assessment period and a 10-minute warm-up allowed.

Because the jumping portion, which accounted for 35% of the total mark, was judged based in part on optimum time, they used Chalack’s knowledge of course designs and assessed each horse’s stride. As Tess Novacek, who won the dressage portion and was third in the written test, said, “We just listened and followed Cathy’s plan.”

Dressage, which accounted for 35% of the total mark, consisted of a First Level Test under the Intercollegiate Dressage Association. Johnston, who won the jumping portion and was fourth in the written test, said, “We were nervous going in, but knew we had capable riders. There was no pressure; we planned to go out and have fun and try our best. We knew what our strengths were and we helped each other. Kelly helped me a lot with the small stuff in the dressage test.”

Results by Design

Team members no longer see their lack of show experience as a disadvantage. They now see the foundations they learned at Olds College as an advantage.

Smart, a 21-year-old from BC, said, “We’ve been training at the college, not necessarily showing. Cathy trains us how to approach and train the horse, how to ride gently and not force it, to use his strengths to improve his confidence while working on his weaknesses. We received compliments on how quiet and soft we were with the horses.”

Novacek, a 19-year-old from BC, said, “We got compliments from all the other coaches about how well we were able to adapt to each horse.”

McAdam, a 21-year-old from Ontario, added, “We got comments from other riders too. To Cathy’s credit, she set us up to do well in this competition and sometimes without much support. At school we ride so many horses – like catch riding – and that was beneficial.”

The Future

This Cinderella story will have ripple effects. Chalack, who gave a 30-minute presentation on Olds College and the Albert Horse Industry to organizers, competitors and coaches, said, “The administration of Olds College was pleasantly surprised at how well our students did. They were guarded about sending us, but they wondered where we stacked up internationally. When we returned to Olds College with the plaque, we heard, ‘Thank you for putting Olds College on the map. We’ll all benefit through admissions, more horses into the program, etc.’ It heightened the awareness of Olds College, and the timing was important as they are putting $6 million towards a new equine facility at the College.”

Team Results
Champion: Canada
Reserve Champion: USA
Third: Great Britain
Fourth: Italy
Fifth: The Netherlands
Sixth: Germany

From a Personal Perspective

While interviewing the Canadian participants for this article, I was surprised that each made mention of the application of my theories functional conformation as contributing to their win. I am very proud of the Olds College team’s accomplishment. I am thrilled that the principles of functional conformation had practical applications for them when assessing the mounts they drew.

Team coach and Olds College instructor Cathy Chalack commented that “Functional conformation is one of the tools we used to assess the horses quickly. Pillar of support was one thing we really looked at. I said, ‘We’re not here to fix the horses; we’ll adapt to the horse, ride them the way they wanted to be ridden. You can’t change them in 10 minutes.’ Bottom line: that’s why we did so well. I even took Horse Sport magazines with me to introduce functional anatomy to the other coaches. I have to say that you (for the functional conformation) Trish Mrakawa (for the coaching skills) and Sandy Alexander (through his clinics) have been mentors to me.”

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