The best kept secret at the WEF showgrounds is the Walk, Walk-Trot Division. If you sleep in on Sunday and arrive 10 minutes after 8 am you will probably miss the entire first class – the Walk class. Competitors can be as young as three years old and the number of entries varies from week to week – sometimes two or three and other times as many as 16!
The kids and ponies are as impeccably turned out as any junior medal riders and their mounts, but with braids and lots of ribbons. The occasional little boy can also be found. They start precisely at 8:00 a.m. every Sunday, and family and trainers are all there cheering them on – in fact, well known trainers are often family in this division. One of the judges on a previous occasion spoke about how intimidating it can be to have to choose among kids whose pro Grand Prix rider parents are hovering at the in-gate!
The numbers decrease for the more advanced Trot class. Can you believe that these kids all post on the correct diagonal? Creative techniques abound to assist the really young riders – like knots in the reins, and a bracelet on one hand, so when a turn right or left is necessary “pull the hand with the bracelet!” is heard – then the hand without is used for the other direction. Hunterland is not usually filled with spectators or clapping but this division brought with it enthusiastic folks who were not hesitant to whoop and holler.
The class following the Walk/Trot is – wait for it – Walk Trot Jump. Each rider enters separately, from the in-gate and trots over a teeny crossrail (away from the gate) and halts on the other side, amid lots of clapping (after the pony has halted, of course!) The more advanced division is Crossrail – two courses over fences and one on the flat. Next is the Short Stirrup – younger and older. This is where our major Canadian shows usually start.
There are definitely classes for every level here. This year several new divisions are offered – the Performance Hunter 3’6 and 3′, the WEF Hunter 3’3″ and 3′, Ami Owner 3’3″, and Adult Amateur 3’3″. Horses in the WEF and Performance divisions can be ridden by pros, adults, or juniors to warm up for classes later in the week, to bring back an injured horse, or just to show at those heights without having a first year green hunter. A 13 year old boy recently rode in a Performance 3’6″ class to warm up for the Junior Hunters later in the week. His coach, a well-known trainer, spoke to him about his trip, pointing out some little details to be worked on, while his Mom came up grinning ear to ear and said “Yaay – you got all the jumps!”
When hard working show horses need some pampering, one place to go is The Sanctuary, which provides several state of the art equine treatments at the WEF showgrounds. The public was recently invited to an Open House to view the equipment and chat with the staff over wine and snacks. Benefits to the horses were outlined for us in hand out information sheets. A horse was exercising in the Aqua-Pacer as people arrived. He was walking submerged mid chest in this above ground underwater treadmill system designed for low impact conditioning. Each exercise is customized to the horse’s needs regarding water height, treadmill speed and treatment time. Horses sometimes are hesitant at first, but apparently as they start to feel better, they quite enjoy it.
Human guests were encouraged to step into the Equivibe Vibration plates “stall”. The solarium overhead provided very pleasant toasty infrared light therapy but the vibrations in the floor were bone jarring to humans. The staff member cranked it up to give us a thrill! This therapy improves circulation and oxygen uptake in the horse’s muscles and helps alleviate pain and inflammation in soft tissue injuries. Most importantly it maintains bone integrity and density when a horse is laid up and has little or no exercise. The light therapy helps release lactic acid build up which causes horses to “tie up” and increases blood and oxygen supply to their systems.
Another helpful treatment for legs is one involving cold saltwater – 250 pounds of Epsom and sea salts mixed in a tank with cold water kneedeep or lower, which after a few minutes’ treatment keeps a horse’s legs cool for two to four hours. The high salinity acts as a natural poultice. Laser and electromagnetic pulse therapy are also available as well as a respiratory treatment using an open muzzle mask.
This year’s horse show has brought record high numbers in jumpers particularly but also in some of the hunter divisions. Low Adults and Low Children’s are very popular again this year, with two sections every week except hunter spectacular week when only one section was offered – making 59 total in the Low Adults – requiring the class to be split and two sets of ribbons awarded. They even had their own Classic. The small ponies had 66 entries two weeks ago and the mediums had 74!
In Jumperland some 1m40 classes have had as many as 86 entries, while some Grand Prix entries have totalled 86 and 91! Having set the course for week four’s record high entries, this year’s Olympic Games course designer Bob Ellis of Great Britain said he had never had a grand prix anywhere with so many horses in it. He added that top riders from all over the world are here and quite a few of them will be going to the Games.
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