 ™Region 9 Championships Shawnee, OK by Kyra Beth Houston |
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Peggy Sue Blair
Advice to those considering dressage. "Shoot yourself in the foot, it's easier. I have barrel raced, ridden on drill teams, jumped, just about everything you can do with a horse except polo, and found that dressage is the hardest but most fun." "I have 378 recipes for humble pie and I have an acquired taste for burned feathers from eating crow." "You cannot whip a ballerina and make her dance. You can't whip a horse and make him do dressage." "Dressage is a long conversation with your horse. If he doesn't want to talk to you, you can't do dressage. He may be wonderful in another discipline, but not dressage." "If it isn't basically fun, don't do it." "Buy the very best horse you can and never buy a cheap bridle. You can buy a crappy bridle twice or three times, or you can buy one good one." "If you want to spend 25 years learning, start dressage." It took me 22 years to get my USDF Bronze Medal, I got my 1st and 2nd Level scores in the 1970's and Chadohn finally got me my medal in 1999. Peggy's Friends' "Dressage isn't an addiction -- you're just obsessed." "Everyone needs a Professor like Pete." |
Peggy Sue Blair & Chadohn
Peggy Sue Blair may not be the oldest competitor at Region 9 Championships, but she and Chadohn a.k.a. Pete can certainly claim the oldest horse/rider combined age of 76. Without a doubt, they did earn the USDF Region 9 Reserve Championship at Prix St. Georges - Open -- the last pair to compete at the Championships on Sunday afternoon. This is the third USDF Championship that Peggy has been a competitor. In the mid 70's she competed in 1st Level Regional Championships on Fagan (a.k.a. Jack) and then took Christopher Robin to 2nd Level Regional Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park. Before USDF used social security numbers for membership, Peggy joined as participating member # 92. Peggy comes from a non-equestrian family and at the age of 4, after a year of throwing serious fits to get to ride, her mother decided it best to let her ride at the riding school across the road from their home in rural Kansas City because she correctly feared that the determined Peggy would attempt to visit the horses via the pipeline that crossed the river separating their home from the stable. When she tried to enroll 4 year old Peggy in lessons, the school refused saying she was way too young. "What if I throw in her older brother?" An offer the school couldn't refuse even though Peggy's 7 year old brother had little interest in horses and quit as soon as the school learned that Peggy would not be denied access to riding horses. Peggy rode English until she was 9, when the family moved to Oklahoma and she switched to western including barrels, drill team, reining, and trail. At 17, Francis Duke, gave her a ride on her hunter and Peggy switched to hunter/jumpers which she rode in college. When Sarah Hall Clark invited Peggy to go on a 3 day event, Peggy enthusiastically agreed asking what's a 3 day? "Cross country over fences [no problem], stadium jumping [no problem], and dressage." When Peggy asked: "What's dressage?", Sarah replied, "Oh, it's just walk, trot and canter on the flat." "OK, I can do that." and that's how Peggy started her dressage career with a First Place win from Judge Hilda Gurney who gave her her first dressage lesson the next day. Peggy said, "I couldn't ride a 20 meter circle because I didn't know metric measurements and I hadn't a clue about bend." But I came out of that lesson saying: "I'm going to learn how to do this dressage." My first "dressage" horse was Fagan, a.k.a. Jack, a black thoroughbred cross who loked like he was made out of spare parts from a government salvage yard. He took me to second level and my first Regional Championship at 1st Level earning my first scores for my USDF Bronze Medal. Jack was a great teacher and had only one rule: "Thou shalt not hit me in the mouth over a jump." If I did, and he thought it was just necessary to teach me a lesson, he would merely buck me off immediately and then stand quietly waiting for me to remount. But if he thought I knew better, he would immediately buck me off and take off for the barn, leaving me to walk home. Before we formed Oklahoma Dressage Society to bring in clinicians, we had an "Adult Pony Club" so we could pool our funds and afford a clinician. Chadohn a.k.a Pete was imported by Linda Zang who qualified with him for the 1990 Olympic fest at PSG and Intermediaire 1 at Gladstone. JoAnn Findley bought him but eventually a degenerative neck problem forced her to give up riding. When Sarah Hall Clark told Peggy that Pete, now 19 and lame, was available, Peggy immediately called her bank and arranged to buy him. November 15 will be their third anniversary of dressage partnership. In the first 18 months, Pete took Peggy from 2nd level where she had been for over 20 years, to PSG. "I never rode him that he didn't teach me something. He is the quintessential schoolmaster. Peggy's trainers have included Charlotte Kerr, Sarah Hall Clark, Carol Grant and numerous clinicians. Sarah is a tiny woman but she can really make a horse dance. "I listen to Pete. I can tell him incorrectly five times in a row, and five times n a row he will respond correctly by not doing what I trying to request. But if I finally ask him correctly on the sixth attempt, he immediately does it right. Pete is also teaching me to ride my younger mare. When I play with my body and get it open, she flows. When I don't get it right, she crumples up like the hunchback Quasimodo and just cripples along. She can go instantly from flowing to cripple to flowing in the span of merely seconds responding instantly to my position and giving me instant feedback on my correctness." A Bit of Oklahoma Horse History. At the end of World War II, European horses were considered "war booty" and shipped to the US. El Reno, Oklahoma, just west of Oklahoma City, was one of the designated dispersal points. When Patton snatched the Lipizzans out of Russian control, he didn't just snatch Lipizzans, he didn't have time to sort horses, he just took them all to the American zone. Wytez II, Arabian stallion was sold through the El Reno auction as were many European warmblood mares, geldings and stallions. For years after the auctions, through the 50s, Oklahoma horses just came out of the woodwork -- crosses of unknown parentage with the European "booty". Wylie Jones was a reputable horse trader who ran many of the auctions and imported a lot of horses from Europe after the war. John Frizzel, who made his fortune in Oklahoma oil, was a member of a coaching club & brought coaches from Europe. John & Wylie picked a team of bays and sent them to Queen Elizabeth for her coronation. She sent them a set of harness as a thank you. The coaches are now a museum collection. |
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