Anne Gribbons went into the hospital at Thanksgiving with severe stomach pain. As doctors buzzed around her, she learned that her appendix had burst, and she was lucky to be alive.

Just three months later, she’s back in the ring and winning at Grand Prix with her Swedish Warmblood Aureate. The pair won the Grand Prix (64.37%) and the Grand Prix Special (62.80%) at the Zada Cup in Clarcona, Fla., Feb. 11-13.

“Right now I’m not back to full power,” said Gribbons. “But at least I’m riding and made it to the horse show. It was a happy show for me because I was just thrilled to be there.”

A regular contributor to the Chronicle in the Between Rounds columns, Gribbons has been competing Aureate at Grand Prix for 21³2 years from her home base in Chuluota, Fla.

“Last year I was judging extensively, and I had no time to show,” said Gribbons. “Now I’m going to try some qualifiers because I think it’s time to do that.”

She got her first look at Aureate as a 4-year-old in Sweden. By Bernstein out of Erbina, the gelding got his name, which means “gilded,” from his unusual golden color.

“I never rode him when I bought him,” recalled Gribbons, “because I’d had an operation on my leg and couldn’t ride. I took him anyway because I thought he was really talented.”

He learned the Grand Prix movements in just three years, but there is a price to pay for that potential. “Like all very talented horses he can be very difficult,” said Gribbons. “He has major problems focusing. He’ll catch sight of something and suddenly he’ll just leave; mentally he’s not even there anymore.”

Their Grand Prix Special test highlighted Aureate’s lapses in concentration. Gribbons said, “He caught sight of a horse with a blanket walking around at the bottom of the ring and it was very windy. He heard nothing that I said for all the canter work.”

But their first Grand Prix test went far better. “He was really tuned in, and he had some very good stuff there,” she said. “When he’s relaxed enough, then that little tension comes out as brilliance and then he’s so fun and easy.”

Since Aureate is only 11, Gribbons isn’t too worried about his lack of focus. “He has to realize that he knows everything,” she said. “It takes them a certain amount of time, up to two years after they learn everything, until they realize you aren’t going to drop anything new on them.”

She added, “They suddenly get this whole aura of confidence and cool and relaxation. They start realizing they have arrived and then they help you out in the test, rather than trying not to do it or being distracted.”

Still Recovering

Until she’s fully healed, Gribbons isn’t going to push her limits with Aureate. “When we ride, we ride with our abdominals,” she said. “It’s all about the stomach muscles getting strong again and being able to use them and not have it hurt. I think I should just cool my jets a little longer until I’m not so weak.”

The highlight of the weekend for Gribbons wasn’t her own performance though. For the past two years she has taken home the Zada Cup for the highest average FEI score, but this weekend her student Tami Batts stole it away.

“It was wonderful to be beaten by Tami,” said Gribbons. “She had some wonderful tests and I’m really proud of her.”

Batts ventured to Florida from Greensboro, N.C., to get some rare time to herself to work with Gribbons and compete.

“I have a husband and 3-year-old son, so I have to go home,” said Batts. “But it was fun to be here and a privilege to ride with Anne. It was an honor to be in the awards with her and to beat her. That was especi-ally fun!”

Batts competed Vicky Neave’s Ivan in the Prix St. Georges (66.91%) and in the Intermediaire I (69.66%). She won both classes and had the highest FEI score of the weekend.

Neave imported Ivan, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood, with the hope of riding at the FEI level some day. “She wanted the fancy model to do the Prix St. Georges,” said Batts. “That was her dream.”Neave rode her first Prix St. Georges with Ivan in December. “Now she’s done it and she did a good job and we’ll just keep working,” said Batts. “She’s a neurosurgeon so he’s very much her luxury.”

Batts was pleased with both of her tests. “We certainly didn’t have any mistakes and that’s always helpful,” she mused. “He can be dramatic in his extended trots and canters. His flying changes are pretty.”

Although the Prix St. Georges test was the lower score, Batts didn’t necessarily think it was the worse test. “On the second day the scores all come up a bit,” she said. “His canter pirouettes are his sticky points, and they’re coefficients in the Prix St. Georges and that hurts us a little bit.”

Feathers Fly In The Freestyle

Goffert 369 often makes heads turn ashe canters down centerline in the Grand Prix. A purebred Friesian stallion, he looks the part and impressed the judges at the Zada Cup with his flowing freestyle (68.60%).

But Belinda Nairn-Wertman and “Herbie” were feeling a little out of shape for the early season show. Nairn-Wertman had been in Thailand visiting her father, and Herbie spent the last two months in the breeding shed, so the pair only had two weeks to get back into the swing of things.

“I almost didn’t show him because he’s a little bit fat,” said Nairn-Wertman with a laugh. “But he’s always game, so I did. I did have mistakes in the two tempis and the one tempis, but we still got a good score. The things he did well, he did very well.”

Nairn-Wertman has ridden Herbie for Iron Spring Farm for two years. When Mary Alice Malone got busy with her daughter’s college search, Nairn-Wertman took him on for the winter.

“I thought I’d just have him for the Florida season,” said Nairn-Wertman. “But he and I really clicked.”

Under Nairn-Wertman, Herbie, now 11, was fully approved by the Friesian Studbook in the Netherlands for both his performance and his offspring. According to Nairn-Wertman, Herbie is the first Dutch-approved Friesian stallion to compete at Grand Prix.

That achievement led to an invitation for his participation in the 125th anniversary of the Friesian stud book in the Netherlands. In November the pair traveled to Europe with Malone and another stallion, Heinse 354.

There was very little warm-up before heading into the packed indoor at the Friesian Exposition Center with more than 7,000 spectators. “I was really glad to be riding a Friesian,” said Nairn-Wertman. “They’re wonderful horses, very cool-minded, honest horses.”

Nairn-Wertman hopes to return to Europe to compete with him some day. “I’ve ridden in a lot of competitions on a lot of horses, and he’s definitely enjoyable. I don’t worry about having problems with anything in the test because he has no problems. He goes like a machine,” she said.

Nairn-Wertman wasn’t concerned about the mistakes they made at the Zada Cup. “He’s very good in the piaffe and passage and also in the pirouettes,” she stated. “Usually he’s a very reliable straightforward horse to ride; he just lacks condition right now.”

Proper Position Matters

Iris Bolt didn’t have any complaints about her horse Silver’s fitness, but she had a few about her own. “I felt pretty good, but then I saw the videotape and I was just flopping on top of him!” she exclaimed.

Bolt is a German native who followed an unusual course by learning her dressage skills here in the United States. “I rode in Germany as a kid, but it was just group lessons and all we learned was heels down and diagonals,” she said.

When her job brought her to horse country in Longwood, Fla., 12 years ago, she and her husband got interested in horses. Silver, an 8-year-old Trakhener she imported three years ago, is the third horse she’s owned.

Bolt may have been disappointed in her riding, but her scores showed a solid performance. She won both her first level classes and also second level, test 2 (63.78%).

“Silver is the perfect horse,” enthused Bolt. “He is not the world’s best horse, but he’s perfect for me. Because he has the best attitude, never says no, he’s easy to teach and he’ll do everything willingly.”

She added, “He’s also a sweet, sweet pet and everybody should have a horse like that in their life that they can learn on and have fun with.”

An adult amateur, she must balance taking care of her husband, house and 2-year-old daughter with her riding. “I can only ride three days a week now when I get a babysitter,” said Bolt, who trains with Nancy Smith. “I try to take a lesson those three days.”

Bolt competed through Prix St. Georges with another horse, but this time she’s serious about seeing it through from beginning to end.

“My last mare could just do it and it was fun, but now I want to go back and do it right,” she said. “Every now and then you get three good steps where the horse is really straight and up and through and he’s just perfect in your hand and I think that’s the addiction, what keeps you going.”