In this series, the Chronicle follows six riders as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams in Hong Kong in 2008.
After my first trip to Rolex Kentucky in 2006, I kind of looked ahead. I’d been doing the [U.S. Equestrian Federation] developing riders program with Kim Severson for a few years, and my goal was to get on the team training list.
Of course, once you’re on the training list, you want to make the team, and it was my goal to be looked at as a candidate for the 2007 Pan Am Games.
But Gryffindor had a minor injury while training for the Pan Am Games, and we had a very quiet fall. I started him back on flatwork in November and started jumping in December. I was walk hacking him the entire time—there was no stall rest or time off. He came back great—he feels and looks great.
Now I’m down in Aiken, S.C., to take advantage of the team training sessions, and we’re working a lot on dressage and show jumping.
We’re going to start the season at Southern Pines (N.C.) in March, on the way back home to Virginia, and then go to the CIC***W at The Fork (N.C.), then Kentucky. The idea is to do enough so that he’s ready for Rolex Kentucky, since I have to get him qualified, but not to do so much that I use him up.
It’s been a long relationship with him, and that’s the advantage of knowing him so well. He’s 14 this year, and I got him when he was 5.
As far as cross-country goes, he knows his job well. We have plenty of time to work on the parts that need improving—the dressage and show jumping—and then get the kinks out on cross-country, just make sure we have steering and brakes. I trust him a lot on cross-country. He’s my first advanced horse, and he’s pretty amazing out there, so it doesn’t bother me to just run him two times this spring.
The Work Picks Up
I was really excited heading into the training sessions. Lauren Hough is someone we hadn’t ridden with before, and Laura Kraut really helped with our show jumping last year. Capt. Mark Phillips helped us immensely last year, and I was looking forward to more. I wanted to really show improvement, to show that I did my homework.
Parts of the training were really good, and parts were a little kick in the pants. It makes me work harder, to do my homework all the more. I would have liked to have been working on my dressage all fall and winter, and we have to make up for that time off now.
We’ve been focusing on show jumping. We’ve changed his balance to be more up, which definitely helps. I feel I can ride him more forward from his hind end and he has more power off the ground.
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One of the advantages of being in Aiken with Gryffindor and just three other young horses is that it gives me time to put my main focus on my horses. I’m my own groom, too. At home (where I have more clients to teach and train), my riding time is never stinted, but sometimes my on-ground time is. I’m really getting to spend the time I used to spend with him, the time that made our relationship what it is—grooming, sitting in his stall while I talk on the phone, just spending time with my horse.
Every day I hack him for 40-60 minutes, then do flatwork or gallop, some kind of work, for another 30-45 minutes. He always comes to work every day, but he’s not a pushover. He has his own opinions.
The U.S. Olympic Committee had people come to the training sessions to talk to us about conditioning and nutrition and what they’re available to help us with. I’m making sure I’m as fit as I can be, which is a necessity for Hong Kong, where there will be heat conditions like no one has ever experienced.
I’m trying to do more cardiovascularly, which is a big concern for me. I know I don’t deal well with the Virginia summers, so I have to get as fit as I can. I hate running, but I am walking and using an elliptical machine at the end of the day or in the morning.
The nutritionist thought I was chronically dehydrated. I have to make sure I drink lots of fluids—take the time and make the effort.
Gryffindor gets regular vet checks and massages and acupuncture and all the things I don’t get that I’d love to have. He gets weekly Adequan and Legend, as well as Wellpride, Reit Sport HA100, Vitamin E and selenium, electrolytes, daily Ulcerguard, and I have him on Buckeye feeds.
Keeping Things In Perspective
I need to start thinking about fundraisers. I’m not good at promoting myself—it doesn’t come easily for me. But it’s a good life experience to have to take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. Public speaking and self-promotion are seriously important in this sport, and I have to work on that.
When I left my job with a salary in Washington, when I sat down and looked at what it cost to take care of an advanced horse for a year, it’s one of those things that you wish you hadn’t put down on paper.
This year, especially, I want to do everything I can to make sure I get the best training and that my horse gets everything he needs to be in the best physical and mental condition. You add it up in your head and say I don’t know if I can afford this, but it’s got to get done. I’m trying to make sure I address all of that and not let it go by the wayside.
In addition to the team training, I work on my show jumping with Jan Byyny and my dressage with Mara Dean. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Silva Martin’s dressage, so I hope to work with her when I get home. And I’d love to get more help from Laura Kraut, depending on where she is over the summer.
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I don’t want to say I have no expectations, because I’m competitive, and I want to be on that team. But my main goal is to ride with the best and be the best we can be. Being the best we can be could put us on the team. If that happens, it’s icing on the cake. It’s the whole experience that is a wonderful thing, and I enjoy being part of it.
Hometown: Recently moved from Redmond, Wash., now living in Lovettsville, Va.
Age: 36
Horses: Gryffindor, 14-year-old, bay Thoroughbred gelding. (Country Light—LaniMolly)
- 1st place 2006 American Eventing Championships advanced;
- 6th place 2006 Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.);
- 27th place 2006 Rolex Kentucky CCI****;
- 4th place 2007 The Fork CIC***W (N.C.)
About Gryffindor: “If he was a guy, I’d marry him,” Bachman said. “I just love him. I can’t imagine my life without him—I could get a panic attack just thinking of that. At some point in my life, I’m going to have to deal with it. He’s done so much for me, and I love being around him.”
How U.S. Eventers Will Qualify For The 2008 Olympics
Riders must first earn a FEI Certificate of Capability for the Olympics by achieving a qualifying result at a CCI*** and a CIC*** or in a CCI**** in the current or preceding calendar year and no later than June 30, 2008.
Horse/rider combinations will be required to complete one of the designated selection trials, which include: in 2007—Rolex Kentucky CCI****; Badminton CCI**** (England); Saumur CCI*** (France); Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.); Brahman CCI*** (England); Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Germany); Pan American Games CH*** (Brazil); Burghley CCI**** (England); Blenheim CCI*** (England); Boekelo CCI*** (the Netherlands); Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.); Pau CCI**** (France); and in 2008—Rolex Kentucky CCI****; Rolex Kentucky selection division; Badminton CCI****; Saumur CCI***; Jersey Fresh CCI***; Bramham CCI***; Bromont CCI*** (Que.);
Luhmuhlen CCI****.
By no later than June 30, a short list will be drawn up by the USEF Eventing Selectors (Peter Green,
Bea diGrazia, Anne Getchell, Ann Taylor, Mark Weissbecker), subject to approval by the USEF Eventing High Performance Committee, the USEF High Performance Working Group and the USEF Executive Committee.
There will be a mandatory outing at an advanced horse trial or combined test for short-listed horses
and riders between June 30 and July 15.
After the mandatory outing and before July 15 (the closing date for USOC final entries), the current fitness, soundness and ability of horse/rider combinations on the short list will be evaluated by the selectors. The
selectors will consult with the USEF Technical Advisor/Chef d’Equipe and the veterinary panel.
Based on the selectors’ evaluation and nominations to the USEF Eventing High Performance Committee and the USEF High Performance Working Group, the USEF Executive Committee or Subcommittee will nominate five horse/rider combinations and replacement combinations for the team.
