people

Archived Posts from this Category

October 16, 2009

getting to know … Kathy Courtemanche

Posted by Jennifer under people
Leave a Comment 

This week’s participant in our interview series is Kathy Courtemanche. She works part-time in the CAA office and helps us with all sorts of projects. She has also served for the past couple of years as the secretary for the National Drive, which is a HUGE job.

Where do you live?  Kentucky

For those who don’t know you: How are you involved in the driving/carriage world?  We own four horses, three who drive. We compete in both pleasure shows and CDEs. I groom for an advanced CDE driver

How long have you been driving?  Thirty years

How did you become interested in this sport/world? My horse wanted to drive, not ride

Are you a CAA member?  Yes, for three years now

If you drive: What was your first equine?  A Morgan/Arabian cross

What do you drive now?  A Morgan

What types of carriage(s) do you drive?  We have a Bennington competition vehicles and a Pacific training cart

What is the most interesting/far-flung place that your driving has taken you?  We vacationed with our Morgan in Vermont, just driving around the state

Is there a particular era/time period/type of vehicle in history that you would enjoy traveling back to … and driving in?  England or Europe, from 1850 to 1900

As a competitor, what’s your favorite type of competition / class / CDE phase?  I like dressage and marathon in CDEs and turnout classes in pleasure shows

Do/did you ride or participate in other horse sports?  I rode Morgans, Saddlebreds, and Quarter Horses

What do you like best about driving as a hobby/sport? The people are great. I love to compete, and driving is one of the last “clean sports” left

What car do you drive?  PT Cruiser

Do you have a “dream” car you wish you could drive?  A new 1-ton truck

What was your first car?  1960 VW

Do you have any other pets?  We have two dogs and five cats

What is your favorite food/cuisine?  Mexican or Chinese

What was the last movie you saw?  Julie and Julia; I thought it was very funny but sad at times

What is your favorite holiday?  The fourth of July because of the food, friends, and fireworks

 

September 25, 2009

getting to know … Chester Weber

Posted by Jennifer under people
Leave a Comment 

This week’s participant in our new “getting to know you” series is Chester Weber, who is the reigning national champion in the advanced/FEI four-in-hand division. He also won the individual silver medal at last year’s FEI World Driving Championship in Holland. Chester hopes to secure his seventh consecutive national championship at next week’s Lexington Combined Driving Classic / WEG test event, here at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Where do you live?  Florida

For those who don’t know you: How are you involved in the driving/carriage world? Mainly combined driving; however, I am a member of the NY Coaching Club and enjoy coaching at Newport too

How old were you when you began driving?  Started driving at 10 with draft horses, and at 13 was in my first CDE

How did you become interested in this sport/world? My family has a Thoroughbred farm and it started as a family hobby

Do you come from a driving/horsy family?  Yes, Live Oak Stud, my family’s farm, is very active in racing and my wife and niece ride jumpers too

What was your first driving equine?  A draft horse named George

What do you drive now?  Four-in-hand of mixed warmbloods

What types of carriage(s) do you drive/collect?  Mainly sport carriages, but I still have two old hitch wagons that are of great importance to me; both are on original gears, one is a stake wagon and the other has solid sides

Do you have a favorite vehicle among your own collection?  The large hitch wagon

What is the most interesting/far-flung place that your driving has taken you?  Eastern Germany

Do you have a favorite carriage museum?  Stony Brook [the Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages]

Do you have a favorite horse-drawn vehicle (past or present) that you’ve only seen somewhere?  I love Skeleton Breaks

Do you have a favorite carriage type, builder, era, etc.?  Brewster

Is there a particular era/time period/type of vehicle in history that you would enjoy traveling back to … and driving in?  Would like to drive a coach down Park Avenue in NYC

As a competitor, what’s your favorite type of competition / class / CDE phase?  CDE marathon and dressage

Do/did you ride or participate in other horse sports?  Rode a bit as a child

What do you like best about driving as a hobby/sport? The people are friendly and share a passion that leads them to need to do large amounts of work for little cash rewards yet great personal pleasure, I guess we are all crazy?

What spectator sports do you enjoy watching?  Tennis

Who is your favorite player?  Federer

What car do you drive?  Porsche Cayenne

Do you have a “dream” car you wish you could drive?  Not yet

What was your first car?  Volvo wagon

Do you have any other pets?  Yes, a dog named Steffi

What is your favorite food/cuisine?  French this week

What was the last movie you saw?  Julie and Julia

What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas, because of family and the smiles

 

September 19, 2009

getting to know … Jill Ryder

Posted by Jennifer under people
Leave a Comment 

We’re starting a new weekly feature here on the CAA’s blog, where we plan to introduce drivers, collectors, restoration specialists, officials, CAA members, and more … to you and to each other.

The premise is simple enough … we’ve compiled a list of questions (most are driving- or horse-related, some are just for fun), and we hope to get a wide variety of driving-community members to answer our questionnaire. Each Friday, we’ll introduce you to someone new.

We’re starting this series with our own Jill Ryder, the CAA’s executive director …

Where do you live?  Kentucky

For those who don’t know you: How are you involved in the driving world?  I have worked for the Carriage Association for 26 years!

How long have you been involved in the driving world?  Apart from my job, I helped organize a successful one-day cde in New Jersey in 1982 and from there became interested in scoring CDEs and also judging presentation. 

How old were you when you became involved with horses / driving?  I have photos of myself in a carriage and on horseback from the age of 6 months old.

Do you come from a driving/horsy family?  Yes. Many people will be familiar with my father, Tom Ryder, from the Hackney world or the carriage or coaching world.

Are you a CAA member? If so, for how long?  I was a member before being offered the job with the CAA in 1983, and I used to help out at conferences, so I guess you could say I volunteered my way into this job.

Do you compete?  Over the years I have helped groom or navigate for others. I have only ever competed in a pleasure show with a Hackney.

Do/did you ride or participate in other horse sports?  Pony Club when I was young.

What do you like best about driving as a hobby/sport?  The tradition of carriages and driving and the camaraderie.

What is your favorite carriage museum?  This is hard because I have seen so many wonderful carriage museums, but the one that really struck me was at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, as they took us to see many special items in storage.

What is your favorite type of carriage?  I love the lines of the Spider and Mail Phaetons.

If you could go back in time to visit a particular era of horse-drawn transportation, which one would it be?  When the ladies and gentlemen paraded in Hyde Park, London, in all their finest! 

Do you have any other pets?  I just inherited a stray cat! In the past I have always had dogs.

What kind of car do you drive?  VW Jetta

What was your first car?  It was a red Dodge sports car, but I cannot remember the type (that was a long time ago!).

What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

What spectator sports do you enjoy watching?  Tennis

What is your favorite food/cuisine?  That is hard. I enjoy cooking British food, but also enjoy either Italian or Indian.

What was the last movie you saw?  Julia & Julia – I really enjoyed it.

Do you plan/hope to come to the WEG (as a competitor or spectator)?  With the CAA office/shop right in the middle of the Kentucky Horse Park I will most certainly be there – with our doors wide open to welcome the world!

 

September 9, 2009

getting to know … Michael Freund

Posted by Jennifer under Lexington CDE, people, WEG 2010
Leave a Comment 

Here (finally!) are the promised notes from my conversation with Michael Freund last Thursday.

Germany’s Michael Freund is a twelve-time German national champion and two-time world champion (in 1994 and 2004) in the sport of four-in-hand driving. He was on the world championship gold-medal team four times (in 1992, 1994, 2000, and 2006). In the relatively new sport of World Cup driving, Michael finished the year in first place in 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, and 2004/05 (he was tied that year with Holland’s Ysbrand Chardon). He (Michael) won the 2007 World Cup Final and was the winner of the FEI Top Driver Award in both 2001 and 2004.

He was hired earlier this year to serve as the coach of the U.S. team for next year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Of course, at the moment, there is no team, so he’s keeping an eye on the up-and-coming U.S. drivers working with Germany’s Peter Tischer, who was hired last year as the coach for the developing U.S. drivers.

Michael also continues to work with his individual, longtime clients: Chester Weber, Tucker Johnson, and others here in the U.S. and elsewhere.

He’s had quite a lot of practice in the art and sport of driving, having grown up in a driving family. He says that he’s probably been driving altogether for a total of thirty-five or forty years. He first competed in the four-in-hand division in 1975, having competed before then in the pony, single, and pair divisions. He retired from competition after winning the team gold medal at the 2006 WEG in Aachen.

I asked Michael whether he focuses on training people or horses. He said that after he won his first world championship (team gold in 1992 in Riesenbeck, Germany), people started to ask, “Can you help me?” and so he was more and more in demand as a trainer of people wanting to improve their driving skills. At that point in his career, Michael still had a regular job, and horses (driving, competing, and training) were a hobby. But from 1992 up through 1999, he was asked to do more and more training. In 1999, he made the career switch to make training his full-time profession. He and his brother, Fred, now run a barn/training facility with twenty-seven stalls. Michael explains that he works with people and horses as a driving unit but that he doesn’t start horses. All the horses that come to him are already broke to drive.

Having heard that Michael’s son, Marco, is also in the “family business,” I was curious to know whether his son competes and how well he’s doing. Michael proudly reported that Marco was the youngest driver to have qualified for his local state (Hessen) driving championships, where he competed last month against eighteen other drivers in the open class. Marco started driving when he was five years old and now drives and competes with a pair of Shetlands. Michael assured me that the ponies are “trained just like the big horses.”

I asked Michael what he thinks has been the most influential change in the sport during the time he’s been involved. Almost without hesitation, he said that he believes the indoor World Cup competitions have been a big help in making the sport more public. (If you’re not familiar with World Cup driving, it’s like a combined marathon obstacle and small cones course, held at high speed in an indoor arena.) Michael said that these events bring a lot of publicity to driving, and they’re easy for people to see and understand, which is one way to sell the sport to those who know nothing about horses.

Michal admitted that one of his gripes with the traditional marathon courses is that, while people can stand by the marathon obstacles and see who goes the fastest, they might not understand when the fastest driver doesn’t place well because of penalty points on the walk section, for instance. He says that the marathon walk section makes little sense anymore. “When the marathons were very long, it was a ‘relax’ section but now it only causes stress.” He explained that driving attracts so many different breeds of horses, and many of them simply can’t walk fast enough to make the correct times.

Going back to the World Cup competitions, he said that for many of the shows that hosted World Cup events, those nights were sold out, and attendance at the “regular” driving events (the CAIs) increased as well.

Looking forward to the Lexington Combined Driving Classic (the WEG test event), which will take place here at the KY Horse Park the first weekend in October: Michael will be here to help a few clients and to observe the developing U.S. drivers. He said that he’s not been to either the KHP or this event before, so I hope to catch up with him during or after the event to see what he thinks of the WEG preparations.

 

« Previous Page