Dear Rita,
I wanted to tell you more about my daily routine today when I realized that I can’t really do that without introducing my Team first. I have some very dedicated, talented and special people working for me.
Casey Dornan Nilsson, 33, from South Haven, Mich., has been working for me on both sides of the ocean since 1997. She started as a working student in my stable with a huge load of grooming and management responsibilities that quickly extended into the riding arena. At that time, I was overwhelmed with work—22 horses in the stable between myself and my partner—and endless clinics to be taught during extended trips across the USA.
Casey stepped into my life and organized my day with an impeccable attention to detail. She still does the same thing for me today but probably more out of habit than intention. In the meantime, this lady has learned to ride! From working student to top trainer, she has trained horse after horse from the most basic level to PSG and beyond, competing in national shows from materiale level to FEI. In 2007, she started in her first international show at Balve CDI****(Germany) and placed second in both tests of the small tour with scores over 70 percent.
This year, “CN2” has produced her first two developing Grand Prix horses. Look for her in the future on Pentimento—a Hanoverian gelding by Prince Thatch, bred by yours truly and born with all the talent necessary for a top Grand Prix horse.
Christoffer Nilsson, 29, of Hjärnarp, Sweden, came to my Team in 2003. Originally employed as a specialist with the breaking and training of young horses, Christoffer has not only progressed to higher level dressage, but he has also managed to win Casey’s hand in marriage! We had to humor him for a few years while he tore up some big jumping courses, but eventually he switched saddles and dedicated himself to training dressage horses for me and managing my stable together with his wife.
Christoffer gets all the difficult cases in the stable. I have a special way of saying, “Christoffer…?” when a new horse arrives for a try out. Then he knows that it is his left foot that will go in the stirrup first, not mine. CN1 is a man of all trades and at any point in the day you might find him driving the tractor, breaking in a youngster, braiding a sales horse or training passage on his 6-year-old.
Known for his dry and often innocent sense of humor, CN1 can get you laughing when you least expect it. Once, when I had just returned from a trip to the USA and asked him how the riding went on Maximus while I was away, he said, “The flying changes are easy on him. Maximus is a really good horse.” To which I responded, “Oh, I am so glad you LIKE my Grand Prix horse…”
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Natalie Ciappara, 25, from The Gold Coast, Australia, is a welcome addition to my staff since one year. She brings a raw talent and tenacity with her that is getting channelled in the right directions. She has managed to train her own horse from beginning level to PSG/Int I in a very short time under my supervision even though she struggles with some details along the way. (For instance, Nat still can’t train her horse’s mane, but the day she learns to do that out of respect for the trainer who believes in her, is probably the day she will turn a corner in her life. Yes, life can be that simple sometimes.)
One of Nat’s hidden talents lies in the sphere of music. Natalie has designed two blockbuster freestyles for me over the last year. That beautiful Celine Dion music you heard in Cadillac’s freestyle was Natalie’s compilation with the help of a local sound studio. And she has put together a Pink freestyle for my young GP horse that rocks the house. I will show you that one later, but if anybody out there is looking for freestyle music, this is the girl you need!
Natalie won a few basic level classes with her mare, Waika, last summer. Look for her in her first FEI level tests this year. That leap became a bound, and I am excited for her to wear that new tailcoat for the first time.
I am very proud of the work that my riders do in the stable. You rarely see their kind of efficiency and professionalism in this industry, and I often ask myself how I got so lucky to have a team like this behind me. You might have noticed by now Rita that I travel a lot. And I’m a happy to say that I do it with no worries, knowing that my business will run like a well-oiled machine when I am away.
I have a new team member arriving in Vechta this evening. More on that soon!
I’m Catherine Haddad, and I’m saying it like it is from Vechta, Germany.
Training Tip of the Day: When you teach, are you telling your student what you already know or are you saying what he needs to hear in order to correct something?
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