California Riding Magazine • July, 2009

Wild Ride Continues
Debbie Rosen has a great Rolex and is set up to help others follow her footsteps.

“Crazy!” is the way trainer Debbie Rosen describes her experience competing in the Rolex Kentucky Four Star this past April. It was her second appearance at this revered international Three Day Event and her first chance to test her 10-year-old horse, The Alchemyst, against a full field of the world’s best.

Things went well for the veteran California trainer and her Canadian Sport Horse. Although Rosen describes him as just coming into his own with the Four Star level flatwork, The Alchemyst began Rolex in 27th position after dressage. A fault-free round in his strong suit of cross-country, and a one-rail show jumping effort put the pair in 25th place overall, an impressive finish in a 50-horse field full of Olympians and international veterans.

The impact of their solid ranking, however, pales in comparison to the impact of simply having completed the event successfully. Back at her base of the last few years, the beautiful El Sueño Equestrian Center in Ventura County’s Somis, Rosen has had a chance to digest the experience. Even in hindsight and with the results recorded, she still finds it “unbelievable” that she and her on-a-shoestring crew of friends, students and supporters pulled it off.

According to Rosen, she was the last person to know she’d be contesting Rolex. Even after she’d qualified, Rosen remained on the fence about whether she and The Alchemyst would make the trip to the eventing Mecca of Lexington, KY. It was her coach Andrea Pfeiffer of Chocolate Horse Farms and her friends Christie Wise and Lynn Hergenra who knew she’d be going. “I had no clue I’d be going,” Rosen recalls. “But they knew.”

That question mark lingered even as she was making her final walk of the Kentucky Horse Park’s notoriously imposing course. “By about the seventh fence, I was packing up and going home,” she recalls. “I knew my friends were going to kill me.” But a calmer inner voice prevailed and got her into the start box at the appointed time. She had a few moments of “negotiating with myself: saying, ‘If I have a stop, I’ll go home’,” she recalls with an honest laugh. “But, as always happens, once you leave the start box the inhibitions leave you.”

Having had to withdraw during her first Rolex cross-country run in 2005 was a mental albatross that was also left in the starter’s box this time out. In her favor was the fact that the Rolex route was designed by Michael Etherington Smith. The internationally known designer had previously built the courses at the Southern California Equestrian Center (formerly known as Galway Downs) in Temecula, where Rosen and her Wild Ride Eventing students have frequently competed. “Our standards have been elevated by having experiences over such exceptional courses,” she notes. “I took confidence in the fact that I was at least familiar with his style of design.”

Unique Perspective

Competing at the Rolex level is personally exhilarating for Rosen and an asset as a trainer. “It helps my students and I relate better,” she explains. “We share a common language and common ground because we’ve each dealt with what the other is dealing with.” Sharing the fact that she has fearful moments herself emboldens her students to ride through their own nervous times.

As a successful eventing rider and trainer for many years, Rosen has done her part in elevating standards for West Coast riders and horses. Her most recent contribution is supervising the design and completion of the newly-finished derby field at El Sueño. Designed by Don Sachey, the course groups together fences of similar types to best facilitate a horse and/or rider’s education. Features include five ditches, two of which can be converted into a ditch wall and Trakehners, bank complexes, and a water obstacle that Rosen believes will prepare riders for the more complex questions. Portability and post and rail set-ups on several obstacles facilitate maximum flexibility.

Nearly two years in the planning stages, Sachey’s design helped Rosen realize her dream of an educational schooling field. “I have always been impressed with Rod and Karen Hisken’s Eventful Acres facility in Northern California, which is based on this cluster principle of jump design. You can start at Beginner Novice and end the weekend over more complex questions. The ability to break down or build up the course is all about building a horse and rider’s confidence. It really educates them to handle the questions they’ll be facing on course,” she explains.

With the enthusiastic backing of El Sueño Equestrian Center’s owner and manager Gina Atton-Thomas, Rosen plans to open the course to outside trainers and riders for schooling purposes. She is excited about eventually hosting Eventing Derbies, ideally in conjunction Wendy Wergeles, who created the concept of educational and fun modified cross-country competitions.

After the swirl of excitement following her great Rolex run, Rosen admits she’s not sure what’s next for her and The Alchemyst. “I was barely finished with cross-country when I started getting phone calls about going to Burghley,” she laughs. What is known is that her experience and expertise, coupled with the new derby course at El Sueño, will help many others in their dreams to achieve what Rosen has.

For more information on Debbie Rosen’s Wild Ride Eventers, call 310-490-4635. For more information on El Sueño Equestrian Center, visit www.elsuenoequestriancenter.com.