United States Eventing Association

U.S. world-class event rider Phillip Dutton realized that while a weekend clinic is a great opportunity for riders to have the opportunity to learn from him, an entire week would give him a chance to get to know his students better, and allow them more time to benefit from his expertise. Thus evolved the first ever Cosequin ™ Phillip Dutton Eventing Camp, held at Dutton’s True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania June 2-6, 2008.

Lessons at the camp were taught by Dutton himself as well as his assistant trainer, Australian eventer Boyd Martin, and Boyd’s wife Silva Martin, a Grand Prix dressage trainer from Germany who operates her business out of one of the barns at True Prospect. Individual lessons were taught, as well as group sessions on topics including galloping position, cross-country pace and walking a stadium course. Dutton also organized presentations with his sponsors, including Cosequin, Devoucoux, Kentucky Equine Research, Charles Owen, Stolzfus Feed and Farm Supply, all which donated lunches and dinners for the group.

The idea for an eventing camp was not a new one: Denny Emerson has been conducting similar camps at his Tamarack Hill Farms in Vermont and North Carolina for years now, and from the glowing articles written about it, adult riders love going back to camp and the demand is definitely there for more, similar opportunities – especially considering the demand for education and safety in our sport.

When I arrived at True Prospect Farm Joe Pagan, Ph.D. of Kentucky Equine Research was conducting a talk on equine nutrition in a small blue tent where a lunch sponsored by his company was being served. Campers were listening with rapt attention and asking lots of questions as Pagan discussed exciting things like digestible fiber, Omega 3 fats and electrolytes. You could tell these people were there to learn, and Pagan’s lecture was easy to understand and interesting. Pagan also discussed feeding issues involved in shipping horses to the Olympic Games this summer, which was pretty exciting stuff for a group of lower-level competitors to hear firsthand.

Pagan was enthusiastic about the camp, commenting, “It’s an incredible experience for competitors at all levels to train with a high caliber group of trainers. To give glimpses to nutrition and other horse care topics is good too.”

“Silva’s hard on you but the only way you learn is to work up a sweat,” she laughed after her lesson. “It’s my first time working with these trainers and I’ve never been to an eventing camp before. It’s thrilling to be shoulder to shoulder with this caliber of people. At an event your day is so full, but here you’re watching Boyd and Phillip and Silva riding fabulous horses and everybody’s so helpful, it’s wonderful.”

Tooker traveled to the camp with 18-year-old Gunther Jacobson of Rochester, New York. He plans to become a cross-country course builder and designer and is studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology School of American Crafts, following in JohnWilliams’ footsteps. He already works with Williams building portable jumps.

(Gunther, aboard his draft-cross, is coached by Dutton during a jumping lesson.)

“I came here to learn from such great people and to get another view on what they thought my horse and I could do, but also to see if this is a lifestyle for me,” he said. “My dream is to go to the Olympics. I love every minute of it, even the barn work, and it’s great being around the people here and being around men who ride. I’m usually one of two or three guys at the events I’ve been to and it’s great to be around male role models.”

(Right: Betsy Brauner practices her bending lines during a jumping session.)

“The grassroots people are the bread and butter of the sport, and they want to learn.” he said. “You can only do so much in a weekend. This week was also a chance for some of the companies that sponsor me to get involved.”

At the beginning of the week riders’ and horses’ fitness was assessed, and at the end of the week Phillip created suggestions for a conditioning schedule for each horse. He also gave an overall assessment, which riders like Mary Jordan (pictured below), who moved up to Preliminary at Plantation Field at the end of the week, were excited about.

“I’ve been to the GMHA camps before but I came here because my mare had a phenomenal season at training level and I’ve been thinking about moving up, but I wanted to be well prepared and safe about it, and I thought what better way? When I saw that there would be a written assessment at the end of the week I knew I wanted to come here for the feedback. Also, Phillip is doing a course walk with the campers at Plantation and I thought it would be stupid to pass up the opportunity.”

Mary, who has Multiple Sclerosis and is sponsored by her drug company, Copaxone, has won and placed second at the American Eventing Championships the past several years. Following the camp she and her homebred mare Paxton Abbey placed second overall in Open Preliminary B at Plantation Field on a score of 36.6.

“Safety is first,” said Phillip. “Everyone is trying to ride better and safer and one of the things that we have come up against in our sport is that everyone needs to work on their horsemanship and their skills. This camp is equivalent in cost to two or three events and if you decide to do the camp instead of a couple of events you can learn a lot.”