Youth in the Spotlight

Andrina Calder and the
Horse With Springs in His Feet

Why the should be any question about the suitability of Trakehner horses as mounts for junior riders is a mystery to many of us, but if there are still any doubters out there they should read this story about 13-year-old Andrina Calder of Toronto, ON, and her 10-year-old gelding HERZPRINZ (by Prinz Sokrates, out of Havel by Matador, bred by Pittsfird Trakehners, Pittsford, NY) The two of them are busily demonstrating several attributes of our breed - flexibility, athletic prowess, and gentleness.

Herzprinz (AKA "Hank") began life at Tim and Cheryl Holekamp's New Spring Farm in Missouri after they bougth his pregnant mother from Henry Snyder of New York in 1990. Hank was a handsome, medium-sized bay colt who was an easy horse to start and train and was very consistently "forward-moving." He did well enough at the lower levels of dressage and combined training and then was sold to Darren Chiacchia's student Andrina Calder in the fall of 1999.

What happened after that is that both Darren and Andrina wanted to train and compete him at the same time, a most unconventional game plan, but that is exactly what they have done. For the last year, Andrina has been a full-time student with Darren and rides "Hank" nearly every day, including the hard gallops over long distances. Darren reports that she is a phenomenal rider for her age and others have reached the same conclusion. She studies dressage, jumping and the more mundane parts of good horsemanship every morning and then does her schoolwork in the afternoons and evenings.

She and her horse have become very close friends. In fact, her mother, Anna Calder, reports once finding them curled up sleeping on each other in his stall. All one needs to do is listen to the ever-smiling Andrina describe this animal to understand just what he has come to mean to her. Big eyes, "and, honest, he has SPRINGS in his feet!"

After Darren moved him up to Preliminary in 2000 and Andrina got some good results at Pre-Training in Canada, they decided to really go at it in 2001. Darren scored first, a win at Preliminary at Rocking Horse Trials in Florida in January, then a third in the CIC* at the same venue. In February, Andrina placed fifth at Training at Rocking Horse, but Darren grabbed him back in April to try Intermediate for the first time in an open class of 40 horses at the prestigious Beaulieu Classic in Georgia, which they won on their dressage score. In May, it was Darren again at the Commonwealth CCI* in Leesburg, VA, where they were second behind Karen O'Connor.

By June, having just turned thirteen, it was Andrina's turn to shine again, first at the Genesee Valley Horse Trials where they placed second at Training only because of heavy penalties for coming in too early on cross-country (Darren said it was OK!) and then place at Groton House Farm Horse Trials I in Massachusetts in very heavy competition. At Groton House II Darren was first after dressage at Open Intermediate in a class featuring all the big names. He reports that the problem was certain schooling he had down and cost some serious time penalties. And then they just barely ticked the rail of a vertical during the stadium phase down it went, so they settled for fifth place.

Two weeks later, at the B&B Horse Trials in New York, Andrina took her turn again at Open Training in a division of 17 horses, finishing in second place, on her dressage score, and only one-half penalty point off the lead.

Through it all Hersprins has reminded sensible and sound, the same steady lad he has always been, only just a bit smarter and stronger each time out. He is definitely Andrina's horse, as everyone around them can see.

Where will this juggernaut end up? Who knows? Most likely it will involve a CCI** soon after you read this, so keep your fingers crossed. And let us not forget who does the heavy pulling intraining work for this threesome: our young friend Andrina a very encouraging part of the future for Trakehners in North America!