We’ve Made It to the Netherlands!

The trip over wasn’t harrowing, but it was fraught with uncertainty. Sometimes the stress of uncertainty can feel like you’re really going through something horrible. We weren’t. It still didn’t feel good.

Our flights got delayed, cancelled, rescheduled, delayed, then re-rescheduled. 

The tricky bit is that a horse can’t just pop over to another airline when they lose patience with the first one. There are far too many logistics at play. Horses ship as cargo, which doesn’t follow the same semi-reliable schedule as airlines. On top of that, they’re highly specialized cargo requiring specific equipment and personnel. When there’s an interruption in the system, the ripple effects go out a long way.

Long story short, Loretta got to Steensel, Netherlands on a Monday the 13th around midnight, about 18 hours after leaving New York. Don’t worry, her flight was only about seven hours of that, perhaps a little less. The rest of her time was spent waiting for the rest of the cargo to be released at the airport in Liege.

After a long night of watching Loretta’s flight on Flight Radar, I got a little shuteye, and got on a plane around 9:30 the next morning. My trip was the literal definition of planes, trains and automobiles. I shuttled from my hotel in Jamaica, NY to JFK 🚐, flew from NY ✈️ Dublin, then Dublin ✈️ Amsterdam. From Amsterdam I took a train 🚞 Eindhoven, NL to pick up my rental car 🚙. I got to Steensel Tuesday afternoon.

The New Base Station

When I got to the barn Loretta was as cheery as ever. In fact, despite the trials and tribulations, she’s been enthusiastic throughout. When it was time to get on the trailer in Brewster, NY to go to the airport she practically dragged me to get on and get going. She had absolutely no hesitation about boarding the jet stall at JFK. I was told she was the same for the ride from Liege to Steensel.

Why Steensel, Not Germany?

The answer is simple. Steensel is where Kelly Bruder lives. Kelly is not only Canada’s top FEI single horse driver, she’s regularly been in the top ranks worldwide, scoring bronze and silver medals in recent world championships. 

More to the point, she’s regularly in the top five for the dressage phase of combined driving, the area Loretta and I need the most help.

Those credentials are important, but it all comes down to choosing the right coach and the right environment. When I visited Kelly in May, I felt comfortable around her right away. We spent a day working horses together and recognized that we have very similar thoughts about horses in work. Most importantly, there was a fairly comfortable trust level.

The fact of the matter is, we’ve both been professionals in the various sports of carriage driving for a similar time frame. That means we’ve both seen some shit (and we see some of the same shit going down now). Also importantly, Kelly gets that in some regards, I’m a little unconventional.

So, in many ways we are similar, and just as importantly, we are not the same. There has to be difference. I’ve said that I’d love to be able to give lessons to myself. I can only imagine just how destructive that could be. I would most likely go about “perfecting my own mistakes” until they were unyielding.

The Right Environment

Steensel (pronounced, more or less, “stain-sell,” sort of, but maybe with a little less “aye” in it. I dunno… Dutch, it’s hard.) is a relatively small community with plenty of horses, cows and agriculture. Kelly’s barn, Gendersteyn Stables is not a big training operation with endless tack rooms, rings and horses.

It’s a five-stall barn with a handful of paddocks and a nice little riding arena. She also leases a field about a kilometer down the road right at the edge of the village for dressage and cones. There’s more than enough room for dressage, a full-sized cones course, and a practice obstacle. Beyond that, there are miles of forest trails surrounding the village. We’ve gotten lost on a few. There are bike paths everywhere that the locals have no trouble sharing with horses. It’s pretty darn close to ideal for us.

What Have We Been Up To?

One thing that’s been really cool is Retta Roo’s vibe. She is super keen! If you’ve followed Loretta and her adventures here, you might already know that she can get a little “too cool to school.” She can be a bit of a spoiled ‘tween. She’ll drag her feet coming out of the field to the barn, stand with a bit of a stink eye, and generally carry herself with a well-honed air of disinterest. It’s a facade she can only carry a few steps into a drive because she actually loves her job, but she’ll try to make you believe it’s work for her.

Here in Steensel there’s none of that. She’s ready for action the moment I get to the barn. The great thing about being on a big adventure together is that it’s exactly that to her. It’s an adventure, and she loves adventure.

After a day of rest, we went right to work. We toured the town and forest the first day, did some dressage with Kelly, long lining, and a cones day on the weekend. Loretta was 100% engaged in all of it.

Friday, after long lining Loretta, I went with Kelly up to Neerijnen, NL for the SWM Neerijnen CDE. She was driving Claus HC in dressage to get a feel for how he’s developing. The event felt like a fair as much as a CDE. The dressage fields were quite a drive from the main area. There were three dressage rings going simultaneously with one warmup area for all three. There was a lot of action, but none of it felt frantic.

Sunday was rest. Honestly, I spent the week at a complete energy and bandwidth deficit. I hardly moved the whole day. Loretta enjoyed her day off making faces at all the handsome boys who live at Kelly’s stable. We’re in the right place, at the right time. This is going to be good!

Follow our journey: GoRettaRoo