RooReport – Staycation’s Over – On to Munich!

Loretta has been on a well-earned staycation. Green grass, barn time, and hanging with hometown horse friends. She hasn’t stopped moving altogether — Tara has been keeping up with Retta Roo’s fitness with some enthusiastic trips through the woods on Tara’s farm (which, for the record, is unreasonably beautiful) and some cavelletti work.

But largely? Retta Roo has been chillin’ like a villain.

She’s earned it.

2026 So far…

To put the 2026 season into one word, it’s: Perseverance. The ’26 season brought in a bunch of good competitors that weren’t in the field last year. They took the top slots at some competitions, but they’d fall into the bottom at another. All the while, we’ve been there the whole time, putting in the consistent work for the long game.

She’s been finding another gear at every event. It’s a blast finding those gears. We know where the work is for the next step up. In German it would be working on “Losgelassenheit und Schwung.”

RettaRoo in full beast mode exiting the water at Live Oak International

These are two critical elements of the training scale, or as I reimagined it, The Training Prism. Losgelassenheit, in the English translation of the training scale is called “Relaxation”, but the German word describes the whole concept a little better as elasticity and freedom of movement. Schwung, for its part, usually gets translated to “impulsion”, but that translation leaves out the really important concept of swing through in that forward energy.

So what does “back to work” look like for a horse coming off a staycation? I actually wrote the playbook on this a few years back — the principles haven’t changed, just the timeline. Roo isn’t coming off a multi-month long break, and she was ripped fit before the break. Instead of easing in over months, we’re working with weeks.

Fundamentals first; lots of walking, transitions to build fitness, and expand from there. Here’s the article if you want to learn more.

While Retta Roo Has Been Grazing

I’ve been doing homework overseas.

I just got back from three weeks in Europe — part scouting mission, part immersion program. Despite more than 30 years in the sport, I’ve never competed in Europe. They say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans”, so I went to watch, volunteer, and get my feet wet (but, no, I did not go to Rome!)

Team Unzeitig in Emlichheim

One stop was a national championship for pairs in Emlichheim, Germany — which was also a selection trial for German single horse drivers vying for a spot on their World Championship team. I tagged along with Team Unzeitig. Anke is an accomplished driver, and her daughter Anne (Germans pronounce that as Anna) is turning heads in both U25 and open competition. Anne had two entries, Anke had another, and I was along for the ride — watching, listening, and picking up everything I could. They were genuinely generous with their time and experience, and that kind of on-the-ground access is exactly what I needed. Schnitzel and beer were consumed. Good times were had.

The second event I went to was a different flavor — still all advanced, but a different mix of drivers. I volunteered, which with basically zero German language skills, was challenging. Still, I got some more behind-the-scenes experience from the organizational perspective. I often tell people if you want to learn about the sport, go volunteer! You gain a much broader understanding of the event than spectating.

My host for this competition was Henning Lemcke. I know him as an FEI course designer, but in Germany he’s a judge — and that week, he was President of the Jury. We had some good conversations about course design as he walked the courses as judge to approve them.

I also got some time with another judge on a topic close to my heart: horses being driven high and tight because it’s fashionable right now. He mentioned he hadn’t made many friends with some of the scores he handed out for it. Sometimes sticking to the fundamentals is a lonely, but necessary road.

Marathon day I spent as an obstacle observer, within sight of two other obstacles. It’s really interesting to watch a full day of drivers picking apart obstacles that I had walked, and formulated my own “what would I do” plans. There was at least one turn in the obstacle I was observing that didn’t turn out the way most drivers expected.

That’s the kind of afternoon I don’t mind at all. I also managed to blow my leg out somewhere in the process — turns out doing shows without my infamous Segway, and without Tara there to yell at me for walking too much, has consequences. Oops!

Recon Missions

Interspersed with these events was the reconnaissance mission to decide where the Go Retta Roo team would be based for our World Championship bid. Henning and his wife Dr. Laura Oberlin were really generous in hosting me for the second half of my trip. Not only did it save me from the dreaded hotel hopping, they helped me think out a lot of the logistics for the summer. Bonus food experience: local white asparagus, which is only available for a short time in the spring there.

I also ran a little side recon mission on the trip. I went to the Olympia-Reitanlage München-Riem — the venue for September’s World Single Horse Championship. I mean, I was already in Germany, why not check out the place we’re aiming to get to?

It’s a pretty big horse park in the middle of a city. Henning was kind enough to give me the course maps from last year’s CAI — an international competition held at the venue in August — so I was able to orient myself on the grounds without all the driving infrastructure in place. Of course, I went straight to the marathon obstacles and walked them as if they were still flagged, using the maps as my guide. It felt like a solid familiarization exercise.

Earlier in the trip I also visited with Canadian driver Kelly Bruder. She’s regularly in the top 5 in dressage at FEI events in Europe and has some really good solid World Championship experience with medals to prove it. We basically hung out, and worked a few horses while we talked shop in plain English, trainer to trainer. It was a really refreshing day for me, in a beautiful part of the Netherlands.

The broad strokes of the RettaRoo Team travel plan for July are coming together. More on that soon.

So, Why July?

For a competition that starts September 1st?

For starters, horses don’t experience jet lag quite the same way we do. They’re fine for about the first 10 days after they land. Then it hits. Some competitors in other disciplines time it perfectly, sliding in just before the start of their competition, then competing on fresh legs. Smart, when you can pull it off.

We can’t pull it off. There are too many moving parts. For one thing, Retta doesn’t come off a break swinging for the fences at competitions. So we plan to go to a couple European competitions to shake the rust off, and find Retta Roo’s full beast mode. That means setting up stabling, human housing, transportation, all that stuff on a tight timeline, with a World Championship on the other end? That’s not a risk worth taking.

The one weird thing about that is that team selection won’t be announced until the end of July. There are slightly complicated reasons for that I’ll explain in another post. We’re not going to worry about that too much, and after all, luck favors the prepared.

So we’re going to go early. To get settled, get into high gear, and get competitive.

Come on, can you resist this face??

This whole project is huge, complicated, and exciting — and it’s been incredible to work toward a goal that’s bigger than just the next horse show. I can’t wait for the chance to put Loretta in front of the world, and hopefully represent the U.S. at the same time.

If you’ve ever cheered for Retta Roo — at a show, on social media, or just reading along here — this is your moment to be part of the team.

We’re looking for some help to defray the expenses. You can throw in enough to cover a bag of treats, a tank of diesel, or something bigger. Really, whatever you’re comfortable with. It’s hard to avoid the cliche, “everything counts”, but I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true!

It would mean a lot to me, Loretta, and the whole team.