A Dressage Summer

1
A Dressage Summer

• The Professional Internship Experiences of Shelby
  Wyrostek

2
The Basics

• Who Shelby Wyrostek
• What An internship
• When Summer 99
• Where Shine-A-Bit Farm
• Why The valuable experience

Shelbys Spunky Sumthin
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Shine-A-Bit Farm

• A dressage training barn located in Brighton, MI
• Head Trainer Mari Monda Zdunic
• Assistant Trainer Ray Moses
• Founded by Chuck Grant, Father of American
  Dressage
• Over 30 horses have attained Grand Prix level at
  this farm!

4
Mari Monda Zdunic

• graduate of Duke University
• top dressage competitor
• earned USDF gold, silver, and bronze medals,
  Olympic Sports Festival silver, bronze and team
  medals

Mari with Frenesi
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Ray Moses

• Graduate of MSU
• Multi discipline competitor
• Winner of many USDF Year End Awards

Ray and MHC Reba McEntire
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Chuck Grant (1914-1990)

• Known as The Father of American Dressage
• Began his dressage education while in the Army
• The only American ever to train 17 horses to
  Grand Prix
• Founding member of USDF

Chuck Grant
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Facilities

• 16 box stalls and 5 standing stalls
• 200x85 indoor arena
• Heated observation room attached to arena, used
  for clinics
• 3 outdoor arenas
• 4 paddocks, 3 pastures, all fenced in three rails
  of oak

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Facilities (cont.)

• Storage for over 5,000 bales of hay
• 2 machinery sheds
• Bedding storage
• Apartment for barn help and visitors

9
Responsibilities

• Basically, my role was to hold down the fort.
  I was combination barn help, manager, assistant
  trainer and hospitality committee.
• Specific responsibilities included
• keeping the barn clean
• getting everything ready for shows
• looking after the farm when Mari was away

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The Barn Chores

• Daily barn chores included
• feeding hay at 7 am
• picking out stalls afterwards
• halter lunging all horses in the barn to stretch
  their legs before the days work
• feed grain at 2pm
• pick out stalls again around 4pm
• feed the evenings hay at 5pm

11
Daily Training Tasks

• I worked with many horses over the summer,
  including
• Brilliante, 6 yo Andalusian stallion
• Pegasus, 7 yo Andalusian stallion
• The Lark Ascending, 9 yo QH gelding
• Shwy Umar, 14 yo Arabian gelding
• Saphir, 14 yo Hanovarian stallion
• Theophilious, 9yo Thoroughbred gelding
• Shelbys Spunky Sumthin 7yo Alaskan Fish Pony

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Daily Training Tasks (cont)

• Training on each horse varied, but usually
  included
• Halter lunging
• Lunging with tack, including side reins
• work under saddle
• cool down on the lunge line, horse allowed to roll

13
My Learning

• My riding education was focused mainly on
  training the upper level movements, including
• the flying change
• half pass
• canter pirouettes
• canter/halt transitions
• A large amount of time was spent on achieving
  finesse at the flying change

14
Weekends at SABFarm

• Nearly every weekend, Mari and Ray were away at a
  show
• It was my job to run the farm while they were
  gone, and have it ready for their return
• My routine remained the same, except that I also
  fed the cats and dogs, looked after the house,
  and let the empty stalls air out

15
Hot Summer Days

• During the really hot days, we changed our
  schedule around a little to avoid the heat of the
  day
• halter lunge horses at 4 am
• finish training by 10am
• have the barn closed by noon
• nap until 6pm
• start evening chores at 7pm

16
Hay Season

• At SABFarm, they bale their own hay, so for two
  days out of each month, we toiled away to put up
  hay
• During haying, some of my jobs included
• raking hay
• stacking hay in the mow
• loading the hay elevator
• I have to say that my favorite part about haying
  was raking.

17
Additional Responsibilities

• While I was at the farm, I not only did outside
  work, but I also picked up the maintenance of the
  farms website.
• At first, I was only doing updates, but I
  eventually overhauled the entire site to be more
  user friendly and professional in appearance
• The farms URL is www.shineabit.com
• Feel free to take a peek!

18
General Impression

• WOW
• The summer was a great experience, where I not
  only improved my riding, but gained knowledge in
  barn management

Mr.Grant with Billy Joe Freckles
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A Few Drawbacks

• The summer was emotionally stressful because of
  some personality clashes with other personnel
• But even that is a learning experience!

Mari Shine-A-Bit III
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The Final Word

• Id like to thank Mari Zdunic for a great
  opportunity and a wonderful summer.
• Id also like to thank Jason Rowntree for the
  same.