It was dark with rain clouds looming overhead. The wind was blowing and it was miserable and cold out. The weather was just plain rotten. Foreboding. Eitan was mounted on Santa Fe Renegade preparing for the biggest event of their lives. They had been stuck in a “holding area” for two hours before entering the stadium for the closing ceremony at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany in 2006. There was no rehearsal, no prep. This was a “cold turkey” deal. Santa Fe had never seen the inside of the stadium or the 60,000 + people in attendance. USEF and the American Morgan Horse Institute had flown Eitan, Santa Fe and I for 10 days to Aachen for a 10 minute performance in front of the World. There was no margin for error or last minute stage fright. There were no margins at all and it had to go off without a hitch or glitch. For us that have never put themselves under that kind of pressure it is hard to imagine the depth and strength it takes to meet such demands head on with our reservations.
I am a worrier. I got an “A” in worrying 101 in school. I paced and fretted. I had to go to the bath room a dozen times in 2 hours. I couldn’t stop worrying. I swear that my hair was turning white. I was beginning to feel like Bride of Frankenstein. What if it rained, what if it started thundering and lightning, what if Santa Fe refused to enter, what if he slipped on the wet grass? And worst of all what if they were just bad. I was making myself sick with all the things that could go wrong. While I was at my worst I looked up at Eitan sitting casually on Santa Fe as if he did not have a care in the world. I asked him how he could be so calm and wasn’t he scared. His reply was, “Debra, I have been preparing my whole life for the next 10 minutes. Santa Fe and I are partners. We won’t let each other down.” The man can drive me crazy but no wonder I love him the way I do. You see while I was worrying about all the things that could go wrong he was reveling in all the things that were going to go right.
I asked Kathy Cox who was instrumental in getting Eitan and Santa Fe to the Games in 2006. She said that his reputation preceded him as a horseman and that it was known that no matter what the circumstances were he would deliver. Deliver he did so much so that they were asked to return to the 2010 World Equestrian and open the Opening Ceremony in Lexington, KY. That is a whole other story of courage and adversity. One for another time.
That same confidence, drive, vision and passion is what drives Eitan and his Cowboy Dressage and Cowboy Dressage World. Am I worried? Not this time. I know that we are all in good hands.
Deb
“You Can Do This.”
“Relaxed but powerful beauty. Captivating presence. Horse and rider are clearly One. Mozart on a horse. Art on the hoof. Freedom, Baby! That is Cowboy Dressage”
It is not just because Eitan is an extraordinary horseman that horse folk are drawn to him. It is due to the fact that he is a regular guy with an extraordinary gift and that is what makes him so appealing and approachable. You can see yourself in him and he wants you to – he wants you to believe in what you could aspire to be – not like him, but the very best you that you can be a ’horseback. To say he is a gifted horseman is an understatement but he’s wrapped in plain brown paper and that makes you think he is more like you than not like you. Being on level ground is how he reaches people, he reaches right down into where their hope sits waiting for encouragement. He needs a microphone in the arena so that people can hear him…but he needs only his sincerity for the listener’s heart to hear him loud and clear. The message is: “You Can Do This.” He blows you away with his skill and performances and then he hands you the reins, giving you a piece of his own success – a seed. It is a little thing that takes root. Therein lies the trap. He ‘tricks’ you into believing in your success before it actually happens! He’s not about gimmicks or motivational clichés. What he gives us is ancient wisdom in a package tailored for today’s rider. He is especially helpful to the western rider because he puts a ‘user friendly’ label on the word ‘dressage’. While dressage is nothing new, a commitment to educating the western rider with classical training is new! Nothing is as appealing as real help from a real ‘stand-up’ guy that made it big with hard work and working with what he had. Eitan isn’t a commodity either, using horses as a means to be a successful business. He lives and breathes horses and was simply blessed to have found a way to make a living doing what he would do whether or not it was lucrative. He didn’t buy his success, he earned it the old fashioned way.
No longer is the word ‘Dressage’ unfriendly, intimidating, foreign feeling and limited to a certain sector in the equine community. It should not be a ‘special interest group’. Dressage is and should be for everyone and while that message has been preached for many years in this country, very new delivered the message to the masses. Eitan didn’t just agree to meet us halfway. He leapt over the cultural barriers and built a bridge wide enough for everyone. In cowboy lingo, “He got ‘er done!”
Shery Jespersen – Upton Wyoming
“LIFE STYLE IS WHAT MATTERS”.
“I was driving through the wide open spaces of the far west and as I drove I came upon a working cowboy loping along the fence line on a good horse. He sat on the horse the way a horseman sits. As he loped along, he lifted his lariat as a friendly wave to me. When he saddles up, his ‘competition’ for the day is sometimes simply getting some work done and making it back home.
I honked in reply. We live worlds apart but we share a common thread. A love of the horse is the tie that binds. The ‘spirit of competition’ was put into perspective for me that day.”
“8”.
