Team #701 Thomas Koehler and Cleo
Photo by Derith Vogt
Team #701: Thomas Koehler and Cleo
From: Winterset, Iowa
Ages: 75 & 27
Combined Age: 102
Test: Introductory Level Test B
Date: September 24, 2023
Unlike many, I did not start riding as a kid. I was out of college and had always liked horses, so I thought it would be fun to learn to ride. I found Daniel Boone Arena in Harvester, Missouri. I started on a wonderfully patient one-eyed lesson horse named Twenty Grand and eventually purchased my first horse, Rough Road AKA Buck. I learned to ride western and English and competed in the International Buckskin Horse Association (IBHA) and Midstate Buckskin Horse Association (MBHA) shows, winning a national championship with Buck over fences. For several years, I rode Quarter Horses in Missouri until moving to Iowa. In Iowa, I competed on my Quarter Horse, Silverboom AKA Red, in the “D” series hunter shows until Red retired from jumping and then started to learn dressage. I have shown both traditional and Western Dressage up to Western Dressage First Level.
My rescue horse, Rowdy Yates, whom I competed on at the 2017 Western Dressage Association of America (WDAA) World Show, placing 10th in Introductory Level Test 3, and 13th overall in a 31-horse Adult Amateur Introductory Level division, came down with Trigeminal Mediated Headshaking and had to retire. We were just finishing up a year of showing at WDAA First Level and schooling at Second Level. I wanted to ride so I thought I’d see if Cleo, our then 26-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare would like to go back to work after years of being retired and making four beautiful babies. Cleo is very talented but expects her rider to be correct. This could have been a problem since I am not a perfect rider. But she likes me and, for the most part, puts up with me, and she lets me know when I’m wrong. Her expectation of what I should be has made me a better rider. At age 27, we keep trying to become a better team. I must thank my teammate Cleo, who has been more tolerant of my shots as a rider than she is of others. I have been her human since she came to live with us, though it has only been two years since I put her back to work riding. She and I have an understanding that works for us.
Along the way, I met many interesting people. I’d like to take a minute to recognize them for their help and encouragement. A good man named Kraft Vohsen taught me to ride the basics and his son, Jerry, sold me my first horse, which was the dream horse you never quite get again. Bobby Drier and Liz Van taught me to ride hunters. Since starting to ride dressage, there have been many people I owe thanks to. My trainers (in alphabetical order) are Lori Emery, Barry Fript, Dolly Hannon, Marina Parris Woodhead, my sister-in-law, Wendy Rigby, and of course, my wife, PJ, whom I would not have met if she had not gone to the same horse shows I did. In other ways, many have helped and encouraged. Robin Sprafka and Richard Hildreth at Middle River Ranch, and Mike and Diane Hagerman of Diaman H Stables have always been there with their indoor arenas when I needed them.
There are many more I’m sure should be here. Not the least would be Tammy Lisi, the show chair at the show, and the members of the Iowa Dressage and Combined Training Association (IaDCTA) who went to a lot of trouble to make our Century Club ride special for me and Cleo with cake and champagne and lots of well wishes. A special thank you to Derith Vogt for the photos here and all the nice ones over the years.
