2023 Evie Tumlin Grant Recipient: Meredith Hunter
Last year, I was lucky to be awarded the Evie Tumlin Memorial Grant through The Dressage Foundation.
My plan was to attend a clinic in Florida with Yvonne Barteau so I could finally fulfill my dream of doing a musical freestyle with my 20-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Parker. I should know better by now not to make plans with horses as life always seems to have a way of diverting those plans. Between a significant health scare with my horse coupled with him deciding to stop sweating for the first time in his life, all our plans came to a screeching halt last summer. Luckily, by the time the cooler weather rolled around, he started sweating again and about the same time, we got the all-clear to bring him back into work. Alas, my freestyle plans were sidelined temporarily as we slowly brought him back to work and then started training for the Prix St Georges test in earnest. I am happy to report that we have our first PSG score, and my sights were once again set on my freestyle goal.
At this point, it was not feasible to go to Florida, but I was able to work with Yvonne and her fabulous team remotely. I sent several videos of us running through some tests as well as a detailed summary of our strengths and weaknesses. When asked about music choice, I told her she could have the freedom to send me samples of music but that I would like to have a few samples of Irish/Celtic music as well. After listening to many different selections, I finally settled on some lively, upbeat Irish music. From there, Yvonne and her student came up with some fun Third Level choreography to go with the music. I worried a bit when I first saw the movements, this was definitely going to be a technical freestyle! But I decided to give it a go and have begun to run through the test.
The first few runs resulted in me having to stop occasionally to remember where I was supposed to be, but as I ran through it more and more, I had no doubt that Parker and I could rise to the occasion! I hope to have our first real run-through at a local schooling show later in May and to take it into a recognized show in the fall. I want to thank The Dressage Foundation and the donors to the Evie Tumlin Memorial Fund. I have had so much fun working on this freestyle, and I can’t wait to show everyone our new dancing shoes!
