New Benchmark at El Sueño

By Paula Parisi August 17, 2011

 

El Sueño Equestrian Center in Somis hosts the second of three 2011 Benchmark Rallies on Sunday, Sept. 4. The events are part of a program developed by renowned international show jumping course designer Linda Allen. Allen developed the Benchmark Program in response to what she sees as a need for an affordable system of putting miles on young horses that would be comparable to what is offered in Europe.

“Linda has done clinics here several times, and one of the things we’d talk about was the differences between riding here and in Europe, and the possibilities of developing young horses here versus Europe,” said Lisa Westin, whose Thunderstruck Farm is based at El Sueño. “It’s so cost-prohibitive here, so we thought, Wouldn’t it be nice to have a local circuit where you could get experience and not have to spend thousands of dollars at a full-blown horse show?”

That’s the basis of the one-day Benchmark Rallies. “It’s definitely not a horse show and is not meant to be a horse show. It’s meant to simulate a horse show,” Allen said. Each rally is a low-pressure environment in which riders can get their developing horses used to going around a professionally set course. The performance is judged and scored and the results documented, so horses—particularly sale horses—can begin to establish a track record that will allow potential buyers to get a handle on how far along the animal is.

Winning horses today are easily sold and have well-documented records. Most other horses are sold on the Internet, Allen explained. “The question to a potential buyer is always, ‘How ready is this horse to go to a show? Am I looking at a year? Am I looking at two years? A month?’ And you can’t tell that from a video, because the video is of the horse going his best, and you don’t know how much video was shot in order to get a good clip.”

Buyers of intermediate- or entry-level show horses “don’t really care whether the horse was winning,” Allen said. The concern is “will [he] go to a show, walk in and go around the course at a given height, with a respectable score? If so, that’s considerably reassuring to a potential buyer.”

The Benchmark Web site will track the performance records of participating horses, which sellers can cross-reference. Allen is hoping that the concept will catch on and that Benchmark Rallies will take place across the U.S., creating a national database of performance stats.

To a lesser extent, the rallies are geared toward developing riders. “I see a lot of riders who are very keen—they take clinics, they work hard at improving, but they don’t have the time or the financial wherewithal to spend their lives at horse shows,” Allen said. “This gives them a very concrete way to measure their progress.”

According to trainer Kevin McGinn, who, along with Westin and El Sueño events manager Samie Valla, has worked closely with Allen in developing the program, the main constituents are “dealers, breeders and those with young horses, in addition to people who want to get in one more big practice before a show.”

Benchmark Rallies typically feature an arena course with obstacles ranging in height from 1.0M to 1.30M. McGinn said the Sept. 4 rally will be different in that it will “offer the chance to get out on the grass,” utilizing El Sueño’s natural obstacle course―which includes banks, ditches, sunken roads and water obstacles―to help prep horses and riders for the Oct. 9 Foxfield Derby. “Just the idea of jumping out of the arena is transformational for a young rider and young horse. It’s a different question.”

The third Benchmark Rally at El Sueño will be held on Dec. 4. For more information on both events, contact Lisa Westin, 818-426-8668, or visit www.thebenchmarkprogram.com.

Visit the El Sueño Equestrian Center. We also invite you to explore the Websites of Thunderstruck Farm and Kevin McGinn Stables.

Short URL: https://theequestriannews.com/?p=3940