TEAM CANADA FIRST
Danielle Olafson of Edmonton, Alberta, captured a first win for Team Canada in horsemanship aboard Docs Daring Me. The arena filled with the sound of “O Canada,” Canada’s national anthem. The Journal interviewed Danielle with only one short interruption – an important congratulatory hug from her mom, Karen.
Tell me about the pattern.
It was a fairly simple pattern. You had to jog in, go into a right lead lope and do a circle, simple lead change, come around a sharp corner and stop facing the cones. Then back up and do a 270 degree turn and walk out.
What was the most challenging thing about it?
Definitely the circle to the right lead. You had to kind of have a balance between going farther down the rail because it was really tight, or cranking a hard turn, so it was just trying to find somewhere in between there.
What did you work on to get to know this horse?
Well, the owner, Paige Carter and her mom, Patti, gave me lots of help in figuring him out. He’s an awesome, awesome horse, and I was very honored to be riding him.
What challenges did you have to overcome to get here?
I had to work really, really hard on keeping my legs strong. This entire year I haven’t had a lot of shows so I’ve had to ride a lot at home and really torture myself to keep in shape for Youth World Cup! I had to try riding a ton of different horses that sometimes weren’t so much fun to ride.
What’s been the most fun, so far, about being here?
Just meeting all the new people. (She smiled.) It’s amazing meeting people from other countries. I had never met anyone from Italy or Israel, so it’s really cool. And we’re fairly close with the UK team, the Americans and the Italians.
Who would you like to thank?
Definitely my mom, Scott Neuman, my trainer, Patti Carter, our coach, Della, and all of my teammates. And everyone back home who cheered me on and helped me out.
Fun Fact: Danielle was the AQHA 2006 Justin Rookie of the Year 12-14, and she’s qualified for the 2008 Ford AQHYA World Championship Show in performance halter geldings, hunter under saddle and hunt seat equitation.
TEAM USA SECOND
Cara Walker of Columbia, Missouri, has had a banner first day of competition thus far - she also placed first in the hunter under saddle and second in the hunt seat equitation. In the horsemanship, she rode Zippos Got Rhythm, the same horse she rode in the hunt seat equitation. He's owned by Jane Foerter of Cambridge, Ontario.
What was challenging about this pattern for you?
I would say the simple lead change and the down transition because we were having trouble with transitions. I practiced a lot. And the spin, but he did really good with that.
What’s next for you?
I’m getting ready to go to trail. I’m going to show the same horse in trail. He’s pretty green at trail but we’ll see how it goes.
What’s been the funniest thing, so far, that’s happened here?
Probably last night when we went to get the guys pedicures! (She laughed.) And the girls, we all got our nails done. It was really nice. And we celebrated our birthdays. (Team USA celebrated four birthdays during the 2008 Youth World Cup – for Cara Walker, Kyle Fuller, Makena Lawrence and Corinne English.) That was the best thing. I also love how they play the national anthem (for the winner).
Fun Fact: Cara Walker has ridden with the same trainer since she was 6 – Kendra Weis of Moberly, Missouri. “She’s great,” Cara said. “She’s like my second mom.”
