Horse’s Tale - DJM Donna Elena

This article is from the December 2019 Horse Deals magazine.

SYNOPSIS
Stable Name: Donna
Height: 17.1hh
Age: 9
Breeding: Don Schufro/Beauty Bolero
Owner/Rider: Maree Tomkinson and Tomkinson Group Dressage

Top Results:
• Winner 5 year old at DWTS
• Winner 6 year old DWTS with the highest score so far at DWTS for any horse
• National Small Tour Champion 2018
• Winning first CDI GP at DWTS 2019

How did DMJ Donna Elena come into your life? We purchased her from Johannes Westendarp in Germany as a four-year-old. We also purchased Diamantina from Johannes in 2006 so we have a very good relationship. I went to look at her for another GP rider in Australia who had asked me to help her look for a new horse to purchase. In the end, she decided Donna was not the one for her, so myself and a group of owners agreed to purchase her as it was clear even at that stage that she showed amazing talent for the training and rideability that it takes to make a GP horse.

What was your reaction when you first laid eyes on her? Like all horses she was not perfect, at four years old she was quite croup high and strong on the right rein and a bit plain to look at. However, she had three very good gaits, super walk and canter and wonderful elasticity and energy. The real quality was in the riding, however. She was super nice to sit on, lovely over the back and had a wonderful crisp hind leg stepping right under herself with great purpose. In the riding, it was immediately clear she was a future GP horse.

Were you looking to add another horse to your team at the time? Not really. Over time in the sport you learn that it has to become a little organic, in that you must seize opportunities when they present themselves. There is not always perfect timing and you have to be prepared to move forward whenever the path becomes clear. For me, this was a clear path forward and so with the help of my friends, step forward we did, and Donna was added to the team and we have never looked back.

You’ve come along quietly with Donna. How have you refined your approach to producing top-level dressage horses? I’m onto my eleventh GP horse now so I hope I have become a better rider and trainer as I go along. I am for sure a lot more patient and philosophical about the process. I am a lot clearer about the necessary path from three-year-old to GP and how connected the whole process is. Each horse has their own journey and you can only move through the process when the horse is ready, the slower you go the quicker you get there. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses and I tend not to worry about the small thing or the things I cannot control. You must have a connection with your horse and they must learn to trust you and have confidence in you if you have any chance of really working together as a harmonious team. I have an amazing seven-year-old Diamantina/Totilas and I think she is world-class, but her training process has been a complicated one (as you might expect). Donna, on the other hand, was much more traditional and she rides like a textbook. It is a really nice feeling and gives great confidence when competing to have such a horse with you. Training horses is all about the Kenny Rogers theory.. you’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run, never count your money when you’re sitting at the table, there’ll be time enough for counting when the dealings done.

Though you did take Donna overseas back in 2016 for the World Young Horse Dressage Championships, what was the value of this experience for both Donna and yourself? I took her because I was going over with Diamantina for the Rio selection events. I didn’t want to leave Donna home for six months by herself, so we brought her along with us. An expensive exercise, but I needed to protect my horse and her future. She took it all in her stride, as she does. She was very well behaved, just breezed through the whole thing as is her way. Unfortunately, after the whole Rio selection disaster, I was in a pretty bad place and just getting through the World Championships is not enough, so the scores were pretty normal. Sometimes when you’re down you just cannot get back up for a while.

What’s been your toughest time with her? Well, there hasn’t really been a tough time. She is such a good girl and she learnt everything in the training very well. She is good in the stable and in the paddock. She is just a perfect little horse really.

Is Donna still adjusting to the big atmosphere of indoor events? Well, that’s just normal really. I was listening to Charlotte Dujardin talking about Freestyle last night. Freestyle is now a year older than Donna and just now starting to do the big indoor shows. It is always hard for the young horses. This is normal. In Europe you can compete and qualify for WEG or Olympics and not have to do the indoor circuit if it doesn’t suit your horse or if they are a bit young to cope with it just yet. Donna is super good at all competitions, super reliable and tries really hard. In a perfect world, you would give her more experience doing an outdoor season and then slowly acclimatise her to the indoor season. Some horses are never good indoor horses, like Diamantina, it was always hard for her. Unfortunately in our country those horses become lost because most of our CDIs are indoors or the freestyle at least. Now with Boneo and Willinga we have a few outdoor so this helps for sure. Donna is never naughty or stressed, but being so young the indoor atmosphere still distracts her a bit, it’s no problem. Soon enough she will be perfect indoor, outdoors, whatever. And anyway, for me she is perfect all the time.

Congratulations on taking out the Grand Prix and Freestyle at the NSW Dressage Champions with DMJ Donna Elena. How do you construct Donna’s Freestyles to showcase her strengths? At the moment Donna is only nine, very young for a GP horse, so our freestyle is very simple and I try to make it easy for her, and to keep her happy and confident in her work. She is super light across the ground and very soft in her way of going, so we chose music to compliment that. Melissa from Fortissimo Freestyles does the music for us. As for the chorey, Donna really has no real weakness so we can pretty much do whatever we want. She has amazing extended trot, huge half passes and easy changes. Piaffe and passage are also not difficult and the walk is excellent and relaxed ...so we are lucky in that she can do whatever we choose.

Strongest personality trait? She wants the other horses to think she is the alpha female in the stable ...but she is not, Diamantina is, and Donna knows this. Diamantina is the only horse she doesn’t lay her ears back at.

Preferred work environment? I have this belief that the horse and the rider need to train their ability to focus, and that if you are always being distracted by life while riding you will never learn to fully focus. So... when I ride I want my arena peaceful and quiet with no distractions. My horse and I must be in the habit of having perfect focus while training, and the people working with me know to protect us from all outside distractions.

Weekly training regime? Monday mostly canter work in the arena. Tuesday mostly trot work in the arena. Wednesday is a wellness day... low impact stretching lunge around 30 minutes, groom, massage and ice boots etc. Thursday canter, Friday trot, Saturday test movements. Every day after work we walk around the racetrack if it’s not too wet. Afternoons out on the grass for two hours. We always walk for a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes before we warm-up for another 15 or 20 minutes. Total ride is about one hour, walk breaks regularly, at least every 10 minutes. She rarely sweats in her work, she finds it all very easy.

What has she taught you as a rider? That really good horses make good riders. It is not easy training a GP horse, but the good ones learn it and do it easily. This doesn’t make you a better rider but you do get better at choosing the right horses, the ones with a natural aptitude for the sport. Most mares train their riders well, to be patient and to ask nicely... training is finding a way to make your horse understand you and willingly work with you, not for you. Harmony is when you manage to achieve this. A horse that is obedient through fear is not well trained
or harmonious.

Most annoying habit or quirk? She kicks the walls if another horse or person comes near her. As soon as you talk to her or lay your hand on her she is a happy sweet horse, it is all a big bluff.

Does she have a best friend? Yes of course... me!

What is the first thing on your shopping list for her? Stable bandages — so she doesn’t break any more legs — and carrots of course.

Most treasured moment together? Each evening when I do evening stables, she draws me into her chest with her neck and hugs me, rubbing my back while I scratch her shoulders. I love it.

What celebrity does she remind you of? Mohamed Ali... she floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

3 things we don’t know about DMJ Donna Elena?
1. She does not like any other horse to come remotely close to her.
2. She shattered a bone in her leg as a seven-year-old and had surgery to remove it.
3. I am the only person she likes.

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