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May 2008 • VOLUME 33 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
Felicity Wraithbottom’s Blog About Me Hi! My name is Felicity Wraithbottom and I’m from Orange Rind, California in the US of A. I’m 21 years old. I’ve just finished my BS degree in equine studies at Slippery Bottom University where I double-majored in dressage and waste management with a minor in fashion design. I figured that if I’m going to be in the horse business I’d better know where to put all that poop, and it wouldn’t hurt to look good doing it! Ever since I was a little kid my goal has been to become a great trainer and rider like my hero Olga Rollkurova, and tomorrow I start my dream job at her world famous training center!!! I am X-static! I’m going to be one of her working students. I’ll get to learn her training methods, accompany her to shows, and take lessons on her fabulous horses! Maybe I’ll even get to watch her training sessions with her life-long trainer, Bengt Fleckchen!! I’ve heard that these sessions are always off-limits to the public, but I’m sure that won’t apply to me anymore. And since Olga is always on the cutting edge of fashion, I’m hoping she’ll teach me all about how she comes up with those outrageous SuperPrix! outfits! I can’t imagine that there are more than a dozen people in the entire world who don’t know who Olga Rollkurova is, but just in case one of those unfortunates stumbles across this blog, I’ll give a few details. Olga Rollkurova is the daughter of the legendary rider and trainer Mirabella Rollkurova who is credited with discovering the revolutionary training method that now bears her name. After she retired from competition at age 86, Mirabella founded The Rollkurova Institute, dedicated to breeding and training horses in the tradition that she herself had established, and educating the equestrian community in her modern doctrine of horsemanship. Mirabella was an astute business woman who believed in the power of diversification. First she established a highly successful clothing line for image-conscious riders and their horses. This was soon expanded to include tack, grooming equipment and horse supplements. Before long tack shops bearing the Rollkurova name were popping up in every major city in the world. Not content with just reaching into the pocketbooks of the equestrian community, Mirabella, and eventually her daughter, became involved in much larger ventures: container ships, airlines, fossil fuels and agri-business, to name a few. If it floated, flew, burned or grew, The Rollkurova Institute bought interest in it. Olga was groomed from an early age to follow in her mother’s footsteps (or hoof prints) as the top rider in the world of SuperPrix!, and a crack business woman. Legend has it that Olga started longe lessons at 6 months of age in a bassinette strapped to the broad back of one of her mother’s Superohners. After Mirabella’s death from an unfortunate riding accident involving a Shetland pony, Olga took up the reins of the huge conglomerate known as The Rollkurova Institute. OK, history lesson’s over! 1. I arrive at The Rollkurova Institute (Equine Division) The facility is incredible! Even the entrance to the farm is impressive (actually a little scary). There are these sentry boxes with armed guards who frisk you for weapons (?!). And then you have to show them 3 pieces of ID before they let you through the motorized gate. Then there’s this loooong driveway that seems to go on forever as it winds through a dark creepy forest. For some reason I started thinking about Hansel and Gretel. Anyway, when we finally reached the farm it was a totally remarkable sight. Situated high on a mountain top it has this mind boggling vista that extends in all directions. I thought it was nice that they put watch towers around the perimeter so the staff can enjoy the view. The barn complex itself is a little weird: sort of a cross between Churchill Downs and a maximum security prison. The whole place is enclosed in a 20 foot electrified fence. I remarked to the driver that they must have some really determined horse thieves in the area, but he just smiled. The turnout area consists of dozens of small paddocks surrounded by chain link fencing topped with razor wire. Over it all is one of those huge climate-controlled bubble things that make the complex look like a giant mushroom squatting on top of the mountain. I was told that this is to keep the horses protected from the elements and cut down on shedding. When we reached the main barn I was ushered into the office where I had to sign a bunch of release forms pledging that I’ll never reveal what goes on here. (I don’t think this blog counts cause no one will ever read it.) They also took my finger prints, a retinal scan and a DNA sample. They said that this was so that if I ever got lost at a show they’d be able to locate me. Mom and Dad will be pleased to know they’re so concerned about my safety. Once I got settled into my little cubicle in the student dormitory (which for some reason is called Stalag 17), Helga, one of the staff members, took me for a tour. Imagine my excitement when I heard that Schreckmeister, the winning-est horse EVER in Pirouette to Infinity, was enjoying a well-earned retirement on the farm. Seeing him dozing on three legs in his paddock you’d never know that the old guy had been such a dynamic figure in his youth. However he can still get up to his old tricks. I was told that just last week Schreck attacked a groom who forgot to take along his cattle prod when he went to give the stallion his daily cocktail of NSAIDs, vitamins and steroids. Schreck snatched up the poor guy by the seat of his pants and, after executing a few of his signature Pirouette to Infinity twirls, launched him over the fence. There’s still a little piece of denim fluttering from the razor wire. The old stallion was so pleased with himself that he spent the next hour frolicking around his paddock
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