76 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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And a Little Background
First the Sidelines Triathlon… Then the Tetrathlon
About ten years ago … give or take one or two
memory lapses on our part, The Sidelines Equestrian
Triathlon came about as the brain child of some of
the Sidelines staff. While we were involved with all
three disciplines in the Wellington area, they—hunter/
jumper, dressage and polo people all seemed to
revolve around their own distinct (and very separate)
worlds. How much fun would it be to watch dressage
riders get a few bugs in their teeth galloping across
a polo feld or watch a 10-goaler tackle a 3’ fence
instead of a goalpost? Hunter jumpers playing polo?
Gonzalito doing dressage? Yagottabekiddin!? So our
fearless leader, Samantha Charles, along with Bill
Ylvisaker and Gene Mische took the ball and ran with
it, so to speak. The Sidelines Triathlon was born.
David Lominska, Robin DuToit, Heather Crespo and
Neil Sharpiro were members of the first committee who worked
tirelessly to make the Triathlon happen.
This event personifed
the very goals of the magazine. As a publication that
covers each of the three distinctly different disciplines
intimately, we took on some responsibility for bringing them
all together. And it worked! Last year, after a three year
hiatus, the Equestrian Aid Foundation decided to take back
up the reins and add yet another horse sport that is fnding
its way into the hearts of the English riding folks: reining.
The Sidelines Equestrian Tetrathlon became even bigger,
better and more challenging with a whole new venue and
another discipline added to the cross-discipline fun of the
Tetrathlon. Sidelines is still the proud title sponsor of this
exciting event and we have almost as much fun as watching
as the riders who volunteer their time (and risk their necks)
as they do participating.
Samantha Charles,
founder of the
Sidelines Triathlon
led the way during
opening ceremonies
How much fun is this? A polo player
riding a dressage test!
A little polo with the hunter/jumper
and dressage riders – each team
had one ‘real’ polo player out there
as well
Reining wasn’t on the agenda in
2007 – and clearly it wasn’t taken
too seriously!