12 SIDELINES APRIL 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren R. Giannini
Christa Gandolfo has established GET Equestrian Sports, LLC
in Ocala. GET honors her first three upper level horses: G for
Shahaadi, aka George, E for Governaire, aka Edward, and T for
Thalia Light, aka Taylor.
“I have a full business and a barn of 14 horses right now – I only
own four of them – and a large portion of my business is sales,”
Christa said. “I constantly have sales horses flowing in and out of
my barn from green-broke two-year-olds to OTTBs to schoolmas-
ters and three-star event horses. I have sold nearly three dozen
horses since October 2012.”
She moved to Ocala in the summer of 2012 to train with Leslie
Law. Before that, she lived in Jupiter and kept her horses in Wel-
lington, training with Oded Shimoni out of Tuny Page’s Stillpoint
Farm, the base for other top dressage trainers, including Lisa Wil-
cox, Shannon Dueck and Robert Dover.
But the high points that accompany life with horses are often
accompanied by total opposites. Christa had a bad fall toward the
end of Governaire’s third advanced cross-country at Poplar Farm
in March 2012. “He’s a strong horse to ride and I was a little tired
– it was my third cross-country of the day – and we were close to
home on a clear round, having jumped through all of the tough
combinations, and I was very excited,” Christa said. “It was a dark
jump made of whiskey barrels, very upright, under a tree off a
turn. He took off, left one leg behind – I don’t really know what
Christa Gandolfo
– Back On Course
e
Christa and Camenicci, show jumping in the CIC** at Poplar
Place last September.
Photo by WNCPhoto.com
Governaire and Christa on the Advanced Cross-Country at 2012
Red Hills International Horse Trials.
Photo by Anthony Trollope for
happened – and I got catapulted. He was completely fine and gal-
loped home. I blacked out.”
Christa’s resulting injuries included a concussion, a broken
hand and a shoulder separation. “It was my first serious fall and
definitely traumatizing,” she said. “The hand wasn’t too bad, but
my shoulder was the absolute worst. I was back in the saddle
four weeks later, two to four weeks too soon, even though I had
done four hours of extensive physical therapy daily for the first
four weeks after the crash. The first time I rode was a jump les-
son on Governaire and I finished the lesson, but my shoulder truly
wasn’t ready and I took five steps backwards. I spent the summer
focusing on my dressage.”
In January 2013 she competed for the first time post-crash at
Longwood Farm South’s schooling horse trial. “It was definitely
scary. I was nervous and violently ill before cross-country,” said
Christa. “Cami (Camenicci) ended up finishing second and Ed-
ward (Governaire) was fourth out of a relatively large division.”
Last September, Christa took four horses to Poplar Farm. “It
was my first time back at Poplar since the crash,” she said. “My
dad Jack was there with me, but my mother Cathy, my biggest
fan and an eventer to the Prelim level, couldn’t be there. I love
it when both my parents can come to events – they have been
such wonderful supporters since day one. Even so, it ended up
being a pretty good weekend. Walking the three-star course, there
was
that
fence. ‘Here it is,’ I said to Leslie, ‘I think I will be show
jumping this one!’ I was so nervous and I ended up being fine. I
just love eventing. I knew if I didn’t get over it, I was never going
to make it.”
Nerves can be a serious issue, whatever your sport. Christa
works with Chicago sports psychologist Marc St. Camille whose
clientele includes professional golfers and show jumpers. “Marc
makes recordings after all our conversations and that really helps
me,” said Christa. “Friends laugh at me at horse shows because I
play the recording in my truck while I drive and on my iPhone right
until I get on. I get nervous very easily and it clutters my mind. His
