Allison Brock Finds Success With Mount Rosevelt

By Julie Unger

Top-ranked international and national dressage rider Allison Brock and her seven-year equine partner Rosevelt are looking forward to a successful 2016, perhaps even capped by a victorious appearance at the Olympics.

Now 36 years old, it all started for Brock as a horse-crazy girl from a non-equestrian family. Her grandmother bought her a package of riding lessons for her seventh birthday.

“They figured after four lessons I’d decide it was too hard, and I got too dirty, and all these things. The problem was, I did not think that,” Brock recalled. “I recognized as a small child what I was most passionate about. A lot of people don’t ever, ever get to experience what that means. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to turn my passion into my life.”

At 17, Brock left her native Hawaii to pursue her dressage dreams, working with top professionals, including Colter Slocum, Jim Eldridge, Linda Landers, Lauren Sammis and Sue Blinks.

When Brock was 22, she left the United States for the first time to discover the equestrian community in Europe, joining Blinks in 2002 for the U.S. team at the FEI World Equestrian Games.

“It was incredibly educational,” Brock said. “Here I was, going with the U.S. team and living with Klaus Balkenhol, one of the most famous German trainers still alive. He’s an incredible human being, and an incredible horseman. Here I was, living at his farm. It just was amazing being around the people I was around.”

Exploring the equestrian culture in Germany, she explained, was like being a kid in a candy store. From there, she traveled to the World Equestrian Games in Spain, where the U.S. won the silver medal.

Brock continued her dressage adventure with other professional equestrians, such as Debbie McDonald, Guenter Seidel and Christine Traurig. She met Fritz and Claudine Kundrun while working with Blinks.

“I was very fortunate with the people I worked for and the steps with how my career leapfrogged from here to there,” Brock said. “I was very fortunate to make some good choices, and it led me to the path of Sue Blinks and the Kundruns.”

The Kundruns sponsored Blinks, and own Rosevelt, a Hanoverian stallion that Brock competes with and hopes to take to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.

“There are so many things that have to line up with the horse and rider, and it’s about the combination,” Brock said. “When you buy them as a young horse, you don’t know what they are going to turn out to be, or if they’re going to stay healthy. They’re athletes, too, and they’re subject to things like us — injuries, illness, accidents.”

Brock and Rosevelt won team gold at the April 2015 U.S. Nations Cup; 2014 Dressage at Devon Champion Grand Prix and 2014 Dressage at Devon Champion Grand Prix Special; 2014 USDF Hanoverian FEI Level Horse of the Year; 2014 Hanoverian Champion, Grand Prix, Open Division; 2015 CDI Alchleiten, Austria, second, Grand Prix Special; and multiple Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle wins on the Global Dressage Festival circuit.

Last year, Brock and Rosevelt were on the U.S. team traveling reserve for the 2015 Pan Am games. “It earned me my rider patch, which I’m really proud of,” she said.

This horse and rider pair are at the elite level of their sport.

“It takes years to train a horse up to the Grand Prix level, if they make it. A lot of horses aren’t physically talented enough, and they also have to be quite intelligent to do it — and they have to want to do it,” Brock said. “It’s like you’re training a gymnast or a ballerina. There are going to be certain people who have a high aptitude for it, and it’s the same with the horses.”

Dressage is complicated, she explained. When done correctly, it looks effortless, almost like the rider is doing very little and the horse is doing all of the work. However, looks are deceiving when it comes to this unique sport.

“At the end of the day, the horse is so in tune with its rider that it is beautifully harmonious, and powerful and graceful,” Brock said. “That’s what we’re striving for.”

Getting that type of perfection does not come easily.

“I’ve put my nose to the grindstone and have really worked hard to develop myself into a better rider, a better teacher, a better horseman,” she said. “And I’m very lucky. I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of Fritz and Claudine Kundrun. They have enabled me to actively chase my dreams.”

The opportunities offered Brock have made her a better rider, helping her to prepare for what is coming up.

“This is my first roller coaster ride, having a horse of this quality being this highly ranked,” she said. “This is the first time that I’ve had a horse, that I’ve developed, that has been good enough. I’m also now good enough. It takes a long time. It took me years to get to this position.”

Brock was in the right place at the right time when she first started. Of the 16 or so children training together in Hawaii, six or seven of them became professional riders.

From Hawaii onward, she flourished, and she doesn’t take that for granted.

“I am incredibly, incredibly grateful to Fritz and Claudine Kundrun, and I am really pleased to say that I have great relationships with all of the past trainers and professionals that I worked with as I was coming up,” she said. “I am grateful to Sue Blinks, Jim Eldridge, Jan Brink, Kyra Kyrklund, Richard White and Michael Barisone, who is coaching me now. I really am proud of the relationships I have with those people.”

Learning to communicate with a horse, or another being, she explained, is critical to the success that she has with Rosevelt.

“He’s a really, really sweet horse. He’s a breeding stallion; he’s beautiful… He likes people, but he likes other horses. He likes dogs,” Brock said, laughing. “He would be like that good-looking jock in school who was also good in the academic part and got along with everyone, but didn’t know he was good-looking.”

When Brock isn’t at a competition, she divides her time between barns in Virginia and Wellington, calling Florida her home and offering lessons, training and clinics.

For those interested in dressage, she stressed the important of finding the right professional.

“Watch them ride their horses and train others, and see which professional speaks to them the most,” she said. “The philosophy, teaching style, and how the training works. If you want to learn, the best case is to integrate yourself into the professional’s program.”

Currently, Brock and Rosevelt are practicing and training to get ready for the Olympics. She wants to make sure that they remain among the top pairs to secure their spot in the final selection process.

“I want to be in that grouping, and come up a couple more places to make sure our lot is secure,” Brock said. “Then, we will see what happens in Europe and how the chips fall.”

To learn more about Allison Brock, visit www.allisonbrockdressage.com.