‘R’ Kameo – my story by owner – Lois Brown

In 1997 I foaled a mare that I had purchased from a farm near Bolton, Ontario. The mare was Villia Kalypso and the sire was Rio Grande. When ‘R’ Kameo was born there were severe medical complications and at ten days the mare and foal were rushed to The University of Guelph where the mare was diagnosed with a ruptured lymph duct in her chest and resultant atrial fibrillation. The foal was in peak form and thoroughly enjoyed all the attention of the university staff. Kalypso lived to raise her foal to the age of two when it was determined that she was failing dramatically. Her thyroid gland had shut down and the atrial fibrillation was becoming more and more severe to the point where she had started passing out for brief moments. And so on September 23, 1999 Kalypso was laid to rest and her foal (‘R’ Kameo) spent her first night in a stall in the barn away from her mother.

Kameo’s talent has been evident from the beginning. Kameo is an Event horse. Eventing was developed many years ago to train the young officers and horses in the army. The five phases of eventing include dressage (controlled movements to a pattern much like figures in figure skating); Stadium jumping (the horse and rider jump a series of obstacles and are judged on speed and efficiency of movement such that the rails stay up in the cups); Cross Country (The horse and rider jump a series of fences over a measured distance. The fences are built through water and over ditches and walls). The other two phases are an endurance phase and a steeplechase phase.

‘R’ Kameo is a great horse. She is a Canadian bred mare whose dam was a thoroughbred mare that I found in a barn near Bolton, Ontario. Her sire is Rio Grande and Augustin and Christine Walch (notable breeders of Hunter Jumpers) are rather excited that Rio has produced such a terrific eventing daughter. Kameo was born and raised in Mono near Orangeville and she has had some terrific experiences first under Penny Rowland and since 2003 with Leahona Rowland (no relation).
In 2005 at the Preliminary level, Kameo and Leahona won or placed at every show she entered including Headwaters (1st place) Hunter’s Run in Michegan (1st place) and Stonehill CCI* (1st place). At Radnor, Pennsylvania she stood in third place when they cancelled the cross country due to the rain.
In her career they have won every championship that they have entered… Training, Preliminary and now Intermediate.

On September 2^nd and 3^rd, 2006 they were entered in the Open Intermediate class of the Ontario Horse Trials Association Championships. Kameo at just 9 years old and had competed for just 4 years; Leahona is just 23. The venue was Will o’ Wind, in the Town of Mono.

Will o’ Wind Farm, owned by Geoff and Ann Morgan, built the toughest cross country course in Canada. They have taken the course design, which is very common in the U.S., and have replicated it in The Town of Mono. Now when eventers want to know if their horses are capable of competing in the U.S. they can travel and compete in Mono. This is a huge accomplishment. Excellent dressage rings and Stadium Jumper courses with good, well drained footing are easy to build in comparison to four unique, tough, safe, competitive cross country courses. Will o Wind farm had it all. The championships encompassed four different levels of competition starting with Pretraining, Training, Preliminary and finally a 3.36 kilometer Intermediate course over 25 fences and some 30 jumping efforts!

Kameo and Leahona won the Intermediate division of these championships! Not only that they won by 14.7 points! That topped off a phenomenal year in which they won every horse trials that they entered! Grandview, Headwaters, Stonehill and now Will o’ Wind. The competition at these shows has been fierce as they are competing in the open divisions (against Olympians, Pan Am and WEG riders) and they have won handily.

Success did not come easily to Leahona. She paid her dues, mucking many stalls for Penny Rowland, Peter Gray (both Olympic team members), and at West Winds where she lived until leaving for Britain in 2007. Leahona also worked at Woodbine racetrack riding youngsters to earn a living as she acquired more horses to train and students to teach.
Leahona is the complete riding student. We videotaped virtually every lesson so that she could review her ride to see what the instructor is seeing when they make corrections or comments. Her dressage instructors included Elizabeth ‘Libby’ McMullen and Nancy McLaughlin and her jumper coach was Beth Underhill. Her cross-country coaching consisted of clinics with Lucinda Green and two winters in Britain. We also videotaped every show so that Leahona could see where she made an error or if there would be room for improvement.
Leahona took a magical trip to Britain in 2006 where she had the pleasure of riding with and working for Mark Philips (and riding with Zara) and William Fox-Pitt.

In 2007 Leahona was invited to work with William Fox-Pitt riding and competing his young horses. Her concern was her equine partner, Kameo, and once we had that sorted out she felt ‘good to go’.

They competed in two events in 2007. Grandview Open Intermediate was their first show, which they won. Then came the CCI* with 4 countries and 40 horses in the class. We moved into our appointed stall with great excitement. Kameo took it in her stride, as usual our world revolved around her and her comfort. Everything was geared to making her stay as perfect as possible. We arranged for a late night visit by our groom, Sherri, and an early morning hay run by owner, Lois. 5:30 am. is a great time to sit and listen to the quiet munching of hay watching the stars fade and the grooms arrive for show time.

Dressage day was perfect and at the end Kameo was in second place by .3.

Saturday, Cross Country day, dawned bright and clear with Kameo in the middle of the pack. She and Leahona were unbeatable. Their very best phase put them ahead by 5 points.

Sunday and Show Jumping was the most stressful. Since they were in first place and the order of go is in reverse order to the standings, they were the last horse to jump. Kameo knew her job and she entered the ring to win. Every fence was a challenge on this twisting course. The horses were tired and many had rails down. She did not touch a fence. The crowd cheered loudly as she and Leahona finished with a clean round and a good win!

The presentations followed immediately with a victory lap and the playing of the Canadian National Anthem. ‘R’ Kameo stood at attention and watched the Canadian flag as the Anthem was played.

Their last show together and what a way to finish! The West Winds gang with , Leahona and her parents, her owner, her Farrier, Groom, Care givers, Renate and Eckhardt and her future Rider all dined in celebration. Certainly a day to remember.

Kameo’s next phase has already started. She has been teamed with Leah Wellard. Leah is a former student of Leahona and a serious rider. She rode her pony ‘Pure Class’ to several victories and was ready to move up to a horse. It was a huge leap from pony to Kameo but they have both taken it in stride. Their first show is recorded on this web page and many more are slated to occur during the upcoming season.

They have been accepted for the Young Riders program and have just completed a month at Dressage ‘boot camp’ with Rebecca Schoenhart, getting to know one another and especially learning to communicate.

I bred ‘R’ Kameo and live near Tottenham, Ontario and I just happened to breed a horse who was supposed to carry me into my dotage hacking around the fields and up to the tree farm. We were all there when she was born and when she sat up and looked around we knew that she had other, higher, career goals!

Her mother ‘Villia Kalypso’ and my husband , Don, have now passed on and they have left us with a legacy of a magnificent animal that just keeps getting better!