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Bridled Enthusiasm

Tribune photo by JAMIE PILARCZYK

Bryn Cahill feeds Giselle a carrot for her efforts in the arena. Cahill has been working with the French Warmblood for about five years, training in the art of dressage.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 1, 2008

BEACH PARK - Bryn Cahill's best friend has four legs and is retired.

Rocky, a 23-year-old quarter horse, doesn't compete with Cahill anymore but remains the reason she got into the sport of dressage.

"He was the fun quarter horse everyone wanted to ride," said Cahill, a Plant High junior.

So at age 6, she hopped on.

When she started competing against adults a year later - and winning - she was hooked. She got addicted to collecting prize ribbons. Nine years later, her Beach Park bedroom is filled with them, as well as trophies of all shapes and sizes.

"It's a release," said Cahill, who trains every day for about two hours. Only 45 minutes of that is spent riding at Royal Blue Stables in Odessa, either in the ring or on a trail. The rest is spent cleaning saddles, bridles and other tack.

"It's really peaceful when I ride," Cahill, 16, said.

Described as horse ballet, dressage is a set of movements performed in a small arena. When choreographed to music, it appears as if the horse is dancing, a balanced mix of art and athleticism.

"A lot of people at my school say, 'Ah, you just sit on a horse,'" said Cahill, who performs with Giselle, a 14-year-old Selle Francais, one of the breeds known as warmblood.

Although her moves are slight and appear effortless, Cahill relies on her body's core muscle strength to remain balanced and still while riding. Pilates classes give her the body of a dancer. Daily workouts keep Giselle in shape, too.

You make the horse "as absolutely fit in every muscle area so that it can maintain the rhythm," said Cahill's mother, Sally, who also competes in dressage. "The optimal thing is for you to be as quiet and still as you can be."

Bryn Cahill has worked her way up to Intermediaire I, the third of four international rankings. She qualified this year for one of four spots for top junior dressage riders in the U.S. Dressage Federation Region 3, which includes Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

She is ranked seventh by the U.S. Equestrian Federation and finished 13th at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships in Colorado this summer.

"She's really special and has been since she was little," said Cahill's trainer and owner of Royal Blue, Elizabeth Campbell. "She has never been nervous at show. It's easy to get her challenged because it never fazes her and she always does well."

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com. To view an audio slide show on Bryn Cahill, go to southtampa.tbo.com or centraltampa.tbo.com, Keyword: Dressage.

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