Crumble Does It All

We are celebrating the hardworking Haflinger as our March Breed of the Month on YourDressage! 

Did you know that dressage riders who choose a Haflinger as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the American Haflinger Registry is a participating organization?

Here, a rider originally from Region 6 shares how she first fell in love with a young Haflinger gelding, and how he has graciously stepped into the dual life of a competitive FEI-level athlete and everyone’s favorite lesson pony. 

By Emilie Goddard

I have loved dressage for as long as I’ve loved horses, and wanted a Haflinger for almost as long. When I was 14, I started dreaming about how I would someday fulfill that dream, and show the world that a non-traditional breed can succeed in dressage. Of course, at that point, I had barely even begun to understand all that studying dressage encompassed. But hey, I have never been known to dream small.

About ten years later, I moved from my home state of Washington to Lexington, Kentucky, to attend college. It was at this time I rode a Haflinger for the first time. We did a basic walk, trot, and canter warm-up for the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) show my school was hosting, and it was the highlight of my year.

Fast forward a couple of years to graduation, when I realized it would cost money that I didn’t have to move myself – and all of my stuff – back to Washington, like I had originally hoped to do. I knew of a Haflinger farm in the area, so I emailed the owner to ask about any job opportunities. It just so happened that her current trainer had put in her notice, and she would need a replacement. It was the only job I applied for, and the only one I wanted. I got it.

It was here, at Deer Haven Farm, that I first met Abercrombie of Deer Haven (“Crumble” or even “Crumbs”) as a yearling. He had thick, wavy hair, and was a polite and adorable little gentleman. For a handful of years, I trained and showed Haflingers for the farm owner, Rachel King – who came to be as close as family to me. 

When Crumbs was three years old, I was the first one on his back. Until that point, he did not really stand out amongst the thirty or so Haflingers in my care. But the second I sat on his back, it hit me like a ton of bricks – this was my horse.

In 2011, Rachel was downsizing and told me I could have my pick of the herd if any particular Haflinger came to mind. I told her it was Crumble – it had been for a while, but I kept my feelings to myself, knowing it was emotionally dangerous to get attached to a pony I was supposed to sell. On Christmas Day, Rachel gifted me my Haflinger and a bottle of Maker’s Mark in exchange for one dollar in quarters to seal the deal.

Crumble and I began our journey together in earnest while I researched everything – from the best ways to keep his abundant hair healthy and clean, to how to train piaffe (after all, we would need to know that someday). He was the perfect companion – whether trail riding, schooling in the ring, or teaching kids, he did anything and everything I threw at him. 

April 2013 brought unbelievable grief when Rachel passed away after a nine-month battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. Crumble was my biggest reminder of her, and when I looked at him, I remembered how she loved us both and wanted to see us succeed.

We were a little lost at this point, trying to find our way back to my childhood dreams. Crumble came with me when I moved to Wisconsin for a job with some fellow Haflinger friends, where we made some incredible memories, and did a lot of growing. 

Finally, I found a path back to my lifelong plan, and packed up my life to become a working student in Wellington, Florida – something I used to read about as a teen, but since I was so far away in Washington, I always assumed it wasn’t for me. Now, as a 27-year-old and older than most working students, I was on my way down south to work for Ruth Hogan-Poulsen. 

I started what would eventually grow into my dream job, with my dream horse, in a place I had only dreamed of being in. That winter was a huge turning point in my life, although I didn’t know it at the time. While I was (at last!) completely immersed in dressage, Crumble was learning, too. Although we had a pretty decent foundation, together, we filled in a lot of training holes and worked hard to improve a little bit each day. Meanwhile, Ruth used Crumble for a few lessons here and there, and I enjoyed the opportunity to share my love of Haflingers with others. Another highlight was volunteering Crumble to fill-in during a couple of quadrille team practices for the Challenge of the Americas breast cancer benefit event.

The biggest memory we made together was when I took Crumble to his first show. That’s right – his very first show was at First Level at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. We trailered to the facility each day, where Crumble got off the trailer, and fell into the routine as though he had already been showing extensively for his entire life – even when we got soaked during a brief storm in our warm-up. 

Obviously, I had to follow Ruth back to her home base in Vermont that spring, a place I still call home to this day. Crumble immediately returned to teaching lessons, quickly becoming the most sought-after lesson horse in the barn. He loved being back in the cold weather for the winter! We continued to plug away at moving up the levels, taking lessons with Ruth when she was home during the summer months, and being mostly on our own for the winter. I further developed my skills by riding horses in training and keeping the school horses tuned up, as well as teaching lessons. 

In 2017, we had the chance to go back to Kentucky to compete at the National Dressage Pony Cup, where Crumble received a 69% at Third Level (our highest score to date!), ending up as the Overall Breed Champion for Third Level, and earning the Rachel King Memorial Award for High Point Haflinger, an award which I had hoped to earn since its inception. I never would’ve imagined the impact that a working student job would have on me, how integral Ruth’s teaching would become to my education, and how Team Poulsen would become a part of my family.

Not long after, I asked Ruth if I could return to Florida with her the following winter. She said, “Absolutely.” I opted to leave Crumble at home in Vermont; he was invaluable to the lesson program at this point, and I know how much happier he is in the colder weather. And so began our new normal – I had Crumble to myself for two to three rides per week during the summer (more if a show was coming up), and he was solely devoted to teaching when I left.

In 2019, Crumble and I earned our final scores for my USDF Bronze Medal – all of which I had earned on Haflingers. We had come a long way, and in 2020, Ruth made me her assistant and Barn Manager. 

Since then, I’ve continued to travel back and forth from Vermont to Florida with the team, while Crumble stays in Vermont for the winter. To me, this is yet another huge testament to Crumble’s character – each summer, we pick up where we left off in his training from the previous year. I love showing, but I can get my fix during my day job, and showing is not my sole focus with Crumble. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime horse, and I want to do absolutely everything with him, including just spending quiet time together.

Last year, in 2023, Crumble was ready for the Prix St. Georges. We competed at a local schooling show to get our feet wet, and we both had a blast. He is an incredibly handy little horse, with a special talent for lateral and collection work, all of which we do in a snaffle. While he will never blow anyone’s mind with an enormous trot, our accuracy is to credit when we score well. I know my horse inside and out, and thanks to Ruth’s coaching over the years, I know where I can highlight his strengths for maximum points and how to make our weak points less obvious. I was ecstatic with our ride, and with our score of 62%!

But of course, Crumble has a handful of students who love him. In particular, one very serious six-year-old student rode him back into the ring a few hours after our PSG test for a lead-line dressage test, where Crumble transformed back into a slow jogging pony to take care of his rider.

Each time Crumble comes out of the ring, he is immediately surrounded by fans and eats up all of the attention like it’s going out of style, welcoming any and all treats (after all, he has earned every single one of them). He automatically poses for pictures (no problem getting ears up where he is concerned!), and once again checks everyone’s pockets – just in case they forgot they had something for him. 

This horse is everything I could’ve dreamed of and beyond. He is the reason I can spend my days riding horse after horse for clients – I always know that he will be there in the end, with no surprises. He won’t randomly spook at the wind, he will always walk right onto a trailer, and he will stand rock solid in the barn aisle without being tied. I can fuss over him as long as I want, and he never gets tired of it or forgets his manners. I can ride him while the sprinklers are on in the arena. He has taught kids as young as three, and as old as 90. The littlest riders can crawl all over him, and even stand up on his back and wave to their parents – to him, that’s just a normal Tuesday. 

This summer, when I head north once again to get my newly minted FEI pony back into shape, we’ll make it official and show our PSG at a recognized show. While we didn’t skyrocket up the levels, I think we did pretty darn well for only getting a couple of rides together each week for six months at a time. I’m confident that, someday, if you look for us, we’ll be headed down the centerline to do our part in demonstrating that Haflingers can do Grand Prix. 

In the meantime, I’ll be smiling when I hear stories of how Crumble is doing at home, and counting down the days until I head north again.