Jeanne Rosenberg and ‘Chewy’ relax, take JLB reining title

By Horsetrader staff

BURBANK — Horses have always been part of Jeanne Rosenberg’s forty-some years at her Topanga Canyon ranch. Wildfires have been, too.

So, when Jeanne saw smoke about 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 with strong winds, it was time to evacuate the horses.

“We’ve been through several fires up here,” says Jeanne, who can recall 10 or so blazes of varying intensity over the years. “We got the horses out, but then we stayed. It’s much easier for us to protect the property if the horses are not here. If the smoke is bad or if people can’t get in with hay and shavings, it can be really horrible.

“To get them out quickly is usually a pretty good idea.”

One horse she sent to L.A. Pierce College that morning was Some Kind of Smart (Smart Like Juice x Some Kind Of Dun It), her 13-year old reining partner purchased as a 4-year old from Jesse Asmussen. “Chewy”, as she calls the gelding, would stay at the evacuation center for weeks before returning home. That didn’t leave a lot of prep time, or what she calls “home-schooling”, for the Jack and Linda Baker Reining Final in early February.

As it turned out, the short prep time didn’t matter. The duo won the Reining Classic, finishing ahead of Reserve Champion Marilyn Scheffers on Gun O Mite (Dun It Gotta Gun x Kizis Pine O Mite). It was Jeanne’s first win atop the Reining Classic after several reserve championships.

“When Chewy returned home, he had been standing around, so we couldn’t jump straight into practicing maneuvers,” she says. “We needed to get his muscles back a little bit, so there wasn’t a lot of a lot of time to get ready.

“I think that left me less nervous than usual,” she adds. “It was helpful — and kind of another learning experience for me. Chewy’s very willing and very athletic, so I find if I can stay out of his way a lot, that’s good.”

The Pink Show was a relief from January’s fire episode.

“It was a great distraction after what we had all just experienced. It relaxed me,” she says. “I mean, there was so much at stake during the fires that somehow it made showing just a fun experience. It was great to see everyone. To be out there, to be not thinking about life and death moments.”

She voiced appreciation for community support during the disaster, from the L.A. Pierce evacuation team to her Topanga Canyon neighbors and also the horse show community.

“I saw in Topanga, with the people who stayed with the food giveaways and the stuff giveaways. Did you need a toothbrush? Did you need baby wipes? A flashlight? I mean, people bringing all these things in, and everyone was so kind and welcoming to each other.

“And that’s the feeling, too, I found with the horse show people — they were so kind and so glad to reach out to each other — to be in contact and say, ‘whew, we made it!’ “

And, she feels fortunate.

“I feel incredibly lucky. My heart goes out to all the people who suffered so much more,” she says.