We’ve been following Stephen Bradley throughout most of the winter/spring season. His original plan was to shoot for Rolex with Leyland, but today he tells us how he had to adapt and re-route to Jersey Fresh, where they went double-clear on cross-country and finished in 9th place. Thanks for writing, Stephen, and thanks for reading.
———————–
Stephen Bradley and Leyland at Jersey, photo by Stephanie Bradley-Green
From Stephen:
Plan A, B, C, D …
Rarely do things go according to Plan A when it comes to horses (especially if you plan on competing). Most times you have to go to Plan B. And sometimes resort to Plan C or D.
At the beginning of each year I map out a tentative competition plan for each horse and then formulate a conditioning schedule that will allow the horses to reach their peak at just the right time. This spring I had Leyland aimed for Rolex in April, and all of his spring competitions went according to plan. Until the last one. I headed down to The Fork for a final run before Kentucky and, while dressage was not our finest, cross-country was going great. Leyland was jumping out of stride and going along easily. Unfortunately, I didn’t take that one extra tug that I needed going into the sunken road, and we parted ways. This definitely not part of Plan A!
So now what? With only 2 weeks until Rolex, I could have gone with the plan of going slow on cross-country. Or I could re-route to Plan B … Jersey Fresh CCI3*. While there’s nothing like competing at Kentucky, Jersey Fresh seemed to be the better choice for Leyland. So now I was faced with an extremely fit Thoroughbred that was going to compete in 4 weeks instead of 2 weeks. To avoid too much excitement at Jersey, I ended up giving Leyland a few days off, followed by a few easy days before putting him back to work. It’s as important for their mental state as their physical one to not keep them at their peak for too long.
Another example of quickly changing from Plan A to Plan B would be Marble Arch’s spring season. This is an exciting young horse owned by Helen Brettell that joined my barn last summer. Helen’s sister-in-law bough Archie as a foal in England and sent him over to Helen as a 3-year-old to get started. Helen had planned on competing him through the upper levels (Plan A). For good or bad, Archie can be a bit quirky, and Helen brought him to me to sell (Plan B). Between me seeing a lot of potential in Archie, and Helen not really wanting to sell him, she decided to leave him in training with me to see how far we could go (Plan C). It took a few months for us to settle into our relationship, but Archie has taken 2012 by storm and is winning left and right. He started to get a bit fit and feisty after his last Preliminary run, so instead of trying to school him through it and potentially take away any of his new-found confidence, I sent him back to Helen’s for a two-week hacking vacation. It was the perfect thing for him and he came back refreshed and ready to work. Look for him to move up to Intermediate this fall!
Stephen Bradley and Marble Arch at Loudon HT, photo by Stephanie Bradley-Green
As we enter the hot summer months, I will most likely give the horses a break from competing, as I’m not a huge fan of competing in 100+ degree heat! I have a busy clinic schedule coming up and hope to see some EN fans while teaching.
Lastly, I want to take a moment to thank everyone that made this successful spring season possible: The Nicholson Family, Charlotte Harris, Helen Brettell, and Peter Foley for owning a great group of horses; and sponsors Purina, Charles Owen, Devoucoux, Back on Track, Equilite, Haygain, Multi-Radiance and Kentucky Horsewear.
– Stephen
