After torrential rain, crashing thunder and lightning last night, the sun came out this morning along with a brisk breeze to dry everything out, and it’s definitely chilly here at Red Hills, which made for some fresh horses in the dressage warm up area, and quite a lot of lungeing.
Boyd rode all three of his horses: Neville Bardos obviously the most experienced, (10th at WEG last year) looks really fit, and was beautifully turned out, but his new french acquisition Otis looks like it might develop into something special. Although he has some experience in France, Boyd is being sensible and has stopped drinking beer is taking him prelim as it’s his first event here in the US, and their first competition together.
Amy Ruth Borun is doing the CIC 3* with Santa’s Playboy and they were showing some nice, loose work on the flat. I saw Philip Dutton ride Isabella with CMP and she looked ready to run cross country immediately, but Philip sat quietly and patiently, and just rode through canter changes, counter canters and got some nice work.
Alison Springer also came out for a training session with CMP, looking like her and Arthur had stepped straight from the pages of a dressage fashion magazine. Although Arthur was definitely “on the muscle”, he stayed focused on his work, he really is an eye-catching horse, floating above the ground, pointing his toes, there’s something very “petite” about him, and they moved in and out of the practice arena with all the other horses in it.
A completely different horse is Selena O Hanlon’s Colombo who was working alongside them. I hope she won’t mind me saying that just walking on a long rein, he’s not that impressive, but once she picked him and started working he was soft and light, and their transitions were seamless: walk to canter was as smooth as silk and Selena rides him so tactfully and quietly, you can tell they have a long, understanding relationship with each other.
For me, Matt Flyn’s Breakthrough was my “take home” horse of the morning; completely my weakness in a horse, so I had to accost Matt and bug him. He’s a big, plain bay with a gorgeous head and eye, and a little something about him when he walks, and lovely loose, scopey movement, I WANT him! He’s a seven year old doing his first 2* that Matt imported from England (naturally!) as a 5 year old, and he did tell me his breeding on a very short video interview we did but the wind was terrible so I can’t use it, and I’ll just HAVE to catch up with them again later!
Back to Red Hills now for more action. I hope to be able to upload some video later, and I must mention how hard the volunteers and crew are working after all the rain last night to make everything as perfect as possible. We had some good old-fashioned Scottish mud (courtesy of the Lochore family who are here in force!) on the entrances, and the dressage arenas were holding some water this morning, but Boyd’s new friends, the inmates, and the local guys have been sanding and working non-stop to fix it.
…..and before I go, how can I resist a picture of Darren Cha-Cha having a black stallion moment!
