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The Equestrian Olympics are over for another four years, but inevitably the analyses and autopsies of nations’ and individuals’ performances will continue for much longer. Celebrations and commiserations in equal measure are probably taking place all over the world right now, and in Pennsylvania Boyd Martin is still reflecting on his own part in the London 2012 Games. Boyd’s horse Otis has been home in the US, and thoroughly examined by Boyd’s vet Kevin Keane, himself also an accomplished event rider, and Boyd explained what they’d discovered,
“After a number of x-rays, ultra sounds and nerve blocks they’ve figured out that he has a small lesion on the capsule of the ankle. Kevin thinks that because of the terrain that we had to go through, and the fact that Otis is quite a hard jumper, plus the fact that I put bigger studs in his front feet means that he twisted his leg on the course somewhere, and then soldiered on to finish, but as soon as I pulled up he was quite lame. Unfortunately it was one of those injuries that we couldn’t make him sound with ice and a bit of light exercise. Kevin’s quite optimistic that he’ll make a recovery and be back in the game. We’re going to treat him with a therapeutic ultrasound, and we may consider doing the IRAP therapy but I think the biggest thing is that the horse gets a good long rest and doesn’t go back to work until he’s 110% which is what my plan was anyway, because he’s done two four stars in a short period of time. The next focus for him would be Normandy.”
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“I feel like I gave it a hundred percent; there’s nothing I would have changed about my preparation. I hold my head high and know that I tried. I really don’t think I could have got another mark out of Otis in the dressage, and I think he went as good as he could have gone in the cross country. I think I was going to make the time up until the last minute and that’s when he did really hit the wall; initially I thought he might have run out of puff, but looking back on it now I think he really started to feel the pain going through his leg and he pushed on and finished just a couple of seconds over the time. It’s one of those terrible things that will haunt me for a while, but it’s the nature of competitive sport, and it’s heartbreaking that it had to finish that way. He’s renowned for good show-jumping and I believe he would have put in a couple of good rounds and that would have left him in the top 10.”
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Although Otis now enjoys a nice, long break there was no such thing as a holiday for Boyd – he came straight back to the US and was out competing at Millbrook Horse Trials in New York that very weekend,
“Millbrook’s one of my favourite events of the year and the bulk of my supporters and owners are from the Millbrook area so I love getting up there and riding those horses. I’m glad I went actually, I enjoyed jumping on my young horses. Trading Aces is actually going better now than when I was riding him all the time, it’s a little bit depressing – I had my best ever dressage score on him and the first day I rode him on the flat was the day of the show! Hats off to Silva and Caitlin who might have done me a bit of a favour!”
Trading Aces will likely now be aimed at Fair Hill,
“I think I might take Trading Aces to Fair Hill. I’m a huge believer that Fair Hill CCI*** is the ultimate preparation event for a good Kentucky. I think it’s the biggest, boldest and toughest CCI*** in the world, and without question, if you can run around Fair Hill then Kentucky is a walk in the park with six months more training on your horse. I think that will suit Trading Aces the best, and the big focus with him is obviously improving him a little bit in the dressage. I think he ran well at Bromont but we’re still getting to know each other, and I think that I probably didn’t have him quite fit enough up there in Canada. He still placed second, but to have him available and competitive for Kentucky next year I’d like to put a bit more of a base on his fitness.”
“He almost had the best event of his life there at Barbury, and he was in flying form with a great one at Kentucky, so we’ve got to sit down, regroup and work out what’s best for Remington’s future. I’m not sure what the plan is with him at the moment until we discuss that but I know for sure I”ll probably get the opportunity to hunt him a bit with the Cheshire Hounds. It’s a pretty awesome group of horses and riders, and it’s great to get Remington out there and doing that a bit.”
It’s been my privilege and pleasure to get to know Boyd during the last couple of years; he’s come back from tough times before and will again, and I look forward to reporting on many more of his successes,
“I believe that I have the skills and the horses to go and win a medal. Going into London I knew I was on a green horse but one that had the ability to medal if everything went my way, but everything didnt’ go my way so the whole medal thing was way off. In a couple of years time if these horses shape up the way I’m planning on them shaping up and things do go my way…”
My thanks to Boyd, and you can hear our entire conversation on next week’s Eventing Radio Show, online Thursday 16th August. Go Windurra USA and Go Eventing!
