Ryan Wood has based his Woodstock Eventing out of the Bridle Creek Equestrian Community in Aiken, SC this winter, and I caught up with him there recently, and cornered him for a quick chat.

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Ryan added that both of the two horses he brought over with him from Australia and competed at the Rolex CCI**** on have been sold on to slightly less competitive homes but are happy and doing well; Koyuna Azgard was bred by the same breeders as Wendy Schaeffer’s Koyuna Sun Magic who competed there the same year, which is quite a considerable achievement for any breeder.

Having a lesson with Phillip Dutton on the talented but tricky Fernhill Classic; Ryan told me he’ll keep him at the intermediate level for at least a year to really make sure he’s completely established at the level.  Many thanks to Ryan for stopping to chat, and wishing him the best of luck this season – Go Woodstock Eventing!

How can I describe what Gavin brings to Eventing Nation? Some Big Smoke sophistication? Cross country schooling? Grand Prix Dressage Training?  A great archive of music? CUTE horses…?! All of the above and so much more. As I watched the next installment of his video blog for Eventing Nation I realise that if anyone were watching me they would see me giggling, smiling, nodding, basically interacting with him as if we were in the same room  – call it a Pine Top hangover, wishful thinking, or maybe I’ve been hanging out with the chinchillas too long, but I can’t get enough of Gavin and his two horsey brothers and I hope you feel the same. Here’s part 2 of A Boy with Dreams…

Many thanks as always to Gavin, and looking forward to hearing all about Isleham in the next installment. Thank you for watching, and Go Eventing!

Coach David O’Connor giving Bruce Duchossois’ Mighty Nice a pat after a good flat training session with Phillip Dutton

Before I even start writing I must thank Joanie Morris of the USEF who does a herculean task organising these HP Training Sessions amongst a million other things, and does so with such grace and charm without ever even looking slightly flustered; in fact she always looks wonderfully hip and appropriate whilst we’re all bundled up like michelin men/eskimos – it’s a dazzling gift! Thanks and awe are also due to Stable View Farm, a jaw dropping venue for the Aiken Sessions; I know that we’ve featured some design your dream barn articles recently on EN and this must surely served as inspiration, what a place!  Despite another freezing cold morning, pouring rain and a biting wind there was a sizeable turnout to watch in all manner of outerwear – Dubarry’s of course, parkas, puffas and horse blankets to stay warm and toting tea, coffee and even two unnamed equestrian journalists who brought their own mimosas, (I wish it had been me!) but really we all longed to be or take home Mara Depuy’s puppy….

Best seat in the house!

This is the first Training Session that I’ve been lucky enough to attend, and I think it is a huge privilege that the USEF have not only opened them up to the public, but really made them very accessible. If you like the USEF High Performance page on facebook there are ride times and directions, and after feedback from the previous sessions David was wired up with a mic this time so that all the spectators could properly hear what he was saying to the riders; you really get to peek through a window into elite riders’ private lessons with the US Coach and it’s absolutely riveting!

Props to Allison Springer, ever the trooper,  first on at 8am, especially after a nasty car accident over the weekend which totaled her car and luckily left her no worse than battered and bruised. Typically she toughed it out and played golf in the HP Owners Day Tournament on Tuesday, joking that the fact that she was too stiff to move her neck and shoulders much had improved her swing, but she did add that Chloe had the day off that day and so was a little out of sorts at having to come back and work on the flat and not go out hacking which is what she would normally have done.

A fairly new relationship, Allison and Chloe already look good together and did their first competition last weekend at Pine Top. They spent a little time discussing their goals with David, and then started working.  David continually stressed that Allison is building a partnership with this mare; he was delighted with the improvement he saw in the two weeks since he’d last coached them but didn’t want to make things too hard for Chloe, he wanted to give her easy ways to get things right. He told Allison to be very obvious, to help her out, to think about it from the perspective of having done these things that she does now over and over again so that in six months time  it will become instant reaction.

David is incredibly thorough on the basics, noticing every minute detail – it’s reassuring to see even the very best riders, horses and coach concentrate on riding corners correctly, looking at the shoulders, paying attention to the outside rein and all David’s instructions were very simple, “When you collect, add energy, collection is up not back.” Even at the very end Allison had to re-ride her downward transition from trot to walk three times until they were both happy with it.  David is also very quiet, hence the mic, and very reassuring; even his vocabulary consists of words like release, consistent, quiet, it’s very soothing but at the same time very effective.  He  told both riders to think about ‘picking the saddle up’ a few times which is a good description, and told Allison to be quite aggressive about moving her back in canter, almost as an extension of her seat, but that also might have been a side effect from the car accident.  David progressed from haunches in with Chloe, then moved on to leg yields, shoulder in and then half pass but they did a lot of their work on a large circle.  I managed to get a little video of each horse, here is Allison and Chloe.

I also managed to catch up quickly with Allison after her ride – apologies for keeping her standing in the pouring rain, and many thanks to her for chatting.

Fernhill Eagle achieves levitation!

Phillip Dutton rode Team Rebecca’s Fernhill Eagle next who is big and long where Chloe is petite, has huge movement and a firmly established relationship with Phillip. David asked Phillip for lots of transitions in the trot between medium and collected, paying attention both up and down, asking Phillip to sit slower, and being strict with him about adjusting his weight in the stirrups. He told Phillip he must “be really consistent with your reins and let him sit at the end of your contact,” which I, again, thought was a rather nice way of putting it.  In the canter he suggested that Phillip let his famously strong lower leg swing a little against Eagle’s side so that the horse didn’t have anything to brace against, and again asked him to think about picking the canter UP rather than driving it forward.  They worked quite hard in canter on Eagle’s changes and counter canter; giving Phillip something to focus on up ahead of him worked well to keep him straighter across the diagonal and prevent some of the twisting in his body right before the change. Leg yielding in counter canter, from the long side to the centre line “is a better way to deal with when they get muddled.”  Eagle did get tense at times in the canter but David worked through it methodically and calmly with Phillip and he showed some very impressive work.  Although the style and principles were exactly the same – tactful, interactive, calm and effective, David gave him a completely different lesson to Allison which, as Phillip commented later, is the mark of a great teacher,  to not just teach the same thing over and over again.

Phillip rode Bruce Duchossois’ Mighty Nice, or Happy, next. I’ve made no secret of admiring this horse, but he started off acting very uptight and nervous.  Again David had Phillip start riding transitions within trot immediately, telling him to leave his mouth alone, to create the half halt from his seat and to let Happy find him. David said Phillip might have  to be patient, that at first it might take eight strides but the goal is two, and to keep doing the same thing each time. Then they rode the transitions in lateral work, up and down in medium and collected trot in shoulder in down the long sides, David telling Phillip to “be really consistent about making every step the same.”  As they continued to work on collection, David asked Phillip to think about “forcing (Happy) to flex his joints behind, which is where you create the power behind, and then make it even more extreme,” and to always collect but keep on moving.

As tense as he had been to begin with Happy also finished with some great work, and Phillip told me he was pleased with both of them and that he really enjoys working with David.

A shout out to all our recovering riders – Thankful that Allison escaped serious injury, happy that Holly Payne underwent a successful surgery on her foot and also commiserations to Conor Husain who broke his elbow in the warm-up at Pine Top.  Sending you all EN karma and best wishes for a speedy recovery. Also hoping that everyone else who was attended the Training Sessions this morning has warmed up by now; Leslie will be back out tomorrow morning and I’m hoping to swing by there in the afternoon before wending my regretful way back to Kentucky. Thanks as always for reading, and Go Eventing!

Will and Andromaque on their way to winning Advanced Section 2. Will also won both Open Intermediate Divisions on Riesling De Bussy and Pawlow, and finished 8th in Advanced Secton 3 on DHI Colour Candy.  All scores are available here.

Advanced show-jumping started at 7:20 am sharp and although these riders had to get up early, and Jon Holling, who was first to go was barely riding in the light, they probably got the best of the ground. Despite tireless and persistent efforts by the ground crew throughout the day the footing inevitably deteriorated, although the rain did let up somewhat – if my pictures seem to have a grainy, instagram quality to them, that’s the  constant fine drizzle that seeped into everything!

This was the dressage warm-up mid morning Saturday, the mud was over my ankles in most places and half way up my calves in others.  Although a couple of Canadians told me that it was only in the forties and if they were at home they’d be wearing T-shirts I noticed they were well bundled up in down coats, “It’s the damp!” Well, it certainly was!  There were understandably, a lot of scratches and I was surprised at how many people did run. I’m afraid by lunchtime on Saturday Leo and I waved the white flag and came home; apologies to all the preliminary and training riders I’ve missed.  It took about two hours of blasting the heat at full blast before we stopped shaking and shivering, and until I smelt the rubber on the soles of my boots burning so I turned it down.  My lasting memory of the weekend may be that as I sloshed through the mud to  my car, the bit check crew in dressage warm up were still out there, smiling, laughing, and joking, and happily waved goodbye to me, they are the salt of the earth!  Thanks to Lisa Barry for an update on the Florida State Border Control, she was driving south with her lovely young Advanced Horse F.I.S Prince Charming at the same time as I was heading north, and told me she crossed over with no problem and no need for special paperwork. She also said almost simultaneously it was 78 degrees and sunny, and even in the mountains of Tennessee it was a good 20 degrees warmer than it had been in Thomson, Georgia so apparently poor old Pine Top was lingering in a weather pocket of misery all of it’s own for those two days, just our luck!

Advanced Show-Jumping

Division 1

Jan Byyny led from start to finish in Advanced Division 1 on the king, Syd Kent who is a huge horse with a huge jump. Pine Top this weekend marked three years since Jan’s accident and this couldn’t be a better way to mark the occasion and underline her return to form. Of course everyone was delighted for Jan, and Jan was delighted for the horse but typically within two minutes she was out in the warm-up in the rain,helping one of her students get ready to jump.

Erin Sylvester was second in this division on her 2012 Burghley horse No Boundaries, adding just a few cross country time penalties to their dressage score. Erin was busy all weekend on a number of horses and is turning in consistently good performances on all of them, and No Boundaries looks fresh and ready for a solid Spring campaign. Downtown Harrison, 3rd, looked super first thing Saturday morning. Jon gave him a positive, forward ride in the gloom and the rain, and he responded really well making the Advanced Show-jumping course look deceptively easy.

Lynn Symansky and Donner finished in fourth after adding 20 time penalties cross country to their second-placed dressage score and show-jumping flawlessly. Susan Beebee and Wolf also added just xc time to their dressage to move up to fifth place.

 Both 6th placed Leslie Law and Zenith ISF (above), and 7th placed Emily Beshear had a rail down but jumped super rounds and rode beautifully, they were just annoying rails!

Emily Beshear and Here’s To You; a lovely round, ignore the score!

Erin Renfroe and DeCordova, 9th

Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz jumped clear but accrued two time penalties and finished in 13th place. Colleen told me she was really happy with both her horses this weekend; incredibly she hasn’t jumped a cross country fence on ‘Luke’ (Shiraz) since Pau last autumn, and can count her jump schools on him this year on one hand!  One of those was a saddle fitting for a new saddle, a CWD which Colleen explained has made a huge difference to Luke’s jump, “it’s jaw-dropping, Jimmy (Wofford) even said he’s a completely different horse to the one I had last fall, he’s come into his own, he’s finally figured out where his body is, he’s finally started to use himself instead of exuberantly just diving at stuff and he’s gotten so much smarter, I’m completely thrilled with him all weekend, just exactly the run I wanted to start off the season with.” Shiraz will go to Southern Pines next, then The Fork, and then, goosebump, whispering, cross-fingers, throw some salt over my shoulder and do a weather dance, fly over to England for Badminton.

Courtney Cooper and Who’s A Star, 14th. Will Coleman did his customary nice test on Twizzel to lie 4th but according to his twitter and facebook page withdrew to gallop at home.

Division 2

Will Faudree and his lovely mare Andromaque (Missy) led from start to finish to win this Division. We happened to be walking towards the show-jumping at the same time and I congratulated him on his amazing form, and he thanked me and then replied merely, “I’m lucky to have such fantastic horses”. Will is one of the good guys! I saw Missy’s test Friday, saw her through the first water cross country and her show-jump Saturday and didn’t see her or Will make a single mistake, they have a great partnership and are such fun to watch.

Mensa is another horse I love  and it’s great to see him so successful with Michael Pollard. After adding just cross country time penalties to their dressage score they maintained their second place.

Holly Payne was another in-form rider at Pine Top, and took third in this division with Madeline despite having a rail down, moving up by virtue of a speedy cross country round the day before.  Speaking of in-form riders, Jon Holling who had three rides in the Advanced finished right behind Holly in fourth on Team Rebecca’s  DHI Zatopek B.

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Syd Kent and Jan Byyny lead Advanced Division 1 after a winning score of 24.1 in the dressage and clear cross country. Show-jumping starts at an ungodly 7:20am Saturday

Downtown Harrison and Jon Holling, pathfinders for the Advanced divisions means they’ll have the privilege of jumping early Saturday. They performed beautifully in both phases Friday despite the conditions above. All the scores are available here. 

Coach David O’Connor was right, front and centre most of the day helping riders, talking to them after their tests and watching the cross country

I admitted to a few people that after barely an hour of standing in the torrential rain and wind at 8 o clock Friday morning I was ready to pack my bags and head home, and was rather hoping that Pine Top might be cancelled, and was surprised when so many of them told me they’d been secretly thinking the same thing! However the show did go on, and the footing held up amazingly well, only surpassed by the good humour, helpfulness and general cheerfulness of all the volunteers – whatever they’re on I want some! The warm-up area for the dressage was pretty dire by lunchtime but the arenas held up well and although they had standing water in them, the riders I talked to said they weren’t slippery. Out on the cross country course there were some deeper spots but the crews made every effort to move the portable jumps a few inches to one side if the landings were getting particularly bad, and considering how much rain fell during the morning, 4 inches according to one report, it’s incredible that the event did run at all.

Becky Holder on Can’t Fire Me did a super test at pretty much exactly the same time as Jan did hers on Syd Kent which made it interesting to try and watch them both and compare them in almost adjacent rings. Can’t Fire Me looked awesome cross country too and currently leads Division 3 going into the show-jumping.

Jessie Phoenix was busy all day and definitely rode a particular type of horse, all on the smaller side but they all went really well and I think this mare, A Little Romance, by the same sire as Selena O’Hanlon’s A First Romance is very nice. I also liked her Patras VR doing his first Advanced, but was equally thrilled to see Erodium (related to Tamarillo) go so well today too – hard to pick one out, and of course it was a huge thrill to see Exponential making mincemeat of the Open Intermediate course!

Conor Husain did a nice test in his first Advanced for sixth place in Division 3 but withdrew before the cross country

Will Faudree has been Mr Consistency at these last two Pine Tops and is on a roll. He moved up from 8th place after dressage on DHI Colour Candy, above, to second after cross country by virtue of a speedy clear and also leads both OI divisions with Riesling de Bussy and Pawlow, and Advanced Division 2 with Andromaque – worth getting out of bed for!

Jon Holling and DHI Zatopek

Exponential and Jessie Phoenix in the dressage

Jen Holling watching Jon in the rain

Mighty Nice and Phillip Dutton did a lovely test to finish third after the first phase in Division 3, and then went fairly steady across country.  I think I’ve said it before but I’m a huge fan of this horse and can’t wait to see what he’ll do when Phillip takes his foot off the pedal. Phillip had several rides Friday, and like Jessie Phoenix they definitely seemed to be of a type – big, plain bays with nice movement and jump but it was hard to tell them apart sometimes; props to his team for amazingly quick changeovers in the cross-country warm-up – very efficient.

Holly Payne, above on Santino, is another rider who has been consistently good at Pine Top and Friday was no exception, all three of her horses went well.

Leslie Law and Zenith ISF enjoying the good, british weather!

The Advanced Dressage definitely got the worst of the weather but most of the Intermediate dressage also had to suffer through monsoon-like conditions so that by the time cross-country started we felt blessed with a mere persistent, chilly drizzle that stuck around for the rest of the day – oh the joys!

Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me – awesome across country

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Lissa on “Jack The Tourist”

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I couldn’t be more excited to announce that Lissa Green has kindly agreed to start writing for Eventing Nation on a regular basis. Preparing to start her season in Wiltshire she’s penned a fabulous first piece introducing us to her yard full of horses that will leave you feeling like best friends and longing for more.  Many, many thanks to Lissa for taking the time to write, and wishing her the best of luck as her spring campaign gets underway. 

From Lissa:

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The inevitable has happened… As we all know where horses are concerned it is a continuing list of accidents. My lovely girl Destiny managed to get kicked in the field and chipped off her near-hind splint bone. After the initial ‘blonde’ panic when the words broken bone were mentioned, my brain didn’t listen to the rest of the sentence, I soon understood it is quite a common injury. We decided to take her into surgery to remove the two chips and clean up the wound. The operation was successful and we’re glad to have her back safe and (un)sound, but it shouldn’t be long until she is firing again. In the meantime she is being an exceptional patient, but has serious issues when she’s eating and viciously bites her rug if any horse or human dare to watch her. She has done this all her life apparently and because she is such a lovely, kind mare, it makes it extra funny as it is so out of character. As soon as we start laughing she puts her ears forward again – a great sense of humour I think, something very much needed in this sport. Our other four horses are all in full work and their sense of humour is depleting rapidly. The look of utter horror on their faces as they step out the barn into yet another snow storm, I hope they don’t take it personally.

Destiny’s wound looking tidy after a bandage change

I have moved into a new yard this season, it is situated opposite to the Barbury Castle estate which holds a prestigious horse trial every July. I have been blessed with the never-ending options of hacking and miles of land with some brilliant hills ranging in steepness. I aim to be out on the hills for most of the week at this stage in training to help them really use themselves and especially to aid in strengthening over their back. I actually find walk and trot more beneficial than canter as they can’t use both their back legs to push up the hill and everything is working independently. Obviously some days on the hills are lighter and others days they work up a good sweat. I like always to walk for at least ten minutes before and after any work, so I tend to walk up a hill to start and walk on a hard surface down the road to finish.

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Daisy (Daisyonfire) is my naughty little German who relies on her looks and charm to avoid being in trouble. She is the cheekiest, most clever mare who has small (wo)man syndrome and therefore spends much of her life on her hind legs, both in the stable with her chin resting on the dividing wall and under saddle. Despite  spending the last year in a field in Ireland, it is almost as if she thinks she is above everyone else and therefore it is her God given right to look down on others. She is remarkable though, she can hold herself in perfect balance for over twenty seconds, I have never seen anything like it. Nevertheless this year she is actually cooperating (well most of the time). She used to be a three year old stuck in a six year old’s body, now I think she has upgraded to a five year old. I am proud of her maturity; we have exhausted the stash of Polo’s (Life Savers) and now we are onto the sugar lumps for my tea until we buy some more.

Zac sleeping again!

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Zac (Carousel Chaos) is a new ride this year. He has come from a very close friend of mine, Sarah Curtis, and I feel so lucky that she has entrusted him with me. Zac I think was meant to have been born a dog. Every time I give him a cuddle he is so involved that you half expect him to start licking you. If he could sit on your lap he would. Unfortunately there would be serious consequences as he is a huge 17hh – a true gentle giant. He is such a balanced horse, that he actually trots down all these hills with far greater ease than my others, I’m very impressed and love riding him even though you might need binoculars to see me on board.

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Raffa (Boleybawn Free) is seriously struggling from “voluntary” ADD at the moment, often focusing on anything but work. Luckily it is slowly coming together again, she does feel like she is growing though and I think I only have half the horse I will have in the future. She does make me laugh; she puts on such an act of being a strong independent woman, and then worries when you’re not there for her straight after she has told you to go away. She really is special to me this horse, the first one we have owned and nothing she ever does will stop me from adoring everything about her.

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Jack (CTS So What) has come back after his tweaked check ligament at the end of last year. He is so happy to be back in training again, he keeps whickering every time I go past his door. I would like to say it’s because he loves me, but he’s no fool and knows that nine times out of ten I will be carrying some sort of treat on me and that his innocent whicker is more than enough to warrant half a pack. Unfortunately he then has to put up with the hugs and kisses that he accepts comes with the treat. He amuses me on our rides…he is such a tourist. He literally stops, with no warning, no matter what pace he’s in and simply stares at the views! Quite embarrassing that even Pony Club kicks rarely snap him out of his trance. Luckily he hasn’t done that in competition – yet. It will be so exciting to compete him again, I love this boy, he has given me so much confidence and we have only done five Events together.

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I’m sure many of us ask ourselves the question of why we do horses; when your fingers are blue and sticking to the ice cold buckles on your girth, suddenly an office job seems oddly desirable. That dreaded question is usually answered as soon as you are in the saddle. The moment you become as one and see a jump or a long stretch of grass you know what each other is thinking. Watching and feeling the response to everything you teach them, sharing the same feelings of excitement and happiness, there really is nothing quite like working this closely with a live being.

The Grand Prix Arena and the Smart Pak Grand Prix at HITS, Thermal

I’m thrilled to welcome Dr Laura back to Eventing Nation with some news from Thermal, California. We’re becoming quite spoilt here at EN headquarters with our very own vet in residence, and we have already commissioned a specific piece from her, as well as making sure she answers readers’ comments and questions- Elizabeth, stay tuned! –  and writes what she wants to as well, and all this on top of a more than full-time job at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute.  If you have anything you’d like Dr Laura to tackle, please submit your queries in the comments section below. Thank you as always to Dr Laura for sharing her time and knowledge so generously, and thank you for reading.

The clinic at HITS Thermal Showgrounds

Each year from January until March, HITS Thermal takes place and a few veterinarians from Hagyard Equine Medical get to leave the freezing temperatures and snow in Lexington to staff our clinic at the showgrounds. I was lucky to go for 10 days while a few of our other veterinarians had to be out of town. Our clinic has several treatment bays to work on horses and stalls to house any in-hospital patients.

The four treatment areas inside the clinic

The show has over 1000 horses here. Three Grand Prix events took place while I was there and are part of the path for riders to qualify for the World Cup and the AIG $1 million dollar award. Top showjumpers from the US, Canada, Mexico, South America, and even the Beerbaums from Germany are in attendance. There are even lots of eventers from the west coast and Canada that come to perfect their showjumping skills.

Canadian Eventer Sandra Donnelly and Eva. Photo courtesy of Marlene Bieri – thank you!

We basked in the near 80-degree, sunny days and felt a bit sorry for our co-workers enduring the snow at home. I also got to experience my first sand storm with 40 mph winds that knocked all of the portable bathrooms on their sides and masked the beautiful mountain view in a cloud of swirling sand. Many riders scratched that day as none of the jumps were staying upright.We see everything from emergencies, prepurchase exams, lamenesses, as well as routine health care while on the showgrounds. The other veterinarians on staff also provided chiropractic care and acupuncture to help the equine athletes perform at their best.

 The horse inspections for the Grand Prix. The attire is very different from the jogs at events and many horses are presented by the grooms.

We also assist with the FEI horse inspections and are on hand right next to the grand prix arena in case any emergencies occur during the competitions. On the day of the second grand prix, 45 local pony clubbers toured the vet clinic, the farrier station, got to walk the GP course, and watch the event.

Grand Prix riders signing autographs for Pony Club members after the competition

They then enjoyed an autograph session with the riders after it was finished. Ashlee Bond pulled out the win at both FEI events that week. She had the only clear round on Saturday, giving her the win without a jump-off.

 Back to back Grand Prix winner Ashlee Bond with me and fellow Hagyard vet, Dr. Annie Ubatuba

 It is amazing to watch so many professionals and such amazing horses in such a short time.  Now back to reality as foaling season is in full swing here in Lexington. I just hope I brought some of the sunshine and warmer temperatures back with me.

Joe Meyer and Sanskrit led from start to finish in Advanced Division Dressage Test B, adding nothing to his first phase score of 27, despite taking a slightly longer route at the angled tables which were numbered separately.  Here’s the promised video from Friday of Joe and Robin Walker discussing their rides at Rocking Horse, Sanskrit’s breeding and who’s the better jumper of the two!

Katie Ruppel was second on Sir Donovan, the only other person in the division to add nothing to their dressage score

Buck Davidson and Mar De Amor added time penalties to finish 3rd.

Katie Ruppel was fourth on her younger ride Houdini, and made these angled tables look easy, it was the best ride I saw through there all day.

Kelly List and Smarty Pants came in fifth in this division

Buck finished in sixth place on The Apprentice, after adding 10 time penalties cross country but on every horse he rode (six in the Advanced and he won both the other divisions) there wasn’t anybody cutting more corners or taking more economical lines than he did. I took several pictures of him over the skinny coming out of the water and in most of them he’s turned away from the camera, already making his turn and riding away from the fence.

Hallie Coon and Namaste finished seventh and looked great everywhere I saw them

Buck Davidson and D.A Adirmo on the way to taking Advanced Division A.  D.A Adirmo is relatively young and inexperienced and after this fence, which ran alongside the lorry park, he whinnied to his friends as went by!  The bank complex in the Advanced seemed to ride better than for the intermediate riders; not sure if that’s because the Advanced horses are just that bit more experienced and seemed to figure out the question fairly quickly and lock on to each element, whereas in the intermediate some horses seemed confused by the corner as part of the bank and ran past it. Buck Davidson had one stop there on Mystic My in the Intermediate Division, and after jumping it on the second attempt retired.  Diana Burnett had two stops on Bonner’s Chief before retiring, and Selena O’Hanlon’s A First Romance was eliminated.

Click below for much more…

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Buck on Andrea’s ride Chesterland’s Image

Buck Davidson had a busy day Friday at the Rocking Horse Winter II Horse Trials, riding six horses in the Advanced, and his girlfriend Andrea’s Mystic My in the Intermediate and Chesterland’s Image in the Preliminary, even though he laughed at me when I commented upon it, and told me that with 85 horses currently at his barn today was akin to a day off!  The most wonderful news was that Andrea did come to the event and watch for a little while and after Buck had a rail down on Mystic My told him he would have been fired if it had been two!  Buck said he was really pleased with the way the horses were going, especially with The Apprentice’s jumping as he’s been working hard with him over the winter to tidy up his jumping; he explained that scope and talent isn’t the problem, it was more a case of encouraging him to jump across the fence, that sometimes he would hit it in front on the way up.  Buck also singled out DA Adirmo and No More Rocks, telling me he’s been working hard on their flat work and so was very happy with them.

D.A Adirmo currently leads Division A A, and Buck lies third on Park Trader

He added though that Reggie (Ballynoe Castle RM) is feeling great, that he was thrilled with Park Trader, that Mar De Amor had gone well….so I suppose all in all it was just a good day altogether!

One of Buck’s students Adrian Jones and Irish Odyssey, a full sister to Mandiba, in the Prelim.

Peter Atkins is currently second after dressage and show-jumping in Advanced Division AA after a very nice test and a clear round. Henny looks wonderful and I asked Peter if he’d been working hard on his flatwork over the winter; he replied that Henny had basically had six weeks training with Bettina while Peter was off with his broken leg, and that while he was in Germany he’d also worked with Rick Klaassen and Eckart Meyners once he started riding again, and has just recently started working with Chrissa Hoffman.  When I asked him what his plans for the Spring were Peter looked at me as if I were completely mad for a minute and then laughed, “You know me and plans! We’re just taking it day by day. Certainly Rolex is a consideration but we’ll see…”

Ronald Zabala-Goestchel has HJ Hampton’s little brother.  Wise HJ Bono makes his debut at novice level Saturday.

Leslie Law and Zenith ISF lead Advanced AB after a super test and a penalty-free show-jumping round.  Linda Zang has been helping Leslie on the flat and told me that not only does she love working with the event riders – she’s been based in Ocala for the last couple of months, but that in particular she really enjoys helping Leslie, that “despite being one of the best riders in the world he’s still so open and receptive and loves to learn, and that’s what’s going to make him even better.”  It was such a pleasure to see Linda again, on her feet again after being wheelchair bound for three months after she broke her leg turning out a horse, and sharing her wisdom and knowledge in her  signature  kind and gentle manner.

Lesley and Liam watch Leslie’s dressage.  Lesley told me with a rueful smile that the plan was to run Zenith at Pine Top Advanced next weekend, and so he was only planning on doing a Combined Training Test here at Rocking Horse, although she did wonder if Leslie might be tempted now that he was leading.  Longer term she told me Leslie wasn’t sure yet whether he would take Zenith to Rolex in the spring, or do another CCI*** instead, but would make up his mind after a few more runs.

Props to the Rocking Horse organisers who kept the event running like clockwork and were cheerful and friendly, despite several last minute changes and hundreds of horses to deal with over the weekend. After torrential rain for most of the day Thursday they were still scooping standing water out of one of the main dressage arenas five minutes before the start of the competition but apart from that it seemed to run without a hitch.

How fantastic to see Kyle Carter’s Madison Park back in action in the OI Division even if perhaps his dressage score suffered due to his over-enthusiasm for the job!

It was also great to see his wife Jen Carter competing, on the very nice Sayyida who I hear via Twitter is available for syndication!

At about the same time Kyle was on his second ride of the day, the extremely eye-catching Oldenburgh Serengeti, I think by Donnerhall, in the PH Division.

Kyle Carter and Serengeti

Another incredibly well-bred horse is Sharon White’s ride in the OP Division Don Sheffield by Don Shuffro.  Not only is he beautiful to watch, but Sharon said he’s a complete teddy bear in the stable, one of the gentlest, sweetest horses in her barn.  Sharon recently went to England to look for another horse to add to her string but arrived in the middle of the snowstorm so didn’t get much accomplished, and besides, she added, “it’s very difficult to find something as nice as the horses I already have.”  Wundermaske went well in the Advanced Division, and Sharon also rode Bonnie Mosser’s former star Merloch for her client in the OP Division – “just to keep him (Merloch) happy!”

Sharon White and Merloch

Clayton Fredericks had a busy day – he was helping students of various nationalities all morning before riding in the Training Divisions in the afternoon.  Above with Shandiss McDonald and Rockfield Grant Juan – congratulations to Shandiss and Jordan on their marriage in November.   I managed to catch up with Jessie Phoenix in between her own riding and coaching duties to find out what she’s been up to, what her thoughts were on the new Canadian Coach, and what her plans are for the Spring.

Many thanks to Jessie for taking the time to chat. It did sometimes seem that Rocking Horse was almost overrun by Canadians, if they weren’t so nice we might have to complain!

Canadian Selena O’Hanlon and Foxwood High. Selena told me that the farm she’s spent the winter at in Ocala for the last four years just got sold so instead she’s brought five horses down this year and is staying with Bruce Davidson Sr and is loving it, “Watching him ride and take lessons from Gerd Zuther, and taking lessons from Bruce and Gerd, just being around that level of horsemanship makes you want to man up and better yourself” she told me, and that they’ve especially helped her with A First Romance’s flatwork.  Anne Marie will come down and help Selena at the big events but for now she’s still up in Canada, as is Selena’s loyal companion Colombo, or Mr C, who celebrated being named to the USEA Top 50 Horses of All Time List this year with a party courtesy of Selena, who is now also his proud owner having paid a dollar for him to spend his retirement with her! So far he’s kept her busy, doing dressage six days a week as she explained he is way too smart to do nothing and it wouldn’t have suited him at all.

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Congratulations to Mara Depuy and Alimit who led from start to finish in Open Prelim 1 at Pine Top

Congrats to Boyd Martin (?) above on FYI,  for possibly having the unhealthiest diet of any rider on the circuit; this was him right before he jumped on Steady Eddie to go cross country, although in his defence I did hear him mumbling something about  meeting up with Peter Barry and working on their core strength together later this week, it was just difficult to understand with a mouthfull of Dunkin’Donut!

All the final results are here

Second to Mara in Open Prelim 1: Will Faudree and Riesling de Bussy

With the first horse on course at 9am this morning it was a very civilised start to the day, and Leo and I were happy to walk the course with Tiffany Cunningham and her dog Remi. Although Tiffany is down here in Aiken for the winter she hails from Boston and showed me pictures her girls had sent her from the barn at home – I feel for everyone up north trudging on in the snow, you have my utmost admiration.  Like the intermediate course on Friday, the prelim track was a decent test with plenty of questions. Tiffany didn’t tell my anything all the other riders haven’t been telling me all weekend – she was full of praise for the course and Pine Top as an event generally, pointing out that she especially appreciated the completely separate tracks for each division of cross country.  I also noticed every jump used those slightly flexible, man-made poles (not wooden ones) marked red and white at each side, and that at any slightly narrow fence, or a jump where there was even a chance of a horse catching one ie. angles, or drops, they didn’t put the triangular flags on top at all, just used the coloured poles.

Susan Beebee and Uptown Higgins

I only saw a handful of rides this morning as I was anxious to get on the road back to Kentucky to have dinner with my kids but standing near the second water I could see horses starting their course, and then heading out to the last third of it.  I noticed a couple of things; I’m certainly no speed demon on cross country, (my father always told me I lacked ‘the killer instinct’?!) but those that set out positively and somewhat aggressively without being ridiculously fast or crazy inevitably had better rides than those who you could tell were  purposely trying to give their horses a nice, schooling ride. Those that attacked the course had a better rhythm and seemed to meet the fences better than a few riders who were obviously out to have a nice first run of the year and take it easy,but kept arriving at the jumps slightly underpowered, or their horses began to look a bit bewildered.

Andrew McConnon and Fernhill Tic Tac

Also out of probably twenty horses that I watched, Phillip Dutton was perhaps one of slowest as far as pace was concerned but turning from the double at 4A and B to the fence above he must have shaved 5 seconds off everyone else’s line, the difference was that stark. Perhaps riders weren’t thinking about making time so early in the season, or at a regular horse trial but I don’t think Phillip ever stops thinking like an elite rider, it just comes naturally. Unfortunately his horse Kilkenny misread the jump with a roof over the top later in the course and practically demolished it having looked spectacular up until then, but luckily both horse and rider are fine.

Caitlin Romeo and Nordic Star

Lillian Heard and Share Option

Mary Macklin and Mahogany Beauteo

Thank you as always for making EN a part of your day, and thank you Pine Top for a wonderful weekend, I look forward to returning for the Advanced in a couple of weeks time. NB I will definitely be taking the Lexington Knoxville Chattanooga Atlanta Thomson route, not the five state circular trip my iphone map brought me on the way down/round! “But Asheville is so beautiful, and the mountains are such a pretty drive!” protested commentator Nico Morgan when I told him how long it took me to arrive; NOT in the pouring rain and fog stuck behind a semi-trailer going 40mph, never again! Go highway all the way  and go eventing!

Caitlin Silliman and Remington back in action at Pine Top.

Saturday was a busy day of Prelim, Training and Novice level Dressage and Show-jumping at Pine Top. Cross country will continue Sunday.  Conditions could hardly be more perfect and I feel for those struggling in the massive storm up North.  Caitlin Silliman made her intentions known with several rides today, but most notably her two Rolex Kentucky hopefuls Remington and Catch A Star, marking her first return to competition since a fall and a knock to the head a couple of days after Plantation last autumn. I caught up with her after her test on Catch A Star (Hoku) to find out what she’s been up to.

Caitlin and Catch A Star in the Show-Jumping

Boyd was customarily busy today, it’s hard to keep track of his rides especially when they look so similar

Boyd on FYI (38.6 dressage & clear show-jumping for 12th place overnight in OP1)

Boyd on New Cadet: 35.9 dressage and one rail show-jumping means they start cross country in 22nd place in OP2

I  caught up with Boyd who told me Neville is in cracking form and really enjoyed his run yesterday; he said he’s been experimenting with going back to slightly less bit and likes having him a bit keener, rather than just adding more and more hardware as Neville got stronger.  Will Coleman also put me straight – he did jump a nice clear round on Obos O’Reilley but because he’s aiming the horse at Bromont in June he never intended to run him cross country as he feels that would be too long a season to start him already. Twizzel, he explained, was also ever only going to do the dressage on Friday as at his age, 17 years, he knows the game inside out, and doesn’t need runs. Will said he’ll probably only compete him at one full event before Rolex this Spring.

What a nice surprise to see Olivia Loiacono’s Subway beautifully ridden in the Prelim by Erin Murphy, (43.6 dressage and one rail down show-jumping to lie 16th overnight in OP2) and then immediately followed by….

Nina Ligon’s former ride Jazz King, also beautifully ridden by Rebekah Calder.  (38.2 dressage and clear show-jumping for 11th overnight in OP1) It seems much longer  than just a year ago that we were all thinking about qualifying for and campaigning for the London Summer Olympics.  Pine Top  makes every effort to be as rider-friendly as possible.  The courses are widely praised, the footing is superb and talking to some of the riders today they were all happy with the results.  I’d talked to Jimmie and Dominic Schramm after they’d walked the course and only just found the time to put this video up now – apologies to them and to you!

However, it does mean that I can happily report that they both posted solid clear cross country rounds! The proximity of Pine Top to Aiken means most people travel back and forth and work out of their trailers each day.  I talked to Lindsey Taylor, who runs Boyd’s barn for him about the best way to approach this.

John Nunn (of Bit of Britain and Nunn Finer Tack of the Day fame) was competing his handsome OTTB  Red Horse Harry  in the Open Novice and working out of his trailer, but he did admit somewhat sheepishly that if he forgets anything he can nip down to his shop and help himself! He said that best sellers during the winter are always clothes, and gift certificates during the holidays. I was very impressed that he never packs a mounting block but teaches all his horses to stand alongside the trailer wheel mount and just hopped on from that – now there’s a man you could take out foxhunting!

I was also impressed by Will Faudree’s 8 year old Riesling De Bussy, a French TB/Anglo Arab in the Prelim Division.  Will explained that Henri and Katie Prudent found him and he bought him after seeing the video.  Although he said he was “a bit rambunctious” in the dressage today he has tons of presence and, as both his parents were Grand Prix jumpers, it doesn’t look like that phase will be a problem!

Will Faudree and Riesling De Bussy (31.8 dressage and clear show-jumping for 4th place overnight in OP1)

Will had a flawless track record – zero rails down in four rounds and there were quite a few multiple riders coming back with just a rail between several horses – Boyd, Doug, Phillip…

Phillip Dutton jumped clear on Kilkenny, a lovely Irish horse who was originally destined for the hunting field but looks like he might go a long way eventing. Owned by George Mahoney he came out of the original Goresbridge Sale and I know Phillip thinks a lot of this horse. With a dressage score of 33.2 and nothing to add they lie in 5th place going in to the cross country.

Doug Payne, above on Top Gun, (28.6 dressage and clear show-jumping – they’re in third place overnight in OT3) arranged to have his cross-country times moved up on Sunday so that he could get back to Aiken in time to do the Mini Prix. If you haven’t watched the video of him competing check out his website and then tell me eventers can’t show-jump!  Doug remarked on how many really quality young horses there are out and about at the moment and I couldn’t agree more.

Bobby Costello has a lovely young project in Fernhill Teddy Two Two, so called because Julie Richards found him and the former Abigail Lufkin ride Jacob Two Two so added the Two Two on for luck.  I spoke to Bobby after he jumped a very nice clear round.

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Will Faudree on Andromaque, who finished second to her stablemate DHI Colour Candy in the competitive OI 1 at Pine Top Friday.

Before I even start my report I want to extend my heartfelt condolences and best wishes for a speedy recovery to Andrea Leatherman. I know I speak for the entire Eventing Nation; we were all shocked and saddened by the news here at Pine Top and I’m sure as everyone keeps her in their thoughts these next few days and weeks, we all hug our horses, dogs or children a little tighter, perhaps say goodnight one more time.

On a happier note, it was great to be back out eventing again, even though it was quite a shock to the system – hence the late report and some rather shockingly bad pictures! Boyd Martin did a Will Faudree in the dressage phase (Silva was on hand coaching, braving the chilly temperatures because she’s escaping to Wellington on Monday with her horses for some intensive training of her own with Michael Barisone).  Master Frisky won the dressage phase with a very nice forward-going smooth test, and Boyd also has the ride on Kate Hicks’ Burghley partner Belmont, who came 2nd in this phase, as I’m thrilled to be able to share that Kate is five and a half months pregnant. Kate told me they’re not going to find out if Graham will have a baby brother or sister, they want to keep it a surprise, but I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Graham for ‘babysitting’ Leo during the dressage (practice!) and warn Kate that he might be disappointed with anything less than a puppy!

Graham and Leo

Connor Husain rode all three phases well to  win the second OI section on his lovely Swedish warmblood Piece of Hope; although he confessed to suffering from nerves when we chatted on this week’s Eventing Radio Show, he seemed a very cool customer indeed and I was extremely impressed.

The third OI division went to Caitlin Romeo and Spirit of the Outback. You can find all the scores here.

Lynn Symansky and Donner, second in this division after adding only xc time to their winning dressage score. The show-jumping proved influential with some riders just needing to get their eye in or find their rhythm, others just having an unlucky rail, and some horses looking very fresh and happy to be out again! There were also some eyecatching new young horses at this level that will be interesting to watch develop this year.

One of my standout riders of the day – Emily Beshear, above on Here’s To You. Emily rode two beautiful rounds on both her horses today – soft and quiet and yet effective, I’m pretty sure this horse is not nearly as easy as she makes him look.  Her jacket with matching dressage/jumping cover was also much admired by those who know about these things!  I’m also not sure how I managed not to get a single picture of Holly Payne as I admired her constantly on all three of her rides today, please take my word for it.

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Fasten your seatbelts, Eventing Nation: you may remember Gavin Makinson from the awesome IEF report he did for us last year, or from a profile I did on him a little earlier in the year, swoon! We also mentioned a few weeks ago that he’d kindly be reporting on this year’s IEF for us. What we didn’t reveal was that he is our newest blogger. Yes, the leggy adopted Londoner is ours, and to jog your memory, or to help you get reacquainted he made us an amazing video. I’m very proud to re-introduce Gavin Makinson, the boy with dreams….

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Many thanks to Gavin, and we look forward to hearing much more about eventing from the capital city of England and whatever else may cross his mind. Thank you for watching and Go Eventing!

If you know any other uncanny resemblances let me know via email at [email protected]. Go Eventing!

Today I am absolutely thrilled to be able to introduce Dr Laura Werner as a regular contributor to Eventing Nation. I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with Laura on a number of things, as well as get to know her since she moved back to Kentucky from California and  I’m delighted that thanks to her generosity the entire Eventing Nation will now be able to benefit from her wealth of knowledge, vast horsemanship and fascinating case-load.   Laura is a board-certified surgeon, as well as an FEI eventing veterinary delegate; she graduated from the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a residency at the Ohio State University. Laura works directly across the road from the Kentucky Horse Park here in Lexington at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute as part of the surgery and sport horse departments;  she might be the only girl who’ll admit that she “enjoys emergency surgeries as well as lameness and sports medicine.”!   Laura has two horses that she tries to event when time permits, and if you think being a vet insures one against horse heartbreak, think again; Laura was forced to retire her best horse from Eventing a year ago due to injury.  In her first installment below Laura takes on a number of different subjects, but invites readers to please submit any topics you would like her to discuss, or questions you’d like answered . This is your chance EN, we now have our very own resident James Herriot, only she’s younger, prettier, modern and did I mention, jet-set? “EN is my favorite source for equestrian news and notes and helps me especially keep up with all my eventing friends and competitions on the left coast.” That’s right, by the time you read this Laura will be on her way out to Thermal, California and she’s promised to bring us a report from there too!  Without further ado, but thanks again, here’s Laura…..! 

Updates for the 2013 veterinary FEI rules.

So as we are just understanding the new qualification rules, of course there are other new veterinary and drug rules for FEI competitions as well. Starting January 2013, when applying for a new FEI registration, your horse is required to be microchipped. The microchips accepted are classified with a ISO 11784 or ISO 11785 designation. Not all available microchips commonly used in the US are ISO compliant so be sure to consult with your veterinarian to use the proper type of chip. The microchips are implanted on the left side of the neck in the nuchal ligament, approximately halfway between the poll and the withers. The number needs to be entered in your passport and included with applications for new registrations. Several drugs have been added to the Forbidden Substance List. The most notable addition is Sarapin or pitcher plant extract which is commonly used in back, muscle, etc. injections. Other drugs include cyclosporine and tropicamide, most commonly used in ophthalmic preparations. Delmadinone acetate (DMA) and chloramidone acetate (CMA) are also added to the controlled medication list for potential performance enhancing effects. Fentanyl and morphine have been moved from prohibited to the controlled list, as they have potential therapeutic use in pain management. Deslorelin or Sucromate also has been removed from the forbidden substance list as it commonly used to induce ovulation in mares. Please consult www.fei.org or www.feicleansport.org. I find the smart phone application for FEI Clean Sport to be useful as well for quick referencing of any topical or herbal ingredient questions that come up.

Injecting NEXT into a tendon lesion

What is new in the world of equine sports medicine?

Equinext is marketing a novel treatment for bowed tendons or suspensory ligament tears. The substance, NEXTTM (Nonsurgical Exogenous Cross Link Therapy) is a collagen cross-linker that helps stabilize the collagen in the tendon fibers, prevents further damage to the tendon or ligament, helps make them stronger, and makes them more pliable in the area of tendon or ligament damage. The NEXTTM is injected into the tendon or ligament lesion under ultrasound guidance, similar to injection techniques used with platelet rich plasma or stem cells. It can be used in conjunction with PRP or stem cells as well. Promising results for horses returning to performance faster have been observed, though the treatment is still in the clinical trials phase. They are still looking for potential cases for the clinical trials. If you have a horse with a recent tendon or ligament injury and are located in Kentucky, Texas, New York, or Southern California, your horse could potentially be eligible for the study. Please go to www.equinext.net for more information. Potential study cases can contact Maureen, the clinical trials manager, at [email protected]

Kissing spine in the midthoracic area of the back

Kissing spine

Kissing spine or impingement of the dorsal spinous processed is a common cause of back pain and poor performance in the horse.  Diagnosis is based on clinical examination, radiographs of the back, and diagnostic ultrasound.  Initial treatment of the condition often involves a combination of therapies including proper saddle fit, shockwave therapy, facet joint and intraspinous ligament injections, mesotherapy, tildren, and physical therapy.  A surgical technique was used in cases that no longer responded to traditional therapy was considered where the top of the dorsal spinous process was removed.  This technique was invasive, required a long lay-up and presented a challenge for healing especially in areas under the saddle.  A new surgical technique is showing promising results where the intraspinous ligament between the affected sites is cut through a small incision.  Healing and rate of complications is much improved with this new technique.  The horses are exercised almost immediately after the procedure to build up the back muscles that support the spine.  Results are better then medical treatment with over 95% of cases where back pain was alleviated.

Kissing spine near the withers

Many, many thanks to Laura and thank you for reading. Please leave any questions or topics you’d like Laura to address in the comments section below. Go galloping vets, and go Eventing! 

It’s high time we caught up with Allie Knowles again and see how her couple of lovely, talented mares Roxy (above) and Komik are doing. Now 6 years old they’re heading to their first event of the year at Full Gallop this weekend. If  you missed Chapter 1 or Chapter 2 you can catch up with them to find out some more about their background. Typically for January in most places, and for Kentucky at any time of the year, the weather had been playing havoc with her plans to get out and cross country school but we managed to co-ordinate a day in between the ground being completely sodden and deep, and before the big freeze set in and temperatures plummeted to single digits the next day.

Roxy was coming to Masterson Station Park for the second day in a row but was still spooky, not necessarily at the fences, and Allie told me this is what makes her quite challenging to ride because she’s simultaneously quite strong.  Now that I have children, on the rare occasions that I ride it’s like therapy for me, and when I was competing I definitely preferred straight-forward, uncomplicated geldings. When things went wrong it was usually my fault and of course I bore the guilt endlessly, but loved my horses unreservedly.  I have immense admiration for Allie who, especially for a young(er!) rider, is incredibly  thoughtful, and treats both these mares (and in fact a bunch more of them in her string) with endless patience and empathy, exactly how I (would like to) treat my own children in fact! I daren’t ask in what form she takes her therapy!

Komik could not be more different to Roxy – barely glancing at the fences but every now and then arguing with Allie in between them, and definitely an Alpha mare; she’s sometimes maddening just to watch, let alone I imagine to ride, and once again I marvel at Allie’s maturity in coping with them both with such grace and even good humour. However, when they’re not maddening to watch they’re pretty exciting; very talented and scopey, both good looking, super-moving horses, and Allie rides them both so quietly yet effectively, and in such a nice balance and rhythm that it looks easy. I change my mind again, I need to get over my bias against mares, they’re just like women and have superior brains!

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Allie and I chatted after she rode so she could tell me herself exactly how the horses felt and how they’re shaping up.

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Wishing Allie and the girls the very best of luck at Full Gallop, and also of course to all of the Eventing Nation who are lucky enough to be out competing this weekend.  We’ll check back in with Allie for an update on the competition and bring you Chapter 4 of the Training Diaries soon. If you have any particular training questions relating to your own horse, Allie’s mares or anything you’d like her to address, please leave a comment below.  Go mares and Go Eventing!

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The second half of the session at the well-attended and well-received MSEDA General Meeting was a general Question and Answer Session with guest speaker Boyd Martin and it was no holds barred. Boyd didn’t blanch at anything and replied to each question frankly and thoughtfully.   Apart from a few of the longer, and very amusing stories that don’t translate well onto the page I haven’t left a lot out because I found most of it fascinating.  I’m actually glad I got to sift through all my notes and type it all up as I got to appreciate it all over again and digest it a bit more slowly and I hope you’ll do the same. Bon Appetit…!

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When Neville was a little bit off in England and you thought originally it was his foot or his ankle, who finally diagnosed it, how long did it take, and how are you treating it now?

“Neville’s lameness in England was about half a degree, minute, it was something that most of us couldn’t see in a trot up;  if you were a real expert perhaps you could see it. Initially he’d had sore heels and Phillip had looked at him and helped him. There were twelve horses in England at the camp, and just to let you know, in the team situation that we were in, once your horse isn’t perfect you’re out. It’s not a very comfortable place, you’re in a situation where you haven’t yet been selected for the team, you’ve got your friends there but you’re hoping that you’re going to get ahead of them, so once your horse was not 100% you’re out of the way basically. They pull you in and they say thank you very much but we’re not worrying about this horse any more, and then to get access to the team vets while they’re trying to work on everyone else’s horses is very difficult. Once we got home, we took him to the New Bolton clinic and did a bone scan on the horse, and he had a part of arthritis in his neck. Whenever you think a horse is lame you’re blocking it’s foot, ankle, tendon, suspensory, pulling your hair out…..! Anyway, they gave him some medication called Depomedrol  but it’s a steroid which will eventually wear off.  I also have a chiropractor for him and a horse massage specialist that does stretching in that part of the neck – there’s nothing that horse doesn’t get; yesterday he got an acupuncturist, today a massage, it’s costing me a bloody fortune!”

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Can you comment on the High Performance Spring Training Lists, and the fact that Otis and Neville aren’t on those lists?

“I couldn’t care less! Funnily enough in the beginning of 2012 I had a horse called Remington who wasn’t on the A List, B List, C List or any list and I laughed to myself because he was in the truck at Greenwich Park on the Wednesday, the day of the trot up, as the reserve horse for America. I can understand why they left Otis off the list because he’s coming back off his injury now and he’s probably not going to make Rolex this year, although we may do Luhmuhlen or Pau. Neville – it doesn’t bother me but you wonder why; they ask you not to run the horse so I saved him for most of last year, and then he was sore in England right before the Olympics and they scratched him off the list! For a young rider who’s seeking recognition I think it might be more upsetting not to be included but I’m not really that bothered. At the end of the day it should be about results, that’s the key with making a team. I don’t care who the the coach or the selectors are, it’s the performance that gets you on a team and if you turn in an outstanding performance and your horse is sound you’re going to make the team. Put in performance and results that they can’t say no to.”

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What are kind of bit did you use cross country on Otis in London; in the picture it looked like you had neck strap or did you have two reins?

“This horse Otis is a very good jumper but he jumps very big behind, very hard behind and he almost lands on his head a little bit. He’s quite a strong horse and that bit is a cherry roller gag. I don’t really like big bits but the problem I’ve got is if you just have the gag part it’s good to slow them up but you lose your turning ability. I hate riding with two reins but it’s the only way I could figure it out. The second rein is on the snaffle for turning, and when he starts to get a little bit strong and rude, you can pull the bottom rein, but to be quite honest you’re just pulling back on both reins! It’s basically a bridle I’d be using as a last resort, you’d try every other piece of equipment you have before you try that.”

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What are you looking for for yourself in an upper level horse?

“I’ll probably buy a lot more young horses, a lot more three-, and four-, and five-year-olds, and then if the time is right and the situation is right, like with Otis, I’d try and jump in and grab a two star horse. Buying a made-up horse at that level doesn’t work that often. Usually if a horse is a two star horse at that level for sale it’s no good, or it’s unsound. How many of you in here, if you had an unbelievable two star horse, it wouldn’t matter how much people offered you it wouldn’t be for sale? The number one thing stopping a horse from being a four star horse is the ability to gallop flat out for eleven or twelve minutes. I would be very, very nervous about buying a horse with less than 70% thoroughbred; there are exceptions to the rule where you see horses that are half and half or even more, like Remington was pretty much all warmblood but he came up a little bit short in the speed and endurance side of things. That would be my number one thing – if you buy something with too much warmblood you don’t realize that the horse might not be good enough until six years later, and that is a painful thing to go through because you’ve put in thousands of hours of training and you’ve dragged him all over the countryside and you’ve produced him, and you’re at a CCI*** and someone taps you on the shoulder to say he can’t make it, it’s too far. Obviously your horse has got to have a natural jump, and the dressage is important. What’s most important about the dressage is that he does have a little bit of quality but that he’s trainable – trainability is more important than ability. We often get dragged towards the really flashy, fancy horse that’s a bit nuts but you’re much better off going after a quieter more trainable horse, and that’s something that’s hard to evaluate when you’re trying them. The biggest thing, I think, when you’re trying out a horse is it’s got to be love at first sight. If you’re riding it around and trying to convince yourself that it’s the right one then it’s not the right one. Every horse that’s worked out well for me I knew it within two minutes, and every horse that didn’t work out was one of those ones that other people were convincing me it was a good horse.”

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When you’re looking for an upper level prospect what height limitations do you put on a horse?

“There’s exceptions to every rule. One of the greatest horses of all time was Charisma who was 15.2. I rode one horse around a 4* called Extreme who was 15.1 and he could jump like a kangaroo, that’s why he was called Skippy. Then you’ll get horses at the other end of the spectrum; if you look at the silver medalist from Hong Kong I think McKinlaigh was about 18hh. Look at Theodore O’Connor who was literally a pony, so if Ioved everything about a horse but it was a bit small or a bit tall and every other box was ticked I would probably go with it. Ideally, if you go through the laws of probability and went through all the Olympic Games and worked out statistics then you’d probably want a horse between 16hh and 17hh, probably 70% TB, probably a gelding, probably black…! At the end of the day though you’ve got to go with your gut; if you think it’s the right horse and it looks a bit funny – still buy it because they’re the ones that work out. If you go too much to just what everyone else is doing it’s hard to do something exceptional because you’re always thinking inside the box, and then you’re just pretty much the same as everyone else.”

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When you’re talking about the horse being 70% Thoroughbred, do you look at the pedigree, and are you looking for horses that are more sport horse oriented thoroughbreds?

“I always think you’re better off looking at the horse. If the horse looks like an athlete and can gallop I think that’s more important than the percentages on the bit of paper, and you’ll see that as well with racehorse people when they buy yearlings; the really good guys that get the successful horses, the talented people that can look at the way a horse moves and how it’s put together, it’s length of neck and shoulder, etc etc, versus the ones who just look at a piece of paper and tell you who it’s by, the latter ones are those who tend to come up a bit short. You’re better off evaluating the horse as it is, looking at the horse and seeing if it fulfills your requirements, if it moves and jumps well, if it has a good nature, and then look at its breeding. If it’s by a stallion that breeds a heap of crazy, mad horses then the chances are it’s going to have that element, or it breeds uncareful jumpers you’ve got to try not get too emotional and take that into account. Sometimes I’d buy a horse with less than 70% thoroughbred if it looked like an athlete, and I’ve made the mistake of buying horses with more than 70% thoroughbred that aren’t athletes. I’ve probably bought 150 horses in my life and seventy of them have been disasters! That’s life – you’ve just got to take a deep breath, don’t even go through your cheque book and work out how much you’ve spent on shoes, entry fees and vet bills, and get out of them. As soon as you’re not in love with it, sell it and don’t even worry about getting your money back, don’t even worry about breaking even, just be done with it; move it on and try again.”

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Full Marks to the Mid South Eventing and Dressage Association for bringing Boyd Martin in as Guest Speaker this year! After confusing my dates and missing out on Max Corcoran at the Area VIII Annual Meeting, I certainly wasn’t going to miss this. Although as a group we may have had a few years on the screaming, feverish hordes that attended the One Direction concert that I was forced to take my daughter to last autumn, Boyd was playing to a packed house in Cincinnati and the crowd was equally as excited and enthusiastic, we were putty in his hands!  The morning session was devoted to Boyd’s background: what it takes to rise from riding around the trails in your back yard in Australia to representing your country at the very highest level, overcoming unthinkable loss along the way.  Illustrated with slides and peppered with amusing anecdotes, Boyd is a natural storyteller and kept everyone enthralled. With his typical easy, quick Aussie wit and no-nonsense attitude I don’t think any of us realised how much we were all learning at the same time as we were listening but therein lies the lessons!  The afternoon session, which we’ll cover in Part Two, was more of an open forum discussing general training and all manner of topics in a question and answer form.

The Very Beginning

Boyd started at the very beginning, regaling us with tales of his first pony, Willy, short for Willy Do It in Australia. Boyd explained that he grew up in a neighbourhood north of Sydney where most people had a couple or so acres of back yard and kept a horse. His parents were both sporty, former Winter Olympians in fact, and encouraged him to explore everything he was interested in, not just horses. “This was a good thing for me because I was a terrible student!” For a long time Boyd held the running record in New South Wales Schools for 1500 meters . It’s clear immediately that an eventer’s upbringing down under is different to that of say, a hunter jumper in the US, or a dressage rider in Germany, “I was a wild young lad and pretty much into all sports. The training for Australia for riders was pretty informal, I can’t remember having that many lessons as a young kid; I do remember running off the school bus in the afternoon and dashing down, throwing the saddle on the pony and meeting all my friends out on the street where we’d race around all the fire trails in the National Park that was close by. We’d go to Pony Club every Saturday; we’d start at 8am and it was about an hour’s ride to get there and you’d meet people along the way, and you did everything there- mounted games, jumping, barrel racing.” and his career in eventing got off to a somewhat inauspicious start, “My first actual horse trial didn’t go so well – I fell off twice on the cross-country and unfortunately the second fall was at the water jump and Willy decided to run back to the trailer and eat some hay so I had an approximately fifteen minute run on foot to go and get him but I hopped on him, rode him all the way back again and continued. I also fell off in the show-jumping so I had three falls in total, a rough dressage, oh and a stop cross country too which all added up to about 386 penalties and that was my eventing debut but I wasn’t too disappointed to be honest, it was a great day out and quite a good effort I thought!”

Boyd still wears his school ‘footie’ jersey when riding cross country today 

By about age 16 Boyd was really starting to “get a kick out of the eventing” and had graduated to a horse called Lenny, a “hell of a good jumper” that Boyd had found advertised for sale for $1,200 on a bulletin board in a smoothie shop. In a picture of him jumping Lenny Boyd is wearing the same cross country jersey he wears today, “it was actually my school footie jersey; it was compulsory at school to play rugby union. I was alright, I was out on the wing, but I chose to wear the football jersey while I was riding cross country and I have to get my mum to go down to the school shop and send me a few more over every now and then.”

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Moving up the levels

On finishing High School with “pretty disastrous scores, it was obvious I wasn’t going to be a brain surgeon!” Boyd embarked on an eight year apprenticeship of sorts that would change his life, checking in at the New South Wales Equestrian Centre as a working pupil for Heath Ryan,

“There were sixteen rooms in the bunk house and it wasn’t unlike a portable shed; the walls in the rooms were paper thin, it wouldn’t have been the most hygienic place in the world and when the wind blew you could practically see the roof lift off at the corners! Heath was a good guy though, he had a huge operation and really enjoyed getting the next wave of Australia’s future champions up and running. I joined about fifteen other teenagers, there were probably 250 horses on the farm and he ran a massive operation; it was seven days a week, starting every day at 6:30 am and finishing when we finished, sometimes eight, nine or ten o’clock at night. We did everything – trained young horses, bred horses, jumped horses, got a cross country lesson from Heath which could be terrifying! It was borderline madness, almost lunacy, but I really thrived on that intensity. We’d load up the big truck on a Friday night, the horse trial might be ten hours away but you’d never leave the day before, you’d drive through the night and get there at 6am the morning of the event. There was no stabling so you had to build your own yards when you got there, certainly there was never any straw or shavings, the horses just stood on the grass, and there were no hotels, you’d camp out for the weekend and build a big fire.”

Heath was an enormous influence in Boyd’s life, “the first time in my life that I’d really had a coach or a mentor and he was brilliant too, a masterful trainer of horses and the softest rider I’d ever seen and a genius. He taught me work ethic and so much more; a lot of people quit because it was such hard work but the ones that hung in there ended up being quite successful –  if you look at a lot of the big names in Australia they’ve definitely been touched by this fellow.”

By this time Lenny had been sold and swapped for The Flying Doctor, an eleven year old that had yet to compete in an event, “When I tried him he galloped up to a jump, screeched to a halt and I went flying over The Flying Doctor’s head, and he just stood there. My father recognised a horse with good intentions and said he thought we should buy him because he didn’t run away, and so we did! Two years later Boyd and the Doctor tackled their first four star together at Adelaide and finished in 5th place, “Looking back on it now I really didn’t have much idea of what I was doing. It was a monstrous course and I still remember people pacing out the distance between jumps and I was copying them but I had no idea what each step meant, I was just trying to fit in!” However, it was a definite turning point in his life, “Right from that moment I knew without doubt that eventing was the sport for me”.

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The Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, North America’s only CCI**** has become a staple in the spring calendar for countless hundreds of thousands of people over the years – competitors who have painstakingly aimed their horses here for years, owners who have dreamed of running a horse at Rolex, grooms, volunteers,  lower level riders, family connections, serious shoppers or tourists who might happen to be in the area, Reiners and Western fans now come too and in thirty-six years one thing has never changed: all these people have been welcomed, informed, and entertained throughout by Nigel Casserly.  Nigel came to his first event at the Kentucky Horse Park in 1977 when it was a Young Rider Test Event for the World Championship for the next year. Since then he has returned every year, to not only commentate on all the action that takes place every day, but he is also responsible for supplying and installing the sound system throughout the Horse Park, “We come in about two weeks before the event each year, put in about five miles of wiring, then take it all out again, put it back in the trailer and leave. To run an event you need footing and a good sound system, and I certainly pride myself in the fact that there isn’t anywhere on the Horse Park during Rolex that you cannot hear what is going on, and that you can hear one voice with no delays.”

Due to a decision by the Event Board, you will no longer  be able to hear Nigel’s voice at Rolex, but you will be able to hear him at Red Hills International Horse Trials, Richland Park and Rebecca Farm Horse Trials. As well as being incredibly popular on the Steeplechase circuit he’ll also return to the Kentucky Horse Park for the Driving Trials.  Of course he has many  fond and incredible memories of his time spent in Lexington for the Kentucky Horse Trials, but as we talk he still seems a bit stunned by the news which only came a couple of days ago, “As Allie my wife said, ‘It’s been a lifetime’s work’, and I didn’t think about it that way but it really has, I mean thirty-six years is a very long time. It’s changed unbelievably. When everybody said we’d go to the four star and wouldn’t have any other divisions, Janie Atkinson and I talked at length about it and about the numbers of entries, and we both concurred that you can have a world class event with only 48 entries but last year we had more than ever, so the event continues to grow.  The wonderful thing about the Horse Park is we’ve never had to cancel; we’ve had pouring rain – I remember one year Torrance Watkins was on course and all you could see was this yellow blur going along. That was the year Bruce Davidson went out at the end of the day when the mud was just ghastly and rode the most beautiful round I think I’ve ever seen anybody ever ride, it was amazing. There’s been some extraordinary competition at Rolex over the years. Since Rolex came on board as a sponsor some thirty-five years ago it’s just grown and grown.  I love to watch good riding and that can come from those who are competing at the international level or from those who are there for the first time, and the beauty of Rolex is that you get to see top horses. Beautiful horses being ridden well –  that’s the joy of our sport.”

As well as the switch to four star Nigel also bore witness to the changes wrought when Eventing introduced Short Format, and although personally he’s not a fan, he doesn’t think it’s harmed the sport for the greater good, “For the spectator, no it didn’t change the sport – people came to watch wonderful horses jump extraordinary fences and that’s what they still come to see.”

Michael Tucker will take over the commentary at Rolex Kentucky in 2013, and Brian O’Connor’s Speakeasy Ltd will be charged with handling the sound system throughout the Horse Park.  At the time of writing Rolex Kentucky Director of Competition Christina Gray could not be reached for comment, but I’m hoping she’ll join me on the Eventing Radio Show this week to discuss the event in general as it draws steadily closer, less than 100 days now.

The sometimes seemingly endless winter months of short, dark days and depressing weather is the perfect time to work on all the little things that escape you during the busy competition season. Once the New Year arrives it’s a whirlwind of clipping and clinics, and now in only it’s second year the International Eventing Forum is already becoming firmly established as an occasion not to missed. The brainchild of Irish International Eventer Eric Smiley FBHS, most recently coach to the Belgian Olympic team told me the aim of the forum is to present GOOD PRACTICE.

Eric Smiley (photo courtesy of Talkinghorse blog and used with kind permission)

Unfortunately for those of us in the US, Eric said the “the Forum has no plans to travel although I am passionate about the message it gives and I would love EVERYONE to hear it and put it into practise.” To that end, we’re thrilled that EN’s good friend, and we’re excited to announce future regular blogger Gavin Makinson will once again be reviewing the IEF for us.  Gavin is based in London with two horses and wrote up a wonderful report for us last year. 

Gavin competing Oliver Cromwell (photo used with kind permission)

Eric will chair the day and has carefully hand-picked the speakers; As he explained to me, “We want to demonstrate that GOOD PRACTICE  means simple straightforward skills, used in a consistent way to maximise potential. Good Practise also means that the care and education of the horse is ethically undertaken and at the forefront of the process.  The selection of the speakers reflects this aim. Most people who reach the top in their chosen sport have a clear thought process or have an uncluttered talent. Some are lucky enough to have both!  I am lucky to be able to draw on my friends and connections to ask the top people to present at the Forum, they do so willingly and for no fee. This is a non profit making organisation so is able to retain its integrity.  It is my hope that there will always be people who want to practise and preach the right and ethical way in sport and in doing so reap the pleasures and rewards.”

The speakers at the 2013 IEF are Dressage Coach Ian Woodhead  (“How both ends meet”  Dressage from the beginning to the finished product) ,  Mark Todd (“The Jumping Ladder” The Steps Through the Levels) and David O’Connor and Mike Etherington Smith (“XC Course Designer vs Coach” Mike will pose the questions and David will coach the solutions).

Luckily there is no fear that the forum will be lost to the weather as it is not only indoors but also heated.  Doors open at 9am on Monday 4th February and the event starts at 10am sharp, finishing at 5pm. Tickets are still available from  the venue, Hartpury College, or at the door. You can also follow the IEF on twitter. Enjoy the day if you’re going, and if not look for a full report here on EN soon. Go IEF and Go Eventing!

Tamarillo and William Fox-Pitt competing at the Athens Olympics. Photo by Al Bello for Gettyimages used with the kind permission of Biddesden Stud.

Tamarillo, now 21, with owner Mary Guinness. Tamarillo is currently enjoying retirement at William Fox-Pitt’s Dorset yard, giving the odd lesson to working students and being spoilt as is his wont!

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With the old year behind us we’ve all read those “Best Of” lists and no doubt made our own resolutions, along with hopes and dreams for the future.  January is traditionally a time of new beginnings, foals on the ground, fresh starts and looking forward, making plans. Without a major Championship (the Europeans notwithstanding) 2013 will be a year of consolidation and preparation for the WEG in Normandy in 2014, and further ahead for the Olympics in Rio just three and a half years away now. However, it also means that the four star Championships will be more competitive than ever, and unbelievably as I cast my eye down William Fox-Pitt’s long, long list of  victories, six at Burghley alone, it’s almost incredible that he has only won Badminton once. On a part bred Arab called Tamarillo.  I was lucky enough to visit Biddesden Stud recently where Tamarillo was born and bred, and where the line continues.

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Piquante – a four year old mare by Persiflage who also stands at Biddesden, out of Thais, also at Biddesden who is by Tarnik, the sire of Tamarillo.

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Biddesden is very much a family affair as Rebecca, the third generation to be riding and hunting Biddesden-bred stock explains, “We have Arabs because my grandparents bought two mares in the thirties from the Crabbet Park stud, and that’s the foundation. With my parents being interested in eventing it’s just slowly become more focused on competition, but Finn wanted to really combine the toughness, stamina and lightness of movement of the Arabs with the scope and speed of the thoroughbred.”  Rebecca and her brother Rory both ride and hunt regularly, and are keen and knowledgeable but it is their father Finn who really runs the business, and Katey Cuthbertson, a Lucinda Green protege, who competes the eventers.

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Persiflage is a rising eleven year old Anglo Arab stallion by Primitive Rising out of a mare called Doyenne with 60 British Eventing points and what seems to be an unbelievably sweet temperament; he trots up beautifully on the road outside the yard in the rain, and stands good-naturedly for a picture.  The yard is friendly and functional, with horses tucked into boxes in every corner, yearlings sharing barns, a walker and the lorry also somehow finding space in the beautiful old-fashioned yard, and this is also reflected in the  approach to breeding  –  modern but traditional, an English/Irish heritage  and it’s a business but also a passion. As houseguest Valerie Vizcarrondo explains, ” Here it’s all about the horses; it’s refreshing, it’s horsemanship on a different level, it’s bred into people here, it’s just a part of the culture, here you live it.”

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All That Jazz, above, is an Anglo Arab stallion by SS City Lights (Arab) by Belingo (TB) imported from Australia.  Sourced and competed by William Fox-Pitt and then Dan Jocelyn, he’s now hunted by Rory who tells me proudly that William rated his canter better than Tamarillo’s!  William is also currently eventing a rising 7-year-old by All That Jazz, Star Time, bred by his mother Marietta.

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Rory also hunts Alcibiades, above,  who is by All That Jazz

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Also by All That Jazz, this nice rising seven-year-old mare called Annaliese. This was the horse that Valerie told me she “should talk to Finn about bringing back to the States, she’s lovely, she’s serious. I saw her out hunting and although she’s not as typey, just the way that she handled herself, I was ready to put her on a plane, I need to do some wheeling and dealing! ” Having arrived just before Christmas, Valerie was getting a crash course, luckily not literally, in the Biddesden style and loving every minute of it, although we both laughed when she told me she was presented with a pair of rubber riding boots on arrival – indispensable! – and she shared some of her adventures since,

“I”ve had a fabulous time; everyone’s enjoyed making great fun of me for not knowing any of  the traditions and the food but I feel like that’s kind of my purpose here so it’s been fine, I’m the comic relief! Adventure beckons! The first day I got here at noon and I was on a horse, All That Jazz, until dark so I could take him hunting the next day which was Christmas Eve. We had a day off for Christmas and then we went hunting on Boxing Day – horses decorated and we hacked miles into the village, all of that fabulous stuff. We were backs to the wind, heads down, pouring down rain and not a single person is talking about going in! We’re going out again on Saturday and I don’t know who I’ll be riding or where it is.  I had no expectations really but knowing about Tamarillo I thought all the horses would be sharp and good-looking and fun, and they’re all lovely.  The Biddesden Type is my type of horse – compact, uphill, very classy looking, I prefer to ride something that looks the part, Ferrari types, a little bit like that, and they’re all that way. “

 

“The idea of using the Indoctro blood is to get a little more trainability and a little more snap in the front end, sometimes the thoroughbreds have a tendency to dangle their front legs. She (Imbroglio) hasn’t got the big movement but the brother (Incognito) has. He’ll be broken in the spring, but we have already used him as a stud. After he covered two mares we had to turn him back into a colt in which we succeeded: we turned him out with a big gelding and told him he’s not a stallion any more! We did it with Jazz and Persiflage as well and the advantage is he’s already proven by the time he’s already competing at a fairly high level, but it does definitely depend on the stallion.”

Piquante’s mother Thais,  a 1995 mare by Tarnik (sire of Tamarillo) and brought in to hunt this season as her swansong as she was not in foal this year.  It was almost by chance that Finn bred Tamarillo, or perhaps you could say it was meant to be?  “I first saw Tarnik when I was competing against him in a marathon; Tarnick won and my horse Ansty came second but I’d spent many, many miles admiring his back end and knew I wanted to use him! The years passed and then he came over to visit and we bred to him.” The rest, of course, is eventing history: to scratch the surface Tamarillo won Badminton with William Fox-Pitt in 2004 and was second there in 2002 and 2005, he won Burghley in 2008, an individual silver and team gold medal at the European Championships at Blenheim in 2005 and Team Gold at the WEG in Aachen in 2006.  Finn tried to put his finger on what made Tamarillo so good,

“Watching his lateral movement, he found crossing his hind leg very easy which a lot of thoroughbreds find difficult to do, and he turned out to be a very good cross country horse. It may be that of course he did have a very good rider, and they developed their careers together; he really made William I think, and William made him  –  they found each other at just the right time.  It is so surprising that he was so brave because he was so very spooky and it doesn’t seem to be the same thing as being cowardly! I do remember William riding him right up to the crowd around the dressage ring trying to get him do his spook before he went in, but he did gradually get better. It was so surprising to see a horse do that and then go out and do these enormous jumps cross country. Funnily enough, watching him go round Badminton he would gallop round with his ears pricked and I asked William about that later, and he told me he thought it was because he found it so easy; for most horses it’s very hard, those are very big fences and when they’re under extreme exertion they don’t put their ears forward, so maybe that’s what it was:  he just was a very athletic horse and brave, and so it just seemed to be very easy for him.”

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I imagine Finn must regret not keeping Tamarillo entire, “Oh Gracious yes, but we had no idea where he was heading, and we have all sorts of plans to over come that!”   You can stay up to date with those plans by visiting the Biddesden facebook page, or please visit their website if you’d like details on contacting them.  Connections to the Tamarillo line are in Persiflage’s dam’s family, and this season Biddesden will start shipping his semen to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  In fact in a later email in which Rebecca is trying to patiently untangle the bloodlines for me she muses that Tamarillo, Persiflage, Sisyrinchium and Erodium can all be traced back to their foundation mare Dafinetta who was originally bought in the ’30s by her grandmother.

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Persiflage at Houghton last May. Photo by Photosynergy used with the kind permission of Biddesden Stud.

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Many thanks to the Guinness family for so kindly showing me all the horses in the rain during the Christmas holidays and their collaboration with this article, and thank you for reading. Go Anglo Arabs and any and all crosses in between, and Go Eventing!