We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? EN’s Got Talent introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].
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Kurt Martin and Anna Bella. Photo by Pam Eckelbarger of HoofClix.
Last week we met Kurt Martin and Anna Bella, a coming 7-year-old Holsteiner mare currently going preliminary. While he originally found the mare at Windsor Farm Sales in Upperville, Va., as a sales prospect, he ended up buying her for himself after discovering she was the most naturally talented cross-country horse he’d ever ridden. But their partnership didn’t develop overnight. “She’s a hard nut to crack,” Kurt said. “When I got her, she had lived in a field for two months. She didn’t want to be in the barn and didn’t want anything to do with people. I started giving her treats to help overcome that. Now she pricks her ears and comes to me.”
Kurt said one of the biggest challenges with the mare has been dealing with her independent personality. After time off this winter, Anna Bella pulled the same “I-don’t-need-you” routine. “When I got her, they told me they thought she just needed one person, and that’s what it is,” Kurt said. Anna Bella has thrived emotionally and competitively under Kurt’s one-on-one attention. After a successful stint in the Level 5 jumpers at HITS last summer, the mare finished out the season at preliminary, finishing in the top four in all but one of her five runs at that level.
Anna Bella. Photo courtesy of Kurt Martin.
Anna Bella is a very natural jumper, and Kurt is working on developing her dressage work. “She’s definitely a jumper with a big, round neck,” Kurt said. “But she’s a little up in front, so that will help us out. Right now we’re trying to get her to connect and stay soft. Transitions come very easily for her, as do flying changes and leg yields. Her canter is two times better this year; last year it was more short and quick, whereas this year it’s much more forward and open.”
Kurt has been working with Boyd Martin down in Aiken this winter to fine-tune Anna Bella’s jumping before her first event of the season in preliminary at Paradise Farm. “She’s an absolute star,” Kurt said. “She’s so quick with her feet and her legs. She becomes electric — always looking for the next fence. It’s just such a great feeling to have a horse that wants to go and jump hard and is also 100-percent rideable with a good temperament. This year, we’ll hopefully be able to produce a little more at shows. She did good work last year for a green horse; this year she really should come along.”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH7_oREEkVI
Anna Bella’s prelim dressage test at Middleburg
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If all goes according to plan, Anna Bella will tackle her first CIC* at Red Hills, and Kurt has his sights set on the CCI2* at Fair Hill in the fall. “She’s brave and I don’t think she has any limits,” Kurt said. “It’s my job to put her on the path to get there. I am going to go a little slow at the beginning and try to build that confidence and experience, and later on we can really pump it out. Every horse has its place; if they’re not in the right place, they’re not going to get as far. She just hopefully landed in the right place with me.”
Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet San City, a 6-year-old Hanoverian stallion owned by Katie Wooten Bryant and ridden by Julie Richards at the intermediate level. Aly Ratazzi tipped me about this lovely stallion: “I have met him in person, and he is the most well-mannered stallion — so chill.” In addition to having a lovely temperament, San City is a already an accomplished dressage competitor; he was the 2011 USDF FEI 5-year-old reserve champion. Thanks for the tip, Aly!
