Daniel and Crimson. Photo by Liv Stringer.
Last week on EN’s Got Talent, we met Daniel Clasing’s promising Prelim mare, Crimson, who came to him after showing her displeasure for her polo training. Once Daniel and Crimson got to know each other better, their partnership solidified and the nine-year-old mare quickly displayed her prowess for eventing.
Crimson eased into her flatwork nicely, exhibiting elegant movement and natural talent. “She’s had a lot of life experiences, so she’s seen nearly everything,” Daniel said. “She’s scored really well right off the bat, and everything just seems to come so naturally to her.”
Daniel has been especially impressed with Crimson’s careful approach to her work. “She’s a very different ride from Houston, which I actually kind of prefer,” he elaborated. “She’s small and catty. She is ultimately not the most brave horse; I would say Houston is much braver, but I think that’s a good thing. Horses that are overly brave tend to not be as careful. It really makes her respectful of the fence. She locks in to the jump but knows she has to respect it, so she naturally balances herself and I barely have to touch the reins.”
Photo by Liv Stringer.
One of the challenges that Daniel has worked through with Crimson is a general displeasure when it comes to working in traffic. “She doesn’t really like it when other horses get too close to her, so she can get a bit cagey in the warm up,” he said. That said, though, Crimson settles right down and gets to work once she enters the ring, and Daniel has figured out a good routine for warming the mare up correctly, even in a crowded warm up ring. “She loves to compete, and she knows that when she goes in the ring it’s time to go to work.”
So far this year, Crimson has done well. She and Daniel took second in the Preliminary division at Full Gallop earlier this month, and we’ve just gotten word that Crimson placed fifth in a large and competitive Preliminary field at Carolina International this weekend. Daniel said on his Facebook that the mare came back from cross country barely blowing and made the time look easy on a course that made it tough to come home double clear. The pair will next head to The Fork. Daniel tentatively has his eyes set on moving Crimson up to Intermediate at Fair Hill later this year, and believes the mare has the scope to go Advanced. “I think a really good way to judge scope is to ride the horse into a deep distance to make them jump out of the base pretty hard,” Daniel said. “She did really well when I tried this with her, and that makes me really believe that she has the scope to go Advanced.”
Daniel is a member of Experience Eventing, which connects potential event horse owners with horses and riders who are seeking ownership or syndication. Several shares of this talented mare are currently available. For more information on joining Daniel and Crimson, visit his Experience Eventing page or his website.
