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].
__________
Jen Carter and Sayyida. Photo by Sylvia Palmer/Palmer Photos.
–
Last week we met Sayyida, a 6-year-old Trakehner mare owned by Sean Tennant of Tennant Sporthorses and Kyle and Jen Carter. While “Xena” was originally meant to be Jen’s new upper-level prospect, her pregnancy sidelined her for the beginning of the mare’s competitive career. Jen finally took over the ride last fall, which culminated in the mare’s debut at preliminary at the Ocala Horse Properties Fall Event. “I usually don’t get terribly nervous for cross country, but I was definitely nervous the night before,” Jen said. “I thought it was a big enough course with good technical questions. She handled it great; there was not a single thing she questioned. Between what Kyle had done with her and I had done with her, she’d schooled all the exercises and she’d seen everything she was going to see out there. When you’re at home schooling, you have to put her in the right situations so she understands the questions.”
With a successful completion at preliminary under their belt, Jen and Xena will look to fine tune their partnership this year. While Jen admits it took awhile for the two to grow accustomed to each other, she said she now definitely sees their relationship growing and is excited about what the mare’s talent means for the future. “It’s always hard when they’re younger, and I hate to ever say for sure where you think they’ll end up doing because we’ve been wrong before,” Jen said. “She should be a really good two-star horse at a minimum, and I think she’ll go advanced. My first four-star horse was a little mare we never thought would go above prelim. Until you’re there, who knows, right? I’m comfortable saying we’ll aim her for a two-star in 2014 and take her advanced; from there it will be step by step.”
–
Xena. Photo by Pearl Macgregor.
–
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Jen plans to aim for the CCI* in Ocala in April and finish out the rest of the season at preliminary. “I don’t think we will do another one-star after that,” Jen said. “She’s taken awhile to get some strength about her. She’s a dainty horse — tall and big bodied — so that’s meant extra time to get her strength where we want it to be. I don’t think I foresee rushing her at the levels. Maybe at the end of the year I’d consider an intermediate, but I would certainly never consider a two-star this fall. She certainly has been brave, but also careful, so I don’t want to overface her. She spent a year going training and we don’t often do that with our young horses, but she needed that mentally and physically. Now that she understands the questions, she is happy to go preliminary.”
Xena is currently available for syndication, with two shares already sold. Shares are available for $6,000, with an $1,800 annual maintenance fee; four more shares are available. The shares also come with certain breeding rights, which will likely interest many Trakehner breeders because of Xena’s unique and rare bloodlines for eventing. Bred by Kim Hunter of Twin Gates Farm in Agyle, Texas, Xena is by the Trakehner stallion Tzigane *Pb*, a Grand Prix show jumper who was bred in the U.S. and now stands in Germany. She is closely related through her mother to the stallion Songline, who is a half-brother to Sara Mittleider’s intermediate star Harry Houdini. “Some people avoid mares, but to us having mares is very appealing and a lot of fun because of their breeding potential after their athletic career is over,” Jen said. “It’s special to have a mare like Xena in the barn and think about one day also owning her babies.”
–
Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Lauren Deneve and Forrest Nymph, a 14.3 New Forest Pony mare owned by Beth Davidson of Black Dog Farm in Plant City, Fla. This scopey little mare, better known as Farrah, is also a branded Oldenburg Sport Pony. Farrah competed through training level before Debbie Stephens and Wynn Norman encouraged Beth to move her up the ranks. Lauren how has the ride on Farrah and made the move up to preliminary this month, with their sights set on the Ocala CCI* in April. “Farrah has the scope and stride in stadium to make the horse distances and the heart and ambition on cross country,” Beth said. “Her gallop is simply amazing and she covers the ground very well. While Farrah is naturally very talented at dressage, Lauren does have to convince Farrah that dressage is a very necessary part of the eventing package!” Thanks for the tip, Beth!
