EN’s Got Talent is Eventing Nation’s newest series. We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? This series 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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Katie Murphy and Esccord RGS won the 4-year-old Young Event Horse East Coast Championships at Fair Hill. Photo by Jenni Autry.
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Katie Murphy of Hopkinton, N.H., is coming off a fantastic end to the 2012 season with Esccord RGS, her 4-year-old Hanoverian gelding bred by Dr. Terry and Jayshree Schrubb of Page Brook Farms in Hollis, N.H. Esccord RGS, better known as Garth, won the 4-year-old Young Event Horse East Coast Championships at Fair Hill last month, giving Katie high hopes that this talented gelding has the makings of an upper-level prospect. “I first saw Garth over two years years ago when I bought my 3-year-old, Emitt,” Katie said. “At the time, Emitt was 10 months old and Garth was a year older. Garth’s quality was reflected in his price, and I just couldn’t afford him at the time.”
Katie ended up selling her preliminary horse to the Schrubb’s daughter after the horse struggled with moving up to intermediate. “I used those funds to buy Garth and brought him home last fall,” Katie said. “He’d had a rider on his back for about 15 minutes every day at that point, so he knew very basic walk and trot. He hadn’t been pressured into doing much at that time, so he was very calm.” Katie is a big fan of hacking when she trains her young horses, incorporating plenty of long, slow flatwork at the very beginning. “Fortunately, we have a lot of variations in terrain here,” Katie said. “He went out over a lot of dirt roads and wooded trails.”
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Garth at the YEH Championships.
Initially, Katie only rode Garth three days a week, with two of those days dedicated to walking and an occasional trot up a hill; the third day incorporated light flat work. “Eventually, I worked a fourth day into his program, where we did a lot of ground poles to get him to use himself and build some strength,” Katie said. “I very rarely cantered him last fall. He didn’t have the balance or strength to hold his canter safely at that point. We started to bring in basic gymnastics works and go out on cross-country, where we walked over logs and up and down banks. Then we progressed to trotting over the logs.”
Garth’s gradual training program highlights Katie’s philosophy for training all her young horses. “I’d rather take my time,” Katie said. “Fortunately, I have that flexibility. I’m a very small operation with just my horses at this time. My office job allows me financial stability, so I don’t need to have a timeframe in mind when it comes to resale. I can take the time I feel the horses need. I’d rather have a slow progression than move too quickly and have to backtrack.”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf6-N5XPeNM
Garth’s dressage test and jumping at the YEH Championships
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Katie spent two months down south earlier this year, where Garth had his first real cross-country school at Southern Pines. “He’d never jumped a single fence alone before,” Katie said. “All jumps had been accompanied by gymnastics lines and ground poles to help him figure out his footwork.” Garth went to his first schooling show in Bath, N.C., and then ran his first horse trials at novice at Southern Pines I. “He was very spooky, but it was an excellent first introduction to the sport for him,” Katie said. “After that, he just bloomed. He became more and more confident.”
Averaging about one event per month, Katie had her sights on the Young Event Horse program. She’d participated in the Future Event Horse program with both Emitt and Garth, but this year was her first involvement in YEH. “When I saw Garth was doing solid at novice and ready to move up to training, I thought it would be a great way to cap the season and get the feedback from the judges,” Katie said. While she went into the YEH Championships at Fair Hill without any major expectations, Katie knows Garth’s first-place finish is a testament to just how talented he is.
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Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll take an in-depth look at Garth’s performance at the YEH East Coast Championships at Fair Hill, including what comments he received from the judges and how Katie hopes to see his career develop next season. “I am hopeful for his future,” Katie said. “I think he’s a wonderful partner, regardless of what he may end up doing.”
