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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San City and Katie Wooten Bryant. Photo by Mark Walter Lehner of Hoofclix.
Last week we met Katie Wooten Bryant and San City, a 7-year-old Hanoverian stallion, owned by Katie and her mother Linda Crabtree, whose eventing career really started to take off last year. After winning his Young Event Horse qualifier at Cedar Ridge and placing 10th in the 2011 5-year-old YEH Championships at Fair Hill, Katie started the 2012 season with Samson at training level. He won two of his three training starts, placing third in the other. “After the Young Horse Championships, I started really pushing it,” Katie said. “As a 5-year-old running the trainings, he was so successful and had such a willingness around the course. He started to get that eventing horse feel of looking for the next jump. Before that, he was a good boy and a nice mover and jumper, but then he started to realize he liked it. That’s when I thought I had everything in the making; I had the jump and dressage, and now I have the attitude.”
After Samson’s incredibly successful spring campaign at training level, Katie bumped him up to preliminary at Poplar Place in June. The pair qualified for the AECs at preliminary, where they finished 19th. “In the beginning as a 3- and 4-year-old, I had to push him a little bit more so he would have that fight in cross country,” Katie said. As we hit prelim (age 6), those issues started to dissolve and become less of a problem. He’s always had a say-yes attitude and been willing to do whatever I asked. He’s never been a dirty stopper or not liked ditches or water. Dressage has always come very easily to him. In show jumping, he’s always been great. The challenge was getting past his warmblood personality. A lot of the Thoroughbreds you compete against have that natural drive and fitness level. We have to create that with him and get him extra fit.”
San City shows off his great canter. Photo by Aly Ratazzi of Rather Be Riding Photography.
After the AECs, Katie handed the ride over to Julie Richards, as she was expecting another child. Julie’s first outing on Samson was the CIC1* at Poplar Place last September, which Samson won. The pair then tackled the intermediate at Chattahoochee Hills, where they placed third. Julie and Samson wrapped up his very successful season back at Poplar Place, where they won the intermediate. Now Katie is preparing to take the ride back this year. Samson will spend three months this spring working on his dressage with Caroline Roffman before his first start of the season at Full Gallop in June. Katie plans to move Samson back up to intermediate at River Glen in August and tackle the CIC1* at Poplar Place in September. The pair will round out their 2013 season at the Hagyard Midsouth 3-Day Team Challenge CCI1* in October.
“The thing I love most about him is his say-yes attitude,” Katie said. “I’ve sat on a lot of horses and I’ve brought a lot of horses up through the levels. His willingness to do whatever I ask him to and never back down at a challenge makes him an incredibly easy ride. Even as a 4-year-old, I ran him through a little prelim coffin ditch with multiple questions. His ability to handle it and figure it out as a 4 year old was really impressive. I had my upper-level mare going at that time, and he was sitting on his hind end and setting up for the corner, whereas my mare would fly around the corner. He has this natural ability to set himself up. He’s always been that way. So that on top of the attitude makes my job a lot easier, and I always know that no matter the challenge, he’s going to go head first.”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1n-pjc4kw
San City and Julie Richards at Poplar Place
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Samson passes his trademark personality and talent on to his babies, all of which Katie describes as “little saints who are so easy to break.” One of his 3-year-old fillies is being aimed at the Young Event Horse Championships for next year. Katie has two of his babies that were both Dressage Sport Horse Breeding Region 3 Champions in hand — just like their dad. “It’s fun because he’s so diverse as a sire,” Katie said. “We had a hunter person almost buy him as a 5-year-old. He’s been so successful in the dressage ring and so successful in the event world. The hunter people around Caroline’s barn always oo and ah over him. A lot of his foals could be successful in any discipline.” Katie hopes this is just the beginning of a wonderful partnership with Samson. “I hope he’ll take me as far as I want to go,” Katie said. “I hope he’s with me for a long time to make all my dreams come true.”
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Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Jessica Phoenix and A Little Romance, a 7-year-old Trakehner mare who won the Ontario Eventing Championships at preliminary last fall and is moving up to intermediate this season. The mare also competed in the indoor eventing at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, where she placed third overall. Gail Rogers, who owns the Thoroughbred stallion A Fine Romance, sire of A Little Romance and many other talented event horses — including Selena O’Hanlon’s A First Romance — tipped me about this talented youngster. Thanks for the tip, Gail!
