Thursday, January 5, 2012

Event Horses Arrive in Paradise

The Windurra event horses just managed to avoid the freezing weather that arrived in Pennsylvania yesterday. We have officially relocated for the winter to 'horse heaven' down here in Aiken, SC. We arrived at the beautiful Bridle Creek Farm to be blown away by the improvements in the facilities over the past few years.

Farm owner Ilene Boorman has transformed her farm into the ultimate event horse training facility. Since last year, she has added a huge jumping ring with rubber footing, eight more post and rail paddocks, mirrors for the dressage ring and a cross-country training course built by Eric Bull from ETB Construction.


Eric has built a water jump (that can be ridden in 6 different lines), a bank complex (that can be ridden in 9 different lines) ditches, adjustable trakehners and a sunken road (that can be ridden in 5 different ways). He has also placed a huge arrangement of portables that can be moved
around in all sorts of ways.
The dressage and jumping ring has been carefully constructed by a good mate of mine, Brian Riedmuller [301-370-5365]. Brian looks to be the ring construction specialist down here in Aiken, working on a few different farms.

I have a great crew of staff helping with the event horses here, led by 2011 USEA Groom of the Year Lindsey Taylor, assistant rider Caitlin Silliman, rising star Sara Gumbiner and working students Emily Van Gemeren and Erin Lehman. I must say it is a lot easier to keep the farm neat and tidy since we are not sharing the facility with Silva and the dressage queens!
All of the horses look in top nick, and are slowly getting fit for the eventing to begin in February.

I am open for business, teaching jumping lessons here in the afternoon. Lessons are $100, which includes the facility fee for the farm. So if you are in Aiken and need a hand, text me on 610-806-2381 to work out a time.

-Boyd

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

They Shipped to Aiken in Style!!

Stadium International Trucks, an official US distributor of THEAULT Horse Boxes, is proud to support Boyd and Silvia Martin!
Boyd and Silva are thrilled to be driving their new THEAULT Morpheus, which provides safe, compact and comfortable transportation for 2 horses with a cabin that can be conformed to either day or night living. Horses travel rear facing in the Morpheus which has proven to be less stressful and they love the convenience of a hauling vehicle which doesn't require daily hook up. They find the interior to be very luxurious and every amenity has been very well thought out. They viewed the horses on the monitor as they shipped down to Aiken & the horses shipped perfectly. The cab chasis is so powerful that they were able to hook up their 2 horse trailer to the back and haul 4 from Cochranville to Aiken in style!!

Established in 1924 by Emile Theault in the Normandy town of Avranches, the company began life as a constructor of horse drawn carriages, livestock carriers and delivery trucks. With Normandy being in the heart of France's Horse country, Theault's focus turned to Horse transportation and in the 1950's the company chose to specialize entirely in this field. 
In 1961 THEAULT produced the first ever compact 2-stall rear-facing horse van, a design template for which has influenced many other aspiring manufacturers. With an evolving reputation for innovation and quality, THEAULT quickly secured their place as pioneers in the design and development of horse vans, which is seen today in THEAULT's international distribution throughout the World.

In 1998 THEAULT produced the first rear facing aluminum van, providing a more economical and durable vehicle with improvements such as sliding rail partitions, quick release breast bars and crash tested bulkheads. This quality and attention to detail has helped capture business from Olympic riders, Champion racehorse trainers, professional horse transporters, Police forces and even Armies throughout the world. In 2010, THEAULT built a fleet of ten 9-stall trucks for Dubai's magnificent Meydan project! 
Stadium International Trucks, an official distributor of THEAULT vans in the USA, has been in business for over 28 years selling International, Hino, Mitsubishi and Ottawa Trucks. Stadium's desire to continue their product line growth resulted in the acquisition of a Theault franchise in 2011, and they are excited to bring THEAULT's unrivaled history of high quality and safety conscious horse transportation to the United States. 

For more information on THEAULT vans, please visit their website.