We had a great day and a great finish to our Florida season! Rosa was
amazing again today. I cannot put into words how proud I am of my little mare! She is was the youngest horse in a very competitive field of 19 horses in the
International CDI Intermediare 1.
Rosa tried her heard out for me once again! We had a little mistake in
our first canter pirouette , which is fine because it is only a question of
strength. We finished fourth again today and I could not be happier!
It was so nice to have some of Rosa's and my fan club here cheering us on. I
am so lucky to have such amazing people around me who believe in me and give me so
much confidence! I could not do anything I do without my amazing supporters and
friends! I also have to thank Kymmy and Gracia for being so unbelievably helpful and supportive! Those two girls
have been working unbelievably hard the last few months and I am very lucky to
have both of them, they always have my back!
Kymmy also rode a very nice PSG today and scored 63.4%!! She and Markie are
improving with every test.
Our fun time in Florida is now over and we are starting our journey home to Pennsylvania in the
morning.
I could not be happier with how Rosa performed today at the Global Dressage Festival! We were first on in the International Prix St George. It was the most competitive class Rosa and I have
competed in so far. Rosa was the youngest horse in the class. I
could not have asked more of her; now we just have to work on developing her strength, and that
will come with time.
Kymmy and Markie
Kymmy and Markie were in the the National Prix St George today and they
had a very nice test.
The Rosa Cha Fan Club including Syndicate Member Anne Laver
Coaching from Michael Barisone
Sara Reese with Rosa
Ringside with Michael Barisone
I also rode Camilla VanLiew's Fortissimo B (pictured below) in First Level and he was super. We won the
class with 78% and scored 10 for the walk. This is an amazing young
horse!
Fortissimo B
Camilla VanLiew, owner, with Gracia, grazing Fortissimo
To refresh, I am one of many owners of Neville and Trading Aces –
each horse has a syndicate of ten owners. Neville was owned by Boyd and
syndicated in late 2011 (the same time an overlapping syndicate bought
Otis Barbotiere, Boyd’s 2012 Olympic mount). A third syndicate bought
Trading Aces (aka "Oscar”) in the fall of 2012. The next planned stop on
the journey for Neville and Oscar is Rolex.
I was lucky enough to get to Aiken a few weeks ago to see all of Boyd’s
horses in training (and to do a little horse shopping). Both Neville
and Oscar are looking good and training up well. Although both were
scheduled to train with David O’Connor in Aiken (February 12-14) as part
of the High Performance program, Neville came up a little stiff after
running an Intermediate course at Pine Top the prior Friday. So Boyd
thought it best to rest him for a couple of days after the event. Many
of the syndicate members got to watch Boyd train Oscar over three days
with David O’Connor.
Here at Windurra Eventing in Aiken, we are proud to announce the addition of two new outstanding workers/students to our crew:
Name: Sawyer "The Cannuck" Gilker
Age: 17
Hometown: Quebec, Canada
Horse: Fine Art, aka "Bug"
Sawyer is the youngest member of the team. She is a very talented rider with a great work ethic. I'm very excited to have her working with us as she brings an awesome attitude, determination and focus along with 98 pounds of fury.
Name: Michael "Pendo" Pendleton
Age: 19
Hometown: VA
Horse: Ululu aka "Lulu"
Mike is a wonderful young lad also fueled by a fantastic personality for this job. He is partnered up with an extremely talented mare who could possibly take him to greatness.
We went to the Wellington Classic this weekend and I had di
Solitaire, owned by Ann and Mike Laver, in first level and the Markel Young Horse Qualifier for 5-year-olds. I was really hoping to better his score from
last time because he was a little green and finished 7th or so. On
Saturday he won first level with 74% and on Sunday he did the qualifier; the
judges loved him and he scored a 83 which is the highest score any 5-year-old
has gotten so far this year.
Benefactor is still in the lead, and this puts Sully
about 4th when you average their scores with the last show. I’m
hoping to get another high score at Virginia
in a few weeks so the 77 from White Fences will be a drop score, and we can get
his average up.
Benefactor
Benny, owned by Melinda Walton and Larry Smith, won on
Saturday with 73% at First Level and won another first level with 76% on
Sunday. Since he’s in the lead in the Young Horses I didn’t show him in that
class; we will do the selection trial in June, for the World Breeders Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany.
Likely Story
I also had Likely Story, owned by Laurie Cameron, in Second
level; she was a little nervous and green, but she’s a good little mare and I’m
happy with her progress.
Monte Carlo - FOR SALE
I also rode Monte
Carlo, a ten-year-old sale horse owned by Ellie Ball,
in 3rd level test Three. It’s kind of a hard test with the flying changes and
he’s great. He’s such a great amateur horse; you could ride him in the circus
and he’d be fine! He was 2nd at Third level on Saturday and won on
Sunday.
Gracia
Gracia rode Colin for the first time, owned by Ann Laver;
Ann and Mike are so nice to let Gracia, who’s a Young Rider, have the
opportunity to ride him. I’m really excited because it’s a good match and I
think that can do great things together. She won on Friday and was second on
Saturday in her first time at 3rd level. That’s huge because there
was a lot of atmosphere and it’s a tough test.
Kymmy
Kymmy rode Hot Date, her young horse, and was second to
Sully on Saturday in First Level with 69% and second to Benny on Sunday with a
66%.
This week is
my biggest week in Florida because we have the Global Dressage Festival CDI with Rosa; I’m really excited because a few of her owners and
fans are going to be there. I’ll also
be riding Fortissimo in the first level and Kymmy’s riding Wiedermark in the
National PSG.
I’m also looking forward to it because Rosa has been going so
well. It’s going to be a huge atmosphere, which I hope will work well for Rosa - hopefully I'm not jinxing myself by saying that! It’s a little like it would be in Europe,
with a lot of people and a lot of competition. We’ve improved even more since
the last CDI; I work with Michael Barisone every day and she’s getting better
and better.
The jog is on Thursday - hopefully this will be a little quieter than our last jog - and she’s doing the PSG on Friday and the
I-1 on Saturday. Then we’ll load up and head home on Sunday. I’m also looking
forward to getting back home!
Associated Press writer, Eddie Pells, recently was awarded two awards for his excellence in journalism. One of his entries, the story he produced on Boyd and Neville's journey, was internationally recognized by the AP for top story of the year. Excerpts from the press release are below, and your can read the full article HERE!
"National writer Eddie Pells garnered two awards in the annual
writing contest for AP staffers judged by Associated Press Sports
Editors at their winter meeting. "
"Pells won the Grimsley Award for outstanding body of work and also
took best feature honors with a story on equestrian rider Boyd Martin,
his horse Neville Bardors and their dreams of the London Olympics."
"His entry on Boyd Martin, a horseman who moved from Australia to
the U.S. to further his Olympic dream, should be made into movie; it was
that touching."
To revisit his story, you can read it in it's entirety HERE.
We're humbled that Boyd and Neville's story provided the inspiration for Eddie's work. Congratulations Eddie and thank you for honoring Boyd and Neville!
