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| Shamwari 4 into the Jersey Shore with Phillip Dutton |
Things are going great
at Jersey Fresh. Yesterday Shamwari was second
after dressage with Phillip Dutton in the irons and Otis was third with Boyd
riding. Silva’s recap:
We were happy with Otis and I thought Boyd did a great job
considering he has a broken leg. We still have to get Otis steadier in the
connection and there are little things to improve, but overall he did a really
good test.
Shamwari was amazing, once again Phillip’s only ridden him a
couple of times before the event and again there are little things that could
be better, but especially for Phillip to just get on and do it, it was a great
test. So now it’s time for Boyd to get to know him better; we know he can get a
really good score in the test, and we’re both very confident in their future
together.
My students have had a good weekend so far. Erin Sylvester
actually had the best test she’s ridden; she had a mistake in the test and otherwise
I thought they’d have been in the 40’s for sure. I’m really excited for her
because the horse obviously had some issues in the dressage before – he gets
tense in places and stuff like that. Previously at Rolex he had a lot of
tension, but this year they were much better; she has a great partnership with
the horse and this was definitely his best test.
Caitlin had really great trot work and the walk was good, it
could be better. She had some mistakes in the canter, so I’m guessing she got
really excellent scores in the trot to get her overall score. She had too many
changes in the canter which was unfortunate because I think the judges wanted
to give her better marks than they could with the mistakes, but I’m happy with
her ride.
This was Ryan Wood’s horse Fernhill Classic’s first
three-star and I was happy with how he went for the first time at this level.
It’s not an easy test and for Ryan to go in and do so well is amazing. We’ll be
working together closely for the next few months and I think we can expect big
things from this horse; it’s a fancy horse and just has to get confirmed at
this level.
Silva’s mom is
visiting from Germany and
flies home tomorrow; she accompanied her to Jersey
Fresh yesterday. Also Silva is planning to go to Luhmuehlen when Boyd competes
there in June.
Boyd’s take on the
weekend so far:
I’m very happy with Shamwari and Otis, they’re both coming
into form heading into Luhmuehlen; after watching Badminton I think Luhmuhlen
will be very competitive, so both horses have to be firing from both cylinders.
Both of them scored below 45 in dressage, which is a must on the international
stage; both are proven cross-country competitors and we’ll be working on their
show jumping in the coming weeks.
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| Shamwari |
We’re at six weeks now, since the break, and my physio keeps
reminding me it takes 6-8 weeks for bones to knit, so the discomfort should be
getting less and less. In dressage it doesn’t really affect me now but in the
jumping and cross-country it’s still very uncomfortable and painful - but it’s
going to get better and better. I’m not galloping at all yet but hope to start
next week; I’m very fortunate that I’ve got a good crew at the moment doing an
excellent job on the horses’ fitness.
I do two hours of physio 3x/week with a really, really
amazing physio, Chris Dougherty; he’s fast becoming an expert in the physical
demands of three-day eventing! The majority of the time it’s on strengthening
my ankle, knee and fracture site on my right leg, and he also puts me through
many rigorous core strengthening exercises.
The syndicate members for my top horses, and I, have been
very thankful for Phillip for competing Oscar, Otis and Shammie at The Fork,
Rolex and Jersey . He’s a wonderful horseman
and trainer and has improved all of these horses whilst I’ve been out of
action. I also must take my hat off to Caitlin Silliman, who’s done pretty much
all the dressage work on them since Silva and I’ve been sidelined. Again, I’ve had a
great group of staff that have all chipped in during these frustrating times.
In the show jumping today Otis went in and jumped quite well
and I stayed in balance with him. He’s a very good jumper. The biggest challenge
for me right now is that I usually try to jump 400 jumps every week; a lot of riding
is about feel and I haven’t got my feel back completely, I’ve only jumped two
or three times since I was injured at Southern Pines and it’s been over small
fences, so today was a real step up.
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| Erin Sylvester |
My upper level girls Erin, Caitlin and Lillian all rode well this weekend;
unfortunately poor ole Lil broke her wing on FYI this morning in the 2* - she
has a broken collarbone and punctured lung. Caitlin and Erin both rode
beautifully in the CIC3* after a disappointing Rolex, with Erin bringing home second place just ahead of Shamwari 4.
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| Caitlin Silliman |
I had all the girls do a cross-country schooling this week
at our farm and schooled corners and narrows and keyholes and all the tricky
parts; we’ll be focusing on that some more in the next month and also sharpening
up our show jumping.
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| Caitlin and Hoku |
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