Maryland Horse Trials

The Maryland Horse Trials is a great event to prime the horses for the international CIC's and CCI's that are coming up, and to get the training and sales horses out for a run to see how they've come along. This past weekend I competed eight horses on Saturday, four at intermediate, one at prelim and four at training level, and two prelim horses on Sunday.

It was great to be riding Remington, Shatzi and Benwald who are all gearing up for the CCI***-W at Wit's End in Canada next month. Remi went his best ever, winning the OI-A with 34.5. Benwald came a creditable eighth in the same division, his first run since The Fork in April, where he pulled both front shoes on cross-country. He was foot sore after that and we've been playing around with his shoeing and seem to have him back on track.

Shatzi W scored 36.2 to finish sixth in OI-B. I also finished 13th on Select, a catch-ride who belongs to the organizer of the event. She was too busy to ride him and he just flew around for me.

In training level I rode an exciting mare called Sancerre who belongs to Sandra Ranke, a fashion designer for the catwalks of New York City. Sancerre is a gorgeous Dutch/French cross mare who placed second with a 33.7 in her first run at training level.

The rest of the day was spent with three catch-rides that I had never sat on before. Two of them, Zack and Wrandels, belong to my friend Betty Adams, who is ill with shingles right now, so I hopped aboard and spun them around for her. The other horse is Clover Sky, an Irish horse that's just getting established at training level and gave me a great go this weekend.

On Sunday I brought Minotaure du Passoir out for his first run since the Bromont three-day event in Canada and he placed fourth in preliminary A with 39. In Prelim B I rode Double Exposure, a new horse that's in for training and sale. He's a classy seven-year-old Thoroughbred and finished fourth as well on 39.6.

For complete results click here.

Now Silva and I are on vacation for a few days, living it up in Las Vegas, doing a bit of gambling and catching some entertainment before we get back to work on Thursday.

-Boyd

The Fork CIC***

The Boyd Martin Fan Club

Photos by Amber Heintzberger

It was a glorious day for champagne show jumping at The Fork in beautiful North Carolina. Minotaure du Passoir held on to his lead in preliminary with a clear round. There were a lot of rails down in the class and it was a big, technical course. I switched to a hackamore for today and it kept him nicely balanced and better to the fences. After this big win it puts him into the lead on the Nutrena/USEA preliminary leaderboard for 2009. I’d like to move him up to intermediate eventually but his owner, Amy Lindgren, has her sights set on the CCI* at
Bromont in Quebec this summer, so that is our goal for now.

Shatzi (pictured right) had a fantastic show jumping round in the intermediate, clear and in the time. Mark Donovan built a really testing course, but she handled it well and moved up a couple of places to finish second. I’m planning to take her to the two-star at the next event at Fair Hill, in a couple of weeks, and then on to the CCI** at Jersey Fresh in May. She’s feeling better and better on cross-country; I didn’t push her flat-out yesterday, I just kept a nice rhythm; I’m saving that for the two-star.

In the three-star Benwald, (left), owned by Anne Hennessey, had a rough round in cross-country, losing both of his front shoes. He got pretty wound up and ran out at a corner, and with his missing shoes he was jumping quite poorly, but he had a respectable round in the show jumping today. He’s getting better in that phase. It was a bit of a disappointment overall this weekend, so I think we’re going to have to rethink his spring three-day plans and try to get him more established, then aim for the two-star at Bromont in June instead of Jersey Fresh in May.

Ron and Densey Juvonen’s Remington XXV (pictured left) was very impressive this weekend. He had a reasonable dressage, with a couple of small errors, then on cross-country he went all the direct routes . It was his first three-star so I was cautious about going too fast, I just wanted to ride accurately, and I probably could have gone a little faster.

He jumped really well today. Since he jumped poorly at Southern Pines a couple of weeks ago I have been working quite hard over the past two weeks on his show jumping, and Phillip changed the way I ride him a bit, getting him more uphill, and he came up with a clear round today.

I was also proud of my student, Molly Rosin, who moved out from California and has been training with me for the past year. She and her horse Charly had a brilliant round in the advanced – he’s a great little horse and they are aiming for Bromont. She rode very well this weekend.

-Boyd

Minotaure du Passoir Takes the Early Lead at The Fork

Boyd is riding four horses this weekend at The Fork CIC*** and horse trials in Norwood, NC. Minotaure du Passoir (pictured, photo by Amber Heintzberger) is off to a great start, leading his division of preliminary with 31.9. Shatzi W scored 33.8 to stand in second place in Intermediate-B. In the CIC*** Remington XXV is sitting 18th and Benwald is tied for 31st out of 60 starters. Yesterday torrential rains turned the venue into a sea of mud but strong winds dried things out today and the footing is in good shape heading into tomorrow's cross-country. For complete results visit this link.

Southern Pines

Photos courtesy of Kat Netzler/The Chronicle of the Horse and Sam Poole

This past weekend wrapped up our winter eventing season down south with the Southern Pines II horse trials in North Carolina. I rode three horses in the advanced: my usual rides, Benwald and Remington, and a catch-ride called Isabella II, (pictured below right, photo courtesy of Kat Netzler/The Chronicle of the Horse) who is usually ridden by Susie Beale but Susie was undergoing knee surgery, so I was fortunate to get the ride this weekend to keep her going, since Susie is planning to take the mare to Kentucky.

Remi won the dressage and Isabella was third. Benwald had a fantastic test but the judge was a little unjust, I thought; I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind some of the scores. He got 4's on the medium to extended trot and the horse didn't do anything wrong - for a four I'd think he's be tossing his head or really acting up. He was tied for seventeenth after dressage.

It was quite unusual to go eventing with no rain, considering the past couple of events, but conditions were perfect this weekend. The cross-country courses were tough and beautiful, probably the toughest Remi has seen so far. I didn't go flat-out with any of the horses, I just gave them good comfortable rides. It was a good preparation for Remi and Benwald, who are both doing the three-star at New Jersey in May.

In the show jumping Benwald had one rail but jumped around well, finishing seventh overall. Remi has been jumping well, but he lost his concentration and had three rails down, also finishing seventh in his divsion. Isabella was fifth in the same division with the round of the day; she was amazing, just really turned herself inside out to get over all the fences without touching a rail.

Belmont II won the intermediate B division with a 37.3. I had hardly sat on him since Fair Hill last fall. His owner Kate Dichey has been doing the training on him and brought him down in time for me to ride him the day before the event. She's done a fantastic job and he won quite comfortably.

Shatzi, my homebred mare, is just going intermediate and it was a real sizable test for her. It confirmed to me that she is a four-star horse in the making, but in the end she had a heart-breaking rail that cost her second place, to finish third overall with 49.3.

Minotaure du Passoir finished second overall in the prelim with an outstanding effort and a score of 36.9. In training I rode Vidalia, who has been placing consistently at the top at this level and finished fourth with a 29.

For complete final results click here.

Also during this event was a fantastic retirement ceremony for Will Faudree's partner Antigua. They had a pretty moving ceremony for him. He's been a wonderful horse for Will, and I've known Antigua since he was competing in Australia. He's been phenomenal and to watch Will, who's a friend of mine, retire his horse was very moving.

I'm driving the horses I rode at Southern Pines back to Pennsylvania, then heading right back to Aiken for another truckload. Next weekend I'm teaching a clinic in Maryland with Kate Chadderton, and then in April I'm riding a bunch of horses at The Fork CIC in Norwood, North Carolina.

-Boyd

Victory in Virginia!

Complete results are available here

Minotaure du Passoir finished the year in glorious fashion, winning Open Preliminary B on 28.8. He had one rail down but we were still more than a full point ahead of second place. He had the rail at fence four, where he lost his focus over the oxer coming into the triple combination. All the show jumping took place in the coliseum, and it was quite a tricky course for a young horse, but after fence four I got his attention and he jumped really well. He's just had five events since he had colic surgery earlier this year and is in really good form. Out of those five he had three wins, a second and a third.

Benwald, (pictured right, Amber Heintzberger photo), had a clear round under pressure to finish in second place in the Open Intermediate B division (35.10), adding just one time fault to his dressage score. I've been working real hard on his show jumping with Phillip and he's never been better. I'm trying to stay over back on top in the air because he wants to get a little hollow; it's a little more forward than I'm used to riding in the landing, encouraging him to kick out in the back - he usually has rails down behind, and this has helped with that. I feel that riding him like that also keeps him more relaxed and a bit softer in the neck. It's quite a finish for the year; his plan now is to have a rest until we go to Aiken in January.

Also in intermediate I had a clean round on Tantibes under the watchful eye of the Technical Delegate, after a disastrous cross-country yesterday. I talked to his owner again and we agreed that he is a fantastic jumper but finds cross-country way too exciting. I think he has a promising future in show jumping.

Pepper, owned by Nina Gardner, was competing in only her second prelim and had one rail down to finish eighth (45.5). She's a Thoroughbred/French cross and is only five; she's still developing and in time I think she'll get better and more confirmed at prelim.

In the training division Vidalia, also owned by Nina Gardner, finished on her cross-country score of 30. She had a great cross-country; last year I struggled with her at the water - she stopped and I fell off a few times. She spent some time fox hunting with Nancy Miller and came back a lot braver. She has been faultless on cross-country since then.

-Boyd

Dressage Day at the AEC

A message from Boyd:

"I'm here at my second AEC and it's bigger and better than last year. Remington did a fantastic dressage test - the best I've had on him. He showed enthusiasm and excitement all in a controlled test, so I was over the moon with him. He scored 34.1 which left us tied for seventh, not too far off the lead.

"The Intermediate Championships cross-country course looks tough and challenging but after a great run at the Richland CIC**, I know he's up to it.

"In the Advanced, Benwald did really well in the torrential rain. It was a bit of a waste of time him washing today: by the time I got through the test he was covered in the footing from the arena. I was happy enough with the quality of the test, but he fumbled both lead changes. That was a shame, because he's been doing them well at home.

"The Advanced Championship cross-country is a big call for Benwald, but he also ran well around Richland Park in the advanced division."

Note: Due to ongoing rain at the AEC, the event organizers have decided to alter the schedule: show jumping will now take place on Saturday afternoon while cross-country has been postponed until Sunday.

Photo of Boyd riding Benwald copyright Amber Heintzberger