Plantation Field April 2012

It was fantastic to be eventing back in PA for the first time this year. I took my group of young, up and coming horses out to Plantation Field over the weekend; I rode nine, Caitlin Silliman rode three and Sarah Gumbiner rode one. It was an assortment of horses from novice right up to prelim level.

I was very excited to ride a new horse, Trading Aces, (pictured above and at top - thanks to Charish Campbell for providing photos) for the first time. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be riding one of the most exciting and classy young advanced horses in the country at the moment! I used this event to get to know “Oscar” better and give him a bit of a cross-country school and he definitely lived up to all my expectations. He just oozes class.

I’m also excited to be working with the American Eventing Owners Task Force: they are helping me finalize a syndicate agreement to attract ten new owners to partner up and get behind this horse. I think he has a fantastic future in eventing.

The other standout performance this weekend was Katie Walker’s Brewster, who finished 2^nd in TH – this gelding is going from strength to strength and looking very promising. Katie and Cuyler were in full force at their home event, also cheering on their new English horse Wakefield.

I also used this event as a little bit of a recovery event for Crackerjack and Waranga W after having a spill at their last event I was very happy to see each of them travel extremely well around Denis Glaccum’s cross-country course.

I’d also like to send out my thoughts and condolences to Amy Tryon’s friends and family. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks at the training camp in 2010 at Chattahoochee Hills where I got to know Amy better. Her passing is a sad time for the eventing community.

-Boyd

Plantation Field Horse Trials

April 13-15, 2012

Boyd Riding:

Open Prelim

Merging, (pictured above) owned by Laurie Cameron – 6^th place

Crackerjack, owned by Colin Davidson and Lucy Boynton – 7th place

Trading Aces, Owned by the Trading Aces Syndicate, LLC – 8th place

Prelim Horse

Steady Eddie, owned by Gretchen & George Wintersteen, Denise Lahey & Pierre Colin, Boyd & Silva Martin – 4th place

New Cadet, (pictured above), owned by Mrs. Anne Hennessey -- 6^th place

Training Horse

Brewster, owned by Katie and Cuyler Walker – 2nd

Wakefield, owned by Katie and Cuyler Walker – 8th

Novice Horse

Division A: HH Lancaster, owned by Ron & Densey Juvonen and Justina & Art Dodge -- 16th

Division B: Waranga W, (pictured below), owned by Amy Lindgren and Boyd and Silva Martin - 3rd

Caitlin Riding:

Open Training

Bacardi, owned by Sandy Issler - 11^th place

Ballyneety, owned by George and Gretchen Wintersteen -- 12^th place

Novice

SBF Cortez, owned by Denise Lahey and Pierre Colin, 8th place

Sarah Riding:

Open Training

Polaris, owned by Great Road Farm – 2^nd place

Katie and Cuyler Walker Have Two Horses for Boyd to Ride

Drummond, owned by Katie and Cuyler Walker. Photo copyright Red Horse Media

I’m very proud and excited to say that I have two exciting new young horses in training thanks to my new supporters Katie and Cuyler Walker. The Walker family has had a huge history and tradition here in the Cheshire Hunt Country, with relations to the very famous foxhunting legend, Mrs. Hannum.

Drummond was hand-picked out of a field in Canada by Katie and her foxhunting trainer Dave Leinhauser. Drummond is a magnificent-looking 5-year-old gelding who has the movement of a dressage horse and a very bold jumping technique. Dave did a full season hunting him last year to give him a wonderful start to his career and I was lucky enough to hunt Drummond late last year, where he impressed me immensely. Thanks to his foxhunting background Drummond now has successfully competed around a couple of training horse trials with a very good start.

Brewster, also owned by Katie and Cuyler Walker. Photo Copyright Amy K. Dragoo

The second horse the Walkers purchased is Brewster, a brilliant-looking 4-year-old bred by none other than Bruce Davidson. This horse is about 1/16th Irish Sport Horse and is closely related to one of Bruce’s most famous eventers, Eagle Lion. Dave Leinhauser also got this young horse started over the winter, where Brewster got his education in the hills of Unionville, PA. Brewster has had a couple of starts this year and the horse has looked very impressive at the novice horse trials.

Not only do Katie and Cuyler own these promising young horses, they also are the land owners in Unionville where the Plantation Field CIC will run in September. Year by year this event is getting bigger and better. Without question this year’s Plantation CIC will go beyond last year’s efforts with the inclusion of a world-class jumping and dressage stadium which has magnificent, prepared wax-coated footing kindly donated by members of the community. They're also aerovating the gallops so the cross-country footing will be in top-notch shape.

This year’s event will also go far beyond just the international horse trials with a huge trade fair, a parade of the Cheshire foxhounds, and the infamous cocktail party at the Walkers’ residence in Unionville before the event starts. I urge anyone who has a horse eligible to compete there to get their entry in, because this could be the most exciting event of the year. Any spectators or fans of eventing, buy your tickets for the luncheon now, so you can sit back in the VIP tent – or even better, become a sponsor - and enjoy the event of events!

-Boyd

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Click here to see Amy Dragoo's photos from the June, 2011 horse trials at Plantation Field