"Big Mike" Barisone Jets in for Olympic Preparations

I would like to thank members of the Otis Barbotiere Syndicate who rallied together to send Michael Barisone over to England for a second time.  "Big Mike" trains both Silva and me in the art of dressage back home in the States.

He was here for four days working with me on all my horses here in the Olympic training camp.  The first two days he spent working on the horses' engagement and connection, then on days three and four, we started performing the four-star test that will be ridden at the Games.

Otis with groom Lindsey Taylor

Linda Zang is also over here, and judged the test.  We then did a video review with Michael and Linda, looking at parts of the test that can be improved.  All in all, the horses are going well.  The preparation is looking good for the big one in a couple of weeks.

Boyd

Announcing the Neville Bardos Syndicate

Photo courtesy Kat Netzler for The Chronicle of the Horse

Photos Copyright Amber Heintzberger and not for use without permission


Boyd and Silva Martin
Windurra USA LLC
248 Hood Road
West Grove, PA 19390
Silva 610-806-2721
Boyd 610-806-2381
boydmartin007@hotmail.com
slv.martin1@gmail.com

Neville Bardos Syndicate

At the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos were the highest placed individual horse and rider combination representing the United States. It is not every day that a horse as talented and full of promise as Neville Bardos comes along and we would like to extend to you the opportunity to join Neville on his exciting journey to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Neville is currently ranked tenth in the world; by joining the Neville Bardos Syndicate you will play a vital role in the continued development of this talented horse’s abilities at the height of his competitive career.

A tough and talented individual, Neville Bardos was purchased off the racetrack as a youngster in Australia and quickly moved up the ranks of three-day eventing. In the US he has proved himself again and again, winning the 2008 Carimati Cup for highest placed foreign rider, in 2009 winning the Fair Hill International CCI3* and in 2010 earning a place on the US team at the World Equestrian Games.

Currently 11 years old, he will be in his prime at age 13 for the 2012 Olympic Games. Next year’s focus will be to improve his dressage and competing at one four-star event, either at Kentucky or Burghley.

As part of the US team at the WEG Neville Bardos has been fully vetted several times over by an FEI Veterinary Panel and is sound and in good health. Anyone is welcome to stop by the farm and meet Neville and watch either of us working with him.

Please click on the link below for the syndication agreement. As with every plan things can change but it's our starting point. We are humbled and appreciative of your support. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,

Boyd and Silva Martin

For more information about Neville Bardos click here

For the Syndicate Agreement click here

See Neville in action at the 2010 WEG:

Personal Best for Neville at World Equestrian Games

Today Boyd and Neville cantered into the stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park and under tremendous pressure gave the performance of their careers so far. With all eyes focused on them they posted a double clear show jumping round in the final phase of the Three-Day Eventing Championships at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The first of the Americans to enter the arena, they were the ones the home crowd had been waiting for and the entire stadium shook with thunderous applause as horse and rider crossed the finish line, Boyd punching the air triumphantly.
Buck and Reggie also cantered around in good form, but Phillip and Woodburn had the bad luck to bring a rail down in the final line, adding four faults to the team score. When Mandiba refused the gate jump and then knocked it down when he did jump it, the US team was solidly out of the medals in fourth place; only the unlikely occurrence of William Fox-Pitt leveling the course would have opened the door for the Americans to make the top three again, and he wasn’t about to let that happen! So the Brits took the gold, a young and very excited Canadian team took silver, and New Zealand made the long trip to the USA worthwhile by taking home the bronze.

Team USA: L-R, Karen O'Connor, Boyd Martin, Buck Davidson and Phillip Dutton

Thrilled with his personal result and his first opportunity riding on a team, Boyd says, “Neville has outdone himself; this is his best four-star score of his career. We had a great weekend and it’s been a wonderful experience that I’ll never forget. As far as the team, things didn’t go our way but even though it’s disappointing, it’s not heartbreaking. Everyone rode their guts out to the best of their abilities and things just didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to.”

Boyd with Jane Beshear and KY Governor Steve Beshear

With the sun setting on the eventing championships Boyd and his family and friends will have a good party and then it’s back to work. Next weekend Boyd will compete a group of horses at the Maryland Horse Trials, including his WEG reserve horse Remington XXV, owned by Ron and Densey Juvonen, in the intermediate horse trials.

After heading back to the green pastures of Pennsylvania Neville will have a month of rest and relaxation while Boyd regroups and plans for the future. He says, “Neville’s still a young horse and has a lot ahead of him."

Double Clear Cross-Country at the World Equestrian Games!

Boyd and Neville took no prisoners as the trailblazers for the US Eventing team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games today. They galloped around all the direct routes clear and in the time, laying down a good foundation for the team - and Boyd even gave Neville a big hug after he cleared that giant water complex - but luckily didn't fall on his head! Karen, Phillip and Becky posted clear rounds as well, though Buck had an unfortunate run-out at the sunken road - fortunately the team could drop one score and since it was a rough day for many competitors, with three solid rounds team USA moved up to second position behind Great Britain and just ahead of Canada. Becky and Comet put in a textbook performance to stand in the silver medal position individually going into Sunday's show jumping.

After his ride, Boyd said, "Neville was full of life and ran very well today. It wasn't the smoothest round ever but he showed toughness and determination to go clear and in the time at our first WEG. It was good going out first because I could take the direct route to every fence. It was definitely a bigger course than I've jumped before!"

Boyd spoke with the US team's show jumping coach Katie Prudent to develop a game plan for the final phase of the event tomorrow. He plans to school Neville on the flat and give him a short jump school in the morning to loosen him up and get him balanced after galloping around today, and hopefully jump a clear round in the afternoon.

Commenting on the atmosphere of riding in front of the more than 50,000 spectators that packed the Kentucky Horse Park today, Boyd said, "Riding in front of literally tens of thousands of people yelling and screaming all around is something I've never experiences before. It was an intense experience."

Both Boyd and Silva's parents and other friends and family are visiting and he added, "Now we've got the Australians and Germans and Americans all together and we plan to have a good celebration tonight!"

-Amber Heintzberger

clear cross country!

Boyd and Neville clear and in the time on cross country - way to blaze the trail for team USA! Photos and commentary later today.

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Neville and Boyd in Dressage at the WEG

I was relatively happy with Neville’s performance in the dressage today. He warmed up beautifully in the preparations for the test; I also gave him a light ride at 7am and was quite happy with the way he went. Neville was relaxed in the warm-up

The cheering section

We went into the test and unfortunately when the US crowd applauded Neville got excited before the test. He was very, very tense and anxious but to his credit he went in and did a fairly good test.
His trot work was was a bit disappointing – tense – but he made up for it with beautiful canter work and scored a personal best in the four-star test with a 49.

We anticipated that he’d be tense so Oded and Captain Phillips told me to go in rising trot around the ring to keep his back soft; that seemed to work until the applause but I have to give him credit, he’s born and bred for racing and here he is at the WEG trying to be a dressage horse and finds it a bit tough.

-Boyd

American Eventing Championships and Final Outing for WEG Team Selection

Anne Hennessey's Summer Breeze relaxing in the stables

Summer Breeze had an exceptional result at the Novice Championship at the American Eventing Championships at Carl Bouckaert's farm in Chattahoochee Hills, GA – it was the toughest novice course she’s seen by far and she galloped around perfectly. She came out on Saturday and show jumped a brilliant round, much to the delight of her loving owner Anne Hennessey. After this I feel like she’s ready to move up, so I’ll be looking for a training level event to take her to at the end of the year.

The other main mare in my life, Ron and Densey Juvonen's Charla also had a brilliant weekend at the preliminary horse championship. She rocketed around the cross-country inside the time and show jumped her usual clear round, finishing fourth out of an astounding sixty-four entries. Again I think Charla has proved herself this year and wants to look at doing an intermediate some time in the near future.

Getting expert advice from Katie Prudent and Mark Phillips
while Andrea Beech puts the finishing touches on Neville Bardos

The two advanced boys, Remington XXV and Neville Bardos, were excused by the US Selectors from doing the cross-country. They did a mandatory gallop on Saturday morning under the watchful eyes of the selectors and vets. In Sunday’s show jumping our super coaching from Katie Prudent paid off, and we got a hand from Katie with a little warm-up before our rounds. She had them jump through a couple of little grids and some complicated exercises to wake them up and make them think.

Remington XXV

Remington jumped the best round of his life, pulling out a clear round inside the time.

Neville Bardos

The Bardos wasn’t too far off the pace and pulled a rail in the triple but I was pleased with the way they both jumped.

Relaxing with Mark Phillips and Henri Prudent after Neville's round

Today, Monday, my partner in crime Andrea Beech, (top class English working student/groom), and I have a big day of getting through the vet inspection before the team is announced on Tuesday. This consists of flexion tests, longeing on a tight circle and then enduring x-rays and ultrasounds to make sure the horses are in tip top shape.

-Boyd

Photos copyright Amber Heintzberger 2010 - not to be reproduced without permission. Email amberwriter@aol.com

Fourth Place for Neville at Rolex Kentucky CCI****, All 3 Horses in Top 12!

Neville Bardos placed 4th overall (51.8 penalties)

Bruce Davidson's Rock on Rose placed 11th overall (63.2 penalties)

Ron and Densey Juvonen's Remington XXV placed 12th overall (63.4)

It was a fabulous weekend for Boyd and his three horses at Rolex Kentucky! With more horses entered than any rider, Boyd posted three clear cross-country rounds and finished in the top twelve with all three horses. In spite of a packed stadium today, ominous storm clouds on the horizon and the pressure of the WEG selectors looking on, Boyd really pulled out all the stops and gave his horses the Rolex experience that each of them deserved.

-Amber Heintzberger

Photos Copyright Amber Heintzberger 2010. Not for reproduction without permission (amberwriter@aol.com)

Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Lead-Up

We’re down to the final week leading up to America’s biggest and best three-day event in Lexington, Kentucky. Somehow it looks like I’ve managed to get all three horses in peak condition.

Rock on Rose, (pictured at right), has moved back to Chesterland and I’ve been riding her under Bruce’s watchful eye; she seems very fit and happy in her work and I’m eager to get her down to KY. Bruce has opted just to have me gallop Lusty two times from The Fork to KY as we both feel she’s fighting fit and she’s such an athlete, we don’t want to over train her by galloping too much. Her dressage work I feel is consistently improving day by day; the trick with her is to actually ride her a couple times a day, morning and night, just for half an hour at a time. She’s one of these mares you can’t really drill to get the best out of her, you have to do it piece by piece.

Remington, (pictured at left, on the right), the only warmblood out of the trio, his main focus is the fitness work. I feel I’ve got him as fit as humanly possible: he’s been swimming twice a week and has got the hang of that and he’ll do three fast canter workouts up Nelson’s Hill in the three weeks leading up to Kentucky. It gives me great joy to compete Remington at Kentucky as he’s been the one horse that no one expected to do anything in his career – except for Densey Juvonen, his owner. It’s been a wonderful experience being involved in the journey of Remington’s eventing career. Ironically he was basically the first horse that an owner sent to me to train and compete when I arrived in America a couple of years ago and he’s the horse that was never meant to be, as he was originally imported as a dressage horse, tried his hand at a bit of foxhunting, failed a few pre-purchase exams when he was supposed to be sold, and lo and behold here we are about to tackle one of the greatest equestrian events in the world.

Neville (pictured above, on the left), is looking hot to trot: like Lusty I’ve been gently grinding away with the dressage work. He seems really fit and is galloping up Nelson’s Hill with ease at the moment. He is the only horse that I’m riding that has actually done a four-star before (a couple years ago he finished in ninth and I feel he’s way ahead of where he was then). He’s a failed race horse from Kembla Range racetrack south of Sydney, also ready to take on the big time.

Even though I’m the only one riding the horses at Kentucky it’s been a true team effort between my super groom Shannon Kinsley, my assistant riders Lillian Heard, Caitlin Silliman and Sarah Gumblier, the coaches/lovers Silva Martin and Phillip Dutton and Bruce Davidson (only Silva in the lover department!), blacksmith Dougie Neilson, and the veterinarians that have helped out along the way, Kevin Keane, Mary Griffin, Tom Reed and Mike Ross. Thanks also to our outstanding sponsors and last but not least, to the owners who are good enough to trust me with their most prized possessions and to train and compete their horses, Ron and Densey Juvonen and Bruce Davidson. Thanks also to the most important pieces of the puzzle, Lusty, Nev and Remi.

Kick on!

-Boyd