"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

Tornado Survival, then Showing Style and Class in the Trot Up.

It was a very unusual day here at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event. The Wednesday of this event is usually spent on fine tuning some of the dressage test, then presenting our horses for the first horse inspection. However, after an early morning ride at 6:45 that went very well, the Tornado warning sirens started screaming.
We were instructed to gather all of the horses down in the Alltech indoor stadium. This stadium is usually used for the reining horses, but today it was the bunker for around 55 horses, riders, and officials. We were held in there for about an hour and a half until the storm passed. The trot up started soon after that.

In the past, certain people have been slightly critical of my dress sense and taste in clothing for the trot-up, but this year I had plenty of help from top fashion gurus, and my get-up this year included a Dick Tracey hat, supplied by Jane Hottensen from "Folly" in Aiken; button-up dress shirt & slacks by Bill Thomas from "Bills Khakis" in PA; and Italian brown dress shoes borrowed from my Aiken roommate Nick Meyers
Not only did I look the part, Remington looked awesome at the trot up thanks to my new groom Lindsey Taylor. He also looks fit as a fiddle and in good spirits!

My dressage is on about 1:45 tomorrow. I think I will give Remia light ride in the morning to loosen him up. Looking to Saturday, the cross-country course looks long, big and technical.

-Boyd

Show Jumping Boot Camp for Remington

Today Remington XXV, otherwise known as the "Hanoverian Hurricane", headed down to the Mecca of the show jumping world, Wellington, Florida. He'll spend three weeks in the sunshine in show jumping boot camp with the US eventing team's show jumping coach Katie Prudent. Boyd will head down for the third week of training after Katie has unlocked all of Remi's secrets and teach Boyd how to bring out Remi's best.

Katie advising Boyd (on Neville Bardos) before Show Jumping at the 2010 American Eventing Championships and WEG selection trials

It was the show jumping phase that caught Boyd and Remi, owned by Ron and Densey Juvonen, out at the Pau CCI4* in France last fall, costing them the win at their first European four-star, and Boyd is doing everything he can to ensure that all the bases are covered in preparing for this very essential phase of the three-day event.

Photo from 2010 Pau CCI4* courtesy Kirsten Selvig

After the three weeks in Florida Remi will head to Aiken, SC where Boyd and Silva are based for the winter and begin preparing for the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* in April where all this hard work will be put to the test.

Reflections on the Pau CCI****

Photo Copyright Marianne Delecci

I’ve waited about a week now since the end of the Pau CCI**** to reflect on my first European three-day event. I think it was good to take a breath and get back in the swing of things before I reflect on what I’ve just gone through. I’m truly hoping this evaluation doesn’t bring the same controversy as my reflections on the WEG, however I feel it’s important to be upfront and honest and say what I feel, even if it upsets a few of my friends on the Chronicle of the Horse Forums.

It’s tough from a personal point of view to say whether Pau was successful or unsuccessful. I felt there were many positives to come out of the event and there were also a couple of negatives which will probably haunt me for a while.

I’ll focus on the positives first. I think the horse tried as hard as he possibly could throughout the event and made a huge effort to compete at a tough and grueling four-star, and to do it with five days of travel through several countries traveling by truck and plane. I feel like it’s much tougher getting a good result when you’re taken out of the comfort of your “backyard”.

Obviously the score sheet reflects how difficult the cross-country course was and Remington provided the round of a lifetime. He was one of only two horses to take the direct route at every fence around the course. I had bad rides at several fences and Remi grew a fifth leg more than once and bunny-hopped me out of trouble. I’ve ridden five four-star rounds this year and I felt this was probably the most intense and relentless cross-country course yet.

In my last blog evaluating the WEG I was critical of the USEF funding 3-star riders to compete in Europe, as I stated it made no sense to me competing in Europe when we have great events here in America. One critical part of the equation, which I didn’t realize then but understand now, is the amazing experience it gives a young, up and coming rider to compete in Europe against the best riders. I now can appreciate that a little more as I’ve come back to America highly motivated and a little more experienced thanks to the trip I just completed.

This includes experiences like watching the likes of William Fox-Pitt and all the talent in the warm-up and seeing what methods they use to prepare their horses. Also stabling next to Andrew Nicholson and talking to him about how he selects and acquires his event horses and the training methods he uses on different types of horses is an education that I could not have got at home here in the States. Competing at the Pau 4* really gave me a feeling that I’m in the same league as some of these top riders whereas before I thought these guys were way better than us Americans. Now I feel like we’re not too far off them.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the owners of Remington XXV, Ron and Densey Juvonen, who have been huge supporters of Silva and I, for putting their trust in me and sending their horse to Pau, especially considering the challenge of the long journey, battling with French rioters along the way and the huge expense that we were up against just to get to the starting line.

Secondly I’d like to thank Silva for really preparing Remington and me in America and in France for our all-time best dressage score of a 43. Without her wonderful training and coaching we would never have had the opportunity to be one of the front-runners after the dressage.

I’d also like to thank Caitlin Silliman for enduring a marathon trip with Remi and keeping him happy and healthy on the trip to France, through the event, and then all the way back home.

Thanks also Mark Phillips, who copped a bit of a public bashing after the US team’s disappointment at the WEG, who did a top job with his one American rider at Pau. I felt the help he gave me at the three-day event was invaluable: his coaching was spot on and he didn’t try to change anything but definitely his point of view was essential to our good performance.

Last but not least thanks to the USEF, who put up the money to get Remi on the plane: I was very grateful when they came along and picked up the bill to help give me this experience.

Now for the tough stuff: I suppose the hard analysis to make is to work out what went wrong in the show jumping. After a few sleepless nights I think there are a few factors contributing to the disappointing round. Make no mistake, these are not excuses, merely critical points which I think contributed to a less than ideal round.

First I think I had a plan for the warm-up and I was too set in my plan. When I started jumping the horse the rain started pouring down horrifically and I felt Remi suck back and lose his form. I’m the first to admit that once the wheels started falling off, I didn’t change the way I rode him accordingly. If I had my time over again I’d jump a few more warm-up jumps and try to regain the rhythm that I’d lost to a couple of fences.

One thing I was desperately missing was Katie Prudent in the warm-up. Having a show jumping expert like Katie who knows me and the horse could have absolutely got me going again within a matter of jumps and unfortunately she wasn’t there, which I feel is something I didn’t push for in planning the trip. After my experience at Pau I’d push for her availability to any American rider at any four-star.

Maybe the horse was a bit tired but I feel it’s more than that. I feel Remi jumps well when he’s feeling on top of the world and confident, and I made the mistake of trying to make him try a bit too hard in the warm-up, which contributed to him losing his form jumping. I suppose at the end of the day, experience is what I gained right after the moment I really needed it.

All in all I think the positive to come out of it was it was that an American horse and rider put in a top ten four-star result off American soil, which has been few and far between in the past ten years. I’ve genuinely come back motivated, educated and more experienced. Another positive is the horse was 110% healthy when he arrived back in the USA and is probably happily wind sucking on the Juvonen’s post and rail fence at their farm back in Unionville, PA as we speak.

Cheers,
Boyd

Post Cross-country Update from Boyd at Pau

Hello pilgrims,

I had a great day on the Hanoverian Hurricane today on cross-country at the Pau CCI****. Little Remi was second last to go on a tough, twisty course that saw many famous names have problems. I must admit I did not have the most beautiful round, but I got the job done. I went all of the direct routes at the tough obstacles and finished the course with 16 time penalties, which leaves me in 3rd place behind William Fox-Pitt and Karin Donckers.


Remi looks like he has pulled up well after a tough afternoon. He trotted up sound late this afternoon, so we look good for the trot-up tomorrow, which is at lunchtime. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a little bit more of a chance at some of the galloping fences. There were one or two fences where I added one too many strides on the approach, and on a horse like Remington not jumping these fences out of stride costs time.

Anyway, I am looking forward to a good show jumping round tomorrow.

Cheers,

Boyd

Here is a few video off YouTube, hope you enjoy the ride.

Press Release: Boyd and Remington in 3rd after XC at Pau!

While we wait for news directly from Boyd, here's a press release for the much anticipated news that he and Remi had a successful ride cross-country in the CCI4* at Pau today and are now standing in 3rd place! -AMH

Press release, Saturday 6 November 2010


William Fox-Pitt playing it safe

The current world n°1, British William Fox-Pitt, took the lead in Pau with the cross-country on Saturday that he started off without taking any risks: “I might have taken chicken ways, but my priority was to return home in one piece.” This strategy proved to be successful as the Briton took command in this class, thus strengthening his top position in the HSBC FEI Classics.

Only one of Friday’s “dressage champions” managed to stay in the top 3 after the cross-country: Belgian rider Karin Donckers with her « young 10-year-old » horse as she likes to remind everyone. This year’s course was a very harsh one as the statistics show: 16 refusals, 5 leading to elimination, 5 rider falls, 3 horse falls (notably Glennbury du Léou with French rider Pascal Leroy falling in the water at 26 A B C) and one withdrawal. That makes it 14 couples that weren’t able to finish this big adventure. “There were many green horses, explains the excellent course designer Pierre Michelet, and a great number of them were running their first four star event; this could explain the number of incidents.”

William Fox-Pitt knows that the course in Pau is not one of the easiest having rarely finished a cross-country here without any incidents. “That is why I didn’t want to take any risks. Even if Navigator is one of my best horses – by the way, I wondered if I should take him to Lexington, I didn’t play with fire and did often take the longer options even though I knew that he was capable of taking the direct options.”

A wise decision that helped the vice-world champion to take the lead of the ranking in front of Belgian Karin Donckers (Lamicell Charizard) and the Australian naturalized American Boyd Martin for whom Pau is his first European competition. “The food is great, the coffee very strong, but, oh my God, the turnings!” This third place was somehow the surprise of the day. His horse Remington used to be a dressage horse and then hunter that an American woman gave him so he could sell it. But the horse never passed the veterinary check … which didn’t prevent him from proving today that he was one of the world’s best eventing horses.

The best French performance was realized, just like in 2009, by the surprising Gwendolen Fer who finished her course without any incident even if her saddle was dangerously sliding on the back of the horse after the breast plate, supposed to hold the saddle, broke ! What a hero! The young rider placed 8th tonight.

For more information visit www.event-pau.fr:

Remington XXV Passes First Veterinary Inspection at Pau CCI****

So far, so good.

Remington passed the first horse inspection here in Pau. He jogged up like a champ in front of the ground jury late this afternoon. All of the horses that were presented in the four-star passed. It looks to be a quality field of 38 starters.
I worked Remi on the flat in front of my USA supporters: owners Ron and Densey Juvonen, wife Silva, and groom Caitlin. He went well again today. I focused a little more on the canter work today, especially the changes.

Densey Juvonen, proud owner of Remington, XXV

I walked the course as well today. My first impressions were...well...Holy Moly! It's an intense cross-country made up of one tough technical line after another. It's pretty big too.
Anyway, it's dressage practice again tomorrow with help from Silva and Capt. Mark Phillips. Then I think I will walk the cross-country again with the Captain to get a bit of advice.

Cheers,

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

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

Boyd's first US training session with Captain Mark Phillips

All photos in this blog entry compliments of Emily Merrill.



I had my first official US training session with the US eventing coach Captain Mark Phillips. The Captain has been in Aiken for the last few days, and I have been lucky enough to secure dressage, show jumping and cross country lessons with him. I have focused my training sessions with my two "up and coming" horses, Remington XXV and Shatzi W. Both horses are just hitting the big time, so I thought it would be beneficial to see what Mark thought of them.

The most exciting session was yesterday with Remington. We jumped at a new equestrian facility called "Three Runs Farm" that is just down the road from Phillip's farm. Mark worked with Remi a couple of days ago over the show jumps so this was actually his second show jumping session. Mark felt I was giving him too nice of a take off distance every time, and wanted to get Remi to a deeper take-off spot to make him work a bit harder. I must say, it took me out of my comfort zone, as we were jumping bloody big fences! Bigger than I usually school over. It was very interesting, as after a few jumps with me "daring" Remi in, he just jumped better and better.

The other main focus of the session was the connection between the bit, rein and hand. This connection can be a little inconsistent sometimes, and can sometimes lead to Remington being too bold to a fence, which is were we have had a rail in competition. After all this it was encouraging at the end of the session when Mark commented very positively on Remington's potential as a top class horse.

Remington's owners, Ron and Densey Juvonen, (pictured at right with Remi and me), are staying down here in Aiken with their team of fox hunters from Pennsylvania, and were keeping a close eye on their horse's progress.

I compete this weekend at Paradise Farm Horse Trials on three horses.

Boyd

Final Day of Fair Hill

Remington XXV,(pictured right, Amber Heintzberger photo), trotted up perfectly first thing this morning – the horse was full of high spirits and had a sparkle in his eye and I knew he was ready for a show jumping performance that would be remembered. It was a tough, demanding track but the former dressage queen from Germany pinned his ears back and put in a foot-perfect round. Unfortunately the majority of horses ahead of him did too, so we held our fifth placing. I couldn’t be happier with this horse, he proved himself to be top class. I was really happy for the owners, Ron and Densey Juvonen – they have supported Silva and I and Remington this last year and a half and it’s developed into a great friendship and partnership, with a great result this weekend.

Che Kairo (pictured left, Amber Heintzberger photo), jumped reasonably well in the three-star; he was a little bit flat and tired from yesterday. He started around well but then towards the last line of the course he started to feel the pace of the weekend and had a couple of lazy rails. This was a fantastic effort for the horse, which has now qualified for the four-star level and the 2010 World Equestrian Games. The Ecuadorian owner Ronald Zabala is half considering keeping him as his backup horse for next year. There are also a few interested parties for his sale.

Belmont II (pictured right, Amber Heintzberger photos), jumped fantastic in the first two thirds of the course and then got a little bit rattled towards the end. Unfortunately I feel I could have ridden him a little bit better down the last line where we picked up a few rails. At the end of the day he finished in sixth place out of 53 starters in an international three-star three-day event, competing against Olympic and World Champions. There has been some interest in his sale from some overseas buyers and it will be interesting to see where that progresses.

All in all, it was a reasonably successful Fair Hill International three-day event, not only for myself but for a lot of the people that Silva and I are involved with. I feel like everyone who is related to a similar training program stepped up and put in a respectable performance. It was heartbreaking to watch Molly Rosin just nick a rail in the two-star, which cost her a win. She’s a great girl riding a top horse and I’m sure we’ll see more stunning performances to come in the future.

-Boyd

Click here for results from the event!

Left to Right: Jennie Brannigan, Rebecca Braitling and Silva Martin, photo courtesy of Amber Heintzberger

Three Solid Cross-Country Rounds at Fair Hil

Boyd:

I started the day fantastically- Remy (pictured right, Amber Heintzberger photo) was the first on the course and blasted around cross-country, only two seconds over the time. He's now in fifth place. It was a real test for him but he really proved himself over a lot of accuracy questions and the tough terrain. They had quite a few problems today, but I think that there were a lot of green horses and riders for the levels.


Che Kairo (pictured left, Amber Heintzberger photo)was a big ride, I had the weight of Ecuador on my shoulders! He had a really courageous round and moved up a few places, from 40th to 20th jumping clean and with only .8 time faults.


Belmont (pictured right, Amber Heintzberger photo) made the three-star feel easy, he's an experienced horse and he jumped everything out of stride, clean and in the time. I think this performance will really assist his sale.


Dr. Kevin Keane went over all the horses and they are in good condition for tomorrow.

Preparations for Fair Hill

Boyd took a few minutes out of his busy Fair Hill preparations to talk about the four horses that he is taking the championship event, which begins with the first veterinary inspection on Wednesday. Last year in the CCI*** at Fair Hill Boyd placed second on Ying Yang Yo and fourth on Neville Bardos.

"It's good going back to Fair Hill feeling confident and knowing what it's about," says Boyd. "I think we've had a good preparation for the event and I'm riding four good horses. I think that the new two-star will be a real showcase of the best horses in the country."

In the three-star Boyd will ride Che Kairo,(pictured left, photo by Amber Heintzberger) a 13-year-old Argentinean Thoroughbred gelding who was Ecuadorian Ronald Zabala's partner at the Pan American Games. Zabala is trying to sell the gelding, who has also been ridden by Phillip Dutton. "He's athletic and has a lot of talent," says Boyd. I won an intermediate with him at Surefire earlier this year and ran him advanced at Morven last weekend. The end goal is to sell the horse, so I hope to have a good result that will encourage his sale on the international market."

Also in the CCI*** Boyd will ride Belmont II, (pictured right, photo by Amber Heintzberger), a Dutch Warmblood/Thoroughbred cross gelding owned by Californian Kate Dichey, who is a good friend of Boyd and Silva. "Belmont is very strong in the dressage and has a good jump in him," says Boyd. "I'm also looking for a good result to get him sold for Kate."

Boyd points out that with a good result, both of these horses will be qualified for the 2010 World Equestrian Games, which he hopes will also improve their chances at selling.

In the CCI** Boyd will ride Bellaney Destiny, (pictured left, photo by Amber Heintzberger), an Irish gelding owned by Debbie Kuhns. Boyd and the handsome big grey recently placed second in the CIC** at Plantation Field.



Boyd will also ride Remington XXV, (pictured right, photo by Emily Daily for the US Eventing Association), owned by Densev Juvonen, in the CIC**. The handsome bay placed third in the CIC** at Richland Park and was third in the open intermediate at Stuart.

“Both of these horses have had really strong performances this year so I’m looking forward to a good weekend with them.”

Back at the barn things are also on a good turn. Boyd's good friend from Australia, Ryan Wood, just started working at True Prospect Farm, and leading Intermediate rider Jennie Brannigan has been at the farm for about a month now. "It's good fun,” says Boyd. “I think that with me and Ryan and Jennie all riding we've set a really high standard, and the maestro Phillip is giving us all a lot of good training."