Pine Top Advanced Event This Weekend

This is a big weekend for me, taking Remington and Benwald in the advanced horse trials at Pine Top Farm in Thomson, GA. It's pretty exciting for Remington since it's his first run at the advanced level. Benwald is doing his second season at advanced so he's a little more confirmed at this level. They both jumped well schooling yesterday and I'm looking for a good run from both of them to set them up for their first three-day event at Jersey Fresh later this year.

Shatzi W is doing her fourth intermediate and I got some good advice for her from Mark Phillips at the team training session; I've changed my tactics in dressage and I am interested to see if she can come up with a better test.

Minotaure du Passoir entered in the preliminary division and I think this should be one of his last preliminaries before he moves up to intermediate level.

Unfortunately I have some depressing news as well: Neville Bardos tripped in a hole the other day while I was doing his slow canter work and the next day his leg was swollen, so I've scratched him from this weekend. I had it scanned and there is no tear or anything like that, but it's still swollen. I'm a bit wary of putting him straight back to work when the swelling goes down so I'll probably play it safe with him for a while just to be careful.

-Boyd

Vidalia and Boyd pictured at the Young Event Horse Championships two years ago in Chicago, photo by Amber Heintzberger. Click here to see the entire gallery.

I had a fantastic weekend at the Paradise Horse Trials in Aiken. I rode two horses in the training level: Vidalia and Houston. Vidalia is slowly but surely becoming a seasoned horse. She destroyed the competition in the dressage with a score of 20! This is my best-ever dressage score in the US. Vidalia did not miss a beat after her fabulous dressage, and with a great cross-country round and a clear show jumping round she won the class by a staggering lead.

It was Houston's first training level event and I have to say, he impressed me. He was a little green in the dressage with a score of 37, but like his stablemate was faultless after that and finished a creditable 8th.

Picante looked all class over the weekend in the Preliminary division. He has had a few outings at that level now and is starting to feel like a real prelim horse! He finished second, which is his best placing at this level.

Click here for complete results from the event.

Next weekend all of the big guns are coming out at Pine Top...

Until then, be good,

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

Changes at Rolex Kentucky

Since Boyd will once again be competing at the Rolex Kentucky three-day event, I thought I'd share the following press release:

PRESS RELEASE-- As a result of construction projects at the Kentucky Horse Park, Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI) is announcing some major changes for the 2009 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, the only annual Four Star Three-Day Event in the Americas. Scheduled for April 23-26, the event draws over 100,000 spectators and is seen by millions more on worldwide telecasts, including a one-hour special on NBC in the United States.

Honored with the 2008 Best of Lexington Award in the Special Events category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA), Equestrian Events continues to move forward and adapt to the changes at the Horse Park that will be fully completed by the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Even before it is the Test Event in 2010 for the Eventing World Championships, Rolex Kentucky 2009 will be the first time some of the Park changes come into play. Some of the changes in 2009:

The Stadium

The arena where the Dressage and Jumping Tests for Rolex Kentucky were previously held is being totally rebuilt to create a new Stadium. This new facility, in the same location as the previous arena, will be a whole new experience for spectators, as well as horses and riders, and is leading to some sweeping changes for 2009 and beyond.

Prior to the start of construction, the Lake Grandstand-constructed from funds donated by Equestrian Events, Inc., the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and legions of supporters of the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event-was carefully and painstakingly dismantled. Located on the south side of the arena with the Park's picturesque lake behind it, each piece of the Lake Grandstand was numbered and coded and is being stored for re-assembly at a later date at one of the Park's other outdoor arenas. The Lake Grandstand has 2,325 bench seats, 1,883 of them covered and 24 spaces for disabled seating.

New Permanent Grandstand

A new permanent grandstand structure, with 7,289 chair seats, 4,630 of which will be covered, plus 102 spaces for disabled seating, is being constructed on the north side of the stadium where the Patron Club and Equestrian Club tents and their temporary grandstand seating were located. The Park Grandstand also houses restrooms and concession areas underneath the second tier of seating. There will be three entrances to the grandstand. The entry level goes directly to the uppermost row of the first tier of seating and disabled seating is on that level. Stairs at the entry level go up to the first row of the second tier of seating.

Temporary Uncovered Grandstand Seating

Rolex Kentucky organizer Equestrian Events, Inc. is renting uncovered grandstands to provide a total of 15,000 seats in the new Stadium. These stands will be located on the south side of the arena by the Park's lake and on the west side of the arena.

New Arena Surface

A new arena surface will greet horses and riders at Rolex Kentucky 2009, but the surface isn't new to the Horse Park or to the horses and riders that competed in the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. The German company OTTO Sport-und Reitplatz GMBH is installing its state-of-the-art riding surface on the Stadium arena and the attached warm-up area and will have its inaugural use at the 2009 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. However, the same surface was installed in 2008 in the Park's Walnut Ring and used extensively last year, to wide acclaim, for Jumper classes at various A and AA-rated hunter/jumper shows at the Park.

Patron Club and Equestrian Club Tents Moved

Due to its size, the Park Grandstand utilizes all the ground from the edge of the original arena back to Nina Bonnie Boulevard, ground where the Patron Club and Equestrian Club tents and uncovered grandstand seating were previously located. The Patron Club and Equestrian Club tents are being relocated across Nina Bonnie Boulevard to the fence line surrounding the High Hope Steeplechase Course. The tents will overlook the infield of the course, where several major obstacles on the Rolex Kentucky Cross-Country course are located. Grandstand seating for Patron Club and Equestrian Club subscribers will be an additional charge, allowing these Event attendees to choose which grandstand seating they prefer and to sit with friends who are not subscribers to these two ticket options. Video screens will be located in each tent to provide almost larger-than-life viewing of each day's competition.

East Side of Stadium

The East side of the Stadium, where temporary grandstands have previously been located, will now be used for the Patron Plus tent, a private hospitality tent, along with the grandstand for Riders, Owners, Grooms and Competitor Guests.

South Side of Stadium

The configuration of the lake side of the arena is changed, and two grandstands with increased seating will be located here along with the Doggery, the grandstand targeted especially for dogs and their human companions. West Side of Stadium

The permanent Sponsor Hospitality Pavilion, previously located on the north side of the arena, has made way for the new Park Grandstand, requiring the creation of a new Sponsor Pavilion on the west side of the arena. The West Grandstand that was located near the lake remains in the same relative position, but increased in height by one row (36 rows) and in width by 6'.

Most visitors to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Website have already been introduced to the newest ticket purchasing option from Equestrian Events, Inc., online ticket sales. While the Ticket Order Form may still be downloaded and mailed or faxed to the EEI Office, and orders may still be placed via telephone, those who like the ease and speed of placing orders online now have that option.

"We are proud of our longstanding commitment to providing outstanding entertainment as well as world-class equestrian competition," said Event Director, Jane Atkinson. "The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event has always been produced by Equestrian Events, Inc. with a strong commitment to giving spectators an exciting and comfortable experience and we believe that these changes will go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

Silva Sponsored by Equinature

Silva is excited to have the sponsorship of Equinature, a company that makes all-natural health care products for horses.

"I've been using them for about four weeks and it's been great because here in Florida all the horses end up getting skin problems because of the heat and moisture and bugs. Since I started using the anti-fungal shampoo none of my horses have any problems. Since it's all natural I don't have to worry about getting it on my own skin. A bonus is that the barn smells really nice, too!"

For more information on their products check out the website or contact them at the following:

Equinature Products

1961 Quaker St. Northbridge, MA 01534

E-mail: sales@equinature.com

Phone : 774-217-8057

Fax: 508-234-8389

Wellington Classic Dressage

This past weekend I competed three horses at the Wellington Classic. Jeff did his first Prix St. Georges on the first day, and though he was still green and it was a big, competitive class, he was good in the trot and just had a few small mistakes in the canter. He finished ninth with 63% in that class and on Sunday he came back and competed in a special Prix St. Georges for 7-9 year-old horses. He was still green but really good; he didn't make any mistakes, but I could feel him getting a little tired with the whole program by the canter. There were a lot of good quality horses in the class and Jeff finished second, with 69%, to the winner, Cabana Boy.

I showed Prosecco for the first time, at fourth level, and he's so quiet and so good. We still have to get to know each other so we had a couple of little mistakes, but they weren't his fault - sometimes he didn't understand what I was asking, so it's just a matter of spending more time together. He placed third the first day with 65% and third again on Sunday with 64%.

I rode Sea Lord in the same classes, only his second time at fourth level. He still gets surprised at all that's coming up during the test! On Friday he scored 64% and placed fourth, and on Sunday he was a litt more confident and placed second with 65%. It was a big class and he did really well.

Tiger Lily was really good on both days and placed second in both of her classes at first level.

Caitlin was supposed to ride Waimea but the mare had a little cut so Sarah Sanz offered Caitlin the ride on Ballatale, who just got to Florida. They had a great weekend and placed second in both of their classes at third level.

I've really been enjoying showing in my L'Apogee saddle; it's very comfortable and the leather that they use makes you kind of stick to the saddle. Denise Rocco sat in mine and went straight away and bought one!

This weekend will be quiet, but the following weekend I'll take the young horses to White Fences, and the weekend after that the older horses will go to the Palm Beach Dressage Derby.

-Silva

Top Placings at Sporting Days in Aiken Horse Trials

On Saturday I gave Minotaure Du Passoir and Shatzi W their first start for the year in the preliminary division at Sporting Days Horse in Aiken Trials in Aiken, S.C. Both horses had fantastic dressage tests, placing them both in the top six. The cross-country course was a little shorter in distance due to the event being early in the year and both Min and Shatzi were able to make the time and jump clear. Again in the show jumping both horses were faultless. At the end of the day Shatzi W won the division on a score of 32.6 and Min came third on a score of 33.3. (Click here for complete results from the event.) I am excited about both horses as they are getting ready to go intermediate in the next few events.

Silva flies in to do a clinic on Monday and Tuesday here in Aiken. All of her eventing students have a chance for a quick tune-up before Pine Top horse trials this coming weekend in Thompson, Georgia.

Boyd