New Sales Horse: Ricochet EDF

NAME: Ricochet EDF
SEX: Mare
COLOUR: Bay (w/2 hind fetlock socks)
HEIGHT: 15.3hh
DATE OF BIRTH: 6/29/2005
COUNTY OF BIRTH: Bedford, MA, USA
SIRE:  Resonanz (by Rhodiamont)
DAM:  Rhyme (by Clover Hill ISH)
BREED:  Oldenburg/ISH
BREEDER:  Eleazer Davis Farm, Inc.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Bedford, MA USA
OWNER: Lisa Samoylenkom / Eleazer Davis Farm.

Cheti is super talented, nice moving and unbelievable jumping young horse. She is a real lady that has the ability to take an accomplished rider as far as they want to go in either dressage, show jumping or eventing.

She was bred by her owner Lisa Samoylenkon of Belford MA. and trained professionally from the get go. She is bred beautifully with jumping and dressage lines from Germany and Ireland in her pedigree. In the right hands this could be one of America's top young horses.

Please call Boyd for more info 610-806-2381

Happy Holidays

We would like wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - and what a year! 2011 will definitely be remembered for us for a long, long time. It was the ultimate of highs and lows.

This past year was probably the toughest year for us with all of the tragedies that hit us in the middle of the year. Without a doubt, we could not have survived it without the hundreds of people that supported us through the tough times. One thing we learned is that when things go bad, you see people's true colors. We would like to thank everyone that chipped in to help us out.

We would especially like to thank the wonderful people that worked for us this year. We had the best team in the world that really rallied when times were tough. Without this awesome group of people, we could not have produced the outstanding results that we saw with the horses this year.

We would also like to pay tribute to the awesome owners that provide these spectacular horses for us to train. Without these horses, we would be nothing.

So thank you, and good luck for 2012!!

Boyd & Silva

Thanks to Our Hard Working Staff!

We're starting to gather bios and pictures of our hard working staff here at Windurra USA!  A big thanks goes out to all the staff here at our barn & we're excited to start posting their bios on our website.

Here are the first two entries:

Dressage Staff

NAME: Kymberly Pullen

HOMETOWN: Sugar Land, TX

WINDURRA SINCE: 2/2011

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Grooming, Riding and Hauling

Kymmy graduated Texas A&M University with a degree in Animal Science and Business. She began by riding and competing in the hunters, but has been competing in dressage since college.

Kymmy has brought her own horse along to WIndurra to work under the tutalage of Silva. Wiedermark "Markie" , is a 18.1h hanoverian gelding, who she has had since he was 4. Kymmy has brought him up through the levels to Prix St. George with their debut at Intermediare coming in the Spring of 2012 and their first CDI during the summer.

Eventing Staff

NAME: Lindsey Taylor

DOB: 3/14/1986

HOMETOWN:. 

Saint Charles, IL

WINDURRA SINCE: 1/2011

JOB DESCRIPTION: 

Head Groom and Operations Manager

Lindsey got hooked on horses while she was a freshman at Wheaton College at the age of 18. Looking for something to distract her from her schoolwork, she attended a mini event that her younger sister was competing in. She got the idea that riding might be a fun extra-curricular activity and began taking once a week lessons with Pat Bunge at a small eventing barn, Red Roses Farm in Saint Charles, IL. 

One thing led to another and she was soon leasing a horse and competing in local events. She rode a borrowed horse in a clinic with Becky Holder during this time and was impressed by the enthusiasm, expertise and attention to detail that Becky brought to her teaching. Lindsey decided to pursue a working student position with Becky in 2008 and 2009, during which time she learned an immeasurable amount about eventing at it's highest levels, and became quite interested in grooming and horse care.

READ MORE......

It's All About Giving at This Time of Year

NJ Star Ledger has run a fabulous article in the sports section about giving back to the local horse community throughout the holiday season.  They also give a nice nod to Neville's nomination for Horse of the Year noting that, "Neville Bardos, who survived a devastating barn fire in May, has to be the odds-on favorite for the U.S. Equestrian Federation's international horse of the year honors."


There is also mention about fellow competitor Lisa Marie Fergusson loss of Smart Move this past week down in Wellington Florida.  Through the SCES (who raised over $50K for us in the aftermath of the TPF fire), a fundraising account has been set up to help Lisa, and is posted on Eventing Nation.  Please consider helping another rider in need this holiday season.


Check out the full article here & have a wonderful Christmas!

On the Way Home from Germany

I am on the plane home to the USA ! I have Internet on this Lufthansa flight.
It's great!! Here is a pic of my neighbor on the plane!

I am sorry that we have not blogged more about Ash and Mintie's Germany trip.
Overall it was a great experience for Ash, but it was also very disappointing.

Ashlea and Mintie did a nice test on Friday but Mintie was not quite right in the trot. The canter work was great. They had no mistakes and Ash rode very well. After we got the score sheet back and the judges also commented on Mintie being not quite right behind, we decided to scratch him from the freestyle. It was heartbreaking for Ashlea but at the end of the day we have to do what's right for the horse.

Ash and all of us have been working so hard to get to Frankfurt, but horses are
horses and not machines. And that is why we love them so much!!!
Ashlea has learned so much from this whole experience and she has handled the situation amazingly well! There will be many more international competitions for Ashlea and the next time all she learned from this trip will help her.

I am looking forward to getting home and riding again! Only 3 more hours to go....

Silva

Travels in England and an Exciting New Import

I've had a fantastic couple of months away from the intense eventing competition schedule, which has allowed me to enjoy one of my passions: finding new, exciting young prospects.

Enjoying a pint with Dave

Recently Katie Walker, Dave Leinhauser and I had a wonderful couple of days in England scouring the country for horses.

Brian Hyslop

We were lucky enough to be guided by our new team Chef de Equipe, Brian Hyslop, who was in charge of the heavy social schedule that consisted of dinner parties, fox hunting and many team meetings at the pubs we passed by. We were also very fortunate that Rachael Wakefield from Uptown Eventing lined up around 35 top class young event horses for us to try.

Katie Walker sizing up one of the enormous hedge jumps in the Quorn Hunt field

One of the highlights of our four-day trip was the opportunity to hunt with the very prestigious Quorn Hunt. Dave and I borrowed horses from Irish eventing Olympian Mark Kyle.

Hunting with Mark Kyle

We hunted huge hedge fences, trappy iron gates and ditches that sent shivers down my spine over some of the most beautiful country in Leicestershire County for over four hours. I was very impressed not only by the superb country we rode, but the quality of the horses seen in the hunt.



Finally our horse shopping ventures were a success! Upgrade is a stunning five year old gelding that really stood out from the rest of the bunch. He is seven-eighths English Thoroughbred and one-eighth Irish Sport Horse. He is a very elegant mover which I think the dressage judges will be impressed with. His jump has good technique and scope to spare. All in all, Dave, Katie and I felt this horse showed the potential of a future four-star champion.

I am very fortunate for Katie and Cuyler Walker to purchase this exciting horse. He will fly to America just before the new year and join the other Walker event horse, Brewster. I hope to start eventing him sometime in February. It would also be a real thrill if I could move him up to Preliminary at the Plantation Field Horse Trials in the fall, as the Walkers are the landowners and event organizers of this great event.

-Boyd

A Gift of Art from Bramble Hollow Fine Arts

The entire crew at Windurra USA would like to thank Angela Deppe for her beautiful gift to Lillian Heard, a sculpture created out of polymer clay from a picture of Lillian on Ariel during one of their dressage tests.  I've attached a picture of the piece from Angela, which was mailed to Lillian's parents this past week.

The following is a description of Angela's business and choice in artistic medium for this sculpture.  Thanks again to Angela for all of her efforts in creating this beautiful piece!

"My business is called  Bramble Hollow Fine Arts, at www.bramblehollow.com or on facebook as Bramble Hollow Fine Arts.  I live in Sykesville, Maryland.  

Right now my sculptural art is strictly realistic portraiture, with a nod to Eastern and classical influences as far as composition and decorative elements.  My art background consists of two semesters of figurative sculpture at Towson State, a summer course at painting at The Mitchell School in Lutherville, MD with Richard House in 2000 - where I learned how to see -and most recently a course of plein air painting with Tim Bell in Easton, MD.

When I was a child, music was the family passion so there was nothing left for other pursuits. I became self taught in anything that caught my fancy - from wood burning and psanky, to watercolor and oils.  I listened very, very well at Pony Club, and wore out the how-to books in the public library.  In fact, the Pony Club moms used to call me 'Princess Daisy', because I earned my pony's hay with the premiums from my 4-H art contest winnings every year.  As an adult I took up carriage driving and was an adept student if I won the occasional spot for a clinic...wore out my volume of Centered Riding and Podhasky's books such that I won the Laurels as my first CDE with a pony I trained myself, as a green driver.

I can't help but bring that same determination to my dream business here, which shows in my ability to capture a resemblance...portrait artists aren't simply recreating beauty or expressing their own interpretation - they have to convince, as well.  I work from photos, but a solid understanding of anatomy and biomechanics gives me an edge in creating a image that celebrates the cycle of energy inherent in every pose or stride.  The artistry in my work is buried in the bas relief...I can manipulate the viewer to focus on this, lead their eye to that through detail and profile.  I want them to marvel at how different it looks from every angle and with every change in the light, so that it appears to be many works of art in one.

So much of our lives is spent in front of a flat screen - a sculpture is two dimensions closer to reality."

If interested in commissioning Angela for your own piece, her contact info is attached!