Event Horses Arrive in Paradise

The Windurra event horses just managed to avoid the freezing weather that arrived in Pennsylvania yesterday. We have officially relocated for the winter to 'horse heaven' down here in Aiken, SC. We arrived at the beautiful Bridle Creek Farm to be blown away by the improvements in the facilities over the past few years.

Farm owner Ilene Boorman has transformed her farm into the ultimate event horse training facility. Since last year, she has added a huge jumping ring with rubber footing, eight more post and rail paddocks, mirrors for the dressage ring and a cross-country training course built by Eric Bull from ETB Construction.


Eric has built a water jump (that can be ridden in 6 different lines), a bank complex (that can be ridden in 9 different lines) ditches, adjustable trakehners and a sunken road (that can be ridden in 5 different ways). He has also placed a huge arrangement of portables that can be moved
around in all sorts of ways.
The dressage and jumping ring has been carefully constructed by a good mate of mine, Brian Riedmuller [301-370-5365]. Brian looks to be the ring construction specialist down here in Aiken, working on a few different farms.

I have a great crew of staff helping with the event horses here, led by 2011 USEA Groom of the Year Lindsey Taylor, assistant rider Caitlin Silliman, rising star Sara Gumbiner and working students Emily Van Gemeren and Erin Lehman. I must say it is a lot easier to keep the farm neat and tidy since we are not sharing the facility with Silva and the dressage queens!
All of the horses look in top nick, and are slowly getting fit for the eventing to begin in February.

I am open for business, teaching jumping lessons here in the afternoon. Lessons are $100, which includes the facility fee for the farm. So if you are in Aiken and need a hand, text me on 610-806-2381 to work out a time.

-Boyd

They Shipped to Aiken in Style!!

Stadium International Trucks, an official US distributor of THEAULT Horse Boxes, is proud to support Boyd and Silvia Martin!

Boyd and Silva are thrilled to be driving their new THEAULT Morpheus, which provides safe, compact and comfortable transportation for 2 horses with a cabin that can be conformed to either day or night living. Horses travel rear facing in the Morpheus which has proven to be less stressful and they love the convenience of a hauling vehicle which doesn't require daily hook up. They find the interior to be very luxurious and every amenity has been very well thought out. They viewed the horses on the monitor as they shipped down to Aiken & the horses shipped perfectly. The cab chasis is so powerful that they were able to hook up their 2 horse trailer to the back and haul 4 from Cochranville to Aiken in style!!

Established in 1924 by Emile Theault in the Normandy town of Avranches, the company began life as a constructor of horse drawn carriages, livestock carriers and delivery trucks. With Normandy being in the heart of France's Horse country, Theault's focus turned to Horse transportation and in the 1950's the company chose to specialize entirely in this field. 

In 1961 THEAULT produced the first ever compact 2-stall rear-facing horse van, a design template for which has influenced many other aspiring manufacturers. With an evolving reputation for innovation and quality, THEAULT quickly secured their place as pioneers in the design and development of horse vans, which is seen today in THEAULT's international distribution throughout the World.

In 1998 THEAULT produced the first rear facing aluminum van, providing a more economical and durable vehicle with improvements such as sliding rail partitions, quick release breast bars and crash tested bulkheads. This quality and attention to detail has helped capture business from Olympic riders, Champion racehorse trainers, professional horse transporters, Police forces and even Armies throughout the world. In 2010, THEAULT built a fleet of ten 9-stall trucks for Dubai's magnificent Meydan project! 

Stadium International Trucks, an official distributor of THEAULT vans in the USA, has been in business for over 28 years selling International, Hino, Mitsubishi and Ottawa Trucks. Stadium's desire to continue their product line growth resulted in the acquisition of a Theault franchise in 2011, and they are excited to bring THEAULT's unrivaled history of high quality and safety conscious horse transportation to the United States. 

For more information on THEAULT vans, please visit their website.

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