Saturday, July 21, 2012

New Transportation to the Stables in England

Bad Boyd the Biker

Fatboy and SkinnyBoyd

A big thank you must go to Adam and Caroline, next door neighbors and landlords of the lads' pad in Winchcombe .  They have been great help to all of the boys, cooking up dinner, lending a car and giving me a lift o the stable on a Harley Davidson Fatboy when my car broke down.

-Boyd

Friday, July 20, 2012

STAFF SPOTLIGHT - CAITLIN SILLIMAN


Photo Credit at Bromont courtesy Horse Junkies United

Name: Caitlin Silliman

DOB: 4/28/1990

Hometown: Paoli, PA

WINDURRA SINCE : 6/14/2008

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Head Rider/Assistant Trainer

Caitlin's love for horses started with 6 lessons for her 6th birthday. Her Mom and Grandmother were "horse crazy" as kids and this was passed on to Caitlin! She competed for the first time at 9, trained with Susie Beale in Malvern and was a member of Radnor Hunt Pony Club.

The first horse she owned (after many leases and lesson horses) was Twain, an Irish sport horse. Twain was a surprise from her parents and grandparents the spring of 2006. He was a great first horse and they competed at Young Rider's in summer 2006 where they won the team and individual Bronze medal. Twain gave Caitlin some Intermediate and 2* experience and he now lives the life of treats and luxury with Diane and Steve McBroom in Virginia.

Caitlin started training with Boyd and Silva in April of 2008 and began working for Silva in June 2008. She was Silva's groom in the Dressage world until she started working for Boyd in Fall of 2010, when she bought the best find ever, Catch A Star.

Catch A Star came to TPF for sale from Rachel Dwyer, and it was love at first sight. Caitlin was looking for an upper level eventer that had the cross country experience she needed after a 2 year reprieve in the dressage world. Catch A Star, a Holsteiner bred by Linda Payne in CA, who has shown great talent! Caitlin has had a great come back season with Catch A Star, finishing 5th in their first CCI 3* and they are savoring every bit of the experience, curently gearing up for Fair Hill CCI 3* in the fall of 2012.

Caitlin has enjoyed all of her experiences working for team Windurra which includes the wonderful, supportive clients, great co-workers, travel perks and top class training from Boyd and Silva!

While Boyd and Silva are in the UK preparing for the Olympics, Caitlin is busy at home coaching students and making sure all the horses, animals and the farm is in perfect running order.   Many thanks to Caitlin and all of her hard work!!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Olympic Uniforms





TEAM USA
 The US team had our first taste of London today as the group made our way in to get fitted for our team uniforms.  The male contingent of the team were taken to a separate area to the women to get fitted for the official team uniforms. 

Tourists
 

Big Ben
I must say that the Ralph Lauren tailors were very impressed with the physical condition of the lads, especially Will Coleman, whom is in superb physical form for these games.  We followed the men's water polo team that looked in nearly as good shape.

Will Coleman: The Gun Show
Team USA had a look around the village and some of the venues that looked amazing.  We also had a two-hour talk with the USOC about important issues such as athlete conduct.
Phillip Dutton, Will Coleman and Boyd Martin


Fitting


The Fitting Room

All decked out      

    


 Silva gets in tomorrow morning to start the final stages of polishing Otis's dressage test.  It will be great to see the bride, after being apart for about a month.




It's Official!
I must say that Mark Phillips has all of the horses peaking just at the right time, ready to do battle next week. 

Cheers,

Boyd

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Boyd One of Sexiest Olympic Athletes

Our blog got a shout-out on FoxNews.com,  where Boyd is #11 on the 100 Sexiest Olympic Athletes!

Click here or copy and paste the URL:


http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/swimming/gallery/olympics-2012-sexiest-olympic-athletes-062812#tab=photo-title=Boyd+Martin%2509&photo=31163500

Monday, July 16, 2012

Dressage at Lexington

Kymmy and I took 6 horses to Dressage at Lexington in Lexington, VA, where we showed on Friday and Saturday. Click here for complete results from the show.

Kymmy did very well with her young horse Hot Date, "Hayden". They showed in the Four-year old class and finished second with a great score of 7.28

I showed Duvent, Benny, Zoran, Rosa and Vanderbilt.

Duvent was super in both his fourth level classes. We won on Friday and finished second on Saturday.

Benny was his perfect self. I tell you, that horse is four going on 30! He is just amazing! We won training test 2 on Friday and finished second to Zoran on Saturday with great scores.

Bonnie Stedt’s Zoran impressed me a lot! He was absolutely amazing. We won training 3 on Friday with a amazing score of 79.8, and we won a big training class 3 on Saturday with the best score of the whole show, 85%!


Vanderbilt was showing in the most tricky arena, up on the hill in Lexington. Many horses retired in that ring because they can look both down and up the hill from there and see golf carts coming up and down the hill and it is just very scary. Vandy did not like it there at all. He did get better as the test went on and by the end he settled in nicely. We finished with a 59.7.
Rosa Cha was amazing!!! I know I say this every time but she is just getting stronger and stronger and better and better with every show! We won both fourth level classes again by a mile.

Here is one of Rosa's tests:


There are still shares left in the Rosa Cha Syndicate! She is only seven years old and she has only just begun her career. I am sure she is going to be very successful at Dressage at Devon this year in fourth level; next year we will start in international competitions in the small tour and will work our way up to Grand Prix from there.

-Silva


Friday, July 13, 2012

"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









Thursday, July 12, 2012

UPDATE ON SALES HORSE - WARANGA

If you are looking for an upper level prospect, Waranga is a MUST SEE! Caitlin and Waranga finished on a beautiful dressage test of 26.5 placing 2nd in a large Open Novice division last weekend at the Md. Horse Trials. His show jump round was flawless and he showed unlimited scope through the course. Waranga looked bold as he skipped around the Novice XC course. There is no doubt that he will be someone's horse of a lifetime!  He also placed 1st at Waradaca finishing on his dressage score of a 24.8!!


Once again here is his sales information.  Boyd is  NAME: Waranga W
SEX: Gelding
COLOUR: Grey
HEIGHT: 16.2hh
DATE OF BIRTH: December 2008
COUNTY OF BIRTH: Australia

Please call CAITLAN : 610 316 7318 to set up an appointment to see this fabulous young horse!



Waranga is a very promising young horse who seems to be getting better and better with each training ride. Boyd and Silva bred him on the family farm in Australia and imported him to the United States in 2010 in partnership with long time supporter, Amy Lindgren.

Warranga's sire, Copebella Visage is a grand prix French show jumping stallion, and his mother is by Brilliant Invader (who also sired Olympic champion Reddy Teddy). Waranga is an extremely atheletic type, being about 65% Thoroughbred.

In an effort to raise funds to take 4 horses to England, Boyd and Amy have made the difficult decision to sell this talented young horse.  PRICE REDUCED TO $50K!!

VIDEO


 
PHOTO GALLERY LINK




Please call CAITLAN : 610 316 7318 to set up an appointment to see this fabulous young horse!