Silva and I had a truly testing start to the new year. After
great success early in the winter we both found ourselves challenged with the
task of recovering from injury after I snapped my leg in half and Silva
sustained a head injury. Both of these are obviously huge setbacks, especially
in the thick of the season.
When you’re injured it’s an awful feeling because you feel
like you’re never going to come back, and you’re watching your competitors get
stronger around you. I’m proud to say both Silva and I are starting to get our
tails up as we are both coming back to being 100%.
Silva is now sitting on a couple of horses a day, which I
think has really re-invigorated her spirits. She’s carefully selected some of
the quieter, straightforward horses to get going again. I think that in a short
period of time we will see Silva go strength to strength and get back to her
best.
I myself have been back to riding for some time now, and while I am still a little
bit stiff and sore, I’m at least to a point where I’m full operational and
competing all the horses again.
I was thrilled to have Shamwari 4 and Trading Aces - with
Phillip Dutton - put on the WEG team.
Both of these horses were specifically purchased with this goal in mind and I
feel with great performances at Kentucky
and Luhmuehlen they deserve their places on the team. Now that the selection is
out of the way both Phillip and I are throwing 110% at keeping the horses as
fit as we can, and going as well as we can, to do battle at Normandy in a couple
of months.
As we prepare for the WEG, I gave Shamwari ten days off
after Luhmuehlen and then put him back to work. He did his first gallop
yesterday and Phillip’s had Trading Aces humming along for a fair bit longer
and has galloped him a number of times since he’s had more time since now and
Rolex. David O’Connor made a trip up to Unionville last week and actually rode
both horses and seemed impressed with their current form. I think the way it
works is he’ll be going from farm to farm on a weekly basis, helping everyone
train.
We’ve some class horses in work here at the farm and I’m
thrilled that Mackenna Shea, a three-star rider from Washington, has come to join the team in the
goal to get her horse ready for Fair Hill. She was ninth at Bromont and she’s
got a really good horse under her in Landioso 12-year-old Bavarian Warmblood
(Legendaer I—Aspen,
Pilotek) . I’m always a believer in having good riders training around you
lifts the bar throughout the barn, and with McKenna and Caitlin here it sets a
high standard of riding for our farm.
As usual I’m always on the lookout for really good horses
and new supporters to join in on this adventure. I was really impressed with
the horseflesh at Luhmuehlen and it was a good reminder that we always have to
be on the lookout for top horses in order to stay competitive on a global
level.
-Boyd
