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

The Ying Yang at his best...

Since Rolex Kentucky last year, my dear friend Thomas, otherwise known as Ying Yang Yo, has been under the care and training of his part owner Eliza Woolf. Eliza, her mother Faye and myself all agreed after Rolex last year that it would be in Thomas' best interest to chill out and reduce his work load. Unfortunately the last time I ever sat on him I ended up very wet in the 'Head of the Lake' in Lexington....(see video). However, we were in a perfect situation with Eliza, whom was in need of a horse to gain experience on at the novice/training level.

The great thing is that Thomas is still only a 12-year-old and he has plenty of good years ahead of him, especially as well as he gets taken care of! Thomas lives at Holly Hepp's barn in Durham, N.C., and gets treated like royalty. Its great to see that my old mate has landed on his feet. Special feed additives, magnetic blankets, massages and copious amounts of treats are the norm now for the ex-dud-race horse from outback Australia.

Eliza and Thomas went cross country schooling on the weekend, and by the look of the pictures he has not forgotten a trick. Eliza's coach, Holly Hepp, has got the pair of them jumping all sorts of fences up to the preliminary level. Eliza gives Thomas a great ride and leaves him plenty of rein for him to do his job. Eliza and Thomas will hopefully make their novice debut shortly, this spring. I am very emotionally attached to Thomas as he is the reason I came to America and I am just so happy that he is also living the American dream!!!

-Boyd

Louis Vuitton W

One of our young horses still in Australian, 3-year-old Louis Vuitton W has been very good for our friend Gordon Bishop, who is breaking him in at the moment. Louis will spend a few more days with Gordon and then will go back home to the farm in Lochinvar for some peaceful paddock time until he comes over to the USA.

Louis is by the German stallion Londonderry out of Felicity,(the same dam as Fendi and Mademoiselle Chanel), who is by Wolkenstein 2. Louis is a beautiful mover and I am very exited and looking forward to getting him over here and starting work with him!

-Silva

Silva Riding Prosecco

I am very exited to have Prosecco as a new competition and sales horse.
Prosecco, (Pik Donnerhall – Rivellino xx – Marlon xx) is a 10-year-old Westfalen gelding owned by Michael and Denise Rotko, from Pennsylvania. I am very thankful to Michael and Denise for giving me this wonderful horse to show, especially because it gives me another FEI horse.

Prosecco is a pleasure to work with every day; he is easy going and fun to ride. I am very exited to show him for the first time at the Wellington Classic this coming weekend, where I am going to show him in Fourth level to start with. That gives me a chance get get to know him better without too much pressure.

Later I will be showing Prosecco at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby, on February 26-March 1, in PSG and Intermediaire 1.

-Silva

Hear Boyd's Radio Broadcast Here

To go directly to the podcast of the Eventing Radio Show that featured Boyd, click here.

To visit the Eventing Radio Show website, click here.

Boyd Featured on Eventing Radio

Today Boyd was featured as a guest on the Eventing Radio Show's weekly podcast. Boyd talks about his road to Rolex and what he's doing to prepare his two rides for the big event.

Chris Stafford said, "The Eventing Radio Show will be there every day to cover the event and interview Boyd as he makes his second appearance at this prestigious four-star event. For more information go to www.eventingradio.com. To listen to the show visit the website or download the free weekly podcast on iTunes and Zunes."

Commenting after the interview, Boyd said, "It was pretty fun actually. It's great being involved in this new radio network. We talked about all the horses in training and what's involved in getting horses ready and fit for Kentucky."

Boyd also thinks that eventing radio is an exciting new concept. "The radio show is interesting and it touches on a lot of important issues in the eventing world. I think it's a fantastic way of bringing up issues in eventing; I'll be excited to see how it goes."

Clinic at Cedar Ridge Farm in Athens, Georgia

Last Friday I was lucky enough to teach a clinic at Tom and Carolyn Cadier's Cedar Ridge Farm in Athens, Georgia. Tom and Caroline are well known horse lovers, keen eventers, crazy fox hunters and also the owners, at the time, of a horse by the name of Esker Riada that competed at the Aachen world eventing championships in 2006.

The clinic was fantastic, with the day spent doing private dressage and private jumping lessons. Tom and Carolyn have a world-class training facility. The dressage and jumping arena is awesome, with perfect rubber footing. They also have a massive 30-acre cross-country schooling paddock which is suitable for training horses from beginner novice right through to advanced.

Lucky for me, I am heading back out to their farm to teach on Monday the 2nd of February and again on Monday the 16th of February. Anyone close by that is interested in joining in can check out the Clinics section of my website or email Carolyn directly at cccadier@bellsouth.net

Boyd