Final Days at WEG Training Camp

Left to Right: Woodburn, Remington XXV and Neville Bardos

The second week of our training camp has been productive for both horses. Oded came in on Monday and Tuesday and we concentrated on specific movements out of the dressage test and both horses were fantastic and looked like they could do a super test any time soon. Katie Prudent flew down from VA on Wed and gave the whole group a jump school. They still had the course set up from the AEC so we basically warmed up and jumped specific lines from the course that had proved particularly troublesome at the competition. Both boys jumped extremely well; I was over the moon with them.

Neville doing what he loves most

Tomorrow at 7am is our final mandatory gallop and then apparently they’re going to trot the horses up at 11:00 for their final health inspection. If all looks good then Neville will leave for the horse park in Phillip’s trailer at midnight on Friday night and Remington will leave for a barn next door to the Horse Park where all alternate horses will stay in work and on standby until the Games are over. The US team has the option of replacing any horse on the team with an alternate up until Tuesday.

All the riders leave tomorrow afternoon in a car. We have to go through the rider/athlete processing on Friday evening and get our accreditation and be ready for the opening ceremony on Saturday night.

Andrea packing

We spent this afternoon strategically packing all our horses and gear; my young horses go back to PA tomorrow with Lillian and then Neville and Remington go their separate ways tomorrow. To be quite honest it still doesn’t seem anything is for sure, because in the business of training event horses all your plans can change after one gallop. I figure like I’ve done everything I can to get them both going their best and I just have to hold my breath.

I’ve been pretty focused here in the camp, and I’ve kept myself busy all day every day, doing a bit of teaching and getting plenty of exercise and helping Andrea in the barn.


The evenings have been good fun with a team dinner of some sort each evening. Last night we had a send-off cocktail party at Carl Bouckaert’s house which also happened to be Capt. Mark Phillips’ 52nd birthday.
My next blog update will come next week from the Kentucky Horse Park!

-Boyd

Exciting New Sponsorship from HayGain!

Contact Information:

Clint Joiner Monica Arnold

Director, HAYGAIN North America Public Relations Director

1.800.525.4339 731.512.0080

clint@haygain.us monica@blueaugust.com

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  

HAYGAIN Sponsors Award-Winning Competitor

  

Union City, TN – HAYGAIN Hay Steamers is proud to announce its sponsorship of award-winning U.S. Eventing competitor Boyd Martin.  

Born an Australian native, Boyd Martin relocated to the United States in 2007 to pursue his dream of becoming an international eventing competitor. In Australia, he won the 2003 Adelaide CCI**** and trained out of Heath and Rozzle Ryan’s equestrian center. Boyd worked as assistant trainer to Olympic Gold Medalist Phillip Dutton during his first two years in the United States. During that time, he also saw great success as a competitor, placing 2^nd and 4^th overall at the 2007 Fair Hill CCI*** and winning the 2008 Bromont CCI** in Canada.

Boyd officially changed his citizenship with the FEI in 2009 and began riding for the United States. Also in 2009, Boyd won the CIC*** at Jersey Fresh, the CCI*** at Fair Hill, and was named the USEA preliminary rider of the year. Soon after, he and Neville were named to the revised 2010 USEF Eventing High Performance Training “A” list.

2010 has been a year of great success for Boyd, including first place wins at Pine Top Winter Horse Trials I, Sporting Days Farm Horse Trials, Southern Pines Horse Trials II, Bromont Three-Day Event, Surefire Horse Trials, Event at Rebecca Farm, Millbrook Horse Trials, Waredaca Farm Horse Trials and Richland Park Horse Trials. Boyd has also placed well in several other prestigious competitions including The Fork, Fair Hill International, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and the Virginia Three-Day Event among others. Boyd is currently ranked 3^rd on the USEA 2010 Overall Leaderboard with a total of 412.0 points. To top off all of the excitement this year has brought, Boyd has reached his goal and will ride for Team USA at the 2010 Alltech/FEI World Equestrian Games to be held in Lexington, Kentucky from Sept 25 through October 10.

Boyd, his wife Silva, and their business, Windurra USA, LLC, are based out of Phillip Dutton’s True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Penn. While Boyd assisted Dutton and began competing on his own, Silva, a licensed riding instructor from Germany, worked hard to establish a successful dressage training business where she has become a well respected and sought-after dressage instructor for all levels of eventing.

The HAYGAIN team is proud to support Boyd as he continues his journey in Three Day Eventing. On behalf of the HAYGAIN team, Congratulations and best of luck for the World Equestrian Games!

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To learn more about HAYGAIN hay steamers, visit www.haygain.us. For any questions or requests, please contact Monica Arnold, PR Director -Blue August- at monica@blueaugust.com.

Boyd Featured in Pre-WEG Article

Boyd and Phillip were featured in an article by the Agence France-Presse out of Washington, DC, which went out to magazines, newspapers and TV and radio, reaching tens of millions of people around the world. Click here to read the article!

Training Camp at Chattahoochee Hills

One of the lakes on the grounds on an early morning hack with Remington

So far so good in the training camp here at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, Georgia. Oded Shimoni has been here working on the dressage with both Neville and Remi the last few days. We’ve also been doing lots of video analyses of the dressage tests we’ve ridden with Mark Phillips. Tomorrow we have a gallop booked in and everyone has been working hard at improving the footing, aggravating it and putting footing down on the track – Carl Bouckaert has a carpet factory and his son-in-law and daughter, Michael and Nathalie Pollard, have a company that makes footing with the remnants.

Mark presenting me with my red coat at dinner last night

We had a team dinner last night where Mark Phillips presented me with my pink coat (which is red). I’m the only one on the American team riding in a red coat for the first time, and that was quite a nice surprise. It’s also still a long ways from the WEG and I know a lot of things can still go wrong with either horse, so even though I’ve got the coat I’ve still got a lot of work ahead of me before I can use it.

Watching a dressage lesson with Karen O'Connor and Becky Holder

All the riders are getting along together very well – there’s a fantastic team spirit in the camp. My next-door neighbor Karen O’Connor has been taking care of me like I was the child she never had. I’ve seen a softer side of Karen which includes cooking me up a cup of coffee every morning and washing my clothes for me.

Hotel Martin: we’re living it up!

I’ve gone for a camping stall in accommodations here at Chattahoochee. While other riders are living the good life in high end hotels, I’ve turned my trailer into a five-star camping facility. I’m keeping myself busy through the day riding Charla and Summer, swimming in the lake and doing running and yoga and watching the other training sessions.

Photos thanks to English Super Groom Andrea Beech!

-Boyd

Team USA!

Photo copyright Amber Heintzberger

During the meeting today to announce the US Eventing team heading to the World Equestrian Games I felt like I was on a TV reality show with everyone lined up. Head of the selectors Mike Huber had a prepared speech and read out the names of the team members first, in alphabetical order, and then the alternates. I had a big sigh of relief when my name was called out twice, for the team with Neville Bardos and reserve with Remington XXV. I also felt terrible for the riders who weren’t picked. After the announcement we all gave each other a big hug and then went in to have a private meeting with Mark Phillips to decide schedules for the next couple of weeks.

There was a big question mark in the air whether Neville or Remi would get picked: in my opinion they’re both in cracking form at the moment. I feel like Remi’s five points better in the dressage, Neville’s about 5 time penalties quicker cross-country, and they’re about on par for the show jumping. The selectors never pulled me aside and asked my preference. To be quite frank I’m not sure which one is the best choice, which is a great position to be in.

I have to give a big thank-you to Densey Juvonen, the owner of Remington, who was ecstatic that Neville got picked. We’ve decided that Remington will travel to France to compete at Pau later this year if he’s not required to step in at the final hour for the WEG. Ron and Densey have been so supportive to both Silva and I throughout this whole campaign to get to the WEG over the past two years that I feel like they’re a huge part of Neville’s success as well. They’ve been great supporters of not only their own horse but his wind-sucking stable mate Neville Bardos and they’ll still be in Kentucky cheering us on.

Last night Buck Davidson and I went to an Atlanta Braves game to unwind before the big announcement. Now it's on to the final weeks as I prepare for my first opportunity to represent Team USA!

-Boyd

WEG Team Selection Veterinary Inspection

Both Neville and Remington endured a long and tedious examination by Drs. Cathy Kohn, Brendan Furlong, PJ McMahon and Sarah Gold.

It was a long and vigorous exam in front of all the selectors and coaches. It included trot-ups, flexion tests and ultrasounds to check for hidden secrets amongst the horses. Both the boys vetted well and there were no surprises with either of them as they had to endure a similar examination two weeks ago after the Richland CIC.

At the moment everyone is sitting back and waiting for the big decision tomorrow afternoon. There’s an erie, somber feeling through the barn and it’s very interesting and exciting to try and work out who’s staying and who’s going.

-Boyd

American Eventing Championships and Final Outing for WEG Team Selection

Anne Hennessey's Summer Breeze relaxing in the stables

Summer Breeze had an exceptional result at the Novice Championship at the American Eventing Championships at Carl Bouckaert's farm in Chattahoochee Hills, GA – it was the toughest novice course she’s seen by far and she galloped around perfectly. She came out on Saturday and show jumped a brilliant round, much to the delight of her loving owner Anne Hennessey. After this I feel like she’s ready to move up, so I’ll be looking for a training level event to take her to at the end of the year.

The other main mare in my life, Ron and Densey Juvonen's Charla also had a brilliant weekend at the preliminary horse championship. She rocketed around the cross-country inside the time and show jumped her usual clear round, finishing fourth out of an astounding sixty-four entries. Again I think Charla has proved herself this year and wants to look at doing an intermediate some time in the near future.

Getting expert advice from Katie Prudent and Mark Phillips
while Andrea Beech puts the finishing touches on Neville Bardos

The two advanced boys, Remington XXV and Neville Bardos, were excused by the US Selectors from doing the cross-country. They did a mandatory gallop on Saturday morning under the watchful eyes of the selectors and vets. In Sunday’s show jumping our super coaching from Katie Prudent paid off, and we got a hand from Katie with a little warm-up before our rounds. She had them jump through a couple of little grids and some complicated exercises to wake them up and make them think.

Remington XXV

Remington jumped the best round of his life, pulling out a clear round inside the time.

Neville Bardos

The Bardos wasn’t too far off the pace and pulled a rail in the triple but I was pleased with the way they both jumped.

Relaxing with Mark Phillips and Henri Prudent after Neville's round

Today, Monday, my partner in crime Andrea Beech, (top class English working student/groom), and I have a big day of getting through the vet inspection before the team is announced on Tuesday. This consists of flexion tests, longeing on a tight circle and then enduring x-rays and ultrasounds to make sure the horses are in tip top shape.

-Boyd

Photos copyright Amber Heintzberger 2010 - not to be reproduced without permission. Email amberwriter@aol.com