Neville Bardos is the 2011 USEF International Horse of the Year!

It was announced at a Gala dinner tonight in Cincinnati, OH that Neville Bardos is the 2011 USEF International Horse of the Year. There were a lot of other great horses nominated, and we are all very happy that so many people agreed that Neville is deserving of the title.
Many thanks to all of Neville's adoring fans, and here's to 2012!

Continued Coverage of Neville on NPR!

We received a call today from the BBC regarding the recent front page article in the New York Times.
NPR has run a subsequent radio piece on Neville on "The World", which is part of BBC radio.

Do not fret if you miss it live on your local NPR station. Here it is online. Take a listen!

Boyd and Neville Featured in The New York Times

Neville Bardos is a finalist for international Horse of the Year. More Photos »

By MARY PILON

Published: January 12, 2012

AIKEN, S.C. — The horses’ straw beds were ablaze, with the rest of the barn, when two men rushed in against the flames and black smoke to try to save the 11 horses inside.

“It was horrific,” said Boyd Martin, the trainer. “Basically, you could see some of my horses burnt to death.”
Six were dead. Four others escaped. Neville Bardos, a chestnut gelding and the last living horse in the barn, was found in a corner. They heard him gurgling.

Continue Reading....

And be sure to pick up a copy of today's paper!!!

Working Student Spotlight - Emily van Gemeren

NAME: Emily van Gemeren
DOB: July 4, 1989
HOMETOWN: Canton, CT
WITH WINDURRA SINCE: September 2011
JOB DESCRIPTION: Working Student

Photo credit Shannon Brinkman 

Emily grew up on a horse farm in Connecticut and has been working with and riding horses for sixteen years. She began her eventing career at age 10 on a one-eyed Appaloosa pony when she started training with four-star rider Jennie Goebel Tucker.

While maintaining an active eventing competition schedule, Emily also rode for her high school's Equitation team with coach Rick Caldwell for four years as well as for the Dartmouth College Dressage Team for two years with coach Lindle Sutton.

Emily came to Windurra for 3 months as a working student in 2009 during an off-term from Dartmouth College. Following her graduation in 2011, she has returned to Windurra to train, compete, and work until she starts graduate school (that is the plan for now, anyways!).

Her current competition horse is an Irish Sport Horse called Berkley. She began riding him in 2009 during her time at Windurra, and since then they have developed a special partnership, moving up to the Intermediate level at the end of 2010. In 2011, they successfully completed the Fair Hill International CCI** and plan to move up to Advanced this spring.

PRO Derbycross Returns to Wellington!!

It's that time of year again.........PRO Derbycross returns to Wellington 1/19 & 1/20!!
Come join Team Smartpak, which consists of Boyd, Jennie, Phillip, and polo player Nic Roldan for a fabulous event which blends elements of XC Eventing with GP Show Jumping.  Each team will consist of 3 event riders, 1 show jumper (TBD) and 1 polo player......with all team members tackling an exciting jumping course under the lights in Wellington.

Needless to say the Thursday night Calcutta is quite the party to attend, and the 7 teams in competition are all star studded.  Check out the promo video below & see you there!!
For tickets call 772-633-6129 or email info@professionalriders.org

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.