A Visit From Theault-America

We were able to catch up this week with sponsor, Theault-America, who have been kind enough to provide Boyd and Silva with one of their cutting edge horse boxes since November of last year.

The concept of rear facing horse travel is new to this country, although strongly supported in the European community where it is recognized that horses travel much more comfortably in this position.  After all, their strength is in their hind quarters, so the ability to balance on "their engine" helps provide a much more secure ride for our four legged partners.

The Morpheus horse box is more than a trailer, it a safe and secure way for both horse and rider to travel in comfort, offering every amenity to the serious amateur or busy professional.  The vehicle design is nothing like we have seen here in the US, and the company is looking to grow their US sales and distribution.

Boyd and Silva have been instrumental in giving feedback to the company on the design of the existing 2 horse Morpheus and the 4 horse version which is planned for production in the near future.  To learn more about this cutting edge horse transportation company, please visit Theault-America's website , check out their new US brochure and come to visit them at Rolex Kentucky.

Enjoy this fun video produced by Theault while working the circuit at WEF.

Show Jumping Videos from Southern Pines

Southern Pines Photos from Hoof Pix Sport Horse Photography, LLC.

Thanks to Pamela Eckelbarger for sharing these photos from Southern Pines Horse Trials II. All photos ©Hoof Pix® Sport Horse Photography, LLC and are for use only on this blog posting.

2012 Southern Pines Horse Trials II

Southern Pines was a fantastic event for the upper-level horses. The cross-country definitely tested some of my greener horses and the old faithfuls managed to dance around it unscathed. Unfortunately Crackerjack and Cold Harbor, who both moved up a level recently, misread the water jump; this was no fault of their own but a sign of their greenness at this particular level.

I chose to run Neville, Remi and Ying Yang Yo in the intermediate horse trials to give them a nice easy taste of eventing before I start running them at the Fork. Anne Hennessey’s New Cadet is improving with every start, having begun his intermediate career a couple of events ago. He’s already feeling like a seasoned campaigner. The Flying Frenchman, Otis Barbotiere showed signs of brilliance as well with a good, positive run in the advanced horse trials.

Southern Pines Live Scores

As much as we love Aiken it was wonderful to get back to the farm in Pennsylvania and be reunited with my two show cats, pictured above. They were both thrilled to see me walk through the door at midnight on Sunday.

Work back here is underway with all the young horses looking good and aiming for Plantation in a couple of weeks. The advanced horses will all aim for The Fork at the beginning of April. Looking forward, Ying Yang Yo, Remington XXV and Otis Barbotiere will be going to Rolex, with Neville Bardos, Cold Harbor, Merging and Crackerjack aiming for Jersey Fresh.

-Boyd

More photos coming soon - meanwhile check out the videos below

Leaving Aiken

After three months of glorious weather in Aiken, SC we are starting our journey back towards PA via Southern Pines, NC. We’ve had an awesome winter and all the horses have improved immensely. I’ve had a wonderful team of staff this year with Caitlin, Lindsey, Sarah, Emily and Erin: they have all been enthusiastic, hard working and have also made ground on their own riding careers.

One of the lessons I have taught the girls is saving money, and we had a personal finance exercise with saving on shavings at Southern Pines. We had some shavings left over in Aiken, and I had the bright idea of transporting them to Southern Pines instead of buying them at the event for $13/bag. This turned into one of the most difficult puzzles we have been faced with and prompted many creative ideas from our team. I’m proud to say our horses will be sleeping in luxury thanks to the complex challenge and intense, grueling labor involved in moving the bedding into the truck and the trailer.






I’d like to thank Ilene Boorman and Ron and Densey Juvonen for all of their support. Ilene’s facilities in Aiken are world class with the new cross-country course and jumping ring. Thanks to her wonderful property we saw Bettina Hoy, Lauren Hough and Mark Phillips training some of the best horses and riders found in America right at our winter training base.

Ron and Densey were also good enough to rent two apartments for Silva and me and our staff to live in. It was fantastic fun for all of us to live in style in the middle of town, right across the street from Tako Sushi, and we appreciate the wonderful opportunity to not only train out of a fantastic farm but to also live in luxury.

Stay tuned for updates from Southern Pines

-Boyd

Boyd's 2012 Clinic Calendar!

Clinic Calendar 2012:
Boyd will be doing a restricted clinic schedule for the 2012 season due to the Olympic selections.
He will be facilitating a series of clinics at Waredaca throughout the season.

WAREDACA EXPERT DAYS!
HERE IS YOUR CHANCE to improve your riding skills this year! Select one or all, and know you will be a better rider with a better horse after each Expert Session.

March 28th
May 16th
June 12th
September 5th
October 3rd

Please see Waredaca's website for details and registration forms!

Hoku's Comeback

All Smiles and Looking Good at Pine Top 2012

Hats must go off to Caitlin and Hoku who had their first start since coming second at the Jersey Fresh CCI** in 2011! Poor Hoku had horrendous external burns covering a large portion to her body after being stuck in the Memorial Day barn fire at True Prospect Farm. The most unfortunate factor to her injuries was that the burns were all over her back, where the saddle goes (see photos below). It took months and months of patient waiting for this little mare to heal up so she could start back to work.




I must admire Caitlin's commitment, heart and no-quit attitude throughout the last 10 months. Most young riders would have given up, got overweight, turned into an alcoholic and got pregnant when faced with the challenges that Caitlin endured. She never had a day were her spirits were down, and always worked towards getting her mare back to the thing she loves best: eventing.

Hoku competed in the open training this weekend at Pine Top. After stellar dressage and show jumping, the joys and pleasure of going cross country took over Caitlin's emotions and she sailed straight past a corner on the course. The fairytale comeback event finished in a big TE!

Look out for Caitlin next weekend walking the intermediate course 10 times at Southern Pines...

Boyd