Silva Tops USEA Auction

Tonight during the USEA Convention an auction took place to raise money for Equine Cardivascular Research. Lessons with several riders were auctioned off, followed by a few items of interest including a saddle pad signed by the members of the Olympic Team that competed in Hong Kong. The top-earning item was a bracelet, donated by Karen O'Connor, made from the tail hair of her four-star pony partner Thedore O'Connor who passed away earlier this year. The winner of the auction, in which bidding stopped at an impressive five thousand dollars, graciously returned the bracelet to Karen.

She may not be an eventer but Silva's lessons have become popular, and she had the distinction of being "auctioned" for the highest price, at $1200 thanks to eventing enthusiast David Jefferey.



Boyd achieved the second-highest price, of $950, (and for the record, both of them kept their clothes on!), from bidder D.C. McBroom, who bid highly for Silva as well.




Photos copyright Amber Heintzberger

Boyd to Ride for USA!

Boyd Martin to Ride for USA!

Contact: Amber Heintzberger, 828-289-0658 or amberwriter@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Following an outstanding competition year in which he finished second overall on the USEA/Nutrena Rider of the Year leader board, Australian event rider Boyd Martin has made the decision to change nationalities to officially represent the United States in equestrian competition.

Boyd and his wife Silva have lived in the U.S. for two years, and since Boyd’s mother is from the United States he has dual citizenship. Boyd and Silva plan to remain in the United States, so Boyd has formally declared to the FEI that he will represent the US in future competitions. Silva, who is a German citizen, has filed the papers to change her citizenship as well.

“In a sense I’ve already got a family tie to American representation, because my mum represented the U.S. in the 1968 winter Olympics in speed skating,” said Boyd. “When I told them I was thinking about making the switch, both of my parents thought it was a great idea. Since I’ve been an American citizen for the past 15 years it was just a case of changing my nationality as a rider, but it’s still a big deal; when I contacted Sara Ike, the USEF High Performance manager for eventing, she made it clear to me that as far as the FEI is concerned, you can only change once.”

One reason for the change is that Boyd and Silva both have many American owners, and they feel that it is more rewarding for owners to have horses represent their own country.

“They put a lot of effort and money into it, and American owners are American patriots that want the opportunity to represent their country,” said Boyd. “Silva and I love the country and the sport here and we have both decided to continue our careers here, probably for the rest of our lives, so we want to support the sport in the United States.”

Boyd reassured his friends back in Australia that his decision was nothing personal: “I rang and informed Wayne Roycroft before my decision went public and informed him personally. The point I really wanted to make clear to Wayne is that it was a decision that was nothing to do with Australian selection. I have never, ever felt I have been treated unfairly by Australian selectors. At then end of the day, I have chosen to move my life and career to America as a professional event rider and I feel I will be in a stronger position being an American rider, riding in America.”

He also recognizes that changing nationality is a long ways from getting selected for a US team. “I realize I have to come up with great performances on top-class horses to achieve my goal of representing the US in competition,” he acknowledged.

Based at Phillip Dutton’s True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania, Boyd and Silva’s business focus is on competing, training, lessons and sales. They also have a breeding program in Australia and import several horses to the United States each year. Silva has had tremendous success competing in the USDF Young Horse program and their homebred gelding Jeff the Chef won the Fourth Level Championships in 2008.

Boyd is planning to bring over a few special horses and is seeking owners to take part in this journey. “Part of my big focus this year is trying to get some people involved with some of these horses that I own in Australia and have picked to bring over to America as potential team horses,” he commented.

In 2008 Boyd’s competitive successes included winning the CIC** at Bromont (Canada) riding Galileo, finishing 9th at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** on Neville Bardos, and winning the Intermediate Gold Cup at the Stuart Horse Trials on Bailey Wick. Capping this stellar year, he and Remington XXV placed fifth in the CCI** and Belmont placed fifth in the CCI*** at the Fair Hill International three-day event in October. Boyd currently has several horses competing at the upper levels of eventing, so 2009 should be another exciting year, this time representing the USA.

For more information or to contact Boyd and Silva go to www.boydandsilvamartin.com

On Thursday Silva and I are heading down to New Orleans for the four-day US Eventing Association Annual Convention. We’re looking forward to checking out the city and starting to get more involved with the ins and outs of the USEA. There will be a lot of great forums we’ll be attending as well as High Performance meetings. I’m also looking forward to the awards luncheon, as it’s the first time I’ve been awarded anything of this stature in the USA. I’ll just have to keep an eye on Silva when she heads out shopping along Bourbon Street!

I think it’s great having seminars at a convention like this, away from a competition where you’re concerned with your horse and all that goes with it. It’s a good chance for all of us to focus on issues on details of the sport like qualification.

There’s been lots of talk about what we need to do to make our sport safer. My point of view is that making the courses easier would just make more riders eligible to compete at the higher levels before they’re ready. Sooner or later you’ll have a bunch of horses and riders thinking they’re ready for the three and four-star levels and they’ll have a rude awakening when faced with international standards.

I think that each horse should be required to complete a minimum of six events with a clear cross-country round and one rail or less down in the show jumping before they are allowed to move up a level. For instance you’d have to complete six novices clear on cross-country and with a rail or less down before you could move up to training level. This would produce horses slower – it would take around nine months or a year to move up a level – which creates confidence and a better understanding for the questions asked.

A big problem is when horses are rushed, they tend to have accidents when they’re not ready for what they’re doing. We have to slow down the training process. Also when you’d buy a horse you’d be assured it’s ready for the level it’s advertised at. A horse could still do advanced by age eight, which I think is plenty young enough, and with the short format we’re seeing horses compete until they’re 17 or 18 years old anyway. That’s a long time.

I hope I can get involved in the debate of making eventing safer. I really think this is the answer, to slow the rapid progress. If you can’t do a prelim, why move up to intermediate?

Finally I think the convention will be a fantastic social event to hang out with my fellow competitors, owners, sponsors and supporters. Usually at an event I’m walking courses and running around and riding, so it will be nice to have this opportunity to spend some quality time with everyone.

-Boyd

Thanks to the Horses and Owners

With the Thanksgiving holidays on everyone's mind, Boyd and Silva would like to extend their thanks to all their owners and sponsors, their clients, and especially to the horses.

It's been a busy year and Boyd wrapped it up by finishing second overall on the Nutrena Rider of the Year Leader Board, an impressive feat in any case, but especially since it is only his second year competing in the United States.

There may be a break in the competition calendar but Boyd and Silva are both staying busy teaching and training.

Boyd says:

"I did a clinic in Maryland at the Maryland Equestrian Center over the weekend and had a great time with about 15 lower-level riders working on dressage and show jumping.

"All the horses that I took to Fair Hill have come back into work and it was great to ride them again. They’re walking for a week and then will start some dressage work. Neville Bardos was with Silva doing dressage all summer and is greatly improved and it’s good to have him back.

"Silva has Jan Byyny’s horses Syd Kent and Waterfront in training, and has been working a lot on their changes, and might take one or both of them to Wellington this winter. She also has Jennie Brannigan’s horse Cooper. It looks like a lot of eventers are taking this chance to catch up on some dressage training.

"Silva will head to Florida on January first and I’ll go to Aiken January 15th. We’re heading to Australia for the Christmas holidays but before that we’re going to check out the USEA Annual Convention in New Orleans, where I think we’ll have a good time and I’ll be receiving a few awards."

Stay posted for more exciting news later this week!

Clinic at Morven Park

Boyd and Silva conducted a clinic at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia November 15-16, 2008. Silva taught dressage lessons on Saturday and Sunday, while Boyd taught show jumping on Saturday and cross-country on Sunday. About 30 riders, ranging from beginner novice to preliminary level, took part in the weekend's activities.

Boyd said, "The dressage was luckily indoors because conditions were pretty rough; it rained a lot on Saturday and it was bloody cold all weekend. Silva worked with riders on the tests they'll compete next season. In the show jumping I worked on rideability and adjustability, with a lot of lines with turns and courses that included sharp turns and jumps without too long an approach.

"On Sunday we used the schooling field, which is about 30 acres with about 100 fences. It was the first I've seen of it and the footing was perfect. We had three or four falls that day, not a bad effort with that many ride. I was lucky enough to sit on Melissa Stubenberg's four-year-old gelding, who was last year's Future Event Horse Champion (pictured above, Boyd on "Prince" at a horse trials during the summer, photo courtesy of Meillissa Stubenberg). He was a little full of himself, which is why I rode him, but he's a nice horse with a good future in front of him.

"The general consensus was that it was a great idea for a clinic, and we're talking about doing another one in the spring. Next weekend I'm teaching another clinic, in Millbrook, New York, while Silva keeps things running at home."

Hassler Dressage Young Dressage Horse Trainers Symposium

From Friday to Sunday, November 7-9, Silva took part in the Hassler Dressage Young Dressage Horse Trainers Symposium

"First of all, Scott and Suzanne are doing a great job organizing these things. It was great getting trainers from around the country together to discuss ideas. Every night they showed videos of show and training, often from Germany. Of course I grew up in Germany, but it's good to see what is going on there.

"I knew the clinician, Ingo Pape, because he and his wife had horses at Rudolf Zeilingers. They breed a lot of very nice horses. At this clinic they had about nine horses a day, three-year-old's up to seven-year-old's. Jeff is seven so he was always the last to go. All three days he was awesome. Ingo helped me with the pirouettes and piaffe/passage. He really helped a lot.

“There were about sixty people watching and nine riding; all the auditors were trainers who had taken part before. This was the fourth time they’ve had the clinic and they kept it closed to trainers so that we could really talk about each horse and not worry about upsetting anyone.

“Good on Scott doing it that way, because otherwise it becomes more of a show. It wasn’t an issue for me since I own Jeff, but sometimes people guard what they say around owners and the press. There will be other opportunities for press and owners. You didn’t have to be careful saying anything here, so communication was very open. No one was bagging anyone out, it was just a very open discussion.”

-Silva

Shatzi W Excels at Rubicon

Rubicon was the last event of the year and went really well. Schatzi W finished the year in glorious fashion, coming second in the prelim on her dressage score of 39.4. We brought her over from Australia in March and she's done about ten events now, and her worst placing was fifth. She has never taken a rail in show jumping, which I find exciting - she's proven herself as one of the best jumpers around.

I actually took her in a couple of intermediates; she placed third and fifth but she seemed a little green and spooky at some of the fences so I put her back to prelim to make sure she's bursting with confidence. She'll come out at prelim in the spring and I'll see how she feels, then maybe do her first two-star at Jersey Fresh or Bromont.

I also finished fourth in the prelim riding Valentino III, a new ride for me. He belongs to Cathy Robinson and is a sales horse. He was sensational and we have some people coming to look at him this weekend. I think he'll be a good Young Rider horse - he's not dead easy, not for a child, but he's got a bit of talent in him.

I also rode a few babies, the most successful of which was This Is Houston, who finished third in Open Novice on 30.5. My good friend Paddy Young used to ride him as a steeplechase horse. This Is Houston is owned in partnership by Phillip and Evie Dutton and Shannon Stimson, so there was a little pressure to do well on that horse and keep the boss happy!

-Boyd