Selena, Jessica Phoenix and American rider Lauren Kieffer at Rolex this year.
The Spring flies by. With Woody having had a stop at Rolex and subsequently retiring on course, Selena is now getting ready for Bromont. Rolex was a huge disappointment, but the going was slicker than Selena had anticipated and she felt she had not put enough studs in front. Woody slid into the ‘in’ to the first water and he was thoroughly rattled after that. Feeling him unsure of himself for the first time since she started competing on him, Selena retired on course. A difficult decision, but perhaps the right one under the circumstances.
Since we are now going to Bromont, Selena took Woody and Solo down to Bruce Davidson at Chesterland Farm in PA for a tune up last week. Sure enough, Woody showed a little hesitation and ‘peeked’ as he jumped into the water. Selena repeated the exercise until he was once again his usual happy confident self…..phew! It’s always lots of fun at Chesterland. In addition to the most wonderful hills, there are all sorts of cross country fences to school and every day is packed from early to late. Huge thanks to Bruce and Susie Davidson for everything.
Selena has been very busy doing clinics. Now as we had into the Canadian eventing season, we mean to compete on a whole bunch of horses that desperately need some competition experience. The first event planned for six horses is ‘Grandview’ and so far we still don’t have any stabling. If you are close to Grandview and can offer us stabling for either two, four or the whole six, please contact us.
Our fantastic team of owners, supporters and sponsors were very excited when news of the Canadian Team’s qualification for the Olympics in Rio de Janiero became official. For those that are not in the know, one of the French horses at the WEG tested positive for a controlled substance after the dressage phase. It took the FEI a long time to hold a tribunal, but the end result was the disqualification of the French Team. This moved the Canadian Team up into sixth position at the Normandy World Equestrian Games and qualifies Canada to send a team to the Olympics. Only the top six teams at WEG qualify. At this point, the USA is not qualified as a team and will be hoping to qualify at the Pan Am Games in Toronto this Summer. Brazil as the host country is already qualified.
We would like to thank all those people and businesses out there that make it possible and keep Selena and the horses in the condition and with the equipment that it takes. Selena and Woody were recently named to the Canadian Elite Training Group, sharing that honour with long time team mate, Jessica Phoenix on Pavarotti and A Little Romance. Thanks to our sponsors, we couldn’t do it without you.
We are very proud to be supported by:
Omega Alpha Equine – Natural supplements
Agribrands Purina – Horse Feed
FITS – Equestrian clothing
Voltaire – Saddles
Draper Therapies – Saddle Pads
Jo Jo Sox – Sox
La Mundial – Riding Boots
House of Angelis – Fashion and accessories
Last weekend at Jersey Fresh, while we were still schooling horses in the sunshine at Chesterland, our long time friend and team member Jessica Phoenix took a rotational fall and is in hospital as I write this. I have just heard that she is out of intensive care as of this morning. The entire O’Hanlon Eventing Team is more than ready to help Jess in any way that we can. Once we find out what we can do, I hope that all of you will be ready to help Jessica do what it takes to get home and back on her feet. Keep watching Phoenix Eventing Team on Facebook for updates and I am sure that if there is anything we can all do to help, that is where the information will appear.
