Over the Labour Day weekend, Canada had a pair of exciting wins in the Aachen arena with the talented young mare Newberry Balia NL, who became the Sparkassen Youngster Cup Champion. Equally as wonderful is the intertwined history of all the Canadian connections of this talented young horse.
Just five weeks ago, long-time friend Eric Lamaze contacted Muffie Guthrie about an interesting new horse in his sales barn that he thought would be a good fit for her husband, Jeff Brandmaier. Newberry looked and rode like Brandmaier’s current horse, Jenny Van Het Waterblok, who has been such a great mount for Brandmaier.
Guthrie has a long history with Lamaze dating back to the ’80’s when Lamaze rode hunters for Guthrie’s mother, Lorna, before he started selling her jumpers a few years later. One of the first horses he sold to her mother was Hook, a gelding that Lamaze rode on the Canadian team and later Muffie rode to High Amateur Champion at The Royal Winter Fair. Lamaze also sold Damiro van Ter Notelaere to Brandmaier, who rode to the win of the 2011 Seven and Eight-Year-Old division of the Jump Canada Young Horse Series and is now competed by Muffie in the Canadian Hunter Derby series. The list of winning horses goes on.
In a convoluted way, it was actually another purchase from Lamaze that introduced Muffie and Jeff. Lorna had purchased Rostom from Lamaze, who Muffie competed in the Talent Squad. The horse was subsequently sold to a barn in the US where Brandmaier was riding. Curious about the horse’s age, Brandmaier sought Muffie out at a horse show in Ocala. Fast forward a few years and Brandmaier moved to Canada, married Muffie in 2010, and the couple welcomed daughter Liza Jean in 2013.
Suffice to say that when Lamaze says that he thinks a horse is a good fit, Guthrie listens. She agreed with Lamaze about the seven year-old Belgian Warmblood mare by Emerald. It was agreed that the mare would stay in Europe while there were young horse classes to compete in.
“We are so excited about this mare and very proud to own a Canadian horse that is competing and winning in Aachen; that doesn’t happen very often,” said Brandmaier. “The victory is all the sweeter because it involves so many great Canadian friends.”
Chris and Newberry.
To add to the list is another long-time friend, Chris Pratt, now riding for Lamaze, who showed the mare in back-to-back wins in Aachen.
“It’s every riders dream to win a class in Aachen, Germany,” said Pratt in a Facebook post after winning the first class. “Mine came true today!”
Although he’s only been riding her for five weeks, Chris is impressed. “She has the heart of a lion and seems to happily to anything asked of her.
“It’s really great to be working with fellow Canadians Muffie and Jeff,” he added.
The pair will compete at the CSIO 5* in Valkenswaard this weekend and will later travel to Florida for the winter months. While the plan had been for the mare to move to Canada to be Brandmaier’s new young horse, the couple are happy for her to stay in Europe and continue to show under Pratt until winter plans are developed.
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