It’s really hard to write a blog about your young horse’s training when you haven’t worked your young horse for about three weeks! First it was Christmas and New Year, then I ended up driving a house trailer down to Florida, four of our horses are setting off for Ocala this week. I will be driving down again with the horses and Solo won’t be back in work until next week. Next year he gets to go south.
While I was in Florida I stayed at Chesterland South, which is Bruce Davidson’s Florida barn. It’s always the most inspiring place to be. No matter what day of the week, or time of the day, there is always something happening. Dozens of horses get schooled and jumped every day with Bruce masterminding and overseeing from the back of his horse. He calls himself ‘practicing to be retired’, he only rides seven or eight a day now…..and probably teaches sever or eight lessons a day too.
Not only did I get to watch all this in action, but the icing on the cake was Leslie Law and Shear L’Eau, the Athens Gold Medalists. They are temporarily based with Bruce in Florida, and there they were, floating around the field….elegant is the first word that comes to mind, the horse is totally elegant. Leslie Law’s girlfriend is Lesley Grant, a Canadian rider who competes with her own horse, Timber Spirit at the advanced level. I watched Leslie give Lesley a lesson, after Leslie rode Lesley’s horse for her….it pays to have a Gold Medalist boyfriend!….and yes, they both looked fantastic.
I am hoping to take a few lessons myself when I am down in Florida this week. I am not sure who from, but there is such a choice down there, it’s like being a kid visiting Disneyworld for horses.
At the end of my visit I did separate interviews with Leslie Law and Bruce Davidson on totally different topics. It was truly inspiring and somehow energizing to hear both of these world class competitors continually use the same phrase, despite the topics being miles apart.
“It’s all about the horse” was the phrase that was repeated over and over again by both superstars, “It’s all about the horse”.
