Jumping the last fence to win Stuart horse trials on Bellarny Rock
The one horse that HAS had to run is a new ride for Selena called ‘Bellarny Rock’ aka ‘Rocky’. He is an absolutely gorgeous 16.3hh Irish superstar and we are very much enjoying having him at our barn. He is owned and ridden by French rider, Jean Rablat who is based here in Canada. Sadly Jean’s business commitments prevent him being able to set aside enough time to compete Rocky at the Advanced level and he has sent him to us to be sold. Selena has ridden Rocky twice, once at the Prelim to get the feel of him and once at the Intermediate level. He won on both outings, there is nothing like that to get a horse a bit of serious barn adulation! Rocky Rockstar!
Solo is in dressage boot camp and NOT a happy bunny. He looks amazing with a much bigger neck and topline from all his flatwork. However…..we took him to a dressage show recently and he bucked Selena off in the ring! Oops….it’s one thing to buck me off, but he is REALLY not allowed to buck Selena off. She chuckled her way back onto him and did another two tests where he was a little better each time in the ring. Oh well…..I keep telling myself how much worse it would be if he were a brilliant dressage horse and useless at jumping….
Rocky taking time to smell the roses.
Colombo had a week off. After a week he was nosing at everyone who passed his stall and generally letting the world know he was getting a bit bored with pasture ornamentation. He started back every second day and that seemed to be working just fine. He has already put on a ton of weight and looks more like a dressage horse than an eventer. However….the every second day also wore off and we seem to have compromised at five pleasant days of work a week.
Some of our baby horses have been very successful doing ‘first outings’ and similar offerings at local shows with our two amazing staff members, Anne Marie Duarte and Emma Rafuse . They are doing incredibly well. I was particularly proud of our three schoolmasters who were all ridden by clients at a recent dressage show and won four firsts, three thirds and a fourth between them. Way to go boys!
The plan for this year includes two horses being qualified for Fairhill three star in the fall We wanted to run them both in the CCI but with the incredibly hard ground (in terms of qualifying) we may have to run Woody in the CIC. Woody is ready to debut as an advanced horse. He has done three two stars including the Pan Am Games which was reckoned to be pretty tough last year. He is in full work but we are being as conservative as possible with the gallops. If he is to qualify for the CCI, he is going to have to run Advanced at Millbrook in early August – we have entered, but he will not run without rain….ah, back to that again, it does seem to be the all prevailing topic in the Ontario equine community.
Let’s hope the next time I write it will be to celebrate riding out on the grass again.
