Thursday, April 7, 2011

Update from Bruce!

I had a great chat with Bruce today regarding the past month's adventures at Chesterland South. We talked about the fun PRO Derby Cross event held down in Wellington March 5, 2011 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, Rocking Horse and the plans for this season.



Bruce rode Petite Flower in this team competition which consisted of riders from the disciplines of Eventing, Show Jumping and Polo! The course was a combination of show jumping and XC questions, where speed, time, and a clean round qualified the rider to jump the final optional fence for 4 bonus points off their time. Buck, Will Faudree (fastest round of the day), Aaron Vale & the team polo player, Kris Kampsen rounded out this winning team. This was a great outing & with the inclusion of other disciplines really created some great camaraderie within horse sports, and their TEAM FARMVET/CAVALOR won!!

Rocking Horse Wrap Up
All of the young horses have benefited from their time down in Florida and are exceeding Bruce's expectation. Here’s Lolo, a big fancy grey mare, who's a beautiful mover and exceptional jumper,
went training again and has gotten a ribbon every time.

Expensive Playmate (chestnut mare pictured) also continues to impress with a win the last time out, but had a bit of bad luck 3 or 4 fences from home when her bridle snapped, and since they were riding in a gag Bruce was left with one reign and had to pull up. She jumping into the sunken road, glanced off the narrow and then Bruce was able to circle her so they could stop. A bit of a hair raising moment, but both horse and rider pulled up without incident.

Bruce was also proud of student David Koss won the Intermediate on Sweet Thing! David's running in the CIC 3* this weekend at the Fork then will head to Jersey Fresh in May. This will be their first attempt at the 3* level, but Bruce has confidence in their abilities and is also looking forward to David's trip back to Unionville where he will stay for the season.

Keltic Lion continues to impress everyone in the barn with his ultimate disposition, calm intelligence (he ships to the events with 3 mares), great work ethic and competitive talent!! He topped the Prelim division at Rocking Horse his second time out at this level, and the plan it to move him up to Intermediate in the Fall.

This special stallion has the makings of an international event horse and is gaining the attention of several owners, including Absolute Liberty's owner Sharon Will who bred and raised this talented mare. Buck has been riding her for Sharon who recently decided to breed Liberty to Keltic Lion through a surrogate. Breeding and producing top international sport horses has been a lifelong achievement at Chesterland Farm, and Bruce is happy to see that most people are now realizing that you've got to produce your next upper level prospect from the ground up!

Enjoy Susie's photos from Derby Cross and Rocking Horse and we'll have another update shortly after The Fork!!