News From Maddie Blackman!

Many thanks to Maddie Blackman for sending in her Plantation wrap up and plans for the finish of the 2013 season.  We plan to keep our blog and Facebook page lively with updates....so stay tuned!!

Maddie on Gordonstown

"Plantation was a great weekend all around. I had both my horses competing, Gordonstown and Khoi Traveler.

"Gordy" started the weekend out by doing his last prep before Fair Hill in the Advanced division.  His dressage was ok (as it usually is), maybe a little less opinionated than usual, which was refreshing. He show jumped in lovely form and had an unlucky rail, but was double clear XC for a very exciting finish with 7th overall.   Our eyes are set in Fair Hill now!

Randy and Maddie heading to the start box

"Khoi" was competing in the one star that weekend. He had a very steady dressage and a great SJ round with just one rail.  Around noon he went out XC and put in a double clear, so I was very excited to have this horse go so well, as we are still getting to know each other.   He is just getting better and better with each event and has such a bright future!  Khoi's plans include the prelim at the NJ horse park before finishing the year at the VA horse park before moving up to intermediate.

Khoi at the Startbox!

It was so nice to be on home turf and to have all of us from Chesterland there to support and help eachother over the weekend.  The best part was having both my Mom and Dad be able to watch Gordy go on Saturday. They are such big supporters and it was nice to share  such a great day with them!"

Kelly Prather Impresses in the Prelim Futurity at PFI!

We've been able to catch up with another resident BDE rider, Kelly Prather, who's relocated from the west coast to be based out of Chesterland as well. Kelly and several of her young Chesterland bred horses had a very good showing at the recent Plantation International Event!

News from Kelly:

"It was a very good day for all 3 horses at Plantation Field, with all performing well in dressage, with only a couple of minor mistakes, still I was very happy with them. Show jumping was the biggest, brightest international ring with cars and decorations which none of them had seen, and they still performed very well. It was a challenging course with lots of turns and technical questions.  

Truly Wiley

Truly Wiley, one of Bruce’s homebreds out of his Irish TB mare “Tears of a Loss” by “Salute the Truth”, jumped a great round. We had 2 unlucky rails but overall he jumped really well. Both he and St. Laurent, who's owned by Valerie Mackey, had fantastic X-C rounds. Truly Wiley placed 5th and St. Laurent was 8th in the Prelim Futurity.

Truly Wiley

Flagmount’s Nightcap, aka “Simon”, is another of Chesterland’s homebreds out of Bruce's “Memorial Cap” and sired by Flagmount Freedom, won the Prelim Futurity going double clean in both the challenging show jump and XC courses!  

Flagmount's Nightcap

Thanks to Charles Owens and Dover Saddlery for their great gifts and sponsorship of the Futurity Division."

Photo credits Susie Tuckerman

Annie Eldridge Reports On Her Stunning Keltic Lion Foal!

Just received a recent email from Annie Eldridge, a friend and breeding client who splits her time between Duxbury, MA and Southern Pines, NC.  

We were able to catch up with Annie recently while she was down to watch all the action at Plantation Field International, and then schedule a visit over at Chesterland to see Charlie and all the young horses.
Annie is a lifelong horse woman who competed in 3 Day Eventing until an unexpected illness sidelined her from getting in the tack.  She continues to work on her recovery while being a huge supporter of the sport, whether it's cheering for her hometown rider, Ariel Grald, or continuing to breed and produce classic sport horses!

Annie has one Charlie colt on the ground and one due in 2014.  Here is her gorgeous colt at 5 months.

Fabulous Lion at 5 Months!

"I have been running a small breeding program for 7 years but I have never seen a weanling that looks
this strong and handsome at such a young age. His mother, Fabulous Jada, is a beautiful,
sweet, talented TB with excellent bloodlines, and of course Keltic Lion is his sire, so I'm calling
the colt "Fabulous Lion" with the nickname of Lion. 

The colt was so stunning, even as a tiny foal, that I had an easy choice picking a sire for Jada's next baby ... I bred her right back to Charlie.  So, how lucky am I -- I have another Jada/Charlie baby on the way ,May 2014 (fingers crossed,always)."

"My Lion is so sweet and friendly that he practically crawls into your lap when you visit
him. He is loving and kind and such a beautiful, athletic mover, even as a weanling! So I am
absolutely thrilled to have this wonderful colt as a "Setters' Run Farm " (SRF) homebred. I
am lucky that he wil be raised, as are all my homebreds, under the careful guidance of
Mona  Gardella at Rough Diamonds Farm in Aberdeen, NC -- Mona specializes in breeding and
she just has a magic touch when it comes to raising foals. 

My heart is broken because I cannot ride now due to illness but I am working hard to recover and my new  goal will be to ride Lion someday!"  ~ Annie Eldridge, Duxbury, MA and So. Pines, NC

Thanks so much to Annie for sending in this recent update and good luck in your continued recovery.   We love to hear from our Chesterland friends and can't wait to see keep track of both youngster's progress!!

Whitney and Lusty Rock On at Plantation!!

This past weekend at Plantation Field International, Whitney Weston, riding Chesterland produced favorite, Rock on Rose, competed with other international level event riders, and came home with great results! Whitney has solidified a fabulous relationship with Lusty and we couldn't be happier with her result from this past weekend.  Whitney was kind enough to send along the following commentary on her weekend at PFI.



"Plantation Field held many thrills and spills this weekend, luckily I had only thrills this time! Lusty (Rock on Rose) was fab and relaxed in the dressage, scoring a 35, a record for us at Advanced. Friday was a "free day", giving me plenty of time to learn the tricky X-C course and walk with my students.

Saturday was the big day, not only did we have to focus on the huge show jumping course, but half an hour later we were expected to change gears and mindset to run around cross country! Show jumping went great, adding only one rail to our dressage score before quickly changing it up for the XC course. Bruce Davidson, my mentor and coach, gave me great advice throughout, saying that if there were ever a horse for this course, it was Lusty. She runs bold and fast, and the advice was to not take too much time in the turns, setting up my lines more off the eye, in order to make the time.

Plantation Advanced offered maxed out tables, technical lines, and tricky lighting at spots. We ran around clear and 8 seconds inside the time to finish on a score of 39 in 6th place! Many thanks to everyone at Chesterland for their support leading up to and during the event. 

I'd also like to thank my good friend David Frechette who caught most of the course on video, while Cindy Lawler captured some of the most exciting moments of our day on camera."

Jump like you mean it! ~ Whitney and Lusty

Cross Country

Father & Son Team Endorses KER Sport Horse Nutrition

Father and son team of Bruce and Buck Davidson continue to use KER nutritional products as their "fuel" of choice for their breeding program and competition horses.  The relationship with KER and the Davidson's has existed for years, which lead to the natural progression of their endorsement of KER's feed line.

"We’ve been connected to Kentucky Equine Research for many years. Founder and president of KER Joe Pagan has helped us with our feeding program no matter where we are, whether it’s Pennsylvania, Florida, or overseas. So it seems only natural that we go this route and use KER Sport Horse Nutrition feeds on our group of high-performance horses."

Bruce feeds the KER Re-Leve Sport and KER Ovation to keep his competition horses performing at their peak and recovering safely after excursion.  His animal's level of conditioning has never been better.

OVATION delivers the necessary levels of fat and complex carbohydrates for optimal sport horse performance. This pelleted feed is formulated with unique KER ingredient technologies, including RE●LEVE OIL. OVATION is a palatable formulation designed for sport horses requiring balanced energy for maximum performance during competition and efficient muscle recovery afterwards.

RE●LEVE Sport is a completely fortified performance feed designed specifically for sport horses. This textured feed contains balanced omega fat sources and fiber-based carbohydrates for optimal performance. RE●LEVE Sport provides calories that deliver manageable energy for optimal sport horse focus.

Earlier this year in Ocala, Samantha Clark produced a fun set of video vignettes, which captures this unique father and son relationship!

 Go over to the KERsport.com website and check out the videos!

Love This Father's Day Tribute from EN

Bruce and Buck Davidson with Buck's Land Rover. Photo courtesy of Land Rover.

Better late than never!  Thanks to EN for this great Father's Day tribute!!

From Buck Davidson: I’m thankful for everything my Dad taught me and everything he’s done for me. He’s been the best Dad I could ask for. It hasn’t always been easy, but he’s been amazing to me and taught me some tough lessons. There aren’t a lot of warm and fuzzy moments with my Dad, but there are a lot of great memories.

A moment that sticks out to me with my Dad is at Kentucky this year when I won the Land Rover. We had to take pictures with the Land Rover, and my Dad was going through the car looking in the front seat and back seat seeing how it would work for him to drive it. As he was sitting in the back seat, he asked, “This is your car? You won this at Kentucky?”

We were standing right by his statue at the Kentucky Horse Park, which made it so funny when he said, “Man, I need to get back into this sport!” He’s done so much more than me in this sport, but he never won a car at Kentucky. It shows how far the sport has come, and that’s a moment I’ll never forget.

Dancing Queen!

We recently received a great email from Jocelyn Hawe, a trainer who has one of our Chesterland home breds up in New England.

Dancing Queen and Jocelyn Hawe

"Just a quick note and a photo... Billie (that is what we call her) won her division at GMHA on a 22!  She will go Novice at Groton House, and then will move up to Training. She is fabulous!"

Jocelyn has been training Billie for the past year and last year she won the YEH 4 y.o. competition at GMHA HT as well.

"She is a highly intelligent, confident horse, and an incredibly fast learner. She is a lovely gal and I feel very lucky to have her in my barn. There is a brightness to her that makes you love her."

We love getting this feedback from clients who have purchased a Chesterland prospect, and we look forward to watching Billie rise up through the levels!

Photo reproduced with permission from Joan Davis and Flatlandsfoto.com