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

It's Full Steam Ahead at Chesterland!

I had the opportunity to spend most of the day at Chesterland yesterday, catching up with Bruce and Susie, and enjoying the busy pace of life at the farm.

Upon arriving, Bruce was teaching several riders, including Rock on Rose's current owner, Whitney Weston, who's taken up residence in Chester County.  Whitney was here to lesson on her newest 4 legged interest, a big Holsteiner gelding who she found in Aaron Vale's barn in Ocala.  Elvis' previous life was as a jumper, but Whitney saw eventing talent and is now retraining him to love eventing, with Bruce's help.  Boy does this horse have a great gallop!

Whitney Weston and Elvis!

The "left coasters" were also out in full force, with Kelly Prather and Frankie Thieriot out in the stadium field.  Kelly has relocated to train out of Chesterland and Frankie has joined her during the spring/summer season while her beau, none other than Mike Stutes, pitches for the Phillies!  We'll have more on Kelly and Frankie as the season progresses.

Maddie and Sabrina

Maddie Blackman has her horses in the upper barn while working for Bruce and bringing along one of Keltic Lion's most talented young horses.  Sabrina is a big boned filly by Charlie, who is going to her first event this weekend at Plantation Field.  We're hoping for some great photos and a full report after the weekend.  We're also happy to say that Gordanstown, after being pulled up at Rolex, is on the road to full recovery and will be back on the circuit shortly.  Their plan is to run Millbrook, Richland and Plantation before tackling the Fair Hill 3* in October!

Maddie also has Khoi Traveler in her line-up, an 8 year old OTTB who just finished his first 1* at the Va Horse Trials, finishing 9th.  He's on the same schedule as Gordy, and is scheduled to do a couple intermediates before Millbrook in August.

Bruce Leading the Youngsters Through the Ring

Zach Leamer and Jan Smith continue to make the barn run like clockwork and are keeping all the babies on schedule with their training program.  We plan to get some more formal pictures of the young horses in a week or two for the website, but they are all in work and looking fabulous!

Rolex had a beautiful and feisty little filly 3 days ago and they were out in the small paddock during the day.  The new filly was enjoying the use of her long legs and keeping Rolex on her toes.  The other foals who were born about a month ago (2 filles and a colt out of Jam) were out in the big field with all the other mares, enjoying their time playing in the pond.  All of Charlie's babies are such curious and personable creatures!

Rolex's New Filly!

Safe travels to Bruce and Susie, who headed north today for Bromont.  Please take the time to look at the candid photos from the farm on the Facebook Photo Album, and don't forget to "like" Mid-Atlantic Equestrian Services on Facebook so you can follow all the adventures at Chesterland!!

Spring Time at Chesterland!

This is my favorite time of year to go visit with Bruce, Susie and the whole crew at Chesterland.  Everyone is settling into a routine and the babies are the center of attention!

Mares and Fillies Coming in for Dinner!

So far there are 3 foals on the ground:  Catalyst, Buck's advanced mare, had a filly, the infamous Jam has had a colt and Amanda (Petite Flower's Mom) had a filly as well.  There is one more mare due and Jan has her hands full with foaling and keeping the young horses in work!

Jam and Her New Colt!

Bruce is very excited that Lola is back in full time work after having some down time this winter due to lyme.  The plan is to start her back at Prelim in June and then bump her up to Intermediate.  He also has 4 three year olds and 2 four year olds out of Charlie who are showing so much promise.  Next week we've planned a photo session to get all the young green prospects up on the website, so check back soon to see Charlie's fabulous youngsters!

Selena O'Hanlon stayed over with us on her way down to MCTA and took this fabulous video of the mares in the pond, which perfectly captures the feeling of spring here at Chesterland!  Keep an eye on our blog for more spring updates and never hesitate to call the farm to set up an appointment to come see our young stock.   610-347-2149

2013 Rolex Ky National Champion - Buck Davidson!!

It was a huge conclusion to an exciting weekend for the Davidson family at the Rolex Kentucky 3 Day Event!  Buck set the bar as the highest placed US rider, finishing 4th on Ballycoe Castle RM (Reggie) and also 9th on Mar De Amor and 22nd on Park Trader! 

The 4th place finish came as an admitted disappointment to Buck, having a couple rails at the end of his show jumping round which dropped him down to 2nd, but his finish on Reggie as the US National Champion is quite a feather in his cap.  Bruce knows how hard his son continues to train and compete, so his success here this year comes as no surprise. 
Full Results

Show Jumping Video on Reggie



Official Rolex Ky Post Show Interview



We hope you enjoy the videos and photos of Buck from the Rolex Ky 3 Day Event.
Photo Gallery of Buck on Facebook

Bruce was also thrilled to see student Kristi Nunnink have her highest place finish (8th) at Rolex to date on her lovely mare R-Star, who has become a national superstar in both looks and talent.  Kristi and Rosie came to Chesterland 2 seasons ago for some training and are prime examples of the results upper level riders can achieve under the guidance of Bruce. 

Kristi Nunnink and R-Star Place 8th
Photo Credit Lisa Thomas

Now that Rolex has concluded, it's time for Bruce to settle back into the farm at Chesterland north, where he will be bringing along another set of young homebreds and competing at USEA events throughout the United States.

You can continue to follow Bruce's breeding program and competition highlights on this blog and through Mid-Atlantic Equestrian Services on Facebook!

Photo and video credits: Lisa Thomas/Mid-Atlantic Equestrian Services.

Bruce's Catches Up with HJU!

Bruce certainly couldn't be prouder of his son's performance this weekend, with 3 solid XC rides successfully completed and 2 horses poised in the top 10 going into stadium!  Reggie is truly top of his game, sitting in third on his dressage score of 45.2, and Mar de Amor impressing us all with his 8th place position on a 55.2, both horses coming home double clear!!

Frankie Theriot caught up with Buck after his run on XC.
http://youtu.be/PFsf-mnRYck

Horse Junkies United was kind enough to catch up with us in front of Bruce's statue of Eagle Lion at the conclusion of XC to get Bruce's reflections on Rolex and his son.


http://www.horsejunkiesunited.com/?p=57638

Bruce is also so happy to see his wonderful student Kristi Nunnink and her beautiful mare R-Star rounding out the top 10!  Best of luck today to all the competitors.

The Rolex Watch is Ticking!!

Buck and Reggie Compliments of Samantha Clark of EN!

Count down to the start of Rolex, and Bruce is on site at the Kentucky Horse Park acting  in many capacities this weekend!  Of course all eyes are on his hard working son, Buck Davidson, who has 3 horses in contention:  Park Trader, Mar De Amor, and his longtime partner, Ballynoe Castle RM (Reggie).

Buck has been knocking it out of the park this year in his lead up to Rolex and a large string of horses, and with each new season he just seems to raise the bar.  Although Park Trader and  Mar De Amor are a bit inexperienced at the 4* level, both have had solid placings at advanced and the 3* level leading up to this event.  Bruce feels that although they're new to Rolex, both these horses have the talent to be quite competitive and as Bruces says, "he's not going to Rolex for a school"!  Reggie and Buck have an amazing resume, and have the tools and talent for a top placing here this year.  Everyone at Chesterland is pulling for them!!  (See Buck's current USEA results)

Thanks  to Samantha Clarke of Eventing Nation for capturing a few great shots of Buck warming up yesterday morning and for providing her usual spectacular coverage of the event!

Bruce will be wearing multiple hats this weekend as father, coach and selector.  In addition to coaching Buck, he is also prepping Maddie Blackman and Kristi Nunnink.   Keep an eye on Horse Junkies United, as we're hoping to arrange a father/son interview on Thursday at the horse park.

Bruce is now just boarding his plan in Philly and I'm about to get in my car for the big 10 hour drive!!  More to come from the horse park tomorrow.........LT