We have a new grand prix horse, which has caused much scandel in the dressage world his name is liebling or lenny for short, fifi and I picked him up last week from his owners yard, he is the former ride of anna ross davis much to every ones surprise, it is sad for anna to lose such a horse after putting so much time and effort into him, but as she said her self she would rather he went to carl than any body else, and to be truthful thankgod his owner Donald wanted to keep such a horse for the british team, we are not dutch or german we do not have the amazing breeding programs that they have or the monumentus finances to buy these amazing horses so surely we should all be breathing a sye of relief that the horse has remained on british soil and is availible for selection for our team!!!!!!!!!!
Unforntunatly there are always a few who feel the need to make them selves feel better by trying to undermine, there have been lots of comments on the bd and horse and hound forums from dressage people who seem to think that is the perfect chance to let out some of there own frustations, needless to say most of the petty comments have been removed and i feel that this very personal attack on our yard is unjustifed and unfair all of our ponies are looked after to the highest standards a lot of blood sweat and tears go into our yard from a very dedicated team and to anybody who has been to our yard you will know how much time and pride we take in what we do and to those that havent look at the photos of our ponies come see them at shows you will see that they are all happy and look very well, it makes me feel sad that if this is the spirit of the sport of dressage, is it any wonder its known as such a bitchy sport having been an event groom at a very high level for a number of years i saw nothing but a real feel of support from other riders and grooms and the same in showjumping but there is a great wall between the dressage lot luckily for me i know a few jumpers and have a few friends in the other sports so on arrival at my first competitions i had people to chat to as most of the dressage grooms wernt so friendly and when i told friends i was coming to work in dressage they called it the dark side!! and right now thats how it feels! Carl is one of are most decorated and NICEST riders why must we be so negative towards him this was not an easy desicion for him but the choice was the horse came to him or it went to a foriegn rider, he is in contact with anna they have chatted about lenny and anna has kindley helped with back ground information about the pony, if anna and carl can deal with this situation come on people be supportive and be grateful the pony has come to a wonderfful home where he has settled in very quickly he is being made to feel very welcome lets all try to make the best of the situation, PLEASE!
The week of the nationals are upon us, final checks that tails are all pulled mains are trimmed and that no winter coat has been allowed to sneakily grow underneath those big rugs, the weather is so changable at the momment its hard to know what to put on the ponies, during the day they are wearing light wieghts and at night the big ones come out, the final list for the nationals is MOVIE STAR , NIP TUCK AND BICHACHU for Carl and for Charlotte VALEGRO AND BEING BLING, Lucy will be riding her own young horse WATERLOO so hopefully we will see you all there!!!
take care
Catherine |