competing at Training level in June, finished third at the very competitive 2011 American Eventing Championships, and next Doug plans to move him up to Preliminary level after a few more Training runs in the spring. Corneel was bred in England, and Kelli Temple owns
X
him in partnership with American event rider Jules Stiller who is based in England. Kelli and Jules have brought a number of talented young event horses from England to the U.S. including Jennie Brannigan’s super stars Cooper and Cambalda. This was Kelli’s first time participating in the Young Event Horse program. “I thought it was a great program,” she says. “It’s a
great way to get the young ones out. It does require that they be a long ways on as four-year-olds, and mine was,
26 January/February 2012
fortunately. The qualifier at Waredaca was his first big show. He won that, and then did three novice events after that, and then went to the championships. I think four-year-olds progress at different rates; I have another four-year-old that isn’t really strong enough or ready to produce that sort of performance. Corneel is very strong and balanced and is a great jumper. All those things lend themselves to a good performance. I think the individual horse tells you what they’re ready for.”
Reactions to the YEH Program In the YEH program horses perform a dressage test specifically written for young horses. Then they jump a course that consists partly of show jumps followed by some solid obstacles usually found on cross- country. Finally they demonstrate their gallop. They are judged on potential as well as performance, so a refusal does not necessarily put them out of the running. “I do think the program works,” says
Doug. “They’ve obviously put a lot of effort into it. It’s still in its infancy, but it’s developing in the right direction and that is good to see. There were some nice quality horses taking part at Fair Hill.” Kristin Burger says that she likes the FEH
(Future Event Horse) and YEH programs because there is not so much pressure on young horses. “They can go and be babies and be stupid and it’s okay,” she says. “[Going as an owner] was way more fun than I ever imagined—I’ve always been a diehard rider, and I am competitive, so it was nice to just sit back and watch and not have the pressure of performing.” Kelli Temple remarks, “The great part about it is it’s obviously a great learning experience for a young horse. At Fair Hill we had all the upper level horses from the country out there warming up. They put the YEH horses in the main arena for the dressage which was great because they were exposed to crowds and flags and the cross-country jumps in the middle of the arena. There were all the things that come with a big event.” “They had a beautiful course set up in the field where they usually hold the horse trials,” Kelli continues. “It started with six or seven show jumps, and then you carried on with a galloping pace to the cross-
Left: Royal Tribute, the Five-Year-Old East Coast champion. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Right: Corneel, the Four-Year-Old East Coast champion. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116