sport horse snippets Unlikely Partners By Pat Payne
For a young Canadian rider, an Andalusian stallion is opening a door into exciting new competitive worlds.
A
ndalusian stallion.Teen-age jumper. In equestrian sport, these two wouldn’t normally come together. For 16-year-old Miranda Wardman, a high school
student in the Canadian province of British Columbia, riding her family’s Andalusian stallion has been an eye- opening experience. Milan is a 7-year-old, 16.2 hand stallion (by Don Marco and out of Imara) that Miranda’s family purchased as a two-year-old. Today he is a six-time Canadian Andalusian National Champion, but as a youngster, he was quite unruly. They chose to send him to trainer Angela Tremblay, also based in the province of British Columbia, immediately. “We’d never had a stallion before,” Miranda explains.
“I was kind of scared of him because he was so big and because I was only 13 then.” In addition, she says, their Chaganjuu Retreat equestrian facility wasn’t yet set up to accommodate a stallion. Over the next two years, Milan continued a training
program with Angela, dividing his time between the Wardmans’ Chaganjuu Retreat in Shuswap Lake and Angela’s training facility in Grindrod, about 50 miles away. With time, Miranda became more comfortable with the
big grey stallion. Angela encouraged her to ride him, by then four, in lessons. At the time, Miranda was primarily riding her Thoroughbred and competing in hunter classes. “I only rode Milan a little when he was four,” Miranda says. “I just wasn’t really sure about him. He can be really playful!” She remembers how different it felt atop the big Andalu-
sian. “The gaits are just so different!” she recalls with a laugh. Miranda started riding Milan at age five more regularly and also began showing him at the Canadian National Championship Andalusian and Lusitano Show (held each July in Chillwack, British Columbia) both at halter and in flat classes. The first year, the pair saw some wins in both types of classes. The following year, also at the same show, Miranda and Milan won every class they entered, including youth dressage suitability, English pleasure and senior stallion classes. There was just one catch. Miranda has no desire to
be a dressage rider, the discipline in which Andalusians traditionally excel. And Milan seemed to have little aptitude as a jumper, the discipline in which Miranda found herself increasingly interested. “With all our horses, I start them over little jumps. It’s
really good for their brains,” Miranda explains. “I started jumping Milan, just for fun. Honestly, I’d almost make fun
70 November/December 2012
Andalusian stallion Milan and young Miranda Wardman
of him, he was so bad. But then, when I tried again the next year, he had wonderful form! He also seemed to enjoy it.” Now the two are facing a new challenge. Since
Miranda is under 18 and Milan is a stallion, the pair is not allowed to compete at open shows in Canada, limiting her ability to compete Milan as a jumper. Instead, they are limited to Andalusian shows, where she is allowed to show a stallion. Because of their location, they only have access to one Andalusian show each year—the only one held in all of Canada. “I really want to be able to take him out and jump him
[competitively],” Miranda explains. “That’s what he really loves—and what I love too!” As a result, the Wardmans are considering gelding Milan so the pair can compete more actively. They realize this is a potentially controversial choice, Miranda says. After all, Milan has been successful competitively and has great bloodlines. If they do decide to geld him, his bloodline will not be lost, however. “We have a colt by him, so we can still breed if we want to,” Miranda points out. In August, Miranda continues to explain, trainer Angela
Tremblay took Milan to the Inter Provincial Exhibition, a large show and fair held in nearby Armstrong, for the event’s jumper classes. He performed well despite the chaotic, carnival-like atmosphere, taking third in one of his classes, Miranda says. Miranda feels Andalusians are sometimes overlooked as jumpers—and she thinks that it’s a shame. “The Andalusians are just so keen. Milan really enjoys it when you take him out to jump!” And, she points out, Milan is not the first of their Andalusians she has competed over fences. When she was 11, she took the family’s first Andalusian broodmare in a local hunter class. “She overjumped everything and I barely stayed on!” she remembers with a laugh.
Andrea Blair | Paper Horse Photography
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