ALINE: for
S
Badminton and of course the Olympics is everyone’s dream. With our great property at Chailey Stud and a lineup of good horses, it’s a good time to give it a push and squeeze everything out of it I can. Also, the people here are great and I have made a lot of friends after so many years.” Two years ago Liz, now 34, and her British husband, Allan
Sharp, purchased the run-down Chailey Stud and renovated the stables and riding arena, built a house for themselves and hired the Willis brothers to build cross-country fences. The latter was a necessity since the nearest good schooling course is an hour away. Today the competition yard is bustling with 30 box stalls, lush turnout, a covered horse walker and both indoor and outdoor arenas (
www.chailey-
stud.co.uk). “My husband and I took the plunge and it’s starting to
become the amazing place we wanted it to be,” she says. While he is not a competitive eventer, Allan has a horse of his own and does all the maintenance on the property. “All of the hard work we put into this place, we also get back from it; it’s really nice to be working on it together,” she remarks.
C ompeting Abr oad
Liz started off the 2013 season by winning the one-star at Barocca d’Alva in Portugal riding Fernhill by Night, an Irish Sport Horse by Radolin (KWPN). Liz and “Blackie” took the lead after the dressage, and then clinched the win with clear cross-country and show jumping rounds. His stable mates were also competitive in the 69-horse field, with HHS Cooley finishing ninth overall and Viscount Oscar finishing just outside the top 20 in his first effort at this level. The following weekend Blackie was going strong in the
CCI** and lying in second place after cross-country, but unfortunately had to be withdrawn when a rub from one of
his cross-country boots made him sore. The other two horses each finished eleventh in their respective divisions. Sadly, her first winning weekend at Barocca was marred by
the tragic death of competitor Bruno Bouvier in a rotational fall (in which the horse somersaults) on cross-country. “Bruno was a true friend to all of his fellow competitors
and a real ambassador for the sport of eventing,” says Liz. “He really loved his horses and was a great rider. We will all miss him dearly. My condolences go out to his family and everyone who was close to him; on Sunday we were all riding with him in our hearts. It all gets close to home when something like that happens—we all know the risks of our sport and hope it doesn’t happen. We do this because we love it and because we’re with an amazing group of people.”
A Lv oe of the Irish
“Most of my horses are registered Irish, but most of them are at least part Warmblood,” says Liz. Radolin (Blackie’s sire, a KWPN) and Argentina (his dam by the show jumper Argentinus, a HAN) both have Warmblood in their bloodlines which help to give him the movement and jump that he has. “Blackie is a very special horse and I feel very lucky.” Liz purchased Blackie with help from Richard Sheane in Ireland and says she was fortunate to get there before anyone else when the horse came up for sale. “He’s a pretty cool horse.
Warmbloods Today 15
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JP Event Photography
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