On paper,
Seacookie looks to be half Tor- oughbred through his sire Helikon but closer ex- amination of his pedigree shows he actually has a litle over 65 percent Toroughbred blood. In the Trakehner breed, Toroughbred blood combined with a strong East Prussian (Trakehner) base
has proven to be the recipe for success in the upper levels of event- ing. Most of the rest of the Toroughbred genes in Seacookie’s pedigree come through his dam’s sire Onassis *E* (foaled in Ger- many, but stood for breeding in the U.S. for most of his life) who was by the German Elite Trakehner stallion Consul who was in turn a son of the Toroughbred stallion Swazi. Even more Tor- oughbred genetics come in through Seacookie’s dam line with the Toroughbred stallions Stern (in the fiſth generation, Seacookie’s granddam Silhouete IV’s great grandsire) and Traumgeist (in the sixth generation on his dam’s side of the pedigree), as well as a few others further back. Seacookie went into training at Ingrid Klimke’s barn as a four-
year-old in 2003 and the next year won the Bundeschampionat (German National Young Horse Championships) in event- ing. “With his victory in the 2004 Bundeschampionat ‘Cookie’ showed that he has all of the prerequisites and the quality for a top event horse. He has good basic gaits, particularly a light- footed canter. His ability, as well as his carefulness in jumping, is something special. He impresses with his courage and willing- ness to work. On cross-country he always wants to do everything right!” says Ingrid. In December 2007 Catherine Wit of Rookery Park Stud in
Great Britain asked her rider William Fox-Pit to look for a young promising eventer that was already going well under saddle. “We looked at Seacookie in Ingrid Klimke’s barn in Germany when he was an eight-year-old and loved him. He was an elegant, light, athletic horse,” recalls Alice Fox-Pit, William’s wife. A deal was struck and Seacookie and William began their competition career together in early 2008. “Seacookie is a horse of great quality. He is a real ‘tryer,’ even if
things are a litle bit tricky. He’s a very genuine horse with a huge heart. Although sometimes he tries a litle bit too hard. He has wonderful movement for dressage – great range in the trot and canter – fantastic extensions and uphill, light movement. We’ve always known he was able to do well at the top levels; it was just
56 January/February 2014
a question of puting it all together. Developing Seacookie was all about confidence and him believing he could do it – about devel- oping the partnership,” says William. Alice shares some insight to his personality around the barn,
“Cookie is a very trusting horse and incredibly kind. He has a great partnership with a girl in our yard. We train him a lot from the field [rather than keeping him in a box stall] – it helps him mentally and physically. He’s also a really, really sound horse.” William took his time geting to know Cookie their first
season together in 2008 and they ended the year with a great performance, placing tenth at Boekelo in Te Netherlands in the three-star in October. In April 2009 they finished a very respect- able sixth in their first four-star at the Rolex event in Kentucky and seventh at Burghley Horse Trials CCI4* in September.
Te following year, 2010, started out with disappointment
when they put in a wonderful dressage test scoring 42.8 at Bad- minton only to have to withdraw before cross-country when Cookie suffered a mild muscle injury. “Later that year he had a good run at Te Festival of British Eventing in July, where he finished second in the Advanced, and went to Burghley in great order,” says William. “At Burghley, Cookie did one of his best-ever tests. He felt really confident and I was able to be much braver. For the fourth
Above, left: William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain and the Trakehner gelding Seacookie TSF, owned by Catherine Witt, at the final horse inspection before stadium jumping on Sunday at the 2013 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI4*. Above, right: The pair sail over the huge ditch and wall at fence number 12, a huge 4’9” high, 9’10” base spread obstacle, at the 2013 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI4*. They finished the course right on the optimum time and took second in the event the next day.
Allen MacMillan/MacMillan Photography
American Trakehner Association Margaret MacGregor/MacMillan Photography
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