Training
Your Horse in Europe:
Good idea or
f flight of fancy? By Patti Schofler
History confirms that sport horse breeding, training and competition are engrained in the national culture of most European countries. Systems are in place for breeding, raising and training horses like nowhere else. That said, we wondered if it would make sense to send an American-owned horse to Europe for training. We asked a few who have done so and found mixed outcomes.
Viva España You do what is best for the horse, believes Kim Boyer, owner of Hampton Green Farms of Fruitport, Michigan and Wel- lington, Florida, and president of the U.S. P.R.E. Association. If that means the best option and location is the continent on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, then that is where the horse needs to go. She chose Spain and a Spanish rider for her stallion Grandioso III (Adelante x Grandiosa x Sevillano IX), but not simply because the horse is a P.R.E. Andalusian and Spain is the mother country. “If you want to campaign a horse suc-
cessfully, you need not only a good rider but also a federation, a team and a trainer that really wants the horse,” says Kim. That is what she found in Spain, but unfortunately not in the United States. Grandioso was imported from Spain
as a coming five-year-old to Kim’s Michi- gan farm, where he was started. After competing successfully at the lower levels, Kim saw his promise and turned to two-time World Cup competitor and
14 May/June 2014
Grandioso and Daniel Martin Dockx compete at the 2012 Olympics for Spain’s team. The pair came in 29th.
Olympian Courtney King-Dye to carry on his FEI dressage training. In 2009, the pair qualified for the USET Festival of Champions in Gladstone at Intermediare I and finished fifth in the country. In early 2010, Gran- dioso was introduced to Intermediare II in Wellington, Florida, and earned some good scores. Kim set her hopes on her Spanish horse making a splash at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky with an American rider. Then tragedy struck. Courtney was rid-
ing a young horse that slipped, and she ended up in a coma with a skull fracture. “At first, we thought she would have a full recovery. But by October, we saw she would not recover soon and there was little inter- est in Grandioso,” Kim says, recalling how she sought advice on his career from several people in the national federation. “I was informed by an official high in the USEF that they didn’t care and that they would not put a Spanish horse on the American team. With Courtney, they
Bob Langrish
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