“I saw a world I didn’t know. Now I know how to do it, but there was no one to give me a hand.”
better as a dressage horse or an eventer. He, like everyone else, pointed to eventing,” she explains. A top dressage trainer in California told Vicki he would
love to take the horse in training at a cost of $4,000 per month. By comparison, training and board in Europe would add up to $600 to $900 a month. Vicki bit the bullet. In March 2013, she and “Sly” flew to
Germany where he would train to qualify for the Bundes- championat, a goal most German breeders seek their entire career. He would train with Dorothea Feld of Gross Buchwald in Schleswig-Holstein, the same person who rode him at the stallion testing in Oklahoma. He qualified with Dorothea with excellent scores. Vicki attended the prestigious event last September, her first time seeing him in months. “It was very fun being treated like a VIP. In between his runs, I went to see him. I stuck my hand under his nose and he blew into it and leaned on it. He knew me. I was grooming him and he was falling asleep. The groom said she couldn’t believe it because he never stands still like that.” Sly placed ninth out of 70 hors- es, an excellent finish. On the surface, it seems that all has gone well. Yet Vicki doesn’t feel that way. As of this writing, her horse is still in Europe, in a jumper barn, for sale. She would think very hard about sending a horse to Europe again. As she looks back, she sees how
little control she had over her horse’s destiny. “I was told everyone speaks English, but they don’t like to. So com- munication is very bad. When I have a client’s horse in training here, I send little blurbs to the owner about what we did that day, how it went. I never knew what was going on with Sly,” she explains. For example, the 16.3 hand horse was first trailered in a
prefer having a horse in the U.S. It’s a lot easier to fly across country than to Germany. Find the best you can afford here. I saw a world I didn’t know. Now I know how to do it, but there was no one to give me a hand.” Spending $10,000 to bring Sly home is not economically
possible. As for standing him at stud in Germany, she feels that though he is talented and pretty, he is not a big enough name with the needed support behind him. As a result, he is for sale in Germany. “Next time I have a colt,” she says simply, “I will geld him.”
What is the Answer? Both of these “training overseas” experiences support Hyper- ion Stud’s Vicky Castegren’s point of view on the subject: it’s all about who you know. The Dutch, Belgian and Holsteiner breeder from Virginia
and Florida owns a few young horses that she purchased in Holland and who stayed there for their basic training. She also has a U.S.-bred stallion prospect she may send over next year for the approvals. “It will be more prestigious for me
to send the prospect to Europe, a big- ger feather in my cap if I get the ap- proval in Europe. It doesn’t take away from the fact that the horse was bred by an American,” Vicky explains. She, however, would only send a
Hyperion Stud’s Imothep and rider Darragh Kenny finish 8th in the $1 Million Great American Grand Prix in Ocala this year.
horse to Europe for training if that ac- tion fit into a bigger picture. “If you like a European rider or you had an exceptional mare that could benefit from approval in Europe or you buy foals there and have them brought up
pony trailer, which he trashed. “He went crazy. Then I was charged 500 euros a month extra for the trailering. He was moved to a different facility because they had mares foaling, and I was charged extra for the outside stabling. He was sup- posed to have turnout, but I’m sure the first month he didn’t,” says Vicki. After the Bundeschampionat, Vicki was informed that Sly’s
trainer would not have time for him. “I didn’t know any event trainers there, and they were very closed mouth. I didn’t know what to do. Luckily the owner of Silver Creek Farms found me someone to trailer him and he moved to a jumper barn.” Vicki advises against sending a horse for training in
Europe without a good support system in place. “You need people that you trust who will keep an eye on the horse and send videos and report on how the horse is doing. I
16 May/June 2014
in their well-established system, okay. Unless you have a solid business reason for doing so, to send the horse there and then bring it back doesn’t make sense,” she says. According to Vicky, in order to succeed, it’s all about who
you know. She has years of developing relationships with European breeders and trainers. “You have to be smart and have the right relationships in the right circle to get what you want. You have to know that they will take care of your horse. I’ve always been a control freak and try to minimize being taken advantage of,” she explains. “So I try to keep my busi- ness in house.” “Once you know the right people, then it’s not so hard to let go and let people do it for you,” she adds. In truth, the lessons are the same in Europe as if you put a horse in training here in the United States. Your horse should go to people working in a system you trust, un- derstand and that meets your goals. Many thousands of miles—and an ocean to cross—can only make the process more difficult.
Sportfot
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