Horse Winne With her focus on a future at the upper levels, Melissa
has brought him on slowly. “I’ve no doubt he’s going to grow some more, and he could go and start jumping big- ger fences, but I’ve been careful not to overdo it with him because I want to preserve that attitude. I’d like to bring him back to do the five-year-old championship next year and meanwhile I’m looking to keep things fun and in his com- fort zone. He continued at novice level this year and we’re heading to Aiken this winter, so he’ll probably move up to training level in the springtime.” She is an experienced four- star rider and confirms, “I see no reason at this point why he couldn’t go on and do the upper levels someday.”
VAGABON DE CHAMPDOUX The five-year-old championship at Fair Hill went to a
French-bred Thoroughbred gelding, Vagabon de Champ- doux , owned by KBLB Event Horses, LLC and ridden by Wil- liam (Will) Coleman III to a score of 81.50. Will is an accom- plished four-star competitor, with experience at the highest levels of eventing and jumpers. His business is based in Gor- donsville, Virginia. Will rode three horses in total at Fair Hill. “I’ve been doing
the YEH for a few years, and (in 2010) won on a horse named Artesian, now called Counselor, and Jeroen Dubbeldam is riding him in the jumpers. He’s likely his best horse for Rio. He’s by Judgement and he’s an amazing jumper.” This year’s winner Vagabon belongs to a consortium. Will, who is one of the members, explains, “One partner
Vagabond de Champdoux
of 2014
prefers to remain anonymous, and the other is Suzanne La- hey, who runs an equestrian center near Martinsville, Vir- ginia and who I’ve known my whole life. She started KBLB Event Horses and we try to find a few nice young horses ev- ery year.” Vagabon was imported at the beginning of the summer
after Henri Prudent put Will in touch with Geoffrey Debut in France. “We bought him from France and he’s a beautiful Thoroughbred. The trip was quite hard on him, so he arrived looking poor, but he’s come a long way since then. My wife Katie put a lot of the work on him. He’s a little small for me but is a quality horse with all the ingredients and we think really highly of him.” Vagabon is registered AQPS, a type of French horse that
Will explains is mostly Thoroughbred but specifically bred to produce timber/national hunt race type winners. Vagabon is by Secret Sinner out of a Luc’s Antique mare. “He’s well bred,” says Will. “He’s really well bred.” “He’s a very attractive horse and for a blood horse he’s
an exceptional mover and he has a good brain,” Will contin- ues. “He was a little fresh at the YEH but even then he wasn’t wild or anything like that. He’s extremely straight. I can’t say exactly what the judges loved about him, but I think he just screams “athlete” when you look at him and that’s what he showed on that weekend. It’s a great affirmation for what we’re trying to do and what we saw in the horse. He gallops naturally and is a good mover and he’s a good cross-country horse.” Going forward, he says, “At the moment we are going to
aim him for preliminary level next year. He’s still relatively green but we’ll have Bromont in the back of our minds for the end of the spring season.”
OTTER POP On the West Coast, Amber Levine’s Thoroughbred
gelding Otter Pop won the four-year-old championship. She purchased the handsome gray gelding off the track through Shirley Aronson last summer. He had only com- peted in two horse trials, Woodside and Fresno, and one Young Event Horse qualifier before the championships. The pair led from start to finish and won on a score of 83.2, with good marks for his natural uphill balance, bravery and jumping ability.
Warmbloods Today 33
Shannon Brinkman
rs
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