“We do quite a bit of off-the-track horses; we get a lot
of them from Shirley, who gets them from the track,” she says. “A seven-year-old just did his first preliminary. We don’t want to push them; they tell us the speed they’re ready for. Some of them like Otter are so willing, it would be easy to do too much too fast. He did the three shows and then is getting a month in the field. With some of the other ones, you have to take more time before they’re ready and let them tell you what pace they need.”
FLEECEWORKS ROYAL Tamie Smith didn’t have the best preparation with
Fleeceworks Royal before the five-year-old championships, since the mare put her foot through a feeder over the sum- mer, then fell at the American Eventing Championships when she misread a cross-country question. But Tamie says the grey Holsteiner mare, by Riverman out of Marisol, is so game it didn’t matter. A full sister to Kristi Nunnink’s four- star mare R-Star, “Rory” is owned by Judith McSwain and Tamie has been riding her since Judith purchased her as a three-year-old. “It’s been a fun, challenging journey producing her,” says
Tamie. “At Galway she was fun and obedient – in one line it should have been a five-stride and I put six in, and she turned herself inside out to jump it really well. It was funny- -on the paperwork the judges wrote ‘needs to not jump so big behind.’ But I was thrilled with her!” Tamie has a full training program with 30 horses in her
barn near Temecula, California. In the early days, she re- counts, Rory bucked all the girls in the barn off! Upper-level riders McKenna Shea and Olivia Loicano were amongst her victims.
“I talked to Lindsey Wergeles, who raised her, and she
said don’t let anybody else ride her, otherwise she’ll turn into a monster! And she was right. She would be trotting around like a sweet little princess and then all of a sud- den let you have it. I ended up sending her to a guy I work with who works with tough horses and she’s literally been an angel ever since. His name is Allen Clark, he’s from Aus- tralia and does tons of ground work. He said she was quite
Fleeceworks Royal
difficult; every time he’d move towards her she’d come right back against him. She’s very opinionated!” She explains that Rory also used to run off on the ground when she was lungeing her. “It’s quite interesting because typically when you have horses that are tough to start with, you kind of just manage them. She can be difficult towards the jumps on cross-country yet in the ring she’s been a joy- -she’s super obedient. I’m trying not to get in her way and train her too much, just let her figure it out. She’s super brave and things don’t back her off. I could point her at an advanced jump right now and she’d jump it. Her feet are so fast, she can get them out of the way every time. When I think she’ll knock a rail she still manages to get over the jump clear.” Every season after Galway, Tamie gives her horses about
six weeks off, so Rory is in a field just hanging out right now. “I’m planning on doing a lot of jumper shows this winter. My new mare, Twizted Syster, needs to do a lot of jumping and I know Rory will jump whatever I put in front of her. In the spring I want to move her up to prelim but not do a ton, then maybe a CCI* next fall. She’ll spend a year at prelim getting rideable, so when she’s ready to move up to the two and three-star that foundation is in place.” Tamie has been on the Developing Riders list before but 2014 is the first winter that she is on the High Perfor- mance training list. “[Team coach] David [O’Connor] comes to our farm for the training sessions and I’m excited to ride Rory with him,” she says. “He saw her for the first time at the AECs and really likes her. We chatted about her; she’s a really good type, she has a super canter and a great walk. She’s much smaller than what you’d expect, about 16.1 - she’s more Thoroughbred-looking. She has a phenomenal gallop, a great trot and canter and jump. I’m excited about her for the future.”
YEH Educational Opportunity W
ant to learn more about young event horses? On February 16-18, 2015, a three-day symposium,
“Evaluation of the Young Event Horse Prospect”, will be held in Ocala, Florida. Well-known authorities on the subject such as Marilyn Payne, Susan Graham White, Robin Walker and David O’Connor will be present to discuss the evaluation of young horses. Those interested in obtaining certification for both
Young Event Horse and Future Event Horse judging will also be able to do so through this symposium. The symposium will be free for USEA members, while non-members will pay a $50 fee to attend. A classroom segment will be held at the Marriott Court- yard in Ocala along with demonstrations at both Long- wood Farm and Meredith Farm South. The registration form is available online at www.
useventing.com. Warmbloods Today 35
Amy McCool
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