It's been another busy season at Chesterland North, with a full competition schedule for Bruce Sr., the placement of several young sales horses into new homes and a new string of young talented home breds in work!
Bruce made good work of this season with his young competition horses, as well as showing off the talents of Keltic Lion and Here's Lola. Lola had a phenomenal season, finishing always in the top ribbons at every event....culminating with a solid win in the Open Prelim at Plantation, finishing on her dressage score of 26.1! Bruce also capped off the Plantation weekend with a 26.8 win on Copernicus (owned by Anna Kjellstrom) in the Open Intermediate division!
We said good bye to a few of our younger home breds: Congratulations go out to Gillian Clissold on the purchase of Kiss Me Good, to Christine Pitcairn on the purchase of Please Sir Oliver and to Lauren Wylde on the purchase of Fiona, half sister to Petite Flower (by Keltic Lion). Buck decided to that he wasn't going to let Bojangles get away, so he will continue to take the ride on Bojangles, who is out of Memorial Cap and a full brother to Chesterland's Image! We're always happy to see our home breds move on to their new homes, but we also enjoy watching Buck take our young and talented horses up the levels as well!! There is nothing more rewarding than producing your next upper level horse, as Buck has proven with Reggie over and over again.
Since so many of our young competition horses have moved onto new homes, Bruce has shifted his focus to several of Charlie's 3 year olds, who are under tack and showing early signs of great talent. Charlie's babies are imprinted with his amazing mind and a willingness to learn. Keep your eyes peeled for his string of 3 year olds in the competition field next season!!
Good luck to Buck, Carl and Cassandra Segal's BallyNoe Castle RM (Reggie) who are competing at the Pau CCI4* in France this week. Follow the event at http://www.event-pau.fr/en/homepage
I recently received the PDF of Bruce's interview for the pre-Rolex edition of the USEA magazine. I realize this is "old news" but well worth the read!!
American Kristi Nunnink will be making her debut at The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials this afternoon with her mare R-Star - just one of five mares competing here this year. The pair has made their first trip across the Atlantic specifically to compete at Burghley.
Kristi (50) grew up and still lives in California. In her earlier years she ran a busy livery and training yard and was a regular competitor up to three-star level.
In 2004 having lost her top horse Kirsti never imagined that in less then ten years she would be back at top level. But that was before ‘Rosie’ arrived in the yard. The 11-year-old grey mare has taken Kristi back to the top of her game – although the journey has not been without it’s setbacks.
At the beginning of 2011 whilst competing at Lexington the pair suffered a rotational fall. Kristi broke her ribs and elbow and three days later, was in hospital for a planned hip replacement meaning the pair was out of competition for the summer.
During this time Kristi met up with former Burghley winner Bruce Davidson (1974 –Irish Cap) who offered to help the pair get back on their feet. Kristi drove Rosie the 3,000 miles to Bruce’s East coast yard where they stayed for two months before competing at Lexington in April where after a glance-off they were 23rd. They then won their next event the CIC3* at Kalispell and has been based back with Bruce for the four months prior to travelling over to the UK.
“Everything has come together for us both,” says Kristi. “I am super excited to be here and a little nervous but we really felt this was the right course for Rosie as she is super bold and this is a super bold course.”
Rosie who is now described as a ‘horse of a lifetime’ is an American-bred mare of Holstein descent. Her sire is the German-bred Riverman who was exported to the US as was her dam Marisol who is by Corofino. “Rosie is a lovely mover and loves to jump and to me is very special,” said Kristi.
Caroline Martin may be US Eventing’s answer to Reed Kessler, the seventeen year old darling of the show-jumping world; she’s young, talented and absolutely charming to boot. I met her at Richland and found out a little bit more about her horses, her plans for the future, and yes, she has been practicing hard for the bareback puissance at Plantation!
Everyone is excited for the Olympics, and we're hoping that at Chesterland we're bringing along the next crop of Olympic caliber horses and riders!! Our newest string of 4 year olds are really proving to be quality athletes, and we're having fun taking them to the horse shows.
Andrea, Buck and Jan were all on hand at the Horse Park of NJ to ride and prep the group of 4 year olds in the Novice division. Andrea rode Oliver and Kiss Me Good, while Buck rode Mr. Bojangles and Sugarfoot. Here's Buck feeling pretty confident over the bank aboard Bojangles, who finished 2nd on his dressage score of an 18!
Working student Zack Leamer rode his mare Say You Do in the Prelim and continues to have solid results at that level. Bruce rode Anna Kjellstrom's KER Marvin, aka Everest, in the Prelim and had an impressive 4th place finish aboard this horse.
Bruce hit the road to Rebecca Farm's great event in Montana to see his student Kristi Nunnink win the CIC 3* on her gorgeous mare, R-Star. Hearing rumors that Kristi had her eyes set on Burghley, I called her this morning to get an update & confirmed that indeed she has entered. It's always great to catch up with Kristi because she has such a huge appreciation for the support that she has received from Bruce and how he has brought back all of her confidence since her hip surgery.....and her dream would be to have him there at Burghley with her. There are over 100 entries and now she must wait until Monday to hear if she's been accepted, but we will be one of the first to know!!
While at the event Bruce also got to see Bee Hive, one of Chesterland's homebreds by High Scope out of Queen Bee (a 1/2 sister to Jam) who was sold out west to a student of Kelly Prather's. This young horse has come up the levels perfectly for his Jr rider, who finished 4th in the JTR division. Congratulations!
Bruce also has 2 other students in town prepping for Millbrook. He'll be traveling with Jennifer Taxay-Kelley, an advanced level rider from Ca., who will be going Intermediate this wknd at HPNJ on her horse Taboo. Maddie Blackman is also here getting ready for Millbrook on Gordonstown, and both ladies will be going advanced at that event. The barn is hopping!!
Jane Tuckerman (Susie's sister) was competing Summer (out of Windsor Bonnett and by high Scope) at HITS this summer & won great ribbons in every one of her Amateur jumper classes at HITS, capping off the show with a 2nd in a class of 80 horses!!
Caroline Martin owns a broodmare bred by Bruce (by Babomist) who's in foal to Charlie! Can't wait to see that baby.
Geriann Henderson and Kingslee took home the win in the PRO Tour Series Advanced Division at the Event at Rebecca Farm. They took three rails in the round, but were given plenty of breathing room by Heather DuBois in second place who also had three rails down. Geriann capped off what she described as an "unreal" weekend with Kingslee who jumped his heart out for her. As both are fairly new to this level Geriann plans to get more experience over the course of the summer and fall.
Kristi Nunnink led from start to finish to capture the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series with her very talented Holsteiner mare R-Star. Kristie credits Bruce Davidson, with whom she has been training over the past winter, with giving her the confidence to really perform well at this level. Florence Miller and Tuscan Sun won the CCI** and Emilee Libby and Nonsensical captured the CIC**. For full results from Rebecca Farm follow the link.
Chesterland has a tremendous line up of young horses, from babies to 4 year olds who have just started their competition career. We encourage you to set up an appointment to come out & see these lovely young horses!
Bruce had a full dance card last weekend at the Spring HT at Flora Lea! He made quick work of the Prelim division by taking first on Lola, second on Charlie and third on Everest (KER Marvin)!!
The weekend was even more exciting due to the fact that he brought out 4 of his youngsters out for their first event in the Novice divisions.
We just finished taking tons of photos of all the young stock and these 4 year olds for the sales page on the website....so check back soon for that information. The whole crew at Chesterland is busy getting ready for Bromont, so we'll have plenty more news after next weekend!!
It was a beautiful day yesterday at the Willowdale races, with the weather God's shining upon us! There was a packed field in attendance to enjoy a day of racing, tailgating, shopping and spectating. The USEF generously helped sponsor the "Salute To Champions", which honored local Olympians & Medal winners who have represented our country over the years.
In attendance for the procession were several area equestrians including Bruce, Donnan Sharp Jones, Jane Sleeper, Jessica Ransehousen, Tod Flettrich and Michael Matz. They were paraded onto the course by the lovely 4 in hand driven by Mike Gracie, and each of the participants was honored with an introduction. Later they all came up to the USEF tent to sign autographs for fans of all ages.
Susie also had a very busy day up in her booth, where she showcased her exception art to many admirers. I think it won't be long before more people know about Susie's amazing talent with her digital art. I hope that she has clients standing in line to order custom portraits of their family and favorite four legged friends!!
Many thanks go out to Bruce for participating in the celebration. Here are some wonderful photos taken by infamous area photographer Jim Graham. Enjoy the slideshow!
The US launched the 2012 Olympic bid this week in New Yorks's Times Square. Timed to mark 100-days until the opening of the London Games, the event gave Americans a great start on the journey to the United Kingdom and Theault America was there to help with the occasion!
Lead role in this fabulous video features My Boy Bobby who has launched his new acting career!! Not a bad retirement gig.
Theault-America will be on hand at Rolex to show off their Morpheus, so stop by to check out the most innovative horse box on the market in the US!!
Bruce has a new ride on a fantastic young horse named KER Marvin, who is owned by his friends at Kentucky Equine Research. Those around the barn like to call this young horse "Everest" for obvious reasons, as he is a magnificently large young thoroughbred, who has led quite an interesting life thus far.
KER Marvin was purchased by Kentucky Equine Research in September 2006 at a public Thoroughbred sale as a yearling. During his tenure as a research horse, he was involved in digestibility and exercise physiology trials. He also was used in the development of KERx products DuraPlex and Nano-E. By all accounts, KER Marvin was a great research horse!
In the summer of 2010, KER Marvin was one of several research horses used in the filming of the Discovery Channel’s hit television series “Dirty Jobs” at Kentucky Equine Research.
Later that summer, he was transferred to the sport-horse division of the company to pursue a career in eventing. This season he has joined Bruce's line-up of top competition horses & it will be fascinating to watch "Everest" take on the eventing world!
Kentucky Equine Research (KER) is an international equine nutrition, research, and consultation company serving both the horse producer and the feed industry. Its goal is to advance the industry's knowledge of equine nutrition and exercise physiology and apply this knowledge to produce healthier, more athletic horses.
KER was founded in 1988 when Joe Pagan, Ph.D. realized that information generated from research was not disseminated to the individuals who needed it most: feed manufacturers and horse owners. Since the company began, filling that void has been a priority for KER.
The company accomplishes this in several ways. First and foremost, it serves as a consultant to feed manufacturers. KER nutritionists work with mill owners and managers to formulate top-quality feeds that complement typical forages found in the locale. KER works with feed manufacturers on six continents: Australia, Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, and North America. KER also produces a line of nutritional supplements for special needs horses.
I caught up with Bruce last night & he's certainly happy with the way all the horses are going early this season. They've had a good couple of shows with Lola coming in 2nd at both her Prelims and Charlie taking 2nd his last time out as well. Soon Bruce will be bumping Charlie (Keltic Lion) up to Intermediate, as "Charlie has his ears pricked & smiling the whole time out on XC." The plan is to take their time with Lola, who's just coming 6 and still a big growing mare.
There's a new addition to the competition line up with KER Marvin, who is owned by Ana Kjellstrom and Joe Pagan of Kentucky Equine Research. He's a striking big bay 6 year old who was originally part of their feed research program as a youngster. He's only been under tack for about 1 1/2 years, with Bruce starting to ride him 3 weeks ago. As you can see from this video, he's really quite a fancy prospect and won his first training at Ocala II and was 3rd at Rocking Horse last weekend. The plan is to take him to a few more training level events, then bump him up to Prelim during this season.
Zach, Lindsey & Hillary are working hard with their own horses in training this winter, soaking in a variety of experiences - show jumping at HITS, improving their dressage skills with the incomparable Gert Zuther & observing our nation's best event riders at the Florida training sessions. Hillary is aiming for the 2* at Ocala HP on 4/11 (along with Caroline Petty) and after The Fork they will take 3 loads of horses & head home to Chesterland in Unionville. Shortly after coming home, Bruce will head back to Rolex Kentucky with Beth Perkins and Kristi Nunink!
Over a week ago, Buck has had a bad color bone break while schooling, which has since required surgery. He went down to Tn to the USET’s orthopedic surgeon (Team Dr. Craig Ferrell) for the procedure & is recovery nicely, but the break was quite serious & required plates/screws. Bruce took over the reigns on The Apprentice to run him in the Advanced at Ocalla II. "He’s not a straight forward horse, but he jumped around nicely & got the Advanced completed which was needed to get him qualified."
On Monday night, Bruce participated in an event for the Make a Wish Foundation, which was held in Ocala. It was a big fundraiser and they succeeded in filled the stadium. 10 teams of 2 riders (a pairing of one western & one english rider) competed in a format where the western riders were required to jump a course & the english riders had to run a pattern & cut a cow. Aaron Vale's team won & Bruce's team was 4th.
We also want to congratulate Caroline Martin who completed her first Advanced at the Ocala II Horse Trials aboard Petite Flower!
Ocala in the Winter really does feel like the horse capital of the world. There is something horsey going on every day if you know where to look. The highlight of my one and only weekend in Ocala was watching Bruce Wayne, er, I mean....Davidson, riding the range. Bruce Davidson and Chuck Waters were splendidly mounted on two of Chuck's beautiful Western horses. Bruce had gone over to 'Waterworks' for a sneaky practice or two and on Sunday, he and Chuck were having a great time doing 'Ranch Sorting.'
It consists of two big roundpens with a gateway between them. 10 little cows come in, all wearing numbers on their backs from 0 - 9. The trick is to get the little cows through the gateway in the right order. One of the two man team parks his horse in the gateway and spins it right or left to either make a gate or a passageway depending on whether or not the right little critter is galloping toward them. This person also has to do a great deal of 'Ya Ya' with sufficient volume to turn the wrong little critters back! Meanwhile the second member of the team is cutting his calf out of the herd and chasing it's ass to the gateway and through. When you see a practiced team working together it's very fast and done against the clock. Wrong number goes through - you lose.
Originally I was meant to be flying back home on the Sunday but there was nothing going to make me miss seeing Bruce Davidson done up in his best Western duds and cutting cattle.
Bruce and Chuck did three 'sets'. The first one was OK, the second one was AMAZING and the third one had a few recalcitrant cows in the herd.
Here's our latest update from Whitney Weston, who bought our famous "Lusty" last year after a successful run with Boyd Martin. Whitney trains with Buck and also maintains her own lively blogspot! It's wonderful to keep up with the horses that Bruce produces out of Chesterland & their success is a true testament to our breeding program!
" Last year was fantastic. I had the best time truly bonding with Lusty and becoming a team. We took our time on the west coast, starting at training level and finishing the season at the Galway Downs CCI ** on our dressage score! I just love her feisty attitude, but she's also just the cutest thing! She is an animal out on course, but then such a silly girl at the barn.
The more we have gotten to know each other, the better we work as a team. She's very much a mare like that, I had to get her trust (but also she knows I'm not a pushover!).
I am so excited for this season. We are wintering in Ocala, FL with Buck ("uncle Buck") Davidson and Bruce ("papa Bruce") Davidson, as we refer to them in reference to Lusty's childhood :) We just finished Rocking Horse OI, and gearing up for Rocking Horse Advanced! Finally!!! ahh the anticipation….Our goal for this spring is to run Jersey Fresh CCI***.
Chesterland South is in full swing this winter season with a barn full of talented horses and clients in training. Bruce has been quite busy with clients coming in for lessons and with the continued training and conditioning of his competition string of horses. As always, the success of Chesterland is due to the combined efforts of so many people, including clients, owners and the working students.
Bruce is extremely happy this year with the positive attitudes & motivated efforts of his working students - Hillary Popiel (who has been a familiar face over the past decade), Zachary Ryan Leamer and Lindsay Elwell. Jan Smith also continues to be an indispensable part of Chesterland's daily operation and has also become 1/2 owner in one of the coming 4 year olds, Sugarfoot, which ensures that this talented young filly will remain part of Bruce's training program. Bruce has brought 4 young horses down to Ocala this year to continue their winter training & they are all showing great promise on the flat & over fences. More to come on our blog & website regarding the approaching foaling season & the progress of our current homebreds in training!
Firefly Farm, which is the winter home to Chesterland South, is owned by Kristina Watkins, who winters in Ocala, but hails from Harvard Mass. Kristina is 1/2 owner in the talented young prospect, Here's Lola who is another homebred of Bruce's, out of Our Staple (JJ Babu’s full sister) by the NZ stallion Heroisity, one of the few TB stallions that stood at Hilltop and was approved for warmblood stud book. This is one talented young horse for the future who finished 2nd last weekend at her 2nd Prelim start at Rocking Horse (with Buck in the irons).
Rocking Horse I proved to be a successful start to the winter circuit with Cruise showing his talent by taking 3rd in the Intermediate Division (with a glance off on XC) and Charlie finishing 8th in Prelim (1 rail in stadium). The plan is to come back for Rocking Horse Winter II on the weekend of the 17th, running Lola and Charlie again at Prelim and stepping Cruise up to Advanced.
Many thanks go out to Cindy Lawler (who I met last year at Rolex) who was lucky enough to be at Rocking Horse this past weekend & generously has shared her photography talents with us!
Gerd and Yvonne Zuther have joined us again this year, bolstering the training program at Chesterland South with world class dressage instruction. The combined efforts of Bruce and Gerd are an added perk to the clients who stay here during the winter months while Gerd is able to focus on the talented young rider Nina Ligon. Nina has joined us again this year with her string of 5 horses before heading to Poplar Place.
Fanny Lee is here again with her advanced horse, Hadley Harbour, and Louis, her 5 year old bred by Bruce. Fanny is a great supporter & always lots of fun. Bruce is also looking forward to working with Beth Perkins who has joined Chesterland South with 4 horses in training, and the goal of aiming Sal Dali for Rolex this spring. She will be joined by Kristi Nunnink and R-Star, who is also returning to work with Bruce, pre-Rolex. Kristin also has 2 other younger horses who are showing great promise for the Prelim level this season. Caroline Petty, from British Columbia is also joining our team in preparation for the 2* at Ocala this season.
So as you can see, there's rarely a dull moment around the barn. Bruce has even taken up a bit of cross training, finding time to learn the ropes of Cattle Sorting, a western sport that resembles team penning. 2 riders work together to herd and direct one calf through a gate. The riders collaborate and take turns on herding and functioning the gate....and if a calf gets through the gate out of order, the team is eliminated!
Please enjoy our second slideshow of pictures provided by close friend & horse woman, Yvonne Zuther.
We will be sharing stories shortly on our crop of young homebreds & also the current successes of those who have gone on to top competitive homes with other riders such as Whitney Weston (Rock on Rose) and Caroline Martin (Petite Flower). Stay tuned!
Come join Team Farmvet/Cavalor consisting of Bruce, Buck, Will Faudree, Aaron Vale (SJ) and polo player Kris Kampsen for a fabulous event which blends elements of XC Eventing with GP Show Jumping. Each team will consist of 3 event riders, 1 show jumper and 1 polo player......with all team members tackling an exciting jumping course under the lights in Wellington.
Needless to say the Thursday night Calcutta is quite the party to attend, and the 7 teams in competition are all star studded. Check out the promo video below and see you there!!