Georgie now has some very good young horses ready for 2009. Her team of youngsters have already been out to shows and are showing great promise by winning Newcomers and Foxhunter classes. Georgie is extremely excited about the youngsters and is looking forward to competing them all this year.
Georgie started the Sunshine Tour with her young horses this week and they did not disappoint. Both Strijder and Argus jumped double clear on the opening days and both horses were well placed. Argus competed in the 5 year old section and Strijder in the 6 year olds. Both horses held their own against strong competition and will hopefully continue throughout the next five weeks. Strijder has continued to improve throughout the year with every outing. He was superb at the World Breeding Championships in Lanaken last year and thoroughly enjoys getting on the lorry to go to a show! He is by the stallion Olivier who was ridden successfully by David Macpherson before being sold to America. Argus is by VDL Empire who is by the world famous stallion Emilion. Already this grandson of Emilion who jumped at successfully the highest level, is showing himself to be both scopey and careful. Emilion is proven to be one of the best stallions for show jumper breeding.
Cyntias Heartbreaker and Luidelle started the tour on Friday with Cyntias Heartbreaker jumping clear both Friday and Saturday. Luidelle was a little ring rusty on Friday after a long break but this inexperienced 8 year old showed that she could keep up with the rest by producing a foot perfect round on Saturday. Luidelle joined Georgie last summer but had very little ring experience. She showed enormous talent and produced some beautiful clears rounds at the Royal International Show at Hickstead. Due to her inexperience, Georgie did not want to push this highly talented mare too quickly and concentrated on her flat work throughout the winter months. Spain is her first outing since last summer.
Georgie brought two horses to the UNEX MASTERS at Towerlands Park last week and both performed very well. Georgie's young star Stridjer jumped in the 5yr old classes and continued to show he is going the right way. After a short break Georgie will be concentrating on the winter novice classes for this very talented young horse.
Georgie had her mare Illonaise de Cabdulla for the International classes and both were in great form being placed in every class they jumped. Without doubt the hightlight was being placed in the Small Grand PRIX (you can view the video here...)with Georgie having a real go at chasing down a very fast time set by Matt Sampson, but unfortunately they had one pole in the jump off and had to settle with a very good placing. This very fast mare will no doubt be competitive in all the classes she jumps during the winter and Georgie will be looking to win some nice classes at the upcoming premier shows.
Georgie has been thrilled with the progression this little horse has made over the last few months. Having shared the prize fund at Addington for the British Bred horses, jumping three consecutive clear rounds at the show, Georgie and STRIDJER almost repeated the feat in Lanaken but unfortunately had two fences down on the third day. Georgie is very excited with STRIDJER and is certain he will prove himself in the future. Georgie will aim to qualify him for Newcomer Second Rounds next year, attain his double clear Foxhunter for the year after and also aim for some six year old classes. STRIJDER is having a well earned break at the moment but will be out contesting the Winter Novice Classes at the Premier Shows.
Georgie also has a fabulous 4 year old - Applaus who has been very consistent in the novice classes he has jumped to date. He has excellent breeding and this follows true to form should prove another exciting prospect for 2010. To highlight how impressive STRIJDER has been this year he has just been selected onto the BSJA's Equine Pathway Scheme.
Georgie now has some very good young horses ready for 2009. Her team of youngsters have already been out to shows and are showing great promise by winning Newcomers and Foxhunter classes. Georgie is extremely excited about the youngsters and is looking forward to competing them next year along with Alfredo.
Despite the loss of Wonderboy, Georgie came very close to qualifying for the 2008 Horse of the Year show at the wild card qualifier at Unex Towerlands. Wasting little time Georgie swept to victory in the first of three qualifiers onboard Baltimore, showing a clean pair of heals to her rivals. Despite an excellent sixth place in the Grand Prix, Georgie narrowly failed to qualify for the top two places but none the less put in some excellent rounds of showjumping.
Moving on to the fabulous venue at Aintree, Georgie again had an excellent show finishing a very good sixth place in the Grand PRIX qualifier having no luck after jumping clear in the first round, with a very unlucky pole in the second round.
As tends to happen in showjumping, horses get sold by their owners and unfortunately Georgie lost her fabulous grey Wonderboy. Georgie has worked wonders with this talented grey and deserves all the credit in the world for producing him as a top quality prospect. Although heartbreaking for Georgie, she has now acquired the 2005 Hickstead Grand PRIX winner Alfredo and is really looking forward to working with this undoubtedly talented horse, but Wonderboy will not be easily forgotten by Georgie.
Georgie produced an excellent performance to win the Area 45 Trail at the South of England Showground in Ardingly riding Ryan Crumleys Baltimore. Georgie has been riding Baltimore since July and they are really striking up a very useful partnership and Georgie looks forward to winning more events on this very talented horse.
Wasting no time in building on his excellent performance in the Herts County Show, Georgie and Wonderboy produced a fantastic display of showjumping to win the Surrey Area trial. In a very competitive field, Georgie was in determined mood to make up for her unlucky Herts outing and she made no mistake this time. Wonderboy showing all his scope sailed over the fences and then won a fiercely competitive jump off. With consistency now the key for Wonderboy, Georgie is now hoping for a great summer with her eye catching grey.
Building of his very encouraging sixth place last week in the Renault series, Georgie and Wonderboy again showed that they are back to form with a faultless display of showjumping. Over a very big and technical track (only 11 clears out of the forty five entries) Wonderboy looked at home over the big fences but having jumped the water in magnificent fashion Georgie had to get “Basil” back before taking on the very wide oxer that was the last fence. Basil sailed over the fence but unfortunately in the process of getting her huge grey balanced before the last cost Georgie one time fault, one tenth of a second outside the time allowed!!! “Such as shame”said Georgie “He jumped fabulous and didn’t deserve that, he’s really starting to jump well now and hopefully we can use this as a springboard for the summer” added a delighted Georgie.
Georgie got off to a very solid start in the premier Renault series at Devon County. The premier County circuit event of the summer, Georgie and Wonderboy were in excellent form finishing a good sixth behind Geoff Luckett in the first of this very popular series. Georgie has been very patient with “Basil” this year and he does now appear to be coming back to form.
Georgie has just returned from the Spanish sunshine Tour and is now looking to get UK season going. With some excellent results with Ryan Crumley’s younger horses in Spain - Sumas Coffee partically impressive in young horse classes ( currently for sale - click here for details) and some good performances with Wonderboy, Georgie is looking forward to getting her domestic season going with the European trials her top target.
Georgie is pleased to announce two new sponsors for 2008, easibed and Joshua Jones clothing. Details can be found in the sponsorship page...