Big News September 21, 2002- Palladio wins Cosequin/USDF Mature Stallion
Championship for the Breeders Series Northwest Region Finals! Look for
him in the USDF magazine!
At the Canter
At the Trot
Palladio: June 2002-Winner 5yo USDF Colts and Geldings Materiale and
Reserve Champion Stallion at Beaujolais Dressage Show!
Now the real news about these wins is that Palladio's trainer, Morgan
Carr, was out of town this weekend so I decided that we would dabble
in the dressage world! While we had been working on jumping over the
past few months, Palladio's flatwork had just continued to shine so
I thought...what the heck. I hopped into my dressage saddle and away
we went. Palladio could not have been better behaved for me...and wow...did
his scores show it! His Materiale score at this show was 76.3%...to
put this in perspective...the highest average score for any of the horses
listed for Materiale Year End Awards with USDF was a 76% and the highest
average for stallions was 74%. We were disappointed to not have enough
shows left in the year to qualify for USDF year end awards for Materiale...but
hope to visit the dressage arena a time or two next year!
Palladio's Early Dressage-
The first day I climbed aboard
Palladio he was only 15 days under saddle. It was late December of 2000
and we had brought Palladio to the best young horse specialist I've
ever seen to do his first under saddle work. I was surprised that Cam
Reeves (who is well known for doing a fabulous job starting horses!)
would be so confident having me test drive his latest project. Due to
work responsibilities and lack of a going saddle horse, I had not ridden
for over six months. I was prepared to feel out of shape and had just
expected that the horse would feel the same….and feel like a typical
green, freshly started horse. Palladio surprised me from the moment
I got on. His gaits were huge and fluid and he never felt out of balance
as his stage of training would have suggested. He just simply felt powerful.
He already had a great sense of rhythm with his gaits and the roundest,
rocking horse canter I'd ever ridden.
During spring of 2001, Palladio
was trained on the flat with wonderful dressage basics. All of his work
was done in a very mild loose ring snaffle. While working at his under
saddle lessons Palladio also had to learn his new job in the breeding
shed. We were worried how he would take to this as he lived at a very
busy barn. It quickly became apparent that this was not a problem for
him. He could be collected either before or after he was ridden….and
it was no trouble at all to ride him in the arena with other horses
or to take him out to the nearby outdoor arena or open field for hacks
outside.
Palladio's natural walk is
one of the biggest I've ever seen on any horse. His trot has wonderful
balance and impulsion and just continues to grow as he gains in strength
and balance. And, of course, his canter exceeds my wildest expectations
and keeps getting better with time! We do hope to have a chance to take
Palladio to a dressage show soon. Since it is very hard to travel during
the breeding season we figure it might have to wait until summer of
2002 . Whenever we get there….I know it will be great fun!
First Dressage show!
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