Spring News 2003

Nicole Shinton on The Chameleon

Nicole Shinton and The Grey Pony preparing for Bromont CCI*

Alexandra Shraner and Jumbeau II preparing for Jersey Fresh CCI**

It has been a hectic and wonderful spring season for the SFI team and our clients. The SFI horses all performed very well throughout the season finishing with the CCI at Bromont. It was a long haul from  Florida to Canada but well worth it. The event and surrounding areas are gorgeous and the courses proved to be big and challenging.  Russian had an amazing season once again. He not only placed in every  horse trial of the season but then easily jumped around the CCI** course at Bromont and finished sound and happy in 10th place. I feel lucky to still have him and we are looking onward to some advanced horse trials this fall and Foxhall CCI*** in the spring. Betsy's  wonderful horse Bucaneer also had an excellent season with top placings at Intermediate and an 18th place finish at Bromont CCI**.  If his rider could have hung on a second longer after a misstep on  xcountry he would have been 3rd. He is still looking for someone who  would like to have a serious advanced packer and is as sound as a 3 yr  old and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to compete on him for  this past year!  Midnight Masquerade wins the most improved award of the year. I have  never had a horse come along so quickly. After 1 training event in  Feb she moved up to prelim in March, placing in 3 out of 4 events, and  then putting in a very good performance at Bromont CCI* to finish a  respectable 19th. She really is a superstar horse that rises to the  challenge and will be a serious contender at the upper levels in the  future. I am hoping an ambitious rider will buy her to continue her development to the top!  I have had so many people ask me about Craighaven Tyrone and Honest  Tom. Tyrone placed 3rd and 2nd in his first prelim horse trials of  the season and then was sitting in 4th after dressage and sj at his  first Intermediate when a wet wrap finished his season. Luckily his  injuries are temporary and he will be ready to go again in Aug. Tom  had bad luck! I was able to do only 2 full Intermediates on him this season due to bad luck or bad weather. Since he was not headed to a  CCI this spring anyway I concentrated on getting the other horses to their 3 days and let Tom have it easy at home - which he did not mind at all! Convincing him it is time to go back to work is the hard > part!  Our poor stallion Zach has been put on the back burner again. Since he is the youngest and easiest horse he always gets put on the bottom of the list and gets left behind at the shows. He does not seem to  mind - actually I think he may have hoped we forgot about him - but he will be back at work this summer and on the show scene in the fall.  We have been able to keep up with most clients and it has been fun watching them do so well at the shows. Nicole Shinton has been very successful on The Grey Pony, Agnes Grey and The Chameleon. In her first season at prelim she has wins and top placings on all 3 horses and had a fantastic time at her first CCI* on the Grey Pony. I am so happy to see her doing well with all the effort she puts in! We also received a report from Jill Gordon that her daughter Alex had a brilliant go at the CCI** in New Jersey on our giant Irish import Jumbeau II. They were one of the few pairs to go fast and clean on xc (18 seconds under the time!) and although Alex looks tiny up there they are quite a combination! I cannot wait to see them at advanced this fall! Some of the other horses recently sold that I have seen in the top results are Derravaragh Calvin, Top Deck II (congrats to Kerry for 3rd at Va CCI*), In The Black and of course Robin Bass' fantastic advanced horse we discovered in France Elliot II. It was also a huge thrill to see Megan McGregor and the diminutive NZ Dip blazing around the advanced at Rocking Horse with all the big names. NZ Dip was our very first import and the combination of Megan and Dippy is always fun to watch! So now we settle in to the oppressive Florida summer heat and a break  in competing. We have a whole new group of sale horses in from NZ,  IRE and the US just waiting for the right new owner to come along. In the meantime we will continue to try to match up some more winning combinations and stay cool!

Ruthie and Andrew

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