Devon or Bust: Weekend wrapup

October 2, 2013Leslie WylieUncategorized#DEVON, #MAAT VAN UITERT4 Comments

For the past week, we've been living vicariously through Maat van Uitert's Dressage at Devon blog entries. Let's see how her youngsters fared!

If you missed Maat’s previous “Devon or Bust” installations, click here and here.

Top photo: Maat’s colt Good Knight, who made his Devon debut in the breed classes. “Knight is by Good as Gold out of an Idocus mare, and was bred by Goldhope Farm in PA, just a few miles from the Devon show grounds,” Maat says. “I’m super excited about this colt, and I can’t wait to see what his future might bring.”

From Maat:

Our last day at Devon was a total whirlwind! We ribboned in every class (yeah!) Knight came home with 10th in a very competitive Colts of 2013 class, and 10th in another very competitive Oldenburg ISR class. He also participated in the Get of Sire class, where his sire Good as Gold won 8th place, and in the Produce of Dam class, where his dam Tarantella was 7th. In the Get of Sire and Produce of Dam classes, only the offspring are judged, so I was super proud Knight could show how wonderful his parents are. Kudos to Goldhope Farm for ribboning in those classes.

Knight

But it gets better: Troubadour was 1st in the Appaloosa breed class, and if that's not enough, he also won two trophies (one was a perpetual trophy), a plaque, and prize money in addition to his blue ribbon. I was in shock during the award ceremony! Troubadour is a rescue from the slaughter pen at New Holland, PA, and his story was announced over the loud speaker as he received his awards. Dressage at Devon sent out a press release which included Troubadour's story. DressageDaily.com picked up the press release, so Troubadour (at the time I write this) is in a front page story on one of the most-visited dressage websites! More importantly, Troubadour was very well behaved in an electric environment that had other horses losing their cool.

Braiding Troubadour

All that practice at home paid off! The local news in Loxahatchee caught wind of his story, and has offered to do a story on him as well!

A million thanks to Mane Morsels for making Troubadour's trip to Devon possible. We couldn't have done it without you! Mane Morsels will donate a percent of every sale to Troubadour's career, and I can't be happier to have Troubadour represent a product that's both good for your horse and made from the heart.

Knight did such a good job in his classes, and even though he's young he handled it like a pro. Knight is such an amazing prospect! I'm considering syndicating him out to the right few people. He's both an amazing FEI dressage and jumper prospect (with the Goodtimes blood!), and I know he's bold and scopey because he jumped a four-foot gate for reasons known only to him (an then nonchalantly acted as if it was nothing).

We had a great time meeting up with friends, and we're already planning for next year!

Maat van Uitert is a Grand Prix dressage trainer, USDF gold medalist, and USDF “L” judges program participant based in Loxahatchee, FL. Maat runs a successful training and sales business, matching horses with happy riders. Maat works with horses and riders of all levels, and currently accepts horses for FEI competition or young horse competition. She is available for clinics and haul-in lessons. Learn more on her website at www.jsdressage.com.