February 22, 2015
I recently returned from the Netherlands, where I trained for eighteen months under Emile Hendrix of Stal Hendrix stables. Now that I’m back home in Southern California, I’ve started off 2015 out at the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, CA. Joie Gatlin and Revolution Farms are helping me with the six horses I have here: Abigail, Warinde B, Wender, Daister L, Dalmerette, and Lorstakov.
Hester Equestrian’s Horse Report
Abigail (Abby) is a Holsteiner mare I compete with in the Grand Prix and World Cup Qualifiers. We’ve been doing the 1.40m classes in the beginning of the week and completed the first half of the circuit with a top ten finish in the $30,000 SmartPak Grand Prix.
Warinde B (Ella) is a Dutch Warmblood mare who has also been one of my rides in the Grand Prix classes for a few years now. She was 6th in the FEI CS2* Thursday Grand Prix week 5. Ella and Abby do a lot of the same classes together but last week I only showed Ella in the World Cup Qualifier, which was a huge class and Ella was quite impressed!
Wender (Jack) is a KWPN gelding who has been showing in the 1.30m and 1.40m classes. He’s been great, placing in the top three in several classes so far, including a win in the $5,000 MortgageCall 1.35m Classic.
Daister L (Danny) is a 7-year-old gelding I started riding last year. I’ve been competing with him in the Young Jumper classes here in the desert as well as the 1.30m division. He placed in all the 7 year-old classes and has had no rails to date! He’s progressing really well and we decided to enter him in the 1.35m Classic along with his brother Jack, which gave him some big shoes to fill!
Dalmerette (Dolly) is another one of Hester Equestrian’s young horses, a KWPN mare and half-sister to Danny. She’s been easing into the show year in the 1.0m classes and is really trying hard. She won one of the 1.0m classes last week and did two 1.20m rounds as well.
Lorstakov (Ralph) is a spunky 2009 gelding who has been showing in the 1.20m division with me. He won a 6 year-old class and was reserve champion week 5. We brought him home from Europe and he has a lot of potential that I’m looking forward to developing in 2015.
They’re a fun mix of seasoned and developing mounts, and I’m having a great time working with each one. The weather here in the desert has been overall warm and sunny, with a couple of Thermal’s famous wind and rainstorms thrown in there to keep us on our toes. Staying in one location for several months is a plus for both the horses and me, allowing us to get acclimated to the new show season and providing a consistent base to begin achieving my goals in the upcoming year.