Featured Rider - Kyle Carter |
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Kyle Carter (Part 4 of a 4 Part Series)
Kyle, Jen & Parker's Final Prep Event, The Fork
So here it is, the final installment for the Rolex journal. It certainly has not gotten easier to get started on it, so apparently as when I was in school I get an A+ for procrastination! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Rolex Staff for the great job they do every year, especially Janie Atkinson for making the event into the masterpeace that it is. Also thanks to Evan Haller for asking me to prove my English teachers were in fact correct in their evaluation of my poor writing skills.
As the spring has continued, with many horses leaving to new homes and owners it would seem that more time would become available, but this isn't the case! With ten students competing at the Ocala CCI ** and *, the last few weeks have been very busy and I must apologize to my other clients who will not see much of me for the next two weeks. We would like to congratulate Leah Guidry who won her training division at Chattahoochee Hills and also Janet Andrews who won both her training divisions. A stellar accomplishment for her on two horses that she has produced from the breeding of her former Intermediate mare. Hopefully I can duplicate some of the success when I ride one of them, 'Final Watch' for her owner, Billie Sue Jensen.
Parker's only event this month was the CIC*** at the Fork Horse trials in North Carolina. The event run at Jim Codgell's beautiful farm is a great course to get the horses out " in front of the leg " and the work done on the footing is always above expectations. Then mother nature showed up and brought a deluge of rain. It was great to slop through the mud past signs proclaiming that we were in a record drought. I'm sure we saw the beginning to the end of that. As I would have expected, the event staff and officials did a great job readjusting the schedule to make a bad situation stellar. The footing on cross-country was very concerning on Saturday, but by Sunday it had a great consistency to it. I was lucky to ride one of the first preliminary horses around for a client and was very impressed with the way the course rode and how he handled it. Susan Gray, the owner, is going to have a ball on this horse in the next outing! Parker's dressage test was not everything I had hoped for as during the week of training camp with David O'Connor, things seemed ripe for a stand out performance. I wonder if I'm trying too hard with Parker to have that big test and not just allowing the horse to get his marks. Unlike Red Hills, he was very settled on the day, it is just not coming across well and he is too special to not be performing better! The show jumping was great. His jump has not always been the most consistent but I feel like we are on the right path here as well. It has always been the training of the horse that I enjoy the most, hoping to see the result come across in the work. Having ridden 'Still Time' around the preliminary, I knew the footing would be even better later in the day and it was great when Parker ran. He ate the course up on every stride, settling into his new bit wonderfully. In our second outing in the new bit, it agrees with both him and me. I was not displeased to look at my watch only after the last fence to find myself only 3 seconds over the time. I've always felt when the horse is rideable he will be one fast horse! That rideablility is something I always have been towards. If he will settle at Rolex like that it should be a very fun ride!
I can only speak for myself in saying that Saturday night at the Fork I was ready to pull out and go home on sunday if the footing had not improved dramatically. All of us as riders make decisions based on our own experiences and it is always best to think what is right for one horse might not be the best for all. Certainly with that responsibility as upper level riders and trainers we should watch for unqualified voices being given heed and beware the opinions of the un-tutored.
The other stress right now (like we need anymore!) is trying to arrange the breedings of our three broodmares, which are all former Advanced horses. I guess they will be having late foals at Five Ring once again! They say your broodmare should be the best horse in your barn and we think that is the case here. All three have gone Advanced with two having been to Rolex and one having done the CCI**** twice. All three mares were produced by Jen and myself and the four star horse is a homebred of my parents and myself. The current crop is looking good and I expect you might be cheering them on in a few years time!
Now for some shameless self promotion. I hope you have enjoyed reading my attempts at a witty, thoughtful journal, I'm sure the mark was missed in most cases! We are always looking for prospective owners who would like to see their horses produced to the best of their ability. Or if you have a quality product that would fit with all our current sponsors, Purina, Mountain Horse, Verdus Horse Boots, contact us at fivering@hotmail.com.
A final thank you to my family for all their support and love. My mom and dad who always encouraged me and supported an unusual career choice, especially my father who never stopped believing even when I gave him every reason to! My lovely wife, Jen, who makes my time in this world complete and for giving me my beautiful daughter, Riley. It is such a joy to have her around! And also a 'hi' to my nephew, future rider Ewan.
All the best and here's hoping that you get as much from this sport as I have!!"
