Will Coleman & Chin Tonic HS (4* Cross-Country) - EDITED
6:25PM Mar 18, 2023
Speakers:
Speaker 2
Speaker 1
Will Coleman
Keywords:
horse
vicky
breeding
stud
year
tonic
kentucky
stud farm
jumping
hyperion
rode
stallion
star
work
plan
mare
thought
little bit
owner
farriers
We have Will Coleman here who has just finished a three-peat victory on the Yanmar America CCI four-star at Setters Run Farm Carolina International. Will, can you just tell us a little bit about what it's like to come here and win three times on three different horses?
Well, I feel like a pretty lucky guy that I have three horses to bring to an event like this. They've all performed really, really well for me and tried hard for me. Mostly, I'm just proud of the horses and our team, our program, and my wife, staff, coaches, vets, farriers, kind of everybody, owners especially. It takes a village and I'm thankful to have a really nice group of people helping me.
Can you talk a little bit about your right on Chin Tonic today? Did everything right to plan or did you have to change plans? And you came in bang on time, so just recap that for us?
Well, I think the key to getting the time here is to be pretty efficient and quick in the beginning, because that's the most open part of the course. I thought Chin Tonic was great through that whole section. I think he just was very neat. I thought we were hyper-efficient, and really all the way through the first water, everything was going to plan. In the woods, he sort of -- I don't know if the ground was a little wet today, it was a little slippy -- I felt like he kind of maybe lost a few seconds coming through the woods there. Coming out to the final water, I kind of knew I was going to be pretty close, so I kind of saw one from a ways out to that last water. It was kind of like wheels-up time for Chin, and he answered the bell. He was a really good boy, I think he tried really hard. I did press on him quite a bit there, but that I think is sort of the stage he's at in his career, he's ready to maybe have a little more pressure on. I thought he answered the call really nicely for me, so I'm very tickled with him and happy for his owner, Vicky Castegren of Hyperion Stud. She's had the horse with me since he was four years old. It's been a long road to here and we're just happy and excited, and now looking ahead.
And how does this set you up for, I believe you're taking him to Kentucky, is that correct?
That's the plan. I mean, obviously it's a nice run here at Carolina. I think it does give you a lot of five-star fields -- coffin, the waters, they're all big and really proper. I think you'd probably do one more run. I haven't 1000% decided exactly where I'm going to do that but there's some options, and we're gonna just get home and get a few more gallops in, and then decide what is going to help him peak the best we can for Kentucky.
Other than getting back out at another event before Kentucky, what is your training program look like at home? Keeping fit and getting him ready for a big event like that.
I mean, I think it's probably I don't know.
It's hard to put it into words... Eventing, you've got to be really good at a lot of stuff. We try to do a bit of it all every week. He would not cross-country school at a ton, but I have cross-country schooled a few times this winter and spring, just to keep checking in on that phase -- and more as like a reward for the horse, just to do something fun and not just be doing conditioning or flat work. He's a fairly high-strung horse. He's an amazing horse, but he's very tricky to ride, actually. I just really try to keep him relaxed and not put too much pressure on him; he can kind of boil over a little bit, if you're not too careful. Getting ready for Kentucky, I'm not going to do a whole lot different. We've taken the time and put in the work at each stage -- two-star, three-star, four-star -- so this is just the next step. A lot of times with horses going to their first five-star, you really don't know what you have until you go. I think we're going to do the work and do the best we can, but I think we'll find out at the end of April. I'm really pleased with the horse this weekend and I'm excited to see how he meets the next challenge
You've had him in your program for a while, but can you just talk about a little bit what drew you to him in the first place as a younger horse and what has developed in the most in your partnership in those years in between?
Well, he was a pretty stunning horse, even as a two-and-a-half-year-old. You've watched him trot up, and you're just kind of drooling over him, even at that stage. I rode him as a three-year-old over there -- he was still a stallion -- and I rode him in this very small indoor. I was with Vicky, and you couldn't believe that you're riding a three-year-old horse. Just the presence and the way that he just connected into the bridle -- it was just a very incredible athletic feeling. He was not really a galloping horse, he's more dressage and show jumping breeding so I think it's taken a while for him to develop a step on cross-country. I still don't think he's the most natural galloper on cross-country, but he's improved tremendously and he does really enjoy it. I think his character in that regard is really what makes it possible for him to be a successful upper-level event horse. I think Kentucky will be a big question for him, but I feel like he's feeling more and more ready all the time.
And Vicky found him, correct? Can you just tell us a little bit of that story of how you and she came connected with him in the first place?
So Hyperion Stud would have a massive breeding operation in Europe.
Where in Europe?
Germany. I'm not entirely sure how many mares it involves now, but I think there's probably close to 100 horses on the ground over there. It's amazing, it's a really impressive operation. The broodmare herd is exceptional. She works very closely with a guy named Reece Miller, and the stud farm over there has to allow stud -- which is a 200-year-old stud farm in Germany -- that farm would be in many respects an extension of Iberian stud now. She [Vicky] has a lot of horses coming up. They're breeding primarily for show jumping obviously -- that's Vicky's main goal is to breed show jumpers -- but I have a mare together with her that is more eventing-oriented, maybe, in the breeding. She just loves horses, she has owned horses that have gone to Olympics and World Championships in pure show jumping, and I think that this is what she likes -- the notion of breeding them and developing them from the very start, which is a really noble idea but really hard to execute. I think they're doing a phenomenal job.
And you said, you sat on it when he was three years old. When did he come over here?
He came over as a five-year-old, I kind of begged Vicki to cut him. He's a handful now without balls, I think with him, he would be really difficult. She already had some access to the same genetics that really made sense; she didn't need him as a stallion. And I think it was wise that we caught him and he came over after he was gelded, beginning of his late four-year-old year -- early five-year-old year I think he came -- and I've had him since.
