Caroline Martin, HSH Double Sixteen, HSH Blake, and She’s The One (3* Cross Country) - EDITED
5:28PM Mar 18, 2023
Speakers:
Speaker 1
Caroline Martin
Keywords:
ride
horse
lion
mare
pippa
producing
gaspar
track
tables
star
jump
courses
trot
ocala
nice
coach
interested
rounds
leila
thoroughbred
Alright, we're here with Caroline Martin who finished three-four in the three-star. Right?
Second, third, and fifth.
Okay, second, third. And you were what, a 10th of a point off in your first two?
I think Liz had four points.
Between your two.
Oh yeah 0.1 or something, yeah.
You kept it consistent. How did it riding differently for each one of them out there?
Who did I have first, I had my new mare, She's The One. I just got the ride from Gaspar, a French rider. He did a wonderful job producing her. I saw her at Lion and actually, he was training with Pippa Funnell when I was over there so I've seen the mare quite often. I told Pippa we were interested in trying to find a mare, had some owners that were interested in a mare. So after Lion, Pippa said that Gaspar was interested in selling her, so then Pippa tried her for me and then she said it'd be a super match, so I got the ride early December.
Oh, wow. Really fresh.
Yep. So we gave her some time off after Lion and then brought her back into full trotting work and all that stuff, normal like all the other horses. This was my third time out on cross country on her. I haven't done a whole lot because I don't want to run in her legs off, but I wanted to do enough to get to know her. We ran a prelim in Ocala and then I did the Intermediate at Pinetop, so this is the first time I went to put the pedal to the metal and she was unreal, absolutely unreal. Gaspar did such a great job producing her, so I really can't take the credit. She's very genuine at the jump, she's got a fabulous gallop, she's about 70% blood so that makes a world of a difference. She's got great brain. There's nothing better than a good mare, to be honest. It was really, really nice to get to know her. And it's a hard track -- you know, the first few jumps are simple tables, and then they start coming at you. You got the skinny at the first line, then you have couple angle tables, and then you have proper corners, and then you have keyhole, and you go to proper coffin and go to big water. You got a couple of ditch walls, Normandy bank -- like it keeps coming at you. This is why I came here because I wanted to be tested, this would be very similar course as all the courses I rode last year in Europe. It's important to me to keep going to courses that are up to standard. It's great, I was really, really pleased with her, I was pleased that I was a few seconds under the time without trying.
My next horse was HSH Blake. It's his first run since Lion and he was great at Lion obviously last year. I didn't feel like he needed to go out until now because he's pretty experienced at the three-star level, so my idea was just to go out and give him a nice ride. I wasn't really chasing the clock, I just wanted a nice positive ride and he actually came in at the same time as She's The One, which was quite nice. I just know him so well, I've had him since he was a five-year-old, so it's nice to ride a horse that you produce from the beginning. I don't even have to think, I just kind of stand up in two-point and steer him at all the jumps.
And then my last ride is also a newer ride for me, it's my third show with him. His name is [HSH] Double Sixteen. He's actually a full thoroughbred. They kept saying he's an Irish Sporthorse -- he's not, he's off the track. An amazing rider named Leila Barker produced him since a five-year-old -- he came off the track as a five-year-old -- and she did just such a fabulous job retraining him to jump. He was fabulous in the dressage this weekend. He's finally learning how to do extended trot, which I'm so proud about. Cross-country, he's a little machine. He's a little bit unorthodox in his jump and he doesn't have a massive step because he's only like 15.2, but he's very brave. It's just fun to ride quality horses that love their job. And they're all young, they're all eight years old this year. They're all going to hopefully move up to the four-short, and I'll play around with some four-shorts within this season.
Gotcha. So what what does that look like? What's next for them?
I have to talk with all my coaches. I've called Pippa -- I sent Pippa my rounds from today -- and Eric Duvander. And then Lesley Law, our team coach at the moment, he watched all my rounds. So I'll touch base with all three of them and see what they think is best, because they're quality young horses, so I want to do what's best by them. This track would be an Advanced Horse Trials, so I'm not really worried about their ability to do Advanced. I just want to make sure it's the right time for their bodies, because they are young and growing.
Yeah, absolutely. And you have a few more rides today. How many more do you have?
Yeah, I have two more. I have one horse winning the one-star, and I have a horse second in the two-star, so I have like an hour until I get on.
