It was a fantastic weekend at Rolex for 2 of our Wordley Martin clients, Phillip Dutton and Will Coleman!  Phillip Dutton, delivered a solid performance this weekend at the Rolex Ky 3 Day Event.  With a competitive field of over 60 competitors, Phillip was one of only half the field that completed the technically difficult XC course to head into stadium.

Fernhill Eagle

Phillip rode 2 horses this past weekend:  Fernhill Eagle, owned by Team Rebecca (Rebecca Farms, Montana) and a relatively new mount, Mighty Nice, who is owned by long time owner, Bruce Duchossois.  Both horses held their own in a tremendously competitive field, where many either retired or were eliminated on XC.

Mighty Nice is relatively young (2004 Bay Irish Sporthorse Gelding) and this was his first appearance at Rolex.  He showed moments of being green and had a bit of a slip in the first jog inspection, but luckily recovered without any fault and went on to really dazzle at this event.

Mighty Nice Head of the Lake!

Mighty Nice – 10th Place
Fernhill Eagle – 12th Place

Photo Slide Show of Phillip

Will Coleman finally had his day (s) at Rolex!  In the past not all the stars have aligned for the extremely talented rider.  Will has been a fabulous supporter of Wordley Martin, being one of our first ring installations several years ago.  He continues to be very happy with his surface, and we’re very excited to see will finish so well this year at Rolex!

Will Coleman on Twizzel

Will rode his Twizzel, one of Will’s more seasoned mounts, and delivered an impressive result for the Olympic selectors.  They are sure to consider him for the team after this performance.  He finished 5th overall on a score of 51.3, just behind Karen O’Connor and Boyd Martin who each had 51.  Well ridden Will!!

Will Coleman Photo Slideshow Link

Full Rolex Results

Photo Credits Lisa Thomas
Photo Use only intended for the use of this blog.

Blog entry about Sharn being signed by Wise-Equestrian saddles as their new sponsored rider.  See below!

Welcome Sharn Wordley – International Grand Prix Show Jumper!

Sharn Wordley on Upper Class at Fox Lea

Red Hills 2012

The Wise mobile unit has been continuing its trek around the southeast this month, with a few stops in Aiken for Pine Top and Sporting Days, as well as a really fun and busy weekend in Tallahassee at Red Hills. This picture was taken at Red Hills, where the wonderful organizers let me take some of the saddles up by the cross-country course on Saturday where  I had a great view of the action and many interested spectators who came by and looked at the saddles. It was fantastic!

These photos are from Winterwind Farm, also in Grand Prix Village, Wellington!

Recent installation at Salamander Farm in Grand Prix Village, Wellington.

Salamander Farm, Grand Prix Village

This video exemplifies how our rings hold up after a heavy rain.  Notice the pooling of water outside the ring!

Mikela Gundersen on her CLOPF® ring!

Glynnie Walford (our Martin Collins partner) is currently making the rounds down in Florida & had the opportunity to visit clients Mikela & Henrik Gundersen.  Mikela is a Danish International Dressage Competitor and Trainer who has shown on the Danish Team and her husband is an International Show Jumper!  Thank you to the Gundersons for this positive endorsement of our product:

” I went over to Tuny Page’s Stillpoint Farm to train with Lisa Wilcox and every time I went there my horses were ‘flying’ and moving better.  One day one of my clients said: “is it just because you ride better with Lisa or does it have something to do with the footing that makes the difference!”.  At the time I was quite happy with my sand at home but I had to admit there was a big difference riding on Tuny’s surfaces.  So I decided to call Martin Collins and installed their CLOPF(r) fiber into my sand surface at home.

My husband Henrik is an international show jumper and both he and I are really impressed with the way our horses move on the CLOPF® footing and it works perfectly for both of us.  We consider it a great investment.”

We’ve completed another installation at the Asselin’s private farm in the Wellington area.
Enjoy the photographs of their beautiful new outdoor ring featuring Martin Collins Clopf® fiber!

Sharn had a stellar weekend (November 19th) at Fox Lea Farm in Venice, Fl., taking the top spot on UpperClass in their 25K Grand Prix and also placing 5th on Corino!  Thanks to our friends at Fox Lea for allowing us to use these great photos & for a show well done!

From Jennie’s Chronicle of the Horse Blog……..

I had an interesting week down in Wellington, Fla., for my winter vacation, and I have to say that although it was a very horsey vacation, I think it was the best break I’ve yet to have.

Going to see my good friend Rachel Dwyer was long overdue, and if you’ve been following my blogs here on the fabulous ChronofHorse, you’ve heard about the life changing experience that Rachel recently went through. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I went to see her, knowing that she would be working at a jumper show there for Sharn Wordley all week, but since it was the only time I could get away, I went for it.

Needless to say, it was quite the adventure, with some of the highlights being driving a Porsche, dancing in West Palm Beach and riding (not “driving,” as I am told that is incorrect biker lingo) on the back of a Harley… And though all those things were great, getting to see one of my best friends and catch up after such a long time was the best of all.

It’s ironic that show jumping used to be Rachel’s Achilles heel, and now she’s is “running the show” at Sharn’s place. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see her jump, but from the sounds of it, the difference is amazing. Even though I went down there to visit her, and most people would think it’s a bit strange for a professional rider to go to a horse show for vacation, I think I was the one who got the most out of the trip.

I spent a long time chatting with Scotty Keach about the differences between how eventers show jump and how actual show jumpers ride. And since it’s been a long time since my California jumper days, after sitting and having Scotty talk to me about different styles and technical aspects, it made me go back and look at some of my videos from events where I thought I had pretty good rounds.

My reaction: “Wow… I really, really, really need to get a whole lot better.”
It’s a shame that our eventing and jumper worlds are so separate that we rarely surround ourselves with the people who show jump so well. As Scott said, “Monkey see, monkey do.” And though I know we do three sports in one, I think it would be time well spent to get into that environment for more than a week or two.

I was lucky to receive a USEF grant last spring to ride in Wellington, but I have to say I think I would really love to, at some point in my career, re-focus on my show jumping for an extended period of time. (After I save a whole lot of money and figure out how to create more time in a year!) I left Wellington completely wired and ready to get back to competing and get better.

It was also interesting to hear Sharn and his business partner Craig Martin, who run Wordley Martin Equestrian together, talk about footing. They’re the ones who did the footing in our new outdoor jump ring at Phillip’s, and they also have their footing in the warm-up for the main arena at WEF now. I got taken on a ride to see some of the arenas they’re doing over in grand prix village, which is literally right next to the show. It’s so interesting to hear about how they create footing and each element that goes into making it just right. It was seriously eye-opening.  FULL ARTICLE