Its been more years than we can count that we’ve been doing the annual Year in Review at HGF—but this one, hands down, tops them all.
HGF was founded with a purpose—to promote the breeding, training and development of one breed, the PRE horse, for one sport, dressage. Our claim from the first was that a well-bred, well-trained PRE could compete among the best warmbloods in the world. This year we proved it beyond question. HGF’s Grandioso, as a green Grand Prix horse, finished 29th out of 50 at the London Olympic Games amongst, by all accounts, the best field of dressage horses in history. The past twelve months following his progress were some of the most exciting in our equestrian lives, and to be there in London was an experience that we still find hard to put into words. There is simply nothing left to prove, and we continue to thank our rider, Daniel Martin Dockx, the Spanish Federation and Jan Bemelmans for their faith in our horse and their support all along the way.
In 2012, we also had success with our other horses here at home and in Spain. Encanto began his first full year at Grand Prix and quickly achieved his own qualifying scores for London, although with the emphasis on Grandioso we did not compete him as much as we plan to this coming year. Vaquero HGF finished 2012 as the top-ranked Five Year Old PRE in Spain, not an easy task considering the quality of the young horses in the National Young Horse Championships in Zaragoza in October. Mica Mabragana brought Cuatrero back to the show ring after several years without a trainer following Courtney King-Dye’s accident. Mica and Cuatrero competed during the winter season at the international small tour levels at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington.
Also in 2012, we said good-bye to our first generation of competitors. Beautiful Idilio II was retired, and has been enjoying his relaxing schedule, long days of turn-out and light work with young rider Rachel Chowanec. [nbsp]Cosaco IX passed away last spring in Michigan, but left us many top quality sons as his legacy. Camaron remains at HGF as a breeding stallion and a mount for the owner, and also appreciates a lighter riding routine without the stress of competition.
This past summer was a busy one for HGF in Fruitport where we hosted a series of events for local charities and enjoyed the musical routines of our working students and various local riders. Our work with Dressage4Kids continued with a second Emerging Dressage Athlete Clinic and Lendon Youth Dressage Festival in July. This year Endel Ots flew in to speak to the youth riders and give his advice and experiences as a young man making his way up in the equestrian world.
Our breeding program, managed by Sandy Talbot, produced 5 foals in 2012 and saw 9 mares in foal for 2013. Our young horses continue to attract top professional riders who will be coming out on their own HGF-bred PREs in a few years. Throughout the country, HGF-bred PREs have been making a name for their owners and riders, and we had 5 Team 70 riders again this year.
Looking forward, we have much work to do in 2013. Lendon Gray’s Winter Intensive Training program starts this month at HGF in Wellington. The WIT riders, all 21 and younger, have just arrived last week with much excitement for their winter in Florida. HGF is also a sponsor of the new Florida Youth Championship at Global Dressage Festival, and everyone is excited about the young talent that is coming out for this season. Our own sponsored youth riders are busy getting their horses ready to show. This year, Kerrigan Gluch will be showing Cuatrero at the FEI Junior level with sites on the National Championships at Gladstone and the North American Championships. Idolo Americano has returned from 2 years of finishing school in Spain and has just begun his new relationship with Rachel Chowanec as a U25 prospect for this top-ranked young rider. Bolero CXLVIII has returned to HGF and is currently in training with Nicholas Fyffe, Robert Dover’s rider for Fiero HGF. And Dani Martin will be coming to Florida this spring to look at Baroco HGF, (Bolero x Escapada) a four year old future prospect for Spain. [nbsp]And later this year we will start the run-up to the European Championships in Denmark…the next challenge in Grandioso’s international career.
We thank all of our clients and friends for their support and well-wishes this year. Now is the time to look forward. Young horses grow up, improve, get stronger, get smarter, develop abilities for collection and produce movement that we could only imagine to be possible. This is our wish for all of you for 2013!
Hampton Green farm - Sponsored Program
