Wellington's dream team

If you have a barn cat, be sure to give them a pet today, because March 28th is Respect Your Cat day.

In other news, here are some more showjumping related tidbits you’ll learn in this issue:

1. Wellington’s latest dream team.

2. The six lucky riders that won a Golden Ticket to showjumping stardom.

3. How Switzerland’s obsession with happiness is extending to equines.

4. He-who-must-not-be-named is back.

But first… here’s some trivia:

Wellington’s Latest Dream Team

Darragh Kenny’s dreams didn’t stop when his alarm clock went off Sunday morning as he and Vancouver Dreams smoked the competition in Wellington, Florida to take home the $226,000 Bainbridge Companies Grand Prix.

The dream team laid down an impressive double clean round and was 1.67 seconds faster than Lillie Keenan, who claimed second aboard Fasther.

Kenny acquired the 13 year old dreamboat from Max Kühner earlier this year and they’ve already won over $100,000 in prize money in the past three months. In February, the pair won the three star 1.50m Classic in Wellington from a field of 71 horses and two weeks ago they were second in the five star 1.50m Classic.

However, this isn’t the mare’s first trip to the winner’s circle.

She and Kühner won the Longines Global Champions Tour of Doha CSI 5* just last year and had several other top placing at various four and five star competitions across Europe.

You can watch her winning round here:

Six Golden Tickets to Showjumping Stardom Have Been Awarded

The YRA just announced the six lucky riders that won the equestrian equivalent of a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

The selection process involved an intense two day competition at the Peelbergen Equestrian Center (Netherlands) where 25 riders from 14 countries were invited to compete against each other in four classes.

They were each assigned a younger and more experienced horse, and the Selection Panel, which consisted of Otto Becker, Emile Hendrix, and Thierry Pomel, evaluated candidates on their attitude, motivation, and technical abilities.

While these budding riders’ parents will be disappointed to learn that this Golden Ticket doesn’t offer any wealth or power, it does give each rider the opportunity to train with showjumping superstars and former Olympians Jos Lansink, Franke Sloothaak, Marco Kutscher, Schröder’s brothers, Rob Ehrens, Laura Kraut and Nick Skelton.

You can watch this Discovery channel-worthy video to learn more about the selection process:

Martin Fuchs’s Partner in Crime Says Farewell To Competition

Martin Fuchs officially announced that Chaplin, his steady mount of seven years, has retired from competition and will join Team Nijhof’s impressive stallion roster to begin the next chapter of his career.

Fuchs and the 16 year old stallion share an impressive list of wins that could take up the rest of this newsletter, but a few of them include World Cup Champion, World Cup Winner, 3x Global Champions Tour Grand Prix winner, Nations Cup winner, and Swiss Champion.

In his Instagram post, Fuchs praised the stallion saying, “Chaplin jumped 13 5* Grand Prixs and placed in 12 of them. He has the best character and qualities. Scope, careful, fast and a heart like a lion.”

The Lineup for The World Cup Final is Here!

In just a few weeks, the biggest names in showjumping will head to the birthplace of reuben sandwiches and Kool Aid for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final and the lineup is exciting.

Martin Fuchs, who won the title last year aboard Chaplin, will return once again, though this time with his ten year old newcomer, Leone Jei.

He’ll be met by stiff competition including McLain Ward, Aaron Vale, Daniel Bluman, and several other top riders.

You can see the full list of entries the FEI recently released.

Speaking of the defending champion, Fuchs is also a featured Trivia rider this week!

Other News

Switzerland is Vying For The Title of Happiest Equines in the World

The fourth happiest country in the world recently rolled out its latest program to increase dopamine levels across the nation – this time to its four legged citizens.

The Happy Horse project is the Swiss Federation’s attempt to increase awareness for animal welfare in warmup rings nationwide.

While it doesn’t involve any equine meditation apps, there will be anonymous inspectors evaluating rider conduct in the warm-up ring across the country, and those who demonstrate outstanding horsemanship will be rewarded accordingly.

McLain Ward… Again

After three weeks of obsessing over McLain Ward’s Dutch Masters win, we thought we could get through a single newsletter without mentioning his name, but apparently not this week!

He-who-must-not-be-named was back in Wellington and snatched up the $146,000 CaptiveOne Advisors CSI4* 1.50m Series Final on Quimi del Maset.

Ward is excited about the nine year old gelding that his team recently acquired.

“The horse had been on my radar last year, but the previous owners weren’t 100% sure they wanted to sell,” said Ward. “But they were generous in thinking about the potential for the horse maybe going to the Olympics for the U.S. and worked with my group to get him here. I’m very grateful.”

Michael Pender Continues His Hot Streak on The Sunshine Tour

Michael Pender and HHS Calais brought the heat this weekend as they won their second Grand Prix in a row at the Sunshine Tour.

However, this pair is no stranger to the winner’s circle.

Just six months ago, the pair won The LGCT Grand Prix of Valkenswaard and in October, they claimed the €900,000 LGCT Grand Prix of Riyadh.

Before closing out this week, here’s the answer to the final trivia question:

You can see his full interview below:

Farms We Love

I think I’ll be attending the Vejer de la Frontera show next year because I’m definitely moving to this farm in Spain.

The quaint country house is situated on 35 hectares (which Google told us is about 74 acres) just outside Barcelona and has a pool and small barn.

It might also be a good option for Victor Bettendorf as they advertise its close proximity to multiple golf courses.

That’s it for this week!

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to: