This is the local autumn horse fair at Gavray, there are several in the area at this time of year.
BABA
16.2hh 6yo KWPN gelding by Armitage
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Baba or Red is I call him a 6yo KWPN gelding by Armitage, he has some fantastic blood with Argentinus and Ahorn being his grandparents.
He's about 16.2hh, certainly no taller but quite deceptive when you're riding him as he's a square tough horse. He rides bigger than his height and is easily up to carrying a decent weight. That said he has a very soft sensitive mouth, up until now he has only ever been ridden in a happy mouth as I have never felt the need for anything stronger.
Red is a very flashy mover with magnificent eye catching presence. He also has a very big powerful jump which is still a bit green as he has missed so much time with my being out of action for so long. That said he would never consider saying no, he will attempt whatever you point him at be it ditch, water, drop, skinny or 1m10 showjump from a trot. He has an awesome gallop that is fast and ground covering although also adjustable and nimble with incredible stamina. I guess this endurance comes from some arab which can be seen in his tail position at times!
Last year he did his first competitions; an intro at Aston le Walls (where we had a couple of xc misses at the corner and following skinny fence but was pretty incredible since it was his first ever outing and he'd only been xc schooling twice in his life). A clear at solihull intro ridden by my sister (jealousy). Then he returned to France to go showjumping a couple of times and do an AM3 event. He again went clear xc but had a few poles show jumping as it was 1m05 which took us both a little by surprise, especially since France believes in big up to height square parallels!
Red is keen on life, he waits to come in from the field ,he's raring to go out to the field, he wants to go on the trailer ,have his feet done or be clipped . If there's action to be had Red wants to be in the thick of it. He has a super friendly character with all people, horses and other animals, he is gentle enough to be handled by a child. He has always been that way ever since I bought him as a yearling, infact it was this that encouraged me to purchase him as he was hanging over the door begging to be petted.
This year, 2012 Red is already fit and waiting to go!
Please don't hesitate to contact me for anything else you need to know about him.
For more pics and video please click on following link; Red's photo Diary
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A. SELLIE 70
16hh, 7yo KWPN gelding by Rubert R.
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A.sellie 70 a truly beautiful eyecatching little horse. Turnip ( as we call him) is very photogenic, he has fabulous paces and is a talented neat jumper. He has never been to a competition without someone commenting on his beauty, movement or jump .Being rather a cheeky fellow I was amazed at the way he took to eventing, he has never really spooked at the fences and been incredibly bold with his attitude to ditches , water and xc problems in general.
Dressage is his weakest phase, not through lack of ability, doing relaxed flatwork at home he’s the porsche I will never own, smooth, powerful , sensitive and thoughtful , he’ll try his heart out for me. At competitions he can show a lack of maturity, he likes to show off , a few trot and canter circles are incredibly dull and need to be jazzed up with a few shimmies, spooks and bum wiggles. Unfortunately the judges never seem to appreciate these little extras.
Last year he moved up to novice with a double clear at Aston le Walls with his first run at this height. He then put in a very good xc performance at Homme House, with a slow run out at the water while he figured out how we were going to jump down to the water and then over the chest jump sitting in it but he was very honest in figuring it out for the next attempt. I was disappointed with his showjumping as he rarely has more than a pole down these days but I think it may have been a sign of the bruised feet ( on the shocking hard ground) that really upset our next run at Sapey.
It was a tough year for me, I really didn’t ride my best, I should have stopped riding altogether after my injury in March. I don’t think I helped Turnip with very lopsided balance and non existent grip with my left leg. He is a spritely fellow at the best of times so you need to be giving him your best shot. When I brought him back to France he ran again twice at AM2GP level. This is equivalent to a very small BE100 for the xc though it's often very technical as the distances and skinnies are often so wrong and so skinny ! The showjumping is a good square 1m05 every fence though. He ran double clear at Chateaubriant, at Gavray he had a pole down but was clear xc. I feel happy that this has restored confidence for both of us (not that he ever doubted his) as I wanted too start 2012 straight back at Novice level. I think too many runs over small tracks cold make him complacent and I don’t want him to loose focus of the fact that he must concentrate as the jumps continue to get bigger and tougher.
For more pictures and videos please click the following link to Turnip's photo page
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DISCLAIMER
All of the people and animals in these photos are members of our family (except in the above photo from Gavray!) or were when the photos were taken.
All of the landscape shots are either on our place or close by in the surrounding Normandy region.
Most of the photos have been taken by ourselves. We have endeavoured to contact the copyright owners of the few official photographs taken of horses at competitions. If you as an official equine photographer recognise one of your photos here and have not been contacted please let us know. We can remove your photo or hopefully arrive at an agreement for its use.
