Futurity programme on Horse and Country

I thought the program was really good, showed a nice range of horses. Maybe next year a few of the other venues could be videoed! The company could even market individual videos of each horse to owners if they want to make up the costs.
 
As the breeder of the horse that Jan was commentating on, I would like to contribute to this thread. I have kept in touch with his owner as he's grown on from leaving me at 9 months old, was there at the ringside at Solihull on the day, and have now watched the programme three times (thanks to a techno-wizard dad who can operate my DVD recorder from the other end of the ‘phone when rung by a grown-up daughter in a panic), so hopefully I know enough!

To correct a few inaccuracies – albeit not deliberate, I’m sure – “my" boy is in fact only rising 3 now (May 2006 foal). I bred him out of a lovely old-fashioned 17hh athletic middleweight maiden TB (from the £1k and under pages of H&H!) by a relatively unknown but very talented young coloured KWPN SJ stallion by Concorde - so all in all, a bit of a genetic leap of faith on my part. As a small-scale amateur breeder, I was thrilled with her first foal, and he proved his quality by coming third in the eventing section at the 2006 Futurity championships.

I think Celia might have mis-remembered, as he did not actually get “good vet marks” - I call 7.5 and 7.5 a fairly average score, verging on disappointing if I’m honest, but I respect Jane Nixon's opinion, and if she feels that was what was fair on the day, then so be it. His owner is addressing his foot balance to reduce as far as possible the impact of his tendency to be a little toe-in, (mentioned in the programme) and I am confident that the best that can be done, will be done. His owner is also an equine physio, so he is, quite literally, in very good hands.

He scored reasonably well for the discipline evaluators - 8s and 8.25s for the rest of the sections, with some very pleasing comments in all categories. This was his first ever proper outing - he had been a bu**ger to plait, a s*d to load, and a fidget-ar*e in the collecting ring, and was over an hour late, putting him in amongst the 3 year olds to be evaluated. And in he came to a strange arena, cool as a cucumber, and proceeded to prove he's bold, confident, unfazed by new stuff (i.e. none of the other 2 year olds had a jumping lane to be tempted by – which you didn’t see on the programme!), and he’s plenty athletic enough to do the job(s) his owner hopes he can perform. One of the evaluators commented to me at the end of the day that they hoped to see him back in 2009 as they thought he was a good horse (praise indeed from that particular person) and they were looking forward to seeing him jump.

I’m very pleased that several of you have commented along the lines of him being a good sort, and suited for more than being a leisure horse (which seems to be almost a derogatory term at the moment!) , but as a huge supporter of the BEF Futurity, I feel Jan's comments may be being slightly misinterpreted. Of the 7 two year olds that were at Solihull, they just happened to pick him for the programme; the only two higher scoring 2 year olds scored a mere 0.03 more than him, so no real high achievers. I think Jan was talking specifically about him, not about First premium winners in general. She said he was a "very nice horse" who had " just scored a first premium", and that he was therefore "not going to be an elite horse". (I took notes!) Well 8 is 8, bang on the bottom end of a First premium; it’s not in the middle of the range and it’s not knocking on the Elite door.

Jan then went on to say that with the huge growth in the leisure sector for riding, there is an increasing demand for good horses of his type to ride and compete, and I'd like to think that any of the riders she was talking about would be really happy to have him to ride and compete on. I don’t wear spectacles, so no hint of a rose tint, believe me, and much as I may think he's lovely, I am not going to pretend he is going to make the international circuit. His owner <u>is</u>, however, going to have a heck of a lot of fun as an amateur owner-rider, hopefully affiliated in one or more of the three major disciplines, and perhaps he could go on to be a good ‘national’ horse if that’s what suits them <u>both</u>. In the meantime, he could easily come back next year, under the same or different evaluators, and score much better, the same, or worse.

Please remember that if he'd scored .01 of a mark lower in any of the categories, he'd only have been a Second premium, and none of Jan’s comments would have been misconstrued. Jan categorically did not make a generalising comment that First premium winners would make good leisure horses. Whilst they might, the intention is obviously that they are capable of achieving far higher levels. If my boy had scored mid-range First premium, and she’d commented similarly, I think everyone’s comments here would be fair. Perhaps it’s a question of interpretation.

Personally, I’m just chuffed to bits he got on the telly!

And if anyone is interested in his younger half sister, by Kyra Kirklund's stallion Master, then please contact me!!!!!
 
Thank you so much for all that cmg -- a gracious, balanced and well informed response to some very hot-headed responses and one of the best expositions of what is the difference between a 2nd premium, a low/borderline 1st premium, a higher first premium and an Elite score.

And apologies from me for mishearing the vet score, especially as it was given by Jane &lt;Oops&gt;!.

Really looking forward to seeing the Master filly at a 2009 evaluation too :-)
 
Well, if my Master filly doesn't sell before the Catherston evaluation, all being well, I'm hoping to bring her, a Dazzler mare with an Opposition foal at foot, and a paternal half-brother to this boy above who is rising 3 (and who DID come out coloured!). A very busy day requiring two trips as the rising 3 year old needs half my lorry, he's so big!
 
As someone with very little experience in this field I was delighted to watch the programme and more so to read the sensible and very informative threads here.

Thank you! Ive learned stuff today!!
 
I really enjoyed the programme as well. Thanks to all who made it happen
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