So the "Chosen One" is going to do some work!

elliefiz

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Tomorrow I go to Ireland to arrange moving the love of my life, my 3 year old Valentino gelding, back to the UK to start doing some work! Out of all my horses, he really is the apple of my eye, he has the kindest nature and everyone who has met him has fallen in love with him! He has been turned away for 6 months, had a massive growth spurt and is going to start very basic ground work and ridden work now ahead before another break after Christmas.

He was sourced in Germany for me as a 2 year old stallion, he had 11 rides under saddle, proved an absolute dream, qualified for the Bundeschampionship in loose jumping and went to his stallion licensing all in the space of a number of months so he needed a break. Unfortunately he was a smidgen too small for the stallion licensing judges so we gelded him, typically he has grown like a vine since but c'est la vie! Luckily have his yearling colt full brother at home who hopefully will grow abit taller and carry on the line for us.

Here is V as a 2 year old for licensing:



His video that I watched a thousand times whilst waiting for him to pass the vet!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=LLM53k-TacDQnZwB0HQWtEgQ&v=gbrcjUR3yHQ

The plan is he will go to a good horsemanship trainer here in the UK to do his GW and teach him things like forwards and lateral flexion, Etc. Hope to get him out, doing lots of hacking and seeing lots of life before turning him away again. I would like him to do some dressage in the future and there is a fabulous trainer in Holland whom I hope to send him to next year who subscribes to similar training techniques as me whilst also competing at the highest levels so that is the plan for the next 8-12 months.

Looking very grown up last week


And just because I love him

 
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Wow, what a stunner!

If you haven't yet decided where to send him, might be worth speaking to princesssparkle, her 3yo did fantastically well with a trainer, with slightly alternative methods (not sure how best to describe it!).
 
Sheep I have pm'd you.

V will go to Ross Nickless whom I think is fantastic. What I want him to learn is softness and going forward, he has plenty of time for everything else :) He didn't have many rides under saddle so I'm hoping anything done can be undone and he is more or less a clean slate. Ross teaches such lightness its beautiful- his horses can be ridden off a halter with a strand of horse hair between the halter and reins, it's lovely to watch! Then hopefully he will go to someone like Tristan Tucker or the amazing Alizee Froment to further his education, Alizee is beyond talented, if one isn't familiar with her, have a Google of her videos, her work is amazing!
 
Sounds like you have a great plan in place! Keep us posted on how he gets on, he is just flipping beautiful!

Ps I'm in Ireland.. I don't mind babysitting him until you arrive ;)
 
He's gorgeous! Out of interest how big is he in the first pic & vid? Couldn't work it out & it was bugging me haha
 
He is about 16hh in the video as a 2 year old. The guy who rode him in Germany is about 6'6 in height and makes poor V look like a pony! In the video he towers over V's ears when loose jumping him, I had been told he was about 168cm but until I went to the stud and saw V in the flesh I was convinced he was probably about 14.2hh!

He has been bred for jumping, his breeding being Valentino x Ramiro, but I don't particularly enjoy show jumping myself and he is too soft to go to a pro, it would worry me. Hoping he will take to dressage instead, he is quite uphill with a huge behind but also short in his body so we will see how he goes I suppose! Eventing is ruled out as he would never make the time, his gallop is so slow!
 
I don't think I'd care whether he was any good at anything or not if he was stood in my field looking amazing :)
 
He is about 16hh in the video as a 2 year old. The guy who rode him in Germany is about 6'6 in height and makes poor V look like a pony! In the video he towers over V's ears when loose jumping him, I had been told he was about 168cm but until I went to the stud and saw V in the flesh I was convinced he was probably about 14.2hh!

He has been bred for jumping, his breeding being Valentino x Ramiro, but I don't particularly enjoy show jumping myself and he is too soft to go to a pro, it would worry me. Hoping he will take to dressage instead, he is quite uphill with a huge behind but also short in his body so we will see how he goes I suppose! Eventing is ruled out as he would never make the time, his gallop is so slow!

There are some good pro SJ riders about if you know where to look, if you wanted to send him even for a short time. If dressage doesn't turn out to be his thing ;)
 
There are some good pro SJ riders about if you know where to look, if you wanted to send him even for a short time. If dressage doesn't turn out to be his thing ;)

HashRouge I would be a SJer's worst nightmare! They wouldn't tolerate me as an owner, I would give them a massive headache with what they could and couldn't do ;) Having met Luca Moneta through shared horsemanship interests, I would want to send him to someone like him but I personally don't know any who train like he does, I have been told he is considered odd and eccentric in show jumping circles despite his growing success.
 
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