Stuart harvey
New User
Peppermills oldest offspring are 2 1/2 years old . Time will tell how they are to ride. We have one and he's in the field. Incidentally I rode peppermill from 4 year old until he went to john whitaker.the last show I competed him at he was 3rd in a 3 *** international Grand Prix. He was always easy in every respect, the only thing was controlling his unbelievable power,especially in combinations when he was young . There are many videos on YouTube and his website to judge him on, not 5 minutes in Addington.I think the comments about Peppermill are fair based on what was seen. He showed a development of the sternomandibular muscle? which would indicate he has a tendancy to go with a high head carriage. This could be interpreted as a horse who is not the easiest when ridden. Plenty of horses are great on the ground but are hot to ride. The concerns therefore could be that his offspring may not be for the amater.
Tim Price is known for his rudness, but I was not aware that he was near enough to any audience members to have overheard any of his comments.
I thought it was a great show. I am just not a fan of seeing babies under saddle, so was more then shocked to see 2010 born colts putting on a ridden display. There are a number of reasons for feeling dismayed. For one it puts out the message that this is ok to ride a rising 3yo & expect it to perform in this way. It was the only blight of the day & it is also clear to me that it is endorsed by many professionals as no one seems to have batted an eye over it. Well if this is the way forward for horse production, you can keep it. Perhaps for the few that feel as I do it might be a good reason to buy foals/yearlings before anyone has the chance to damage them! Really sorry to offend yet again, but I believe the horse has as much right to have it's time to grow & enjoy time out being a baby as most our human children do. They should have long enough under saddle, being stabled etc without taking away their chance to be a horse.