Congratulations to Nina Ligon with Fernhill Fearless on winning the CIC 3 star at Fairhill International Horse Trials.
Nina has really formed a great partnership with Sparkie and I hear great reports on how well she rides him cross country, full of confidence. Looks like London is well within their sights.
News From USA
May 17th, 2011Chatsworth
May 16th, 2011Congratulations must go to Chloe Newton and the stunning Fernhill Nearly Darc on winning the Burghley Young Event horse qualifier at Chatsworth. This is one of the most competitive qualifiers on the calendar and I am sure this is not the last thing we will see this Son of Sarco/Clover Hill win this year.
Fernhill Pimms whom I own jointly with my good friend Catherine Witt won a Novice section with Duarte on board and looks well set up for his trip back to Ireland to Tattersalls International next week. I am sure the Creighton Family who bred him will be in attendance for the week supporting him as they follow his progress closely.
Annaharvey
May 16th, 2011Its a few years since I last competed in Annaharvey as it has clashed with something or other somewhere else, usually Chatsworth in England. However this year I decided to stay on home turf and make the trip to Offaly and ride the Pre-Novice horses leaving Fraser free to concentrate on the bigger classes.
I was well impressed with the improvements since my last visit here both to the going and the course.
Fraser had Major Furisto in the Red Mills Super League open Two star. This horse just goes from strength to strength and after a stunning dressage test and a double clear in the jumping phases he finished in 2nd place. Just pipped by Katie O’Sullivan on the very experienced Shannondale Que by less than a penalty. Katie was the only rider to make the xc time in this section. The scoreboard reflected the difficulty of the xc track showing that just half of the competitors in this class actually completed. In the normal Two Star the completion figures were considerably less.
I had three entries in the Pre Novice so was kept busy all day. All three horses jumped double clear and did lovely dressage tests so i was well pleased with my days work.
My latest edition Fernhill Friendly Juan a son of my Stallion Fernhill Vriend made his debut in the 4/5 year old section and confirmed my thoughts that he really is going to be quite something by winning the class.
Fernhill Whatever added 3 time penalties to his dressage score so ended up 5th in his section and Fernhill Ruby was 8th finishing on her dressage score.
It was great to see Xifon an ex Fernhill In-mate partnered by Michael Geiger son of Poala a regular dressage judge finish 3rd in the junior C class. Michael has soon formed a great partnership with this lovely mare and with regular help from Fraser I think we are going to be seeing more of them in the results.
Xifon is a sister of Fernhill Urco, Xiquissimo an Fernhill Viper showing just what a talented family this breed are.
Kilmanahan
May 11th, 2011Our most local event at Kilmanahan is always more than just another event for us here in Fernhill.
The Thursday evening tradition is to head down en mass and assist Pat Hutchinson the show jumping course designer. Lifting poles and wings, hammering in the numbers and measuring the track are done with a bit of banter. This makes a tedious task into a bit of craic and with the help of landowner John Hughes and his humoungous track machine in no time at all the two show jumping tracks are ready to go!!
Sunday Morning bright but not so early, for a change Team Fernhill headed off to the event proper. We were blessed with great weather albeit a bit windy which made my task of video operator a bit tricky.
As always the course at Kilmanahan was stunning with a couple of new fences and dressed with the usual array of flowers and greenery. The going with the previous days shower of rain was perfect .
Our horses all performed well with a win for Sophie with Fernhill Viper in the U25 division.
Sophie also steered Fernhill Ruby into second slot in the pre-novice on her first outing under rules.
Fernhill Whatever continued his consistant form and again was double clear and 4th in his division, he is well ready to move up to the CNC 1 star on his next outing.
Fraser gave his Tattersalls mounts a steady tune up after their competitive run last weekend and took them all easy cross country. However despite this Xiquissimo finished 2nd in the O/CNC 2 star with a double clear, Encore was 4th in the same class with M2s finishing 4th in the CNC 2 star.
So with the days sport over we headed to the Club house, a purpose built hospitality unit here in Kilmanahan for the usual Hughes hospitality. Its great to see so many competitors get together at the end of the day for a chat and to reflect on their day in such comfortable surroundings and with such hospitable hosts!!
Heading home with hunger and thirst duly satisfied, a few prizes in our pockets and a bunch of sound happy horses we were well pleased with our day!!
Ballindenisk International Weekend
May 2nd, 2011The bank holiday weekend for us was spend at the home of the Fell Family in Co Cork.
We were blessed with glorious sunshine for the dressage and show jumping on Saturday and with allF horses finishing in the top few in their classes spirits were lifted even higher.
There was a real international field with competitors from England, Belgium and even New Zealand taking part!!
Sophie’s Fernhill Ultimate was stunning in the dressage to post a score of 48.6 a clear sj left him in 5th position overnight.
Fernhill Encore with Fraser on board excited us all including the dressage judges to finish the dressage phase in 2nd place with a score of 45.8 and with a clean show jumping round kept his place overnight.
Xiquissimo just moving up to 3 star level did not dissappoint in the dressage and left the arena with a score of 50 which we were happy with at this stage in his training. however the show jumping caught him out and 3 rails on the floor saw him slip down the order.
We all hoped for cooler weather conditions for Sundays cross country phase but really could have done without the drizzle of rain and the biting wind.
This phase caused its fair share of problems in all classes as the Fell family had set out to build to the limit in all classes.
Ultimate was a little exuberant in the final water just one fence from home and ran past the last log, he thinks he knows much more than he does and will have his brakes re lined before his next outing!!
But the star of the day for Fernhill was Encore who galloped and jumped his heart out to win the CIC 2 star class. Delighted that he can be competitive at this level he heads confidently to Tatts to contest the CCI 2 star class.
Xiquissimo had an almost foot perfect round marred by just a steering error at a skinny triple hedge. Fraser was pleased with him and feels its just a matter of time before he gets a good result at this level.
The Fell Family had really made a big effort with the ground and presentation of the fences. The horses really appreciated the extra effort and all seemed to finish with a spring in their step.
A special mention must be made to Aidan O’Brien who sent a driver to man the Fell tractor all night long ensuring the ground conditions were perfect.
Fernhill Urco at Rolex 3DE
May 2nd, 2011What an amazing result for such a young horse!!! 2nd place beaten only by mary herself on her home bred kings Temptress.
A double clear in his first Four Star event made us all very proud and by the number of congratulation messages he caused quite a stir!! 
Badminton
May 2nd, 2011Whilst Sophie kept the home flag flying for Fernhill in Lisgarvan Carol was supporting Fernhill Gloster rebel as he tackled his first badminton. Whilst Sophie rode Fernhill viper to 2nd place in the U25 class Rebs was completing his show jumping in front of the crowded stands in Badminton, Though Rebs did not bring home a major prize he came through the finish flags fit and sound and ready to fight another day.
Ballinaclough Horse Trials
April 24th, 2011As Richard Widger decided to add a National Two Star class to his schedule for Ballinaclough horse trials the decision was taken by all at Fernhill to stay local and support him. If he is good enough to put his time, effort and money into our sport its the least we can do. It was certainly less stress on the horses having just a short drive to Waterford.
What a very wise decision it proved to be!!
I have to say fair play to Richard and his course designer Van De Vater they really did put it up to the riders and a true CNC 2 star track was on offer.
Team Fernhill were on form and Fraser took the O/CNC 2 star with Major Furisto, leading from the first phase. They were fast and clear xc and showed just what a class horse he is with a clear in the show-jumping phase.
In the CNC 2 star Sophie and Scottie Duacti looked elegant and stylish in the dressage taking the lead from Fraser and Fernhill Encore. Sophie and Scottie made little of the big fences xc, with Scottie jumping in his usual exuberant manner and giving the spectators a thrill!! A super clear in the SJ left them unbeatable so Fraser was left to settle for 2nd place this time. I am sure if had to be beaten he would not begrudge Sophie her win after such a polished performance.
Our up and coming 6 year old Fernhill In Action with fraser on board did his first CNC 1 star and with a double clear inside the time finished 2nd. He has really taken to his career change and looks like he is going to be quite special!!
In the Pre-Novice section we ran the Bahrain Cruise sired Fernhill Whatever who we bought earlier in the season from William Leahy Junior. He had been hunted hard all winter and it showed when he arrived in Fernhill, so some serious conditioning work took place before his first appearance in public!! Still not the fattest in the pack he never the less looked stunning and performed impecably to finishin 3rd place.
The eyecatching Fernhill Luxury contested the 4/5 year old class and finished in 4th place. He has never been out of the ribbons in his 3 outings under rules and can now have a well earned break on the spring grass.
Well done to the Widger family and all their helpers, a great days sport was had by all!!
