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.
Posts Tagged ‘Fernhill’
News From USA
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011Ballindenisk International Weekend
Monday, 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.
The “Long” Trip North
Monday, April 11th, 2011The first of the Northern Region events this season as usual was at the seaside in Tyrella.
This was a long long drive for us as there was a road block at Newry due to a bomb scare. We sat for 2 and a half hours in a queue of traffic in what has to be the hottest day of the year so far. So much for our plans to arrive the day before, walk the course and have a leisurely evening relaxing in the local pub!!
The Sun continued to shine through Saturday and it was an ideal day to be at the beach.
All horses had an educational run over a tough track that asked a lot of questions at this stage in the season.
Fernhill M2S proved how much he has grown up this season and posted a great double cleart to finish on his dressage score in 4th place in the CNC 2star class.
Fernhill Ultimate was also double clear but in the 1 star class which for a 6 year old was a fair question. he finished just out of the ribbons in his section.
Major Furisto made the 2 star track look easy and just a few time penalties were forgiven when we looked at the scoreboard at the end of the day. Some very experienced combinations had faulted and walked home with no doubt lots of homework before the next outing. He had a rub in the show jumping and finished just out of the places in 7th.
They all get some final polishing before the International in Ballendenisk in a couple of weeks but both jockeys feel they are well set up after this spin.
Great start to the Irish Event Season
Monday, March 28th, 2011The Irish event season for Fernhill Kicked off at the all weather venue of Richard Widger. This season sees his track up graded to include at two star class and he had obviously not been idle over the winter period. Some very interesting fences have been added to test us at this level and we felt it was a great addition at this stage in the season.
Two of the Fernhill string contested the 2 star class.
Xiquissimo made his debut on Irish soil with Fraser on board and finished a very respectable 3rd with just a few time penalties added to his dressage score. Fernhill M2S also had a handy run in this class with Fraser taking his time xc to get to know him having taken over the ride from Sophie this year.
Don Corleon fresh back from a stint in Italy was in the CNC1 star H/C to give Fraser a chance to assess him. He lead the dressage and a lovely double clear would have see a win only for the excess points on his record!!
Sophie rode Deidre Lannigans Sea Top Boy to 4th place in the U25 CNC 1 star class just a rub of a show jump prevented him finishing higher but we were delighted with him, he really has come back from his winter in Tullamain very grown up indeed.
Sophie also rode her 5 year old FEHL champion from last year into the winners enclosure in the Pre-Novice, he looked very impressive and will up-grade to 1 star next weekend.
The day ended as most events do at the Fernhill Truck satisfing our hunger pangs on Deidre Lannigans impressive picnic, we always seem to have more friends than we can remember at this stage in the day!!
Express Eventing
Monday, January 24th, 2011
The first competition of 2011 took place on home turf in Raheen Na Gun just next door. The weather during the week was very cold and hard frost meant the cancelling o the xc phase of the first in a series of Express Eventing Competitions. Ger O’Brien owner of Raheen Na Gun is trying to bring together the show jumping and eventing fraternity and encourage more riders to have a go at eventing in his brain child, a version of Express Eventing.
The competition consists of a regular dressage test with regular judging, followed by a round of show jumps completed in xc attire so then competitors go straight into the xc phase. We are hosting this phase around our playground of fences in Fernhill. The course has to be completed in a very generous optimum time and is over a short distance. This is ideal for this time of the year as horses do not have to be too fit, not do the riders!!
There was a great entry and competitors were disappointed not to get the spin xc.
Carols little baby Fernhill Nearly Darc a rising 5 year old by Shannondale Sarco excelled himself and won the Baby class. He is such a dote and people could be forgiven for thinking he was an old schoolmaster nursing this old bird around!! 3rd and 6th places in this class were taken by two more Fernhill residents Fauve from Canada who is a working pupil here and Christian who comes over from the USA to train from time to time.
Our new Jockey this year Fraser Duffy Won the 1m class with a 6 year old horse Thumbs Up who is owned by long time Friend of fernhill Clare Ryan’s sister Mary. This was Frasers first time to sit on the horse let alone compete so an impressive result.
Matillda Lofgren our youngest rider was 3rd in this class with Ozone a 7 year old who is going to make someone a fabulous Junior horse this season.
The 1.10 class saw avery popular win for Fernhill Vriend our resident stallion and everyones favorite. He is such a poser its hard for the dressage judges not to like him and as he is now at grand prix level show jumping he played with the show jumping track. Carol is hoping he will step up this season and do a 3 star. He will be the only stallion here that is a Grand Prix show jumper and Advanced eventer. His temperament is amazing and his stock seem to mirror this.
Fraser took 2nd place on Roscoe and 3rd on Favorite so all in all this was a good class for Fernhill.
We are hoping for better weather this week so we can all get a spin xc and blow away the cobwebs that have formed over the winter.
I can highly recommend Ger’s idea as a pre season prep and suggest all you eventers get your boots out, horses clipped and come on down to give Team Fernhill a run for their money nex Sunday!!
Ballyvannon
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010A very early start on Saturday (3am) took us up the North to a new event on the calender, Ballyvannon.
It was a long drive up but an amazing Sunrise and quite roads made it a pleasant trip.
The owners of this new event had really put in a big effort in a relativley small area.The cross country was not a walk in the park and had some quite technical combinations, even the pre novice had a double of skinny barrels.
Mr Jones did his usual stunning dressage and clear sj to leave him in the lead going into the xc phase. However with Camphire in mind Sophie took him handy xc and he finished 2nd.
Luca made is Irish eventing debut at this event and finished a very respectable 2nd with Fernhill ASP.
Go-Go had a blonde moment at the road crossing and posted his only xc fault to date. Sophie was trying out a new bit and said it made him drift left, better to learn that here than at Camphire when he makes his frst International apperance!!
After a long drive home which also took in a Chinese take-away en route, we arrived back in Fernhill at 11pm.
A quick wash of the truck and re-pack ready for the Future Event Horse Finals in Tattersalls Sunday!!
The bed looks very inviting this evening but dont think I will get to stay there too long, leaving at 6.30am!!!
2nd Week South Leinster Combined Training
Monday, January 25th, 2010Sunday saw the second leg ot the SL Combined Training League at Raheen Na Gun. Entries were well up and an early start was helped by the fact we live so close!!
Our horses were all so much better for the outing last week and excelled them selves by all winning a class or in Vipers case two!!
It was a first outing for Deidre Lannigans Fernhill Sea top and with Carol onboard he won the Pure Dressage Test14, though green his Potential was obvious and the Judge Poala Geiger was suitably impressed.
He went on to do a super Test in the Combined Training but a silly knock in the Show jumping just put him out of the placings.
Fernhill Cascade with Sophie Richards on board placed 4th in the Test 7 and WON his combined training, he really is coming into his own now and is on track to win the League in this section.
Shane Power our Junior rider was making his debut on the recent Fernhill purchase Killossery Kassandra. They showed how quickly a partnership has formed between them and placed 3rd in both the Pure Dressage test 32 and the 1.10 combined training. Shane now heads to Portugal with the mare to the Sunshine Tour eventing and hopes this will give him further experience with her before he returns home and appears before the selectors. Competition for a place on the Junior European team this year will be fierce so this trip should give him a head start.
Again Viper showed just how much she has matured over the winter and could not be beaten, winning both her classes by a comfortable margin she is really set up now for the trip to portugal.
Again well done to the Team at Raheen Na Gun, well organised and great facilities made for a good days competition.
