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March 20, 2010
My friend Candillo Junior keeps bringing
tremendous amount of enjoyment to all around him. Ingrid has been
riding him about once per week and I get to watch and drool. It is
amazing that I am still in awe every time I see him go. Not only his
beauty but his attitude, his willingness to please and the effort he puts
out.
He is enjoying the trail rides and particularly
going up the steep hills. We also started jumping him up a
bit and he loves powering over the wider, bigger oxers.
Having missed the opportunity to start our show
season in Arizona we have revised our show schedule. The May
Thunderbird show starts off with a CSI **. I don't want
to start the show season doing a CSI right off the bat. What we will
do is keep schooling, do some smaller shows and start his first Grand Prix
in the Thunderbird June/July show on the last week of June first week of
July.
Candillo Junior is a very special horse that
will be with us for many years to come. There is no sense rushing him.
The time we take now in preparing him both mentally and physically to
compete at the higher levels will pay off in the long term.
This is good news to breeders since the stud fee
will remain at the introductory rate until Candillo Junior competes in his
first Grand Prix.
March 4, 2010
Candillo Junior continues to impress us with his
ongoing improvement. I took him for yet another trail ride and he
impressed me with the ease in which he galloped up the steep hill. We
then cantered on a part of the trail with multiple turns and it sure was fun
doing flying changes every 2 or 3 strides.
The 'Bronze' shows have started and we will be
taking him to them so he starts getting the idea that the show season is
coming up. Then in May we get the ball rolling in the
competition arena in our first 'Gold' show of the season.
We have started riding him and Meggie at the
same time as well as him with San Ramiro at the same time. Both Ingrid
and I have been going for walks on the road where she is on Candillo Junior
and I am on Meggie. It is quite a treat to have a stallion that we can
ride together with a mare and go for long walks without having to worry
about anything.
We also have been trailering Candillo Junior and
Meggie together. We have a 3 horse angle haul and load Candillo Junior
first, leave an empty space, and then load Meggie at the end slot.
Both of them travel very quietly and just seem to enjoy being in the same
trailer together. What a treat.
February 9, 2010
Candillo Junior has been training beautifully.
We unfortunately had to cancel our trip to Arizona (for details contact me
directly at isauro@osjs.com).
Our first Grand Prix now will be in the May show
at Thunderbird Show Park. This in a way is good news to breeders since
his stud fee will remain at the introductory rate until his first Grand
Prix.
Yesterday was our first ride out in the trails.
The weather and footing finally accommodate our going out regularly for our
conditioning trail rides.
We trailered out to a beautiful park with very
consistent footing, hills and two wooden bridges with the creeks rushing
under at full speed. He is such a trooper. As he approaches the
bridge he thinks.... "you have to be kidding me... go over that!!" but he
does nothing other than gently stop, bring his head down, sniff and think
about it.
I gave him time to think and encouraged him with
my voice, staying very quiet with my body. After a few minutes he
ventured out onto the bridge which of course makes a big sound with every
step. He gingerly took one more step, then another and slowly made it
to the other end. He was very proud.
Then, 200 metres later the second bridge.
This one is three times as long and the creek much more active. At
this point he goes ... "are you serious? I thought the last one was
scary....." He did the same thing but only took about 1 minute to
figure it out.
What a fun horse. Not once did he say
'forget it' or 'no way', he simply asked and when reassured, tried and went
for it.
January 22, 2010
We are ready to head out to Arizona HITS circuit.
On Sunday January 18, Eddie Macken came over to help us. He had not
seen Candillo Junior since August of last year. Eddie was very
impressed with the way Candillo Junior is jumping, his boldness, how brave
he is and the rapport Candillo Junior and I have. Eddie felt we will
do well at the AZ HITS Grand Prixs.
We are looking forward with anticipation to the
Grand Prixs.
October 7, 2009
In preparation for next show season we have started
our more technical gymnastic work. Candillo Junior is getting fitter
and we are starting to understand each other quite well. I continue to
be impressed with his scope and work ethic. The more I ask of him the
more he puts out.
He is one of these unique horses that is super
relaxed and when you ask him to wake up and give you some power he does.
He gages his alertness and response time to your request. After our
workouts we go for a long walk on the roads. He really enjoys
both the work and the visiting afterwards.
We now have his turn out side by side with San
Ramiro on adjacent paddocks. Both of them have very friendly
personalities and they are best of buddies. They stand close together
on either side of the fence and gently visit underneath it. What a
treat to have stallions with such gentle dispositions.
August 30, 2009
Well, we have our fist show
under our belt. He is an amazing horse - willing, careful, powerful
and a pleasure to be around. I can lead him around with a regular lead
rope, stand him outside his stall to remove tack while other horses walk by
him in the aisle, walk him around the entire Thunderbird Show Park on a
loose rein, take him to eat grass while children zoom by on their bicycles
and generally enjoy him as a friend.
On top of that he is very
relaxed when I ride him. When it comes time to work he is very
energetic and responsive. He really likes it that I ride him without
spurs, on a simple snaffle and a simple noseband that is loose. He is
extremely responsive on course and can collect to the base as well as gallop
to the base. His bascule is breathtaking and his flexibility over the
jump is a treat to sit to.
Eddie Macken watched us in
the $3,000 Thunderbird Show Park Derby and liked what he saw and stated "it
is nice to get that first one out of the way."
We had two rails as part of
our getting to know each other but had several very special moments where we
clicked and were one. Amazing that in less that one month I am already
being able to have moments where my thoughts translate into action from
Candillo Junior.
Next show season will be a
very special one for both Candillo Junior and myself.
August 24, 2009
I have started Candillo
Junior's jumping training and am loving it. He is a horse that has a
tremendous amount of pride and wants to continuously improve which is
amazing considering he is already a wonderful jumper.
He tries very hard to please
and is incredibly willing.
Eddie Macken and his wife
Cathy kindly offered me that I could come over to their place anytime and
use their jumps. He has a neat course set up with various spooky
jumps. It was wonderful to see that Candillo Junior did not even blink
at any of them.
On the triple combination
Eddie had set up the shark tooth planks, two short strides a vertical with a
black box under it and one short stride a square oxer with the rocks in the
middle. Candillo Junior figured it out on his own that the distance
was short and powered over it in beautiful form. What an adjustable
horse.
His bascule is very special
and he fires with the hind end effortlesly. I am looking forward to
his ongoing development. Next Thursday is his first time with me in
the competition ring. We will be competing in the Grand Prix field at
Thunderbird.
August 13, 2009
The BWP inspectors came to
our facility to look at Candillo Junior. They were very impressed with
his kind temperament, willingness to work and gave him full approval into
their studbook with high scores.
It was a pleasure for me to
get an opportunity to jump him again. It has only been two weeks since
his arrival and we are now starting to get into more serious work. I
can't wait until we are ready to compete.
August 9, 2009
We have had our first jumping
session with Eddie Macken. He really liked Candillo Junior and loved
his attitude, willingness to work, technique over the jump and his scope.
I can't wait to working with both Candillo Junior and Eddie over the fall
and winter preparing him for the Grand Prixs next year.
Candillo is a pleasure to
ride and an amazing treat to jump. He curls over the fence with a
magnificent bascule each and every time. I can move him forward to the
jump, collect him to the base and he just curls over it. What a treat.
He listens to everything I ask and is soft and light in the hand.
I love how it feels over the
oxers where you come to the base, he powers over it by curling his neck,
tucking his front feet and then in the air lifting the hind end. I get
goose bumps thinking of it. A dream come true.
August 3, 2009
Candillo Junior is here and
what a treat. Two days after his arrival on Tuesday July
28, 2009 I took him to the show at MREC to hang out and work him there until
yesterday.
He proved to be a gentleman
in his stall, leading him around the show grounds and when riding.
Different people would come to visit with him and he took it all in stride.
My walks with him for grass in the back field were very enjoyable.
I did jump him a bit in the
warmup area on Sunday and WHAT A TREAT!!! Holly smokes. He is
powerful, flexible, smooth, very willing and easily adjusted.
Already at his first show two
breeders are taking advantage of his special introductory rate for 2009.
I can't wait to his first
competition. It is very likely that he will be ready to participate at
the Thunderbird $10,000 International Hunter Derby on August 15, 2009 at
1pm.
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