Posted - January 17, 2007

SICAB 2006 - The National Breed Championships of the Pure Spanish Horse
Kimberly Van Kampen Boyer
Hampton Green Farm

Invasor Retires - Young Horse Classes Gain Popularity

It is a legitimate complaint, however, that not all the top-tiered Grand Prix horses in the ANCCE rankings participated, and the crowd knew it. There were some exciting young horses, a few old favorites, and some very good rides, but the enthusiastic dressage spectators were hoping to see horses such as Impaciente, Osado, and Fuego. Spanish National Champion Gnidium’s exhibition ride in the Espectaculo was disappointing, as it is hard to do a well-executed freestyle in a dark arena under a moving spot light. Furthermore, two great horses with many years of experience on the Spanish Team left the scene that week: Invasor was retired in a public ceremony, almost reluctantly, and Guizo, an often underrated but impressive competitor for many years for the Spanish team, died of colic on Saturday.

The lack of top horses in the Grand Prix is due probably to the changing of the date of the Spanish Campeonato to the end of September, which is coming to be seen as the final show of the competitive season. ANCCE needs to find a way to woo back those top-tiered horses, and to make the Finals of the Copa ANCCE, a year-long competition for PRE horses only, as competitive as it has been in the past.

In spite of this, the young horse classes and functionality classes are gaining in popularity as a place to review the product of breeding farms. A high percentage of professional riders is sponsored by breeders and you will often see a well-known dressage name riding a four or five year old in the functionality test for a stallion class. An example of this is Chloe Morris, Spain’s talented top Young Rider and a protégé of Beatriz Ferrar-Salat. (Ms. Ferrar-Salat herself made a cameo appearance at the event and we had the chance to meet her and see that she is a marvelously cool person.)