2007 Dressage at Devon Presented by WTDirect

Iron Spring Farm’s Bien Sir-ISF is Grand Champion of Show in 2007 Dressage at Devon Breed Competition
By Lynndee Kemmet for Dressagedaily.com

It was a yearling that beat out all other breed competitors to become this year’s overall breed champion at Dressage at Devon . Iron Spring Farm’s Bien Sir-ISF, a yearling Dutch Warmblood colt by Sir Sinclair and out of Toraya was crowned Grand Champion in Wednesday evening’s championship competition.

Coming in as Reserve Grand Champion was another Iron Spring Farm horse, Rabiola, a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare by Metall out of Fabiola. Rabiola was Mare Grand Champion. The Stallion Grand Champion was Stonefire 1074, a stunning gray Swedish Warmblood stallion owned by David and Taunia Reed of Virginia Beach . The nine-year-old Stonefire is by D-Day out of Roderiks Oxaliria and was shown by Hokan Thorn.

Melissa Gallagher, with Iron Spring Farm, said the entire team at Mary Alice Malone’s Iron Spring Farm, couldn’t be happier with having taken both Champion and Reserve Champion of the breed show. “We feel great. We’re so glad that Iron Spring has had such a good turnout throughout the show. It means that everyone’s homework has paid off. We’re just ecstatic.” Gallagher said she was “a little surprised that Bien Sir beat the mare. I knew it’d be one of them. But maybe I’m not terribly surprised because he is very special.”

Bien Sir was also the champion colt of the show and Gallagher said everyone just loves working with the yearling. “He is one of the best young horses I’ve worked around. He’s super easy, just like his father. You can do anything to the Sir Sinclair horses,” she said. The Iron Spring team is hoping for a rematch in next year’s Dressage at Devon championship – with their own horses, of course. “Bien Sir will return to Devon next year and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully, it’ll be him and Rabiola head-to-head again.”

Eventually, Bien Sir will be broke to ride and he’ll have a career as a performance horse. Gallagher said the colt is “absolutely one to keep.” If he does well in his career under saddle, “then maybe he’ll be a stallion prospect.”