Introduction

My name is Kaity, I'm 22 years old and a full time student at the University of Delaware. I began taking riding lessons when I was 8 and I started eventing when I was 15. My first event horse was Cruz Control. I got him as an 8yr old from Kim Ziegler and he'd been off the track for a year and had done a handfull of novice events. He raced until he was 7 (64 starts!) and was sound as a dollar. I knew next to nothing when I got him but luckily I had recently joined pony club so I had access to quality instruction. Cruz and I had some serious ups and downs over the years but he took me successfully from Beginner Novice to Preliminary in eventing and from my D2 to my C3 in pony club. He was extremely sensitive and particular about what sort of ride he liked, but once I gained his trust he would do absolutely anything for me. I sold Cruz in 2006 to an AA and he is now happily showing her the ropes at Novice.

After I sold Cruz I decided to look for a young horse to bring along. This is when my parents cut me loose financially on the horse front. The deal was that if I sold Cruz, I could keep the money to put towards my riding expenses. My instuctor at the time told me about a friend of hers who was selling a nice 3yr old Hungarian WarmbloodX named Nick. I went to have a look and was very impressed with him. He'd only been under saddle for 6 weeks but he was W/T/C and trotting over poles and a small X. He was nicely put together, a super mover, and extremely quiet. Although he was a bit small for me (15.3hh and I am 5'10"), I decided to go for it and bought him. Once I started having lessons on him it became evident how little he really knew. He also had a somewhat stubborn attitude when asked to work harder than he really wanted to. I remember clearly one lessons where we were doing a gymnastic exercise and he bucked me off not once but TWICE because I was asking him to use his back end a bit more. I did 2 small events with him and it became evident to me that he did not what to be an event horse. He was such a nice mover that he'd win the dressage, but he just had no interest in the cross country. I could barely keep him cantering on course! After working with him for nearly a year I decided to sell him. A friend of mine who does the hunters suggested that I bring him to her trainer as they specialize in selling young hunters. They loved him so I sent him there and in 6 weeks he was sold. He is now successfully competing in the 'A' circuit hunters and his owners absolutely adore him.

After I sold Nick I decided that I would go back to thoroughbreds. I've always loved them and I just think they make the best event horses. My first stop when looking was at Phyllis Dawson's where I tried 7 horses. All of them were 'nice' but nothing really stood out to me. One day I was just scrolling through the ads on Equine.com and a picture of a big chestnut caught my attention. He was big, clean, in good flesh, and stood up nicely to show his conformation. Right away I was impressed with the owner's professionalism to have appropriate photos for her ads. Even though she didn't have any under saddle photos, something about this horse was calling to me so I made the 2 hour drive out to Harrisburg to see him. The first time I saw him go there were some things that I didn't like about him. He didn't have such an impressive trot and he sometimes kicked out when the trainer asked him to canter. For whatever reason I just saw something there. I came out and rode him a second time about a week later and decided that I wanted to have him vetted. The exam went great so I bought him a few days later. Freddy and I have had some ups and downs over the past year and a half including injuries, bad feet, and weight issues, but everything is coming together now. For a while I questioned if my gut feeling about this horse had been right but he is now proving to me that it was.