News - Archive
Ryan Wins Arena UK Puissance
Ryan and the the big jumping Safaro were in great for at Arena UK winning the Puissance in great style. In only his forth Puissance - joint first at Royal Windsor, four rounds at Horse of the Year show and joint second at Arena UK last year, Safaro showed he is very comfortable jumping the big wall and went the five rounds without problem. "He's starting to really like jumping the big walls" said Ryan "He always had the scope to jump a big wall and he's been in good form recently. We'll see where we go from here, but he's really starting to be competitive in all the big classes he jumps" added Ryan
Ryan Has Solid Show At New Forest
Ryan had an excellent show at the New Forest County Show at the Hampshire Show Ground in Lyndhurst. Ryan had three horses at the show, Whisker, Safaro and Vino.
Whisker, who is really developing into a top class Grand PRIX horse, was in great form at the show. Having already being placed in the Area Trial, Whisker and Ryan jumped a super clear in the first round of the International Stairway contest just picking up one time fault. With only four horse clear and Ryan on one time fault, Ryan set out to put the rest of the field under pressure, which is exactly what he did. With a fantastic clear in the jump off Ryan held the lead until the final horse jumped and had to settle for a galant second place. "Whisker was top class today, it was a very big and technical track and he handled it very well. We will still take it easy with him this year but there isn't a course I don't think he could jump and he could be a real force in 2011" said Ryan.
Safaro was also in excellent form, with an unlucky rail in the International Stairway, "Arnie" and Ryan were in top form in the 1.40m contest, jumping an excellent double clear to finish in 2nd place. "He's jumped really well at this show, we were very unlucky to have a pole in the International class and he was very good in the class he came second in. He's got the scope to go along way and with more experience I'm sure we'll win some big classes" said Ryan
Ryan has been busy recently with a string of good results in the International Trials and Area trials. Whisker has been particularly impressive with an excellent clear round in the Oxfordshire International Trial at Addington Manor. Over a big and technical track that resulted in only 5 clear rounds, Whisker looked back to near his best with a superb round of showjumping. Ryan is very encouraged by Whisker's recent form and is very hopeful of landing a nice class with this talented stallion.
Ryan has just returned from an excellent show at Chester with four top ten finishes in the big International Classes with both Whisker and Safaro. Both horses look close to winning nice classes and Ryan is looking forward to the rest of the summer season with his two lead horses.
Ryan second in Bolesworth Castle Grand PRIX
Ryan and Otage put up a great performance to finish 2nd in the prestigious Bolesworth Castle Grand PRIX this last weekend (12th July). Otage has been in good form recently and has threatened to win a nice class, (5th in International Stairway contest at the South of England show recently and excellent performances in Suffolk area trial and other county shows) and he nearly came away with the big one just failing to hold off Paul Barker riding Temple Ryefield.
With a top class field assembled in the fabulous setting of Bolesworth Castle, Ryan and Otage set about their task in very determined style. It has been a frustrating year so far for Ryan as he looks to rebuild his team, but on his day Otage is still competitive in the very best classes. A very stiff course was set for this valuable Grand PRIX and the time looked testing, the course builders expected no more that 15 clear rounds from the sixty-three strong field, but it was apparent very early on that they would struggle to get to more that 10 clear as the course took it toll on the early riders. With only four clear from the first twenty eight to go Ryan and Otage made it five with a superb display of bold jumping. Always moving forward Ryan gave Otage a great trip and they comfortably got under the time allowed of 83secs finishing in 76.24sec.
After the dust had settled on the first round there were 10 left standing. All quality horses and riders the jump off consisted of Shane Breen - Carmina Z, Billy Twomey - Mountains Colarado, Geoff Luckett - Brickfield Boy, David Quigley on the inform Ulot, Louise Whitaker - Dazzle, Anthony Condon - Crusings Mickey Finn, Paul Barker - Temple Ryefield and Vicky Tulloch on Soliegette. The jump off course had all the traps, after a sharp run down hill to the first oxer, the runners then had to carry on a steep decline to a very tall 1.55m upright. Back up the hill to a very wide oxer and then back down hill to another 1.50m upright. A long downhill run to another wide oxer and then an uphill run to line up for the final line a combination of 1.55m wide oxer, 1.55m upright and then the last fence which was the widest oxer in the jump off at the bottom of a steep decline.
After the first four had completed the stiff jump off course there were no clears. The second fence, a very tall upright at the bottom of a long downhill run was causing all sorts of problems, and the ones that managed to jump it then had the third fence, a wide oxer back up the hill. With Ryan fifth to go and no clears infront of him, a clear round was going to be worth much gold. After looking at the jump off course Ryan decided prior to jumping that he was going to set Otage up to jump the fences and use his speed between the fences to try and set a good time. The strategy was spot on, Ryan took a slightly more conservative line and used Otage's speed to jump a fantastic clear round to take the lead and despite taking the wider line, such was the speed Ryan and Otage set on the flat, they still finished in a very competitve time. After both Louise Whitaker and Anthony Condon had fences down chasing Ryan, the second last to go Paul Barker riding Temple Ryefield took the more riskly course other riders had taken, but this time he left all the fences standing to pip Ryan for first place. A great class at a great location with excellent prize money - £6000 to the winner, £5000 to the runner up, it was a fitting end to a fabulous show. "That was a great effort by Otage" said Ryan "He's been really close recently and it was getting frustrating to keep having one pole down in some big jump off's recently. But when he jumps like that he's as good as most of the horses in these big classes. It's a shame we didn't manage to hold on to the lead but £5000 for second place is never bad!!. We'll keep working hard and if he maintains this form I'm sure we'll pick up a nice class before the summer ends"
Ryan will now take to team to the Great Yorkshire show and finish July at the excellent New Forest County Show.
Ryan has rest of team in good form at Bolesworth
Ryan took a big team to the Bolesworth Castle show and had some very encouraging performances. Ryan has a new Grade A Chestnut mare Risolde and introduced this talented mare to some of the bigger classes at Bolesworth. Having jumped double clears at some minor shows over the past two weeks, Ryan jumped Risolde in the bigger 1.40m classes as well as the very tough Grand PRIX. This nice mare is a very level ridge and accurate jumper. In both the 1.40m classes Risolde showed good form just having one pole down in each class. Ryan has no great expectations for Risolde in the Grand PRIX. The mare hasn't jumped very big classes for a while and although she lowered a few poles in the Grand PRIX, she still showed plenty of jump and Ryan is confident with a few more big classes behind her she will be an excellent addition to the string. "She's a very nice mare. She has no problem jumping the 1.40m classes and with a few bigger classes behind her she'll be a very useful addition to the string" said Ryan
Safaro continues to show a massive amount of scope combined with the odd error, but he continues to learn and is getting closer and closer to becoming a consistent stallion. Ryan stepped Safaro down a bit at this show, as he had been jumping contantly at 1.40m and above level recently, so Ryan decided to give him an easy time with no pressure at Bolesworth. Safaro did a very nice job in the "take your own line" class finishing a very good second and even though he had one fence down in the Small Grand PRIX (bigger course that most small Grand PRIX's) he jumped very well and looked very convincing.
Ryan jumped his very promising young horse Vino, together with Uret (a horse that is currently for sale, you can see the video of Uret jumping at Bolesworth here.. ) and the coloured gelding Luck in the Foxhunter contests. With Uret being placed on day one of the show, all three horses were in great form in the main ring on the final day jumping double clear with Uret finishing runner up, Vino finishing forth and Luck, who had one down in the jump off finishing placed in 10th place.
Ryan wins at Addington
Ryan bounced back to form with a string of very good performances at the Addington Manor Spring Classic show. Ryan took three of his young horses Maximo Des Forets, Vino and Oxalfos for the age classes and Otage and Safaro for the bigger 1.40m classes.
Maximo des Forets started the ball rolling with a very impressive double clear in the 7/8yrd old Championship class. Ryan has always thought a great deal of 'Maximo' and this was by the far the toughest course he has jumped. Ryan will now start to ask more of this very talented horse and is looking forward to the summer.
Vino is another of Ryan's very exciting young horses and Ryan has been particularly patient with this 7yr old as he feels he has all the tools to become a very useful horse. In the second 7/8yr Old Championship Vino showed all his qualities and potential with a breathtaking clear round, and even though they had a couple of time faults Ryan was absolutely delighted with his charge. "He was absolutely fabulous today" said Ryan "We're starting to do a bit more with the younger horses now and it is really starting to show" added Ryan. To add to the string of fine results with the younger horses, Oxalfos jumped two double clear rounds in the Foxhunter contests during the show.
Ryan saved the best till last with stable stalwart Otage putting in one of those rounds that make him look every bit the class horse he is taking the big 1.40m class in fantastic fashion in a very competitive field. To add to the excellent show Ryan has had, Safaro jumped double clear to finish 4th in the same class and continues to show his huge potential. "Excellent last day" said Ryan "It was nice to see 'Otis' back to his best, he's been a little slow to come to hand this year but now we're outside I expect him to really pick up. I was thrilled with Safaro, he was really jumping today and slowly but surely he's getting the hang of jumping in the bigger classes" added Ryan.
Big changes for Ryan in 2009
Ryan in currently in the middle of major changes with his string of horses. Having spent most of 2009 concentrating on his exciting younger horses, Ryan will be spending most of the first half of 2009 looking to improve his front horses. With the very unfortunate loss of his best horse Whisker to injury, and the moving on of Vahagn de Lozana, Ryan has stepped up his very promising stallion Safaro to the big shows and he continues to make eye catching progress, with an excellent double clear at the British Open, by far his biggest show to date. Safaro will be kept to the big shows this summer and Ryan is confident he will become a very decent horse this year. Otage currently is not firing on all cylinders, but he is very much a summer horse and will no doubt earn his keep this year. Despite all this, Ryan retains all his enthusiasm for 2009 "It's been a bit of a slow start to 2009" said Ryan "But for the first time in many years I've got a really good squad of young horses and you can't rush them. I'll concentrate on getting them all the experience they need so when we step them up to the bigger classes they will hopefully take it all in their stride. Safaro has made a good start to 2009, he continues to progress very well and I was very pleased with him at the British Open. He jumped a very nice double clear on day one and even though he had a few off in the very big classes he showed me he is very close. This is his first time in such a big arena and he handled it very well, he is a big jumper and 2009 could be the year he really takes off. Otage has taken a bit longer to come to hand this year but he really is a summer horse and I'm sure he'll be fine this year. I'll be looking to add to the string, but it has to be the right horse, but we're looking at a few nice horses and I'm sure I'll have a nice one soon. It was very disappointing to lose Whisker to injury, he jumped two 1.40m classes very very easily in preparation for the British Open, but then he sustained his injury. That's the game we're in, these things happen and you have to get on with it, Whisker will be back and we're going to give him as much time as he needs because I really think he is that good"
Addington Manor March 2009
Ryan took his young horses to the Addington Manor British Open qualifier in March and all performed with a great deal of promise. Maximo des Foret, who Ryan thinks a great deal of, finished an excellent third in the GRADE C INCORPORATING THE HORSE & HOUND FOX contest. "Maximo" will be aimed at mostly age classes this year but does look an exciting prospect. Ryan's other two younger horses Vino and Oxalfos also jumped very well with Oxalfos finishing 4th in the Newcomers and Vino jumping two steady double clears in the Foxhunter contests.
