March 2022 Issue

Page 72 March 2022 EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN By Meagan DeLisle, US Eventing Assoc. Earning the title of World Equestrian Brands USEA Rider of the Year is a huge honor, but earning it five times is a testa- ment to a lot of hard work, excep- tional horses, supportive owners, a great team, and a whole lot of grit. The 2021 World Equestrian Brands USEA Rider of the Year winner, Boyd Martin, has all of that and more, leading him to earn this title for the fifth time in his career. The USEA Rider of the Year award was presented for the first time in 1960 and Martin’s name was added to the plaque on the Windy Acres Trophy in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and again in 2021 following three international wins, nine top-three international placings, and 12 national wins during the 2021 competition season. Martin, Cochranville, PA, competed 28 horses over the course of 2021 with Fedarman B, Gestalt, Butt’s Aria W, Mystic Fair, On Cue, Catarina, Long Island T, Fernhill Prezley, Penhill Celtic, Tsetser- leg TSF, Wabanaki, and Luke 140 making up his international string. Martin started his year off at his winter home base in Aiken, SC with a bang with Nancy Hathaway’s 9-year-old Hol- steiner mare Catarina winning her Preliminary division at the Stable View Aiken Opener H.T. in January. His first international outing of the season was in the CCI4*-S at The Fork at TIEC in April where he and Christine Boyd Martin is USEA Rider of the Year for the Fifth Time Turner’s 15-year-old Trakehner gelding Tsetserleg TSF finished second and Turner’s 16-year- old Anglo European mare On Cue closed out the weekend in fourth. In addition, Martin had a one-two finish at Tryon in the Advanced with the Luke 140 Syndicate’s 11-year-old Hol- steiner gelding Luke 140 finish- ing second and the 16-year-old Oldenburg gelding Long Island T, owned by the Long Island T Syndicate, bringing home top honors. From the Fork, Martin made his way to Fair Hill for the Fair Hill International April Horse Trials and CCI-S where he had three horses in the CCI3*-S who all wrapped up the weekend with a top-five finish. Nancy Hathe- way’s 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Fernhill Prezley served as Martin’s top mount of the weekend claiming second, Lauren Burnell’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Penhill Celtic placed third, and the Dawnland Syndicate’s 11-year- old Hanoverian gelding Wabana- ki finished in fourth. After a gap year due to COVID, the Land Rover Ken- tucky Three-Day event was back on in 2021, this time with the addition of a CCI4*-S on top of the CCI5* competition. Martin had four mounts entered across the two divisions, but withdrew one, took an unfortu- nate topple from another, and received a Mandatory Retire- ment on the third. With On Cue the only remaining horse in Martin’s pocket at Kentucky, the pair dazzled to place fourth overall and earn the title of USEF National Champion, a success that would soon prove to be a continuing theme over the remainder of the year. “I was thrilled with On Cue. She’s unbelievable. She gave everything she had this week- end,” said Martin at the close of Kentucky. “I thought it would be Tsetserleg TSF on top, but she tried her guts out and I’m just thrilled with her.” In May, Martin and Luke 140 would have a first-place finish in the Jersey Fresh Inter- national CCI3*-L, while Long Island T would place second in the CCI4*-S. Luke 140’s con- sistency would be rewarded by being named to the US Team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, however, the gelding would sustain an injury and Tsetserleg TSF would step into his place with On Cue serving as a direct reserve for Martin. The trip to Tokyo would be an educational one, and while the team riders all echoed similar sentiments that they wished things might have played out differently, they all left feeling as though they had learned a lot from the experi- ence. “America coming into the next Olympics is coming very, very strong,” Martin reflected at the 2021 USEAAnnual Meeting & Convention. “I feel like at the end of this year America all of a sudden has eight to 10 really good horses and if they can stick around and keep improving in a couple of years, I think we have the strongest team possible that I have ever been associated with since I have been in America.” From Tokyo Martin contin- ued working his way through his 2021 competition schedule, ul- timately making his way around to 14 different venues in the United States by the end of the year. Along the way he became the Champion of the $60,000 Adequan USEAAdvanced Final with On Cue, topping a field of 39 starters and adding just 6.4 time penalties to their dressage score. The CCI4*-S at Plantation Field served as a prep event for On Cue’s performance at the inaugural Maryland 5 Star where she and Martin made history as the first American pair to break a 13-year dry spell of an Amer- ican winning a five-star com- petition, let alone one on home turf. In addition to Martin being awarded USEA Rider of the Year, On Cue was the recipient of two top honors at the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention: the Standlee Premium Western Forage USEA Horse of the Year and the Bates USEA Mare of the Year. “I actually tried to buy her when she was a young horse,” Martin said of the mare who played a key role in his earning of the USEA Rider of the Year title this year. “When she was sent to me, it was to be sold. I had always loved the horse and fan- cied the horse, thought she was amazing. I convinced Christine to keep going with the horse a bit. She’s everything you dream of in a horse. She’s got movement and gallop, she is a real trier. She is elegant, she’s a real mare.” Martin closed out the year bringing along some of his younger mounts through the lower levels before earning a win in the CCI1*-L with Gestalt and a second-place finish in the CCI3*-L with Fedarman B at the Tryon International 3-Day Event in November. Martin’s 2021 Rider of the Year title was earned after a change to the way leaderboard positions were calculated. Pre- viously, leaderboard points were awarded based on placing and further determined by the num- ber of starters in a division, often giving the focus to the quantity of rides a competitor could complete in a given competition season. The new system places emphasis on quality by limiting the types of scores that quali- fy for leaderboard points and counting only a rider’s six top results towards the leaderboards. With a total of 379 points, the in- dividual scores which launched Martin to the top of the leader- board were: Event Name | Division | Placing | Points Earned | Horse Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill | CCI5* | 1st place | 110 points | On Cue Land Rover Kentucky Three- Day Event | CCI5* | 4th place | 89 points | On Cue Jersey Fresh International | CCI4*-L | 1st place | 70 points | Luke 140 USEA American Eventing Championships | Advanced | 1st place | 48 points | On Cue Tryon International 3-Day Event | CCI3*-L | 2nd place | 33 points | Fedarman B The Fork at TIEC | CCI4*-S | 2nd place | 29 points | Tsetserleg TSF East Coast Equestrian Advertiser Index AA Carriage & Wheel 16 Aaron’s Welding 59 Adeptus 49 ADM Equine 11 Ali Hubbell Photography 27 Anne Lusk/Sotheby’s 71 Arena Works 66 B&D Builders 3 Bar-Bar-A Horse Drinker 56 Barnyard Products 12 Bartville Harness 55 Bell Run Rescue 68 Bemer Group 15 Bitless Bridle 63 Black’s Livestock 58 Blaze Magazine 53 Blue Ridge Trailers 51 Bucks County Horse Park 56 Bullride Mania 63 C&M Pine Products 41 Cheryl Allerton Esq. 64 Christine Bouley/Coldwell Banker 69 Complete Equine Health Service 59 Conestoga Manufacturing 36 Congelosi Trailer Sales 66 Corso Equine Appraisals 58 CRF Equine Services 12 Custom Equine Nutrition 25 Days End Horse Rescue 37 Double S Construction 26 Downunder Horsemanship 32, 33, 38, 39, 44, 45 Equi-lete Nutrition 58 Equine Colic Relief 55 Equine Gestalt Therapy 22 Equine Sleeve 35 Equivest 47 Eric Goodell Realtor 70 Esch’s Fencing 65 Evergreen Fence 12 Farmers Cooperative Assoc. 16 Finishline Fencing 48 Fisher’s Fencing 49 Flax Farm 36 Flex Boots USA 12 Fry’s Equine Insurance 65 G&G Feed & Supply 57 Golden Wings Horseshoes 29 Harmony Horsemanship 24 Hawthorne Products 52 Heidel Hollow Farm 59 Hicks Hay Co. 47 Homestead Group/Hagen Realty 2 Horizon Structures 34 Interscholastic Equestrian Assoc. 46 J&E Grill 43 Jeffers Insurance 16 Kauffman’s Equine Products 40 Kendra Clarke Equine 42 Keystone Fence Supplies 60 King Construction 9 King’s Agriseeds 48 Kingdom Horse Trailers 13 Kline Kreider Good Auctioneers 70 Kool Kurtains 60 Last Chance Ranch 12 Mandy’s Custom Tack 16 Mason Dixon Cowboys 57 McCauley Brothers 19 MidAtlantic Building Systems 51 Miraco Water Systems 64 Mountain Ice 17 Mountainview Supply 62 Muvado 22 Nancy Kowalik Group 71 NY Hay Sales 67 PA Equine Council 42 Parco Metalworks 61 Patchwork Equine Services 63 Penn State Extension 41 Penn State Quarter Horse Sale 16 Pioneer Pole Buildings 57 PonyLocks 22 Poulin Grain 30 Precise Buildings 76 ProFence 61 Pyranha 50 Quakertown Vet Clinic 65 Quiet Victory Farm 63 R&L Mini Tack 16 R. E. Little 31 Rigidply Rafters 58 River Edge Builders 58 RSD Horse Auctions 64 Ryerrs Farm 58 Shady Lane Curtains 54 Shady Lane Wagons 52 Shetron Trailers 22 ShowEase Inc. 12 Silvana Trucking 64 Solanco Structures 61 Specialized Horse Bedding 53 Stables at Fox Crossing 68 Staggering Unicorn Winery 30 Stallworks 43 Standardbred Retirement Found. 22 State Line Tack 7 Sue Pindle/RE/MAX 69 Sunset Valley Metalcraft 28 Swan Lake Stables 68 The Natural Vet 4 The Silver Stirrup 62 The Treasured Horse 5 TriState Barn Builders 23 Turning For Home 46 Valley Meadow Farms 51 White Horse Construction 12 Wilson College 27 Windmill Halters 60 Wolfe Agricultural Auctions 59 Yered Trailers 62