In this syndicate update, the rider‑owner reviews Radish’s recent outing at the Stableview FEI Two‑Star Short competition in Aiken, South Carolina. The video recaps a winning dressage score of 26 (74.7% and 73.1% from two judges, one an Olympic judge), highlights the horse’s expressive movement when slightly nervous, and notes his strong natural talent in both dressage and jumping. The speaker discusses observed weaknesses – a need for topline strength, a softer frame and better relaxation between fences, and more controlled pace on cross‑country – and outlines a six‑month training plan focused on consistent work, breath control, and rideability. Coaching input from jumping coach Peter Wild is praised, and future competition goals are set, including possible events at Fair Hill, a move to Intermediate Three‑Star, and a long‑term plan to develop Radish into a durable champion. The overall tone is enthusiastic and reflective, emphasizing the partnership’s progress and the horse’s high potential.
Chapters
This is a video for the Fetich de Rouge Syndicate. Well, everyone, we took Radish to our third event together. We took him all the way back down to Aiken, South Carolina, to the Stableview FEI Two Star short. This is basically the same level of competition that he competed at three weeks ago at in North Carolina. And it was the same dressage test, which was. Is quite interesting. What three weeks makes a difference. You know, I was very happy with the way he went at Carolina in the the two star short test. And three weeks more training and he came out and did a even better test. I just feel like he's stronger, he's more with me. And yeah, he knocked the ball out of the park. Hit the ball out of the park. We scored a score of 26, which we got a 74.7% from one judge and a 73.1 from another judge. And we won. We won it. Won the dressage, which was pretty cool because there was, I think, 30 horses in the class. By saying that, I feel like looking at the list of horses, we are on the best horse. So I'd be a bit embarrassed if we didn't win the dressage. One of the judges, the judge at sea actually who gave us the really big score, she actually was one of the judges at the Olympic Games. I feel like with Radish's training, he still needs to develop a fair bit of muscle. When I ride him, he still feels a little bit weak, and I think that there's no magic here. And I feel like he's getting stronger already in our short period of time. But he's still a young horse. And the feeling I get under the saddle is he's back and his top line's got to get a little bit stronger. And I think this only really will happen just with consistent training, and it will take months and years to get there. The judges seem to love him. And he's one thing I'd say about in the dressage, he does get a little bit excited, you know, in the warm up and a little bit nervous. But it makes him better. Like some. Some of the thoroughbredy horses, when they get nervous or a little bit tense at the dressage that they. It shows up as is in, like, the horses get a little hot and squirrely, and Radish actually sort of puffs himself up and gets a bit more cadence and expression in his walk, trot, canter. So I actually think his personality is perfect for really good dressage tests because he's actually a little bit better at the Competition when he's a little bit fired up. So I do believe this is a great attribute. I think, you know, just reviewing our weekend, obviously it was a fantastic result. To finish on a score of 26 and, and to win at the two star short in our early outing is a huge accomplishment and it's very, very exciting. Every event we go to, I'm a little bit more in sync with him by saying that he still needs to. In the jumping, he needs to relax a little bit and sort of soften his frame a bit. And the cross country, you'll see it in the video soon, he gets spicy and strong and then puts his head up a little bit high and stiffens a fair bit. So I think training for the, you know, he's an awesome jumper. He's careful and scopey and that the, the biggest thing I'm going to be working on is trying to get him a bit more relaxed and taking a breath between the fences. The jumping coach, Peter Wild, is brilliant with these types of horses. You know, the, the raw material we have with Radish is, is unbelievable. Like he's beautiful in the dressage and then he gallops like the wind and his natural jump is sensational. I feel like he's still very, very green. And my main focus in the next sort of six months is it's just actually just consistent training. And I'd say that he's achieved a lot as a young horse just on his pure talent. And my goal is to try and get him a little bit more trained and understanding and not sort of just doing everything on his, his natural ability. So the dressage, I think that was Friday and then the show jumping was Saturday morning. And we were very fortunate that Peter stuck around for an extra day to help us train the show jumping. It was actually very hard to get a clear round. I had another horse in it. It's a, it's quite a big course and fair bit spooky. And see Radish, he's a sensational jumper. He's a great jumper in the sense that over smaller jumps he doesn't really show much. And then as you make the jumps bigger and bigger, then he just jumps higher and higher. So he's an efficient jumper, which I love. Like, he's got a great technique and he's ultra careful. If you sort of when he gets the jump, he's very quick off the ground with his front legs and sort of snaps off the ground and very good with his hind legs too. So you see between the jumps he sort of Comes up against my hand a little bit and right there I've got to try and in the training try and keep him a little bit soft and a little bit looser in the connection. And it's more evident in the cross country where he's so eager to get to the jump. Sometimes he sort of runs a little bit faster the jumps. And my goal would be that I don't have to wrestle with him in front of the jump there like on that fence there where he's, he's running at the jump and then I'm sort of holding him back off it. And this is just training. And I will say cross country, guys, he is lightning fast. Too fast actually. Obviously I wanted to win the class, but I think in the next couple events I might intentionally go a little bit slower in the cross country and work on his rideability. He's very, very brave and keen and as you can see there, he's a great galloper. Ultimately my long term plan would be to get him where it's, I'm not sort of pulling him back as he gets to the jump that he maintains self carriage. Coming to the fence on a little bit of a lighter hand. This is towards the end of the course where he's taken a bit of a breath still. See there how quick and sharp he is with his front legs. I'll probably look for an event. I feel like there's an event at Fair Hill in next month. I'm actually looking forward to the next couple weeks of just training him and schooling him at home. I might do another event at this level or we might move him up to intermediate three star. He's very capable of it, but I'm always sort of, you know, trying to have this long term plan of where we want this horse to be towards the end of the year. And I mean I feel like I could jump any course in the world on him, but for him to be, you know, a long champion horse for a long time, as you know, I think this first six months here as we're just building a partnership and so we've got to work on these turns there where he's a little bit more relaxed and he actually should take a little bit of a breath in the cross country. And again I was sort of moderately zipping along to get the win, but maybe we'd find some other lower key events where I'd intentionally just run him around the cross country a little bit slower and teach him that between the jumps he could just settle down a bit. I love his enthusiasm though, guys. It's a. It's a wonderful attribute, having a horse that's keen and wanting to go and looking for the fences. So I think Radish has just got to settle down a bit. But he's. He's in good shape now. I'm very, very pleased with him and I really think the sky's the limit with him. And we couldn't have started better with. We're rocking and rolling, guys, and it's very, very exciting to think of the future.
