In this first‑person video recap, the rider (Boyd Erik Martin) narrates the performance of his horse Donald at the Great Meadow International 4‑star short event in August 2021. He outlines the dressage test, noting a 32‑point score and some green movements, and explains his strategy of riding conservatively to avoid penalties. He then reviews the show‑jumping round, describing two knocked‑down rails (a triple bar and a Liverpool fence) and taking responsibility for the errors. The cross‑country phase is described as the most technical course Donald has tackled, with a challenging water jump and a skinny water obstacle that he cleared despite an awkward approach. Donald had a sore splint leading up to the event, which was examined by a vet and deemed low risk for competition. The rider credits his support team—groom Steph, assistant rider Mike, Irish jumper Oliver McCarthy, and others—for preparation and fitness work. He concludes with future plans: aiming for a qualifying score at Malvern Park, targeting the Advanced at Tryon in three weeks, and eventually competing at Morven Park, while expressing confidence in Donald’s abilities and enthusiasm for upcoming competitions.
Chapters
This is a video intended for Roger, Lauren and Beck just driving home from a big four star short at Great Meadow on Donald. Obviously this is a huge test for him. It was a step up to the very, very top of the sport and Donald did really well. The dressage you're seeing here is on Friday and it's the first time he's sort of been through fei four star test, as you see as the test goes on. He was pretty green in a few of the movements, like the flying changes and the counter half pass. But all in all, he's a very, very good horse. On the flat. We scored a 32, which it's not the greatest score, but the reality is that I think that's the worst score he'll ever get at this level. Like he can only improve from here. I was sort of more just in all three phases, just sort of wanted to get through, get through each phase unscathed. So I sort of didn't go full blast in the dressage here. I just sort of tried to tippy toe through all the movements without any kerfuffle. It was seriously hot for all three days and old Donald, he doesn't like the hot weather too much. Being a European, Like I said before, I was really, really pleased with him. My, my main goal for this whole event was just to get a qualifying score. And, you know, we were up against some of the very, very best horses in the country and this was his sort of first time at the level. So even though we, we didn't score a placing or up with the leaders or whatnot, but you know, we were competing against horses that have represented America at World championships and placed at Kentucky five star. So he's really with the big boys. The showjumping course is really big. You'll see it in a second. He had two poles down, which is a little bit unusual for him. Obviously I'd been in Tokyo for five weeks or away for a bit and I had my Irish show jumping guy, Oliver McCarthy come and jump him a couple of times for me. And then Silva did a bit of the dressage work and then my assistant rider, Mike did bit of fitness and the flat work on him. So by saying that I had three weeks to get ready for this, I had a really, really good jump score with Peter Wild just before we came. On the cross country. Unfortunately, we didn't get much of the cross country. It was a, was an epic course. It was beautiful footing, great going, and there was some really, really tough combination fences. This was for sure the biggest Cross country course and the most technical course that Donald had seen and he delivered. He was really, really good. There was actually the last water jump I do think my groom Steph videoed was a skinny in the water and I had a run out earlier in the day on another horse there and Donald jumped it really good and I got him to a pretty awkward spot and he still took off. Donald's had a little bit of a sore splint leading up to this competition. I had it checked a couple of times by the vet. I think he's knocked himself or my vet thinks he might have been cast in the stable. So when you sort of push down onto the bony hurts him a little bit. But we sort of checked it again just before we went and we felt like there was no risk in running him especially considering that I was going to run him a little slow around the course. 18th place currently on 32.5. So this is our show jumping round now the first rail I take full responsibility. I came around the corner like a wild man to the triple bar, galloped it like it was a steeplechase fence and he just clipped it behind and then he did. He had a Liverpool fence down which he got a little bit spooky and looked down to. So in the back of my mind I know that he can still be a little naughty on a left turn in the show jumping. So I probably got up him a bit too much and clunk. So yeah, that one was my fault guys. I think the next fence is a liverpool and felt like I got there. The liverpool was sort of set behind the fence a bit and then just sort of looked down into it and just clipped it there. Unfortunately. Saying that I think he's a really, really good show jumper. So I'm very, very confident in this phase. Y know when we get to the important championship type events I'm very, very confident in getting a clear round on him. I think he pulled up well from this run. So my next. So he's qualified for the four star three day event hopefully at Malvern Park. The next event I'd like to take him at is the advanced at Tryon in three weeks time. I think it's perfect timing and it'd be slightly easier than what he did here. There's a couple of kids screaming out for me. So Tryon advance and if that goes well we'll take him to Morven park and I think at Tryon in a couple of weeks I'll ride him a little quicker around the cross country and try and give him a bit of a blast. Try and be very, very competitive on him. I'll be able to get a few more gallops into him in the next three weeks, too. We've had a lot of rain here, so the footing is really, really good. And saying that he's a great galloper. And out of all my horses, he actually pulled up pretty, pretty well. But I was sort of just coasting. So this is, I think, towards the end of the course, the water jump that caused the most trouble. Right underneath that. I should have gone on one less stride. Anyway, guys, I. I can't tell you how pumped up I am about this guy. I do think he's a big time horse and the girls that work for me love him. They are besotted by him, feeding him donuts. He's not going to be much of an athlete like that.
