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November 10, 2007
Kildonan Tug
It is with a
heavy heart that I write this. The loss of Tug this last weekend at the
Virginia Horse Trials was tragic. He was a very special horse.
We feel honored
to have had the opportunity to know such a great horse. Someone said
to me "Great horses find you, you don't find them".
Tug found us.
After being
brought back slowly from a couple of unlucky setbacks Tug was
ready to restart his career, perhaps not at the 4 Star Level, but
certainly he needed a job! Earlier this year Phillip Dutton and
Abigail Lufkin decided to find a new home for Tug. Phillip had
trained Abigail and Tug as they prepared for, and hoped for a spot on
the team for Athens. In 2004 Abigail and Tug showed the
world what an amazing team they were by finishing 3rd at the Rolex CCI**** in
Kentucky. They were short-listed for the Team, but sadly due to
injury they did not make Athens.
This spring
Phillip rang and asked if I would like to try Tug for Gillian. What an
amazing opportunity for a 14 year old Young Rider. The timing was
perfect, Gillian had been competing a horse that belonged to someone
else and the lease was up. I drove to Phillip's and rode Tug.
What a horse! That was the only time I rode him. That
afternoon I picked Gillian up from school and told her about Tug.
I have never seen anyone smile so much, there was a tear of joy and
excitement in her eye!
A day or so later
Gillian and I drove out to Phillip’s. She was so nervous! “What if
I don’t ride him well?” she asked me. “You will do fabulously.”
I replied! We walked into Phillip’s Stable and there was Tug standing
in the grooming stall waiting for her. Up she got and off out to the
ring we went. They were immediately a team, Tug wasn’t the easiest
horse to jump, but Gillian rode him beautifully. Phillip and I decided
that we should give it a go, so he rang Abigail and set the wheels in
motion for us to bring Tug home. Shortly after Abigail and I worked out
the details and Tug arrived at our farm. He was the Celebrity, everyone
loved him, how special to have such an accomplished horse in your
stable!
Gillian and
Tug took it slow, we wanted to take the very best care of him and allow
them both all the chance in the world to get to know each other. This
summer she took him to some jumper shows, not doing anything big, just
the 3’3” - 3’6” classes, then in July she went to her first
event on him, The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm, they ran
training and finished a respectable 6th. She followed that with a 2nd
at Surefire Farm and then we felt they were ready to move up to
Preliminary. She had planned to go to Plantation in September to move
up, but was sick that morning and couldn't ride, so we called Flora Lea
and entered her there instead. Tug and Gillian won their first Prelim
event, we were so proud of her, what a team they were! |
| Gillian
and Tug Winning at Radnor 2006 |
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Two weeks later was
Radnor, our hometown event. It is a big deal for us, and being only 14 it
was the first time Gillian had ever competed there. She had a nice dressage
test which put her in the top six I believe, with a great go on cross
country, and being one of the few to make time and jump clear, she moved
into first place. On Sunday morning we woke to yet another glorious day, it
was crisp, the sky was clear; the sun was coming up as we prepared for our
final day of Radnor. Gillian was very nervous, they were to jump in reverse
order of go and the pressure was on. The horses ahead of her were jumping
clean and she did not have a rail in hand, but out into the show jumping
field at Radnor they galloped and they both knew what to do. A clean round
gave them a spectacular win at Radnor!
Little did we all know
that this would be Tug's last win? So bitter sweet, but so fitting that such
a great horse should go out in such style, at Radnor with the youngest rider
competing that weekend on his back he showed us what an amazing animal he
was.
Tug was a very special
horse, we feel blessed to have been chosen to experience the joy of having
such an animal.
Gillian and I would
like to thank Philip and Abigail for allowing us this opportunity, and send
out our utmost appreciation to all of our friends around the world for their
kind words of support, their cards, emails and phone calls.
We will all miss Tug.
Susie
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November 15, 2006
As a foot- note we
would just like to say how incredibly fortunate we feel to know there are
so many wonderful people in our world.
It is an honor to
each and every one of you who have taken the time to read this, have
prayed for us, emailed us, written to us, rung us on the phone, or just
thought of us, we are truly grateful.
As event riders,
trainers, organizers, officials, sponsors, volunteers, spectators,
professionals involved in our sport, parents, grand-parents, other family
members, and those who love eventing; we should all feel truly grateful
that we have found a sport where the strength, support and friendship goes
far beyond that of any other. Although many of us are driven by our desire
to compete, the friendship and caring are un-paralleled. You are truly
unique, wonderful, dedicated people, who are passionate about what you do
and love, but also sincere, understanding, thoughtful and kind; never
loosing site of the big picture of life, being there for each other in our
ups and our downs. In a sport of high highs and low lows we all need our
friends, good days and bad.
We are truly blessed
and would once again like to thank you all.
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140
Jug Hollow Road Phoenixville PA, 19460