Courageous Comet

From AlexBrownRacing

1 His story
2 Photos
3 Media Stories
4 Competition Results
5 Pedigree

His story

The 13-year-old Thoroughbred gelding flashed the turn of foot that made him a success on the race track and cruised comfortably through the Kentucky Horse Park.

Courtesy of The Chronicle of the Horse/John Strassburger Friday, March 31, 2006

Heads turned as Becky Holder warmed up Courageous Comet for dressage. The gray gelding is an uncommonly handsome horse and a far-above-average mover, but he looked like an FEI-level dressage horse as he floated around the ring, showing collection, throughness and freedom rarely seen in eventing dressage.

Surprisingly, they didn't win the test. They tied for fourth, because his power and suspension caused Holder to give away marks, especially on the extended trots and some transitions. "Now I've got to learn to sit him better and to put the pieces together in the ring” said Holder. She held on to fourth place, even though she unwittingly fell behind the clock early on cross-country to finish 27 seconds slow, and then just caught the last show jumping fence.

Courageous Comet, 10, won two advanced horse trials last year, but Holder said he's moved up a notch or three over the winter, thanks to training sessions with U.S. team coaches Robert Dover in dressage and Laura Kraut in show jumping. She said that Dover improved Courageous Comet's collection and self-carriage by doing work at about the Prix St. Georges level. "Robert thinks we really need to ride at that level and not just be satisfied with obedient and accurate, that we should think of it as doing a dance, not just performing compulsory movements," Holder said. She added, “Now he feels like you’re riding a hovercraft in dressage and a Ferrari on cross country.”

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