66 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
S
C
E
O
N
D
C
H
A
N
C
E
S
Dobbin
– A Quiet, Plodding Workhorse?
By Corinne Ashton
When I purchased the three year old
Thoroughbred out of the feld he was
born in, my husband insisted on naming
him Dobbin. I crossed my fngers and
hoped he would not live up to his name.
Dobbin was of course destined to be
an event horse, that was my passion,
and indeed it appeared to be his. As a
4 year old he won training level, as a 5
year old, preliminary and as a 6 year old
he won his frst CCI* and was competing
at the intermediate level. His rise to
stardom continued; he had no weak
phase. Dobbin was a true triathlete.
He was at his very best at the original
long format international competitions,
where you needed true speed and
stamina to trot many miles of roads and
tracks and gallop over a couple of miles
of steeplechase fences before tackling
the 11-minute cross country course.
Not to mention his being able to leave
all the rails up the next day! Of course
starting day one with an excellent
dressage test helped, too. There were
no woosie Warmbloods in those days!
Dobbin was 8 when he competed in his frst CCI***
fnishing 5th. He ran round Rolex CCI**** twice. He was the
2007 Advanced USEA American Eventing Championships
winner and 2008 USEA Horse of the Year – that means he
won more than any other horse in the USA that year, not
bad for an old workhorse! We were named to the US team
training squad for that winter and 2009.
A Career Ending Injury
I thought it would never end, of course. We had been
“high fying” for over 10 years. I’d been places that most people
only read about. But a freak accident in the pasture where a
piece of grass got stuck in his eye caused four months of painful
treatment as the corneal ulcer refused to heal. Luckily, we did
keep the eye and he did recover, but running and jumping at that
level didn’t seem to be in the cards anymore.
So what does a perfectly sound, “badly behaved in the pasture
with other horses” and easily bored 17 year old Thoroughbred to
do now?
Easy! If jumping was the issue then dressage must be the way
to go! And let’s create a little bit of history in the process. No
other US born and bred 4* event horse has ever competed at the
Grand Prix level and therefore presumably no other event rider
has attained their USDF Gold Medal on an old event horse.
Making History
So February of 2011, we made that our goal, we’ve had four
USDF outings and I have my Silver Medal and am half way to my
Gold, albeit the second half will be a little more challenging than
the frst: two scores above 60% at grand prix, for those of you who
don’t know the rules of by heart.
All summer has been spent training those trotting in place
type movements, Piaffe, for those of you who do know all your
dressage terms! We are not totally there yet but working on it,
since a year ago we would have been looking up the meaning of
volte and piaffe.....
Dobbin is a true superstar and athlete and has learned well and
quickly. His body looks a million dollars; all that strength training
in the gym seems to be paying off!! (read; canter pirouettes in the
arena) But he still dreams of running through the woods and felds
with his buddies and having his mini donkeys to harass. Yeah,
dream on, Dobbin, we are history in the making still!!
Corrine Ashton and Dobbin at Foxhall
Well on their way to dressage gold, Dobbin has taken on
the career of a grand prix dressage horse with enthusiasm
(although he still dreams of the big fences)