Hobgoblins Stud Open Day 2007

Over 250 people attended the 2007 Hobgoblins Stud Open Day. Once again, we were blessed with fantastic weather, and the crowd relaxed in the Sussex sunshine to enjoy a ridden display of the best of British Breeding stallions. The stallions presented ranged from as-yet uncompeted youngsters to International horses who have competed at the very highest levels. The display was opened by the world-famous advanced coloured stallion Stanhopes Diddicoy, ridden this year by International Event Rider Vicky Collins. As always, Diddicoy proved a great crowd-pleaser and the combination of flatwork and jumping which he and Vicky showed the audience made it very obvious why he has proved such a popular dual-purpose sportshorse stallion .

Vicky Colins and Standhopes Diddicoy

Stanhopes Diddicoy - Crowd-Pleaser

Next in was the Westphalen stallion Cadre Noir, standing for the first time in the UK in 2007 at Hobgoblins Stud. Cadre Noir was ridden most elegantly by Andrew Gould, who gave everyone an exciting preview of what may be expected from this stallion in his first Grand Prix competition season this summer.

Andrew Gould and Cadre Noir

Sue Griffin’s young BWBS-graded stallion First Way, ridden by Sean Burgess, joined in the party enthusiastically and displayed some excellent basic paces – definetely an up-and-coming young stallion to watch.

Sean Burgess and First Way

First Way was followed in to the ring by Sue Griffin’s second stallion Showmeister, ridden by Mark Ruddock – this elegant young stallion is already qualified for Winter and Summer Regional Finals and those watching his accomplished display could easily see for themselves why he is being so successful.

Mark Ruddock and Showmeister

Sean Burgess and Pauldary’s Ferro then thrilled the crowd by jumping a succession of higher fences to demonstrate an excellent jumping technique - since 2006 Pauldary’s Ferro has been competing at showjumping as well as dressage, and is proving equally skilled at both.

Sean Burgess and Pauldary's Ferro

The finale was provided by Great Britain International Team members Millenium and his rider/owner Laura Richardson.

Laura Richardson and Millenium

Despite having been retired for over 2 years Millenium willingly demonstrated all of the Grand Prix movements to a captivated crowd which included Millenium’s long-time supporter and Chairman of British Dressage Desi Dillingham.

Resident specialist Vet Madeleine Campbell and Chairman of British Dressage Desi Dillingham deep in discussion!

The stallion display was followed by a nutritional seminar kindly provided by Sponsors Dodson and Horrell, which gave breeders a chance to quiz the expert on feeding their breeding horses.

View towards the arena from the new quarantine stables

Tea in the form of cool drinks and delicious cakes courtesy of the Ashdown Garden Centre refreshed the audience as they concluded the afternoon by making the most of the opportunity to visit the stallions in their stables, to assess their conformation and temperaments and to chat to their owners/riders. Many thanks to our sponsors Dodson and Horrell and Kruuse for making such an enjoyable afternoon possible.

Vicky Collins with Stanhopes Diddicoy and the Hobgoblins team

All photographs courtesy of Lady Petersham