For Morgan Barbançon Mestre her Grand Prix Kur victory at the 2013 CDI Falsterbo in Sweden was bittersweet. After a week of drama and set-backs with her other two horses Painted Black and Sir Donnerhall II, Morgan found the silver lining by winning the freestyle on Heimliche Liebe.
In a final attempt to qualify for the Spanish team for the 2013 European Dressage Championships in Herning, Denmark, Barbançon and Painted Black had to prove form at the 2013 CDI Falsterbo World Dressage Masters. The Olympic duo sucessfully picked up training with their new coach Andreas Helgstrand in June and the two of them have brought the 16-year old Painted Black (by Gribaldi x Ferro) back to top fitness after the injury he sustained in September 2012. However, a string of bad luck started when Painted Black did not pass the vet inspection in Falsterbo.
"Just before leaving for the show Painted Black pulled a shoe during the night and stepped on it again," Barbançon told Eurodressage. "This caused an infection in the hoof. It will take time to recover so my vet, my parents and I took the decision to give PB the time he needs to recover from the infection. I regret not being able to compete at the Europeans, but I know he will be back for the indoor season."
To make matters worse, Barbançon's brand new mount, the 7-year old Oldenburg stallion Sir Donnerhall II (by Sandro Hit x Donnerhall x Feldherr), injured himself severely at night in the temporary stalls in Falsterbo. Probably while rolling in his box the dark bay stallion got his left hind leg trapped between the metal and wood compartment of the stall and panicked, scraping off a patch of skin and flesh to the bone.
"The conditions in which the horses were staying there was really bad," said a very disappointed Barbançon. "There were small boxes for such a big stallion, there was very little electricity for the grooms and the boxes were not stable. They were made out of wood and metal. I was coming back from dinner, I kissed my horses good night and 10 minutes later I get a phone call saying I had to come immediately to the stables. When I got there I saw my beautiful D standing on three legs."
Sir Donnerhall II was immediately transported to an equine clinic, where he was operated on the next morning. The licensed stallion is recovering well as long as no infections take place. If the wound heals up well, he could be back in work soon. "When he has passed those few critical days without an infection, it will be just a matter of weeks and he will be in top form again," said a positive Morgan.
The Barbançon family only very recently acquired the 7-year old stallion from the Swedish Nyrerod family as Morgan's hopeful for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The 20-year old had planned on competing Sir Donnerhall II lightly at a few international small tour shows this season to get to know the horse in a competition environment. Under Danish Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard, Sir Donnerhall II won bronze at the 2012 World Young Horse Championships in Verden.
Fortunately Falsterbo did bring something positive for Morgan. Gelling more and more with each show, Morgan and her second Grand Prix horse Heimliche Liebe (by Hohenstein x Davignon I) finished second in the CDI 3* Grand Prix with 68.809% and won the Kur to Music with 72.850%.
"Heimliche Liebe has made so much progress in the last weeks. Andreas really understands her and is helping me a lot," she explained. "The tempi changes are almost secure now and the pirouettes are her strong point in the canter. Trot work now has a good rythm, the passage is regular and safe. Now we will work more on the piaffe to get it more secure as well. Since I have moved to Andreas she is really working with me and giving her best. The way of training is the best we could find for her."
Despite the two set-backs, Morgan is looking forward to the future and especially bringing Painted Black back into the show ring. "I had an extremely unlucky week which ended well with a nice victory," she concluded. "Before that Painted Black and Sir Donnerhall were going really well. Andreas found the buttons for PB and the canter tour got much safer and steady. He was also doing the piaffe and passage with pleasure, it felt like he was having fun. I was so happy to feel him so fit and eager to work. Now a few weeks rest and he should be back again."
Photos © Ridehesten.com - private
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