Saturday, May 7, 2011

More thoroughbreds: Anthony Patch

Anthony Patch with Lainey
(photo: Samantha Clark's wonderful blog)
I have a lot of respect for Laine Ashker and her comeback after a terrible fall-- I especially like what she has done with thoroughbreds like Anthony Patch. She and her mom have a great eye for Thoroughbred prospects. One of her former mounts, Seal, is at our barn. Seal is Harv's turnout buddy, and he is about as athletic and elegant as they come. Anthony Patch typifies the kind of talent Lainey's mom seems to find at the track.

Lainey and Anthony, 2011 Rolex
  In her blog she reflects on her weekend, which didn't meet her expectations and she is candid about her disappointment. In my non-expert eyes her show jumping was not as smooth as last year--her round last year was buttersoft, like watching a hunter round. The cross country I saw (just a smidgen) looked great. Unfortunately, she had a runout  that put her out of the running for a top placing. I was surprised to read she was unhappy with her dressage test, as I thought it compared favorably with a lot of other tests, and she helped Anthony Patch look fantastic. She herself rode with a true dressage seat (some of the eventers really struggle with this IMHO). I didn't think her dressage score reflected the quality of the test. Unfortunately I didn't film it.

Here is my footage of Lainey and Anthony Patch in the show jumping:






Here is his cross country:





And more cross-country:




And here are photos of the dressage:
I felt Anthony Patch had a good test with a great trot extension, and Lainey showed one of the nicer dressage seats in the group. I especially appreciate the closed mouth, lack of a flash, and the happy face of the horse. Thanks to photographer Sommer Wilson (for more photos go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirjumpsalot/5688703659/in/photostream/).




5 comments:

  1. JeanMay 7, 2011 at 3:40 PM

    There is a certain "Old time" elegance to those dressage pictures. Anthony Patch has a very classic, almost "old world" Thoroughbred look to me. Definitely an athlete from that jumping, though.

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  2. AnonymousMay 8, 2011 at 4:16 AM

    I'm not sure whether I agree with your comments about her position. To me, it looks like she is "water skiing" a bit, ie leaning back a tad too much. I like Mary King's position in this photo: http://www.chronofhorse.com/sites/default/files/Mary%20King_Kings%20Temptress_Rolex%20dressage%20web.jpg

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  3. Stacey Kimmel-SmithMay 8, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    Hi Anon, I'm not about to criticize mary king (!). At the lower levels, in the US at least, it seems riders struggle to sit back and not perch. I didn't see Mary's dressage test but I did see Laines, and I thought she had one of the nicer seats among those I watched. She was very stead in her shoulders and seem to ride from her core.

    I'm guessing Kim Severson outdid them all, I have always loved her position and think she has a strong dressage background.

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  4. ValMay 8, 2011 at 9:55 AM

    I love the first candid picture. I appreciate the light build of this lovely thoroughbred.

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  5. AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 5:03 AM

    Hehe, yes very had to find fault with someone of Mary King's calibre!

    Found a fairly recent video of Laine & Anthony Patch doing a dressage test(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFE-vm3idEo) - showed me that I shouldn't have made a judgement call based on a couple of photos, overall they make a lovely team

    ReplyDelete

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