The New Year, traditionally a time of fresh starts and new resolutions, began slightly early for the Dutton Eventing Team as they bade farewell to their barn manager and super-groom of seven years, Emma Ford at the end of 2012, and learned how to cope without her,
"It has been a time of transition for us without Emma, but we've really relied on these new people and I think they've relished the challenge of the responsibility. It's been hard work because everyone wants to have time off over Christmas but nothing's really suffered because of that, and I'm really pleased with where we are so far" said Phillip.
Kaitlin Spurlock who came to True Prospect as a working student in May last year and is now a valuable member of the team agrees,
"We all miss Emma all the time, but now everybody pitches in, and we all groom the horses and do a bit of everything; we all put our hands on the horses every day."
Currently the team includes Kaitlin, Jessie Smith, Anna Calder, Courtney Dreisbach and Michelle Kenny, and they will be soon be joined by Fraser Kirby while Emma's permanent replacement, Lynne Cree recovers from a hunting accident in England.
The Dutton family did manage to fit in a few days on the slopes over Christmas, but perhaps most importantly Evie is thrilled to announce that "the search for a pony is over!" Dougal, a ten year old Irish cob type will be travelling to Aiken where Olivia hopes to compete him in some events. Many thanks to Meg and Kate Schaeffer for making this possible.
The outdoor arena at True Prospect has been "winterized" and the team are looking forward to settling into their winter quarters in Aiken, SC
The horses are being prepared and the trunks are already packed for the annual migration to Aiken, SC mid-January where Team Dutton will be based until early April at Red Oak Farm. During that time the competition season will begin in earnest. Phillip has a strong group of horses with a couple of familiar faces returning to the scene, and a couple of newcomers also,
"They all came back from their winter vacation well. It's great to have Ben and William Penn back in full work after injuries kept them out last year and Mighty Nice (below) has spent a couple of weeks with Silva Martin to try and get a head start on the dressage. We're excited to welcome Bridget and Mark Colman who have just bought Come Fly with Me, and Bruce Duchossois also has a new addition, a young horse called Good Enough."
Assistant Trainer Jennie Brannigan got a head start by heading down to Ocala for some training, but will join the team in Aiken. Also meeting the team there will be working students Jackie Imholte and Jamie Price.
Phillip will take five of his horses along with Lee-Lee's Eclipse (above) to Allie Lewittz' barn in Wellington in January for a couple of weeks dressage training with Michael Barisone, and jump schooling with Lauren Hough, and he will also participate in several USEF High Performance Training Sessions in Aiken throughout the Spring. As always, plans for the horses are made in pencil but at the moment they include both the Rolex and Badminton CCI****s, and the Jersey Fresh and Bromont CCI***s.
Of course none of this would be possible without the fantastic support of Dutton Eventing's owners, sponsors, staff and supporters. Thank you for joining us and we are looking forward to another successful year in 2013.
Thanks to Dutton Eventing and Samantha Clark for sharing their news and photos with us
