November 9, 2014

Cardi Wins the USDF Championships Grand Prix Freestyle!

The most famous Welsh Cob in the world, North Forks Brenin Cardi, WON the USDF Grand Prix Freestyle last night at the USDF National Championships with a 71.375%!  Against horses!  Video below:



Ahhhhhhhh!!  The one tempis into the halt salute followed by Jessica's excitement and Cardi's complete professionalism just made my day.



And he was also third the night before in the regular Grand Prix.

Cardi has been a rockstar for a couple of years now, and I'm thrilled to see him showing up the warmbloods and full-sized horses like this.  Success for Cardi means success and credibility for those of us showing this breed, and it means success and hopefully sales for the breeders involved with this breed.

If you can get an athlete of this caliber:


From the Grand Prix on Friday night, where he placed 3rd


that is a happy, mentally reliable, SOUND easy keeper, and bonus, you don't need a ladder to get on his back but he still rides like a horse, why wouldn't you?  People would be lining up to buy them, if only they knew they exist, and hopefully thanks to Cardi, more and more people do.  He's just a magnificent representative of the breed, and all of the things I love about it:


Jessica Wisdom and Cardi

Not that I have any hope of getting to this level, but this is one of the big reasons that I show and blog: to get the word out about these awesome animals, and show exactly what Lisa's horses (and Cobs in general) can do, even when competing directly against full-size horses.

Go Cardi, and go Cobs!


22 comments:

  1. In a snaffle!!

    Watched it live - what an awesome horse (and rider). He had some of the best piaffe and passage I saw - watched on and off most of the day. Super ambassador for the breed. I too am so glad to see non-warmbloods performing beautifully, AND getting acknowledged for it. :D

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    1. True about the snaffle, I forgot to mention that! Your comment makes me happy. I can get a little biased when it comes to watching Cobs vs. other horses, it's nice to know it was objectively good as well.

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    2. I have to say that in general I have not always enjoyed watching upper level dressage competitions. So far (with the US dressage finals) I've seen consistent scoring awarding talented partnerships with lots of love and praise given to the horses afterwards. Maybe what I don't enjoy is international dressage competitions lol. :D

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  2. That was one amazing ride. I agree with the commentators about horse and rider harmony as well. They are definitely a real TEAM. I love that she has had him since he was a young colt too.

    It is definitely nice to see other breeds out there showing that they too are completely capable of this stuff. Just like the spotted horse fever that swept the AEC's this year!

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  3. He certainly is a beautiful animal!

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  4. It was so cool! He is so amazing and I agree that he does so much to promote his breed. He's the reason I have one!

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  5. Cardi lives about 5 miles from me and I used to train with Jessica. :) He definitely has an ego, haha.

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    1. That's so cool!! I would love to meet him- I have his Uncle Rory and keep telling him he has BIG shoes to fill:)

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  6. So awesome!!! Lovely lovely pair who knocked it out of the water! I love Cobs and love seeing them get the recognition they deserve! :)

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  7. Love seeing uncommon breeds showing dressage this successfully.

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  8. Loved seeing this! Cardi is such a badass! Welsh cobs all the way!! :)

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  9. I saw a post about him on FB, he is gorgeous! What a pony

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  10. I initially became interested in Cobs because of Cardi! And when I found Rory, his Uncle was for sale..I bought Rory sight unseen- just off the video. He reminded me so much of Cardi:) I hope to see him in person one day!

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  11. I saw this and thought of Conner! It makes me happy too since I also do not ride a full size horse!

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  12. Lol, you and Alanna got me interested in cobs so I went poking around the internet and HOLY HELL I cannot afford one. They are fun to watch though.

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    1. Yeah...I got the friends and family discount. I still maintain that you either pay that up front, or you pay it down the line in lameness costs/extra feed/shoes/other things Cobs don't need.

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    2. They are on the spendy side...but I do know of a couple nice babies that are for sale. :)

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  13. awesome ride - thanks for sharing the video! it must be a very proud moment for you and Connor and the whole extended family :)

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