I drove home from Calgary through the gorgeous grasslands of Alberta and on over the Continental Divide, back to Washington state. Alas, no woodland caribou sighting on my return either.
The final tournament of the Spruce Meadows season, The Masters, was of course spectacularly thrilling. A showcase of the best world showjumping offers, it provides thrills, excitement and inspiration. To watch the best riders on the planet coax superlative performances from their mounts under intense pressure provides a lesson in finesse and communication.
The winner of this year's final event was Pieter Devos of Belgium on his wonderful mare Candy, by Nabab de Reve (Quidam de Revel  / Artichaut). Candy's dam, Etretat, is a full sister to Canadian equine superstar, Big Ben. Devos and Candy were part of Belgium's previous day's second-place (to Germany) Nation's Cup team. The beautiful and poised eleven year old Belgian Sport Horse mare had no peer in the competition, posting the only double-clear. More amazingly, the duo had fallen on Wednesday and Devos was riding with a swollen and bruised leg. Candy, miraculously, showed no ill effects from her fall. Even during the awards ceremony when many a horse was reacting badly to the crowd, the brass band and all the hoopla, Candy stood like a dude horse. A testament to temperament if ever there was one. Unfortunately, the frozen semen from her sire, Nabab de Reve, proved to be virtually worthless. Still, there are many horses with good frozen semen with Nabab blood in them.
It seemed like there were more French-bred horses than ever in the top twelve in the Masters, i.e. those who competed in the final round.
The second place horse was by the Holsteiner, Cumano (Cassini I), out of a French mare.
Third place Nayana, by Royal Feu, is of French breeding. Her rider, Penelope Leprevost of France, was very impressive and a rider to watch in the future.
Taloubet Z came in fourth and he is by French sire Galoubet A, out of  a German mare.
My personal favorite, though was fifth-place Lacan 2, an Oldenburg by Lando, out of a Contender mare. I loved his blood-look and his tactical speed was awesome. He could turn on a spurt and then easily come back to his rider as asked. I offer his full brother's frozen semen from the Landgestuet Celle lineup.
Here is a link to the final rankings of the Masters:
http://www.sprucemeadows.com/tournaments/media/1378747148115_818.pdf
For more information, consult:
http://www.sprucemeadows.com/press/view_release.jsp?id=315
Next year the Masters will offer a 1.5 million dollar purse!