Introducing Holy Blue
I honestly don’t even know where to begin. There’s a lot to catch up on since purchasing him late spring of last year. It feels as if I could write a book about this horse, but I’ll do my best to keep things brief.
Around the same time I sold my previous horse Parlay (who now lives the most luxurious life in Long Island NY, with an absolutely wonderful new mother), I realized I was in the market for a move up horse - something with more miles on bigger tracks that could teach me how to jump the big sticks. My riding had come a long ways at the time, a lot of which I credit to the many horses I got to sit on every day at the NJ job. All that being said, Blue was purchased (with the help of my father) and imported from Ireland to the USA. He comes with an extensive and successful career up to FEI 2* (1.45). To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.
Blue with previous owner and rider, Nicholas Connors
Let me share a bit about Blue’s personality, because in order to ride him well, you have to get inside his head and really GET him.
He is SMART. Smarter than I was for many months, as much as I hate to admit that. Easily the smartest horse I’ve come across. Lucky for me, I prefer the smart sensible types over the dumb, easy ones. I definitely got what I wished for!
He knows his job, and doesn’t want to be told to do it differently (because his way is obviously the best way). This one took me a minute to accept. I’ve always ridden horses that needed me to help them, teach them, correct them, etc. My entire life that’s all I’d known. Blue is a bit unorthodox in his way of going. Because I did not fly to Ireland to sit on him before purchasing, it took a minute for me to realize that there was no changing him. And looking back, I feel ashamed to say that I even tried. The moment I quit over riding him and let him go how he needed, we began to thrive together. I credit a lot of that to my now trainer in Ocala, who really clicked with him and was able to teach me that less is more.
Blue is quite full of himself! He is very proud and expressive, and loves to show off. He was a stallion the majority of his career in Europe, and so I do think that’s where his attitude stems from. It’s a guarantee that after every warmup jump, he will shake his head and dance around as if he just jumped a 1.60 oxer. It does give my trainer Cris and I good laugh, and I really do appreciate his enthusiasm. Such enthusiasm is at times matched with a good buck, but he tends to save that for special occasions only.
A very typical jump school at home. If you ignore his antics and keep riding, he goes about business like the pro he is
He gets insulted by small jumps. Quite literally, his feelings get hurt if he isn’t jumping at LEAST 1.10. And even those are deemed small in his mind. Since he is naturally quick across the ground, he tends to jump the warm up jumps fast and even flat at times. Once the fences are raised, he focuses and begins to jump with real quality and style. He does have the typical Chacco Blue front end that tends to be stamped on all his offspring. Needless to say, he never takes a bad photo!
Last but not least, he is a barn favorite personality! He licks everybody and everything.. another stallion trait. And without a doubt knows I’m his person. I’ve never seen a horse that watches me as intently as he does.. I often catch him staring me down from his stall as I’m getting on and off other horses. Being as smart as he is, it definitely makes for a really fun and complex personality. There is quite literally never a dull moment with him.
There is a lot more to tell of his story, which I will share another time. But I will say, his greatest quality is his heart and his honesty. This horse would quite literally jump through fire for me if I pointed him at it. He is incredibly brave, and will NEVER refuse or say no to a jump. No matter how badly I may get him there. And the more horses I ride that are truly talented and competitive, the more I realize this trait is not so common compared to the lower level types. He has made me 100x the rider I was before I purchased him. My only hope is that I can give him a fraction of what he has given me.