Congratulations to Robert
Congratulations to Robert Mendoza, Swept Away Farms trainer, for the incredible winter of competition in Ocala, Fla. All of our competition horses have either been started by Robert or brought along by him after being purchased as youngsters. Their progression and sound minds are a true testimate of Roberts innate skills and knowledge. Always in search of excellence, Robert worked with the accomplished rider Aaron Vale, developing the nuances of riding in the bigger classes. Because of the support and confidence Aaron provided to both horse and rider, Robert and Andiamo Pyon rode in the last Thursday Grand Prix, jumping with style and enthusiasm over an extremely challenging course. We thank Aaron for his encouragement and support through out the winter!
All of SAF horses met or exceeded expectations in the show rings this winter.
Graphite, progressing from the Level 6 to Level 8, established him to be a horse of great confidence and talent.
Cruise Control proved himself by moving into Level 6 jumping with scope and confidence over the courses. A fine, talented horse with a great personality, we are looking for a good home for him.
Andy, who placed Reserve Champion for the 6 YO Young Jumpers Zone 1 last year continued his progression in the Young Jumper 7 / 8 YO classes. He performed well consistently earning many ribbons, moving up into Level 7 with ease.
Our latest purchase, Bubba B., began his showing career this winter. After a slow start for the horse and questions of his ridablity, SAF took him in for training and ultimately purchased him from Allyn and Fletcher McCracken of Bannockburn Farm. His excellent attitude and athleticism brought him from the Pre green Hunter classes in the pre-circuit weeks up to Level 3 jumpers in the Grand Prix ring! We are very pleased with his progress again exhibiting Robert’s superb ability in training not only the young horses but the older more difficult ones as well. Robert has done an incredible job with this complicated horse!
Vision began perfectly in the pre-circuit shows not touching a single rail. But as the official circuit commenced he developed a skin fungus and then to our surprise on the last week of the series we discovered a cracked foot! At last we had the answer to the inconsistent performance of this incredibly sensitive stallion. Despite this, he performed with top ribbons in some classes and an uncharacteristic rail in others but with each round he showed heart. With a little time off this spring he should be back in the ring this summer to secure his advancement to the Grand Prix!
Jessica and her horse, Bob had a great season showing in the Level 3 and Level 4 Modified Junior Jumpers. The ultimate goal was to establish consistency and they certainly did that with a handful of ribbons to show for it! They will be continuing their success this summer with the aim of moving into the nominating classes.
We are currently booking training horses this summer for competition horses that are either beginning their show careers or those continuing their education in the show ring.
Contact us at info@sweptawayfarm.com