His story; Festivo MR

 
Festivo MR
2004
e. Academico VII
u. Escogida XL
Dear Festivo came to us in May 2010. Again he was one of the horses selected for Horsespre's clients (at this point I think we are becoming one of our best clients!), as you can see we only select horses we would buy for ourselves. When we first saw him he made us lift our eyebrows because all we could see was BIG. I rode him in a tiny little paddock and I was amazed how easy it was for him to collect all that movement and all that body in such a tiny little space. And how easy it was for tiny me with my fibromyalgia-body. The canter was super, how easy it was to collect all that body and movement. I could feel alot of capacity in the trot but he was so totally unfit and floppy no way could he get it all together and do a extention. And the walk was big, again a little wobbly from lack of excersize.  I wanted to put some pressure to see what happened and Festivo got really upset, poor thing, that's when I understood he was a BIG BABY. Sorry sweety, but I loved how you moved! So then I knew. So I jumped off and lifted my eyebrows again, I was surprised it was so comfy up there!
So when passed vetcheck we went to get him. They took him out of stables and again we lifted our eyebrows, he looked so impressive. He hardly fit into the trailer but he did not even hesitate just walked straight on.
Back home in Jade we lounged him in roundpen. We were quiet and Javier asked me after a while, what do you think about his movement really? We are very critical people (even more so with what is our own and with ourselves) but I said 'I think it is really good!'. We were both alittle surprised, surprised we suddenly had ANOTHER horse (was really not our plan) and then this BIG and BEAUTIFUL one that also seemed to move for REAL!

Riding Festivo for the first time in May 2010

So in summer we trained s l o w l y. He was floppy from not really moving hardly at all and it is alot of body to get going. So walker and light work.
Festivo at Jade

Festivo in training with handler

We decided to bring compete him in autumn and Caravaca was the first show. Here he won the MEJORES MOVIMIENTOS and scored 24 for movement both in hand and in the ridden test, splendid! He was 5th totally and with these results he was qualified to SICAB.
Festivo & Tony in Caravaca

Before movement final

Warm up for the Funcionalidad

Winner of MM section 10, 5& 6 year old stallions!

So finally it was time for SICAB. Here Festivo made a serious statement and entertained. He got a warm applaud and won MEJORES MOVIMIENTOS in section 10. He beat Absolute Champion and Reserve Champion of Spain!!

Festivo in SICAB November 2010

Merits;

- 2007 Title; MEJORES MOVIMIENTOS sec. 6 Equital
- 2010 Title; MEJORES MOVIMIENTOS sec. 10 Caravaca de la Cruz
- 2010 Title; MEJORES MOVIMIENTOS sec 10 Spanish Championships, SICAB
SICAB again

I just want to talk a little about Festivo's quality of movement because it is quite unique for a PRE. It is important to note this horse is not shown in a flashy way, his movement does not come out of putting the horse in tension. The trot is not a passagy, artifical one, the movement a is natural one and is always in relaxation. His strides are long and covers alot of ground, it is SLOW, not fast and choppy. Personally I think this is the quality of movement we need for dressage and what we need to develop in the PRE, what do you think?