Eventing Nation’s Got Talent introduces the Swedish stallion Accolade this week:
"Bred to be an event horse — he is by Olympic dressage stallion Amiral and out of Swedish-approved Her Elegancy (xx) — “Bear” quickly proved that he possessed the athleticism and determination needed to win. “He was the only baby we had that year, so he grew up with the big horses,” Kim said. “He was turned out with the OTTBs and he used to race them around the pasture and outrun them. Then he would do a fancy trot at the end like he was showing off. We were hoping he had the speed and desire to gallop and then could go do the fancy trots in the dressage ring.”
Kim and Bear competed in the Future Event Horse competition at Sporting Days Farm in 2008, where he won first place 3-year-old colt and was named reserve champion 3-year-old colt. Bear went into his 4-year-old year with Kim intending to participate in the Young Event Horse series. He won his first YEH class at Cedar Ridge, finishing with a 78.79% — the highest score awarded in all the YEH and FEH classes at that event. Bear had the qualifying score he needed to attend the YEH East Coast Championships at Fair Hill, which he ended up winning. “It was typical Fair Hill weather: rainy and muddy,” Kim said. “He was just spot on. The harder the conditions, the better he goes, it seems. I was very intimidated going into it knowing that Leslie Law and Buck Davidson and all the big-name trainers would be there with their very fancy imports and homebreds. I definitely didn’t expect to go and come out on top.”
At the end of Bear’s 4-year-old year, an opportunity opened up for Kim to take her vet practice across the pond for two years. “I think every eventer dreams of competing in England,” Kim said." Read more on Eventing Nation >>
