If he continues on the trajectory he’s on, West Grey Bay will soon become one of OSAS’s most accomplished graduates.
During his time in foster Westie was trained by talented equestrienne Sarah Cuthbertson. The 12 year-old gelding quickly became comfortable under saddle which led Sarah to enter him in an endurance contest, sponsored by OCTRA (Ontario Competitive Trail Riding Association). He handled the 15 mile competition with ease and Sarah was so impressed with his calm demenour and willingness to work she quickly made the decision to adopt him herself.
Since that time the pair have competed in several other endurance contests, showing other competitors that Standardbreds can more than hold their own in these events.
Last weekend Westie was again introduced to something new and once again he crushed it. He and Sarah were entered in the Open Entry category in the Wits End Evening Kindergarten. According to their website: “The Eventing Kindergarten Series is intended as an introduction to the sport of eventing, an opportunity for competitors to introduce their green horses to showing, and an opportunity to upgrade from one level to the next in a low stress, reduced cost, high fun environment.”
Sarah explained: “He had to do a dressage test, a stadium jumping round and a cross country course (jumps in both were up to 2'9" and the dressage test required a canter). He ended up placing third of six entries and I am so proud! Especially because we haven't done much dressage recently particularly the canter and he managed to get a nice clean transition in his test (which was a first ever for us!). He absolutely knocked the jumping out of the park and is so keen to jump.”
During his racing career West Grey Bay, a trotter, made 114 lifetime starts and earned just over $85,000. He made many fans during that career and is also being noticed in his second career.
“When I was walking the course, I had a few people come up to me and recognised me as the one riding the Standardbred and they all said how wonderful he was and that they would be cheering us on. One of them had a Standardbred too and it definitely inspired her to try it on hers,” noted Sarah who was wearing a Go Pro during the event videos from which she posted on her Facebook page.