Ontario’s Erynn Ballard and Futurist Enjoy Florida Show Jumping Victory

Ontario’s Erynn Ballard and Futurist celebrated victory in the $2,500 Open Welcome on Wednesday, February 18, during the HITS circuit held in Ocala, Florida.

Ballard of Hornby, ON, seven-time Olympian Ian Millar and his son, Jonathon Millar, both of Perth, ON, were the only three riders to advance to the jump-off after mastering the course designed by Canada’s Danny Foster. While Jonathon Millar, 28, was not able to repeat his faultless performance from the first round with Le Chanel, Ian Millar, 56, proved that practice makes perfect, turning in a second clear round aboard Jasmijn for Susan Grange’s Lothlorien Farm. Last to go, Ballard was able to cut a full two seconds off the time set by Millar.

“I didn’t necessarily have a strategy for winning,” explained Ballard, the individual gold medallist at the 1999 North American Young Riders’ Championship. “Futurist only just moved up to the open division and I didn’t want to go too fast because I was concentrating on getting a double clear. I gave him a little bit of speed and he was perfect.”

Ballard, who at just 22 years of age is a short listed member of the Canadian Show Jumping Team, was riding the eight-year-old Futurist, who began competing at the open level one week earlier, for Augustin and Christine Walch’s W. Charlot Farms of Stratford, ON. A fully licensed and approved Hanoverian stallion by For Pleasure, Futurist won young horse classes for four and five-year-olds in Germany before being purchased by Augustin Walch as a five-year-old and imported to Canada in December of 2000.

“I fell in love with the horse the minute I set eyes on him at the Hanoverian elite auction in Verden and immediately knew that he was a horse I had to have,” remembers Augustin Walch, who selects his horses simply by watching them. “So far, Futurist has surpassed the high expectations we set for him in the jumper ring and, judging from his first crop of foals, we have very high expectations of him as a sire. Our hope is that he keeps developing the way he has been and, perhaps, he will follow in the footsteps of his stable mate, Rio Grande, as both a grand prix show jumper and a leading sire of performance horses.”

Under Roberto Teran of Colombia, Futurist won several six-year-old Young Horse classes in Ocala, Florida, and went on to sweep the 2001 TD Young Horse Jumper Development Series by winning the Ontario Championships, the Eastern Canada Finals at the Tournament of Champions in September and the $10,000 Six-Year-Old National Championships at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show in November. In 2002, Ballard took over the ride, competing with the stallion in the modified grand prix division.

“He is amazing, this horse!” claims Ballard who is one of only two Canadians to ever win the prestigious ASPCA Maclay National Championship at the National Horse Show. “It doesn’t matter what you do with him, he gives you 110 percent every time. He is so nice to ride, he goes in a snaffle bit, he doesn’t pull, he doesn’t spook. After riding some of my other horses, it is truly a pleasure to get on his back. I always know that he is going to be there for me.”

Futurist is one of the few approved breeding stallions by famous show jumping competitor, For Pleasure, who was named the Hanoverian stallion of the year in 2000. Formerly ridden by Lars Nieberg and now showing with great success under Marcus Ehning, For Pleasure has won two Olympic gold medals as well as two European Championship titles for Germany.

In addition to being a fully licensed and approved Hanoverian stallion after passing his performance test with a score of 127 points, Futurist is also approved for breeding by Oldenburg, American Hanoverian Society, the Canadian Sport Horse Association (CSHA) and the Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders Association. In his first year of breeding in North America, Futurist sired ‘Athena B’ who earned the 2002 Champion Filly titles at the 2002 Tournament of Champions, the Royal Horse Show and was crowned 2002 Champion Filly by the Ontario chapter of the CSHA.

Futurist stands at W. Charlot Farms in Stratford, Ontario. One of the largest Warmblood breeding operations in Canada, W. Charlot Farms currently stands a total of six approved stallions including the prolific international grand prix show jumper, Rio Grande. Now retired, Rio Grande is quickly becoming one of the most successful sires of performance horses in North America and has sired well-known Hunter Champions Rio Bravo and Rio Bronco, both bred by W. Charlot Farms. Rio Bronco most recently captured the Amateur Working Hunter Championships 18 - 35 and the Grand Amateur Owner Hunter Championships at the 2002 National Horse Show held in Wellington, Florida.

For more information on W. Charlot Farms, please visit www.charlotfarm.com, e-mail wcharlotfarm@cyg.net or call Augustin and Christine Walch at (519) 271-5322.