Arrowfield graduates excelling off-the-track
Arrowfield graduate Pirellone & Anna Kerrison have quickly achieved success in several disciplines including eventing.
While Arrowfield graduates are best-known for their success as racehorses, stallions & broodmares, our Jockey Cap & Diamonds brand is increasingly sought-after as a mark of reliable and trainable off-the-track Thoroughbreds. Raised in our ‘horse heaven’, Arrowfield-bred horses have a great start to life with quality nutrition, care and education that produces strong, sound horses with great temperaments.
We recently received a wonderful letter about Arrowfield graduate Pirellone (2013 gelding Gio Ponti ex Choice Blend) who was sold at the 2015 Inglis Classic sale, won one of his 14 starts and has gone on to excel off-the-track in Dressage, Show jumping & Eventing competitions. Read the heart-warming story of Anna Kerrison and Ricky (as he is affectionately known), shared here with Anna’s permission, along with photos that show the bond between them and the progress Pirellone has made in his new life. We’ve also included photos from his early life at Arrowfield:
Dear Arrowfield,
My name is Anna and since following the Arrowfield page on Facebook earlier in the year I’ve been meaning to get in touch to share with the stud how well my Arrowfield horse is doing in the Eventing world in Queensland.
Ricky raced as Pirellone and I still ride him under that name at competitions. He’s 8 now and before I bought him just over a year ago, he had already been up to 1* level in Eventing with his previous owner, Elaine Robl from Robl Racing in Sydney.
Elaine rode Ricky in trackwork and loved how he moved, so when he retired, she just gave him the most incredible start with a top-quality education in dressage, jumping and ultimately Eventing. Dreamy movement, huge jumping scope plus top-quality re-education set him up to be a standout competitor right from the get-go and his prizes with Elaine are far too many to list!
Lucky for me, last year at the start of the pandemic I was without a horse for a period and Ricky was for sale, but no one could travel to try him out. He was far more advanced than I was, as I’d had 20 years off Eventing and was very rusty, but I started riding him at home just as a fill in before he sold.
We just seemed to click so next we went to some show jumping lessons and cross country clinics and finally when things opened up we headed off to Denman Horse Trials with Elaine and her daughter Hayley, with two of their new OTTs. [= Off the Track Thoroughbreds].
Long story short, Ricky and I were in the lead from the start with a super 74% dressage test (still my PB to date!!) and despite some serious nerves on my side, we jumped all clear and came home under time to take out the win.
This was my first event in about 20 years and was just an incredible experience for me. Ricky soon became mine and we haven’t looked back. He is truly the best thing that’s happened to me, and I am ever grateful to the Robl family for trusting me to ride this magnificent horse. Despite being a tall boy at 17 hands, he’s a real softy, a handsome, loveable larrikin and just a delight to have around the stables.
In February this year I moved to Queensland to be closer to family and since then Ricky has taken out wins at dressage, show jumping and Eventing competitions, including being awarded 2nd and 3rd in the QRIC “OTT Rewarded” prize at Toowoomba and Burpengary One Day Events respectively. He also enjoys trips to the beach, trail rides and getting to know kids at the local school on our regular road rides around Fig Tree Pocket where he lives.
Ricky is my focus for now, but I would be very interested to own another Arrowfield OTT in the future.
I want to thank you all for breeding the amazing athlete I have ended up with and to let you know what a wonderful Eventing horse Pirellone has already become at a young age.
We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in 2022!!
Many thanks,
Anna
