Tim and Alice Page (pictured right with their family) own Dunge’s Laurent Rosé (Rosie), and MR Sydney Rocks (Syd). Rosie is home bred from Tim’s hunter mare and Syd is a Westphalian bought as a 4 year old from Germany.
Rosie was admired as a youngster and although Tim hunted her as a five and six year-old that has been postponed now her eventing career has taken off. She has now qualified for Badminton and Tim and Alice are hoping that she will be able to compete there in 2011 which would be a dream realized for them. In 2009 following in Brit’s footsteps, Rosie conceived a foal by Jaguar Mail and the embryo was transferred into a surrogate. Her foal was born on 7th August 2010. Dunge’s Don Perignon (Don) is doing very well and living on Tim and Alice’s farm in Wiltshire. He is a smart looking foal, quite a character and seems to take after his sire in a number of ways. One typical characteristic was jumping from out of his paddock to visit two of our other horses despite being only 5 months old!
In 2008 they decided to buy a young horse to follow in Rosie’s footsteps and so after the Olympics Clayton found Syd and brought him over from Germany. He has shown huge talent in his 2 season’s eventing and still seems to have a lot more to show! Being a showoff is his favourite pastime as he is always on his toes saying “look at me” at every chance possible! MR Sydney Rocks (Syd) is proving to be a great find for Tim and Alice. He is giving them huge pleasure in his results and they are enjoying following another horse around to events. They both get as much pleasure watching a young horse go up the grades as they do seeing the more experienced ones continue at the top.
Tim says, “Part of the attraction of sending Rosie first off to Clayton was that there were two of them – Lucinda and Clayton. When you take an unproven 5-y-o up to the yard, you simply have no idea how you are going to fare and who is going to gel with the horse. We left it up to Cinders and Clayton to decide who rode her, and we certainly didn’t want to contribute to any domestic dispute between them! Clayton ended up having the ride and has done a superb job with her. But you never know, Lucinda may be eyeing her up to get the ride and will jock him off in time. Still, it’s nice to think that we’ve the choice between an Olympic and WEG silver medallist and a Burghley/Badminton winner!
“If I had to give advice to new owners they wouldn’t need me to tell you that both Cinders and Clayton are superlative riders at the very top of their game. The combination of their event riding skills must be hard to match anywhere in the world. They are also great people to deal with. They have always been open, honest and direct about Rosie and Syd and their potentials. They have been sensitive and sensible in bringing on youngsters, not rushing them and over- competing them. At the same time, they are suitably competitive – you’ll find that Clayton won’t stay behind to collect the ribbons unless they are first place ones. We have had a great time and a lot of fun along the way, and long may it continue.”
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