Rose Alfeld is the first to admit her Matthews Hanoverians Seven-Year-Old Series winner Cadenza NZPH is not the easiest horse on the planet. The big chestnut was bought at the same time as her star five-year-old Eye Catcher NZPH but the two couldn’t be more different.

Where one is cruisy and trainable, the other takes time, but the good news is, there have been plenty of small steps of improvement. “He is a very challenging horse,” says Rose. “He is beautiful but we have had to do a lot of learning along the way.”

Only this season she has managed to get him into the warm up arena at shows and they’ve spent a lot of time in the round pen at home. “We are slowly making progress, which is great,” she says. “We’ve had our ups and down this season but his challenges are making me a better rider and a braver person. He has the most amazing jump and is super talented.”

Together they placed at both the Young Horse Champs and the Nationals and Rose is quite sure they will go far together. “I think he is just so talented and if we continue to make the progress that we have this season, we will be doing Grand Prix next season. I think he will go all the way – that he is a world cup horse and that’s why I am persevering. I would be heartbroken if I sold him and he achieved that with someone else.”

She was both surprised and exulted to win the series on the horse. In the grand final the South Island combination had to settle for fourth after a rail in the opening round. The final was won by Jesse Linton (Hastings) and Vitess who flew round to take the honours ahead of the very in-form Amanda Illston (Masterton) and Iguazu who were also double clear, but a fraction slower.

 

By Diana Dobson

 

Results –

 

Matthews Hanoverians Seven-Year-Old Series:

1st Rose Alfeld (Christchurch) Cadenza NZPH (by Kannon, out of U Can Dance NZPH who is by Furego du Prelet) 107 points

2nd Maurice Beatson (Dannevirke) Central Park (by Euro Sport Centavos, out of Silk and Spice who is by Omnicorp) 85 points

3rd Samantha Peters (Cambridge) Cadillac NZPH (by Jokus Latour, out of Untouched NZPH who is by Cabdula du Tillard) 80 points

4th Robert Steele (Dannevirke) Two Eye See (by One Eye, out of Mrs Grey who is by Telesun) 73 points

5th Molly Buist-Brown (Canterbury) Vali (by Euro Sport Centavos, out of Gaddadream who is by Dream Boy) 72 points

6th Rachel Malcolm (Cambridge) Monte Carlo MVNZ (by Indoctro, out of Auburn Princess MVNZ who is by Senator VDL) 63 points

 

Mathews Hanoverians Seven-Year-Old Grand Final:

1st Jesse Linton (Hastings) Vitess (by Euro Sport Centavos, out of Diversity who is by Distlefink)

2nd Amanda Illston (Masterton) Iguazu (by Corofino II, out of Volenta who is by Voltaire II)

3rd Luke Dee (Waipukurau) Numero Uno Xtreme (by Numero Uno, out of Cassaro Xtreme who is by Cassini II)

4th Rose Alfeld (Christchurch) Cadenza NZPH (by Kannon, out of U Can Dance NZPH who is by Furego du Prelet)

5th Lucy Fell (Longburn) Big & Rich (by Cardento, out of Dolly who is by Lowenhertz)

6th Brigitte Smith (Taihape) HR Lanardo (by Lansing, out of HR Khismit who is by KR Khemosabi)