A Gold-en day for CSH gelding and owner

Maureen Hall of Port Perry couldn't be more thrilled with her four-year-old gelding, Prospect's Bravestrom.

The young F1 CSH gelding by Braveheart won the AA Training Level Championship at the Royal Canadian Riding Academy's Gold Summer Dressage Show. It was just Bravestrom's second Gold outing at Training level.

The flashy bay gelding with a commanding presence (he's 17.3 HH) is the product of Prospect Farm's breeding program. The farm is owned by Hall and her family; Maureen competes in dressage while her sons Stephen and Mitchell are avid eventers.

Bravestrom's name combines the 'Brave' from his sire and 'Strom' which means soldier in Swedish.

"He really is a Brave Soldier because nothing bothers him at shows," says Maureen. "I am so proud of him."

Maureen started her program by breeding draft cross mares that had been Canadian Sport Horse approved to warmblood stallions. Strom's dam is Prospect's Atheana, a Clyde/Hackey cross mare that evented successfully at the lower levels with Stephen Hall and is  continuing in that discipline with her new owner.

Strom had many good placings on the line as a youngster at CSHA shows and was division champion at his dressage debut at a Bronze show in December 2010. Maureen plans to continue to show him at First Level at Gold Shows this year.

Hall has several of Strom's younger family members in the barn as future prospects. Strom was bred as a young stallion to Hall's CSH approved mare, Been Jazzin', a Trakehner/TB mare that Michele Mueller showed to Third Level dressage. That combination produced a 2010 filly, Prospect's Brittania and a 2011 colt, Prospect's Belmont.

Strom also has a half sister on the farm, Prospect's Danika (out of Atheana by ES Donovan), a two-year-old filly.