By Sarah Eakin
Week Six of the Winter Equestrian Festival is commonly known as “Hunter Week,” and the finale on Saturday night, Feb. 15, the $150,000 Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular, saw a win for Elizabeth Towell Boyd and her quirky chestnut mare Ondine D’Orleans.
The 11-year-old Belgian warmblood owned by Finally Farms and Neill Sites arrived in Boyd’s barn about a year ago.
“We had to learn that her quirks are what makes her good and not something to be worried about,” said Olivia Murray, who has a series of job titles, including rider, assistant manager and assistant trainer at Finally Farms. “Oh, she’s doing this today. What is she trying to tell us? No, that’s just her.”
Saturday night preparation in the warmup ring sent off good vibes for the team.
“She [Ondine] did everything that we expected and more. We could tell that she really wanted to win,” Murray said. “She can be sassy in the schooling ring sometimes, which is normal for her. But she really didn’t show much sass. She was trying her little heart out in the schooling ring, and we just had a really good feeling.”
Boyd and Ondine’s score of 91.25 topped the leaderboard just ahead of Victoria Colvin and Paradigm with a score of 90.5, with Amanda Steege and Lafitte De Muze in third with 88.79.
Partly behind the success of Ondine is the fact that Boyd talks to the mare — not just a little, but the whole time they are showing, giving her a blow-by-blow account of what is coming up.
“It is so that she pays attention to Liza instead of looking at the people watching her,” Murray explained.
Boyd recites the whole course at the ingate and then talks her through each jump. “Liza believes she really listens to her,” Murray said.
The next outing for Ondine will be on the Derby Field, later on in WEF. It will be the first time that Boyd has competed with her on a grass surface.
“We’re excited to see what she will do,” Murray said. “She is different every day because she is a chestnut mare. Liza likes to say it’s Ondine’s world, and we’re just living in it.”
Read more by equestrian writer Sarah Eakin at www.paperhorsemedia.com.
