Just five days after Ballynoe Castle RM said a formal farewell to his fans at Rolex Kentucky, another U.S. 4-star horse is bowing out. Sinead Halpin decided to retire Manoir De Carneville.
While noting “it is one of the hardest decisions in a horseman’s life to decide when a horse’s competitive journey has reached its limits,” Sinead and her team have decided this is the moment, after the Frenchbred chestnut known as Tate has logged 30 FEI starts, six 4-stars and eighteen 3-stars, along with a slot in the 2014 World Equestrian Games.
Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville at Rolex Kentucky. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Sinead explained that while nothing has dimmed Tate’s buoyant personality, “age and a few chronic injuries are catching up to Tate physically and the maintenance required to keep him fighting fit is becoming excessive and uncomfortable for all of us responsible for his well-being.”
She began her partnership with Tate in 2007, when her stepfather, Jim Cogdell, bought the horse as a 7-year-old. He would go on to be on the U.S. high performance list for nine years.
One of his most remembered achievements, along with a second place at the Burghley 4-star in England, was finishing as the best American entry at Rolex Kentucky in third place, earning him and Sinead the Rolex/USEF National CCI4-star championship. He also was the alternate for the 2012 Olympics.
The horse belongs to a syndicate of Christine Turner, Tim Holekamp, Margaret MacGregor, Brian Callanan, Kristin Michaloski and Bernadette Cogdell, Sinead’s mother.
Tate will be the mascot at Sinead’s farms in Long Valley and Citra, Fla.
“If the working students are lucky, they might even get the occasional lesson on him,” said Sinead.
“But mainly, Tate will get to rule the farm and judge all the youngsters coming up … that flared nostril seems to say it all.”
And Sinead said it all by commenting, “To Tate, my beautiful horse and forever partner, you have changed my world. I have no idea what forces brought us together but together we have traveled the world, pushed each other for greatness, picked each other up in weakness and together achieved things I only dreamed possible, Thank you with all of my heart.”