Nine years ago Alyssa Peterson was tackling Fair Hill’s CCI** course on her homebred Thoroughbred mare Stormin’s Barbie (Stormin’ Again—Dimply Barb, Titanic).
Now she’s back at Fair Hill with two of the mare’s offspring—R-Perfect Storm in the USEA Young Event Horse East Coast Championships and Stormin’ Truth in the CCI**.
“You think about it, and you’re like, ‘Aw, that would be really cool if it could actually happen,’ and it did, which is really fun!” said Peterson, Summit Point, W.Va. “I enjoyed it. Knowing everything about them having bred them, it’s extra special.”
Peterson, who’s an assistant trainer at Sharon White’s Last Frontier Farm, has been involved with breeding horses with her mother Margaret for many years.
Alyssa Peterson and Stormin’ Truth. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.
Stormin’s Barbie was her first big-time horse, and after completing Fair Hill, they went on to compete at the 2009 FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.).
After that they bred her to Thoroughbred stallion Salute The Truth, which resulted in Stormin’ Truth, or “Tempe,” who’s now 7.
A breeding to Riverman produced R-Perfect Storm, know as “Sprite” around the barn. Riverman sired Kristi Nunnink’s four-star mount R-Star.
Tempe jumped double clear in the CCI** yesterday and had 12 faults in show jumping today to finish in 36th place. Sprite finished 24th in the Young Event Horse 5-year-old division.
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Alyssa says both mares picked up pieces of their mother’s personality.
Alyssa Peterson and Stormin’ Truth. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.
“She’s very unassuming and is like the diligent little student. She does everything exactly how I say it, so if I have a problem it’s my fault!” said Alyssa of Tempe. “Sprite just exudes personality. You see her, and she has an opinion about everything and is just so full of emotion and lets you know! It’s really fun. It’s interesting, they both have a lot of their mother’s qualities. They’re very forgiving, which is wonderful, and they’re so bold. That’s the biggest thing about Tempe, nothing sets her back. She’s like, ‘OK, I see it, got it.’ Same thing with Sprite. She sees it, reads it, jumps it. That’s really fun. They definitely have their own individual personalities.”
Alyssa was thrilled with both of the mare’s performances over the weekend.
“I was really happy with how [Sprite] did in the Young Event Horse. We didn’t score particularly well as we had previously, but I was really happy with her performance,” said Alyssa. “She clocked around the jumping like it was a piece of cake. She didn’t look at anything. Tempe, I think we did the best that we could have [in the dressage]. It didn’t score as well as I wanted, but she’s young and new to the level. We don’t have as much consistency as we need for the level to score well. That will come with strength and time.”
Alyssa Peterson on R-Perfect Storm. Photo by USEA/Leslie Mintz.
Alyssa credits her mother with much of the breeding they do and both of her parents for their support at the events.
“They’re great eventing parents. I have a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, a 1-year-old and a weanling at home. They’ve done a really good job in keeping me on good horses,” she said. “We always breed for them to be for me for eventing, but they usually find whatever they like to do.”
