Grand Prix dressage rider Sue Blinks is best known for her long partnership with Flim Flam, on whom she earned the team bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics and the team silver medal at the 2002 World Championships, but she’s got a new star in her barn now.

Doug and Louise Leatherdale have purchased Mark, Canadian Leslie Reid’s 2004 Athens Olympic mount, for Blinks to ride in international competition. “[The Leatherdales] have been clients of mine for a long time,” said Blinks. “I actually rode horses for them when I was in high school. They were eager to become involved at that level. We heard he was for sale through Leslie at the World Cup, and they really liked him.”

Reid has ridden the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood for owner Derol Andrews since he was 3. The pair was Canada\’s top dressage combination, having finished second in the B-final of the FEI World Cup (Nev.) in April and won the individual gold medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games.

“Leslie is a really good horsewoman and did a super job with him,” said Blinks. “For me, I’ve mostly made my own horses. So I feel like I’ve opened up someone else’s diary and started writing in the middle of it. I have nothing but the greatest respect for all the things that Leslie did with him. I’ll just do my very best to carry on.”

Mark moved to his new home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., where Blinks is based, in late May.