Ocala, FL (February 19, 2014) – Jacob Arnold, who began a mentorship under Chester Weber in January as the first up-and-coming driver to benefit from Weber\u2019s inaugural Live Oak Driver Apprentice Program, is getting a real \u2018Wise Guy\u2019 to work with: Ijsbrand Chardon\u2019s talented FEI prospect Wise Guy, known fondly as Whooper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very grateful for the opportunity to have a chance to drive such a talented horse. Wise Guy (aka Whooper) has shown he has what it takes to be a top-level FEI level horse for many years to come. I owe a debt of gratitude to Iron Spring Farm for sponsoring me and a big thank you to Chester Weber, who came up with this idea, and has gone above and beyond to make this a reality,\u201d says Live Oak\u2019s first Driver Apprentice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very excited,\u201d Arnold continued, \u201cas I begin this journey with such an unbelievable amount of support. I am very fortunate to have such wonderful opportunity.\u201d Whooper\u2019s owner, Ijsbrand Chardon, is also excited about turning his talented horse over to such a rising star as Arnold \u2013 and respected competitor worldwide as Weber. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see a talented
\ndriving horse help develop a young, motivated and talented driver like Jacob Arnold,\u201d Chardon said of the 10-year old, Iron Spring Farm-bred gelding sired by Sir Sinclair ISF.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhooper is a very talented horse that was trained and driven by Ijsbrand as part of his Individual Silver Chester Weber\u2019s First Live Oak Driver Apprentice Brings a Real \u2018Wise Guy\u2019 and Team Gold medal winning team at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky,\u201d said Weber. \u201cWith his dynamic and vivid expression, Whooper is a correct, expansive mover that will make a lasting impression on the Single Driving world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLive Oak Combined Driving has always been involved in the ongoing development of many drivers, and Jacob and Whooper represent everything the apprenticeship hopes to achieve,\u201d said the 10-time U.S. Four-in-Hand Driving Champion of the program he has launched to give developing drivers hands-on experience competing at their discipline\u2019s highest levels. US Team Trainer Michael Freund is also a supporter of Live Oak\u2019s Apprentice Driver program, saying, \u201cI think this is a fantastic opportunity for Jacob. I\u2019m very glad Chester Weber has decided to support such a young and talented driver. This is exactly what driving in the US needs to improve the sport and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arnold arrived at Live Oak Plantation in Ocala, FL, in and will train and compete Wise Guy while also working as part of Weber\u2019s training and competition team. Arnold may be the program\u2019s first beneficiary but don\u2019t equate apprenticeship with inexperience. The 2011 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year spent 2013 working with nine-time National Pony Four-in-Hand Champion, Allison Stroud, as head groom and backstep at events including the 2013 Pony Combined World Championships in Pau, France and, since 2010, has competed nationally in the Advanced Single Horse division.<\/p>\n
A Spring 2012 Selection Trial win Short Listed Arnold for the Single World Championships. Unable to take that horse to Europe to compete, he took a working student position in Holland, with Ijsbrand Chardon, the summer Chardon won Individual Bronze and Team Gold at the Four-in-Hand World Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany.<\/p>\n
Arnold will be part of Team Weber and Clark as they aim for the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, continuing the international momentum he and his team generated last season after wins at the 2014 WEG test event at CAI-Caen, and CAIO Saumur, and top three finishes at Beekbergen and Aachen.<\/p>\n
Learn more about Live Oak Combined Driving, Inc., the Live Oak Driver Apprentice Program, and Chester Weber at www.chesterweber.com and via a link to Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ocala, FL (February 19, 2014) – Jacob Arnold, who began a mentorship under Chester Weber in January as the first up-and-coming driver to benefit from..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2637,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions\/2637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chesterweber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}