25-year-old Kiwi eventer Lizzie Brown officially arrived on the international scene when she won the Boekelo CCI3* with Henton Attorney General in October 2013. While that win launched her into a bright future with the New Zealand eventing squad, her road to success as a professional eventing competitor and trainer has been a lifetime in the making.
Raised by equestrian parents, Lizzie sat her first horse at just 3-months-old. She dabbled in jumping, dressage, eventing, and hunts while growing up riding with the Cambridge Pony Club. Lizzie says she did a little bit of everything until she was 14, when she got a horse that was “quite special in eventing,” as she puts it. Between that horse and her off-track-thoroughbreds who were best suited for cross country, Lizzie got the eventing bug.
Lizzie decided to make horses her career after she spent a year in the UK as a working student with top British eventer Lucy Weigersma. Back in New Zealand, she was offered the ride on Henton Attorney General (and purchased a half share in him) at the same time she was working to obtain a degree in Business Management from Waikato University.
With Henton Attorney General, barn name “Frank,” Lizzie moved up through the grades and gained national success Down Under both as a Young Rider and at the Advanced/3* level. The season culminated with Lizzie awarded Leading Rider for 2010/2011 and winning the SuperLeague series.
Lizzie decided the appropriate next step in her career was to relocate to the UK; so she sold most of her horses to finance the move and went to Milton Stud in Wiltshire with Frank.
Health Challenges with Imported Horses
Moving horses always poses challenges due to traveling and new environments, and the impact is more significant when it includes the lengthy travel, a change in hemispheres, and differing weather from New Zealand to the UK.
Frank was imported to the UK in 2012, and subsequently dealt with travel-related health challenges that affected his appetite, body condition, and performance. And he wasn’t the only one. Some other horses in Lizzie’s string were also struggling to maintain condition and turning up their noses at their feed.
Vet Recommended SUCCEED
Lizzie’s vet, Peter “Spike” Milligan of Labourne Equine Vets, recommended she try SUCCEED Digestive Conditioning Program to get her horses back in top condition. She used it first with one of her young thoroughbreds imported from New Zealand in January 2013, who struggled after the long trip.
Within 24 hours of starting on SUCCEED paste, his appetite returned,” Lizzie explains. “He was soon eating all his ad-lib roughage and licking his bowl clean. In a couple of weeks his weight started building; after a month his coat was glossy and his topline starting to bulk out. He was happy in the stable and to train. He had a very successful first eventing season in 2013 thanks to SUCCEED, starting out in pre-novice and finishing his season completing CCI* double clear.
Why Lizzie Brown Recommends SUCCEED Digestive Conditioning Program
Lizzie now uses SUCCEED across her team of six horses. And she says the most dramatic improvement was with Henton Attorney General:
We started Henton Attorney General on SUCCEED in 2013. Immediately, his appetite and condition returned. We had an amazing event season, winning three major events including Boekelo CCI3* and were shortlisted for New Zealand’s 2014 World Equestrian Games team.
Most recently, Lizzie and Frank helped the New Zealand Eventing Team clinch the Houghton Hall CICO3* Nations Cup win in May 2014, also coming in second individually behind Sir Mark Todd. We look forward to seeing how far this promising young rider and her horses go in the years to come, and are honored to play a small part in their success. The feeling seems to be mutual:
I believe success starts from the inside out, Lizzie says. SUCCEED is the platform upon which we can train and compete our horses to produce top results at the highest levels of eventing.
