Meet Alanta, “LuLu”, a 9-year-old Holsteiner who was bred by Peter Blohm. She has a Liver Chestnut with a white blaze and a single white sock. Lulu’s sire is Alant – her Grandsire, Winged Love, is one of the greatest steeplechase sires of all time. Her Dam is Ava and her Damsire is Contender. Lulu is owned and ridden by Hampton Baker who trains with Debbie Seymour and Daisy Ford at Hacienda Con Vista in Dripping Springs, TX.
Alanta, or “Lulu” as she’s known around the barn, recently joined the Baker family at their home show barn, Hacienda con Vista, in Dripping Springs, TX. Trainers Debbie Seymour and Daisy Ford were on the hunt last January at WEC Ocala for the perfect children’s jumper for a 14-year-old junior rider, Hampton, who primarily had focused on the hunters up to that point. Coincidentally, Debbie and Daisy befriended former steeplechaser, turned Grand Prix rider, Hadden Frost, who happened to be sharing the show aisle at WEC with them that week. Although the outgoing, down-to-earth Brit mentioned he had a couple of sale horses, Frost had been actively showing all of them in the 1.45m and above. So at first pass, not knowing him well or his horses, the responsible trainers reached out first to friends and known associates in the industry who had sales horses possibly more in line with what might be thought of for a first children’s jumper.
Over the next two weekends, Hampton tried about 20 horses, but still had not yet found “The One.” Hampton’s mom, Elizabeth, having learned her lesson over many years of pony and horse shopping for her daughter, says, “Even though Hampton is still so young, I have learned the hard way to trust Hampton’s instincts over anyone when it comes to knowing if we’ve found the right match for a new partnership.” After many trials and exhausting all seemingly available options at WEC Ocala, Daisy and Debbie decided to reach out to their new friend, Hadden Frost, to see if they could take a look at the jumpers he had for sale, as a last-ditch effort. Looking back, they both just really liked Hadden’s open and friendly demeanor, scrappiness, and modesty. At the time, we didn’t know that Hadden, an accomplished jockey himself, comes from a family of celebrated steeplechasers: his father is Jimmy Frost, an accomplished now-retired jockey for over 30 years who won the Breeders Cup twice, and his sister is a professional jockey, Bethany Frost. This family KNOWS horses.
So, Hampton and her trainers left one showground to meet Hadden at another showground, literally hours before having to catch a flight home to Texas. Having no high hopes whatsoever, the minute we all saw Alanta, we knew she was something special. And watching Hadden with her, without him having said a word, you could tell this mare was going to be a tough one for him to part with. In fact, we later learned Alanta was the horse that helped Hadden for three years in his transition to the Grand Prix ring. He commented, “I’ve literally crashed her through everything and she still gives me her best every time we go in the ring. She has an incredible heart.”
But unlike many horses who are jumping at that level, she is not wild-eyed or high-strung. “She loves attention and has the sweetest disposition. Definitely a barn favorite. Sometimes, I’ll look over at Hampton waiting her turn to go in the ring and Lulu is just hanging out power napping with her eyes half shut,” says Elizabeth.
