April 29, 2026
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Jodie Kelly-Baxley pulled Grayton Beach out of top sport a couple of years ago hoping to restore confidence the horse lost on the path seeking success.
“I ended my 2024 show season trail riding,” Jodie explained of the 18-hand plus gelding. “We did that for several months. Then, we started to play; no lessons, no shows, often not in the arena. Piece by piece he started to gain some confidence in the movements and having fun with the work.”
For Grayton, that has been owned by Jodie since buying the Dutch gelding at age three, having fun worked.
Now, with Grayton Beach (Negro x UB-40) 15, the partnership is back–victory on a personal best score in the Grand Prix Special at the World Equestrian Center CDI3* in Ocala.
And the possibility to be one of 15 combinations to be invited to the U.S. Grand Prix championships in Ocala in two weeks.
Grayton was found by Toine Hoefs with whose family Jodie spent summers in Holland when growing up to learn the basics of dressage.
Grayton was aged three when Toine called Jodie.
“I almost bought him sight unseen because I was leaving that week to coach at Young Riders. Several people advised me to at least go sit on him. I was in the air longer than I was on the ground in Holland, but, from day one, Grayton was the most gentle, genuine soul I have ever met.”
She has done her best to, what she describes, “always keep that raw sincerity and innocence a priority. He is truly just a fun guy to be around. He trail rides, gets turned out all day, travels well, likes to go for a gallop, and calls to me anytime I come into his line of vision.”
Moving up the levels with help from Anne Gribbons and lately Allison Brock, Grayton has not been easy.
He was “like trying to steer an octopus on roller skates around the show ring,” Jodie explained. “At over 18 hands and being a big mover, the 20×60 (meter arena) can feel very small. He has always been very honest and very trustworthy in the show ring and I’ve always felt he genuinely loved to show, from the beginning. He’s not spooky at all, but he’s very sensitive and very tuned into me. He does not like to make a mistake and worries when he does. When he understands something, I can rely on him 100% to give it his all, every time.
“Coming up the levels, I would show him for stints, then stay home and train a bit. He didn’t require the need to keep going and going to the shows for ‘miles.’ He behaved and was trustworthy and honest from the beginning. He’s my personal horse and it was always my goal for him to be a high performance horse.”
However, she said, when the duo began national Grand Prix in 2023 Grayton was making typical Big Tour horse mistakes–one-tempis were difficult, piaffe/passage lacked consistency.
“He did many of the things quite well, though, so we was getting decent scores (and) was on the developing team.” Jodie recalled.
CDIs were different.
“He was still getting the scores, but he knew the mistakes were not correct and it was beginning to stress him out,” she said. “I could feel the unhappiness in him at shows.
“My typical confident guy, was not so confident any more. The feeling was not good and I decided by mid season that if this is what it took for him to be a high performance horse, I didn’t care if he was a high performance horse. It’s a curse and a blessing that he is 100% mine.
“The expense of campaigning a high performance horse is staggering, but the blessing is: I could make the decision myself, based on what I was feeling.
“So, I backed off.”
Jodie and Grayton ended their 2024 show season trail riding.
“We did that for several months. Then, we started to play… no lessons, no shows, often not in the arena. Piece by piece he started to gain some confidence in the movements and having fun with the work…. I started back at the national shows again…. They were fun. He had fun.
“My happy, confident horse was back.”
Interestingly, scores went down, she believes, because he was so relaxed the movements were not as extravagant.
“But, I didn’t care. He was happy again. As I stepped back into the CDI ring, his confidence came with us.
“Now we are playing with where to turn up the dial for a bit more. I am learning it’s a matter of turning it up and back down multiple times in one test.”
Walking to the ring for the CDI3* Grand Prix in Ocala, Jodie said, “my only goal was for him to feel confident and happy in the show ring. I absolutely feel like I accomplished that.”
