Camilla Grover-Dodge and Remington lead the CCI* at NAJYRC after the dressage phase at the Kentucky Horse Park. Photo by Samantha Clark.
We’ve seen some really lovely tests and some great riding in the CH-J1* division here today at the Kentucky Horse Park for the Adequan FEI NAJYRC, and all sorts of different types of horses, but at the close of business it was the two most experienced horses in the field, both from Area II – Camilla Grover Dodge’s ride Remington, and Morgan Booth’s Twizzel who finished in the top two spots.
Of course Remington and Twizzel are no strangers to the Horse Park, they’ve both completed the Rolex CCI4* here several times but how inspiring to see them back here looking so pleased with themselves, in ridiculously good form, and clearly relishing their new roles. Many thanks to Camilla for a quick chat as she waited to support her teammates riding later in the day.
Ron and Densey Juvonen practically invented event horse syndication here in the US and have been through thick and thin with Boyd Martin, but this is their first trip to NAJYRC and they also kindly stopped to chat about what it’s like to watch their granddaughter take on the ride on Remington.
Many thanks to Ron and Densey for chatting, and huge congratulations to them and also not little admiration for how calmly they seem to be taking it all in their stride; as a very embarrassing horse show mother (tears, happy tears!) I salute them!
Morgan Booth and Twizzel move into 2nd place after dressage at NAJYRC 2015. Photo by Samantha Clark.
Morgan Booth had to wait until the very end of the day to ride Twizzel by which time the Kentucky heat was kicking in but she said he rose to the occasion regardless, “he felt really, really good; he came in the ring and I think he thought he was at Rolex – which is good! He lit up a little bit and I had to keep him together and remember not to go for it too much.
“Will [Coleman] always says not to ride the medium, just to let him do it. He was really good. The only bobble I had was in the corner but I think we fixed it ok, and he was great. It was a good feeling to halt and know that he’d done it and know that he’d done a good test, and then I was exhausted and felt the heat! Twizzel definitely lit up when he heard the crowd and it was so nice to turn and see everyone – my team, my family, Mr Coleman who owns him with his son Will [Will and Katie are planning on coming to watch Saturday but were competing at Maryland today]. It was really great, there are so many people that are a part of the team that don’t always get to be recognised so to have them there was really nice.”
Did Will give Morgan any last minute advice before she went today? “He told me to have fun because sometimes I get a bit intense!”
Skyler Decker rode Inoui Van Bost beautifully to help Area II into first place after dressage at NAJYRC
Once again this puts Area II in a crazy strong position going into tomorrow’s cross country, but of the four only one team member, Morgan Booth, at 18 the oldest, has been here before.
Skyler Decker rode Inoui Van Bost beautifully today for a score of 53.2 – a horse she’s had for a year now she describes him as quirky but I’d describe him as a serious prospect for the future.
Amanda Beale Clement and Peter Pan – “he bites and kicks and won’t cross tie” but pulled it out in the little white box to finish in the top ten individually and contribute to Area II’s domination of NAJYRC so far
Amanda Beale-Clement rode her thorougbred Peter Pan, also a more experienced horse into 9th place with a score of 46.5. Please make sure and watch the Area II Team press conference video so you can learn more about these girls and their horses as soon as possible.
In the meantime, we did manage to grab a couple of minutes with team coach Sinead Halpin to discuss why she keeps coming back to NAJYRC, and how she tackles such a high profile bunch of horses for such an intense period of time.
Mackenna Rold and Fernhill Imperial round out the top three after dressage at NAJYRC
Finishing in third place behind such heavy hitters was the very impressive bay gelding Fernhill Imperial ridden by Area IV’s Mackenna Rold.
Mackenna picked ‘Perry’ out from Carol Gee’s Kilkenny farm a couple of years ago and to compete in the CCI* here at NAJYRC has always been her goal since then, “I clicked with him right away and I knew he was the one that I wanted. He’s definitely been a challenging ride; he looks straightforward but he’s got a lot of buttons that I’ve discovered that I didn’t know were there before! He’s come a long way but he’s really goofy and fun to be around and fun to ride. I’m really happy about the cross country course, I’ve walked it three times – twice with Emily and once by myself and it looks pretty good. It looks really forward going which will suit him, he’s got a nice big stride so I think it will be a good course for him to go out and push for the time.”
Area IV support their team mate nervously!
Emily Beshear was a fairly last-minute substitution for Jon Holling as team coach for Area IV, and we chatted briefly about what it takes to step in and take over, “I think that’s where you have to really separate out in your mind the difference between training and coaching. They came in early and we had a couple of days over the weekend and we talked about specific training things and how to change things, and then once we got here on the grounds it was more about taking what we have and making it smooth, presenting the best picture.
“In my mind the biggest thing is just having to clarify that coaching is making the best of what we have and that’s what we’ve been trying to do; in knowing that I wasn’t going to change a lot about how they rode I’ve focused on ringcraft – making them slow down their mind, make them think about what they want to do in each area of the ring to give their horse the best chance at each movement and all the girls have been so coachable and really keen to pick up on all those things, and just the fact that they can go into the ring in this environment and even put part of that together says a lot about their ability.”
Emily told me she’s enjoying her NAJYRC experience so far, “I was really looking forward to it coming in and I think I was pleasantly surprised with the quality I was given to work with right from the start; they all have a lot of potential so I think that’s been really exciting. All four horses are really good jumpers; we knew today was going to be a little bit tricky with some of the personalities of the horses but all the girls have been great to work with so it’s been wonderful.”
Emily went up to Minnesota for two days, and did one day show-jumping with the squad, then one day cross country schooling to get an idea of what they might need to work on, and how to advise them on the next two phases, “That, and just trusting that the girls know their horses. When we’ve walked the course we’re walking in pairs based on horse types, and being able to approach the course differently based on what horse they have, so that’s how we’re making do.”
Autumn Smith and Mercury
Ian Roberts is also here coaching Autumn Smith on Mercury, which might at first seem like a strange choice given that his son Waylon is representing Canada in the Pan Am Games in Toronto this weekend, but as he explained, “I can’t really contribute too much at this point there, but Autumn definitely benefits from me being here. We’ve got a good bunch of Canadians here, they’re all very inexperienced but we’ve got some very good jumping horses and we’ll see how it all plays out.”
I asked Ian if he’s nervous for Waylon and if it’s easier or more difficult to cope being so far away, “It’s just another horse show. I keep track in the same way as any other, but it’s another horse show” and what advice would Ian give to both Autumn and Waylon before they set off on cross country tomorrow? “Just go and ride your rides!” Wise words indeed.
Wishing all the riders tomorrow safe and speedy rounds. Cross country starts bright and early at 8am and we’ll be on the grounds to bring you all the action. Many thanks to all the volunteers who endured the heat with unfailing patience and good humour, to all the riders, supporters, grooms, teams, coaches and chefs, families and everyone who was out here enjoying the action today.
See you back out at the Horse Park tomorrow, we’ll have more photos on the EN Facebook page, and to quote Morgan (you have to watch the video!) Go USA in Canada, GO NAJYRC and Go Eventing!
