Clark Montgomery – an enviable position

When Clark Montgomery and his lovely wife Jess spent six months in England a few years ago they returned to the States with more than just valuable lessons learned, priceless memories and experiences, and an energetic companion (a gorgeous German wire-haired pointer called Brodie).  They also imported two wonderful horses, one of which, Loughan Glen, ably piloted by Clark, can’t seem to lose and has cemented last year’s good form with a stunning advanced debut in 2011, winning at Bromont CCI***, winning at Millbrook Advanced and culminating in a 5th place finish at the Blenheim International CCI***. Clark was kind enough to review his year for us, explaining that along with the enormous privilege, also comes a huge responsibility to nurture Glen’s talent and be careful not to exploit his precocity. I’d like to thank Clark for taking the time to write for Eventing Nation, congratulate him on a terrific job, and thank you for reading. 

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Clark and Loughan Glen trotting up at the Blenheim Palace CCI***. (Photo with kind permission of ESJ)

I couldn’t have asked or expected more from Holly Becker and Kathryn Kraft’s Loughan Glen this year. We bought him as a five year old in ’08 and decided to take it quite slow with him at first. In the late spring of ’09 he did his first event. Now almost two and a half years later he has completed his first international trip to the UK finishing 5 th out of 97 starters at Blenheim Palace CCI***. From the outside it may look like I’ve pushed him a little fast when in fact I’ve always allowed him to tell me what he is ready for. From the very beginning, each time I’ve decided to move up a level I’ve gone into it with the mind set that if he tells me isn’t ready I’ll back off and go back to my homework. I think it’s been that approach that has allowed him so much success. I try to go into every competition believing I’m only there to have the best result I can have based on where he is in his training. For example…If at home I’m having the occasional rail when practicing my show jumping I don’t expect him to suddenly jump clear at the event. If he does jump clear then I’m very happy that he is progressing but if he has one rail down, I’m not disappointed as that is just where he is in his training. I use that exact same philosophy in all 3 phases and I think any horse will compete consistently when you are willing to compete them at the level they are prepared for at home.

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Clark and Loughan Glen after winning the dressage phase at the Bromont CCI*** earlier this year
I went into the dressage at Blenheim with the goal of doing the best test that Glen’s training had prepared him to do. My one foolish mistake was in the extended trot when about half way across the long diagonal, I decided to ask for more. I completely went against everything I do with him and needless to say it bit me in the ass when he broke into the canter. We were in an atmosphere he’s never seen and I asked him to give me something I had never been able to achieve in my everyday training at home, how disappointing. It’s something I so rarely do that I lost my train of thought and forgot the next movement, the halt/ reign back. After those two movements I gathered my thoughts and rode the level of training Glen was prepared for the rest of the test and he preformed exactly to those standards. I couldn’t have been happier with him and more confused with myself about why I would have asked him to do something he wasn’t ready for, but there was no need to dwell on it. I knew what I had done wrong and I wouldn’t do it again for the rest of the weekend. Our judges marked us 45.4 which put us 7 th place over night.

The cross country walked fairly straight forward. There were a few big efforts but nothing that seemed to be too technical. It was 10 minutes 29 seconds and as a Blenheim course mainstay, there were two long canters through water of about 150 yards each followed by sharp pulls uphill. Having reminded myself about my training and competing principles on dressage day, I left the start box knowing he was very prepared for the exercises ahead and that the fitness would be the test for the day. I was up on my minute markers all the way until we crested the top of the hill following the second water just three minutes from the finish. He continued to jump beautifully and I let him coast home from there knowing that what we were really striving for was a positive experience for Glen. We finished 20 seconds over optimum time, thus adding 8 time faults to our score. He pulled up bright and very pleased with himself which is all I ever want at the end of every cross country experience. We over nighted on a 53.4 in 12 th place. The ground on the cross country was the best I’ve ever seen. In my mind it was the equivalent to doing the course on a pillow top mattress and the results of all of the grounds keepers hard work showed in Glen’s soundness and comfort on Sunday. The show jumping was set at maximum standard height and although I would consider Glen’s show jumping technique still quite green at times, he jumped a beautiful double clear round which bumped us back up the leader board to finish in fifth place.

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Clark and Loughan Glen show-jumping at Blenheim Palace CCI***
(photo with kind permission of ESJ)

 

Many thanks to Clark for putting pen to paper for us, and many thanks for reading. We look forward to following your progress next year, and perhaps some more reports, hint hint! Go Team Loughan Glen and Go Eventing!
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