Friday Dressage at Morven Park

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Michael Pollard gave Schoensgreen Hanni a pat after a top-placed performance

Friday marked the start of dressage at the Morven Horse Trials which are held at the beautiful 1,100 acre Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia.  Think of Morven as a giant equestrian center, historic mansion, recreational park and everything in between that is set in the middle of northern Virginia suburbia.  It’s a perfect setting for eventing and there are some big plans to make the facilities even better moving forward.  We’ll have much more on that later, but now let’s talk dressage. 

The Pan American Games mandatory outing intermediate D division is the top focus of the weekend for obvious reasons.  Michael Pollard scored a 23.2 with Schoensgreen Hanni and he is closely trailed by Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison on a 24.8.  Both of their tests were nice, but I thought the judge was a bit generous to both of them with scores in the low 20’s.  Hanni could have had a bit more energy and, although Jon is kindly providing me with a couch to sleep on this weekend, I would say Downtown Harrison could have been a bit more relaxed.  That being said, all of the scores were low on average on Friday.  In three weeks I bet they will both be putting together even better tests. 

It’s important to note that the actual dressage scores aren’t that important for the Pan Am horses this weekend.  The teams have already been announced so the important focus for the riders isn’t to win this weekend but to set themselves up to win in three weekends. 

The advanced and intermediate tests today were conducted in the indoor arena which was so quiet you could hear my video camera being turned on from across the arena.  The atmosphere will certainly be much more intense in Guadalajara.  I’ll be publishing video of all of the Pan American squad members as my wireless card uploads them.

Canada’s Rebecca Howard and Roquefort are in third in the mandatory outing division, although of course Canada is not having a mandatory outing at Morven.  Rouquefort’s test was close to brilliant with one big break in the extended trot marring their trot work.  A good portion of the US squad showed up to watch the pair that is quite possibly favored to win gold in Guadalajara.  The redemption-seeking US team against the Canadians at the top of their game–the Pan Ams are shaping up to be quite a battle.  Jessie and Selena ride their Pan Am horses in the intermediate B and C divisions, which are scheduled for dressage on Saturday. 

Shannon Lilley and Ballingowan Pizazz of the USA squad are in 4th with a 26.8.  It’s easy to see how they won the selection trials at Richland–their trot work was beautiful again.  Phillip Dutton and Young Man are the highest placed non-Pan Am pair in 5th.  Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot are in 6th.  William isn’t the flashiest mover, but Hannah once again rode a very accurate test.  It just looked like the judge, Mark Weissbecker, put a slight priority on movement over precision.  Alternates Lynn Symansky and Donner are 7th with a 30.8.  That pair should be near the top of the alternates if something happens to one of the squad members.  The last team members, Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty are 10th with a 33.6.  All the scores in the mandatory outing division were below 40–it was a really quality field.

[Full Morven Scores]

Friday morning and early afternoon featured dressage for the two advanced divisions at Morven.  Michael Pollard is having a great day with the news that he is headed to Boekelo with DV8, taking the lead in the Pan American division with Hanni, and also taking the lead in the advanced division with Jude’s Law.  Michael dropped a 22.7 with Jude’s Law–that just happened.  They lead the advanced B division by 0.6 in front of Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM. 

Emily Beshear and Here’s to You have a 0.3 point lead over Boyd Martin and Ying Yang Yo in advanced A.  There are a few notable starters in the A division including Veronica, who withdrew from Boekelo to instead take the steadier course of another horse trials and then hopefully Fair Hill.  She is in 3rd with Karen on 30.0.  Twizzel is out and about this weekend, competing in the advanced A.  It’s great to see him back in action after that surprising and heartbreaking withdrawal from Burghley after going suddenly lame in the warm up.   

While the upper level horses were doing circles, the future event horse Dorian Gray was busy hiding his portrait and dominating the FEH east coast championship.  He won every prize he could and was crowned overall champion.  Leslie Mintz at the USEA has the coverage here

–Driving into and out of Washington, D.C. on a weekday: 5 hours
–Convincing the Mexican consulate to let you into Mexico for the Pan American Games even though your last name was omitted from their press credential records: 4 hours
–Getting the chance to drive back into D.C. on Monday to pick up your visa: Priceless

Dressage continues Saturday as the show jumping and cross-country starts at Morven.  Go eventing.

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