These ladies are dominating the leaderboards at Red Hills! From left, Lauren Kieffer, Liz Halliday-Sharp, Marilyn Little and Hannah Sue Burnett.
We’ve just wrapped up a very chilly day at Red Hills International Horse Trials, where temperatures dropped and winds picked up as the day went on, making for more than a few creative tests in the venue’s new dressage arenas. With the stonedust settled, riders who kept the lid on and managed to fancy prance their way through the cold are enjoying spots at the top of the leaderboard.
The CIC3* division wrapped up earlier in the day — click here if you missed the full report — and Liz Halliday-Sharp said she was thrilled with both Deborah Halliday’s Fernhill By Night, who leads on 41.4, and Deborah Halliday’s HHS Cooley, who sits in third on 43.4. Now she’s looking ahead to Hugh Lochore’s cross country track, which you can preview fence by fence here.
“I think the ground is going to be really, really good. I know it was terrible for the people riding in the monsoon yesterday, but it helped the ground,” Liz said. All the terrain, hills and trees remind her of a French course, she said, and while the track isn’t overly huge, the terrain makes it more challenging. “It’s my first time ever at Red Hills, and it’s great to go out kicking for the win,” she said.
Lauren Kieffer had a banner day across the board, sitting in second place in the CIC3* with Court and Kylie Ramsay’s Czechmate on 42.7, third in the CIC2* on Jacqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Monte Carlo on 44.4, and leading the Advanced with Team Rebecca’s Veronica on 29.8.
Veronica “was very excited to be at the party today,” Lauren said, and while the mare was a little amped in warmup, she settled beautifully and went into the ring to deliver the consistent performance we’ve come to expect from her. Lauren also worked through some exuberant moments before Czechmate’s test: “He was a little rambunctious outside the ring, but he went in and was a really good workman.”
It’s a big day for her tomorrow, as Czechmate is tackling his first CIC3* track and Landmark’s Monte Carlo is making his final run at the two-star level before his planned move up to Advanced at Carolina International. Red Hills is “a hard place to make time. He’s in general a bit of a quick horse … I’m hoping tomorrow feels easy on him,” Lauren said.
Marilyn Little also said she thinks the time will be difficult to make on the beefy two-star course. She’s sitting in first and second places in the CCI2* with RF Scandalous and RF Tabasco on scores of 33.9 and 41.3, respectively, and she’s also leading the CIC* with RF Overdressed on 35.7.
RF Overdressed, an 8-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Jacqueline Mars, Robin Parskey and Raylyn Farms is a new horse for her, having just come over from Germany in December. “Rio” won the CCI2* at Langenhagen with Julia Krajewski in the irons before coming to the States. She retired the horse on course at Pine Top CIC2* last month on a day when she said things just weren’t going her way, so they’ll be looking to get their mojo back tomorrow.
RF Scandalous, a 10-year-old Oldenburg mare owned by Raylyn Farms and Phoebe and Michael Manders, holds a commanding lead in the CIC2*, which will gave Marilyn a good amount of wiggle room on the time tomorrow. “I think the two-star is very challenging,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a hard course to make time on, but knowing she’s not that far from moving up, I think it’s a great test.”
Marilyn was one of the unlucky handful of two-star riders who rode their dressage tests yesterday in absolutely pouring rain with RF Tabasco, who has just returned to competing this year after taking off more than a year and a half following the Breda CIC2* in 2013.
“I’m excited he’s here,” she said. “He’s a real pro on cross country, and he has a great gallop.” While Red Hills isn’t a track where you get to utilize a gallop like that, there will be plenty to keep Tabasco on his toes.
Hannah Sue Burnett is enjoying second place on 35.7 in the big CIC* class aboard Jitter Bug, a 9-year-old Rheinland Pfalz-Saar mare owned by Jacqueline Mars and Sherry Nemmers. She took over the ride last month from Lauren Billys. “We’re still getting to know each other in dressage, and it’s great to have a horse that goes in the ring and knows her job,” she said. Hannah said she thinks the one-star course is “a bit twisty in the beginning” but looks pretty straightforward.
Buck Davidson rounds out the top three in the CIC* on a score of 40.6 with Carlevo, an 8-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Carlevo LLC that previously competed with Dirk Schrade in Germany. “We just got him abut 8 weeks ago … he’s done a two-star, but I haven’t had much of a chance to get to know him. I thought it would be better to go slow and get to learn him and know him.”
Buck thinks Carlevo, who he found through JP Sheffield, is the real deal, and he’s excited to solidify the partnership. “He’s very, very good on the flat and a very good jumper. I don’t want to rush it, and I want him to get to know me.”
The horse is already much loved in the barn, and Buck’s super groom Kathleen Blauth-Murray has a soft spot for Carlevo. “Kathleen’s very partial to Reggie, but she did say to him after the test, ‘Carlevo, Buck’s never had one like you before.’ It’s exciting,” Buck said.
Cross country day starts bright and early tomorrow, with the Preliminary divisions starting at 8 a.m., followed by the CIC* at 9:50 a.m., Advanced at 11:55 a.m., CIC3* at 12:30 p.m., CIC2* at 2 p.m. and Intermediate at 4:05 p.m. Stay tuned for much more from Red Hills, and thank you to the organizers and volunteers for a great first day!
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