When Lisa Marie Fergusson won the Jersey CCI2* this spring, I will admit my ignorance and say that I didn’t know much about her. Fortunately, I solved that problem by asking her to become an Eventing Nation guest blogger for her trip to Fair Hill and a chance at the $15,000 Bit of Britain Challenge. So, I’ll let Lisa take it from here and Annie will be around late tonight with your morning news and notes.
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From Lisa:
A big shout out to all EN loyal/addicted followers. It is, for me, a little odd being on the writting side of the experience but I can say how much I love Eventing Nation and what a thrill it is to put this together.
As winner of the Jersey Fresh CCI 2* I am now afforded the opportunity of participating in the “Bit of Britain Challenge”. For those not familiar with the challenge, the challenge is this, win Jersey Fresh and the Dansko Fair Hill International CCI 2* And receive a check for $10,000 Or if you win the 2* and choose to upgrade to the 3* at Fair Hill, and win, It’s a cool $15,000. I know, easy right! Let’s just say that having been fortunate enough to have won the 2* at Jersey, on my amazing pony Smartie, AKA Smart Move, and that we do plan on running at Fair Hill. We will just have to see what hard work and fate has in store for us.
Smartie is a 7 year old Chestnut Welsh Sport Horse who I started and have had him since he was 4. His recent wins at the CIC 2* at Fair Hill and the CCI 2* at Jersey have garnished him a little attention, which he loves by the way, but he really is one of those honest horses that gives you his all. He truly loves his job. You don’t have to go further than the paddock gate and look at the disappointment on his face as you take other horses for training while he is on break. Smartie is still young and has his baby brain moments, but he is tremendously talented, hard working and I really feel he has great potential. He really does get better with every ride.
It was great to get back to Jersey Fresh. This was Smarties first show at The New Jersey Horse Park so I was interested to see how he would respond to taking on the challenges of an often tough but fair cross country course. Dressage day was interesting to say the least. Smartie put in a very accurate test and although the judging took a lot of heat for some inconsistent scoring, all 3 judges scores were relatively close and at the end of the day I was happy with our fourth place score. My dressage coach Betsy Steiner made a surprise visit for warm up and I’m sure that Smartie put in an extra special effort for his Auntie Betsy. We had been down in Wellington, FL working with her for the winter, and it has been great to see the improvement and progression in the dressage ring! We had also stopped by Jeanne McDonald’s enroute to Jersey Fresh for a Fix-A-Test, what great help that was! Cross country was awesome and Smartie ran around like a star. There were a couple of sticky fences but for the most part he was foot perfect and ended up being 1 of 10 double clear rounds in the CCI 2*. Smarties clear round moved him into first place but with less than a rail between first and fourth we would soon see how tired he was on sunday after his first 9 minute xcountry. No pressure, right! Smartie struggled a bit in show jumping last year so we spent the winter with Frankie Chesler in Wellington, FL trying to create an allergy to wood! After hearing that both Caitlin Stilliman/Catch A Star and Arden Wildasin/Totally Awesome Bosco jumped clear rounds, I guess we would see if our hard work would pay off. Thankfully Smartie jumped fantastic and clear. I was so proud of my pony, and still am!
So our plans, as much as you can make them with horses, is to get Smartie out of the field he’d been mowing for several weeks and get him back to work. He is very happy to be back at work! I am very fortunate to be a 5 minute hack from Phillip Dutton’s barn so as much as schedules permit we will continue to work with Phillip. I am also hoping to spend some weekend trips in New Jersey with Betsy Steiner, that way she can help Smartie continue to “pull his pants on” in the dressage! We will also travel to Jeanne McDonald’s to continue to improve our test riding…she is a master at Fix-A-Tests! Our plan is to come out after the break, do one intermediate and then do Smartie’s first Advanced. From there we will just take it one event at a time and see how it goes. We will be sure to keep you posted along our Bit of Britain Challenge journey towards Fairhill. And as for Smarties recent success, he would like you to know that he credits and greatly appreciates all the help from his Aunt Betsy Steiner, Jeanne McDonald, Frankie Chesler and of course Phillip Dutton. Thank you all and yes…. Go Eventing.
Lisa Marie Fergusson
