Perspective on Team USA’s Performance at Aachen

Will and Ernie up and OK after their fall at fence 25.

“Excuses only exist for the people who make them.” That’s what Will Faudree told me after he came within 100 yards of completing the Aachen CICO3* before Pawlow stumbled following the final fence and fell. But there were bigger factors at play here today that offer perspective on Team USA’s last place finish in the Nations Cup competition. In Will’s case, the three-inch studs he used on course didn’t offer any help after Ernie pulled one front shoe at fence 2 and the other at fence 4. And with a steady overnight rain turning the footing into a muddy soup in certain spots, Will and Ernie had no choice but to slip and slide their way around course. Their runouts at the Rolex Complex at 8b and the corner hedges at 21a were largely attributable to Ernie not feeling secure in the slippery footing sans shoes. Unfortunately, their luck ran out after that.

I watched Will and Ernie navigate the final fences on course in the main stadium. Ernie jumped beautifully over the final fence, but slipped on the landing. When he put his other front leg down to catch himself, that leg slipped out from under him too, and Ernie rolled onto his right shoulder, pinning Will’s right leg beneath him. They slid in the wet grass before Ernie scrambled up, and Will was on his feet shortly thereafter. If anything, we can be grateful that the sloppy footing provided a soft landing for their fall. Ernie is a very experienced cross country horse, and we can attribute their elimination at Aachen to a series of unfortunate events that started when Ernie threw that first front shoe at fence 2. Thankfully, both Will and Ernie are OK. As Will said in our interview after his ride — which you can watch below — you can’t predict the weather at events, especially here in Europe, and he and Ernie will live to fight another day.

Clark Montgomery also had a less than stellar weekend with Universe, who looked fantastic when I saw him last month at Badminton. Unfortunately, we saw a very different horse here at Aachen. Buzz looked wonderful in the dressage and is making great progress toward staying focused on his job in tense atmospheres. But he pulled four rails in the show jumping. Yesterday, Clark thought the rails were a result of a bad warmup, as the driving class held in the main stadium right before the show jumping ran late. That forced Clark — who was first up on the order of go — to have a very quick course walk and an even quicker warmup as the event officials rushed to get the competition back on schedule. Since then, the officials have issued an apology to the eventers for the way warmup was handled. Incidentally, this is the second time Clark has been sabotaged in warmup at a major competition, as a rearing horse scared Buzz right before his dressage test at Badminton.

But after Buzz stopped twice today at 10c at the Treble Hedge Combination, Clark fears there’s something more at play with the horse. I watched the refusals on the jumbo screen in the main stadium, and it looked like Buzz just ran out of steam early in the course. Clark confirmed after his ride when I talked to him for an interview that Buzz felt very tired and disengaged. Thankfully, Buzz came home sound and happy, but Clark knows something isn’t right and plans to schedule a full vet examination once they return home to England. Clark speculated Buzz could be fighting a virus that is draining his energy, and we’re sending our best EN wishes that there isn’t a major problem. Clark had planned on aiming Buzz at Pau this fall, but he said it’s hard to say now what the horse’s plans will be after this weekend.

Marilyn Little and RF Smoke on the Water were one of the 12 pairs to have trouble at 8b in the Rolex Complex. They had a very strong jump in over 8a, and Smoke started to drift to the right in their approach to the corner at 8b. Marilyn did her best to correct him, but she just couldn’t quite get back on her line. Smoke still tried to jump but caught his leg, and Marilyn popped off over his left shoulder. This fence caught out almost a third of the riders, including Rolex winners Andrew Nicholson and Quimbo and Ingrid Klimke and Tabasco TSF, who were in second place coming into the cross country. Marilyn and Smoke jumped double clear around the Saumur CCI3* cross country course just a month ago, so we know this pair is very capable. They were just one of the many unfortunate victims of what turned out to be a very difficult combination on a very difficult course.

Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister were our only pair on Team USA to come home without a jump penalty. While Tiana and Finn had 14.8 time penalties, every pair who completed — sans Chris Burton and Holstein Park Leilani — came home with time. Finn also jumped clear at Badminton and looked very confident as he skipped around the course today. Tiana and Finn finished in 10th place, and it’s great to see the American flag in the top 10 when I look at the standings. But — as Will put it — we want to come to Europe and win. The Germans won the Nations Cup competition on a score of 134.6, which is an average score of 44.6 between the three riders whose scores counted. Their drop score ended up being Michael Jung and Halunke FBW on a 51.8. The bar has been set high, but I’m confident our riders are up to the challenge. Let’s go home with our heads held high. Go USA.

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