Nicolette Merle-Smith and her mother Rosemarie’s 9-year-old Trakehner gelding made their CCI* debut this weekend at the Hagyard Midsouth 3-Day Event and Team Challenge at the Kentucky Horse Park. They scored 56.7 in dressage, then stormed around the cross country course with confident accuracy. Their double-clear round moved them up 19 places in the standings, and a fault-free show jumping round yesterday resulted in an 18th place finish in the CCI*-A division out of 50 starters.
This is a special result as Nicolette took Ratatouille to his first Beginner Novice event in 2013 and brought him up the levels herself.
“I cannot believe that just 3 years ago, he was still getting nappy to leave the start box, not wanting to leave his friends at beginner novice. I have never been eliminated so much on one horse, but I knew he was worth it,” Nicolette said. “All my time and effort with this difficult grandson of Abdullah has paid off. Intermediate is in the near future!”
Well done Nicolette and Ratatouille on your well-deserved finish!
Midsouth CCI & H.T. [Website] [Ride Times] [Live Scores / Results]
