Top 5 Fair Hill Thoughts

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and ,

Thanks to everyone who is returning to Eventing Nation after a great weekend of Fair Hill coverage.  We had over 1,000 page views on Sunday alone, which is incredible considering that I expected about 30 when I left for Maryland at 5am Saturday morning.  Our goal is to carry this great momentum into this week.  I am working on getting a fantastic guest for a live blog later this week, so please keep checking back for more news on that front.  Now, here are my top key thoughts from over the weekend:

1) Boyd Martin will be an asset to the US for years to come.  He works closely with Phillip Dutton, and, like Phillip, he pretty much never misses and he consistently dominates the Cross-Country.  With two horses in the top 6 at the CCI3*, it seems like Boyd's arsenal is finally catching up to his skills.  Boyd is now a top contender for the 2010 WEGs, so get used to seeing his name a lot.
2) Karen is tough, really, really tough.  We have been reporting this all weekend, but its worth another mention.  Karen shattered her shoulder-blade and broke three ribs in a motorbike accident at the Southern Pines Horse Trials about a month ago.  These injuries take way longer than four weeks to heal and she was in considerable pain throughout the weekend.  This post, and this post have more info.  It's great to see that Karen and Mandiba have rebounded from Burghley.
3) The officials and riders did a great job handling the conditions.  Obviously, Eventing has had a tough stretch of accidents in recent years, but Fair Hill was a step in the right direction, especially considering the elements.  Saturday morning brought horrible weather and deteriorating footing, and the officials wisely took about 30% of the jumps off of both the CCI2* and CCI3* courses.  The riders also, in general, took their time and rode safely.  This discretion manifested itself in an injury-free Saturday and some fresh looking horses Sunday morning.  I heard that the ground jury did talk to several riders about over-riding tired horses, but these situations were the exceptions, not the rule.
4) I was pleased to see that Cross-Country played such a big role in determining winners this weekend, while still riding very safe.  Too often, either the XC seems dangerous or the event feels like a combined test.  Boyd jumped 15 places after Cross-Country, and the CCI2* winner, Hannah Burnett, jumped 14 places, also on a double clear.  I feel that Cross-Country should have a major role in determining the outcome of Events, and it did this weekend.  In part, I think the course rode so well because many of the technical elements were removed and the horses could flow more into their rhythm.  Recent trends suggest that our sport is only going to get more technical, but course designers should remember to let the horses gallop.
5) Kelly Sult and Hollywood had a great weekend to finish the CCI3* in 3rd, after being in 33rd after Dressage.  They only added 3.6 penalties over both jumping phases, which was the fewest of anyone in either the CCI3* or CCI2* for the XC and Show Jumping combined.  She received many awards, including the highest placed young-adult.  Great going Kelly!
And finally: Thanks to all the volunteers!!!  This goes without saying but needs to be said a lot more than it is.  For yet another Fair Hill article, click here.  Thanks for reading, and we will be back later tonight to cover Eventing news from the past few days that got pushed aside by all the Fair Hill madness.  Also, stay tuned for news on the upcoming live blog.
3 Comments

Fair Hill Recap (continued)

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and , , ,
As always, here are the final results from the FHI Three-Day Event.
Here is the USEF press release, which is a really great presentation of the weekend.
Here are some videos for your viewing pleasure.  With 2 rails in hand, Boyd and Neville won their first CCI3* with this ride.

The price of these videos is that Eventing Nation takes a long time to load, especially when we have a lot of visitors online at once.
For some Cross-Country photos from the good folks at EventingUSA, click this.
Boyd's blog post about the victory is here.
I read horsetalk.co.nz from time to time, but they completely whiff in the first sentence of this article about Boyd's victory.
I have heard several rumors and speculation about the current status of Jennie Brannigan's horse Cooper, but nothing that is strong enough to write.  All I can suggest is that she will probably post something on her blog, or website in the next few days.  
Here is the COTH CCI3* article from Kat Netzler and Sarah Lieser.  I am told that Kat has some hilarious photos of Hannah's crash through the last fence.  If she doesn't want to publish them, I am more than happy to, all in good fun of course.  Send 'em this way Kat.  This photo is great, read the caption.
No Comments

Boyd and Neville win CCI3*

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and , ,
Click here for official 2009 Fair Hill CCI2* and CCI3* results.
Boyd and Neville entered the Show Jumping arena with two rails in hand and jumped a great round with only one down to finish the weekend on a 55.0, as your CCI3* Fair Hill winner.  Boyd acquired the two rail margin after Karen had a rail on Mandiba and Phillip had two rails with Kheops Du Quesnay.  Boyd was placed 16th after Dressage and turned that into a 4.2 point lead with a fantastic cross country ride on Saturday.  
**In an unfortunate incident on Sunday, Jennie Brannigan's excellent horse Cooper was taken off in the horse ambulance after crashing into fence number 9, a skinny oxer, on the CCI3* Show Jumping course.  Cooper appeared to be distracted by something on the approach and did not see the jump until the final stride.  He slammed on the brakes, knocked the fence over, got tangled up in some of the poles, stayed on his feet, but was visibly unsound upon walking away from the jump.  Jennie is an excellent young star in our sport and she gave Cooper a good ride, it was just an unlucky situation.  The horse is obviously in the best possible hands and I expect to see Cooper and Jennie Brannigan kicking butt again sometime soon.  We covered this in real time during our live blog.
We will have a full Fair Hill recap when I get back home tonight, and by then other websites might have their articles up so we can link to them.  But, until then, here are a few early thoughts:
-Mandiba looked like he had shaken off Burghley and is ready for a great Spring.  
-Despite the two rails, Kheops Du Quesnay looks like yet another great horse in the Dutton arsenal.
-Kelly Sult had a great weekend and finished 3rd after being in 33rd after the Dressage, with a great XC ride and a double clear in SJ. 
-Rebecca Howard (CAN) was the highest placed foreign rider in 9th.
-There were 12 clean rounds out of 36 rides.
-The horses looked well recovered from the tough conditions Saturday.
-Boyd won the American Championships in his first year as a US citizen, and established himself firmly as a contender to make the WEG team.  
-Boyd also showed the developing depth of his program by being the only competitor to finish the CCI3* on two horses.  His second horse, Remington finished in 6th.
Also, check out COTH coverage of the 2* by Sara Lieser and Kat Netzler here, and they will also likely have coverage of the CCI3* up sometime soon.
***Important note: Eventing Nation will continue its inside and in-depth coverage of Eventing after Fair Hill and hopefully many years into the future.  Starting Monday, we will have about one new post each day, including rider interviews, headlines, program spotlights, news and notes, a 'history of eventing' series, coverage of clinics, and much, much more.  As I stated in out inaugural entry, Hello World  "Our goal at Eventing Nation is to serve the Eventing community by providing convenient and comprehensive access to our great sport."  This mission extends well past our trip to Fair Hill.  Thanks for visiting Eventing Nation today and please stop back to see us sometime soon.
No Comments

LIVE BLOG from Fair Hill Show Jumping CCI3*

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and ,
Click here for CCI2* results and the order of go for the CCI3* (reverse order of placing).  To view the live blog, click the countdown circle once we have started.  Welcome to Eventing Nation and thanks for reading!

Also, the comments are moderated, meaning that when you hit 'submit' they show up on my screen but not immediately on the live blog.   I then have to hit a button to put them on the screen that everyone can see.  I tend to get absorbed in watching at writing and it sometimes takes me a few minutes to ok comments, so please bear with me.  
If Eventing Nation takes a while to load or goes off-line, it means that our servers have crashed due to such a high traffic volume.  We will get back online asap.
2 Comments

Fair Hill CCI2* Results and CCI3* SJ Preview

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and , , ,
Hannah Burnett and St. Barths are your Fair Hill CCI2* champions!!!!  Doug Payne and Rebecca Howard both had rails down, giving Hannah a rail in hand when she entered with St. Barths.  Hannah was clear, with a great round going as she approached the last jump.  Then, just to make things interesting, St. Barths chested the last fence and Hannah nearly fell off but regrouped just in time to get across the finish line.  The arena was silent for a few seconds and then the crowd erupted with cheers.  Hannah left the ring smiling after a great weekend.
The course rode well, with a good number of clean rounds.  The horses all looked good, another tribute to the great job by riders and show officials in handling the tough conditions yesterday.  Today is cold but the rain has held off thus far.
Can you feel the excitement?  A mood of intense calm shrouds the Fair Hill International today. Pride, reputation, sponsorships, Spring goals, team goals, dreams, and much more hang in the balance of wooden rails precariously perched on metal cups.  The Show Jumping course is very tough.  The second from last element is a triple combination, which is composed of a triple bar, to a square oxer, to a vertical.  Who does that?  The triple combination leads to the last, which is a very airy vertical.  This is going to be good!
No Comments

Fair Hill Sunday Jog Coverage

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and
Good morning Eventing Nation!  In the 2* only 65, Scott Keach and Vamor withdrew in the holding area.  The 3* jog went smoothly, with only 149 Kelly List and Minstrel withdrawing after being held.  
Neville Bardos and Boyd looked good and passed.  It's great to see that Neville has fully recovered from the two minor injuries Boyd talked about in the Saturday press conference after fully resolved.  Boyd's vet, Kevin Keane is one of the very best in the business, and they have obviously done a great job bringing Neville back.
CCI2* 65, Scott Keach and Vamor was held and withdrew in the holding area.
CCI3* 149, Kelly List and Minstrel were held. and withdrew in the hold.
CCI3* Christian Eagles did not present.
Over the years, I have heard people say that Karen is the best jogger in the business, and I agree.  She kept Mandiba balanced and in a great trot every step of the way, giving him the best possible chance to do well.  If you don't think jogging is an art, watch Karen sometime.
After talking to a few experts, the consensus is that the horses had lots of energy and the judges were very fair.
*For some great commentary on the first horse inspection, click here and scroll down for n1cholson's post.
As always, click here for your Fair Hill International leaderboard.
That's all for now, the CCI2* SJ starts at 11am and we will have a full recap post as soon as the 2* Show Jumping wraps up.  Our LIVE BLOG of the CCI3* will start around 1pm, which is when the CCI3* course is scheduled to open for walking.

****Important note: Eventing Nation will continue its inside and in-depth coverage of Eventing after Fair Hill and hopefully many years into the future.  Starting Monday, we will have about one new post each day, including rider interviews, headlines, program spotlights, news and notes, a 'history of eventing' series, an much, much more.  As I stated in out inaugural entry, Hello World  "Our goal at Eventing Nation is to serve the Eventing community by providing convenient and comprehensive access to our great sport."  This mission extends well past our trip to Fair Hill.  Thanks for visiting Eventing Nation today and please stop back to see us sometime tomorrow.
No Comments

Cross-Country Results and Recap from Fair Hill International CCI

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and , , , ,
For Fair Hill XC results, click here.
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos charged to the lead of the Fair Hill CCI3* with the type of accurate and fast Cross-Country ride that we have come to expect from Boyd.  As the only CCI3* competitors to finish Saturday on their Dressage score of 51.0, Boyd and Neville jumped from 16th to the lead.  In 2nd and 3rd, Karen O'Connor and Phillip Dutton are tied, just over a rail behind Boyd on 55.2, but Phillip gets the edge because he was speedy as always, and closer to the optimum time.  Click here for the entry on Boyd's blog about his performance.
Karen O'Connor delivered one of the most courageous rides I have ever seen on Mandiba.  We have been covering the story that Karen shattered her shoulder-blade and broke three ribs a month ago.  These injuries had clearly not healed completely and Karen rode most of the CCI3* in an incredible amount of pain.  Towards the end, she had to half-halt with one arm, and she nearly collapsed after crossing the finish line.  Mandiba helped his Mom by making the course look like child's play.  Karen is made of some seriously tough stuff and if she can possibly be ready to go tomorrow she will.
Another big headline for the weekend has been the horrible weather, which has been both cold and rainy.  The officials and fence crew handled things really well.  They removed multiple jumps from both the CCI2* and CCI3* courses.  They took 9 jumps out of the CCI3*, mostly components of technical combinations, leading to a much safer course, given the conditions.  
That said, of the 72 horses to finish Dressage in the CCI2*, about 30 withdrew before XC, and only 28 finished Cross-Country.  Of the 66 with dressage scores in the CCI3*, about 20 riders withdrew before Cross-Country, and only 38 finished Cross-Country.  Almost all of these withdraws were due to concerns about the weather, in the sense that riders who felt their horses didn't need the XC (someone like Bruce Davidson on Jam perhaps), or that the conditions would make the course too tough, decided to stay in the barns.  
On the whole, for those riders who did go out, a pretty good ratio of them got around clean.  In the CCI2*, of the approximately 35 to start on XC, 22 finished without any jumping penalties  In the 3*, there were 33 clean rides on about 45 starters.  Statistically, this works out to about  
60% in the CCI2* and 70% CCI3*, which I think is a very high percentage for the level.
CCI3*:
1. Boyd Martin on Neville Bardos 0J 0T 51.0
2. Phillip Dutton on Kheops Du Quesnay 0J 4T 55.2
3. Karen O'Connor on Mandiba 0J 15.6T 55.2
4. Kristi Nunnink on R-Star 0J 14T 59.8
5. Kelly Sult on Hollywood 0J 3.6T 60.0 Moved up from 33rd to 5th.
...other notables...
7. Boyd Martin on Remington XXV 0J 18T 64.0
The crowd small, but spirited and they made some noise to help Karen around as well.  Everyone in the crowd was soaking and shivering, but I saw lots of smiles.   In places the mud was 6 inches deep.  There were at lease two tractors constantly working to pull cars out of the helpless parking lots.  
The area around the barns is churned completely into mud, but again, spirits were high and the horses looked surprisingly fresh.  From what I have heard, it is probable that not all the horses are going to get past the jog, but the icing, walking, and everything else will continue long into the night and we wish everyone the best tomorrow morning.
We are very thankful that, to my knowledge, there were no serious injuries to either horses or riders.  This is a tribute to the discretion of the officials in reducing the courses and the mature and safe riding by all competitors.  I hate to mention this, but I feel obligated to our readers to point out that the normally very reliable pair of Nate Chambers and Rolling Stone II were pulled up by event officials.  Nate was clearly having trouble keeping Rolling Stone going, and the officials stepped in after the horse broke to a trot approaching a large corner at 18B.  I have not heard anything about the status of Rolling Stone, but Nate cares deeply for his horse and I am sure they will rebound well.
For a quick approximate breakdown of the refusals on course in the CCI3*, there were 3 refusals at fence 23, 2 at number 20, 2 and number 13, number 18, number 7, and  number 6 all had one refusal.  Thanks to commenter "lsa" who counted these from our Cross-Country live blog and sent them to me.
Click here for some great quotes from the press conference from the USEF press release.  I am tempted to add a funny anecdote to Boyd's story about buying Neville, but I had better to keep my mouth shut.  Its great to see Neville back from his injuries, and we are lucky to have Boyd riding for the US now.  If you don't know much about Boyd, he is married to German supermodel and Grand Prix Dressage rider Silva Martin. 
When I grow up, I want to be just like Boyd. Check out Boyd and Silva's website here, and blog here.  Boyd works closely with Phillip Dutton, which seems obvious when you watch both of them consistently make really tough XC courses look easy.
CCI2*:
1. Hannah Burnett on St. Barths 51.9
2. Rebecca Howard on Roquefort 53.8: the Dressage leaders, dropped after 11.6 time.
3. Doug Payne on Running Order 55.1: great ride with only 4.8 time.
...Other notables...
7. Karen O'Connor on Allstar 62.2
OCET member Hannah Burnett and St. Barths posted one of two CCI2* double clear and jumped from 15th to the lead.  When Nike arrived at OCET, he was struggling with EPM, but Hannah has done a great job developing him into a top horse.  Hannah's teammate at OCET, Lauren Kieffer had a great ride on Radio Flyer in the CCI3*, and a nice trip on Ulra Tim in the CCI2*.   OCET is developing some great riders, and if you don't know their names now, you will soon.

Eventing Nation citizen "Retreadeventer" left a comment on the live blog post that she was in the XC warmup all day and counted 4 falls, but no injuries.  Thanks.

Thanks for reading, we will have more news later about if we will be live blogging from the Jog or Show Jumping.

1 Comment

Live Blog from Fair Hill CCI3* XC

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Nation and ,
Scores: For a live scoreboard click here, and for official results click here.  XC Ride times are here.

To help you visualize the course, check out this map.  The blue track is CCI3* and you can click on those dots to see pictures of the jumps.

And here is our live blog from the CCI3* action.  Thanks for coming.  Just click on the countdown circle in the coveritlive box below.

If we go offline and the feed stops for an extended period, I will try to get everything back up and running asap.  Also, the comments are moderated, meaning that when you hit 'submit' they show up on my screen but not immediately on the live blog.   I then have to hit a button to put them on the screen that everyone can see.  Please, please, please make comments and ask questions, but I might not have time to publish all of them.
6 Comments

Fair Hill CCI Live Scores, Results, and Leaderboard

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and ,

fairhill_09.jpg

For live results from the 2009 Fair Hill Internation CCI2* and CCI3*, click here. Scroll down for the CCI3*.

Click here for the Fair Hill leaderboard from the FHI website.

No Comments

2009 Fair Hill CCI Cross-Country Preview

By John on , Filed Under Eventing Competition Coverage, Eventing Nation and , , , , , , , ,
For live results from the 2009 Fair Hill Internation CCI2* and CCI3*, click here. Scroll down for the CCI3*.
DSCN3348.jpg
Photocred: Special thanks to Retreadeventer, and sorry we didn't get the photocred sooner.
Saturday is moving day.  Riders in the front of the pack are trying to stay aggressive, riders in the back are telling themselves that Fair Hill starts tomorrow, and pretty much everyone is at least a little scared.  The two people I don't think feel much fear before XC are Boyd and Phillip, and perhaps Bruce Davidson, but I don't know him very well.  From talking to some of the riders, tomorrow is going be a very very tough challenge; they described the 3-star course as "extremely long" and say "it doesn't let up."  To make things even more interesting, the weather stinks.  So far the footing seems to be holding up.  One rider told me "the ground is really good.  Its only slick in some downhill parts but it wont be too bad if the rain stays like it was today."  The weather will help the horses stay cool, but if the ground gets sticky horses are going to end up getting very tired.  Look for technical elements late on the course to be a real challenge as tired riders try to rebalance tired horses.  
I remember reading one of Jimmy Wofford's books, in which he said that he never minded waking up to poor weather on a Cross-Country Saturday.  He said that he was comforted in knowing that his competitors would be worried about the weather, while he would only be thinking about putting forth his best effort.  We all can remember Bruce Davidson's extraordinary ride around Rolex in 2002 on Little Tricky when the rain was absolutely insane.  The weather became terrible and then it got worse.  I think that 12 out of the last 13 riders scratched, and I have no idea why I was still there, but Bruce tore around that course like it was nothing.  Bad conditions give experienced riders even more of an advantage, so I anticipate that some top names will shoot to the top throughout Saturday.  
Some interesting story lines to follow throughout the CCI3* Cross-Country: 
-How will Karen O'Connor rebound from Burghley and the time off from being injured?  The smart money bets on Karen's experience.
-How will Nicki Henley handle coming back from a two-year layoff?  Mara Dean withdrew him from the Pan Ams in 2007 and the horse sat out the next two years due to injury.  Having known the feeling of bringing a horse back from he brink of retirement, I know that Mara can feel how fortunate we are for each and every ride on these animals and no one is more motivated to go out and give their horse a great ride.
-Which young star will step up and make a real name for themselves?  Its anyone's guess.
**For a map of the Cross-Country course with pictures, click here.  The three-star is blue, click on the jumps to see the picture.  Only the CCI3* jumps have pictures.  Eric Bull and crew have done a great job building the jumps, as always.
Click here for XC ride times.
Thank you for reading the XC Preview post, keep checking back for updates and hopefully a live blog starting around noon tomorrow.
1 Comment