A few additional notes to the Dressage Wrap.
Update # 1: I saw Colleen Rutledge just as she was leaving today and she told me Shiraz aka Luke was much better behaved today in his second fake test with Linda Zang, and we’re going to try and catch up for a longer chat tomorrow. Update # 2: I didn’t manage to find Selena O’Hanlon to talk about her test on A First Romance, but Sara Lieser from the Chronicle of the Horse who was standing closer to Selena and the judges when they pulled her up, confirmed that Selena shared that she had given her horse a pink cookie treat, and the vet confirmed that there was no blood in the mouth.
Dressage Updates: Phillip talked about his winning ride on Mystery Whisper, “he’s a pretty cool horse, he knows when to click in to gear, there wasn’t too much wrong with it” but also talked about his second ride of the day on Mighty Nice, above, “He hasn’t been out in quite a while, he had a bout of colic so he missed one event and he’s a bit short on runs but hopefully he’ll improve a bit before Rolex”
Michael Pollard talked about seeing his overnight lead on Jude’s Law (above) vanish first thing this morning and his heart sinking, but said he was pleased with his horses and happy that his score was still good enough to keep him in the top 3 at the end of the day.
I caught up with Will Faudree back at the barn where we talked a little bit about his horses, but more about how brave he’s been, riding with a dislocated elbow all week after a fall…(not from a horse!)
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Update # 3: It was also Will who remembered that Kellie Pickler, who apparently was on American Idol thursday night (?) is from Albermarle, the nearest “town”!
Will Coleman leads the Advanced Section Test A that did dressage today on Ideal Contini. This attractive grey horse who originally came from Aussie Brook Staples in England and arrived at Will’s barn via Lucia Strini, is contesting only his second Advanced this weekend, “He’s been good this year but obviously he still hasn’t seen a lot of cross country courses, especially at this level, so it will be a big test for him but I think he’s ready to do it. Whereas an older horse or more experienced horse might see a line to a jump and lock on to it, he might not, so I think I’ll just have to be really sure that the horse understands whatever question is being put in front of him.”
Phillip chose the first water, at 9 on the CIC*** course as the jump he thought might take the most riding, a big drop down into the water, “and then that corner will come up pretty quickly”,
but without exception every rider has had nothing but praise for the venue – the footing, the course, the jumps, the attention to detail, and all the work that keeps being done to improve the event each year despite some inclement weather over time.
Update # 4: As much as I love Silva Martin’s horsebox, and I really do covet one, as I pulled into my hotel tonight and saw it parked in the Applebees car park it did occur to me that, especially if you have your name emblazoned all over it, you can’t really be incognito!
Hoping for safe rides across country for everyone this weekend, and looking forward to bringing you much more from The Fork. Go Albermarle and Go Eventing!
