Here on Eventing Nation we call mothers the heart of eventing and dads the rock of eventing. Eventing dads come in all shapes, sizes, roles, and responsibilities. From working late on Friday to help pay for the horses and then flying or driving to an event, to sitting by the stall in endless hours of boredom reading Golf Digest, to the moments of sheer terror as their child rides cross-country, to the hugs and kisses at the end, dads are a critical part of the eventing experience. Some dads are the involved kind and handle the horses. Others have never seen a cross-country course that they didn’t think should be turned into a golf course. Jon Holling won the Bromont CCI3* last weekend to cap off a weekend of competition along side his wife Jen and his son Caiden. Jon was kind enough to share with us about his experience at Bromont as an eventing dad on this Father’s Day. Happy Fathers Day to Jon and all of the eventing dads out there.
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[via tincup]
From Jon:
Happy Father’s Day EN! When I first wrote for Eventing Nation I said that I was a selfish event rider, and that at some point I would probably write about my horses. Well after a great week at Bromont, now seems like as good of a time as any. Obviously, I was thrilled with Downtown Harrison “Will’s” performance throughout the week. For where he is at in his training, I don’t think he could have been much better. I thought it might be a bit of fun (for me anyway) to give a recap of the event and what I felt going into the competition. Before I start though I do have to say that as great as the three star went for me, I am actually just as excited about my two star horses. Not to mention the rest of my stable at home. Jenn and I set out about five years ago to rebuild our string of horses. It is truly exciting to see Zatopek, Quigase Du Lac, FHF Blue Rondo, and Kompass maturing into great horses. Building a string like this takes constant training, honest evaluation and an incredible group of owners to help support the whole project. Not to mention the great group of people at home and on the road that look after them.
The “Road to Bromont” was well documented so I won’t bother to recap the trip up to the Great White North. Let’s just say it was long and everyone was tired when we arrived. Despite the long trip the horses actually faired pretty well. Leslie actually renamed the group ‘The Fish” because they drank so well that we spent more time refilling water buckets during the stops than anything else.
On Thursday Will was the fourth to last horse to go in the CCI*** dressage, so I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to take to win the test. There were a lot of good young horses in the division so I knew it would not be easy. I did feel that I could get pretty close to the others with a decent effort from the two of us. The warm up went according to plan so we cantered down center line with a bit of confidence. When I halted, I looked down to see a huge French Canadian horse fly tip his beret at me and then take a big bite out of Will’s neck. You would have thought Will was covered in Poutine the way that bug held onto his neck through the first movement. After brief consideration I decided the best course of action was to reach forward and swipe the monster off of my horse so we could regain our focus. That plan would have been great if I had any hand eye coordination at all. Yep, you got it, not only did I blow the shoulder in trying to get the bug, I missed him. Fortunately for me Will sucked it up like the showman he is, and ignored that bug for the remainder of the trot work. Finally when we halted before our rein back, the bug had it’s fill and flew away. Despite the distraction the test went great. I halted and knew we would be pretty close to the leaders after day one.
The cross country at Bromont is as challenging for the level as any track I have ridden. I knew when we left the box that we would need to be sharp right from the start. I am happy to say that there really is not much to report about cross country for Will and I. Things went about as close to plan as I have ever had at a three star. Basically, I am one lucky dude that I get to ride such a nice horse. He had plenty of gallop right to the end of the course and kept jumping great.
The Sunday morning jog brought the first really exciting moment for our team. Jenn and I are fortunate enough to have a fantastic new groom working for us. Katy Long took exceptional care of the horses all weekend and really allowed me to focus on my job. When I showed up to jog strip for Will, I asked Katy to find Dr. Ober so we could take one last look at Will before I presented him to the ground jury. Well let me just say that a Sunday morning jog is no place for a helicopter. I know what a princess I am, but really not the best idea if you ask me. Anyway, back to my super exciting adrenaline packed story. I jogged Will for Dr. Ober and as I turned around to head back towards her the helicopter came swooping in for landing, Will spooked, tripped and fell to his knees. Katy gave a look that said, “why in the heck did I hand him to you? You’re going to break him.” It was just the preparation we needed to loosen things up for the jog. After a few tense moments, and a thorough going over, we decided all was good and Will ended up jogging beautifully for the ground jury. It is always something.
I knew going into the show jumping ring that if I did my job Will would undoubtedly do his. The track itself was, in my opinion, very technical. When I started out I knew I had two rails in hand. Apparently I should never know what my lead is on the final day because by fence five I had two down. Percentages were not in my favor anymore. I knew Boyd was very close on my tail so I used all of my fingers to eventually count to eleven…..ok I used one toe as well. Somehow that super little horse counted too, because from fence six on he jumped better and better. By the time we jumped into the triple I knew we had it won. Once he jumped the last I can honestly say I felt vindicated.
Getting left off of the plane to last year’s Pan Am’s was not the hardest thing that has ever happened to me, but it did suck…..it really sucked. At that moment I knew he had bigger things to come, and I still do. I love this little horse and I am so proud of him. For him to win his first three star is huge. He has an incredible record to this point, and I hope that record will continue for many years to come. I am not entirely sure what is next for him, but I am thinking an autumn three star in Europe might be the logical next step. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on the plans. I want to thank my family including Jen and Caiden for making the great week possible for me and Will. One last thing, I have heard reports that at some point on Sunday night there was a sighting of a hairless albino sasquatch. I think he stole my pants so if anyone happens to see them, would you please ship them to Florida? God knows I need my pants, no one wants to see that!
