Fence 11abc. Photo by Abby Powell.

We’re a week out from Millbook Horse Trials 2019, which took place August 1-4 at the beautiful Coole Park Farm in Amenia, New York, and boy, do I have a boatload of photos to make use of still. Let’s start with an EN favorite: a good ‘ol Who Jumped it Best?

This edition features horses and riders in the Open Intermediate A division last weekend as they tackled the coffin complex at Fence 11abc. Riders jumped the A element situated on top of a mound, made two strides to the B element ditch, and then took one stride to the skinny C element out.

The Intermediate cross country course was actually the course that designer Tremaine Cooper made the most changes to this year, similar to how the Advanced course was revered last year; this year the Intermediate course was reversed to mirror the Advanced track, making the best use of all the flat ground available over the undulating Coole Park Farm terrain.

Now, a little disclaimer: we love to play this game of Who Jumped it Best? because honestly it’s a great excuse to share as many awesome jumping pictures with you as possible, but we always keep in mind that each picture is simply a single moment of the jumping effort. With that, I want to say that this complex rode absolutely beautifully and frankly, each horse and rider that tackled it did a fabulous job. I spent a good, very enjoyable chunk of time sitting on the Advanced trakhener jump next to this complex, shooting photos and admiring the riding whilst chatting and making friends with, Karri, the jump judge for this complex.

Alright, you know the drill: Take a look at the photos and vote in the poll at the bottom of the post for which horse and rider you think present the best overall picture over the jump!

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Mike Pendleton and Carlsburg. Photo by Abby Powell.

Sara Kozumplik Murphy and Devil Munchkin. Photo by Abby Powell.

Cornelia Dorr and Daytona Beach 8. Photo by Abby Powell.

Holly Payne Caravella and CharmKing. Photo by Abby Powell.

Colleen Rutledge and C Me Fly. Photo by Abby Powell.

Christina Hendrikson and JTH Jest. Photo by Abby Powell.

Marley Stone Bourke and Quality Pop. Photo by Abby Powell.

Bridgette Miller and Special Agent. Photo by Abby Powell.

Will Faudree and Pfun. Photo by Abby Powell.

Despite a severe thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and evening (more on that below), it was a beautiful day today to conclude another weekend at the Millbrook Horse Trials.

Our leaders after cross country, Will Faudree and Jennifer Mosing and Sterling Silver Stables’ Pfun jumped inside the time and kept all the poles up over Marc Donovan’s Advanced show jumping course this afternoon to win the division on their dressage score of 29.10.

That score is a personal best for Will and the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, plus it marks their first time cracking the 20s at the Advanced level. They’ll be headed to Ireland later this month to contest the Millstreet International CCI4*-L.

“It was a good final run for him before Millstreet in a couple weeks,” Will said after his cross country course yesterday. “I’ve never competed in Ireland so I’m excited to go. He’s an experienced horse and with horses you’re always trying to get better and be better. You change little things and you talk to everybody, because anybody could offer advice that might help.” 

Here’s wishing Will and Pfun the best of luck in their journey overseas!

Allison Springer and Business Ben. Photo by Abby Powell.

Our second and third place finishers traded places on the leaderboard as a result of the final phase.

Allison Springer told EN that she has been working on putting the pieces together in show jumping for the Business Ben Partnership’s Business Ben, and it looked like those pieces came together today as they finished on their dressage score of 30.70. Their double clear round saw them slot in to second place after Colleen Rutledge and her own Covert Rights pulled a single rail.

Allison is aiming Ben for the Fair Hill International CCI4*-L, an event that the nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding has yet to contest — he was entered last year, but turned up with an abscess two days before the jog. Ultimately, she’s hoping to qualify the horse for Kentucky.

“He’s the horse I’ve always been dreaming about doing that level on and he just loves this cross country stuff,” Allison said. “I always say that’s what he was dreaming about in the womb and you can tell when he’s out there for sure.”

Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights. Photo by Abby Powell.

Despite the unfortunate rail, Colleen’s 13-year-old Thoroughbred/Clydesdale gelding looked in top form over fences this afternoon and they finished their weekend on a score of 33.50. Colleen is also aiming her homebred for Fair Hill this fall in a continuation of the Covert Rights comeback tour de force. “Hopefully everything goes according to plan and we can tick all the boxes,” she told EN. 

Kimmy Cecere and Landmark’s Monaco. Photo by Abby Powell.

Also finishing on a score of 33.50 were Kimmy Cecere and Jaqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Monaco. They jumped a double clear show jumping round today, but finished a just a few seconds further away from the optimum time  than Colleen and Covert Rights across the country yesterday so they keep their fourth place position.

Buck Davidson finished the weekend with three of his horses in the top ten. Double clear rounds aboard Natalie Sander, Lisa Darden, and Carl and Cassie Segal’s Erroll Gobey along with Kat Cuca’s Jak My Style saw both horses move up two places to fifth and sixth respectively, less than a tenth of a point apart on 35.80 and 36.20. A third double clear for Buck saw Carlevo LLC’s Carlevo move up to 10th.

Will Coleman and Dondante. Photo by Abby Powell.

Will Coleman and Team Rebecca, LLC’s Dondante jumped a double clear round as well to clinch seventh place. Will had originally hoped to bring the nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse out to the Event at Rebecca Farm last weekend, but when other horses dropped off the flight it became too expensive.

“The Broussards own half of this horse, so they’ve been tremendous supporters of mine and I wanted to support their event, but next year!” Will said. “Fair Hill will be a good event for this horse too.”

Brooke Maisse and Serendipity. Photo by Abby Powell.

Big congratulations are in order for Brooke Maisse who piloted her own ten-year-old Thoroughbred mare Serendipity, who is a diminutive 15.1-hands, to a top ten finish in their both of their first Advanced. Brooke hails from Quebec and was particularly nervous this weekend as her regular coach, Colleen Loach, was away representing Canada in the Pan American Games, but that didn’t stop her from smiling throughout each and every phase. With some pinch-hit coaching thanks to Caroline Martin they finish the weekend in 8th place on their dressage score, having moved up from 32nd after dressage.

The end of the Millbrook Horse Trials means the unofficial beginning of the fall eventing season. Many of the horses in this division are making their first start after their post-Kentucky CCI5* summer vacation and their riders are looking towards big events later this year. We were delighted to see Jak My Style, LCC Barnaby, Tight Lines, and Leamore Master Plan all looking super and stretching their legs this weekend. They are all a cohort of the strong U.S Bughley-bound contingent.

And would it be the Millbrook Horse Trials without a little weather drama? It was a foggy morning on show jumping day in Amenia, New York after a severe thunderstorm rolled in yesterday afternoon. While the Intermediate and Advanced cross country ran smoothly yesterday morning – unlike last year, when weather forced upper-level cross country to be moved to Sunday – the late afternoon Preliminary divisions fell victim to torrential rain, thunder and lightning, and even a bit of hail for good measure.

Mike Pendelton was the last rider to complete cross country on Saturday, riding Wabanaki in the Open Preliminary B division during an incredibly heavy downpour while the remaining five riders in the division were held. Ultimately, cross country did not resume on Saturday and the remaining five riders in the division rode across country early Sunday morning. Unfortunately, stadium jumping for Open Beginner Novice, the last Beginner Novice division of the weekend, which was being held at that same time, had to be canceled. The storm knocked out power throughout Amenia for some time and we’re grateful to the organizers for making the very best out of a tricky situation.

Thank you all for following along with our coverage of Millbrook 2019! Stay tuned for some extras, including a Who Jumped It Best, coming up sometime this week. ‘Til next time, Go Eventing.

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Will Faudree hasn’t been to Millbrook Horse Trials since 2013, but that didn’t stop him from storming around the Advanced cross country this morning. At the end of the day, he leads the division on his seasoned partner, the 12-year old Irish Sport Horse called Pfun owned by Jennifer Mosing and Sterling Silver Stables.

And a fun time they had indeed: “It’s fun to be back and I was really happy with my horse today,” said Will. “He was great on cross country — it was a good course and he’s not the fastest horse in the world and I’ve changed a little bit how I’m training him to go. I went out and I wasn’t even kicking him and he was able to come in inside the time. So I was really happy.”

Having scored a personal best in the dressage yesterday, Will and Pfun moved up to the top spot from 6th. Will credits his and Pfun’s good showing in the first phase to having spent the last week in Aiken, South Carolina training with USEF Performance Director Erik Duvander as one of the reserves for the Pan American team. The pair will stay on their dressage score heading in to tomorrow’s show jumping.

Will is looking ahead to competing in Ireland for the first time this fall; he and Pfun are entered in the Millstreet Internationl CCI4*-L this fall.

Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights. Photo by Abby Powell.

A double clear round for Colleen Rutledge and her homebred Covert Rights, a 13-year-old Thoroughbred/Clydesdale gelding, sees them move up the leaderboard into second place just four-tenths of a penalty point behind Will. After an extended time off, Colleen is happy to have her longtime partner in such good form.

“I’m just incredibly pleased with how he has come back and how he’s feeling,” she said. “I’m just happy that he’s back feeling actually better than before.”

Allison Springer and Business Ben. Photo by Abby Powell.

Rounding out the top three is Allison Springer and the Business Ben Partnership’s Business Ben, a young horse she believes was simply born to run cross country. 

“I typically don’t go very fast on short courses because he curls and it’s kind of hard for me to get him up so it takes a longer time to set him up, even though he’s probably one of the fastest horses I’ve ever sat on,” Allison said of the nine-year-old Thoroughbred owned by the Business Ben Partnership.

“I wasn’t trying to make time today, but he’s just fast and he was really rideable so I’m psyched. He’s so brave and he loves it, so I’ve just been kind of still figuring out the pieces with him and how to make him totally rideable.”

Kimmy Cecre and Landmark’s Monaco.

The time has been historically tricky to make on this course, but today we saw a total of eight pairs come home inside the optimum time of 6 minutes, 15 seconds. Kimmy Cecere and Jaqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Monaco made a big jump up the leaderboard from eleventh to fourth place. Their double clear round sees them stay on their score of 31.30.

Whitney Mahloch and Military Mind. Photo by Abby Powell.

Whitney Mahloch and her own Military Mind, a thirteen-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, also moved up seven spots, and now sit in sixth place with 31.80.

Kylie Lyman and Da Vinci Code. Photo by Abby Powell.

The biggest mover award after cross country may go to Kylie Lyman and Da Vinci Code. The pair were 22nd after dressage, but their double clear moved them into seventh place. 

Despite the grounds crew’s best efforts, the earth remained very firm this morning and, even though there were more time fault-free rounds than usual, we still subsequently saw time faults create a big shift in the leaderboard. As expected and as he intended, Buck Davidson took it easy over the course, accruing time penalties with each of his five rides.

His highest placed horse, who sits in seventh place, is now the youngster: nine-year-old Erroll Gobey owned by Natalie Sander, Lisa Darden, and Carl and Cassie Segal. He’s closely followed by his stablemate, the Burghley-bound Jak My Style, owned by Kat Cuca.

Three riders picked up 20 penalties along the course. Alexandra Baugh and Mr Candyman, who were tied for equal third with Buck Davidson and Park Trader after dressage had a runout of the B element of fence 14, a left-handed corner. Both Kevin Keane and Sportsfield Candy along with Mallory Hogan and Clarissa Purisima ran in to trouble at fence 20, the first jump into water complex.

There was one rider fall in the division: Cornelia Dorr and her own Sir Patico MH were tied for equal eighth after dressage, but unfortunately parted ways in the fence 10abc complex. We’re very happy to report that Cornelia and “Hugo” are both fine.

Be sure to check out Marion de Vogel’s day three recap below and stay tuned for the conclusion of the event tomorrow. Less than a rail separates the top four places and two rails separate the top eight, so it’s possible that we could see another leaderboard shuffle again tomorrow.

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Fence 3, Bar Top Barrels. One out of one EN reporter surveyed would definitely picnic here. Photo by Abby Powell.

You may recall that course designer and builder Tremaine Cooper gave Millbook’s Advanced cross country course a little bit of a facelift last year, reversing the direction the track traveled. Riders in the Advanced division this year won’t be in for quite as much of a shock this time around (though riders in the Intermediate divisions will — we’ll have more on that later, as that track now runs parallel to the Advanced); this year’s course runs clockwise again and is quite similar to last year’s overall, save for some key combinations on course where Tremaine has swapped the elements.

“Last year I changed the track for Advanced — it had always run counter-clockwise in the past, so I moved it to give it a totally different feel,” Tremaine told EN. “This year I’m playing with the combinations because I like the track the way it is currently.” 

Fences 1 through 9 remain the same as last year, save for a bit of earthwork here and there to improve the angle of the ground in places. Riders encounter their first difference in the course at the 10abc combination. The 10a element, a ditch and brush, remains the same but this year riders will have slice and dice their way through two steeply angled cabins.

Fence 10abc, Brush Rail & Green Roof Cabins – looking back at the A element. Photo by Abby Powell.

The fence 14abc complex is the next place riders will see a difference in the course: they’ll first jump the A element, a large square table, then choose their line to a left-handed corner, followed by the skinny C element out.

Fence 14abc, 8X Table to Corner & Pine Narrow. Photo by Abby Powell.

There is actually one fewer combination on course this year. Instead of an additional abc element in the farthest back field, riders will instead enjoy a bit more of a gallop over the fences leading up to the water complex, where they’ll slash into pond twice before looping behind the patron’s tent and heading for home.

In walking the course it’s very apparent that the property’s terrain is what packs an extra punch over this track.

“You shouldn’t underestimate the terrain because it changes the horses balance quite a bit,” says Tremaine.

Buck Davidson echoes the sentiment: “There’s not really ever a flat piece of ground here and so having the jumps in the right place is a trick and I think Tremaine’s done a good job. Keeping the horses balanced as you ride is not easy here.”

While this Advanced course may not be as massive as those seem later in the year, riders will still need to be on their toes and ready for the challenge in order to go around clean.

“It’s an overall test, it’s not one single thing (that would catch a horse and rider out.) You need to be able to steer and go forward and come back and balance, and sort of a little bit of everything. So hopefully it will be fun,” Tremaine said.

“The idea is to ask the question and when it rides the best, it’s usually when the rider trusts the horse. Once you line it up at that level, hopefully they should focus on it and go.”

EN caught up with Sarah Gumbiner to get her thoughts on the track: “This is my first run back with ‘Larry’ since Kentucky and after walking today I am pleased to see that the course is big but inviting,” she said. “Millbrook puts on a super event every year and I am excited for a good, clean, and confident run tomorrow.”

While riders may be more familiar with the track as is it is this year, the ground is unfortunately a little firmer than everyone had hoped for this weekend. Thunderstorms passing through the area and the greater New England area overall managed to completely miss the Coole Park Farm property.

“We were out here working on the course on Wednesday and we could see a sheet of rain and clouds off in the distance, not far, but it wouldn’t move this way,” Tremaine said.

With the ground so dry, Tremaine’s team has been hard at work doing everything in their power to improve the footing. The upper-level tracks were aerated twice during the day on Saturday, with another one planned for that night.

“They’ve done a great job trying to aerate everything and try to get it as good as possible, but they just haven’t had any rain so the ground is firm,” said Buck. “So I won’t be going fast tomorrow, that’s for sure. All these horses are seasoned, they all know how to do it so if I feel it’s a bit too firm I won’t go for it. It would be great to do this, but at the same time I want to have them for years and years and years. But they have done a great job of doing everything they can and hopefully it goes well.”

The optimum time on the Advanced course is 6 minutes, 15 seconds and has a total of 35 jumping efforts over 3,560 meters. Time tends to be a factor over this course — only three pairs caught the optimum time last year and no one made it under the year before. Cross country at Millbrook starts today with Open Intermediate divisions at 8:00 A.M. (click here for the Intermediate course map!) Advanced starts at 11:10 a.m. Check out the gallery of the Advanced track below as well as the course map via CrossCountry App.

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Buck Davidson gives Copper Beach some big pats! Photo by Abby Powell.

The Pan Ams may be the marquee event this weekend, but you didn’t think we would forget about eventing right here in the Northern hemisphere, did you? While we’re certainly keeping a close eye on the Pan American Games, EN is also brining you lots of action from Millbrook Horse Trials this weekend.

And a beautiful weekend for a horse trials it is here in Amenia, New York, home of Coole Park Farm, where 52 horse and rider pairs are contesting Millbrook’s Advanced division, or perhaps we should call it the Buck Davidson Show?

Millbrook, which is now in its 19th year of running, is generally the first stop for many upper-level pairs ahead of their big fall events. That’s certainly the case for Buck, who brought eight total horses out to stretch their legs in preparation for some exciting things this fall. Five of Buck’s herd are all contesting the Advanced division this weekend and four of those sit in the top five at the conclusion of dressage.

Advanced dressage here at Millbrook runs over two days and Buck took a commanding lead of the division on Thursday, sweeping the top three by the end of the day. The top two spots remain unchanged at the conclusion of the division on Friday and are occupied by his pair of Holsteiner geldings: Carlevo LLC’s Carlevo, who leads with a 26.10; and Natalie Sander, Lisa Darden, and Carl and Cassie Segal’s Erroll Gobey, who sits just nine-tenths of a point behind on a 27.0.

Buck Davidson and Carlevo at Bromont 2019. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“They were all really good,” Buck said. “It’s kind of the first event of the fall season, but they are fairly established horses now. They sort of went in and did the test that they wanted to do. There’s nothing fancy about it, they don’t get worked up about it, they just kind of go in there and do what they do.”

“Carlevo is obviously fairly established. if he got over 30 there would be something really wrong — he did what he does. Erroll Gobey — I decided to try a double bride on him and that made a huge difference. He’s hugely talented, he’s just only 9 and he’s just a big force but he’s starting to understand the movements better, so I was really proud of him.”

Kat Cuca’s Jak My Style, a 14-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding, had occupied third place at the conclusion of day one with a 28.6, but was ultimately bumped to fifth by his stablemate, the seasoned 17-year-old ISH gelding Park Trader, owned by Carl and Cassie Segal. Jak is on the entry list for Burghley five-star this fall, while Park Trader is being aimed at the Blenheim Palace CCI4*-L.

“With Jak, you can now do the little things to get better scores. He’s not a big mover, but you can lengthen his neck in the extension and then shorten him and his changes are very good. He really doesn’t make any mistakes,” Buck commented. “And I thought Park Trader was really, really good today.”

Buck Davidson and Park Trader. Photo by Abby Powell.

Buck and Park Trader are sitting equal third on 27.7 with Alexandra Baugh and  Mr Candyman — the only pair to break up Buck’s domination of the leaderboard. Mr Candyman, a 12-year-old Holsteiner who was previously campaigned by Phillip Dutton, has been with Alexandra since early 2018. The pair have gotten to know each other through the levels and are now stepping up to Advanced for Alexandra’s debut at the level, and what a lovely debut they had!

Alexandra Baugh and Mr Candyman. Photo by Abby Powell.

Looking slightly down the leader board, two other horses snuck in under the 30s. Will Faudree and his longtime partner Pfun, owned by Jennifer Mosing and Sterling Silver Stables, hold the sixth spot on 29.1. Colleen Rutledge and her own Covert Rights, another longtime partnership, are just behind them with 29.5.

Rounding out the top ten are equal the equal eighth place Cornelia Dorr and her own Sir Patico MH and Alison Springer with the Business Ben Partnership’s Business Ben, both on a 30.7. Sitting just two penalty point behind is Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Singapore, owned by Ann Jones, Tom Tierney and David Vos.

Videographer Marion de Vogel is also onsite this weekend, putting together beautiful cinematic recaps of each day’s happenings. Check out Thursday and Friday’s videos below:

Keep it locked on EN for more from Millbrook throughout the weekend. We’ll be bringing you a course preview of the Advanced cross country bright and early. Go eventing.

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