John Lechner is Australian based in the Hunter Valley of NSW with a focus on Eventing Photography and Writing about the sport he is passionate about.
You can check out John's photography at http://esjphoto.com.au/about/
Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester (Festy) take the lead with a stunning test on 43.30 penalties
An emotional Megan Jones is celebrating the return of her favorite partner Jester with the CCI4* dressage lead at Adelaide. Jester got sick following his torturous flight from Sydney on his way to WEG. His recovery has been a long and slow process, in fact Festy has only competed at two events in his preparation a two and three star. He looked fantastic and certainly knows that he is back.
Adelaide Dressage Scores:
1. Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester (AUS) 43.3 2. Stuart Tinney and Panamera (AUS) 44.5 3. Shane Rose and Taurus (AUS) 45.5 4. Fabir Magni and Watermark Grayson (ITA) 45.5
He rose to the occasion and Megan couldn’t be happier. Hot on her heals she has two other Olympians Stuart Tinney and Shane Rose. The top end of the leader board is tight. There are 13 horses within two rails.
The XC course is tough, lots of combinations to make you think and with the close confined nature of the track in the park, time will be tough to get. Weather conditions tomorrow are more favorable with temperatures in the mid 20s (that is in the 70s for those of you in North America).
I’ll see you all in the morning. A few pics to finish with.
Stuart Tinney and mare Panamera in second place on 44.50
Shane Rose and Taurus took the lead at the end of the second session with a score of 45.50 and ended up in third after dressage
Tim Boland and GV Billy Elliot 49.20 in tenth place after dressage.
Great presentation on GV Billy Elliot
The pink pony was popular
The Heritage Grandstand, a beautiful place to watch the action
Kevin McNab and Kelecyn Cognac currently in 2nd place in the CCI2* with volunteer extraordinaire Rod Winchester
There is plenty of entertainment at Adelaide, aside from the four star horses, the Horseman Team, Brett Parbery master class and Paralympians Grace Bowman and Liz Sobecki giving a demonstration.
The Horseman Team
The two star CCI2* and CIC2* class dressage has been run and won. The CCI2* was taken out by Shane Rose on Virgil owned by Michelle Hasibar and Brett Jones with a score of 50.40 penalties. He is closely followed by Kevin McNab and Kelecyn Cognac on 51.20 and Belinda Isbister on her own Holy Bruce with 52.80. Full results for the CCI2* are here.
The only one here
Also in the CCI2* we have our lone US rider the lovely Christan Trainor, who now resides just such of Sydney. Christan’s test didn’t run to plan with Spike shying during the early part of the test and never quite settling again after that. Despite this, they are sitting in 18th place just 10.1 penalties behind the leader in a field of 46 combinations.
Christan Trainor and All Purpose Brown for USA
There is a big bunch of Young Riders in the CCI2* class with the best of those Isabel English on Cil Dara George in overall 13th place with 58.20 penalties. Isabel also has her other horse in 16th place on 59.70. I am also keeping an eye on Jaymee Tinney the oldest daughter of olympian Stuart Tinney, she is currently in 31st place on 63.40.
The CIC2* class is being led by Sophie Adams on Mercator Du Ry with 45 penalties, she is just in front of Christine Bates on Delago with 45.5. Third place is back on 54.30 with Sarah Ashcroft on Hillbro Aramac. Full CIC2* results here.
Clayton Fredericks demonstrating the TheraPlate, it is a hit with the ladies, apparently the vibrating action is good for your horse……..
It seems like months ago when Monty White did a review on the two Apps that allow you to record your course walk including fences and minute markers. Since then I have had a play with the Apps CrossCountry and CourseWalk but I hadn’t had the opportunity to walk a real course with either App.
Today I got to walk the Adelaide four star course with Jose Diacono, the financier behind the CrossCountry App. I say financier as her son James is the programmer and daughter Helen the designer. Helen is a PreNovice rider here (Prelim in the USA) and James has been writing iPhone apps for a couple of years now and he has been working almost full time on the CrossCountry for months now. So early Friday morning I set out on my second walk, iPad in hand.
The first two minutes includes 13 obstacles
Let me start by saying that carrying an iPad around a full 6 kilometres of cross country isn’t advised, better with your iPhone. That said it looks better on the iPad. The good news is that in a future release, I was working with a working beta version with the new features, you will be able to share a course map between your devices and even better with your friends. Just imagine, you and a friend have a couple of horses in different classes, you can each walk separate courses and then share after the fact rather than doing it that extra time. (I still of course advise you walk every course but this way your minute markers will be already known).
The CrossCountry App couldn’t be easier to use. Once you start a course you merely need to add your fences, including all elements separately, you can add videos, photos, voice notes or written notes for every fence. It is up to you how much detail you add to a fence, even striding is a standard feature, so if it is a bounce you select bounce and move on. It took me about three fences to get into the swing of it and after that it was almost automatic.
I personally stopped using a measuring wheel over a year ago as it isn’t easy to travel with. I have a handheld GPS unit. One of the problems with a GPS unit is you need to pass it over an obstacle rather than walk around with it. The CrossCountry App gets around this by allowing you to ‘Pause’ the recording, walk around an obstacle and then resume. It then draws a straight line between the two paused points, really simple.
The other thing which is tough with a GPS is when you are chatting away and suddenly realize you are walking the two star course rather than the four star. You know that feeling right??? I do. Anyway it is easy to fix walk back to the spot where you made the mistake, click the ‘Erase’ button, zoom in, swipe back to where you are on the map, the little blue ball shows you. Then click ‘End Erase’ and you are done.
The ease of use is the key, the other surprise I got is the ‘Minute Markers’, they show up as you walk the course, they are marked in the course map and the best thing is that your minutes are chimed every time you walk the course with the app on, the sound is the same as the one you are familiar with on your eventing watch, it just works.
I like it and will continue to tinker with it. For under 20 bucks the CrossCountry App is a great investment for almost every Eventer from four star to beginner novice.
Anybody who knows me knows that I am not one to comment on fashion, so no comments just pics of nice horses and their riders. CCI4* class.
I do have a scoop too. Phillip Dutton has just left Australia after being here on a shopping spree, I am sure he has picked up a string of young horses but he has also picked up two big name event horses.
Heath and Rozzie Ryan’s Mystery Whisper was withdrawn from the four star class today due to his sale and the other word around the stables is that Il Vici, the horse that Shane Rose won last week’s exhibition eventing grand final on last week is also rumored to be heading to True Prospect Farm soon.
Click the link below for more photos from the jog… (more…)
I have a confession to make. For the first time in my life I booked my flights incorrectly. Not the wrong time or day but the completely wrong week. My original booking which was a bargain at $120 return to Adelaide (normally about $400) was for last weekend. I am not sure what was on in Adelaide last weekend but I do know that the three day event is this weekend. I changed my flights in time but it cost me an extra $350. Not much of a bargain anymore.
My flight was at 6.45am so I stayed at mums only 1/2 an hour from the airport, set two alarms and even went to bed early, I awoke, by chance 1/2 an hour after my alarms were set, neither woke me, WHAT THE?? Normally I wake hours early. I made it to the airport on time though a little frazzled and was unkind to someone who was dawdling in the check-in queue, my apologies.
A trot report is coming soon and the two star dressage started on Thursday also. I have walked the cross-country and I tested out the latest beta version of the CourseWalk app which allows you to export a full course, including track, minute markers, fence pics the lot–the aim is for you to share a course with your friends. More on that later.
Let’s hope for all our sake that the blogging app I use on my iPad hangs in there, it has been playing up for weeks, a fix is promised but not yet forthcoming, if I have to resort to lugging my Netbook I may just lose it again. So please EN pray to the gods of BlogPress for me.
The fence by fence is below. It is classic Adelaide with lots of narrow tracks winding through the parks, big fences and it is HOT!
This week is Adelaide, the biggest week in Eventing in Australia. Every Australian based rider hopes to compete there. This year with the addition of Adelaide to the HSBC Classics series there is even more on the line: ranking points and the biggest ever prize pool in Aussie Eventing.
For me, it also marks one year since I started writing for Eventing Nation. I’ve had a ball, and had the privilege of bringing you some great events including Adelaide of course, Red Hills, Sydney World Cup, Burghley and Blenheim. In between there have been my random ramblings which I have tried to keep entertaining. I even did a book review and had a competition that revealed some interesting points about the EN team and our wonderful readers.
So this week we started with argueably the best collection of Australian Eventers assembled on home soil since the Sydney Olympics. Three UK based Aussies, Clayton Fredericks, Sam Griffiths and Paul Tapner joined their home based compatriots for the first ever Grand Final of Exhibition Eventing (the Aussie version of Express or Indoor Eventing).
The early lead was taken by local Claudia Graham but the fun and games started with the jumping which included a bonus Joker fence set at 1.5m (5 feet), the eventual winner Shane Rose was the only one to clear the Joker. Clayton Fredricks got to do a live demonstration with his Point Two jacket when he had a stop and fall at the Joker.
Top results: 1. Shane Rose Il Vici 2. Craig Barrett Sandhills Brillaire 3. Dominic Karina Ingvall Corambo 4. Stuart Tinney Orchard Hill 5. Megan Jones Cavallo Park Apollo 6. Emma Mason Bijou II Full results click here
Stuart Tinney on Orchard Hill
So as the riders make their way down to Adelaide on the day long drive from Sydney and the rest of the Country to our central southern capital. I will be there covering the action for EN. I am very excited as FESTY, Kirby Park Irish Jester has finally recovered from the illness that struck him down just before last year’s WEG. It has been slow but very exciting to see him back on the park.
We have a few international riders joining the ranks down under this year including Charlotte Price from the UK, Fabio Magni from Italy and Christan Trainor from the USA. Of course we have a big bunch of Kiwis. We have a new centre of the event at the Victoria Park Racecourse, with the main arena, plus the start and finish of XC just metres from the stables where previously they were three parks away.
It will be a fun week, happy one year anniversary of my writing EN.
I don’t know about in North America but here in Australia, school fundraising activities often include cake stalls, prize draws and selling chocolate frogs by the case load. Thankfully my two boys go to a little country school where the parents behind the fundraising activities are a little more imaginative than average.
Two years ago I had my first experience of Cutting and loved it. Cutting is a sport where the horse is trained to the point it makes a lot of the decisions. Its reflexes reacting to a cow are as good as a well trained cattle dog. They move so quick and low you can’t help but be impressed by their athletism, but really good horses also need to be calm and slowly stalk the cattle.
So last weekend we had our annual Vacy Cutting Day, just near my home. This annual fundraiser raises money for our school, Vacy Public School and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service which is our regional helicopter medical evacuation service, a critical service in rural Australia.
Each year the day raises a few grand (this year over $5,000) for the two causes, through entries, bacon and egg rolls for breaky, camp oven roast lamb sandwiches (these are worth the cost of the airfare from the USA alone) and of course, a bar which opens at 11am.
In all it is a great fun day out for the family, and in my opinion beats selling chocolate frogs (which are not even the cool ones like in Harry Potter) at $1 a piece. In fact, we would have needed to sell 280 cases or 13,440 chocolate frogs to net the same income, in a school of only 85 odd kids, that means each family would need to sell, usually this means just buy youself, over 200 chocolate frogs. Could you imagine how bad the kids and their parents would look after consuming over 7 kilograms (about 16 pounds) of chocolate each, it isn’t even good chocolate.
If you are an Eventer who has never seen Cutting, find out when your next local competition is on and go watch, you will love it. There were even a few Pony Club horses trying their hand at cutting, no reason why an Eventer can’t have a crack.
Finally, while most cutting riders seem to think their heads are inpenetrable to cattle and horses, I was very pleased to see a number of riders particularly all the young ones wearing a safety helmet.
Brook Staples and that awful moment when it was all over.
Only a few short weeks ago Australia failed to qualify for the Olympic Games at Blenheim. At the time I was there, reporting on the event and the qualifier live. I didn’t say much at the time, to be honest I was lost for words and couldn’t put anything more coherent than a string of four letter words together.
All is not lost for Australia and there is every intention that the Aussies will have a team at the Olympics. Australia should qualify a ‘Composite Team’ but that will not be confirmed until after 1 March 2012, this is based on individual rider rankings.
The question is, how did we get into this position? Australia has an unrivaled Olympic Eventing track record, from the last five games Australia has three team gold and a team silver. We are the reigning silver Olympic medalists.
Aussie team trailblazer Catherine Burrell
After a less than perfect WEG where five teams qualified we were left trying to gain our qualification in the regional event. In our region there are really only four teams up for contention, us, the Kiwis, Japan and emerging South Africa. The Kiwis qualified with their bronze in Kentucky last year, South Africa unfortunately couldn’t muster a team to contest the qualifier.
So Australia needed to beat Japan, and I heard many voices dismissive of Japan’s chances. Personally I was thinking we actually need to finish first, if we can’t finish it doesn’t matter who we are up against. Secondly, Japan has invested heavily in their Eventing team and have even enlisted the help of many an Aussie over the years including Barry Roycroft, brother of former Aussie Coach Wayne and son to the legendary Bill Roycroft.
So, it was never a done-deal as many had suggested. Our next issue was having a team available to contest the qualifying event. By mutual agreement, Blenheim was agreed as the scene for the competition.
Lucinda Fredericks had a tumble later on course
Our selected team included Catherine Burrell, Bill Levitt, Chris Burton, Brook Staples and Lucinda Fredericks. Word is that Lucinda was rushed onto the team at the last minute (to replace who? I don’t know), Catherine is a relatively unknown to riders and fans back down under. Bill has been a constant Aussie presence on the UK European scene for many years as has Sydney 2000 Olympian Brook Staples.
Finally Chris was selected to ride Newsprint with HP Leilani heading to Burghley the week before Blenheim. For a reason unknown to most Newsprint was withdrawn from the Australian team, so they were not available. With Chris and Lani having a minor incident at Burghley they tried to re-route to Blenheim.
Being a team event, this change needed the approval of all teams, and Japan did not agree. To be honest I wouldn’t have in their position, Chris and Lani make a formidable combination and I wouldn’t want to be competing against them.
So before the event started the Aussies were down to four out of a possible five combinations. We had a great start and moved to the front. XC didn’t go so well with Lucinda having a crash, so team Australia dropped to last place of the three teams but only 4 points behind rivals Japan. With Japan also losing a combination on the XC phase, there was a lot of hope riding on the shoulders of our team of three.
Bill Levitt and his distinctive goggles
Bill produced a quality round that left Australia with a hope of qualifying. Unfortunately it was not to be the case, after a consistent steady round, Brook Staples ran into trouble at the B element of the second to last fence, he had a refusal and crashed into the fence requiring a rebuild and a costly bunch of penalties. On his second attempt, disaster struck, they crashed through again. It was initially called as a four for the fence down and later confirmed as a second refusal and thus elimination.
Australia had lost any chance of qualification and Japan won the right to have a full team at next year’s Olympics. I was asked in the aftermath why Australia didn’t bring their ‘A’ team, at the time I had no real response, even now I ask, what is our ‘A’ team?
Australia has a lot of depth of riders, with many at the top of the games both back home and in Europe, we even have a presence in the US with Peter and Henny back. But as I see it we may be suffering a small shortage of horse power as London approaches. I hope I am wrong and Adelaide, only a few short weeks away, will show what talent is left back home. Boekelo has shown that Aussie talent is never far from the top of the leader board. Should some of the Boekelo combinations have been at Blenheim instead?
Australia will be back, strong and competitive despite this minor hiccup in our London preparation.
Lauren and TB mare Quixotic at last year’s Burghley
Every now and then you meet someone interesting, someone that stands out from the crowd. I was lucky enough to meet Lauren Shannon recently at Burghley. As an Eventer, Lauren is just starting to come into her own with two really good seasons behind her.
I met Lauren over a glass of French Champagne at the Land Rover Cocktail Party, where Lauren was picking up her award for the highest placed under 25 year old rider, for the second year running, she finished ninth.
In fact Lauren has had five four-star starts in the last 18 months, she has completed XC in all five and had three top twenty finishes. Not bad considering they were at Burghley 2010 & 2011 and Badminton 2011. This recent form has been hard won because every step forward has been accompanied by three backwards–until reaching the four-star level her results had been mixed.
I caught up with Lauren again this week to chat a little more and she talked of the harsh reality of life as an Eventer, especially one aspiring for an Olympic spot. Lauren remained on her Burghley high for about as long as it took to make the long walk back from the Land Rover tent to the truck park and start the short drive home in her borrowed (lorry) truck.
As we know, one great result in Eventing is just that, you need a string of great results and the depth of horsepower to make it long term. No horizon is ever definite. London is less than a year away and a real possibility now, Lauren thinks if picked she would go as an individual rather than British team rider but London is but a mere stones-throw away and Zero Flight her only equine partner qualified.
Normandy is also nearing and many an Eventer is already planning as far out as Rio in 2016. Good horsepower comes with long term planning. I asked Lauren how she builds her equine team. As a young Eventer trying to make her name in the highly crowded (especially at the top) British Eventing scene Lauren makes her mark by buying young horses and bringing them on, as well as teaching everywhere from Pony Club to high level Eventers.
Lauren believes that breeding horses is too much of a gamble and after spending many years under the watchful eyes of Mark and Tania Kyle, who make a living from trading Irish Sport Horses, Lauren has an eye for a good youngster.
Lauren prefers the sport horses as well as thoroughbreds over warmblood types for their heart and running. Most of Lauren’s current team are Irish Sport Horses and given her connections to the breed that is unlikely to change in the near future. There is definitely something to be said for having enough horse between your legs to still have some running at the end of 12 minutes of XC.
Lauren and Zero Flight at the last fence Burghley this year, with pink pom-pom
So why does Lauren stand out from the crowd so much? It may be her pink pom-pom on her XC helmet? It may be that Utah accent? Lauren was born in the UK but spent her formative years growing up in the USA. Perhaps it is her tech savvy, social media presence?
You can’t miss Lauren on the web, she has a her own site, a Horse and Hound blog, Twitter and Facebook. Her trials and tribulations, especially with her truck, which is a little tired to be honest–she was too embarrassed to drive her own truck to Burghley–are played out on twitter. Lauren uses social media as a tool for her business, to communicate with her supporters and sponsors and hopefully to help gain new supporters.
It may be her bravery? We know all Eventers need to be brave, but how many are prepared to do a full nude, rear on? Lauren has featured in the new fundraising calendar, Riders Revealed raising money for spinal research and Claire Lomas who was injured in an eventing accident in 2007. Claire collided with a tree on the cross country at Osberton Horse Trials, just a freak accident that changed her life.
What I do know is Lauren Shannon is a rider and she is rising to the top, she will win GOLD, she will represent her Nation at the Olympics. Keep an eye on her. Lauren’s goal now, apart from London, is to build her team of horses. She needs more horsepower and more horsepower requires more owners and the cycle continues. What I found during our conversations is that Lauren is tough. She has worked very hard including making some mistakes along the way but now she is focused, businesslike, and just that little bit different. Don’t get me wrong, I think that in the business of Eventing we all need our signatures that help to define our persona. For instance that pink pom-pom on the XC helmet, that is a token of her childhood Eventing in the USA where everything in her tack was colour matched, which is something that is a little frowned upon in her native UK.
As for that photo, Lauren did it for a great cause and is among legends in our sport who also bared all, Mark Todd, Blyth Tait and Mary King and many more. E N favorite Nico Morgan shot it and has generously shared some of his other pics of Lauren for this story, thanks again Nico. The pic below is a cropped version of the one in the Calendar, I asked Nico if we could tease the calendar pic and this is the result.
A preview of the Riders Revealed Calendar pic
You can buy a copy of the Riders Revealed Calendar here, they will send it worldwide for £14.95 and payment is via PayPal–a great Christmas present for the Riders in your life. Keep and eye on Lauren, I recommend following Lauren on twitter @ShannonEventing and you will get little gems like this. I have NEVER seen bikini clad girls sunbathing in the truck park before.
Well Eventing Nation, there are now three Chinchilla’s feeling very sorry for themselves after the fights, cussing and an extended late night session trying to sort out the pearls from the well, you know.
Anyhow we still ended up with some of that because when it comes down to it the Chinchilla’s are all children at heart.
You need to vote in the poll below to decide which of the eight finalists get one of the three copies of Stories from the Saddle. Just pick the one that made you wet yourself, LOL or ROFL. The poll will remain open for three days. Enjoy the embarrassment. ESJ
Biz
I’m not sure whether this story is more embarrassing for me or my mother. I was 12 years old and decided to use my Pony Club’s schooling three phase to move my pony, Dixee, up from beginner novice to novice. I was thrilled to find myself in 2nd place after dressage, and confidently made my way to the x-country start box. We popped over the coop, roll-top, and brush jumps no problem. And then came the dreaded ditch jump. Dixee was less than thrilled about the prospect of jumping ditches, but we had been schooling them like crazy for the past month, so I was confident that things would go smoothly. I was wrong. Dixee came to a sliding stop at the base of the ditch, and just to ensure that I went flying over her head, threw in a buck for good measure.
While flying through the air, I gripped the reins tightly, and upon landing (in the ditch) I realized I was holding Dixee’s bridle in my hands. In the mean time Dixee was galloping riderless, and bridle-less across the x-country course, pinning her ears at all who tried to catch her. She didn’t slow down until she had made her way back to the dressage arena where my mother was dutifully volunteering as a scribe. The dressage judge looked up and sighed. “Some one’s idiot horse is loose.” My mother looked up, recognized my darling pony and replied “that’s my idiot horse.” She then quickly excused herself and lured Dixee to the trailer with the strategic use of a carrot.
Eventer79
Oh do I have a story for you… From our ill-fated trip to VA Horse Trials this May: Solo is a quiet, well-mannered horse. He inherited a solid brain from his QH half and I have always relied upon his calm good sense at home or away. Unfortunately, he is also a redhead and waits until you least expect it to remind you of such. We had just finished and cooled out for the day and I walked Solo back into his stall. I took off his halter and walked behind him to remove his ankle boots, as I’ve done a thousand times. That bugger calmly turned around and walked right out the open door. I was shocked — in five years, he’s never wandered off — and grabbed his tail (of course, THAT will stop him). “Solo, whoa!” He flicked me an ear then flicked me the finger and kept right on walking down the center of the barn, picking up speed as he went. I am now trotting behind him, dragging on his tail, yelling, “Hey, stop, you bastard!” So he started trotting.
At this point, I have no choice but to let go or be dragged, but hey, I figure he will just go visit one of the other 25 horses in the barn, he’s a gregarious sort. Oh no, Mr. Adventure prances in a smart trot right out the barn door and across the big parking lot towards the interstate in the gathering dusk. I’m now in a full run cursing every hair on his red hide, grabbing some random person’s lead-rope off of their stall and praying to all things holy that his penchant for excitement wanes quickly. In a stroke of good fortune, a couple driving their truck out for the night spotted him in their rear-view mirror, slammed on the brakes, jumped out and headed him off. As I came up gasping, I withered under her disapproving look, but thanked her profusely and slunk back to the barn with my naughty horse in tow.
Two friends appeared, laughing their heads off and said, “Oh, wow, I didn’t know that was YOU running after that horse! What a nice trot he has, laugh laugh laugh.” I went and hid in my stall, wondering just how many people enjoyed the show of me, the slowest person in the world, trying to run down my red beast in the half-dark of Virginia. I still haven’t lived that one down. But hey, it makes a great story.
Estella
I once got lost for roughly 20 minutes on cross country. The event was located in a sandy, scrubby and bushy area and the course consisted of a myriad of trails dotted with fences. Out on course I proceeded to take the wrong trail somewhere down the line. I got a little way before I realized that I was probably going the wrong way due to the absence of proper jumps and people. Oops. It just got worse from there because the heavens opened and tried to drown us. Well I then got completely lost, my wonderful, patient mare and I just trotted around trying to find our way to where I was supposed to be. We wandered around hopelessly lost for around 20 minutes and it looked like we were going to be geriatrics before (and to my great relief) I managed to get out of there.
The poor people who were out on course in the rain trying to find me had to be brought back in, compounding my embarrassment. Everyone thought it was a great laugh of course. I didn’t think it was funny until my girl and I were both rugged up and warm again. Of course word spread quickly about my little adventure and then if there were people still here at the end of the day that didn’t know they did when the event organizer worked it into the speech at the prize giving. Naturally in the true spirit of Aussie mate ship I was kindly reminded of this little episode whenever they could for a while after that. So nice of them.
Michelle
It was an overcast Sunday morning at the Richland Horse Park, August 2006. I was riding Comet, my 5 year old off the track Thoroughbred, through his third novice cross country course. We were heading to fence #11 which was only one stride away from fence #12. We were going WAY too fast? something I did not realize until we were WAY too close to fence #11. I tried to half halt, but it was too late. Comet jumped fence #11, but (with some sense of self-preservation) dodged fence #12 dumping me on the fence in the process. I stood up and saw Comet running. To quote the old guy in the barbershop from Forrest Gump, ?That boy sure [was] a runnin? fool.? He kept running around and around looking for what we all look for in life? A little direction. One of the members of the ground jury picked me up in her golf cart and headed toward Comet who was still running. I could hear some old-time silent movie comical music playing in the background as we proceeded to chase Comet around and around the center field of the cross country course.
Then, Comet caught sight of the horse and rider who followed us in the line-up. Comet started to follow this poor rider and horse and proceeded to jump fence #10A and B?by himself. A few brave jump judges and volunteers ran in front of Comet. Much like Forrest Gump when the football fans raised their signs to tell him to? STOP!?, he too got the message and finally stopped. Because this was before the one-fall rule, I remounted and proceeded to jump fence #11 and #12. I then quickly found out the difference on the re-approach rule regarding a combination fence versus two fences numbered separately: you cannot jump the same fence twice. I thus eliminated myself for jumping fence #11 twice.
No redemption would be found that day. To add salt to the wound, when I loaded Comet up in the trailer after all of this, he whipped around at the entrance and ran away not once, not twice, but three times. Giving up, I handed him to my mom. He then proceeded to twist her arm in just the right way that she required rotator cuff surgery the following year. Somehow, Comet and I managed to become a very successful pair after that year with me (thankfully) remaining in the tack . However, Richland 2006 will always remain my most embarrassing event.
Anonymous
Not a public embarrassment–but how about going into the very dark porta-john late at night in the stabling area and sitting down in someone else’s poop! I think I prefer to remain anonymous…
Or opening the door to the porta-john (in broad daylight) and suddenly realizing that it was occupied and that the door had not been closed properly, and coming face to face with your dressage judge! Both are true and both are west coast stories…
Catherine
Back in college, I had an amazing horse with incredible athletic ability who was determined to show everyone just how athletic he was…. In the midst of running as many Intermediate events on the East Coast I could possibly get to in order to qualify and prepare for Radnor, I showed up at one event, about 6 hours away, only to open my trailer tack room to realize (in horror) that I had forgotten my jumping saddle. I had my dressage saddle but certainly couldn’t get around an intermediate cross country course with that so…. I went begging.
A kind sole took pity on me and leant me an old jumping saddle that she had as a spare (Smart people bring extras…). I am happy to say that we made it around cross country clean (although a bit discombobulated as the saddle was very different from my own.) Stadium, however, was a different story. We got over the first couple of fences as I felt my saddle start to slip. My horse, not understanding what was going on, started bucking, only causing the saddle to slip more and the bucks to get bigger. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground between fences 3 and 4 watching my horse alternating bucks and leaps with the borrowed saddle under his stomach.
Of course he wasn’t content to leave his gimmicks in the arena and jumped the white tape fence enclosing the arena much to the horror of nearby spectators who plunged out of the way. Meanwhile, I went running after him, head down and beet red trying to catch him. After about 15 minutes (but what felt like hours) of galloping and bucking around the entire grounds, he was finally caught thanks to the many brave souls willing to help catch him. The rest of the day, I had people coming up to me asking if I was the owner of the “bucking bronco” and commenting on his impressive athleticism and bucking ability.
To make matters worse, the saddle, still under his stomach when we finally caught him, had been kicked to shreds. I shamefully went back to the kind person who lent it to me to tell her that her saddle had a broken tree and a couple of hoof marks in it. Luckily she was just about the nicest person and took it all in stride, let me pay her for the saddle (much less than it would cost her to replace) and never brought it up again. Needless to say, I always check my girth repeatedly to this day.
Andrea
Many many moons ago when I was young and much more limber I had a lovely horse of unknown breed named Rambler. Rambler came from cow country in northern BC and had a few quirks that I was still learning to interpret. This horse could be used for shooting off of, would cross a river cover in thin ice and turned into a the safest equine around when there was a young kid on his back but had total heart failure at a mole hill. I was going Pre-Training at Island 22 Horse Trials way back in the early 90’s is my guess. (long time ago cant remember – LOL – I am now the secretary at this event) Cross country day was a rare non rainy day and there was a long gallop down the back fence area.
There are a few small dips in the footing back there. There is one section that gallops right along the main spectator viewing area we call the Plateau. My mother was standing on the plateau with a group of her friends. Rambler and I come galloping up feeling very cocky and confident (dad built this course the ribbon was mine!!) We gallop down the tiny hill and started to gallop up the tiny hill. I do not recall seeing a mole hill near the top of that hill when doing the course walk. Somehow Eagle-Eye-Rambler saw that tiny mole hill while galloping at Pre-Training speed and did the amazingly athletic deer leap right out of a Thelwel pony book. I of course did not do the leap with him and instead dropped like a rock right in front of my mother, her friends and all the organizers. My mother claimed that I was not her daughter and that it did not look like our horse. I proceeded to search every cross country course for mole hills after this.
Jessica
So, after about 6 years out of competing, I’d gotten the bug to get back into it last year. My horse was being leased by a spectacular junior rider and he was fit and ready – heck, why not? I practiced for a few weeks and we entered into the local “A” circuit show here in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Adult Amateur jumper classes. No big deal – I’ve done much more than that, and it was small potatoes for my old schoolmaster. APPARENTLY it was a big deal. One of us was ring-ready – one of us was scared silly.
I cantered my courtesy circle, heard the bell, and I don’t remember much after that – I was so scared I just blanked. My old friend loped around the course, though – in amazing forum and time. The video shows a perfect round by him – me? Not so much. Not only was I left behind at virtually every single fence, but by the time we got to the triple combination, I completely lost it, and wet my pants. Not like a squeaker, but full-on, let’er rip, piss the saddle.
We crossed the end line, and the small crowd – mostly of my sweet barn mates – was roaring – I’d won the class (it was a speed round – mercifully no jump-off). I trotted up to the ingate, where my trainer said “Bravo!!! Norman (the horse) was super, and you are alive!!! Hop off so we can take the saddle off and give Norman a rub.” I told her I just. Couldn’t. Get. Down. Not just then – I explained why and she literally fell down she was laughing so hard. I regained my nerves after that, and actually went on to be reserve champion that weekend – not bad for an old coot many years out of the ring who needs a box of Depends to make it through the class!!!
Make sure you vote, by selecting your choice in the poll here.
OK EN, we had a minor break in normal broadcasting with two massive weeks on EN. We had planned to run this as a follow up to the book review and Most Embarrassing Stories part one. We have consulted the Chinchilla judging panel and decided to open the competition up for a few more days. It gives me the full opportunity to share the embarrassment of the whole EN Team. The new closing date for the competition is this Sunday 18th September.
We start with a hilarious story from Samantha, thankfully it ended well. To win your copy of Stories from the Saddle send us your most embarrassing story from an event, in or out of the saddle. The finalists will be selected by myself and the EN Chinchillas, you will then get to vote for the winners. Send you entries in by email ONLY to [email protected], entries close on September 18.
Samantha Clark
I spent several years in my early twenties based with Alison Oliver, and they were among the best in my life. I lived above the stables, trained with Alison every day and became one of the family. Highlights included meeting and watching all the amazing people who passed through the yard to benefit from Alison’s wisdom while I was there, riding all sorts of horses, especially the ex-Mark Todd ride and then Korean Olympic team horse Peppermint Park (dreamy!), but most of all, I loved Chris and Toni Oliver, Alison’s children, like my own younger brother and sister.
Toni often traveled to events at weekends with me, and was great company, a few years younger, but like a best friend. This particular weekend, I think I had ridden one or two at an event a few hours away, then we had walked the course for the next day, Toni and I were going to drive home and swap horses before returning the following morning, and Alison was going to stay overnight with a friend nearby.
Alison had a little Norfolk Terrier, Shortie, who was quite spoilt and the apple of her eye, and we promised Alison we would take her home with us and look after her too, the most serious responsibility I’d ever been charged with! Well, we finished walking the course, loaded up the horses who’d been tied to the side of the lorry (as is completely normal in England! ), said goodbye to everyone around us, and started driving out the field that was the lorry park, chatting away, slowly obviously because it was grass and quite rutted.
Leslie Law is waving and waving, so we’re smiling and waving back, but now he’s waving his whole arms and shouting, and we wave back some more, then he’s jumping up and down as if he’s trying to stop an oncoming train, so finally we stop and wind down the windows, and he’s pointing at the front of the lorry, “Sam, the DOG!”….. Shortie is still tied to the front of the lorry. Oh My God.Toni and I stare at each other in dead silence, then each jump out of our respective side of the lorry.
Thankfully, mercifully, luckily, somehow, Shortie is fine, just out of breath, she just had more exercise across one field than she normally does in a week. My heart too, is pounding faster than it does in the start box for any advanced three day, and Leslie, now that we know the dog is ok, is pissing himself laughing! Toni tells me, “Sam, we must NEVER EVER tell Mum what just happened. She loves this dog more than me.”
We never did tell Alison, I was extra nice to Shortie all weekend. I don’t know if Alison reads Eventing Nation, but perhaps I’ll find out soon enough! I know that Leslie does, and he’s probably forgotten all about that , but will no doubt have a giggle when he remembers. I hardly ever talk about it, it’s certainly not one of my proudest moments, but ESJ seems to be able to get all sorts of incriminating evidence out of me! I promise that no other animals were hurt in the telling of this story, and that most of the time I’m an extremely responsible dog owner, just a rather forgetful one!
Abbie Golden
My most embarrassing moment was at Young Riders in 2008 when I was grooming for my best friend. I was riding a dirt bike and I was holding packets that I had just picked up from the office. At Young Riders they fence off the barns and there is usually a long line of people, golf carts, and horses to get in.
When I rode up it was mostly horses so I cut around the left side and attempted to drive through and wave my wristband at the official. I should also mention that the dirt bike was low on gas and would stall out if you stopped forward momentum, which is why I didn’t just wait in line. Unfortunately I realized too late that I wouldn’t be able to fit through the gate and tried to brake and stop.
Another feature of these bikes is the close proximity of the brake and accelerator. Naturally as I hit the break I also gunned the engine, causing the bike to shoot out from under me and go straight in the air (and the chain link fence) while I was still holding the handles. It took several seconds of shock and awe for me to realize that I was still holding the accelerator and that I had knocked back the portable fence a good ten feet.
Finally I dropped the bike and looked around to see about thirty people STARING and hear the official get on his radio about a “situation” at the barn entrance. I tried to hurry away as quickly as possible (walking the now dormant bike) and to add insult to injury it wouldn’t budge because it was still in gear. A nice observer pointed this out and I got out of there as quickly as possible…and changed shirts so that no one would recognize me. Annie Yeager Looking back, my Eventing career thus far has had its fair share of embarrassment, especially when it comes eliminations at events. I had a less-than-brilliant and seriously embarrassing introduction to the sport when, at my very first event, I got eliminated in the start box as my pony wouldn’t move his feet 3 inches past the box’s perimeters once the starter said ‘Go!’ despite all the flailing, kicking, and vocal persuasion I could muster as a twelve year old.
It was a scarring experience but I got past it, and although I’ve been eliminated at plenty of events since then, at least it hasn’t been for that reason. Then there was time, fast forward a few years, where I got eliminated at a show for having three errors in basically the first three movements of my dressage test. That one was pretty hard to face up to my coach about.
There was that time I got lost in the woods on the cross country course and kept galloping back and forth between two gallop paths (neither of which was anywhere close to where I was actually supposed to be) looking for my jump, and eventually they pulled me off the course for reaching the time limit. The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten about Eventing is that “There is always another way to get eliminated!’
Last but not least, the Big Kahuna of Eventing Nation , John Their
My most embarrassing moment fit for print is probably at Jersey in ’03 or ’04. I was 15 years young, doing my first two-star and felt like pretty hot stuff. I was riding an ex-racehorse and the love of my life named Roly, a name that I would earn for myself at Jersey. We had done three intermediates that spring to qualify, all clear, including a tough track at Poplar. This was back in the day of the long format, so we got Roly super fit and headed off to New Jersey to find our fortune. Our dressage test was let’s just say a bit forward and should have suggested to me that I was in for a bit of a surprise on Saturday, but I can be stubborn in my optimism.
Phase A went as planned, but the steeplechase must have aroused Roly’s old racing instincts because we finished at an all-out gallop and without any breaks to speak of. Again, perhaps I should have taken the hint but part of me thought the rising heat would take the edge off Roly by the time D started. We left the start box at a slightly more controlled pace than steeple chase, but we were still up on the first minute by 10 seconds and I still wasn’t having very good success half halting.
About half-way around the course we were still clear and we jumped into water complex in the middle of the big Jersey field still full of run. I got us off our line slightly to the next jump, a duck in the middle of the water. I will never forget the feeling of my knee hitting that damn duck’s head in the air. I lost my stirrup which Roly took as a signal to return to steeple chase speed as I clung to his side.
What happened next is a matter of some debate with some accounts having been embellished more than others. But, sticking to the firm facts, I ended up on the ground rolling for about 20 feet and then Roly galloped through several galloping lanes before pulling up miraculously unhurt. The event was postponed for 20 minutes while the galloping lanes were put back in place and I, furious at myself and the world, retrieved my now quite satisfied horse. I don’t know who was on course behind me, but they have my endless apologies.
The event’s safety supervisor, Rusty, still heckles me about the trouble I made for him and the Jersey crew that day. But my horse and I lived to fight another day and I learned a valuable lesson about the difference between feeling ready and being ready.
So there you have it guys, the EN Team have laid themselves bare for you, to win your copy of Stories from the saddle, send your most embarrassing story to [email protected] by September 14 to be in the running.
G’day Eventing Nation, I am back in Australia. It has been a great trip, even the 23 hours of flights wasn’t too bad. The scale of the two events I have been to in the UK is very different to any I have been involved in before.
There are lessons learned, things to bring back to Eventing in Oz, from the size of the broadband connection needed in the media centre to the professionalism and friendliness of some of the equestrian world’s best.
I am acutely aware of the privilege of the positions I hold in our sport. As a Technical Delegate (TD) I get to watch, interact with and learn from the very best in the world of Eventing. To be part of Burghley was my absolute pleasure and an experience I will remember for my years to come.
I love this shot of Francis Whittington
The Burghley crew is huge, with so many layers of support across this massive event, remember we are only talking about 80 horses in the four star. Leading the massive team is the delightful and ever-so-calm-on-the-outside, Elizabeth Inman. As Event Director Elizabeth has an enormous weight on her shoulders and manages it so well.
Every good event has a Event Secretary who deals with all of the correspondence, tries to keep pressure off the Director and makes the event look like a well oiled machine. For Burghley this is Anne Whitton.
Anne and Elizabeth together make a formidable team and ALWAYS gave the impression of having everything was under control, even when it wasn’t. A calm and considered attitude at the top makes all the difference and these two ladies are some of the best.
I do hope that one day I may be able to return to Burghley and be part of the team once again. I loved my time at Burghley and it flashed by like a dream.
While at Burghley I managed to find some time to hang out with Samantha Clark, mostly while she was frenetically uploading videos and pictures in the Media Centre at any hour of the day, usually between 7am and 11pm you can find Sam in the Media Centre.
Sam introduced me to some people, for instance walking through the truck park, we said hello to William Fox-Pitt. I was even able to tell William something about his XC run at Hong Kong in 2008 that no-one had told him before.
The mysterious Nico Morgan
I met and worked alongside some of the eventing world’s best photographers and journalists. The ladies from Horse and Hound were lovely and so laid back, not at all what I was expecting. To go out for dinner and enjoy the company of Nico Morgan and Jon Stroud was out of this world.
It is a privilege to be part of the EN team and be involved so intimately with these great events is very cool. At Blenheim I stood shoulder to shoulder with photographers as we captured the emotion of the 9/11 commemorations. We stood in the freezing rain as New Zealand, Japan and Australia were presented with their medals and then the weather miraculously cleared as the final presentation got under way.
Tiana about to receive her rosette
I nearly cried with Tiana Coudray and her relief at finally achieving glory after so many disappointments. Every moment I was there capturing it for Eventing Nation.
I had a blast and consider it an honor to be part of Eventing Nation. Finally, I am so excited that while I was in the UK, one of my favorite events back home was being covered by Caroline Wardrop or Caz. Caz worked very hard to cover the Sydney three day for EN and did an outstanding job. Thank you Caz, I really appreciate it.
This is Caz with her everyday security entourage
Before I finish up, I better update the final results of the Eventing Nation World Teams Championship, hosted by Blenheim Horse Trials USA 163.1 New Zealand 185.8 Germany 203.7 France 213.6 Ireland 236.2 Japan 245.9 Great Britain 260 Australia 1155.8
Congratulations to Teams USA, NZ and Germany for medalling in this inaugural imaginary competition. Normal EN service will resume shortly.
Piggy French is smiling after winning the Blenheim CCI3*
I can’t believe my two weeks in the UK are over. It has been fun,exciting and incredibly busy. I have been to two very different Horse Trials in that time. Burghley is world-class, big, scary and also extremely friendly. The crew there are brilliant and work hard to bring the best possible event to the world.
Blenheim was another world. A smaller scale than Burghley, but friendly, world class and some amazing competitors on the future four star horses for the world. We had 14 Nations represented.
Tiana just after finishing her clear jumping round
Team USA has had an amazing couple of weeks. For me last week Neville and Boyd were the stars but this week Tiana Coudray finally had her moment in the sun. She finished on dressage score in a field of 97 where only 71 completed and only four others managed to finish on their dressage marks.
Both Tiana and Ringwood Magister glowed all weekend and the emotion she showed after jumping clear was palpable. This pair haven’t had a good run and today they mended some painful memories. I heard Bettina Hoy reflecting on her recent past and saying that this moment is one she will savor following the pain and stress.
Three very happy ladies triumphing over a strong field
Clark Montgomery finished in fifth after moving up 7 places with a clear jumping round when there were few in the top 10. Will Faudree also moved up from 27th after dressage to 8th place. Will, Clark and Tiana showed that the event is won after a consistently good three days not just a good round in one of the phases.
After an eventful drive from Blenheim to Heathrow Airport, I’m against the clock so shall stop talking and leave you with some of the action.
How is that for scope?
Will Faudree on fire!
Tiana and Ringwood Magister
Piggy
Will Faudree and a very happy Sara Ike
The girls behind the Kiwi success, the Grooms
Pretty cool rug
Congratulations to Team Japan on their Olympic qualification
Full results are here, I will see you all at the end of tomorrow.
Boys being boys. Aussie Olympian and all round larrikin, Shane Rose, ends up with mud on his face after deciding it would be a good idea to climb the fence and jump into the arena before his course walk!
From Caz:
Wow. What a big day, what a weekend! So many ups and downs with the leading riders pushed right to the end. After cross-country day, all classes were pretty tight at the pointy end and I am sure everyone was wondering how the showjumping phase would pan out. Course designer, John Vallance certainly didn’t disappoint the crowd, putting together some challenging courses that asked the difficult questions and pushed the riders to hold their nerve right to the very last fence.
In the CCI*, Wil Enzinger riding Wenlock Aquifer and Emma Mason riding Poker face had a bit of a buffer from the rest of the field. But don’t be mistaken; competition between this pair was still pretty fierce. Adding to the pressure, young rider Juana Andreou, sitting in third place, and Tim Boland and Shane Rose sitting in fourth and fifth rode some excellent double clears to stay within spitting distance of the leaders. Mason came out and rode a great round but unfortunately dropped a rail at the last. This gave Enzinger some breathing space, but with some expensive rounds earlier in the day, the crowd collectively held its breath as he presented to each jump. Enzinger held his neve and rode a flawless round, taking home the prize in this class and finishing on his dressage score of 41.50.
Wil Enzinger (L) wins the CCI* class with Emma Mason (R) close on his heels in second.
The two-star course presented a huge challenge, with ten out of the fourteen riders taking rails and some practically bringing down the entire course. After cross-country day, the top five riders were all sitting within one rail of each other, and accuracy and speed were required to get through safely and take the top prize. Shane Rose, riding two horses in this top five, presented his striking black 7-year-old Irish sport horse x warmblood stallion, Statford Neo, mid-field. Rose dropped two rails, indicating to the leading riders that this course would be tough.
Wil Enziger riding TS Jamiamo (L), Shane Rose riding Il Vici (middle) and Natalie Blundell riding Just a Blonde (R) in the CCI**.
After only one clear round so far, Wil Enzinger came out to deliver a blazing double clear on his two-star horse, TS Jamaimo. The challenge was set and Rose, Balcomb and Blundell needed to step up. Riding the gorgeous chestnut thoroughbred, Il Vici, Rose answered Enziger’s challenge with a double clear on this elastic and expressive gelding. With nerves of steel, 22-year-old Sydneysider Lauren Balcomb, came out on Kootoomootoo, the former ride of Boyd Martin, to ride a perfect round and show the boys how it’s done. Natalie Blundell had a huge challenge ahead of her and unfortunately her little palomino gelding, Just a Blonde, looked a bit flat and dropped two rails for fourth place, handing Balcomb the victory.
Lauren Balcomb riding Kootoomotoo – winners of the CCI** class at Sydney International 3-day Event.
After a great contest in the two-star, I was wondering what the feature CCI*** would hold. As the builders started creating the final course, I began to look at the jumps and think, oh my gosh these are huge! Continuing with his duties as Patron of Sydney International Eventing, Wayne Roycroft walked the course with builder, John Vallance, discussing the fences. Most jumps were at maximum height, maximum width or both. There were some tricky lines and tight turns; and the skinny was not only narrow, it had brown and white poles that almost seemed to blend into the background making it an extremely dangerous jump.
Christine Bates goes clear in the CCI***
Much like the two-star, the top five in the three-star were pretty tight, with only one pole separating them. The course was tough and by the time fifth placed Christine Bates came out, only one rider, Emma Dougall riding Kelecyn Ice Age, had made it through clear. Adelaide Hill is not known for giving the easiest of rides but today he seemed to know exactly what to do and Christine rode her heart out to come in clear and on time (and stay on the horse past the finish line!).
Craig Barrett was next out on Sandhills Brilliare. Watching the combination compete with owners, Julie and Keith Osborne was a tense affair and Craig did a super job on this talented mare, dropping just one rail and coming in under time.
Craig Barrett riding Sandhills Brilliare in the CCI*** at Sydney International 3-day Event
After incurring time penalties on the cross-country course and dropping from first to third, Boland was looking to redeem himself. Tim and GV Billy Elliot had a cracking clear round but much like the cross-country, was a bit slow and incurred some time penalties.
Tim Boland riding GV Billy Elliot incurs two time penalties in the CCI***.
Up and coming rider, Victoria Luxford was out next but the cross-country appeared to have taken its toll on the 15-year-old gelding and the pair dropped several rails on course. By the time they reached the final jump, Perfect Encounter looked spent, crashing through the fencing, causing Victoria to slip side-ways. With all her might, she tried to clamber back into the saddle but unfortunately she couldn’t quite make it, eventually dropping to the ground. Such a shame given how well she rode in the dressage and cross-country.
Victoria Luxford hangs on for dear life before finally dropping to the ground, resulting in elimination in the CCI***.
The final ride for the day was Olympian and World Equestrian Games representative, Stuart Tinney, riding the newly acquired Pluto Mio. I really love this horse and I think they have plenty of potential to go along way. But today was not their day and, with two rails, they dropped from first to fourth.
Stuart Tinney riding Pluto Mio knocks two rails, dropping from first to fourth place in the CCI***.
With Tinney incurring eight penalties, Luxford getting eliminated, Boland earning two time penalties and Barrett dropping one rail, this gave Christine Bates on Adelaide Hill the win, climbing from fifth place to first thanks to an incredible double clear round. Tim Boland on GV Billy Elliot was second, third place to Craig Barrett on Sandhills Brilliare, fourth to Stuart Tinney on Pluto Mio and fifth to Eleanor Osborne riding Mighty High.
What a great day with plenty of excitement in the showjumping phase of this event. With Christine Bates taking home the win at Sydney, Adelaide is going to be an interesting competition in November.
Congratulations to Christine Bates riding Adelaide Hill – victorious in the CCI*** at the Sydney International 3-day Event
A final note to say thank you to ESJ for giving me this opportunity to report from the Sydney International 3-day Event. It was great fun and I hope you’ve enjoyed my stories. As @franjurga pointed out the other day, with reports coming from Sydney, AEC and Blenheim this weekend, perhaps Eventing Nation should now be re-named Eventing Planet!
The crowd paused for a minute silence, paid there respects to the American team present and took a moment to remember the lives lost 10 years ago. It was a somber moment.
I had to do a collage of the awesome tail of Tiana Coudray’s mount Ringwood Magister
There are two events happening at Blenheim this weekend and until this moment I have ignored the second one. This is the 8 and 9 year old CIC3* event. This event has a history of highlighting the best up and coming horses in the UK.
Last year’s winner was NZB Land Vision ridden by Mark Todd, this young horse won Badminton earlier this year. The inaugural winner of the class in 2009, was Piggy French and Flying Machine, who came fourth at Luhmuhlen 4 star earlier this year. Second to Flying Machine in 2009 was Avebury, the horse partnered with Andrew Nicholson finished eighth at Burghley just last week.
Lucinda Green doing one of her many media interviews
So bragging rights are certainly a feature of the 8/9 yo CIC3* class here at Blenheim. The final top five are:
William Fox-Pitt – Oslo 43.5 Sarah Cohen – Treason 47.9 William Fox-Pitt – Lionheart 49.1 Ciaran Glynn – Don’t Tell Punch 50.0 Caroline Powell – Onwards and Upwards 54.0
Andrew Nicholson and Oliver Townend watching the early showjumping
Congratulations to William, he is on a roll lately and he may still be in the money later today in the CCI.
The morning has been absolutely beautiful, terribly horrible and really nice. The weather is changing every 30 seconds or so, I am trying to keep out of it as much as possible and duck out when I can.
Here are a few pics from the jumping this morning. I will be back later with a final wrap which I will probably write at Heathrow Airport before I fly home to Australia.
Jules Stiller and Enjoy Me
Ginny Howe and Divilabit
Bruno Bouvier and Summerset Finally, to match the collage of Ringwood Magister, here is a collage of the only Appaloosa in the CCI.
Lauren Yallop of Great Britain and her own One More Step
The trot up (jog) was uneventful this morning with all horses from the National teams of Japan, Australia and New Zealand all passed without incident.
Will Faudree and Pawlow
There were some very nice outfits from both the guys and girls, a selection is below. Only three horses were held, the first Ginny Howes’ Gamblers Image was passed on re-inspection. Paul Hart of South Africa’s Heartbreak Hill was quite obviously lame and was spun by the ground jury. Finally Kenny, Renan Guerreiro from Brazil’s ride was withdrawn after being held.
Georgie Spence and Bow House Mandalin
The dream of seeing Piggy French win in a one-two double has been dashed overnight with the withdrawal of the first placed horse Lemington Lett Dance. Third placed Billy Landretti with Pippa Funnel was also withdrawn before the trot as was Geoffroy De Jamblinne’s Never Fly.
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister now in second place
With two of the top three horses now out of contention, Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister move into second place with third place now filled by Bettina Hoy. Phillip Dutton and Clark Montgomery move into ninth and tenth places. Show jumping will be exciting and I have my fingers crossed for personal favorite Clarke Johnstone and Orient Express currently in sixth place just 8.8 behind the leader Piggy French.
Sophie Hearle and Western Rainbow
Unfortunately over night we had some bad news about Kyle Carter’s Madison Park with his injuries being confirmed as having torn a ligament and slipped a tendon off his hock. We wish Kyle and Parker the best of luck.
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen in tenth position
Eventing Nation World Teams Championship, hosted by Blenheim Horse Trials
Earlier this weekend I made up my very own international teams championship for the Blenheim event. Why? We had 8 nations with 3 or more combinations. I played selector for Team GBR and Team USA. I didn’t get to a post XC update yesterday and in all honesty, being an Aussie I wish I hadn’t started this in the first place. Here are the team standings after XC.
USA 156.1 New Zealand 171.8 Germany 193.7 France 198.5 Ireland 209.2 Japan 223.9 Australia 227.9 Great Britain 239.0
Show jumping is this afternoon and the Aussie team have one last chance to redeem some pride, fingers crossed.
Vittoria Panizzon and Borough Pennyz of Italy in fourth
Piggy French came in clear and under time on both her mounts to move up to first and second place more than a rail clear of Pippa Funnel in third. The USA’s Tiana Coudray also remain on their dressage score to be in fourth place.
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister
Overnight leader Bettina Hoy had a fantastic round but picked up 7.6 time penalties dropping her to fifth place coming into the final day. The day was eventful with the combination fence seven claiming a few falls. Thankfully no serious injuries were sustained by horse or rider. Tom Crisp has broken leg and Lucy Wiegersma landed heavily in her feet and has a suspected broken ankle. There are no reported horse injuries.
Bettina Hoy and Lanfranco TSF at the finish cooling down
Today was a mixed day for Team USA, Tiana is in fourth, Phillip moved up from 18th to 11th. Clark dropped a few after picking up 8.0 time to 12th. Will Faudree, shot to 14th from 27th after picking up just 2.8 time.
Unfortunately, Jules and Aimee both had a stop and picked up a chunk of time each to drop to 64th and 74th respectively. Of the 97 who started dressage, only 79 remain.
Canada’s Kathryn Robinson remained steady after picking up 11.2 time she is in 36th place. Kyle Carter has continued his bad luck in the UK and pulled up part way round. I have been in touch with Carter Eventing and the word is that Parker didn’t feel right after a fence so Kyle pulled up. He is back in the barn and being evaluated now.
Today seemed to be the day for the boys to take their shirts off (sorry guys, no girls took their’s off although Laura Collett was tempted in the Puissance). If you caught my earlier Puissance post you would have caught three. I also snapped former dancer now eventer from South Africa Alexander Peternell in the finish box without his shirt. In other news, Alexander is in seventh place after picking up just 6.0 time penalties.
South Africa’s Alexander Peternell
I felt Simon Grieve and Cornacrew almost brush past me as I took this shot, one of my favorites for the weekend so far
Here are the top 20 at the end of today, the remaining scores can be found here.
As we go into the final day, here is a piece of trivia for you. The last time a rider had a first-second double at Blenheim was William Fox-Pitt on Stunning and Tamarillo in 2000. If Piggy manages to pull it off tomorrow she is in exclusive company.
I caught up with Tiana Coudray at the finish and she was very happy, unfortunately the wind was horrible and you can’t understand most of the video. Finally 60 seconds with a very happy Piggy French.
And as promised yesterday, a picture the iconic jump that graces the entry to Syndey International Equestrian Centre.
Here is the latest update from down under by Caz.
I think there must have been plenty of toes and fingers crossed over night, or perhaps the odd prayer or two said before bed as the weather for cross country day was perfect. It definitely wasn’t warm, with an icy wind hanging round all day, but at least it stayed dry and the sun managed to poke it’s head out a few times during the day. And while it may have been a bit chilly at times for the spectators, for the horses and riders it was perfect.
A great initiative offered at Sydney Three-Day Event is a behind the scenes package for schools, pony clubs and adult riding clubs. One component of this program was a tour around the stables with Stuart Tinney’s former groom, Amy McGregor; and another was a course walk with Aussie eventing legend, Wayne Roycroft, who has recently accepted an invitation to be Patron of Sydney International Eventing.
Wayne Roycroft with a captive audience during the course walk
So this morning I found myself with a group of around 30 people traipsing around the cross-country course, hanging on Wayne’s every word. It was a real privilege to get the opportunity to participate in this course walk and I am in awe of Wayne’s incredible instincts and knowledge. He literally just glanced at a fence and within seconds had calculated the distance and a plan for tackling it, using examples of how different Australian horse and rider combinations through history would attack the jump.
And after walking around the course all day, I have to congratulate SIEC management for doing a great job – the track is currently in amazing shape. As I walked the course this morning, I was speaking to one of the riders who said that usually, after walking halfway round the course, her feet are killing because the ground is so hard – a problem typical for many Australian courses. I suppose it doesn’t help that much of the country was suffering from serious drought until recently, so perhaps it’s a good thing for the horses (and the farmers!) that we’ve swung from El Nino to la Nina conditions! But today, the ground was soft yet firm and I think there was only one point along my course walk where the ground went squelch. I felt positively ridiculous wandering round in my gumboots but I think all the riders were relieved it was not slippery, a major concern for many after the torrential rain of yesterday.
Pluto Mio looking a little cleaner today!
All classes ran well today without major incident, and six of the thirteen starters in the CCI*** made it through on double clears. Two riders were eliminated, five went over time and three had troubles with the skinny jump in the water.
A few changes were seen on the leader board, with Tim Boland on GV Billy Elliot incurring a costly 2.4 time penalties. This dropped them back to third place behind Stuart Tinny on Pluto Mio on a double clear and Victoria Luxford clear jumping but with 0.8 time penalties.
Victoria Luxford riding Perfect Encounter
After producing a fantastic dressage test yesterday and then backing up this form in the cross country today, Victoria Luxford will be one to watch in the future. She’s travelling well at the 3-star level on her fabulous 15-year-old gelding, Perfect Encounter, who she purchased seven years ago as a pre-novice horse. And as reported yesterday, she took home the 7-year-old young event horse title on her off the track thoroughbred, Little Miss Perfect. Here’s hoping she has a cracker of a showjumping round tomorrow as she’s in a great position to knock the big boys off the top spot!
Unfortunately equal third from yesterday, George Sheridan, riding Woznme had some trouble on course and had a stop at the fourth jump and two refusals at the skinny in the water. It was a shame to see him go as he did such a lovely dressage test yesterday.
Craig Barrett riding Sandhills Brilliare
Craig Barrett had a super round finishing double clear on my personal favourite horse of the competition, Sandhills Brilliare. This horse’s stable name is Sparkles and for a sport as tough as eventing, her name certainly brings a smile to my face! Craig is currently sitting in fourth place on 47.50 and Christine Bates riding Adelaide Hill rounds out the top five on 49.00 – less than one rail behind the leaders. Showjumping is certainly going to be exciting tomorrow!
The two-star class is also pretty tight, with the top five combinations, Natalie Blundell, Lauren Balcomb, Shane Rose (riding two horses – Il Vici and Statford Neo) and Will Enzinger sitting within one rail of each other.
Will Enzinger and his pink diamante stirrups!
Wil Enzinger has also had a great competition so far and is sitting first in the CCI* riding Wenlock Aquifer (and wearing stirrups with bright pink diamantes, as we were reminded by commentator, Fiona Hughes!). Emma Mason is hot on his heels riding Poker Face and these two riders are currently sitting clear of the field. Rounding out the competition, Sandy Lucas on Diamond Affair is currently leading the pre-novice class on a score of 44.40.
Catch me tomorrow trying to live tweet @Cazdrop and take photos are the same time. Let’s hope my iPhone makes it through the rest of the weekend after dropping it too many times this weekend!
This morning we kicked off the CCI3* cross country with Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the Olympic qualifying round. Australia and Japan are fighting it out for the single regional Olympic teams spot up for grabs. The trailblazer was Yoshiaki Oiwa from Japan.
I recall Yoshi being a crowd favorite at Badminton in 2005, at the time he was the first Japanese rider to compete at the prestigious four star event and he was on the highly experienced 18 year old gelding Voyou Du Roc. Today he was aboard Mr Yuko Nakakura’s Gorgeous George.
Unfortunately Yoshi and George had a fall at fence 18 and although both were OK, this put a real dampener on the Japanese team. Lucy Jackson led out the Kiwis with Britain-based Brook Staples the first out for the Aussies. Poor Lucy got held part way round the course thanks to Yoshi’s fall but managed to go on clear with 5.6 time.
Catherine Burrell and Urzan
Brook Staples for Australia had a moment at fence four but was clear all the way round and took a punishing 18.4 time penalties. Catherine Burrell next for Australia collected 19.6 time with her clear round. Third out for Australia was Lucinda Fredericks who looked good but strong, had Nysa De Petra jump her off at fence 17.
The weight was on the shoulders of Bill Levett as he started the XC to not only put in a good score but to finish. Thankfully Bill made it home but unfortunately he picked up a 20 early on and then 12 time to leave Australia on a total of 227.9 penalties.
Clarke Johnstone & the legend Orient Express
The Kiwi team continue to look hot favorites next year in London to complete with all five riders home clear, and a total of 11.2 times penalties for the whole team. Both Clarke and Andrew finished under the time to put the Kiwi team on 171.8 well ahead of the Aussies.
Jock Paget and Clifton Razz
After a shaky start with Yoshi the Japanese were not looking promising with a tough round from Takayuki Yumira and the Aussie bred Hooligan who picked up 40 jumping and 43.2 time. Unfortunately for Australia the Japanese rallied with the final three home without jumping penalties Tsuchiya 5.6 time, Sato 4.4 time and Negishi 24.8 time.
Kenki Sato and Chippieh
This leaves team Japan on 223.9, a full jumping rail in front of Australia. I bet right now that Prue Barratt and the rest of the Aussie High Performance team are wishing that Chris Burton and Newsprint were available to run in the Green and Gold this weekend.
Lucinda Fredericks and Nysa De Petra before their fall
As they say it isn’t over til the fat lady sings and we still have the jumping to go. More XC action later today. Back soon.
Ginny Howe of Great Britain, nice to see a smile before dressage
The dressage is complete and there was a little movement at the top of the scoreboard with the final competitors. Andrew Nicholson of New Zealand riding as an individual has slipped into sixth place on 45.0, Rachel Lupton of Great Britain also moved into the top 10 in 9th place on 46.9.
In other news the scoreboard for the dressage phase is complete for the Eventing Nation World Teams Championship, hosted by Blenheim Horse Trials. Great Britain 138.1 USA 141.0 Germany 154.9 Australia 157.9 New Zealand 165.4 Japan 176.0 France 181.3 Ireland 182.1
Tomorrow is cross country on an interesting Eric Winter course. Have a great night. I’m off to find a party.
Reflections of a horse and rider – the dressage arena resembling a water jump
Here is the latest Sydney update from Caz. All photos are by Caz
From Caz:
Sydney International Equestrian Centre is a place dear to my heart. I don’t think there are too many people in the world who can say they got to go to an Olympic Games in their home town and witness their sporting heroes bring home the gold. To be there in those stands and to sing the Australian National Anthem – a moment like this, to quote a certain credit card company, is, well, priceless. I’ve been back to this venue on numerous occasions since the 2000 games but it still makes me smile, driving through the gates and seeing the iconic final jump at the entrance (I’ll get a photo of that tomorrow!).
Sydney International three-day is historically held every September each year, based around the dates of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. September was chosen as the date for the Olympics for a number of reasons: it was closest to the northern hemisphere summer, which suited the flagship sports such as athletics; the temperatures are historically pleasant; and, apparently, September is the driest month of the year. In 2000, the weather was out of this world spectacular – somewhere around 26-30°C (79-86°F) each day with beautiful, clear blue skies.
In 2000 the temps ranged between 26-30°C. Today we were lucky for 15°C!
Unfortunately, the Sydney International Three-day Event appears to be cursed. I don’t know what it is but it seems like every year the weekend chosen for this event is both unseasonably cold and wet. And this year has not bucked this trend. Today we got four seasons in one day, with the rain tumbling during the young horse classes and the sun finally poking it’s nose out during the CCI*** dressage, phew! Like any good competition, there were ups and downs, with the day ending on a bang (see the temperature ‘spike’ at 3pm) but I think I would have preferred a sunny day instead.
Bad weather brings out some awesome gumboots.
A Jack Russell terrier like a pig in mud enjoying the wet; and some fabulous doggy raincoat fashions!
Now that I’ve grumbled and moaned about the terrible, English-like weather, I should get down to telling you about the competition!
The day started with the Telstra Australian Young Event Horse Championships for 5-year-old, 6-year-old and 7-year-old event horses. The competition was pretty tight in all classes and it was wonderful to watch some well prepared, well educated young horses that I hope to see coming through the levels in the next few years. All were extremely well behaved, especially considering the poor weather including torrential rain and swimming pool like conditions in the main arena. I really enjoyed watching the horses go straight from he dressage arena into showjumping ring and I must congratulate all the riders for doing do such a great job. Jessamy Walsh, riding the striking chestnut warmblood/thoroughbred cross, Mr Walker, were victorious in the 5-year-old class. Claudia Graham, riding my favourite young horse for the day and overall young horse supreme champion, Double Vision, were victorious in the 6-year-old class. And Victoria Luxford riding the aptly named Little Miss Perfect, took home the title in the 7-year-old class.
Claudia Graham riding Double Vision winners of the Telstra Australian Young Event Horse supreme champion prize with judges Elizabeth Armstrong and Wayne Roycroft
The weather cleared just in time for the Harbour IT CCI*** class and the small crowd of spectators flocked to the main arena to watch the action. Shane Rose started off with a lovely test ride (what a shame he wasn’t competing) before Emma Dougall kicked off the competition. Unfortunately her horse, Kelecyn Ice Age, was not impressed with the water and never really settled into the canter. While all riders put in a fine effort considering the poor conditions, the top five were all very professional and put in some polished rides.
Legendary Wayne Roycroft checking out the action
Tim Boland has plenty to prove riding GV Billy Elliot after a disappointing ride at Melbourne and came out on song today. He demonstrated true professionalism, with an expressive yet controlled test and showed one of the calmest free walks I think I have ever seen on an event horse. He should be extremely happy, sitting first with a score of 44.80.
Tim Boland riding GV Billy Elliot currently sitting first on 44.80
Stuart Tinney only recently took over the ride of Pluto Mio in May of this year and this horse is all class with plenty of presence and a great way of going. I think horse and rider are still figuring each other out and unfortunately there were a few minor hiccups along the way. However, overall the test was very smart and the pair scored a well-deserved 45.60.
Stuart Tinney riding Pluto Mio – as last to go, this pair suffered the most from the waterlogged arena
George Sheridan and Victoria Luxford are close on the heels of the leaders, both sitting in third place with a score of 46.00. Victoria started competing at the three star level in late 2009 and has been consistently improving her dressage score from one event to the next. She should be very happy with her 16-year-old thoroughbred gelding, Perfect Encounter, riding a smooth and obedient test. Likewise, George rode a similarly obedient and polished test on his lovely cool, calm and collected gelding, Woznme.
Victoria Luxford riding her 16 year old gelding, Perfect encounter
George Sheridan riding Woznme, currently in equal third place with a score of 46
Craig Barrett, riding the lovely 9-year-old thoroughbred/warmblood mare, Sandhills Brilliare rounds off the top five with a score of 47.50. I spoke with owner, Julie Osborne just after the test and she was proud as punch with this mare. Sandhills Brilliare has a soft, no-fuss way of going with some fancy, powerful movement and a great hind-end. And with less than one rail between first and fifth, this pair is still well and truly in the running.
Craig Barrett riding Sandhills Brilliare
Tomorrow’s forecast looks to be a bit kinder on riders with only a 30 per cent chance of rain, but the going will still be pretty slick. Fingers crossed it stays clear and we get some great cross-country action.
Don’t forget you can also catch me attempting to live tweet from the event @Cazdrop. After today, I now have an increased level of respect for Samantha Clark for her amazing ability to multi-task writing stories, recording videos and live tweeting.
Signing off for tonight, ready to get some beauty sleep before a big day tomorrow.
