Phillip Dutton and Ben

Phillip Dutton and Ben made a big statement in the third CIC3* dressage group at Richland just before the lunch break, scoring 41.8 to take the lead over himself and Mr. Medicott, who scored a 46.7 this morning. Ben gets better and better in the dressage every time I see him, and he really looked fantastic today, especially in the canter work, where I imagine they picked up very strong marks. Phillip and Ben parted ways in their last start at Rebecca Farm, and they’ll be looking for redemption this weekend. Will Faudree and Andromaque performed their usual relaxed, workmanlike test to score 47.3 to move into third place. This pair has had a fantastic season, winning the Jersey Fresh CIC3* and finishing in the top 10 at the Saumur CCI3* over in France, and they’re definitely ones to watch this weekend.

Will Faudree and Andromaque

I’m thrilled with Erin Sylvester and No Boundaries, who had a really lovely test to tie for sixth place on a 48.8 with Diana Burnett and Shigatzi. Bucky can struggle with being relaxed during his dressage tests, but he looked fantastic today, his ears constantly flicking back to listen to Erin. This horse is a freak across the country, and you can expect a very good performance from them on Saturday. Allison Springer and Copycat Chloe, another pair that struggles with tension, looked equally fabulous in their test, scoring 50.5 to sit behind Erin and Bucky in eighth place. You’ll definitely want to watch the video below to see how relaxed Chloe looked throughout the test. It’s been a lot of fun to watch Allison and Chloe’s new partnership blossom, and I’m shamelessly rooting for them this weekend.

Erin Sylvester and No Boundaries

Doug Payne and Crown Talisman had a bit of bad luck in their test when Tali lost the counter canter and just did not want to pick up the correct lead to proceed with the movement. Doug handled the situation as best he could. It’s a shame, as Tali is a stunning mover who can really perform a lovely, accurate test, but today just wasn’t their day. They scored 52.2 to tie for 11th, and they’re still very much in the mix. Three pairs in this group missed the halt and reinback at A. This is a public service announcement to the riders still to go after the lunch break to burn that halt into your brains! We’re about to kick things off with the fourth of fifth groups to go in the CIC3* dressage. Stay tuned for much more from Richland!

[Richland Website] [Entry List] [2013 Schedule] [Live Scores]

Thoroughbred racehorses that go on to second careers are unique in that they have two retirements in their lifetimes: the first from the track and the second from the show ring. Thoroughbred Legends, a new EN series presented by Cosequin, seeks to honor off-track Thoroughbreds that went on to accomplish great things as upper-level eventers and now enjoy a second retirement in their golden years. If you know of a great Thoroughbred for this series, tip me at [email protected].

Carrick, left, and Sloopy enjoying their retirement in Southern Pines.

At 21, Sloopy shares a pasture with Carrick, a fellow successful and now retired upper-level eventer at John and Ellen Williams’ farm in Southern Pines, N.C. Always overshadowed by Carrick, who served as the selectors’ first choice when it came time to choose horses for teams, Sloopy quietly accumulated solid placings with John at major events like Rolex and Burghley during his career, earning himself the 19th spot on the USEA’s most recent High Scoring Horses list. While he never truly stood alone in the spotlight, Sloopy made a name for himself in his own right, serving as a textbook example of just how suited an off-track Thoroughbred can be to a second career in eventing.

Sloopy raced 43 times under the Jockey Club name Sloopy’s David (Two Davids X Nearly Sloopy, by Military Bearing), accumulating eight wins and more than $50,000 in earnings. John and Ellen purchased him in 1999 in partnership with Bob Boeckman and Mary Delton as a 7-year-old from Jan Byyny, who had him for several months after he came off the track in Tampa Bay. “John clicked with him as soon as he met him,” Ellen said. “I was not as sure about him at the start, but John was. I don’t think Sloopy would ever have done what he did without John. They just had such an incredible partnership. Sloopy would do anything for him.”

Just one year after John and Sloopy began their partnership, Sloopy stumbled in the water complex at Stuart Horse Trials in 2000 while running the intermediate division. “He went down and completely removed the front of his knee,” Ellen said. “It was like someone took an ice cream scoop out of the flesh down to the bone. I remember thinking when I saw the injury that he was not going to survive, and if he did, he would certainly never compete again.” But Sloopy recovered beautifully from what appeared to be a career-ending injury, coming back mere months later to win the Camino Real CCI2*.

Sloopy continued to persevere through the knee injury, piloting John to 18th-place finishes at Burghley in both 2003 and 2004, as well as a 10th-place finish at Rolex in 2006 and numerous other top placings at three-star events. The injury ultimately triggered arthritic changes in Sloopy’s knee, and he underwent surgery after Fair Hill in 2007 to remove bone chips. “The surgeon said we might have a pasture sound horse after that if we were lucky, but he couldn’t promise anything else,” Ellen said. In typical Sloopy fashion, he rallied back to compete again, this time with Lizzie Snow in the irons for her first intermediate at Lumber River Horse Trials in 2008, which they won.

Sloopy concluded his eventing career one year later, going out on a high note with a win at Five Points Horse Trials with Lizzie in the fall of 2009. Since then, he’s been living the good life in Southern Pines, getting “fat and happy” and becoming “absolutely feral,” as Ellen fondly describes him. “He has little interest in doing anything civilized,” Ellen said. But after all he accomplished, Ellen agrees Sloopy deserves a grand retirement.'”The number of three- and four-stars he did — many of them long format — was impressive,” Ellen said. “He also won Best Conditioned at Fair Hill and Foxhall, all with a heart murmur. He never quit trying even in awful conditions, which is probably a Thoroughbred trait.”

The USPC Inter Pacific Exchange Team — Amanda Silver, Ann Bellinger, Alexa Ehlers and Reesie McGuigan — just returned from their two-week trip competing in Australia. Their team finished in third place behind Australia and New Zealand in the Nations Cup show jumping competition. Amanda sent in some video footage from the competition, which you can view below. Congrats to the team for an excellent showing on an international stage!

The USPC Inter Pacific Exchange Team in Australia.

From Amanda:

I was one of the riders on this year’s USPC Inter Pacific Exchange team. Our team of four U.S. riders had the opportunity to travel to Australia for two and a half weeks of travel, riding, competition and cultural exchange. We traveled with teams from Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and had the experience of a lifetime!

The goal of the Inter Pacific Exchange is to take top-level Pony Clubbers from different countries and give them the opportunity to share their individual experiences and make connections abroad. We saw so many amazing sights, met amazing people and rode fantastic horses. The trip culminated with a Nations Cup show jumping competition, in which we placed third!

We hope to share our experience on the Inter Pacific Exchange with young eventers and Pony Clubbers back in the U.S., who will hopefully be future Inter Pacific Exchange riders! It was a unique opportunity unlike anything I have ever done. I’ve never had so much fun in my life, and I will cherish these memories forever.

EN loves photos shot between the ears! If you happen to be out for a hack, are riding in some obscure place or just take some cool photos aboard your mount, send them to [email protected] with a quick blurb about the photo’s story. This week’s View comes to us from Fort Washington, Md.

From Jennifer:

This is a photo taken from Gem, my sister’s 19-year old OTTB of whom I currently have custody. Gem lives in Fort Washington, Md., only nine miles from downtown DC and the U.S. Capitol building. Until the sequester, we could ride down the street to Harmony Hall, a US Park Service property that borders the Potomac River. It’s an oasis of green and home to all kinds of wildlife. Unfortunately, it’s closed for the foreseeable future due to budget cuts but fingers are crossed we’ll able ride there soon with the government’s new fiscal year.

Thoroughbred racehorses that go on to second careers are unique in that they have two retirements in their lifetimes: the first from the track and the second from the show ring. Thoroughbred Legends, a new EN series presented by Cosequin, seeks to honor off-track Thoroughbreds that went on to accomplish great things as upper-level eventers and now enjoy a second retirement in their golden years. If you know of a great Thoroughbred for this series, tip me at [email protected].

Kipling enjoys his retirement at age 20. Photo courtesy of Lauren Whitlock.

Lauren Whitlock keeps a framed picture from Fair Hill on her desk in the realtor’s office where she works in San Francisco. “It’s of me jumping the huge ditch and wall at Fair Hill when it was just pouring down rain,” Lauren said. “People come in to my office and ask, ‘That’s you?’ To have the memories of growing up and doing that is just priceless.” She owes those memories to Kipling, a 20-year-old off-track Thoroughbred gelding who took Lauren from a hungry young rider to the World Cup in Malmö, Sweden. Lauren purchased Kipling — who raced three times at Santa Anita under the Jockey Club name Reality Hill — from Julie Ann Boyer back in 2001. Kipling was already going intermediate at the time, and Lauren hoped he would help her accomplish her dreams of riding at the highest levels of the sport.

As a partnership, Lauren and Kipling won each of their events at the Intermediate level but one — in which they placed second — at venues like Galway Downs, Twin Rivers and Rebecca Farm. They made a successful move up to Advanced in 2003, and the next year they won the inaugural USEA Gold Cup Series Advanced Championship, an honor they share with great names like Phillip Dutton, Gina Miles, Becky Holder, Leslie Law and Buck Davidson. Their success at the Advanced level landed them on the U.S. team for their international debut at the FEI Eventing World Cup Final in Malmö in 2005, where they finished 21st after a stop on cross-country toward the end of the course.

While seemingly indestructible, Kipling suffered an injury in early 2006, and Lauren spent a year rehabbing him. “I brought him back at intermediate at Galway Downs, but I knew he didn’t feel right coming off the cross-country course,” Lauren said. “We found out he had very severe ringbone and that he’d likely had it for years. The vets couldn’t believe he had jumped around the way he did for so long. It’s incredible what a big heart he had. I hoped he might eventually be sound enough that I could give him to someone who could pack him around beginner novice, but the ringbone was just too severe for him to be comfortable.” Kipling retired from his very successful eventing career in 2007 at the age of 14. He now spends his days living at a friend’s home at California, with a retired Grand Prix dressage horse and an Icelandic Pony as his pasture mates.

“People who don’t know about horses ask why I would keep him,” Lauren said. “You don’t just give your horse away, especially one like Kipling. He was my first upper-level horse that taught me the ropes. I was lucky enough to do a long format two-star on him. It was my first experience with steeplechase, and it was incredible. I just had the best rhythm coming off steeplechase, and we came in one minute under time on cross country. It wasn’t a scary round; he just had this amazing endurance.” Lauren has since hung up her skull cap and retired from eventing herself, but she’ll always remember how much she owes Kipling. “If I were to do it all over and start eventing again, I would get a Thoroughbred. There is just nothing like them.”

We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? EN’s Got Talent introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].

Carrie Meehan and Cavalier in their training level debut at Longview Farm. Photo by Merrick Studios.

Last week we met Carrie Meehan and Cavalier, a 5-year-old buckskin Appendix Quarter Horse gelding she bought as a scrawny 3-year-old with the hopes of making him her next eventing prospect. “Rusty” proved to be a natural at eventing, placing fifth in a large beginner novice division at last year’s American Eventing Championships in just the fifth event of his career. Carrie and Rusty made the move up to novice at the Pine Top Winter Horse Trials this past February, and Rusty placed second. By the second week in May — and the week after his fifth birthday — Carrie had moved Rusty up to training level, where he placed sixth in his first start at the Mill Creek Pony Club Horse Trials at Longview Farm.

“He went clean around a pretty tough course at Mill Creek — max size tables, a half coffin, corner, banks up and down, and drops into water,” Carrie said. “Basically, it had everything a max training course could have, and it was super easy for Rusty.” In their next training level outing at Queeny Park one month later, Rusty encountered a large, blind drop into water early on course that snuck up on him too fast. “He stopped and spun around so fast that I ended up hanging sideways on his neck while still galloping, and I had to just let go,” Carrie said. “That was the first time I’d ever fallen off of him. My Point Two air vest went off right in his face, and the whole experience was just system overload for him.”

Carrie and Rusty after their comeback win at Catalpa Corner.

Carrie took some solace in knowing that the blind drop had also caused problems for the vast majority of the other training level competitors, but she knew the had some damage to repair with Rusty’s training. “Experiences like that are things the Quarter Horse brain holds onto for a long time,” Carrie said. “You have to take one step back to be sure the hole gets filled in before moving forward.” Carrie and Rusty went to another training level event a couple weeks later at Fox River Valley Pony Club and had a slow, confidence-building run around the cross-country course, but Carrie knew she needed to take more drastic measures to help Rusty conquer the monsters he faced at Queeny Park.

“I think it shook up both of our confidence more than I had realized, and I just wasn’t as trusting and gutsy as I usually am; he could sense that,” Carrie said. “I decided to drop him back down to novice for a couple of events to get our confidence back up.” Carrie and Rusty made the drop back to novice at the Catalpa Corner Charity Horse Trials earlier this month and won the division. “Because Rusty has such a good brain, it’s so important to lay the ground work for him at this stage in his life, because once he understands the more complicated questions, there is no telling how far he can go. He literally gets better every time out. I know he loves what he’s doing, and as long as it stays that way, we will just keep trucking up the levels.”

Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair, an 8-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Jon and Dawn Dofelmier and campaigned by Maya Black. “Cody” has never incurred a cross-country jump penalty since beginning his eventing career two years ago in novice. He moved up to intermediate in April and has been extremely competitive, placing fourth in his first start at the level at Twin Rivers and most recently winning his division at Whidbey Island last month. Taryn McKee tipped me about this very talented gelding, saying he “oozes talent.” Thanks for the tip, Taryn! Go West Coast eventing!

Beth Obermeyer sent in some really cute photos and a video of her 12-year-old daughter, Anneke, winning her first two beginner novice events at Coconino Summer I and II Horse Trials. Beth and Anneke are new to eventing, and it looks like the wonderful community of eventers in Arizona have made these two feel welcome to the sport. Go Anneke and Wodie! Remember to send reader submissions to [email protected].

Anneke and Wodie. Photo by Lizzie Bee Photography.

From Beth:

My 12-year-old daughter just completed her first two horse trials at Coconino Horse Trials I & II in junior beginner novice on her new appendix, Wodie. They’ve been together six months under the training of Alice Sarno. The competition was full of tremendous riders in the junior class, so we were literally SHOCKED when she won first place in both horse trials! We are still very new to eventing, but have met the most amazing people and feel so blessed.

Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.

There’s a reason so many upper-level eventers are based in the UK. England hosts the best events with the highest number of spectators in the world, and the footing makes for unparalleled going across the country. EN reader Brittany Lane starts graduate school in England next month, and she’s looking for advice on what she should add to her British Equestrian Bucket List. She’s already well on her way to building a good list, but I know your savvy EN readers can help her out even more. Leave a comment to let Brittany know what other equestrian events she should add to her list. Go UK!

From Brittany:

“I’m heading to England for graduate school in September, and while I’m very excited for this next step in my academic/professional career, I’m actually even more excited for my proximity to all that is incredible in British eventing and equestrianism.

I cannot wait to hit up Badminton, Blenheim and Burghley; head to Royal Ascot; ogle at the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, watch adorable cob ponies at the Royal Windsor Horse Show; and plenty other wonderful horse events (and while not the UK, Normandy 2014 is pretty exciting to and not too far away!).

I wanted to ask you and fellow EN readers what else should be on my equestrian bucket list while in the UK. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for the help in packing my weekends in England full of eventing and horse insanity!”

My name is Lucy; I am a full-time teacher, newly-minted wife and amateur eventer with my Irish Sport Horse gelding Bouncer at the preliminary level mostly in Area 2 (but I’m a native Area 1-er!). I’d like to share some thoughts on what it’s like being an amateur eventing at the preliminary level and working a regular, full-time job; recent experiences highlighted my seemingly unique position, and I’m wondering if I’m the only one?

From Lucy:

The other day, I received an email from the USEA to take a survey about the event  calendar. I have a strange love of surveys, and having just agonized over the Area 2 fall event schedule, I was feeling motivated to click on. One of the very first steps of the survey after general info was making a choice: Are you an upper-level rider, or a lower-level rider?

Luckily, the USEA eliminated any gray area by defining upper level and lower level; if you compete at prelim or below, you are lower level. If you compete at one-star or above, you are upper level. I selected lower level and continued on through the survey, answering as best I could, but having this nagging feeling in the back of my head that these questions didn’t exactly apply to me, or get at what I experience when it comes to looking at the omnibus and planning any events I want to attend.

Being a curious person, after I finished, I went back through and clicked upper level rider, interested to see what sort of questions were to be found. Some were similar, others wildly different. Again, only a few applied to me; categorizations, MERs and taking students to unrecognized competitions aren’t things I deal with.

I regularly read about amateur riders struggling to balance work, personal life and riding.  You don’t have to look too far into the classifieds to see nice horses listed for sale because a rider has a new job, is moving, getting married, having a kid, etc. It isn’t easy trying to fit it all in. I’ve been to one event this entire year, and it was with about two weeks notice and after only a handful of jump schools.

Moving into fall, I was psyched to be able to use my last few weeks of summer to get some real conditioning on my horse, get a jump lesson in, and discuss entering an event or two for the fall with my coach. But, sitting and looking at the omnibus, I get that same exact displaced feeling I had when attempting to take USEA’s survey. How does a busy adult amateur with a full-time job actually compete at prelim or above?

Ignoring factors like the time/cost commitment of boarding, coaching/training, lessons and conditioning, selecting events is incredibly difficult once you get beyond training level. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m whining about my personal circumstances; in fact, I think I have it easier than a lot of other riders; I’ve got a nice, straight-forward horse that requires few runs and lives in my backyard most of the season, and I’m located near excellent instruction and facilities, and I’m in an area that offers many events at prelim and above.  I work a job where I get two entire months off when some of the best events occur.

But it’s still hard figuring out where to go, and the assumption that anyone aiming above maybe one or two prelims a year must be a professional is a disheartening one. When horse trials are scheduled with divisions running on Fridays, or involve arriving at stabling for shows at 8 p.m. and walking courses in the dark because I’m running all three phases on Saturday starting at 7:30 a.m. and I can’t leave work until 4 p.m. on Friday.

It is depressing when I look and see that because of a lack of entries at higher levels, my division is shifted to a different day of the week, or becomes a one-day, and I’ve got to figure out how to fit in course walks at ungodly hours. The irony is that because fewer riders are entering at prelim and above, more potential riders get scheduled out of things. I don’t blame organizers for this. They suffer as much as we do, and it saddens me to see wonderful events with excellent courses struggle to gain enough entries or fill divisions.

When I think about how much easier my life would be if I sold my preliminary packer and got something greener, cheaper and less talented to take around beginner novice and novice, it makes me wonder if I’m the only one. And it makes me worry more that we will see fewer and fewer amateurs competing above training level, with prelim, intermediate and advanced populated only by the professionals.