Courtesy of Mary Macklin of Red Hawke Eventing.  [Maryland Scores]

Go eventing.

From Chelan:

That random man doesn’t seem very interested in Otis’s show jumping round, photo via Leigh

20 of the 72 show jumpers at Boekelo jumped clean, but sadly overnight leaders Mark Todd and NZB Campino were not among them and they picked up 9 faults to drop to third.  Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon of Germany were one of just 3 pairs from the 110 Boekelo starters to finish on their dressage score and they took home the CCI3* victory in Holland.  Andreas moved up from 11th after the dressage to win.  This impressive move-up over the weekend was rivaled only by Camilla Speirs and Portersize Just A Jif jumped up from 20th after the dressage to finish the weekend in 2nd.

Final Boekelo Scores:

1. Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon (GER) +0  46.6
2. Camilla Spears and Portersize Just a Jif (IRL) +0  48.8
3. Mark Todd and NZB Campino (NZL) +9  50.4
4. Beeke Kaack and Judy (GER) +0  51.0
5. Jean-Lou Bigot and Lotus de Gobaude (FRA) +3  54.2

[Full Boekelo Results, Team Results]

Germany won the team competition by 35 points.  Australia finished second and Ireland third.  Germany’s program under Christopher Bartle is running at such a high level right now from top to bottom after their European Championship win and now this weekend that Great Britain should start feeling a healthy amount of pressure this winter to prepare for London–as if they weren’t feeling pressure already.

As we all know, Boyd Martin was the only US rider to compete at Boekelo today.  Remington picked up two rails to finish in 35th.  Otis Barbotiere had a fantastic clear show jumping round and moved all the way up to finish in 14th.  Otis was in 55th after the dressage and moved up 39 places from Friday to Sunday by adding only 4.4 XC time penalties to his dressage score.

Remington traveled to Boekelo on a Land Rover competition grant and he now has two international trips under his belt after finishing 7th at Pau last year.  The weather and footing at Boekelo just didn’t work out well for him this weekend.  Neville is obviously Boyd’s top choice for the Olympics, but I’d send Boyd on a chinchilla and be reasonably certain they would come home clear and I think that a trip to Europe was an important step for Remington this year. 

Otis, DV8, and Mar De Amor went to Boekelo on USOC development grants and, as I mentioned yesterday, it’s absurd to regard a development grant as a failure because everyone didn’t have a great weekend.  DV8, Otis, and Mar De Amor now have international competitions under their belts with their respective riders.  The key is to look at what was learned this weekend and whether or not the pairs get better in the future as a result.  Last year’s Boekelo trip has proved to be a successful developmental effort and I’m hoping we will feel the same way about Boekelo 2011 a year from now.  But, until we see whether or not the horses and riders are better for the trip we can’t know whether or not it was a good idea.

Go eventing.

From Chelan:

The CIC3* SJ had only two clear jumping rounds, and no double clears. The course itself looked rideable, and there were no big tricks per se. However, it is on a slope, and that played havoc with the horse’s balance. I liked the courses and thought that they were a true test.

Time was a factor in the FEI divisions. I missed videoing the second clear (jump) round. Sorry Anna… I’d love to say that I was busy with a client, or hard at work with my journalistic pursuits. The fact is that I was stuffing my face with spring rolls, shrimp, and Gin and Tonic, courtesy of aforementioned fab Woodside parties… It was video camera or snacks, and at that moment, snacks won!

XC is tomorrow, and I will catch some of the action for sure.

22 riders who started out on Sue Benson’s cross-country course at Boekelo were eliminated, 10 retired, and nearly 20 finished with at least a stop.  Time was a huge factor and just 6 out of 109 starters made the time.  As expected, the footing was an issue for many of the riders today and the US riders headed out with the biggest studs they had.

Mark Todd and NZB Campino put together a fantastic round with just 2.4 time penalties and extended their lead to 5 points.   Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon moved up from 11th to 2nd with a clear round.  Camila Speirs and Portersize Just A Jif of Ireland jumped all the way from 20th to 3rd, also with a double-clear.

As for Team USA, Boyd Martin delivered a typically clean day of cross-country, finishing the course strong on both Otis Barbotiere and Remington.  Boyd did everything he could to coax Remington around close to the time, but the speed wasn’t quite there today and they picked up 16.0 time penalties to drop to 32nd.  On the other hand, Otis Barbotiere was spectacular for Boyd.  Otis delivered one of the 20 fastest rounds of the day with 11 seconds of time penalties in his first CCI3* and moved up from 55th after the dressage to 23rd following cross-country.  When Boyd brought Otis over from France last year the scouting report was that the horse had all the movement and jump but speed was a question.  Boyd told me then that he felt the horse would turn out to be fast enough and Boyd and Otis went a long way to proving that today.

[Live Boekelo Scores, Team Results, XC Course Preview]

I spoke with Boyd briefly after the cross-country and he explained that Remington worked hard for him all the way around the course and they took all of the quick routes but Remington battled with the mud all day and just couldn’t make the speed.  Boyd was very encouraged by Otis’ performance and pointed out that Otis had only competed at one event since the TPF fire leading up to Boekelo because he had been laid up for weeks after the fire with colic complications.  Boyd said that he took his time with Otis early on the course but when the horse felt full of run at the halfway point he stepped up the speed and Otis finished strong.  Otis will now enjoy a hard earned break this autumn and then get geared up for Rolex in the Spring.  As for the environment at Boekelo, Boyd said “it’s just so competitive here, it’s good to get a feel for the highest level of competition.” 

Mar De Amor was eliminated at fence 9.  According to Leigh Mesher, he lost a shoe at fence 3.  Dinero then had two run outs at the skinny brush at 7b and a run out at the skinny brush 9a of the first water complex, leading to elimination.  After her ride, Tamra wrote:

“If you can image 15 rows of people with umbrellas in both sides if the gallop lanes…well that’s basically how it was…unbelievable amounts of people.
 
Dinero was either worried about the crowds or that he lost his left front shoe, or maybe both because he just wasn’t quite himself. I had 2 stops at a skinny and then another to the skinny before the first water so we had a very crowded walk back to the finish. The Captain says this sport is tough and the tough get going…..so that what I will do…” [Tamra’s Facebook] 

DV8 had a stop at 18a, a drop into water, and Michael wisely decided to retire there.  Michael was in a really tough position today knowing that he had to ride DV8 as best as he could, but at the same time knowing that he has to ride at the Pan Ams in just a few weeks so he couldn’t let anything stupid happen.

Four rides, two clear rounds, one retired, and one was eliminated.  The US won’t come home from Holland with a silver medal like last year’s Boekelo team, or with the number of top placings that our squad came home from Blenheim with.  But the Boekelo trip is funded with a development grant and I think it’s important to remember that a big part of development is failing and learning from it.  I’d much rather see our riders go to Europe, make a mistake, and learn something than stay in their comfort zone and place well in a three-day back in the States.

Go eventing.

Good morning Eventing Nation and welcome to cross-country day!  Three US riders and four US horses are heading out on the Boekelo CCI3* cross-country course today.  Click here to visit the Boekelo website, and click on “Live Stream” for a link to the video feed, or at least that is the best guess from the EN translator chinchilla.  As a backup plan, try clicking here or here, live video feeds can be a bit touchy from a technology standpoint.  Cross-country starts at 9:00am local time which is 3:00am ET.  [Boekelo Website]  Note: The live feed requires Microsoft Silverlight

Go USA:

Boyd Martin and Remington — 10:52am local (4:52am ET)
Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor — 1:27pm local (7:27am ET)
Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere — 2:27pm local (8:27am ET)
Michael Pollard and DV8 — 3:19pm local (9:19am ET)

[Live Boekelo Scores, Team Results]

Stay tuned for the latest from Boekelo and the rest of the events around Eventing Nation.  Good luck to all of the riders–stay safe and have fun, we are all cheering for you.  Go eventing.

Enjoy this video preview of the Boekelo cross-country course sent to us by our friends Mike and Patricia Ryan.  Mike is competing Annestown Emperor as part of the Irish team and Patricia is riding Tullineaskey Hi Ho at Boekelo this weekend. 

I spoke with Michael Pollard briefly who told me that right now the footing is looking good on the cross-country course but there is rain predicted for Saturday morning.  Leigh Mesher described the footing as Florida-like with the sand and grass absorbing the water.  Apparently the ground is best in the woods where the trees block the rain, but footing where the course runs through harvested corn fields is dirt and a bit slick.  Major thanks to Leigh for the updates and photos all weekend.  With 110 horses running over the ground, it will be interesting to see how it holds up throughout the day.

Here are a few course photos from Leigh:

USA!

The first combination

 

There are about 5 different options at the first water.  According to Leigh the straight route is this skinny brush off a tight right turn, 3 forward strides to a big ditch, 3 strides to a large drop in to the water and then 4 strides out of an off set skinny to the left.  The log on the right in the back is an option.  If you land discombobulated off the drop, pull out and circle back into the water up a bank 1 stride to the log roll.

Grolsch Beer is the main sponsor of Boekelo so every single jump has a pub and viewing area for spectators and sponsors.  The good news is that if you fall off the pub is just a short walk away.

Boekelo Links: [USEF Friday Presser, Boyd’s Friday Recap]

Go eventing.

Can you believe that the Pan American Games are just over a week away from starting with the opening ceremonies scheduled for October 15th.  The pure dressage riders will get things started off for the equestrian competitions at the Pan Ams, competing from the 15th to the 19th.  Eventing will be held at the Santa Sofia Golf Club, which is a different venue from the dressage and show jumpers, and the eventers will ride from October 20th to 23rd.  The show jumping will be the final equestrian competition at the Games.  I fly out for the Games on the 18th, which is the Tuesday after Fair Hill.  I have an excuse to write about the scinitllating scheduling details because the nominated entries list for the Pan American Games has been released by the FEI today.

What are the nominated entries?  That’s a great question, I’m glad you asked!  The nominated entries are a list of potential team members sent in by the national federations to essentially make a list of the possible competitors at the Games.  The exact squads will be determined as the teams ship out for Guadalajara and formally submitted before the competition starts.  Generally, countries include anyone with any chance of going to the Games on their nominated entry list because you never know what can happen to your first choice squad members.

[Nominated Entries PDF, FEI Press Release] 

The US nominated entries list includes the entire group of PAG squad and alternates, so it doesn’t tell us anything we don’t know and in fact it is a bit dated list since Jolie, Tamra, and Boyd are all more or less out of the running for the US squad.  But, the nominated entries is an interesting look at the other countries who are planning on competing at the Pan American Games. 

There are 13 nations entered, 10 of which have at least 3 riders listed, meaning that they could potentially field teams.  There are 64 riders and 70 horses on the nominated entry list and the FEI projects 51 final competitors although I expect that number to be considerably lower. 

Bonus video–The first rider on course at the CIC2* Pan Am test event held earlier this summer:

Life is rough for Otis Barbotiere at Boekelo, photo courtesy of Leigh Mesher

When 110 of the best horses in Europe and from around the world get together to compete at a CCI3*, a few points make a big difference.  That is exactly what we saw Thursday and Friday at the Boekelo dressage with 28 riders scoring lower than 50 in the dressage.  Only one US pair–Boyd Martin and Remington–broke under 50 and their score from Thursday puts them in 8th place after the dressage.  Michael Pollard and DV8 are the next highest US pair, finishing their dressage on a 52.8 and going into the cross-country in 41st place.  Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor are 47th after delivering a 54.2 earlier today, and Boyd is in 55th place with Otis Barbotiere on 55.6.  If you haven’t already done the math, 2.8 points separates the 14 places between DV8 and Otis.  All four of the US horses are in the top half of the field after the dressage. 

Raf Kooremans with Cavalor Demeter of the Netherlands and Mark Todd with NZB Campino are tied for the lead at Boekelo on a dressage score of 39.0.  I was a bit surprised to see that only two riders in the field broke under 40.  The Thursday dressage leaders Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries slid to third behind Raf and Mark, but they are in great position going into the weekend.

As a bit of perspective, Michael’s score of 52.8 that puts him into 41st place at Boekelo would have put him into 4th place after the dressage at the Bromont CCI3* in Canada earlier this year.

Boekelo Dressage Results:

1T. Raf Kooremans and Cavalor Demeter (NED)  39.0
1T. Mark Todd and NZB Campino (NZL)  39.0
3. Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries (GBR)  40.6
3. Chris Burton and Undersidcussion (AUS)  43.4
5. Peter Flarup and Calista E (DEN)  43.6
…
8. Boyd Martin and Reminton (USA)  45.8
41. Micahael Pollard and DV8 (USA)  52.8
47. Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor (USA)  54.2
55. Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere (USA)  55.6

[Full Boekelo Scores]

Great Britain leads the team competition (shocking, I know) with a 137.4 after the dressage, but their dropped score is a 62, which will open the door for the trailing teams if one of their top 3 dressage scoring pairs has an issue on the cross-country.  Germany, Ireland, and Sweden are 2nd through 4th respectively.  The US is sitting in 5th place and just 15 points behind the leaders, but our team chances are severely hurt by the fact that we are only competing 3 horses.  We are going to need three clutch performances from Boyd, Tamra, and Michael tomorrow–no pressure guys.  There are 13 nations with teams at Boekelo and all but 3 of them have 4 riders on the teams.  [Boekelo Team Scores]

Tamra Smith warming up Mar De Amor, via Leigh

Tamra Smith and Mar De Amortization have all the talent for a great weekend and the pressure on them is to be consistent in all three phases.  After a solid 54.2 in the dressage, it is so far so good for Tamra and “D”.  Tamra wrote about her test on her Facebook page.  Read it, check it out, become a fan:

“Deep breath!!! And a big pat for D!….My test was very good. Minus the 2 Halts that Dinero proceeded to piaffe instead if halt I would have been in the high 40’s……there were so many things that were so much better than ever before and therefore I couldn’t ask for more!

The laugh for today is a quote from a friend that you all can guess who said it….after I said “If I would have halted I would be in the 40’s” and I was told…”If my aunt had xxxxx she’d be my uncle”! So I had to have a laugh……I went back and watched my test and I was very pleased!!!

…The good news is this will not be a dressage show!!! The course wheels about 6 seconds short! Which means making the time is going to be tough! So that is all for now. We have some decisions to make before I’m out for xc tomorrow. A couple difficult lines to decide on! I can’t wait!!!!!!”

Perhaps you haven’t heard but it tends to be wet in Holland.  The footing is going to be a big factor on the Boekelo cross-country course along with the distance that Tamra mentioned.  Boyd and Remi are 6.8 points out of the lead with only 7 pairs in front of them.  A fast round will hopefully get them within a rail of the lead and then anything can happen on Sunday.  As part of your comprehensive Boekelo coverage, here is a look at the muddy dressage schooling area, again courtesy of Leigh Mesher:

Go Boekelo.

Eventing Nation’s amazing Chelan Kozak will have reports for us from Woodside, where presumably something horse related happened today.  Instead, let’s hear about her trip to San Francisco on Wednesday.
—-

From Chelan:

It’s raining at Woodside, kind of like at home in Vancouver…trapped in the covered ring to ride!  In barns and jog was on Friday.  That’s all for now…

Oh, except-on Wednesday we went to San Fran to be tourists.  Alcatraz, take the Dodge dually down Lombard Street, eat possibly the BEST shellfish imaginable from street vendors, you know the usual!  They have these public loo’s on the Embarcadero at Fisherman’s Wharf. Door slides open, enter, inside are two buttons, one says LOCK one says UNLOCK.  I pressed LOCK and the door closed.  Simple enough.  Pull pants down, sit… Well you get the idea.  Let’s just say a teeny bit ‘premature’ the door opens!!  I could barely get up to press the LOCK button I was killing myself laughing so hard!!  Plus, I was trying hard not to trip on my pants down by my ankles. Has exactly nothing to do with eventing, but it’s a funny story, so there you go! I had to take a picture of the loo, will send…

Friday will be BUSY as the CIC divisions do dressage and SJ that day. Very strange. Robert likes it because the format is how it goes in Europe or something like that.

Photo of Boyd’s dressage score, courtesy of Leigh Mesher

55 horses competed in the first day of dressage at the Boekelo CCI3* in Holland on Thursday.  Boyd Martin and the veteran Remington put together a brilliant performance to finish the day in 4th with a 45.8 as the only US pair to compete on Thursday.  The best in Europe show up for Boekelo every year and the field is 110 horses deep.  Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries took the lead after day one with a 40.6, meaning the door is left open for some great dressage performances on Friday to break into the 30’s and take the lead.  Eventing Nation’s good friend Chris Burton and Underdiscussion are second on 43.4.

Boekelo Thursday Scores:

1. Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries (GBR)  40.6
2. Chris Burton and Underdiscussion (AUS)  43.4
3. Peter Flarup and Calista (DEN)  43.6
4. Boyd Martin and Remington (USA)  45.8

[Boekelo Thursday Scores]

As a quick note on the timezones, Boekelo is ET+6, meaning that 12 noon on the US east coast is 6pm in the evening in Boekelo.  As Annie mentioned in this morning’s post, there is no live video feed of the dressage that we can find.  We are told that Boekelo will be offering live online video feed for at least the cross-country from 9am to 5pm local time here and we will keep you posted as the cross-country approaches.

The US has three remaining pairs set to ride dressage on Friday: 

Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor at 10:36am local time (4:36am ET)
Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere at 1:38pm local (7:38am ET)
Michael Pollard and DV8 at 3:23pm local (9:23am ET)

The riders are busy walking the course this evening and then I am sure there will be a raging party tonight.  Boekelo is known for its great parties to say the least.  As for the cross-country, the Boekelo ground is not the best for holding water, so we will have to see how much it rains before Saturday.  Here are a few photos from Holland:

Tamra, Mar De Amor, Heather, Macy, DV8, and Michael at the jog Thursday, photo courtesy of Leigh

Otis, Boyd, Remington, and Lindsey at the jog, photo via Leigh

Michael and Nathalie Pollard walking the course with Mike Huber (in blue), via USEF

And a few bonus Boekelo interviews: 

Good luck to everyone tomorrow.  Go Boekelo.