If you are just tuning in to Eventing Nation after an extended vacation in the sunny climate of southern Siberia, we have two notable international team competitions coming up over the next month. The first is the Boekelo CCI3* in Holland next weekend which is hosting a team competition that will feature a US team, and the second of course is the Pan American Games.
Let’s start with Boekelo. Tamra Smith was here today at the Morven training sessions but headed out this morning to catch the flight to Boekelo with Mar De Amor. Boyd has not been at the training sessions, but he is going to ride Pan Am alternate Cold Harbor at the mandatory selection trials this weekend and then head for Boekelo to ride his two horses, Remington and Otis Barbotiere. Sadly, Ali Slusher and Last Call have withdrawn from the US Boekelo squad, which leaves the US contingent at 3 riders currently–Julian Stiller, Boyd, and Tamra, and the US team at just 3 horses since Boyd can’t ride both his horses as part of the team. The US horses fly out for Boekelo tomorrow.
As for the Pan American squads, it is thankfully ‘all quiet on the western front’ for the US squad. Canada has substituted Selena O’Hanlon and Foxwood High onto the team for Jordan McDonald and Apple Cider. There was apparently a slight medical issue with Apple Cider which was just enough to keep them off of the squad, but I am told it is very minor and they will hopefully be out competing again this autumn. This leaves the Canadian squad as:
James Atkinson and Gustav Rebecca Howard and Roquefort Hawley Bennett and Five O’Clock Somewhere Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti Selena O’Hanlon and Foxwood High
All of the US squad members are of course here for the mandatory outing at Morven. Selena, Rebecca, and Jess are riding at Morven this weekend and Hawley competed at Twin Rivers last weekend on Five O’Clock Somewhere. As promised, a report from the morning training sessions is coming shortly so stay tuned.
I spent the morning at the Morven training sessions in Leesburg, VA as the US team prepares for the mandatory outing at the Morven Horse Trials. I’ll have a full report this afternoon somewhere between lunch and a trip to the Mexican consulate in DC for my Pan American Games correspondent visa. For now, check out our interviews with Jon Holling and Shannon Lilley from this morning. Jon talks about his lesson and riding Downtown Harrison in Teddy’s bit from the Pan Ams. Shannon introduces us a bit to “Mango” and her goals for the weekend. Thanks for the interviews Jon and Shannon.
The USEF has sent out a release today announcing that $50,000 in Land Rover performance grants to US riders for their placing performance at Burghley and Blenheim:
Boyd Martin: $10,000 for top 10% performance at Burghley Sinead Halpin: $5,000 for top 20% performance at Burghley Tiana Coudray: $10,000 for top 10% performance at Blenheim Clark Montgomery: $10,000 for top 10% performance at Blenheim Will Faudree: $10,000 for top 10% performance at Blenheim Phillip Dutton: $5,000 for top 20% performance at Blenheim
Boyd said that his award money will go directly to paying for the cost of the trip that was not covered by the $15,000 travel grants that he and many of the Burghley and Blenheim riders received. Sinead’s trip was funded by the USET Foundation’s Jacqueline Mars Grant. Today in references that our 22 year old football fan readers will appreciate but all of our other readers will find random and irrelevant: Randy, how are you going to pay those grants?
Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot “William” are part of the entire US Pan American Games squad preparing at Morven this week at the training sessions and mandatory outing later this weekend. Hannah is a long time EN blogger and has kindly agreed to keep us posted on her weekend. Thanks for writing this Hannah and thank you for reading. —-
From Hannah:
This is actually happening…
I’ve always dreamed of being on a US Team but now that I find myself in this honorable position, I can’t believe it’s actually happening. It’s almost like my mind will not let me completely believe it. Just like Jon Holling, it really hit me when I received my USA badges and Pinque coat. Karen came in to the office holding them the other day and it was a really cool moment.
Ever since they announced the Team, I’ve been focusing on my day to day duties, taking the best possible care of my horses and trying to keep my head in the game. While there’s a possibility that William has been getting a little extra attention…he wears every type of boot + blankets + fly mask etc. that we own and if he even picks his head up in the field he is rushed inside to safety…I’m trying to act very normal about the whole situation. Luckily, William has been loving the extra attention and cookies and shows up for work everyday. I am so blessed to have him to ride on my first team experience, he has such a good work ethic and is the same horse, day in and day out. I can always count on William. I think this is why I haven’t been as, let’s say, INTENSE as I usually get when there’s a big 3-day coming up. I have only had one day that I felt panicky. Yup, you guessed it…the day the Pinque coat arrived!
This week is the start of the big adventure and although I’m a bit apprehensive, I really can’t wait to get with the rest of the Team and prepare together to kick some serious butt in Guadalajara. I had a gallop on Tuesday, we do dressage with the Captain Wednesday and a jump Thursday then it’s Morven Friday, Saturday and Sunday. William will run in the Intermediate and I’m hoping for a good, confidence building weekend. I’m also really excited because Sara McKenna is here from Ireland and and has known William since he was a baby and will be taking care of him (and keeping me laughing) through the Pan Ams.
I have had such great support from friends and family getting to this point and I can’t thank everyone enough, but I’m going to try. Big thanks to Ms. Mars, the O’Connor’s, my family, everyone at the barn taking care of my other horses while I’m away, my wonderful friends supporting me, my sponsors, Sara McKenna for coming from Ireland to look after William, Dr. Ober and Randy Pawlak keeping him sound (knock on wood!!). I’m so excited and honored to ride for the USA and I’ll do my best to represent this great country well. Hope to see you at Morven!
I know the two things you don’t have enough of on this Wednesday morning are helmet cam videos and techno music. Fortunately, the two go together like peas in a pod for our friends at German eventing. Check out this helmet cam video from Eventing Nation’s favorite Swedish eventer in Germany, Christoffer Forsberg at the Mechtersen CIC*. [via Germaneventing.de] Go eventing.
This Boekelo promo video is rated MNSFW–‘Mildly not safe for work’ as in it won’t send you to hell but you don’t want your boss to catch you watching it
The Pan American Games training sessions are underway today at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia in preparation for the mandatory outing at the Morven horse trials this coming weekend. The sessions begin each day at 9:30am and they are open to the public–I’m hoping to make it out on Thursday. But, US high performance can’t focus completely on the Pan Ams just yet.
There is one last international team competition left on the schedule before the Pan Ams and that is of course the Boekelo CCI3* in Holland, held October 6th to 9th. According to the current Boekelo entry list, the US is sending two west coasters (Tamra Smith and Alexandra Slusher) one British based rider (Julian Stiller) and two Boyd Martins (Otis Barbotiere and Remington). The team trip is funded from a USOC development grant and this year’s team has some big shoes to fill after a fantastic silver medal performance from last year’s US Boekelo squad. Karen O’Connor and Veronica were on the original list of grant recipients along with Tamra, Ali, and Otis Barbotiere, but Veronica has since withdrawn and is now headed to Morven and Fair Hill.
I have mixed feelings about indoor eventing. To some extent I feel like it makes about as much sense as indoor NASCAR or indoor golf, but on the other hand it definitely presents a simpler and more convenient environment for spectators–you can sit in one seat for three hours and watch the entire competition from start to finish. Long time EN contributor and by now EN legend Chelan Kozak was kind enough to write a story for us about bringing indoor eventing to the west coast. As always, thanks for writing this Chelan and thank you for reading. —-
From Chelan:
So, I had this idea… Actually, someone ELSE originally had the idea of Indoor Eventing (event derby, Express eventing, and derby cross are similar). The thought of bringing cross country jumps to an enclosed space is a fairly new concept–with the intention being to highlight our sport to a group of people who might not necessarily get to see it otherwise. I know, I know, it isn’t REAL cross country. But, it is a means to drawing attention to our little known sport here in North America. Specifically for us here on the West coast of Canada our sport is ‘ahem’ grass roots at best.
I have had the idea of bringing Indoor Eventing to the Pacific National Exhibition or PNE, held here in Vancouver BC, since seeing video of it at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair. That also began as a little wee demo a few years back, and has blossomed into a destination for many US and Canadian eventers in November every year.
Logistically, it was a tremendous challenge, and required all hands on deck. I went to the HTBC board earlier this year, and a committee was formed. Imagine moving 6 or 7 cross country jumps to a down town venue, having to load, unload, load, unload… We were slated to do two demo performances, one at 2:30 and one at 7:30. Jumps had to be removed between shows.
I’m a rider. I did the PNE course this first year too. What I DON’T know anything about is building or moving cross country jumps. Case in point-–
ME-So can we fit them all on one trailer?
KNOWLEDGEABLE MAN-Uh, no, we will need three trailers.
ME-How much do they weigh?
K.M.-between 800 and over 2,000 lb.
ME-WOW!
And apparently they need a trailer with a ‘flat’ flat deck, not wheels exposed, and yes you DO have to strap them to the trailer, and NO they cannot be stacked. Ditto NO to fitting into a horse trailer, how the heck would one get them out? For those of you dying to know-a forklift can NOT move cross country jumps in arena sand. Oops… The other logistics involved getting the horses (and jumps) into the venue before the fair opens and zillions of people are walking around. Add to this Vancouver traffic and roads not really designed for wide turning trucks and goose neck trailers.
My conversation with the PNE about the jump moving involved the weight of the jumps, and the fact that there was a forklift on hand that could handle the weight. It never occurred to me that a forklift can’t work safely on a sand footing. We soon realized that the tractor that they have at the PNE was not enough to move the bigger, heavier jumps off the flat decks. So here’s me–helping the course setters redesign on the fly as we had to sub in other jumps, letting the riders know that the course had changed, all while trying to get some sort of warm up in the ring while the jumps were getting placed. There is no warm up area at the PNE! We had exactly one hour to get it all in place. Our riders were awesome at going with the flow–we all knew that there would be a strong element of making S*%^ up as we went along! It was the first time we had tried this, and had no real clue how it would all play out. We all had no choice but to figure it out, help each other, and get it done. At one particularly hairy point during the first jump set up, I turned to someone and said, “Who’s idea WAS this anyhow??”
The second jump set up was much easier, as we knew which jumps we could move, and the one’s to leave out. We even did an added third round-as the PNE requested more, more, more! The horses were a bit tired by round three, but they are all fit Preliminary and Intermediate horses, so we felt that it was not unreasonable for them.
The scoring was time first, and cumulative scores to win. We had each chosen music to go with our rounds, which was a fun added element. D&L equine services provided prize money for the riders and HTBC provided expense money for the volunteers who moved jumps and came to act as judges, timers, etc. I have to say that seeing my little baby idea come to fruition right before my very eyes was pretty exciting! It was a complete team effort–support people from several hours away in our province came to help move jumps, set fences, judge and ride. Words are not enough to thank everyone who helped out. We even had a (planned) air vest demonstration. One of the riders jumped off to show how air vests work. We thought that it would be a positive thing to let the general public know that eventers are safety conscious.
The horses loved it! They all performed well in the unique atmosphere. Not only was the competition venue different for our horses–the rest of the experience was as well. Barns are open to the public and getting the horses to and from the arena requires navigating through crowds of non horsey people with baby strollers and every type of hazard you could imagine! Not to mention that heavy horses and carriages are everywhere. I know horses in Southern Pines get used to carriages, but our horses are not all so well versed. Insert duck and cow noises from the next alley way over. Helloooo ear stuffers! Six riders participated. Marissa Wolfe won, with myself and my student Kiyomi Foster tied for second. Kiyomi rides my former horse Tasman Sea, so I was more than happy to share the placing with her.
Plans are already underway for next year, with more days of performance, different jumps, and more advance advertising so that more of the public with know we are there and come to see what our sport is all about. Ironically the 2:30 performance had more spectators. The best part for me was back in the barns at the end of it all, when these two sisters (I want to guess 8 and 10 years old) came up to me with their Dad to talk about how much they enjoyed the show. Not horsey at all-these two city kids learned how to give a horse a carrot, and pet him on the nose. One of the girls turned to her Dad and said, “can I get a horse please Daddy? I want to learn how to ride and jump a horse, just like this lady. That was SO COOL…”
BIN-GO… I recall like it was yesterday a similar conversation with MY non-horsey father many moons ago, after the first time I rode a horse. “Daddy can I have a horse, please? Please, Daddy?” My Dad said, “Maybe someday Chelan, maybe someday.”
By now, no introductions are necessary for Buzzterbrown’s videos. It’s like a combination of Ringwood Cockatoo in the dressage, Woodburn on the cross-country, and Exponential in the show jumping–pure perfection. Follow Buzzterbrown on Youtube for EN Karma.
I’m not going to lie. I don’t really care about the Cowboys and I don’t really care about the Redskins. But I watched every snap of Monday Night Football just to watch my fantasy football team get its first loss of the season thanks to a Dallas center who couldn’t snap the ball properly to save his life. Anyone who follows sports ratings can tell you that the huge popularity of fantasy football has served to increase the popularity of the NFL. My question: who would be your first pick in fantasy eventing? Dibs on Michael Jung.
–If you missed it on Monday, Matthias Rath was featured on the Chronicle. The most telling quote of the article for me was when Rath said “It’s impossible to make everybody happy. I gave that up at the beginning of the year–trying to make everybody happy. When you really believe that you are doing it for yourself, it takes a lot of pressure away, and it makes it easier when people say negative things.” I’d say that is great advice for anyone, but perhaps particularly the rider of the world’s best dressage horse. [COTH]
–Our good friend Jackie at Regarding Horses addresses the issue of using correction methods such as spurs, draw reins, gag bits, and side reins. Personally, I think all four are very different. Of course, if possible it’s good to go au natural, but in reality sometimes we all need a bit of help. Any of those aids applied poorly and without precision is much worse than not having the aids. Most (every one I can think of) pros use spurs as a standard practice because they can avoid hitting the horse with them if they don’t want to. I feel draw reins can be useful occasionally but they are easily overdone and the same goes for side reins. I prefer less bit than more on cross-country, but a gag is better than getting run away with. Of course, it’s always a matter of the individual situation and having a good coach to diagnose what you need when. [Regarding Horses]
–Stone Gate Farm hosted the Area VIII beginner novice and novice championships this weekend. The weather cooperated with a dry weekend and 131 riders from 7 states enjoyed what sounds like a great weekend of eventing. Jackie Smith and the entire Smith family put on wonderful events for Area VIII at Stone Gate. [Stone Gate Blog]
–Denny has a blog! I could keep typing and tell you all about it, but I know you have already stopped reading and clicked the link. The blog is to help promote Denny’s book, may he write early and often. [Denny’s blog]
That’s all for now Eventing Nation. Stay tuned for a busy Tuesday with some great stuff from Samantha. As always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation part of your day. Stay classy EN.
I am always fascinated when riders cross disciplines. When I started riding, one of the reasons I chose eventing over pure show jumping and dressage is that eventing seemed like the truest all around test of riding. If you could event then you could do dressage or show jumping but not necessarily vice versa. More and more eventers are crossing over to train in the pure show jumping world, whether at HITS in Ocala, jumping shows in northern Virginia, or elsewhere and on the other hand, show jumper Marilyn Little-Meredith has made a successful transition from show jumping to eventing. Here’s a video look at Marilyn Little-Meredith (above), and the eventer who sometimes show jumps, Kate Chadderton (below), competing this past weekend at the Howard County Community College Columbia Classic Grand Prix–that’s HCCCCCGP for short. You can read more about Kate’s weekend at her blog. The videos are courtesy of EN tipster McKenna.
Mark Todd’s autobiography So Far So Good is one of my favorite eventing books, perhaps my favorite of all time. I liked it so much I named my next dog Charisma. As extraordinary as Mark Todd’s eventing achievements were from the beginning of his career up until So Far So Good’s publication in 1999, his achievements since then, including the comeback and of course this year’s Badminton win at 55 years young, might be even more incredible. We’ll get to read all about Toddy’s life since 1999 in his next autobiography, including the retirement after Sydney, training racehorses in New Zealand, and coming back to compete in Beijing. Unfortunately, it sounds like some of the more exciting moments might be left out, as Toddy tells Horse and Hound “There’s nothing scandalous or surprising, that’s all I’ll say.” The book is being ghost written by Kate Green and is set to be released around Badminton next year. The only thing about releasing the book then is that with the Olympics looming later that year the story will be inevitably far from over. [Horse and Hound]
One of the best things after a great weekend of eventing is getting to see all of the cool videos that are put up on Youtube. Check out these videos from Middleburg in northern VA, Poplar Place in Georgia, Twin Rivers in California, and Stone Gate Horse Trials in Ohio.
After three training level videos, we have saved the best for last. I absolutely love videos of somoene’s first event. There’s really no way to go back and capture that excitement of your first cross-country ride once you are past it.
Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me moved up one spot in each jumping phase and captured the win at the Poplar Place CIC3* with a double-clear show jumping ride today. Can’t Fire Me is having a great season with ten top-10 finishes, a win at advanced, and now the CIC3* win at Poplar against a field of incredibly great horses. This pair finished 6th at the Bromont CCI3* and they have gotten better and better each time I have seen them since then. Becky once again has one of the best horses in the United States in her arsenal.
Nina Ligon and Tipperary Liadhnan had a rail in hand, but they pulled one rail and had one costly time penalty to drop to second. That is two straight show jumping rounds with just one rail for Tipperary Liadhnan and it is great to see Nina and Paddy finding their show jumping groove.
Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan moved up more places than any other pair in the CIC3* over the weekend and finished in 3rd. Donald will be headed out to Galway for the CCI3* in November. Ronald Zabala-Goetschel finished 4th and 5th on Master Hill and Brer Fox respectively. Young rider Danielle Dichting and Tops finished in 7th.
Danielle won the JYOP division on her new ride The Graduate, a very talented horse formerly ridden by Elizabeth Barron. Lizzie Snow and Coal Creek finished second in the JYOP. Charlie Plumb competed Coal Creek at his last two events and they seem to have things back on track with a great weekend at Poplar.
Brittany Kart and Llewellyn triumphed in the Poplar advanced division, finishing on a 58.9. Canadian Pan American Games alternates Micheline Jordan and Irish Diamonds finished in second.
Clark Montgomery and Reignman led wire to wire in the CIC2* and won by 8 points. Sydney Elliott finished in second with Pancho Villa. Lara Borson-Knight won the CIC* by 9 points on Shooby Do.
Nina Ligon and Tipperary Liadhnan at Southern Pines, photo courtesy of Stephanie Diaz
And then there were 6. The Flora Lea horse trials in Medford, NJ was canceled due to bad weather that deteriorated the cross-country course, but there are still 6 USEA horse trials in action today. Here’s a quick look at the Poplar Place standings:
Nina Ligon and Tipperary Liadhnan “Paddy” had the fastest round of the CIC3*, incurring just 2.4 time penalties and extending their lead to 4 points. Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me moved up from 3rd to 2nd. Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan smoked around the XC course as usual and had the second fastest round of the day in the 3* to move up to 4th. Carl Bouckaert and Mensa are tied for 4th with a 62.0 but Katie and Donald have the XC time closer to the optimum. Nina and Butts Leon had a run-out at the angled cannon combination at #12. The scores are still coming in for the advanced division.
If Nina wins tomorrow it will be the second straight US CIC3* won by a horse who was not produced by their current rider. Some people take exception to this and I understand that wins seem somehow more satisfactory when won by an OTTB who raced 20 times and has been with the same eventer ever since, but for better or worse that just isn’t the direction of our sport. My feeling is that getting around advanced is so incredibly difficult no matter who the horse and rider are that success at that level is an incredible achievement no matter what the history of the winning combination.
Clark Montgomery and Reignman extended their lead in the CIC2* by picking up only one second of time on the cross-country–“Maple syrup is supposed to be on the table before the pancakes.” Sydney Elliott and Pancho Villa moved up to second with one of only two double-clears on the day in the 2*. Jose Ortelli and JOS Aladar are third. Only one rider in the 2* had a stop and all finished the course.
The CIC* rode well also, with 5 out of 6 starters coming home clear. Lara Borson-knight and Shooby Do have a 5.3 point lead going into the show jumping. Former US team rider and Georgia native Julie Richards is in 4th.
Happy Friday night Eventing Nation! Let’s take a few minutes to look back at the AECs and EN sponsor World Equestrian Brands. Robin Moore was kind enough to chat with me at the AECs and give us an overview of the many great brands.
If you are going out tonight, remember to be safe, have fun, and don’t do anything the chinchillas wouldn’t do. Go eventing.
The Midsouth Three-day Event and Team Challenge (October 19-23) is one of my favorite events and, incidentally, hosted my first one-star many moons ago. Marsha Spencer is an Area II eventing mom who has kindly volunteered to keep us posted on her daughter’s team on their path to the team challenge. —- Pat Palmer and Ian II
From Marsha:
I am the mother, (groom, truck driver, organizer, and mental coach) of an Area 2 amateur rider. Soon after the Training 3Day at Waredaca last year, we decided to make the Hagyard MidSouth Prelim 3Day in Kentucky the goal for this year. We MUST have a goal, you just can’t be tooling around Area 2 eventing willy-nilly! My daughter trains with Paul Ebersole, of Champagne Wishes Farm (and I am one of those Mother Muckers, or as I like to be referred to, a horse caddie, since caddies seem to get more respect these days), and after talking with him, it looked like we could get a group to go compete. Great!
Erin Durst schooling Blink He’s Gone
Right now there are two riders to train for the Prelim 3 Day, one the CCI1*, and three riders tackling the T3Day. I thought an account of the training and prep process would be fun and interesting, especially since not many people get to prepare for the long format. Just packing up six riders could be a story itself.
Colleen McKitrick and Rocmaster
Our P3D riders are YR Colleen McKitrick, riding Rocmaster, Erin Durst riding Blink He’s Gone. The T3D riders are husband and wife team, (should be fun) Byron Poindexter riding Mac in Vegas and Kristy Poindexter riding Future Promise and Junior Erin Miller riding San Marco. The CCI* rider is Pat Palmer riding Ian II. All riders have already qualified, and the long format riders have their conditioning program in full swing. Some of the riders are working on separate parts of their competition with unrecognized shows and all will sharpen up their mounts with at least one more HT before we leave for Kentucky. Rooms have been booked, and entries mailed for this galvanized group of amateur riders form Area 2.
Byron Poindexter and Mac in Vegas
I must add that I had to substitute as an exercise rider for my daughter when she went out of town a few weeks ago. Can’t mess with the program! There was not enough ibuprofen at Rite Aide to help me after 2 days of trot and gallop sets. Have to work on my core strength, forgot I had one….
“Darren Chiacchia’s lawyer Baron Coleman tells WCTV, all charges have been dropped against Darren who was accused of having sex with a partner without informing him he was infected with HIV.” [WCTV]
WCTV, which is Tallahassee, Florida’s CBS affiliate, does not say why the case was dismissed, but in July WCTV reported that Chiacchia’s lawyer said he was moving to have the case dismissed because “Florida’s second district court of appeals issued an opinion that said the statute under which Darren was charged only applies to male/female intercourse.” Hopefully this is the last chapter of a very sad case and situation.
Update: According to RMHP, the judge dismissed the case because of “the recent ruling made by the Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal, stating the sex covered in the statute was exclusive to a man and a woman.” Apparently the District Attorney’s Office has the intent to appeal.
Peter Gray has competed at countless international competitions including three Olympics, Badminton, Burghley, and three World Equestrian Games. Peter is using his considerable experience to coach the Venezuelan eventing team for the Pan American Games. Peter was kind enough to write to Eventing Nation from their training sessions today in Caracas. Thank you for writing this Peter and thank you for reading. —- Training while the big boss watches over
From Peter:
Good afternoon Eventing Nation from beautiful Caracas, Venezuela, home to the majority of this oil rich country’s 7 million inhabitants, seemingly year round 80 degree weather, rugged mountains, spectacular beaches, lovely people, and the most incredible traffic jams. I am here on my second of three trips conducting pre-Pan Am Games training camps for the Venezuelan eventing team!!
Firstly, I am learning what an impressive feat of determination it has been to get these South American countries qualified without traveling to the US — an incredible effort has gone into organizing FEI competitions for a handful of competitors and I gather they have been well directed by TD’s such as Roger Haller who have gone “beyond” to make these qualifying events happen.
I have a fantastic group of riders! With every training session, I am inspired by their excitement surrounding the imminent Pan Am trip; these guys are all about a good time but during training hours, it is all work and they are astute students.
Team strategy meetings
Our training happens in the middle of the city at a military compound where the team horses are stabled — it was also the site for equestrian competitions in a previous Pan American Games. The footing is superb, however there is a lack of space for conditioning work and our attempts to train at a nearby race track have failed because of risky going.
Our team members are diverse but talented; Pico is a vet and business entrepreneur and also competes in grand prix show jumping, Novis is a high ranking major in the military and the most experienced competitor, Carlos is a horseman extraordinaire and a superb technician, and my assistant, Antonio, is also a major who is the “in-house” trainer. Antonio diligently takes notes and videos on all of my lessons, and follows up with the appropriate homework and supervises the team’s daily training schedule during my absence. Our fourth rider, Elena, has spent a day with us, but she is based at Kyle Carter’s Five Ring Stables in Ocala, FL, and will meet us in Guadalajara with Kyle.
The horses are thoroughbreds or sport horses with warmblood crosses, influenced by some of the top European blood lines. They have been produced slowly and should be very confident at the 2* level. I reckon they all have 4-star ability!
We have been practicing technical skills for the questions John Williams’ course may produce. As for the bravery and confidence for bold cross country riding…well they practice that daily just driving their cars through the streets of Caracas, home to the most incredibly aggressive and chaotice drivers that I have experience. I can’t wait to meet up with my friends on the Canadian and American teams in Mexico, but be warned, we will be fighting for a spot on the podium!!
Carl Bouckaert and Mensa this morning at Poplar Place, photo via Andrew McConnon
It’s the Carl Bouckaert, Ronald Zabala-Goetschel, and Nina Ligon division at Poplar Place in the CIC3*. With just 10 pairs in the division, those three riders have 7 of the horses. Ronald Zabala-Goetschel and Master Hill are second, just 0.9 points behind Nina. Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me are third with 50.7. Nina Ligon is 4th on Butts Leon and Carl Bouckaert occupies the next two spots with Cyrano Z and Mensa respectively. The CIC3* division is a bit small this year and my guess is that it is because most riders needing a CIC3* qualifier for a fall CCI3* would have tried last weekend at Plantation to give themselves as backup this weekend.
Heather Morris and First Mark are winning the 10 horse advanced division on 29.0. There is a CIC2*, CIC*, and a complete horse trials at Poplar with scores coming in throughout the day.
As Ali explained this morning, both Twin Rivers in California and Otter Creek horse trials are competing today. Twin Rivers held the West Coast Yong Event Horse Championships yesterday and you can read a quick recap from the USEA here. I won’t be at an event this weekend but I will be at Morven next weekend and I am booking my flight to Guadalajara in a few minutes. Of course we wish all of the competitors the best of luck this weekend all over Eventing Nation.
We have a very special “welcome to eventing” post today, sent in from Karen Bjorn. Karen wrote:
I am an Area X member, we recently held the fall Coconino Horse Trials in Flagstaff, AZ. One of the competiters from our barn was 10 year old Anneke Obemeyer, competing in her very first recognized event in the junior pre-comp division. Her mother made this slide show documenting the experience….it is a great example of what a great and fun introduction this level is for the kids (and adults!) new to our awesome sport!
For the win. Here’s cell phone video of Jennie Brannigan winning the PRO Puissance at Plantation Field by clearing 1.89 meters with No Objection, owned by Liz Stewart. That’s jumping over 6 feet bareback folks. You can read more about Jennie’s weekend in her latest COTH blog. Go eventing.
Mike and Patricia Ryan were kind enough to send us this helmet cam from Ballindenisk, which was held in Co Cork, Ireland last weekend. As we all know, Ballindenisk means “the hill is always on the left” in Irish. Visit Mike and Trish’s website here. Go eventing.
