Become an Eventing Nation BloggerBefore we jump into another great weekend of Eventing around the US, let’s take one last look back at Millbrook. I have been searching for GMHA videos from Wednesday, so if you come across any please send them our way.
Of course this has nothing to do with Millbrook, but it’s a new video of Toddy from Badminton, so of course I couldn’t resist:
Go eventing.
Shanon at Rebecca Farm by Samantha
We have a bunch of news and notes to get to today folks, so let’s jump right in. In some quick short list news, Shanon Lilley and *Ballingowan Pizzaz have replaced Alexandra Slusher and Last Call on the Pan American Games short list. Ali’s fans need not let their hearts be troubled as she withdrew Last Call with the intent of going to the Boekelo CCI3* (Oct. 6-9) in Holland. Many riders are facing the reality of having to pass up a great chance to do well at the Pan Ams in order to do a fall 3* and thus have a shot at the Olympics next year. The change is great news for Shannon and the very talented Ballingowan Pizzaz. The pair, which hails from California, most recently placed 3rd at the Rebecca Farm CCI2*.
–I know when you woke up this morning you thought to yourself “gosh, what I really want to read more about on EN is rider travel grants.” Well, we are here to please. On Wednesday we learned that Twizzel, Mighty Nice, Andromaque, Pawlow, Neville, Remington, Loughan Glen, and Icarus all received $15,000 travel grants. Twizzel, Andromaque, Icarus, and Neville all will hopefully use that money to compete at Burghley. My guess is that Mighty Nice, Pawlow, and Loughan Glen will likely use the money for Blenheim, and we will see Remington go to Boekelo along with Otis Barbotiere and Last Call. The rest of the Boekelo Team, which will be funded by a USOC grant for rider development will be named later, likely after the final Pan Am squad is sorted out. Clear as mud?
–I also should congratulate all of the grant recipients from Wednesday. Sinead Halpin is an obvious choice for a grant and she received the Jacqueline Mars Training Grant this year, although that wasn’t noted in the USEF press release. The grant situaiton gives us a quick look at how busy and convoluted the US High Performance autumn travel schedule is going to be.
–The Today Show featured a nice segment on Wednesday about finding new homes for racehorses after their life on the track. It’s wonderful to see a national media spotlight on the issue and importance of OTTB’s. NBC visited TROTT in California, which seems like a great organization and hopefully they will get some additional support because of the feature. [Today Show via the Retired Racehorse blog]
—Bruce Davidson picked up a win last weekend at Fair Hill. You can get the latest from Bruce, who will take two prelim horses to Richland next, at his blog. His student, David Koss will move Look Sweet up to advanced at Richland.
–You can read more about 10 fun facts about Ecogold horse Gin N’ Juice from HJU.
–We received over 50 submissions to our EN blogger contest. I’m really excited about the quality of the applications–I’ll be out of a job soon if I’m not careful. Because they are so good, it’s taking me a long time to sort through them and find 10 finalists. We’ll have much more on the contest soon, so stay tuned.
–Get hyped because Samantha has a ton of great interviews coming up, including Will Faudree and Alex Hua Tian, who has just launched his new Youtube channel.
–In a strange and slightly sad story that thankfully has a happy ending, a horse in Germany got trapped in a giant tire after slipping while grazing. Rescuers were able to cut the horse free, but it makes for one incredible story. [Daily Mail via TC and MM]
–Rebecca Howard takes a quick look back at coaching at Young Riders here.
–If you are an event photographer, please remember to send in links to your galleries of photos from this weekend’s events to [email protected]. As I explained on Monday, we will include them with our links to the event scores throughout the weekend. It’s a great way to help our readers find their photographs. I’d also like to thank the many photographers who have reached out with kind words and sent in their photographer profiles after my apology to Amy on Monday. I’m excited to continue building and strengthening those relationships and EN is going to be much better for it.
–We have gotten a few reports from readers who had stuff stolen from their trucks and trailers at horse shows this weekend. It’s a worthless and pathetic occurrence that is sadly becoming more common, so this is just a public service announcement to make sure to lock your stuff up these days. Sadly, things are not like they used to be.
–On a very sad note, there have been two more barn fires that have claimed the lives of horses this week. 6 horses perished in a Washington barn fire Tuesday morning, and 14 horses passed away in a Texas barn fire. Both fires occurred Tuesday morning. Check out the links for ways to help.
–The Chronicle catches up with Boyd about Neville and Ying Yang Yo [COTH]
Best of the Blogs: Hamish. Who else?
Check out video of EN friend Holly Hudspeth back in action after giving birth to young Hailey Hudspeth this summer:
That’s all for now. I owe Coren a belated happy birthday, show her some EN love by liking her Facebook page. That’s all for now. As always, wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation your home for eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness each and every day. Now, more than ever, go eventing.
A ‘view’ from the beautiful South Woodstock, VT countryside
I will never get used to cross-country on a Wednesday. It’s common to have one day events on weekdays in England, and even necessary considering the number of horses some riders have in competition, but here in the US there are only a few events during the week each year. As far as I know, the Pony Club championships and the GMHA T3DE and N3DE are the only three-days in the US to compete exclusively on weekdays. We love weekday eventing here on EN because it gives us something to write about on a lazy Wednesday afternoon.
It was a beautiful day for the long format in South Woodstock, Vermont, with highs in the low 80’s and partly cloudy skies. All of the riders who started the course completed it and there were only a couple of issues on course.
In the training three-day divisions, which are part of the SmartPak USEA classic three-day series, Jennifer Clapp and Becket took the open training lead with just 2.4 time penalties. None of the competitors in the division had any jumping penalties–which was a consistent theme at GMHA–so congrats to everyone on a great day.
Annelise Aurillo and Your Lucky Day held onto their dressage lead with 0 penalties on all endurance phases in the junior training three-day division. Emily Mainolfi and Tacaro are in second and Andi Lawrence and Armani IV round out the top 3. Again, all of the riders in that division finished without jumping penalties.
Elizabeth Mudge and Catch Me lead the senior division, with Hannah Bowen and Rebound in second, and Jennifer Eddy and Killeen Clover in 3rd in the senior training division. Two riders had issues out of the 14 starters, including today’s winner for coolest horse name, AHHFUHGEDDABOUDIT, which I swear is what it says on the live scoring.
Allison Springer is leading the open novice three-day with Loughin’s Aragorn. They added 0 penalties to their 23.9 in the dressage and have a 10 point lead going into the show jumping. Molley Tulley is leading the junior novice three-day with Sudden Flirtation, and Gretchen Creesy and Tigerlily moved up from second to take the lead in the senior competition. The senior and junior divisions have less than a rail separating 1st and 2nd going into the show jumping.
In the team competitions, team Coral has a 6 point lead over the two other training teams. Team Lilac has a 15 point lead in the novice team competition. I’m detecting either a nature or color theme, and considering the second placed team novice is named Teal, I think I’ll go with color.
As a bit of a background, GMHA stands for the Green Mountain Horse Association. It was founded in 1926. They are located on 65 acres in South Woodstock, Vermont and host a variety of disciplines in competitions throughout the year, made possible with over 3,000 volunteer hours of community support. You can learn more about GMHA at their website.
Show jumping for all three-day divisions is on Thursday. The GMHA horse trials will run this weekend with beginner novice to preliminary running Saturday and Sunday.
Go GMHA.
A couple weeks ago we mentioned that US riders had received competition and travel grants from the USEF and today the USEF has released a full list of those riders. The grants will be used to help riders compete at the Blenheim CCI3* (Sept. 7-11) and Burghley (Sept. 1-4) . The following riders have received $15,000 grants, with a grand total of $120,000 in grants being given out:
William Coleman III and James Wildasin’s Twizzel
Phillip Dutton and Bruce Duchossois’ Mighty Nice
Will Faudree and Jennifer Mosing’s Andromaque
Will Faudree and Jennifer Mosing’s Pawlow
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos Syndicate’s Neville Bardos
Boyd Martin and Henley House Stables’ Remington XXV
Clark Montgomery and Jessica Montgomery, Kathleen Kraft and Holly Becker’s Loughan Glen
Michael Pollard and Nathalie Pollard and Mieke Hanssens’ Icarus
There are also performance incentive grants for all US riders: $10,000 will be given for a top 10% finish, $5,000 for a top 20% finish. This applies to Burghley and Blenheim.
Of the recepients, Twizzel, Andromaque, Icarus, and Neville Bardos are all entered at Burghley, leaving Mighty Nice, Pawlow, Remington, and Loughan Glen as the 4 Blenheim horses.
Word is that a separate grant from United States Olympic Committee funding will be used to fund a trip to the Boekelo CCI3* in Holland, making for 4 major funded trips overseas this fall for US High Performance including the Pan American Games.
As a last grant note, Doug Payne originally received a Blenheim grant, but after a tough ride at Millbrook wisely decided to stay home and gain more mileage before taking Running Order overseas, and so he was not included in today’s release.
[via USEF]
Go eventing.
7pm Update: As a quick correction, I have heard that Remington will likely be headed for Boekelo. We’ll have more on that shortly.
We’re taking a trip north to the Cedar Run Horse Trials in Ontario for our latest helmet cam. The rider and their OTTB competed in the Entry Open level and finished 8th with a clear XC ride over the weekend. Cedar Run is a 250 acre Horse Park located in Blue Mountains, Ontario. The one surprising thing about this video is that the snow has melted already in Canada this year. Go eventing eh?
Also, a shout-out to Ali for getting her B rating over the weekend. That officially leaves me as the only EN writer who can’t name all the vertebrae in a horse. Go eventing.
A CIC2* horse at Aston le Walls apparently broke its bit before running away with its rider and jumping the hood of a car over the weekend. I know it’s a European car and not a Suburban or something but that is still pretty impressive. According to an eyewitness account that EN contributor lec sent in, the horse had already jumped a 5 bar gate before the video starts. The horse ended up pulling up a few feet from its stable. Both horse and rider were mercifully unhurt, although apparently the car ended up with a dented hood.
[via lec and UKEventingBlog]
Go eventing.
This is part 19 of Jenny’s adventure as a working student and EN guest blogger. In this post we hear about how Jenny is taking a new job. As one of Dr. Chris Newton’s biggest fans on earth, I am profoundly jealous Jenny! Thanks very much as always for writing this Jenny and thank you for reading.
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Sent in by an anonymous unnamed source close to Jenny, Megan, and Andrea
From Jenny:
I’m not sure what to write, as I feel like my life has been quite the whirlwind since my last post. If it’s possible to have a midlife crisis at 22, I’m pretty sure I am having something like it currently. Life has ups and downs, everyone knows that– things work out or don’t, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not so much, some days the bug, some days the windshield. Horses bring so much happiness and joy to our lives, but there are accidents, set backs, and bills, bills, bills. A few weeks ago, the night before Champagne Run HT to be exact, my life was turned upside down when Molson decided to pull yet another one-in-a-million chances-it-will-happen-to-you stunt (referring to his previous rare hoof condition from the fall/winter). I had brought him out of his stall to braid for Dressage the next day, and the whole time he was acting very antsy and strange. After a little more observation, it was clear he was not himself and was showing signs of colic. And so, the routine of vet calls began (mostly by Megan because I am a big cry baby when Molson has as much as a scratch on him!). I had a gut feeling something more was wrong than just an upset stomach because although he was pawing, biting at his stomach and trying to lay down, his temperature was only 96. My heart dropped when Dr. Newton said Molson was not in fact colicing but was bleeding out internally. After ultrasounding and finding he had torn his spleen and was in fact losing blood, we decided to bring him to Rood and Riddle. Because we caught it early and because of the excellent support and monitoring by the R&R staff, I got to take him home a few days later. He is no longer bleeding but still has a low blood cell count and is fragile (all 1500 delicate draft pounds of him), and therefore is on stall rest for a few more weeks. Dr. Newton has been great checking up on him, and hopefully I can start riding him lightly in a couple of weeks. While we haven’t heard exactly what happened to poor Wodburn, it sounds like it might have been something similar. I feel so blessed to still have Molson with me. Things are really put into perspective when life hits you with something like this. One minute I was hoping for a great weekend at our second training HT, the next I was hoping my horse would live. But I ended up lucky, and Molson is now enjoying his stall rest with an endless supply of hay and kisses from everyone around the barn! Of course my hopes of making it to the AECs and doing the T3D at Team Challenge this year are no longer, but I am just so grateful to still have my pony! I had him at the fittest point in his entire life thanks to consistent work and even a few swims at one of the race track pools, so hopefully, once Dr. Newton gives us the ok to go back to work, it won’t take too long to get him fit and out in the competition ring.
As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. So of course, I am coming up on my one year anniversary of the best year of my life, and unfortunately my salary from John for some reason just isn’t supporting me, so the time has come, very reluctantly, to get a paying job so I can start supporting myself (words my parents are celebrating over I’m sure!). I am so sad I will no longer be a full time working student for Team CEO, however I am incredibly grateful that Megan and everyone else have been so supportive and helpful. The cards were lined up perfectly last week as Dr. Newton was looking for a new assistant, and lucky for me he offered me the job! I don’t know what I have done to end up so lucky, but I will now be working half of my time on the ambulatory service with Dr. N, and the other half still as a working student for Megan. Ah what a life! While I haven’t had the best of weeks recently, everything is certainly starting to look up now, since I still have an amazing horse, the best coach and riding team, and an exciting new job with one of if not the best equine vet in the country!
Until next time!
xo, Jenny
Photo via Jade Cooling
Raise your hand if you want a new EN series. Annie, put your hand down. Last week I mistakenly posted a photo taken and owned by the wonderful eventing photographer Amy Dragoo. EN readers will remember that we wrote about Amy and her business as part of the True Prospect Farm recovery for donating a portion of her proceeds to the recovery. Our policy on Eventing Nation is to never use photos by eventing photographers without their permission, and I simply screwed up. This is especially dumb since we have thousands of fantastic rider photos from Samantha and tens of thousands of terrible photos from me in the EN archives. Photographers own their work and it’s not enough for us to correct mistakes and apologize once they are made, so we are revising our policy to be more proactive.
We love eventing photographers here on Eventing Nation. We stand out in the scorching sun and sleeting rain together covering events and I’m glad to consider many of the east coast and national photographers friends. Making a living as an eventing photographer is incredibly hard, and we have enjoyed promoting the websites and businesses of numerous photographers over the years. As part of some cross-occupational love, we’d like to open that process to all professional and semi-professional eventing photographers in a way that will be fun and educational for all of us. For once we’ll try to use the reach of Eventing Nation to do something more than make fun of Coren. So, here’s the new series, and it is open to all professional and semi-professional photographers:
Fill out the short form below and please send it along with any other special requests with the subject line “Eventing Photographer Series” to [email protected].
1) Include the following in the email–
a) Your name:
b) The name of your business:
c) The geographical area where you generally photograph:
d) Years of experience as a photographer:
e) Why you decided to become a photographer:
f) A short funny/interesting/ridiculous story about an experience you have had while photographing at an event:
g) One piece of advice, whether technical or general for a developing photographer:
h) Links to your website, blog, Facebook, etc.:
2) Send either a .jpeg or a link to several of your photos that you would like to be featured and include a description of the photos. To make sure that the photos are protected, they can be watermarked as much as you like and we will only publish them once and only in the post promoting your business.
The better the stories and photos, the more likely it is that we will publish your profile.
Also, we get emails from time to time about readers wondering what photographers are at which events. So, if you are selling photographs from an event and want us to include your website along with our score links, please just shoot us an email to [email protected] when the photos are posted.
Go eventing.
By the powers of Facetube, Youbook, and the interweb, I present you footage from the Millbrook HT advanced cross-country. The video is courtesy of the Thunder Moon Farm blog, which also has a nice report from Saturday. Thanks to Suzanne for sending us the link.
Go eventing.
Sometimes we get photos sent in that are just too cute not to post. This is the Woodbrook Hunt Pony Club, located near Tacoma, Washington. They went to Polestar Farm in Lake Stevens, WA for their summer camp and from the looks of the photo they had a great time. Meika, the EN reader who sent this in, said there was a mix of 13.1hh ponies up to full event horses. Maike said the camp would have been a much more traumatic experience without the use of anti-grass-eating reins! Ponies will try amazing athletic feats to grab a tuft, whether there is a jump in front of them or not. As Meika said, “three cheers for Pony Club… because ‘Horse Club’ just doesn’t sound right.”
Go eventing.
Jessica Mongeau was kind enough to send us a few photos from Saturday at Millbrook including photos of the EN jump. Jessica told me that her main motivation was to watch Peter and Henny, but she got a ton of great photos as well. Check out the photos here, and a shout out to Jessica’s blog as well.
Since Millbrook is a move-up event for many horses at all levels, a Bughley prep for a few advanced horses, and a Riichland prep for several Pan Am hopefuls, I think the cross-country results yesterday are much more important than the show jumping results. Nonetheless, after a great day of cross-country at Millbrook, the show jumping course rewarded the riders with many clear rounds.
In the advanced A division, Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen picked up right where they left off at the Bromont CCI3* in June by picking up the win. Boyd Martin and Remington jumped a clean round to move up to 2nd, while Neville dropped from 2nd to 4th with a rail. Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty moved up three places to finish in 3rd and they have another great result to put on their Pan Am resume. Michael Pollard and Icarus finished in 5th with one rail down.
Advanced A Results:
1. Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen +0 38.6
2. Boyd Martin and Remington +0 40.1
3. Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty +0 42.0
4. Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos +4 43.4
5. Michael Pollard and Icarus +4 45.1
6. Sara Kozumplik and Manolo Blahnik +4 45.6
Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle went into the show jumping in the advanced B division with a huge lead and they ended up winning by 10 points. The rest of the division saw big changes to the leader board. Kyle Carter and Madison Park show jumped a clean round to move up from 7th to 2nd, proving that miracles are still possible in New York. Phillip Dutton moved up from 9th to finish in 3rd. Phillip’s vet, Kevin Keane was one place back in 4th, and Buck rounded out the top 5 with Titanium.
Advanced B Results:
1. Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM +4 33.1
2. Kyle Carter and Madison Park +0 43.4
3. Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice +1 46.8
4. Kevin Keane and Fernhill Flutter +4 47.2
5. Buck Davidson and Titanium +4 48.7
6. Boyd Martin and Ying Yang Yo +8 50.4
7. Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz +12 53.3
Caroline Martin was the only intermediate young rider to finish on her dressage score and she won the young riders intermediate division by an impressive 13 points with Petite Flower. Claire Kelley and Orion XII finished in second and Madeline Blackman took home the bronze with Gordonstown.
Mara DePuy and Fun Maker won the open intermediate B division by 6 points with a clear show jumping round. Jon Holling finished in second with Downtown Harrison and Peter Atkins was third with HJ Hampton. Liza Horan finished 4th with Obama and Eliza Farren was 5th with Bantry Bay’s Dublin. Stephen Bradley was 7th in that division with his new ride Leyland.
Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda won the open intermediate A division with Cambalda, which should be a nice confidence boost for them. In a world where we jump all over riders for moving up too fast, it’s worth giving Jennie credit for taking a step back to figure things out after Luhmuhlen. Tatton Winter, ridden by Sara Kozumplik was second, and Senith ISF was third with Leslie Law.
Like Clark and Loughan Glen, Will Coleman and Zipp followed up their Bromont 1* win with a win at Millbrook. They won the open preliminary leading wire to wire and finishing on a 31.7. Michael Pollard was 4th in that division with his new horse, the very promising Jude’s Law.
As promised, a photo of the EN jump:
Go eventing.
Greetings Eventing Nation and welcome to Sunday. I was reminded by one of Samantha’s blog posts to always first say “thanks,” and there is nothing that I am more thankful for than having such a great team here at EN. From John in Australia, to Samantha working hard this weekend in England, to Ali at Pony Club ratings this weekend, we are fortunate to have the hardest working and closest team here at EN that I have ever been a part of inside and outside of riding. I can’t say it enough–without our team of great writers, this experiment known as Eventing Nation would have ended a long time ago. And of course, we’ll be adding a new member with the blogger contest, which we’ll tell everyone much more about next week.
Now for the links…
Gatcombe: [Scores]
Millbrook HT: [Live Scores]
Snowfields HT: [Times/Scores]
Bucks Country Schooling HT: [Times/Scores]
Western Reserve PC Mini Trials: [Times/Scores]
Thanks to Samantha for the very kind words, but especially for the photos of Laura Collett
Oliver Townend won the novice championship at Gatcombe
Doug Payne’s Saturday Millbrook recap
Farewell Woodburn
Good luck to all of the competitors today. Stay safe and have fun. Wherever you might be, thanks for making Eventing Nation your home for eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness each and every day. Go eventing.
EN guest blogger Jon Holling is having a great weekend at Millbrook, including being placed 4th in the intermediate B division on his Pan American hopeful Downtown Harrison. Jon was kind enough to send us a brief report from the XC at Millbrook.
—-
From Jon:
It is a fantastic day here at Millbrook Horse Trials. The amount of effort put in by Louise Merriman and her crew is truly staggering. I had the opportunity to run my horse Downtown Harrison around the intermediate track this morning before the advanced division got started. I must say it was a very challenging track but the horses all seemed better for having run around it.
There were several Pan Am horses in both the Intermediate and Advanced divisions trying to get one last prep before Richland Park. When the Advanced kicked off, the big guns came out, some of whom will be using this as their last run before Burghley. Most notable was obviously Boyd and Neville. I got to watch them at the first few combinations and it was fun to see. It looked like they had not missed a beat and it was cool to see what a partnership they obviously have together.
While there was some trouble in places on the course it didn’t seem to be at any one particular fence and was mostly run outs or just simply green horses and riders missing lines. Kyle Carter also had a good trip around on Madison Park. Again it is fun to watch the pairs that have so much experience together go out and make what was a very tough track look like a schooling round. Interestingly one of the biggest concerns the riders had yesterday was a double set of skinny cabins at fence 17A and B. I saw Karen O’Connor out with course Designer Tremainne Cooper yesterday discussing the fence in depth. I believe the second fence was shifted slightly and I must say I did not hear of one problem at the fence. As the Chair of the Professional Horseman’s Council it is great to see the rider representative program working so efficiently. Thanks again for reading and thanks Eventing Nation for keeping us all up to date on the happenings all over the world.
Last year when I rode at Millbrook I had a stupid fall at the coffin, but if memory serves every other advanced competitor finished the course. Today the course caused more problems despite the quality of the field. 5 riders finished the advanced with at least a stop and 6 did not complete the course. From the reports I have heard the course was tough but rode well overall. The word is that the footing at Millbrook is firm despite the strong efforts of the organizers, so a lot of riders took it easy around the course. Time penalties led to huge shifts in the leader boards for the intermediate and advanced.
In the advanced A division, Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen moved up 4 spots to take the lead with a speedy cross-country round. Boyd dropped to second and third with Neville and Remington respectively by picking up 11.6 and 8.8 time penalties. Nonetheless, Boyd has to be ecstatic to successfully finish Neville’s first advanced cross-country since the fire. Michael Pollard and Icarus moved up to 4th. Buck and the Pan Amercian Games short listed Absolute Liberty are in 6th. The only double-clear in the advanced A division was Sara Kozumplik with Manolo Blahnik.
In the advanced B division, Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle widened their lead to 12 points with one of only two double-clears in that division. EN blogger Lisa Marie Fergusson and Smart Move jumped all the way from 12th to second with 1.6 time penalties. Burghley bound Collen Rutledge and Shiraz moved up to third, also with 1.6 time penalties. Boyd and Ying Yang Yo go into the show jumping in 4th.
As a smattering of notes on the advanced cross-country, Erin and No Boundaries are fine despite their retirement on course without a stop. Erin just pulled up because No Boundaries stung his leg. Doug Payne had two stops on Running Order at the corner in the water, and Leslie Law fell off Rehy Lux on the infamous Millbrook downhill slide.
The intermediate divisions at Millbrook are nearly as exciting as the advanced. Peter Atkins and HJ Hampton moved up 7 spots with just 6 time penalties to sit behind 1st placed Mara DePuy and Fun Maker in the OI-B division. Jon Holling and the Pan Am short listed Downtown Harrison are in 4th in that division, and Carl Bouckaert is in 5th with his new ride Mensa. Stephen Bradley and Leyland expected to take it easy today as a result of the footing and they dropped to 10th with 24 time penalties.
Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda successfully made their return to eventing after Luhmuhlen with one of the fastest rides of the day to take the lead in the open intermediate A division. Sara Kozumplik is in second with Tatton Winter and Leslie Law is third with Zenith ISF. The Pan Am short listed pair of Will Colemand and Obos O’Reilly stayed in 4th with 18.4 time penalties. Another Pan Am short listed pair, Michael Pollard and Schoensgreen Hanni scored a 19.6 in the dressage, but took their time on the cross-country to drop to 12th. It’s good to see Holly Payne and Madeline back doing well and in 5th in the OI-A division.
Cross-country is still running in the other divisions at Millbrook. Jon Holling will have a quick report for us soon from Millbrook and until then, go eventing.
At 6pm on July 24th, a fire broke out at the main barn at Over The Hill Farm in Chinchilla, PA. Thirteen fire companies and over 100 firefighters responded, but by the time they arrived the structure was engulfed in flames. There were 29 horses in the barn at the time of the fire and 23 horses were lost. It took days to sort through the rubble and find loose horses in the surrounding area to get a final count. Of the 6 surviving horses, 3 were unharmed and 3 others are receiving 24 hour a day medical care. Like True Prospect, there was an apartment above the barn, and thankfully none of the residents were injured, but they lost everything in the blaze. The barn has numerous eventing ties, including event horses who were lost, and the owners, the Race family, are big eventing supporters in the area. You can read more about the fire at the [Abington Journal]
Two tax-deductible funds have been set up, and I’d like to ask us to come together once again as a community to support the recovery. The official fire fund is:
Over the Hill Fire Fund
C/O Crystal Tompkins
First National Bank
125 N State St.
Clarks Summit PA 18411
The Waverly PTA set up a fund as well for Jesse Sabatelle and his son Dylan, who lived in the apartment above the barn:
PTA Fire Fund
…c/o Waverly Elementary School
103 Waverly Rd
Clarks Summit, PA 18411
It has been a tragic two months for the eventing community, but I never cease to be heartened by the support we show to those who are suffering in the darkest of times. Thanks to Mary Clair Peairs for sending us the info on the funds. Go eventing.
Thank goodness Madison Park’s connections have finally found him a quality jockey in Riley Carter
Red Hills is facing shut down if they don’t find $100,000 in new funding, Denny Emerson is coming home, Samantha is at Gatcombe all weekend, the stock market has decided to jump off a cliff, and, oh yeah, there are a couple of USEA events this weekend. Needless to say it’s a busy Friday around the EN compound.
Looking across the pond, Samantha is wrapping up her British tour with a full weekend of coverage from the British Open Eventing Championship at Gatcombe, which is also the home of the Princess Royal. Will Faudree and Tiana Coudray are both in action for the USA.
As always, Samantha will have photos, interviews, and much more on her blog, many but not all of which we will publish here on EN. Also, be sure to follow Samantha on Twitter @SamanthaLClark for the latest from Gatcombe. If you have Twitter and aren’t following Samantha, then you are truly crazy.
Millbrook HT: [Live Scores, Ride Times]
Penny Oaks HT: [Homepage]
River Glen HT: [Website]
Rocky Mountain HT: [Website]
Fair Hill HT: [Homepage]
Snowfields HT: [Times/Scores]
Silverwood Farm HT: [Website]
Bucks Country Schooling HT: [Times/Scores]
Western Reserve PC Mini Trials: [Times/Scores]
If you’re out and about this weekend or watching the scoring, feel free to chat it up on this post. As always, good luck to all of the readers. Stay safe, have fun, and go eventing.
With the Eagles’ recent off season moves, this year’s bet between Jon Holling and Buck might go differently
Buck Davidson and Carl Segal’s Ballynoecastle RM stepped their game up, as we like to say here on EN, and took a 4 point lead in the advanced B division at Millbrook. Granted, the B division doesn’t have quite the dressage firepower as the A division, in which Boyd and Neville took the lead on Thursday, but Buck should be very pleased with a 29.1. Phillip and Mighty Nice are in second with a 33.4. Joe Meyer and the 19 year old Snip are in 3rd. Michael Pollard is just outside of the medals with one of his newer horses, the very talented DV8, and he is tied with veterinarian and Pan American short list alternate Kevin Keane with his Fernhill Flutter. EN guest blogger Lisa Marie Fergusson of Canada is in 12th with Smart Move in their first advanced together. Boyd is in a three-way tie for 14th with his former 4* ride Ying Yang Yo. They have been reunited by owner Faye Wolf and are taking things one event at a time.
Millbrook Advanced-B Dressage Results:
1. Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM 29.1
2. Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice 33.4
3. Joe Meyer and Snip 36.6
4T. Michael Pollard and DV8 37.2
4T. Kevin Keane and Fernhill Flutter 37.2
6. Katlyn McMorris and Clifton Peekachu 37.5
7. Kyle Carter and Madison Park 37.8
Intermediate, preliminary, novice, and beginner novice divisions are all still riding at Millbrook this afternoon. Good luck to all of the competitors and go eventing.
Eventers truly are the most resilient people on the planet, and Denny Emerson is at the top of that list. Denny fell and broke a vertebrae in his neck on Sunday at the Stoneleigh Burnham horse trials in Massachusetts. By the grace of God he was spared from spinal chord injury and is expected to recover without surgery in 3 months. Denny’s wife May was kind enough to send us an update on how Denny is doing, including the great news that he is coming home from the hospital today. May also requests that if you are trying to contact Denny in the next week please use email and Facebook notes.
From May:
Denny will be coming home today. They have gotten a little better handle on his pain, the worst of which is caused by muscle spasms in his head probably from the trauma and most likely from the unnatural position it is forced into by the “halo” contraption. His chin is up so he can’t really look down or straight ahead – his vision is always directed toward just below the ceiling. This makes walking a challenge. He uses a walker and is very careful. Yesterday he was able to get in and out of his bed, walk around the nurses’ station, practice climbing a couple of stairs, etc. (We have 5 steps up into our house.) After the prescribed 3 months in this “halo” his dressage position will be a 10!
Denny is really looking forward to coming home to quiet, where he can deal with his injury and hopefully get uninterrupted sleep whenever he is able. We have had many wonderful calls from our friends, and really appreciate your concern and help, but for the next week or two would ask that most communication take place by email or notes. Denny’s not up to talking on the phone, and can’t read or see a computer yet. The next three months are going to be a challenge, but he continues to be thankful that his injuries were not worse and has a great positive attitude to hasten his recovery. He sends his best to everyone & hopes that they all will wear the appropriate safety gear that’s available now.
Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes.
Thank you for sending us the update May and we are incredibly happy to hear Denny is coming home! Go Denny.
If Neville’s recovery from fighting to his life after the True Prospect fire just two months ago to kicking ass at the Millbrook horse trials today doesn’t bring a smile to your face then I don’t know what will. Neville Bardos went up against one of the best advanced horse trials fields you will find in the United States in the Millbrook advanced-A division Thursday afternoon and seized the lead by 3.5 points. Let’s show a bit of love to Boyd as well, who also happens to have ridden the second placed horse–Remington. As we all know, Neville was one of 5 surviving horses from the May 31st fire that burned a barn to the ground at True Prospect farm and claimed the lives of 6 horses.
I spoke with Boyd several times in the days after the True Prospect fire and the vets were uncertain whether or not Neville would live, much less compete again. He suffered from severe smoke inhalation and his blood counts were the worst of any of the surviving True Prospect horses. Now, after meticulous veterinary care, regular hyperbaric chamber therapy, a big dose of love, and surely a bit of luck, Neville has one prelim under his belt from two weekends ago at Fitch’s corner and he’s going into the advanced cross-country at Millbrook with the lead, and Burghley is just around the corner.
As if that isn’t enough, there is another, and perhaps just as special comeback story in the same division as Jan Byyny is returning to advanced for the first second time since her severe fall at Pine Top in the spring of 2010. Jan suffered numerous broken bones and a stroke, and her recovery has progressed at a remarkable pace. Jan is 9th in the advanced dressage with Inmidair.
Update: As a quick correction, this is Jan’s second time competing advanced since her fall. Jan rode the advanced at Fair Hill in April on Why Not and finished 7th. Thanks to youngeventr for the heads up.
Millbrook advanced division A dressage results:
1. Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos 27.8
2. Boyd Martin and Remington 31.3
3. Leslie Law and Rehy Lux 31.6
4. Phillip Dutton and Ben 33.4
5T. Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen 33.8
5T. Colleen Rutledge and Dillon 33.8
7. Doug Payne and Running Order 34.1
8. Michael Pollard and Icarus 34.1
[Full Millbrook Thursday Scores]
As another note from Millbrook, Phillip is back competing just two days after losing his incredible partner Woodburn. It must be hard for Phillip, but Phillip belongs in the saddle and he had a great day, finishing in 4th with Ben.
Oh, wait, there’s another big comeback story in the works at Millbrook. Peter Atkins and HJ Hampton are competing in the open intermediate B division in their first horse trials since the WEGs. Dressage continues Friday at Millbrook.
Boom goes the dynamite.
In her latest EN blog post, Sharon White writes about her tough decision to withdraw from Bughley and looks ahead to possibly the Pan American games or the Pau CCI4*. And of course Sharon puts life into perfect perspective as only she can.
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From Sharon:
So close and yet so far away! Yesterday, I had to make the decision to withdraw Reg (Rafferty’s Rules) from Burghley. He is dealing with a bruised sole, and I cannot risk putting him on a plane to England. As always, the horses will tell you what to do. The good thing is that I have some great options. The four star at Pau is a possibility, and we have been placed on the short list for the Pan Ams.
Persevere, persevere, persevere. Some people think I’m tough. A couple of broken pelvis’s, a broken hip here and there, and you might get that impression, but then you have not met my Mom, Carol. She never gives up. We just celebrated the tenth anniversary of her diagnosis of brain cancer (glioblastoma multiformate for those in the know, or stage 4 horrible stuff that will kill you). She was given six months to live ten years ago. Ten years! Talk about tough. Someone once told me “dogs don’t have cats.” I love that saying now. It explains to me why I am the way I am.
This year, Rebecca Farm was a celebration of Becky, another strong willed mother. The Rebecca Farm shirt said on it “I still work for Becky,” and Becky was everywhere. Sarah organized an incredible event with no detail left out, from the green and burgundy ribbons given out in Becky’s honor, to the amazing footing on the cross country for the horses. It is music to your ears every morning to hear the sound of sprinklers on the cross country course. I know Reg and I would be in a lot worse shape if not for that! And the whole Broussard family was out doing all jobs all week. I saw Sarah’s sister Rebecca judging a flag on roads and tracks, and if you’ve ever done that job you know it is not exciting. Sarah’s husband Drew gave out training level ribbons while the three star show jumping was going on- I know because he was giving me one when I know we were both wondering what was going on in the three star. And there’s not a job I didn’t see Sarah doing. I have a feeling Becky would expect no less.
I have been writing a lot lately about the quality of the Millbrook Horse Trials field, especially as it relates to Burghley preparations. Now there’s another big reason to visit Millbrook, New York this weekend. A few weeks ago we introduced the first ever Eventing Nation jump at the Maryland Horse Trials. Today we get a look at the second, which will be featured on the Millbrook advanced course. The jump depicts a fox with an EN collar jumping out of a hollow log. Like the jump at Maryland, it was carved by the masterful course builder Tyson Rementer, and the photo was sent in by course designer and good EN friend Tremaine Cooper. The jump will be the “A” for a one-stride into the water, then four strides to a corner. EN Karma to anyone who sends in photos with the jump.
The Millbrook dressage begins this afternoon with novice, training, intermediate, and the first of the two Millbrook advanced divisions. Advanced division A dressage starts around noon. Listing all of the nice horses in the A-A division would pretty much just mean listing the 27 horse field, but I will note that Leslie Law has Rehy Lux entered against Clark Montgomery’s Loughan Glen for a Bromont rematch and those two are likely to be way ahead of the field by this evening. Boyd is riding Neville Bardos, Veronica is doing her second advanced, Kristin Schmolze has Cavaldi, and Jan Byyny is riding Inmidair. The live scores will hopefully start soon:
[Scores] [Ride Times]
Go eventing.
Will and Pawlow (left) with Andrea Leatherman and Mesa at Jersey Fresh
Will Faudree has decided to withdraw Pawlow from Burghley. When I spoke with Will he explained that both of his top horses, Pawlow and Andromaque are doing great. He decided to withdraw “Ernie” from Burghley and target the horse at the Blenheim CCI3* because doing Burghley after completing the Luhmuhlen CCI4* earlier this summer would have meant two four-stars in just 9 weeks. Ernie is too nice of a horse to risk like that and a good run at Blenheim will set them up well for the spring campaign towards London. In my opinion, the fabulous Andromaque is Will’s top Olympic prospect and she is still very much targeting a trip around Bughley. The last time I saw Andromaque was at Barbury and she had all the look of an Olympic contender.
Both Pawlow and Andromaque will do the combined test this weekend at Gatcombe and then the CIC at Hartpury the following weekend. Ernie will do a combined test at Highclere before Blenheim. Pawlow was withdrawn for positive circumstances, but it’s that time of the year–just under a month out–when all of the remaining Burghley entrants are bracing themselves for some news from their vet, whether minor or otherwise, that they will have to withdraw from Burghley.
Go eventing.
