Check out video of the great Mark Todd on Quantum Leap and Maria Pinedo Sendagorta on Windsor H earlier today on the CCI*** course at Boekelo.  Mark and Quantum Leap finished clear with 7.6 time and Maria finished with 20 at 22C and 19.2 time.

[Boekelo Scores]

Go eventing.

Hacking at Boekelo

Happy Columbus Day Eventing Nation!  Today we celebrate an Italian explorer’s discovery of The Bahamas as part of a quest to find Asia for the Spanish monarchy.  If your company, like the US government, celebrates the occasion, then thank you for sharing a small part of your vacation with us right here on Eventing Nation.  One group of US eventers is reversing Columbus’ journey this weekend–segue, for the win!–and heading from North America over to Europe to compete at Boekelo as part of the FEI’s Nations Cup competition.

Samantha, Kate, and Jenni have given us a fantastic look at three members of the US team so far [PD, Clark, and Jennie] and I get to finish our series with a conversation with Jon Holling, who was kind enough to speak with me from the Netherlands this morning.  Jon missed out on representing the United States at the 2011 Pan American Games after a heartbreaking final vet check benched Downtown Harrison “Will”.  Jon responded with the true eventer spirit of positivity and hard work, and 12 months later he finds himself on foreign soil representing the USA with Will.

Traveling to Boekelo: Jon traveled to the Netherlands on Saturday with the horses and grooms, while the rest of his fellow riders competed at Morven Park in Virginia this weekend.  Jon told me that the trip went really smoothly and that the horses are all looking great.  He was especially thankful for Downtown Harrison’s smooth trip because Will is the least experienced traveler of the bunch.  The horses hacked/walked on Sunday and Downtown Harrison did some flatwork in a jumping saddle today.

Jon & Downtown Harrison at The Fork this spring, photo by Samantha

Venue: Jon has European experience from competing at Burghley as well as the World Cup final in Malmo (Sweden), but he said that Boekelo is different in that it is a “complete local event.”  The course is placed on 30 separate pieces of property situated right in the local community, leading to a ton of atmosphere.  The main dressage arena is situated, as Jon described, right in the middle of the trade fair with one end next to a party tent.  It appears that the Europeans understand the key to enjoying dressage.  Estimates are that 25,000 spectators will show up for cross-country and Jon joked that he didn’t know if they all would fit.  As for footing, Jon explained that Boekelo got a ton of rain on Saturday but the weather has been picture perfect since then and the footing is a sandy pete moss that feels great under hoof.

Mindset: The challenge for Jon at big events is to stay relaxed rather than getting too amped up too early.  Nonetheless, he said that he was already pretty pumped and that competing in a foreign country adds an additional element of excitement.  Jon is, in my opinion, one of the best mental competitors in the US and his focus on one clear goal was apparent throughout our conversation.  He explained: “This is absolutely the opportunity I have been waiting for.  It’s a huge honor to represent the US, and we didn’t come all this way to lose.“

The Team: Jon’s compatriots arrived at Boekelo earlier today.  Jon echoed my feeling about the toughness and quality of this US squad–“Everyone on this team is really focused.  Our goal is to put the world on notice this weekend.“

Quick Turnaround: Traveling, training, and then competing internationally is an exhausting experience and my guess is that this (relatively) young Boekelo team will benefit from the quick turnaround between arrival to competition.  At the very least, as Jon described, it doesn’t give much time for an onset of complacency.  I asked Jon about going from being part of a full training program at Willow Run Farm to riding one horse for a week.  He laughed and explained: “Yes, it is ridiculous, but you can make a whole day out of riding one horse, getting coffee for the grooms, and everything else.“

I want to extend major thanks to Jon, Phillip, Jennie, and Clark for chatting with us in the lead up to Boekelo.  We wish them the very best of luck this coming weekend, and we can’t wait to cheer them on.

As an aside, I also want to wish Karen a swift and speedy recovery.  Karen is as tough as they come and I know nothing can keep her from the sport that she loves for very long.

Last, but not least, happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian readers.  I’m incredibly thankful for our team here at EN, especially to Kate for holding down the fort on this most hallowed of holidays.  We are all in turn thankful to you for joining us on EN each and every day for your eventing news, commentary, and ridiculousness.  Now, more than ever, go eventing.

Photo via Samantha

Will Faudress and Pawlow moved up one spot to win the CIC3* at Plantation Field this afternoon.  Will and “Ernie” jumped double-clear and took advantage of one rail down from Karen O’Connor and Mandiba, who nonetheless finished with a weekend that I’m sure thrilled Karen.  Buck Davidson continued a very consistent 2012 season with Ballynoecastle RM by finishing in third.  Clark Montgomery followed his decisive advanced win at Plantation aboard Loughan Glen with a 4th on Universe.  Clark’s wife Jess originally rode Universe and it has been really fun to see him develop with the Montgomery family.  Marilyn Little-Meredith finished a good weekend in 5th with Karen and Veronica one spot behind in 6th.  Phillip Dutton and company, including Boyd, Jan, and Jennie, took the next five spots.

CIC3* Results:
1. Will Faudree and Pawlow +0 49.5
2. Karen O’Connor and Mandiba +4 50.2
3. Buck and Ballynoecastle RM +0 50.4
4. Clark Montgomery and Universe +0 56.1
5. Marilyn Little-Meredith and RF Smoke on the Water +4 57.4
6. Karen O’Connor and Veronica +0 57.9
[Plantation Final Results]

Karen O’Connor and Marilyn Little-Meredith have just returned from a summer competition and horse shopping trip in Europe that stretched out so long that I was worried they wouldn’t return.  However, they did return in full force today with three top-6 performances.  Phillip finished two in the top 9 and Jan Bynny finished two in the top 12 with Syd Kent and Inmidair.

There were 10 double-clear rides in the CIC3* out of 33 show jumpers.  Samantha is on her way back to Kentucky, but stay tuned tonight and Monday for much more from Plantation.  Go eventing.

Shiraz in the CIC3*, via Samantha

Samantha has been one scene at the Plantation CIC3* and horse trials all day.  Be sure to follow the action live with Samantha’s tweets, which always include awesome photos.  You can follow the official Plantation Twitter feed here.  Samantha will be along later with a full CIC3* recap, and until then here is a quick look at how things went in the advanced division.

Plantation very well might be able to boast the best field from top to bottom of any event remaining on the US 2012 calendar because it stretches from CIC3* down to preliminary and because some of the horses entered in the upper level divisions are targeting overseas events like Pau (Shiraz) and Boekelo (Cambalda, Atlas, Loughan Glen, and Downtown Harrison).

Clark Montgomery and Boekelo-bound Loughan Glenn predictably lead the way in the advanced through the dressage and show jumping.  Clark heads into the cross-country with a 4.2 point lead on 24.8.  Phillip and Atlas are second on a 29.0 after a fantastic dressage test and a rail in the show jumping.  Buck is 3rd and 4th with Mar De Amor and Park Trader respectively.  Jon Holling is beating his Boekelo bound horse, Downtown Harrison (8T) aboard DHI Zatopek B, in 7th. The good news for Jon is that Will added just 4 penalties in the show jumping today as yet another sign that they are completely back on track.  Cambalda is competing in the CIC3*.

As usual, the show jumping was difficult for the advanced with just 4 double-clears out of 22 jumpers.  The CIC3* riders will have definitely paid attention to how the course rode for the advanced.  I’m assuming that, as usual, the Plantation show jumping ran on the tough grass course.  I think I pulled 5 rails on that intermediate course in my last trip to Plantation–no fun.

[Full Plantation Results]

Stay tuned for much more from Samantha throughout the weekend.  Somehow I got conned into competing in a 20 mile team adventure race on Saturday involving running, mountain biking, and canoeing.  This is unfortunate because I don’t really run, bike, or canoe.  My plan is to find and hijack a horse–there’s no way the organizers have thought to ban that.  Go eventing.

Alex Cole and Pure Revenge won the AECs Novice Junior championship

The Beginner Novice and Novice riders are under an incredible amount of pressure here at the AECs show jumping.  Becky Holder had a two rail cushion entering the arena yesterday to win the Advanced.  Two rails for a leading pair today would plummet them out of the ribbons.  This really makes the AECs feel like a true championship for all levels alike and makes even just placing a huge achievement.  Like Saturday, Marc Donovan’s show jumping courses were challenging and tested the riders’ ability to ride forward through turns.  A pretty good crowd showed up this morning to watch the riders handle the pressure and by all accounts they did a great job.

[Full AECs Final Results]

Heather Morris and Barnabus–our interview follows their ride in the above video

Novice Horse: Heather Morris and Barnabus continued a strong weekend for Texas eventing by winning the Novice Horse division.  Heather and Cherye Huber’s Barnabus finished on their dressage score of 24 for the victory.  Afterward Heather mentioned the exciting news that Cherye will be taking over the ride on Barnabus soon. The top three places in the division remained unchanged from the dressage with Lauren DeNeve and Cindy One finishing in second and Chimene Evans with Fernhill Sam finishing in third. Kate Chadderton with Fine Art moved up from 8th after the dressage to finish in 4th and Kyle Carter moved up from 9th to finish 5th.

Beginner Novice Horse: We met with Lauren Weil of Georgia right here at the AECs last year after she finished in 2nd with Commit and won with Pippen in the Beginner Novice Horse division.  Commit did one spot better this year, taking the win in the Beginner Novice Horse championship.  Lauren told me after her round that Commit’s very proud owner, Jennifer Tucker, will be taking over the ride now on her AECs champion.  Carrie Meehan finished second and 5th in the division on Up In Flames and Cavalier respectively, and Michelle Donlick was third with Casanova. Thus far, home state Georgians are winning the gold medal race here at the AECs.

Novice Amateur: Logan Elliott and the Connemara pony Cady O’ Daly Michael topped their Beginner Novice win here last year with a Novice Amateur victory on the best score of the weekend for any division on 21.5.  “Michael” was bred by Cady O’ Daly farm and jumped double-clear for the victory.  Logan explained after her round that she jumped Michael in a fly mask to protect his sensitive eyes. Elisabeth Lee and Free Verse finished in second.

Beginner Novice Amateur: Letha Calvin is your Beginner Novice Amateur champion aboard the 15 year old OTTB Look Cody Look.  Letha finished just ahead of Sher Schwartz and Jamocean of Georgia.  Hannah Reinke finished in bronze position with Aiden Star.

Letha Calvin and runner-up Sher Schwarts were kind enough to speak with me after the awards ceremony.  Apologies for misspeaking when I said Sher was in the Novice Amateur division in the video:

Novice Junior: The Junior Novice riders very well might have jumped the best out of all the novice divisions today.  Alex Cole and Pure Revenge finished on their dressage score of 27.5 for the win.  Francesca Crichton and Chez Pierre jumped up from 4th after the XC into second place.  The jumping rounds proved to be very influential for the overall Novice Junior scoreboard with, for example, Cecelia Bette and Jake VI jumping up into the ribbons to 12th from 26th after the dressage by finishing on their dressage score.

Beginner Novice Junior: The largest division at the AECs, featuring 81 starters to the weekend, was the last to finish at Chattahoochee Hills on Sunday afternoon. Katie McCrory and the 12 year old Quarter Horse My Prince Charming extended their cross-country lead for yet another Georgian victory. Molly Sherman and Bento Box of Maryland finished second, moving up one spot today. I think Katie deserves two trophies for winning an 81 horse division.

A few years ago the AECs were just a championship because the USEA said they were a championship.  Now, after three great years of huge attendance and great competition at Chattahoochee Hills, the AECs are clearly a bona fied national championship.  The AECs featured a number of winners from last year including Lauren Weil, Logan Elliott, Doug Payne, Heather Morris, and of course Becky and Comet were winners from 2010.

One retirement that I should have mentioned yesterday is that Nate Chambers retired his long time partner Rolling Stone II here at the AECs.  Rolling Stone is close to my heart because he and Nate beat the heck out of me for many years at the intermediate level.  Rolly and Nate continued on to compete successfully at the advanced level.  Nate wrote on his Facebook Friday evening “I wish he could understand me when I talk to him so he could truly know how greatful I am for everything he has done for me. He has been a true friend and partner for my entire eventing career thus far and I will love him dearly for the rest of my life.”  We’ll miss you Rolly!

I want to thank Chattahoochee Hills, our host Carl Bouckaert, all of the organizers, the USEA, and everyone else involved with putting on such a spectacular event.  Most of all, thanks to the many volunteers who made this weekend possible.  We’ll miss Georgia but I can’t wait for Texas next year!

Now, more than ever, go AECs!

The Beginner Novice competitors rode cross-country well past 6pm on Saturday evening.  Check out a look at all of the fences on the course in the above video montage.  Lauren Weil and Commit finished closer to the optimum than Carrie Meehan and Cavalier to take the lead on the same score in the Beginner Novice Horse division.  Letha Calvin and Look Cody Look have a narrow lead over Sher Schwartz and Jamocean in the Beginner Novice Amateur.  Katie McCrory and My Prince Charming of Georgia lead the Beginner Novice Junior division after the cross-country.

Show jumping starts Sunday morning at 8am.  Go eventing.

Behind the scenes at the award ceremony

Danielle Dichting and The Graduate jumped double-clear to maintain their lead in the intermediate division of the American Eventing Championships.  Danielle led wire-to-wire by adding just 1.2 XC time penalties to her dressage score and she won by an impressive 5.2 points over the talented field.  Dani lives and trains just north of Atlanta, Georgia and she is coached by Julie Richards.  Her win continues a great weekend for Georgians, with Becky’s win in the advanced and Jenny Caras’ win in the prelim.  Jenny also trains with Julie.  Dani’s Intermediate win is all the more impressive considering she placed 10th in the Advanced earlier today with Tops.

[Final Scores]

Holly Payne and Santino reclaimed their second place from dressage with a double-clear.  Buck Davidson moved down one spot with No More Rocks with a rail at the last as the only blemish for an otherwise excellent round.  Justine Dutton and Abecca were the only intermediate pair to finish the weekend on their dressage score and they were rewarded with moving all the way up from 24th place into 5th.  Special intermediate shout-out to Rick Wallace, Mike Huber, and Jessica Bortner-Harris for being several of the 10 pairs to show jump double-clear in the division.

That concludes show jumping today from the AECs.  The Beginner Novice divisions are riding cross-country until around 6:30pm tonight. We will be back tomorrow with the Novice and Beginner Novice show jumping.

Go eventing.

Becky and Comet in the winner’s circle one last time

With wind howling and storm clouds amassing overhead, Becky Holder and Courageous Comet pulled just one rail to win the Advanced division at the American Eventing Championships.  Becky has repeatedly said that her plan is for this to be Comet’s last upper-level competition, and her lovely horse competed like the champion he is right to the finish line to win by 4.7 points.  Comet’s retirement means the end of an extraordinary career that includes countless accolades.  Most of all, and beyond all of the ribbons, I will remember Comet as an OTTB who developed into one of the best event horses ever to the joy and adoration of eventing fans everywhere.  There are no doubt young riders competing at the AECs right now because they were inspired by watching Courageous Comet.  Comet, we will miss you!

[Final Scores]

What better way to end Comet’s career than coming through in the clutch on a tough show jumping course?  Marc Donovan’s show jumping course wreaked havoc on the advanced division, allowing just five clear rounds for 20 starters.  The sixth through third placed riders coming into today all pulled rails.  Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch then entered and delivered a brilliant double-clear ride to secure second or better.  Becky and Comet had two rails in hand.  They pulled a rail early on the course in what Becky expected to be a tough combination.  With a tough Nutrena vertical panel fence and the triple combination still to come, you could feel the crowd holding their breath for the home state favorites.  The spectators willed them home clear the rest of the way for the win.  Comet repeated his AECs victory from 2010, when he won here at Chatahoochee Hills before representing the USA at the World Equestrian Games.

Becky was kind enough to speak with me after her show jumping round about what Comet’s career has meant to her, jumping four warm-up fences, the weather, and riding in front of a home crowd.  I expected both of us to start bawling in the interview, but we managed to get through it.  Many thanks to Becky for always making time for us this weekend right after her rides.

If there’s one thing I always write about, other than Boyd Martin, it’s the weather.  We do Chinchilla focus group testing about this kind of thing, folks.  Frankly, I have no idea how the end of the advanced division missed getting dumped on because the clouds looked awful and were clearly heading straight for us with just a few rides to go.  Becky got the worst of the wind and spitting rain, but the dark clouds blew over just as fast as they arrived and we’re left once again with partly cloudy skies.

Lainey and Anthony Patch were the only advanced pairs to finish the weekend on their dressage score.  They dominated the jumping phases as the closest to the optimum on cross-country and one of only five clear rounds today.  Congrats to Lainey on a great weekend!

Hanna Sue Burnett and Ms. Mars’ Harbour Pilot moved all the way up from 7th to 3rd with a double-clear today.  Although their rounds usually look effortless, Hannah needs to give “William” a nearly perfect ride every time in the show jumping to get home clear and she did just that today in a gutty performance.

The perfectionist in Michael Pollard might have been a bit unhappy to slide from 3rd to 9th with time penalties yesterday, but he made up for it with Hanni today with a superb clear performance that was never really in doubt.  Hannah and Michael, Pan American gold medal teammates last year, finished 3rd and 4th here today.  Leslie Law and Zenith ISF mantained 5th position with one rail down.

Carl Bouckaert, our generous host here at Chattachoochee Hills, delighted the crowd with a double-clear aboard his Olympic mount Cyrano.  I want to extend a huge thank you from all of us to Carl for providing us with a truly premier eventing venue for the AECs.  Next year the AECs move to Texas.

As an international note, I think it’s safe to say Jon secured his spot on the Boekelo team this weekend by having just one rail down around a really tough course.

Kiwi Joe Meyer and the 20 year old snip were the first to jump double-clear.  Comet’s retirement will make all of the headlines, but Snip is retiring (again) this weekend after an incredible international career with Joe.  Snip’s resume includes 8 four-stars including 3 double-clears at Badminton.

The intermediate division has just started show jumping while Beginner Novice is rocking the cross-country.  Go Comet.

Barbara Werther and Stafford Place won the Training Amateur division

With tightly packed divisions at all levels, show jumping means pressure time at the AECs.  One rail is always costly and two rails can drop you 20 places or more.  I hope that the riders who don’t have the kind of day they planned look at their weekend in context, remembering what an incredible achievement it is to even qualify for the AECs and considering that not achieving a placing goal is much more about there being so many competitors than a reflection of their performance.  There are a ton of riders here not getting ribbons who rode great all weekend.

[Live AECs Scores]

Prelim Horse: In contrast to the cross-country, the show jumping proved incredibly influential in the prelim horse division.  The top two pairs coming into the day pulled multiple rails, moving Leslie Law and What Law into the winning position with a double-clear.  What Law “Joey” was produced by Leslie’s wife and favorite EN guest blogger, Lesley.  Leslie was kind wise enough to give his wife all of the credit when I spoke with him after the show jumping.  Leslie impressively finished two more horses in the top 10 of the division with Billy Wiz in 5th and Domestic Dispute in 8th. Kerry Torrey and Kung Fu Panda finished second and Lauren Kieffer was third with Czechmate.  To give you a feel for the influence of the show jumping, Leah Khorsandian and Pamiro W jumped from 16th into the ribbons on their double-clear.

Training Amateur: The first blue ribbon of the 2012 American Eventing Championships was awarded to the Training Amateur champion, Barbara Werther, and her own Stafford Place. They moved all the way up from 5th with a double-clear round today.  Jenna Sack and Replika finished on their dressage score and moved from 11th to 2nd over the two days of jumping.

Prelim Junior/Young Rider: Today’s cliche of choice so is “the show jumping proved influential.”  The top two Prelim Junior/Young Rider pairs had rails in the show jumping to move Jenny Caras and Fernhill Stowaway of Georgia up for the home state win.  Jenny was the only competitor in this division to ride two horses, so she had a bit of an edge entering the arena on her second ride.  Her first horse of the day, Fernhill Fortitude, finished in 8th.  I still have a smile on my face from my interview with Jenny–she was funny, charismatic, and humble all at once and a shining example of what this sport is all about.

Training Horse: The Training Horse division was the first of the day to have the overnight leader finish with the win.  In fact, the top 8 pairs after the dressage finished on their dressage score and the top 12 final pairs all finished on their dressage score.  Doug Payne and Lysander had the best dressage score and won the most boring jumping division to watch in terms of results.  Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Legendary Romance finished in second.

Prelim Amateur: The show jumping shook up the leader board once again in the Prelim Amateur division.  Tiffany Lunney jumped from 4th to win with Patent Pending.  The pair, from Colorado, moved up from 6th after the dressage by finishing on their dressage score.  Lynne Partridge and Zoe of Texas finished in second and Kelly Green with Corleone from Hawaii rounded out a geographically diverse top three.  For the record, Kelly trains and competes here in the mainland states.

My apologies to Tiffany for missing her first two jumps

The Advanced show jumping runs next with Training Juniors competing in the second show jumping arena and the novice cross-country continuing here at Chattahoochee Hills.  Clouds are forming in the Georgia skies–fingers crossed the rain holds off until this evening.  Go Cavs, Cats, and Wolverines, and go eventing.

Marilyn Payne navigating the Training bank complex

Thursday afternoon at Chatahoochee Hills featured training cross-country as well as beginner novice and novice dressage.  I’m a big believer that the beginner novice, novice, and training levels are the most competitive levels at the AECs.  Those levels have, on average, more competitors in each division.  Take for example the 54 pair Beginner Novice Rider championship.  Additionally, a higher percentage of pairs in those divisions jump double-clear on the cross-country, which puts more pressure on the dressage and show jumping.  For example, 24 of 36 starters in the Training Horse division jumped double-clear today.

The Training Junior riders get the EN-marathon-division-award for riding well past 6pm and after the competitors party started.  Part of me feels like competitor parties shouldn’t start until all of the riders have finished competing.  Savannah Kilpatrick and Walla Walla Bing Bang moved up from second into the lead when overnight leader Annie Read took a tumble from Dante’s Diva.  The next three places remained unchanged with double-clears all around.

I apologize to the intermediate riders for not getting any video of their cross-country.  Danielle Dichting is one of the proud riders competing in multiple divisions this weekend, with Tops in the Advanced and The Graduate leading the Intermediate.   They finished the XC with 1.2 time penalties.  Buck Davidson and Sharon Will’s lovely No More Rocks moved up from 4th to second on a double-clear.  Jessica Schultz and Lock N’ Load round out the top 3.  I’ll try to make it up to the Intermediate division with lots of coverage tomorrow.

Turning our attention to the Friday dressage, Logan Elliott took the Novice Amateur lead on her own Cady O’ Daly Michael with an impressive 21.5.  Heather Morris and Barnabus lead the Novice Horse championship heading into the cross-country on Saturday.  Alex Cole and Pure Revenge are winning the Novice Junior division on 27.5–don’t cross this pair!

Carrie Meehan and Cavalier, whose name might have something to do with the fact that Carrie is a former University of Virginia Cavalier, are tied for the Beginner Novice Horse lead with Lauren Weil and Commit.  Carrie is also tied for 4th aboard Up In Flames.  Letha Calvin and Look Cody Look are winning the Beginner Novice Amateur championships.  Christina Dayton-Wall and Hot Shot Sham are in second, just ahead of Sher Schwartz with Jamocean and Gwen Patterson with Late Arrival, who are tied for the lead.  Allyn Tice lead the Beginner Novice Junior with Elphin Fintan on a 27.1.

From the Beginner Novice Horse division:

The prelim, advanced, intermediate, and training divisions show jump Saturday morning starting at 8:30am local in that order.  The beginner novice and novice divisions head out to the cross-country.  Thank you to Chatahoochee Hills, the organizers, and all of the volunteers for making today a wonderful day of competition at the American Eventing Championships.  Go eventing.

Training Horse Division Video Montage

The training cross-country competitors got the worst of the heat today and they are still riding cross-country as the competitors is getting ready to start.  Doug Payne and Lysander maintained their 3.2 point lead ahead of Lauren Kieffer and Landmk’s Legendary Romance in the Training Horse division with the top 16 horses all coming home double-clear. Not very exciting for the scoreboard but definitely some great rides to watch.

[Live Cross-Country Scores]

Brie Murray and Sweet William stay atop the Training Amateur division after finishing the cross-country on their dressage score.  Zehra Gundogan and Captivate solidified their tied second into a lone second place and Kathleen Herbig and Mayhem moved from tied fourth into third.  The top 23 places in this division are separated by less than 10 points, making for a very exciting day of show jumping tomorrow.

Scores are still coming in for the Junior training as I write this, but we’ll provide a full update on those results in the evening post.  Go eventing.

Becky and Comet jumped double-clear for an 8.7 point lead going into the SJ

Becky Holder and Courageous Comet jumped double-clear to extend their lead in the advanced division at the American Eventing Championships.  Becky and Comet made the hard look easy and the easy look effortless around Comet’s last upper-level XC ride of his career.  Becky was just several fences from completing her second perfect round of the day, this time aboard Can’t Fire Me, when she missed her distance jumping into the second water and fell at the second element after Can’t Fire Me did everything he could to save the day.  Becky and “Teddy” were both up quickly and fine.  Becky took the long walk back to the barns with a frustrated smile and the comfort of knowing she will be jumping for the win tomorrow with Comet.  Eventing is a sport of inches and we were just that close to a repeat of the Saturday at Richland that gave Becky the top two places with her two lovely horses.

[Cross-Country Results]

As expected, the time proved extremely influential to the overall placings. Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch moved up all the way from 8th to second with the only other double-clear.  Lainey delivered her great round despite being held for several minutes a few fences before the main water complex as the excellent team of builders repaired a broken fence at the water.

Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM jumped from 11th to 3rd with just 1.6 time.  Sally Cousins and Tsunami stormed around with the third fastest advanced time of the day to go into 4th.  Leslie Law and Zenith ISF round out the top 5 after 3.2 time.

Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison needed a good run to secure their spot on the Boekelo flight and they produced that and more today with just 9.2 time for an excellent round.  They move into 6th, just ahead of Harbour Pilot and Hannah Burnett, who put together yet another terrific ride.

Advanced XC Montage:

Tracey Bienemann had one of the best rides of the day, looking super all the way around with Zara.  1.6 time moves them up to 12th place.  Kristin Schmolze and Danielle Dichting also stood out to me as riders who really got the job done today.  Julia Wendell didn’t let getting lost at the end of the course stop her from completing a clear round aboard Cavendish but it did cost her some time.

Becky’s fall was the lone untimely dismount for an advanced division that dominated Hugh Thomas’ tough Chattahoochee Hills track.  18 of the 21 other starters finished clear with just three pairs finishing with a stop.  Jeff Kibbie and Loki picked up 20 at the long route for the ditch and brush, Carl Bouckaert and Cyrano had 20 at the out of the sunken road as did Joe Meyer and Snip, but all three pairs had moments of brilliance throughout the course.

Becky holds an 8.7 point lead with Comet going into the advanced show jumping on Saturday looking to repeat their 2010 victory here at Chattahoochee Hills and end Comet’s career with yet another major win.

I hope that everyone reading this at home is having as much fun as we are today watching horses and riders gallop around this beautiful facility with smiles (and occasionally terrified grimaces) on their faces.  The intermediate cross-country is in full action right now, with the training level to follow.  Novice and beginner novice are riding dressage today in three arenas.  Go eventing.

Prelim Junior/Young Rider competitors Matilda Segal and On The House approaching the water

The very appropriate cliche being used all over Chattahoochee Hills to describe Hugh Lochore’s cross-country courses is that they are “true championship courses.”  Translation: these are courses befitting the best pairs in the country.

The prelim cross-country lived up to the cliche perfectly, causing a number of issues spread evenly throughout.  The house jump coming out of the water caused problems for horses and riders distracted by the crowd, the first fence caught a few pairs not coming out of the box with ambition, the Weldon’s wall gave problems to the timid, and the corner made sure everyone was riding both sides of their horse.

[AECs Live Scores]

Kelly Green and Corleone moved up from tied 3rd to 1st in the Preliminary Amateur Championship division.  Tracy Gilman and Nautilus are second on the same score, having finished just a few seconds farther from the optimum.  10 of the 16 starters in the division finished clear with 9 double-clears.

A montage of the Preliminary Amateur XC:

The top three Preliminary Horse standings remained unchanged with Doug Payne and Royal Tribute maintaining their lead.  44 of 45 starters finished with 37 pairs coming home clear.  Leslie Law has two horses–What Law and Domestic Dispute–in the top 6.  Katie Bryant has two–San City (2nd) and EM Aquataine–in the top 8.

Victoria New and Fleeceworks Mystere Du Val provisionally maintained their lead in the Preliminary Junior/Young Rider division with the last few scores still filtering in from that division as I write this.

Friday morning dawned with complete fog coverage, giving the early riders the benefit of cool weather and the challenge of having no idea what was ten feet in front of them.  The fog has burnt off and we are left to cook under the sun in preparation for being a meal for fire ants.

The advanced division rides next and I can assure you that all of the riders are taking the course very seriously.  Popular adjectives include hugh “huge”, “true test”, and I even heard the narrow ditch and wall described by an Olympic champion as a four-star question suitable for Rolex or Burghley.  Oh yes, the advanced riders are going to attack this course.

In other news, the USA suddenly seems to be awesome at dressage in overseas competitions.  Much love to all the North American competitors at Blenheim for a job well done.  Go eventing.