Sally Spickard
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Sally Spickard

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About Sally Spickard

Sally Spickard is a Korean adoptee living in San Diego, California. Sally joined the Eventing Nation team in 2013 and has subsequently written for Noelle Floyd, Heels Down Mag, and other publications both in and out of the equestrian world. Sally is an eventing fan through and through and enjoys telling the stories of riders who are not well-represented within equestrian media.

Latest Articles Written

Miss the Action from MARS Maryland 5 Star? How to Watch the Replays

Doug Payne slices and dices with the U.S.-bred Quantum Leap. Will Coleman was pleased with the effort’s of Team Rebecca’s Dondante today. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Even if I attend an event in person, I always find myself queuing up the replays to watch once I get back home. No matter how much I trek around a cross country track (and at a five-star, I don’t do much trekking as I can typically be found harassing the riders in the mixed zone anyway), there are always parts I miss.

Whether you attended last week’s MARS Maryland 5 Star or not, the full replays are the place to be to relive the action or catch up on anything you might have missed. I’ve collected all the links you need to rewatch, wherever you are, below.

North American viewers: USEF Network replays (accessible with your USEF membership or a free Fan membership using code Maryland22)

Worldwide viewers (outside of North America): Horse & Country TV (H&C+ subscription required)

Lastly, you can enjoy a few highlight reels over on the USEF Network Facebook page here — I’ll drop a few below to watch!

Tamie Smith and Danito Double Clear SJ Round

Tamie Smith and Danito clinch 2nd place after a double-clear round in the final phase of the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill p/b Brown Advisory. Watch it happen ⬇️

Posted by USA Eventing on Sunday, October 16, 2022

Elisa Wallace 3* Winning Ride

Watch Elisa Wallace and Renkum Corsair jump a clear round to take the USEF 3* National Champion title at the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill p/b Brown Advisory! 🥇

Posted by USA Eventing on Sunday, October 16, 2022

Hannah Sue Hollberg 3* XC Leading Ride

Watch Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capital HIM storm around the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill p/b Brown Advisory USEF 3* National Championship cross-country course designed by Ian Stark. They clocked a clear round in 9:26.

Posted by USEF Network on Saturday, October 15, 2022

2022 MARS Maryland 5* & 3* USEF Eventing National Championship highlights

Maryland…you've already been AM⭐ZING.

Zoetis Equine | Mars Equestrian | USA Eventing

Posted by USA Eventing on Friday, October 14, 2022

Who Jumped It Best? Woodside Beginner Novice Edition

Fence 9 on the Woodside Beginner Novice track sits in memory of Donald Trotter. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Woodside hosted its October Horse Trials earlier this month with rousing success and positive feedback from all competitors, and we’re taking a look back through the lens of Sherry Stewart for a fresh new edition of Who Jumped It Best! This one comes from the Beginner Novice division; vote at the bottom of this post for the pair you feel presents the best overall picture. Eternal EN karma and bragging rights to the winner!

Check out full results from Woodside’s Fall Horse Trials here.

Jacqueline Gilmartin and Citizen Jane. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Kelly Schwisow and Tahoe’s Prize DF. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Naomi Boness and Change of Luck. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Jennifer Wang and Coronet Star. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Anwyn Cunha and Kikis Express. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Suzanna Brock and Ms. J Zeigh. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Katherine Jackman and Prada. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Tina Barclay and Manning. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Marissa Nielsen and Poncho. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Ky Pierce and Mandalorian. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Tuesday News & Notes from Ocala Horse Properties

You can’t always be away winning five-stars in the family Price — sometimes, you’ve got to wrangle the, um, greener ones on their way to future success, as demonstrated by better half of the Price clan, Jonelle, competing at Oasby last weekend while Tim was here at Maryland. Ah, this sport — it’s wonderful, isn’t it??

Events Open This Week

Sporting Days Farm H.T. IV (SC), Rocking Horse December H.T. (FL)

Events Closing Today

The VHT International and H.T. (VA), Galway Downs International and H.T. (CA), Rocking Horse Fall H.T., Texas Rose Fall H.T. (TX), Full Gallop Farm November H.T. (SC)

Tuesday News & Reading

Congratulations to our Maryland Pick ‘Em & Win champion! Julia B., check your email for more details on your prize. Thank you to all for playing!

Want to ride with Bettina Hoy? Don’t miss out on the MARS Bromont Rising West coast leg at Galway Downs, where U25 riders competing at FEI levels are eligible to apply for the clinic happening at the end of October. [Get those applications in!]

I love a good “equine career change” story, and I also happen to loosely know the subject of this article through the various eventing social media circles I’m in. Meet Morgan Cooper, who wound up discovering eventing after starting off in the Western world. [Change of Rein: Morgan Cooper]

We’ve all been taught that gut sounds are a good thing — but what, exactly, do they mean? In fact, gut sounds are something that veterinarians are looking for in different areas of your horse’s abdomen, using this information as indicators of health. [More on gut sounds]

Want to support Strides for Equality Equestrians? Join the nonprofit organization for an online auction, happening now through the end of the month. Lots of goodies, including lessons with top riders, a Ride iQ membership, and much more are up for grabs. [SEE the auction]

Sponsor Corner

Our favorite Ocala Horse Properties find this week might be *just* out of my price range (and never fear, Ocala Horse Properties’ portfolio includes farms of all sizes and budgets!), but what a gorgeous property! I am 100% visualizing myself here as we speak…

Tuesday Video Break

I love this video all about the journey of Willinga Park Clifford and Hazel Shannon:

Ian Stark: Course Designer and Part-Time Baby Horse Wrangler

Ian Stark and HSH Best Kept Secret. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

As if Ian Stark didn’t have enough going on this weekend, he accepted an additional challenge on top of his course designing duties: Young Event Horse wrangler.

It was the very talented young HSH Best Kept Secret that was tapped to be Ian’s ride of the weekend on a bit of a whim from Caroline Martin, who received the Wilton Fair Grant earlier this year and has been based in England with Pippa Funnell for the past few months. HSH Best Kept Secret actually won the Young Event Horse 4-Year-Old Championships here at Maryland last year, and for his 5-year-old year Caroline felt he was ready to defend his title rather than make the trek to England.

“This year we didn’t think he was quite ready to come to England and do the classes and we thought it was best if he stayed in America,” Caroline explained. “So I rung up Ian since he’s in America often and he’s such a great mentor of mine. I just respect him hugely in the way he produces young horses, so I rung him up and said what if you took him to Young Event Horse championships at Fair Hill? And he jumped on it. He’s a legend, I’m so grateful.”

Hang on, Ian! Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Originally sent over as a sale horse from Kelly Hutchinson, Caroline says she recognized the talent oozing from the Irish gelding and opted to form a partnership with Kelly to keep him on. He’s enjoyed a relatively light competition year while he continues to mature, and when the opportunity popped up to come to Maryland — despite the fact he kicked himself a bit after saying yes — Ian jumped at the chance.

“It’s one of those weak moments,” Ian laughed. “Caroline Martin is in England and has been there for quite a few months. And she sent me a message and said, ‘Would you consider riding my five-year-old in the Young Event Horse Championship? And because I’m hopeless at saying no to a challenge, I said yeah. And then as soon as I said that, I thought that’s such a mistake because she hasn’t been at home to work the horse!”

Caroline’s operation in Pennsylvania runs like a well-oiled machine, and part of the prep for this weekend was to bring “Dante” back and forth for Ian to ride, sometimes at Boyd Martin’s for some extra practice.

“The girls have done a great job of getting him ready but he’s not used to me, I’m not used to him, and we’ve done quite a lot of work,” Ian said. “And then I thought I’d worked him quite hard and he went into the main arena [for dressage] and he was Mr. Cool and Relaxed and I thought ‘oh, this is gonna be good!’ And he just woke up and when asked for my first medium canter circle, an almighty buck, and I thought, ‘Ah, maybe I didn’t work him hard enough!'”

Ian Stark and HSH Best Kept Secret. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

“Dante has oodles and doodles of talent,” Caroline described. “He’s honestly like a rubber ball — he’s got so much talent sometimes it’s hard for him to concentrate where to put all of it. So it’s so helpful to have Ian ride him and produce him for me and help me kind of teach the young horses that have so much talent to produce them properly.”

HSH Best Kept Secret finished just outside of the top 20 in this year’s YEH 5-year-old division, and Ian says it was an enjoyable experience — though he’s not sure he’s got the gumption for a five-star catch ride if it were offered.

“I’m very, very privileged to be riding — no pressure because he won the four-year-olds last year, which freaks me out because I’m not going to win the five-year-olds. But it’s it’s fun to do it. And as long as I’m fit and well, I’m not going to say no. I might say no if they offered me a five-star ride!”

Can’t Hold the #1 Down: Tim Price Takes the Lead after Maryland 5 Star Cross Country

Tim Price and Coup de Coeur Dudevin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Newly-named FEI world #1 Tim Price has his pre-cross country routine down to a T — top athletes in the making, take note here: the key to success lies in a sack of McDonald’s, maybe a beer or two, and a nice, mellow listen to the good ol’ Jack Johnson playlist on Spotify. You heard it here first, everyone.

Whatever the merits of that routine, something certainly is ticking on all cylinders for the Kiwi rider fresh off the podium, and despite the relative ease of the time once more this year — more on that later — Tim finds himself now atop the board on the first-time 5* horse Coup de Coeur Dudevin (Top Gun Semilly – Tiebreak Combehory).

At just 10 years old, with only one 4*-L under his belt in his short partnership with Tim, “Joker” has come onto the job quickly and surely showed his growing prowess by adding no penalties to his dressage mark of 27.4 to move into second overnight. The door had been opened when dressage leader Woods Baughman had some rideability issues on course that led to jumping penalties, dropping him out of competitive contention.

It’s a big trip to come across the pond — no less for a horse’s debut at the 5* level. But Tim says he’s believed in his horse to this point and knew the time was ripe to ask him the next question. What he’s left with?

“Vindicated,” Tim says. After all, you don’t know if you’ve got a 5* horse under you until, well, you’re out and over that first fence. At the high water, the MARS Sustainability Bay at fence 23 and 24, Tim said he felt his horse show his fifth leg — the marker of a true 5* horse, he says.

“The water at the top, with the crab, was where he grew another leg and used his own initiative, and made a much better decision than me to get the job done,” Tim said. “That’s the mark of a top event horse in general, that they think for themselves — especially at that stage of the course, at nine minutes or something, that he’s still able to have the presence of mind to make a good decision and then stay upright, and stay on his feet, and then keep thinking forward and ahead of himself. So I’m really pleased — he’s vindicated all the reasons I thought it was a good decision to bring him.”

A rider that’s invested so much time, money, and energy to get a first-time horse overseas for its debut has a difficult balance: you want the trip to be worth your (and your owner’s) while, but you want the horse to have a positive first experience. For all three of the top riders today (Tim and Coup de Coeur Dudevin, Tamie Smith and Danito, and Oliver Townend and As Is), their results are a testament not only to the course and ground conditions but also to the discerning nature of each rider to know what to ask, and how hard.

“I mentioned yesterday I was a little bit nervous, like, ‘is it the right thing to bring a horse halfway across the world that lacks experience?’, you know, because it kind of puts it all on the line,” Tim explained. “It’s a lot of investment from the owner and from ourselves. But I’ve always believed in the horse, and today was the perfect occasion for him with good conditions, and a great course that I could just go and try and give him a good education whilst being competitive. So it’s just riding that balance the whole way, but he was exceptional and really jumped beautifully.”

A fun fact: when Coup de Coeur Dudevin first came into the Price program, he was Jonelle’s ride to begin. I had to ask how he’d managed to swipe the ride from her.

“Normally when I get a good one off Jonelle, it’s because I’ve got her pregnant, but I couldn’t do that this time — we’re finished!” Tim joked (what is it with Maryland and the inappropriate jokesters in the press conferences? Lookin’ at you, Boyd Martin. Gosh, guys, get a grip.) “This horse is a big engine — he’s powerful behind. Everything’s going to sound like an innuendo now, isn’t it? She just felt like it wasn’t the horse for her, basically, and that’s part of it all. She’s small built, so she can’t ride every horse — we’re a bit more lucky that we can ride a range of horses. It was a reluctant decision, because she always said that the horse would be a five-star horse; she always rated him. So she let him come over to me.”

Tamie Smith and Danito. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tamie Smith and Danito‘s (Dancier – Wie Musik, by Wolkenstein II) owner, Ruth Bley, weren’t 100% sure of “Cheeto’s” ability to step up to this level. He also hasn’t had the most ideal lead-up to this event: in January, he had a freak accident in the crossties and wound up breaking his wither (which also took him down a notch in terms of height). Between this and Tamie’s ongoing prep for FEI World Championships, the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding had a rather light year, running just three events in 2022 leading up to this weekend.

“He’s been low on the on the competition miles this year, so to have him go out and and do that and step up… I was quite nervous because at Rebecca, Ian talked me into coming here with him but you know what, these first time five-star horses you just never know,” Tamie said. “He’s not got a high percentage of blood, and I ride a lot of horses like that, but I don’t really enjoy it. It’s a lot of work from the rider when you’re riding a horse that doesn’t have a lot of puff at the end, but he sure did. I’m super, super happy with him.”

Oliver Townend and As Is. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Third-placed tonight on another first-timer is British Olympian Oliver Townend with the former Andrew Nicholson ride As Is (Meneusekal – Paraca, by Lacros). Despite a slightly hairy moment where the gray Spanish gelding banked fence 5, the Buckeye Nutrition Brush, Oliver said the horse grew and grew in confidence as he went around — in fact, Oliver would collect the fastest round of the day in 11 minutes, 12 seconds.

“He was lovely. He started off baby and grew in confidence as he went. He galloped very easily with his ears pricked; he’s a little bit of a terrier, you know, he’s a character. I enjoyed him a lot, and he’ll definitely have come on for the run as well. I couldn’t have been happier with how my horse grew in confidence, and I think if you’ve got hopefully a good jockey and hopefully a good course, that’s what you should see out of first-time five-star horses. Mine will definitely have come on for the run. He grew in confidence as he went and by the end of it, he felt like a proper five-star horse.”

As Is did come home showing some blood on his belly, just under the girth, but Oliver’s team confirmed that the blood was from either a brush that scraped him or possibly a girth rub, but that the gelding had been seen and cleared by vets and stewards following cross country.

Despite the chatter and the, um, bum-clenching that was happening ahead of this afternoon, Ian Stark’s sophomore design effort yielded mostly completions, save two pairs: Liz Halliday-Sharp and the Monster Partnership’s Cooley Quicksilver sadly retired up at the MARS Sustainability Bay after the tiring gelding ground to a halt atop the bank at fence 24. Our sole rookie pair, Zach Brandt, also retired Direct Advance at fence 9.

In total just three pairs that completed collected jumping penalties: Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135 ran into trouble at the C element of fence 24 (in hindsight, Woods said, he should’ve opted to go the long route there), Hayley Frielick and Dunedin Black Watch picked up 20 at 10A, and Astier Nicolas wound up off his line at the second of the corners at 21 and couldn’t quite make it up to collect 20 with Babylon de Gamma.

These issues aside, the track saw 91.6% completion rate with 12 pairs going clear inside the time and 79% of starters jumping clear.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Amy Dragoo.

The top five still shuffles, though, and looking to fourth place it will be Phillip Dutton and his Tokyo Olympic partner, Z (Asca Z – Bellabouche), owned by The Z Partnership, moving up from 11th after dressage.

“Well, he’s not the fastest horse so I set out quite fast,” Phillip explained, noting like many other riders that the space in between fences allowed him to make up some time. “I was a bit up on time, which was my plan — I was maybe too much up on time. But you know, when you go faster, obviously you’re taking the horse into account. But I trust him so much, and so it’s just a case of trying to point him where to go. He usually figures out how to do it.”

Buck Davidson and Carlevo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fifth and mildly annoyed about the two seconds of time he picked up are Buck Davidson with Katherine O’Brien’s Carlevo (Eurocommerce Caresino – Ramatuelle, by Levernois), who finished the closest to the time in his four 5* starts. “He was good,” Buck told me. “I thought I was in big trouble at the top water. And then I just had to give him a bit of a break and he actually galloped home well. He actually came down the drop and the two houses and then he picked up and he ran home and I’m so really happy.”

Buck admits he’d like to have those seconds of time back, but he opted to make a horse-friendly decision at the MARS Sustainability Bay, musing that had he tried to go straight it may have been too big of an ask at that point to get it done with no penalties. “He’s not a Formula One racecar,” he continued. He’s got his his strengths, but, you know, he’s getting faster, and he’s doing it easier.”

Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Jennie Brannigan had herself a day with one horse (FE Lifestyle) in fifth and the other just outside the top 10 in 11th (Twilightslastgleam).

“There were some really short distances out there,” Jennie said after her first ride with the Gardner homebred Thoroughbred Twilightslastgleam. “He tries harder than any other horse every day. We thought that he wouldn’t be a five-star horse, but this year he’s just come into form and I just admire him because he tries his guts out.”

As for the 12-year-old FE Lifestyle (Leo von Faelz – Berina A, by Brandenburger), Jennie says, “he’s a real gem. I’m a little not happy with myself toady, I know with [FE Lifestyle] I could come real slow into something and get out, and I think I did that to him a little bit too much. I made him look a little too hard out there, so I’m sorry to him for that but he was brilliant.”

The course itself drew mixed reviews from the riders. Truth be told, it’s the competitive riders who want to see the time be more difficult to get. But as Ian Stark remarked in the press conference, “I’d rather have ten inside the time than five horses on the floor.” It’s an easy sentiment to get behind, but some riders commented that they would have liked to see more separation of the cream from the crop when the dust settled today.

Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Harry Meade, who collected one of the clear rounds inside the time with Mandy Gray’s and his own Superstition (Satisfaction FRH – Calendula), made it clear he wasn’t blaming any one party on his dissatisfaction but described his hopes that the time would be made tighter now that there is more knowledge banked about this terrain.

“I think there’s arguably a preconceived concern, which is unfounded after two years, that it’s very punishing terrain,” he elaborated. “That this is going to be super fatiguing, super tiring, no one’s going to make the time, there’s gonna be lots of tired horses. We don’t want to have tired horses but we do want to test horsemanship and horse ability and that needs tighter time.”

The time was the subject of discussion last year as well, but the general feel from the riders is that the event will grow from here.

“I mean, this was wonderful and galloping,” Harry continued. “A lot of it was like a steeplechase track the whole way up, the gallop up to the main arena, the whole way back from the main arena. And then it was only really the last third way it was more like a normal cross country course. It’s absolutely not a criticism of the track, of the fences, of the design. It’s a beautiful course, beautifully presented, brilliantly designed by one of the top experts in the world. Just too gettable in terms of the time.

“So I think going forward for the event, they can take confidence of the fact that these first two years have been a bit of an asterisk next to the results — that it’s been an unchallenging time, way too much — and hopefully, that allays any concerns that they may have in how they set up the course next year.”

For his part, Ian was pleased. “I think what’s made my day, actually, is the fact that the top three are riding first-time five-star horses,” he noted in the press conference. “The horses are incredibly lucky to have three of the best riders in the world, but they were magnificent in how they coped with the young horses and helped and encouraged them – and, as Tim says, the young horse helped him, too. That, for me, sort of highlights why I do this. It was thrilling to watch.”

Woods Baughman remains admirably positive despite the disappointment of running into control issues again. “We got further around before we had trouble, a least!” he told us. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“To be honest, I was pretty tight on the walking, and the technical delegates walked it separately – and the three of us were within 20 meters of one another,” Ian said when asked if he would have done differently with this feedback. “So how do you walk it differently? Do you cheat; do you lie? Do you make it tighter than it is? No, is the answer. Various people said to me last year – and it might be the same this year – that it would be a better competition if the time was unobtainable. But for me, if it’s an unobtainable time, there’s no limit to how much we push the horses to go faster. If you can’t make it, it’s too demoralizing long-term for the horses. Can I make it tighter? I’m not sure I can.”

All horses safely back in the barns makes Ian a happy designer, he says. “The reason, this time, is that I’m incredibly lucky here – the terrain is phenomenal, and the ground is phenomenal. I’ve probably very much gone for my philosophy in cross-country riding, which is ride from A to B – not going around in endless demented circles in a field. So I’ve made use of the gallop stretches, and maybe I can look at slowing them down a little bit by putting in slightly more technical questions. That might be something I think about. I loved today, and I’m kind of known as being a bit of a tough bastard sometimes, but this lot moved me to tears at the end of cross-country day. I was pretty emotional, because I thought it was a great day, and I loved watching it.”

The riders in the press conference had positive things to say, all echoing their appreciation for Ian’s efforts.

Tim summed it up perhaps the best: “We’ll come back here. This is a great competition — it feels like it’s a pioneering five-star, but it’s for very good reason that we want to come here and we’ll continue to come here and continue to encourage other people to come here. It’s got it. It’s already got it, but it’s got the makings of something spectacular for the future as well. So it’ll be fun to say that we went to the first few when we can see it in the future, just how amazing it’s going to be as well.”

We’ll now look ahead to show jumping tomorrow but first the 3* and 5* horses will trot up for the Ground Jury once more, with the 3* jogging at 8:30 a.m. EST and the 5* jogging at 9:15 a.m. EST. Show jumping will get underway with the 3* at 10:15 a.m. followed by the conclusion of the 5* at 2 p.m. EST. As usual you can view the live stream on USEF Network in North America and Horse & Country outside of North America.

Thanks so much, as always, for following along with us. Go Eventing!

MARS Maryland 5 Star: [Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [Scoring] [All Ride Times] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [Interactive XC Course Maps] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Digital Program] [EN’s Maryland Daily Digest Email] [EN’s Coverage]

A Real Bum Clencher: Riders React to Ian Stark’s Sophomore Maryland 5 Star Track

The second water question at 11. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ian Stark’s second design here at the Maryland 5 Star has certainly upped the ante from its inaugural running in 2021. It was to be expected, for a designer doing his first 5* track on land that was previously untested for this level, that the first year may have left some ideas on the table. Indeed, while the 2021 iteration of the Maryland track was certainly up to snuff, there was nonetheless chatter about the time being rather catchable and a few other rumblings that might have included the word “soft” tossed about in the mix.

“Soft” is a funny term to use when referring to a 5* track, if you ask me. I hear it tossed around from time to time while listening to riders in the mixed zone, but the bottom line remains: it’s still a 5*, after all.

But if Ian heard riders calling his first design “soft”, he certainly took that feedback to heart as this year’s track is decidedly not so. At a stiff 11 minute, 30 second optimum time (30 seconds longer than 2021) it stands to be a stout fitness test, despite the fact the course this year starts and finishes in very different locations from last with attention to horse fitness called to mind.

You can check out Tilly’s full analysis of the course coming later this morning, and you can also take a fence-by-fence walk with Ian Stark himself over on the CrossCountryApp tour here in the meantime.

We chatted up the riders over the last two days as they finished their dressage tests to collect their reactions to the track, and here’s what some of them had to say:

Tim Price

“Having not ridden this one, it’s hard to truly compare them, but I like the layout a lot better this time with where he’s got the start and the finish and how that impacts the the energy requirement around the course. It’s big. I think it’s maybe a bit bigger in places, and also last year, the time was quite easy. And I don’t think that’s the case this year, it’s wheeled a lot tighter. So that’s going to put more emphasis on the likes of ourselves — when I say ourselves, the guys that have traveled over — that you want to make the most of your trip, so you want to be quick and that puts a different element of everything on the course. Everything becomes bigger, the hills become steeper, and the technicality coming home on a tired horse becomes more extreme. So it’s a tough course this year I think.”

Allie Knowles

“It’s enough to do out there. It’s it has some nice changes from last year. It’s a different feeling track than, say, Kentucky but [Morswood] did it well last year and I’m going to go with that — that he’s going to do it well again this year. There’s not one thing in particular that he is not good at. I just need to be paying attention the whole time and minding him, and I know he’ll mind me, and we’ll give it our best.”

Astier Nicolas

“I appreciate everything I’ve seen here last year. The place is fantastic, very good ground. I really like the courses of Ian and I think he did a great job this year. Learning a bit more from the terrain, getting to know it more than last year. And I’m really happy with what he’s built this year.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp

“It’s a very different track. Kind of old school in places, which isn’t a bad thing. It will obviously be the most terrain [Cooley Quicksilver] has ever experienced, which will be a challenge for him. But he’s also extremely fit. I think he’s fitter than we’ve ever had him. And I think this is the next progression for him. You know, when a horse has done three five-stars, they got that depth of fitness in them. So I think this is a great challenge for him and will only make him a better, stronger, fitter horse for the future. So I don’t see anything there he can’t do. Obviously, it’s a real five-star and it’s very challenging at the end. I think he’s asking a lot of tired horses. So that’s going to be, really staying on the ball all the way to the end I think is going to be really important. Just keep them with you.”

Tamie Smith

“It looks like you’d better be able to see a distance from a long way away. Lots of straight lines and galloping. Not a lot to super back them off, and then you have a combination, so I think — I was a little going, ‘gosh, if I was on Mai Baum it would be fantastic, I could come in really fast’ but horses that fences don’t back them off, the riders are going to have quite a bit of work to do.”

Doug Payne

“It’s I think it’s beefed up from last year. I think the layout I like better because it’s not like you’re going out and back on the last two segments. Time is going to be challenging for sure. I think that it’s almost back-loaded — to me, the hardest part is the crab water, the drop — and that’s all like in the last minute and a half, two minutes. We have the luxury of going around at the end a bit and I think [Ian] sets courses that are super fair, it’s right to there to be done. But there’s so many unpredictable aspects that I don’t know that you can really be stuck in one exact plan. It’s gonna be stick to your line and good balance and, you know, let the footwork sort of sort stuff out.”

Hannah Sue Hollberg

“I like it a lot. I like it more than last year. Last year, it kind of had more of a jarring kind of feel when you walk it. This year is more flowing. The beginning you can really go fast and make up some time. But Ian’s done a good job of kind of throwing little tricks in there to make sure people are on their toes, I think, and the terrain obviously is a factor. But I really think it looks great. Once you get to the first water then it kind of comes at you a bit more and I think a lot of the harder questions are kind of from there. And I mean, actually, from there, it kind of just builds more and more and more to the very end. So the beginning kind of lures you in, I think, and you’ll be going so fast that then you have to really be careful not to be completely out of control and make sure your horse has enough energy left to answer the question.”

Buck Davidson

“It’s, there’s plenty to do. You know, honestly, number four, those birds look very vertical early, you know, and so I’ll have to look after him there. There’s some big things followed by some things that are maybe, to me, not quite up to the five-star level, which in some ways makes it difficult for the horses to back up. But horses for courses, and it’s all to be done. It’s by no stretch easy, it’s just a little different. You know, the fence in the arena, you could jump a Preliminary horse over, and then you go to that [water] in the back and go, oh my God, you need a six-star horse. So, you know, it’s just a little bit different that way.”

Oliver Townend

“It’s a five-star designed by, in my opinion, one of the best designers in the world, [Ian Stark] and Derek Di Grazia. [Ian’s] got a tremendous amount of feel because he’s ridden around so many himself, but he’s been trying to make them big and it’s definitely big. It’s definitely challenging, but it’s horse friendly.”

Phillip Dutton

“It’s strong, certainly strong. Apart from the walking out to the start and then walking back from the finish, I like where it starts and finishes from a horse point of view. And that first section, I think it’s quite fast. There’s not a lot to slow you up. So, I could see people getting up on the time there. And then it’s seeing how much horse they’ve got left at the end.”

Will Coleman

“I think it’s a lot. It’s a long way around. I think he’s sort of stepped the jumping bits up a little bit from last year. There’s more jumping to be done, and what he’s put out there is sort of big and testing, basically until the finish. Which you know, at 11:30 you’re answering questions pretty much all the way up to 10:45, basically. It’s going to be a lot. The going should be good, which I think will be really helpful. But I’m intrigued to see where we are. My horse has got a couple five-stars under his belt. The distance is always a question with him. He’s so big and he’s not not a ton of blood. I think we’ve got him pretty fit and we’ll see how we do.

“I think this will suit certain horses more than like a Pratoni course would. But I think if you want to kind of be a top rider, I think you have to be able to ride all the courses. And I think this is a good representation of five-star for our sport. I’m excited to see if I can go out there and do it. It’s not technical, like twisty and tricky, but it’s technical in that he’s really put a lot of challenging things in front of difficult terrain. He’s asking you, can you keep your horse in front of the leg and balance to really big jumps?”

Jessica Phoenix

“It’s incredibly long. It’s incredibly hilly. It’s a lot of big bold jumps. Lots of technical questions to be asked, and [Wabbit] is definitely the horse I want to be sitting on going into the start box tomorrow. Kentucky is also a beautiful track; this one has more hills used in a different kind of way. Kentucky has longer gradual hills. This one is more like a quick sprint up and then you’re down a hill and a quick sprint up and then down the hill. And the footing here is just unbelievable what they’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time. Honestly, when we walked the first day before the rain came, I was thinking ‘wow, we could actually use a little bit more’ because it was still a little bit hard in places and yesterday as I was walking in the torrential rains, I thought maybe this could be too much rain. It’s never perfect, but I’m sure it’ll be great.”

MARS Maryland 5 Star:
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Four Things Every OTTB Owner Should Know About Saddle Fit

So you’ve purchased a new-to-you ex-racehorse (or, you’re shopping for one at this week’s Thoroughbred Makeover!) and are eager to get kicking along toward a partnership to end all partnerships – or something like that.

But when you go to put your tried and true jump saddle on, you feel yourself deflate a little on seeing how…poorly…it fits your new horse.

It gets better though. OTTBs, like all horses who are developing new muscles, go through immense changes as they train for their new careers, whether it involves eventing, dressage, jumping, or just hacking out through the woods. As their bodies change, so will the fit of their equipment – and a shrewd owner should know what to look for to ensure their horse’s body can function at its best, without impingement from its tack (if you don’t, don’t word – you can find CommonWealth Saddles’ Simple Saddle Check tips here.)

The bottom line when it comes to your tack is this: it shouldn’t be obviously felt when you ride. You shouldn’t be grasping for grip on your saddle’s panels. You shouldn’t have to work against your saddle, against being tipped forward or thrown back – it should just be balanced, and let you do your job, and help your horse. Similarly, your horse should also be able to move freely without tack getting in the way. Yet, too often we see horses manifesting pain or discomfort, much of which can easily be attributed to poorly fitted equipment.

Dr. Sue Dyson, an equine lameness expert and veterinarian, recently released the trailer for her forthcoming documentary, “The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain”, which stands to really call us out as riders and horse owners. Is the behavior we see “normal” – “oh, he’s just grumpy” or “she doesn’t really like it when I put my leg on, and she lets me know” – or is it telling a deeper story?

In partnership with CommonWealth Saddles, which in addition to selling high-end, quality saddle brands such as the French Meyer Saddles, prioritizes horse owner education in terms of how tack fits and what to look for when searching for a new saddle, we’ll be bringing you more columns just like this. To kick things off, and just in time for the 2022 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover where you can visit CommonWealth Saddles/Meyer Selles at booth 30 inside the Covered Arena yourself in the trade fair all week, here are a few tips for OTTB (and, really, all horse) owners to keep in mind:

Knowing how your horse’s body works will help you better assess your tack’s function.

Just as with our own bodies, understanding the working of each limb and muscle group as a part of the whole helps us know how to find the root of any pain or issues we’re having. Spend some time understanding the biomechanics of your horse’s body. How does each muscle relate to the next? When pain manifests in behavior, it’s often the “end of the rope”, meaning the root cause is probably somewhere else.

Understand that your horse’s body will change over time.

The thing with investing in a saddle is that you’re, in some cases, sort of…stuck. Not every saddle has the ability to be adjusted or reflocked, or to be customized in the first place. While not every budget can accommodate a custom saddle, it’s still important to understand that one size does, definitively, not fit all. Finding a good bodyworker and saddle fitter to incorporate into your maintenance program can go a long way to help your OTTB feel her best as her body changes.

Not all saddles are created equal.

Sure, this is a known fact. But as marketing becomes more clever and companies grow, it can be hard to weed through the chatter and find real quality that puts horses first. When researching a new saddle fitter or manufacturer, take a few things into account: does the rep prioritize helping your horse (and you!) feel their best, or are they only wanting to push a sale? Does the company have quality customer service? Do people like you and horses like yours use these saddles? Who does? Marketing is essential, but seeing who rides in a certain saddle is often more telling. Like any major investment, research is key. Take your time and find the right brand for you, not just what’s trendy.

When it comes to saddle shopping, knowledge is power.

Professional saddle fitters are experts in understanding a horse’s body. Finding one that has experience fitting OTTBs –– someone who understands the changes their bodies will undergo and the idiosyncrasies often found on ex-racehorse bodies — can be invaluable during the saddle shopping process. Many fitters will take more of an empirical approach to fitting, choosing to first understand the horse before suggesting a saddle.

Courtenay Brown, an amateur eventer based in Florida with her OTTB, B.A. Messenger, says CommonWealth Saddles made a huge difference in her most recent saddle shopping experience. “Finding the right saddle for me and my OTTB felt like a never-ending quest until I started working with CommonWealth Saddles,” she said. “Their knowledge about fitting and biomechanics, and their wide array of saddles for us to try, made for an evidence-based approach to finding the right saddle for both of us.”

Whether you’re shopping for a new saddle for the first time or are looking for a way to help your OTTB feel better in her body, companies like CommonWealth Saddles are here to help. If you’re competing at or otherwise attending the Thoroughbred Makeover this week, be sure to stop by and see Rose Schwinghamer and Lyndsey Gruber-Chatfield at Thoroughbred Makeover (booth 30/Covered Arena) this weekend!

Maryland 5 Star At-A-Glance: Meet the Horses

We’re well underway here at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, with the second batch of 5* riders yet to go this afternoon. Yesterday, we introduced you to the field of riders and now it’s time to dive in to the four-legged stars of the show.

Want more on each pair entered in the 5* this weekend? Don’t forget to peep our Form Guide, nestled inside this year’s program which can be found here. You can jump straight into the Form Guide section by clicking here.

MARS Maryland 5 Star:
[Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [Thursday 5* Times] [Friday 5* Times] [All Ride Times] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [Interactive XC Course Maps] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Digital Program] [EN’s Maryland Daily Digest Email] [EN’s Coverage]

Woods Baughman Leads Maryland 5 Star in the Downpour on Day One

Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

As we checked the weather radar with trepidation this morning, watching the buckets pour outside the media center, we held hope that the forecast would be correct: the worst of today’s rain was supposed to have moved on by around the time the first 5* rider went down centerline.

We wouldn’t quite get so lucky, though, and it would be Woods Baughman who got the worst of the downpour as the final rider in the ring with his and his family’s C’est La Vie 135 (Contendro – Anette, by Aarking xx). Despite the fact Woods says he had to keep reminding himself to look up — “I couldn’t see across the ring with all the rain!” — he delivered a 5* personal best of 27.2, shaving 2.6 points off his Burghley score.

“We started hacking over and I was like, ‘this is a bad joke’,” Woods said of the deluge that was originally forecasted to have cleared up by his ride time. “It just started getting heavier and heavier. So I got soaked completely, but it’s worth it. It’s worth it and made the lateral work quite easy, because he didn’t want to go straight. So whenever I put him into the half passes, he’s like, ‘thank you!’ and just wanted to go sideways, away from the rain!”

It’s been a year — maybe more than that, honestly — of learning curves for Woods, who made his 5* debut with this horse at Kentucky in April. Woods recalls that weekend as the first time he’s ever really felt nervous, and it wouldn’t wind up being quite the debut he was seeking. He would later go to England for a crack at Burghley but wound up with a week he’d most likely prefer to mostly forget after finding himself eliminated due to some, err, braking issues on cross country (not to mention a supremely stressful travel over that involved multiple canceled flights and a midnight trailer run to deliver “Contendro” to his flight on time). But for Woods, these difficulties are fodder to build on.

Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“It just took a little bit a while to figure out what we need to do to keep him happy all the time,” Woods explained. “He definitely thrives on as much free time as possible. He doesn’t like to be touched a whole lot. He kind of wants to be left alone. He likes to stand in the back of his stall, so we give him as much time as we can to just be him, and the more time you give him the less he is likely to be kind of snappy and a bit dominant. He’s a big, strong horse and he doesn’t like to be pushed around too much.”

So practice, he hopes, will make for a better finish this weekend. He’s always had to work on rideability with C’est La Vie, who was sourced by Dirk Schrade, with whom Woods based and trained with for a year while getting to know the Hanoverian gelding. It was Dirk, in fact, who picked this one out as Woods’ eventual first 5* horse. But in between then and now, there have been more than a few learning experiences. Woods, though, would be a cooler-headed rider past his 26 years, and for him it’s all a bit a part of the process.

“So he took time and I found the more I can let him be as himself, the better I am and then just kind of stepping into last minute to tell him what we actually need to do and then letting him do it rather than directing every foot.”

Astier Nicolas and Babylon de Gamma. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Frenchman Astier Nicolas makes a return to this event after bringing the 11-year-old Babylon de Gamma

A 29.1 to start the weekend puts Astier in better stead than he began the weekend with last year, where he scored a 32.7 in this phase, despite the fact he said he would’ve liked to have had a better position in the draw order. He described Babylon de Gamma’s straightness and connection as having improved over the intervening twelve months. As for Ian Stark’s sophomore cross country design, Astier says he rather likes this very different track. “I really like the courses of Ian [Stark],” he said, noting it was one more thing that prompted him to make the trip again.

“I like the way it starts this year, a bit more flat and galloping,” he said. “But it’s totally to different last year because we’re doing the very long hill at the ten minute, sort of the nine or 10 minutes…He feels very good this year. So we’ll see if he’s very good at sprinting also at having stamina. That’s what we’re here to discover.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Quicksilver. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There was a bit of a flip-flop on the third placing of the day, which originally saw Tamie Smith and Ruth Bley’s Danito (Dancier – Wie Musik, by Wolkenstein II) score a 29.0 in the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding’s debut at this level. Tamie, ever the competitor, says she would’ve liked to see some better marks in the trot work in particular, and it would in the end be a review on the scoring of one of her flying changes that would see her score updated to a 29.4.

This change would slot Liz Halliday-Sharp with The Monster Partnership’s (Ocala Horse Properties, Renee Lane, Deborah Halliday) “weird and wonderful” Cooley Quicksilver (Womanizer – Kylemore Crystal) up into third place after originally being sat in fourth, squeaking by Tamie’s updated score on a 29.3.

It’s been quite a progression for “Monster” — so named not because he’s an actual monster, but rather just a bit on the cheeky side (I think Liz has a bit of a type, eh?) — who Liz acquired as a “very green” five-year-old. But he’s taken right to the game, now starting his fourth 5* event. Liz, well-known for her love of learning about and trying new bits, chose to put Cooley Quicksilver back into a double bridle at Great Meadow last week and again chose to put him in it today.

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with bits and I found sort of a new bradoon and a new style Weymouth I’ve never tried before, and I chucked it in to see and I was like, wow, he’s great in this,” she elaborated. “He’s a horse that you kind of need to keep him light in his frame and he just feels happy in it. And so it’s all about just what helps him flow and keeps him consistent, keeps him happy.”

The score of 29.3 is just a tick above the pair’s 29.1 earned at Luhmühlen in June en route to a fifth place finish, and Liz says she felt this test was actually better than the one in Germany.

“Anyone that knows him, he’s quite quirky and it’s taken a long time to get him sort of in this really professional space. And I mean, he tried very, very hard for me and I actually thought it was a better test than the score which is a bummer, but it’s always tough to be first to go especially on not, sort of, your ‘traditional’ horse. Not everybody gets him straightaway. But I’m just thrilled with his progression because now this year, he’s come out and he’s just a professional horse. He comes in and does his job and tries for me, so I couldn’t have asked more for him.”

Liz had an unexpected departure from the competition with her other ride, Deniro Z, who was not accepted by the Ground Jury at the first horse inspection yesterday. “He’s sore in his frog,” she said, explaining that the lameness didn’t show up until the gelding had trotted up on hard ground. “It’s just extremely bad timing. I had no idea that was even happening because he has been completely sound on the soft. So it was as much a shock to us as anything, which is really unfortunate.”

Deniro will re-route to the 4*-L at Tryon in November — “he needs to have a long format and sort of settle in again,” she said of the fighting fit 14-year-old. “But I suppose maybe the universe just had other plans for us. I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason and maybe this just wasn’t meant to be our our weekend to compete in this five-star.”

Tamie Smith and Danito. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Pratoni silver medalist Tamie Smith says she wound up here at Maryland with the “crunchy Cheeto” Danito after Ian Stark talked her into it. “He’s done three four-star Longs before, and Ian Stark kind of talked me into it. I saw him at Rebecca Farm and he was like, ‘are you going to Maryland?’ and I said ‘eh, I don’t know — those hills are kind of scary!’ But he said the terrain was going to be a little different, and that was the whole point was I trusted him.

“It’s quite electric in there, so he got away from me a bit towards the end, but he’s such a good boy so I’m very pleased,” she said after her test. “The canter he was just a little bit strong, not so much hot.”

Juggling a World Championships in another country and a whole slew of 4* and 5* horses needing to be kept in work for their respective fall destinations takes a monumental effort, and Tamie’s got one of the best teams backing her up while she jets around the globe picking up medals. Tamie brought her horses out to the East coast ahead of Pratoni, running Danito in the 4*-S at Great Meadow as his final big prep for this event. Her assistant rider, Grace Walker, flew out from California to help keep Danito in work while Tamie went to Pratoni. Once she returned from Italy, Tamie took Danito to a schooling combined test and ran an Intermediate at ESDCTA in New Jersey as one final leg-stretch.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fourth-placed after today on a 30.4 — just a tick below his Tokyo mark of 30.5 — Phillip Dutton said he actually wasn’t sure if he’d bring Z (Asca Z – Bellabouche) here after traveling to France and back for Team USA training camp as the traveling reserve. It’s a tough spot to be in, and more so because of all the travel involved with no competition.

“When he first got home he was not feeling himself,” Phillip said. “He was just out of it and so we gave him plenty of time and all the sudden he came around. So I was kind of on the fence whether he was going to come, but he, say, the last two weeks has been really great.”

Another Pratoni silver medalist on the board today is Will Coleman — who also leads the USEF 3*-L National Championship with the Cold Red Rum Syndicate’s Cold Red Rum — with Team Rebecca’s Dondante (Pachio – Muckno Clover, by Euro Clover), currently in sixth on a score of 33.0.

Will Coleman and Dondante. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“Dondante is a great horse, but dressage is hard for him, and that’s a really hard test for him,” Will commented. “He’s a bit of a nervous type, and he’s very big and very leggy, and sometimes it feels like it’s hard for us to get all the parts in the right place. We’re trying to ride for a more relaxed outline and just a more relaxed horse in general, and I think we’re going in the right direction, but sometimes you don’t execute as well riding like that.”

How do you cope with a score you’d probably like to have a few marks back on? Well, for the philosophical Will it’s fairly simple: “We’ve got a big two days left and you know, I’ll probably be kicking myself for a couple hours and then I’ll forget about it. Put on some My Morning Jacket.”

Jennie Brannigan and Twilightslastgleam. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Looking to the rest of the top 12 after day one, Jennie Brannigan put in a lovely effort with the 5* debutant Twilightslastgleam (National Anthem – Royal Child), who is a homebred of longtime owners Nina and Tim Gardner, scoring a 35.2 to sit in seventh overnight. The 12-year-old Thoroughbred by National Anthem won the notoriously tough 4*-L at Bromont in June in muddy going, setting him up well for the challenge ahead. Jennie will ride her second horse, FE Lifestyle, tomorrow.

Buck Davidson and Carlevo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Buck Davidson put in a solid effort for very tough and expecting owner Aubrey Davidson aboard the 11-year-old off-track Thoroughbred Sorocaima (Rock Hard Ten – Sankobasi, by Pulpit), who makes his second 5* start this weekend after making his debut at Kentucky in April. Carl and Cassie Segal, longtime supporters of Buck’s and owners of the late and great Ballynoecastle RM, came on board just before Kentucky to take ownership of “Cam”, who was put on Buck’s radar by good friend and Olympian Jill Henneberg. “He’s just the ultimate trier and he will get there because he’s such a workman, it’s just getting strong enough to do it,” Buck said of Cam’s 35.7.

“And actually, it’s my daughter’s horse,” Buck chuckled. “So Aubrey asked my wife, ‘some events,’ she said, ‘how was Cam? Was he winning?’ And Andrea said ‘no, it’s a work in progress, but getting better’. And Aubrey says ‘okay, when’s the progress over so we can win??’ So I think my my owner might be a little disappointed in me, but she’ll be here tomorrow to give me the instructions.”

Zach Brandt and Direct Advance. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It was a heck of a soggy 5* debut for Zach Brandt, who was twice entered at Kentucky with the unforgettable Cavallino Cocktail in 2014 and 2015, but had to withdraw both times. So it’s a long-awaited debut on a very different, but equally special, horse in the 11-year-old Irish gelding Direct Advance (Night Cruise – Herbst Jennie B, by Concorde).

Longtime friend and coach Jon Holling was the one who found “Rosco” and told Zach that this would be one to take a gamble on. “To be honest, it feels a bit surreal,” Zach said. “You know, I’ve sort of been pinching myself all week sort of trying to just think of it as another event because the end of the day is just another event and just another weekend. But to be here, on a horse that we got as a four year old that Jon found for me, and he’s helped me produce over seven years. I mean, it just surreal cantering down centerline. And truth is, whatever happens this weekend. I’m just excited to be here.”

“It’s an incredibly well bred horse,” Jon added. “So it was a pretty easy thing to say, just based on that. And I will say Zach was coming off of an incredible mare, so I knew I had to get him something that was going to be a really good jumper. Because he wasn’t going to settle for anything that wasn’t exceptional. I mean, it’s always a bit of a gamble when you’re buying a young horse, but I knew based on the breeding, the way it was put together, and the jump that I knew he would be a really nice horse. And then it’s a little bit going on your gut instinct is this will be a good match. I heard overheard Zach saying he’s a bit of character. And I knew he liked that. He had that look in his eye, like he just thought he was the best horse on the property. And he’s kind of proven he was.”

Lisa Marie Fergusson and Honor Me. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Looking to the rest of the board today, next are Canada’s Lisa Marie Fergusson, who’s riding with some extra motivation on her shoulder this weekend after narrowly missing out on a berth for the Canadian squad in Pratoni with Honor Me (Brynarian Brenin AP Maldwyn – Dream Contessa). “Tali” is fit and ready to go, not having had a good cross country run to use his fitness since Kentucky in April. Lisa Marie and Honor Me scored a 37.1 to take forward into Saturday.

Hayley Frielick and Dunedin Black Watch. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Kiwi rider Hayley Frielick found herself sending her horses here to the U.S. much earlier than planned due to some flight logistics complications, but she says the extra time has set her up well for her first 5* outside of Australia with the off-track Thoroughbred Dunedin Black Watch (Dylan Thomas – Love First, by Lonhro). “He was brilliant,” Hayley said after her ride. “I’m so stoked with him. Obviously, it’s been a huge trip to get here. And he’s just like a little Thoroughbred off the track, but it’s just been amazing from start to finish. He just keeps trying and he felt like he was really, really with me.”

Completing the starter list for today is Zoe Crawford with K.E.C. Zara (Visa Aldatus Z – Puissance Flight, by Puissance), who was her very first event horse and now her first 5* horse. This is their fourth 5* start, and while dressage wouldn’t be this spicy mare’s preference, she lives and breathes for cross country and will do well to try to finish on her mark of 39.6 come Sunday. Zoe has been getting some help from Liz Halliday-Sharp, whose biggest advice for today was to “let go” and let the mare work freely.

We’ll have much more coming you way, now that I’ve gotten us kicked off with 3,000 words, in the coming days, including more content from the Young Event Horse and 3* and, of course, the conclusion of the 5* dressage tomorrow.

If you’re here on site, be sure to join us tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. for a cross country course walk in partnership with Ride iQ and World Equestrian Brands. The walk will be lead by Kyle Carter and Sharon White, and you can sign up for email notifications here.

Until then, I’m off to toss my soggy shoes in a dryer. Go Eventing!

MARS Maryland 5 Star:[Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [Friday 5* Times] [All Ride Times] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [Interactive XC Course Maps] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Digital Program] [EN’s Maryland Daily Digest Email] [EN’s Coverage]

Maryland 5 Star At-A-Glance: Meet the Riders

As we move ahead to this afternoon’s start of 5* dressage here at MARS Maryland 5 Star, presented by Brown Advisory, we’ve dug into the numbers to introduce you to the 24-strong field competing this weekend. It’s a healthy mix of former 5* winners, experienced and debutant horses, and fresh faces mixed in with plenty of veteran riders.

Want more on each pair entered in the 5* this weekend? Don’t forget to peep our Form Guide, nestled inside this year’s program which can be found here. You can jump straight into the Form Guide section by clicking here.

Let’s dive right in, and stay tuned for a Meet the Horses version coming tomorrow morning!

MARS Maryland 5 Star:[Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [Thursday 5* Times] [Friday 5* Times] [All Ride Times] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [Interactive XC Course Maps] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Digital Program] [EN’s Maryland Daily Digest Email] [EN’s Coverage]

Despite a Direct Hit from Hurricane Ian, All Systems Go for The Event at TerraNova

As Hurricane Ian made its turn to hit the west coast of Florida further south than originally anticipated — the first storm of its size to hit this side of the state in nearly 20 years — Hannah and Zach Ketelboeter began to batten down their hatches at the recently-constructed TerraNova Equestrian Center in Myakka City, just a few miles inland from the Gulf coast.

Built by B&D Builders, the TerraNova Equestrian barns were built to the highest standards in terms of hurricane and wind resistance. “One thing I really value about working with B&D is how they prioritize quality work with efficiency, which is hard to find both!” Hannah explained. “In Florida, you have to engineer your buildings to certain standards, and we built above and beyond those with our facilities.”

As a result of this planning, and despite a direct hit that brought some flooding and heavy winds to the area, TerraNova remained mostly unscathed when the storm passed. During the bulk of Ian, which brought 140 mph winds to the area for multiple hours, the team at TerraNova moved all residents — 30 horses, 14 dogs, 10 people, and 2 alpacas, to be specific — into the main barn to wait it out. “I honestly don’t think any of the horses heard the winds at all,” Hannah said.

After the storm, Hannah took to Facebook to show the condition of the property:

Thanks for joining us on FB Live to tour the property and see how well it's doing as we get ready for The Event and TerraNova Dressage!

Here are time stamps to help you find different subjects throughout the video. Hannah covered many important things throughout and circled the property twice.

– 00:00 – 00:30: Brand new water complex
– 00:38 – 03:05: TerraNova's charity efforts
– 03:05 – 07:07: Tour of cross-country course
– 07:08 – 09:40: Preview of VIP Pavilion (Win a free VIP table!), arenas and new video boards
– 09:40 – 14:40: See our competitor stabling
– 14:05 – 16:30: Hannah answers some FAQs
– 16:30 – 18:56: Preview of RV campground and area for extra tent stabling if needed
– 19:10 – 19:45: Preview of Estates at TerraNova property
– 20:21 – 25:30: Preview of arenas, including the importance of CDI ring placement, and VIP pavilion
– 25:50 – 28:50: See the cross-country course and information on tailgating
– 28:50 – 29:48: Video boards and partnership with ACCI on incredible technology
– 30:19 – 33:27: See our competitor stabling and wrap-up

Posted by TerraNova Equestrian Center on Thursday, October 6, 2022

While some prep work for the upcoming Event at TerraNova (October 21-23) was delayed slightly, Hannah says all systems are still green for the event, which will also run alongside the TerraNova Dressage II CDI4*/CDI-W competition.

“We look forward to seeing you all for what is sure to be a fantastic event,” TerraNova posted on its website. “To alleviate any concerns, however, rest assured that if future unforeseen circumstances prevent us from running the event as scheduled, there will be prompt notification and full refunds will be sent to all competitors who have entered. Also, we have extended the closing date by one week.”

“We did have some flooding, which is if you’re not from this area can look scary,” Hannah elaborated. “We had a little on the cross country, but nothing around the show facility really. More by our house and main barn, but we’re by the Myakka River and in wetlands, so that can happen but also it drains really fast. Within a few days, it had receded. That was obviously more than normal, but this is what this land is meant to withstand. When building your land site, you have to have it raised to a certain height here, and so we prepared our sites to plan for [weather events like this]. One of the main pillars of TerraNova is ‘harmony with nature’, and thats why the wetlands are so important, to handle all that water and cleanse the environment.”

While prep continues, Hannah also shared some exciting updates to the facility, including all-new permanent competitor stabling:

Other additions/improvements include a new VIP pavilion, a new permanent video board, expansion on the cross country course, a new water complex, and much more. The Event at TerraNova also runs a robust charity competition, benefitting three local charities, throughout the week; this year organizers have added the opportunity for all riders — not just the 4* riders — to participate in a “team” competition, with the winning team sending the largest check to their designated charity. This year’s beneficiaries are Southeastern Guide Dogs, Meals on Wheels of Manatee, and Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy (SMART).

For more information and to purchase tickets or enter The Event at TerraNova, click here.

1 Spun, 24 5* Horses Accepted in First Maryland 5 Star Horse Inspection

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z will sadly not proceed to competition at Maryland 5 Star. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

We are through the first horse inspection here at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, presented by Brown Advisory, but the jog was not without its dramatics for the 5* horses.

A total of 24 5* horses will move forward to dressage, which begins for both the 3* and 5* tomorrow, the 5* field thinned by one after Liz Halliday-Sharp‘s Deniro Z was sadly not accepted by the Ground Jury of Christian Landolt (SUI), Gretchen Butts (USA), Judy Hancock (GBR). Liz posted on social media later on that Deniro Z was dealing with an ill-timed hoof bruise.

“Very sad to share that Deniro Z will not be competing this week at the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill p/b Brown Advisory as he presented with a badly timed foot bruise,” she wrote. “He has been feeling fit and ready and this was not something any of us expected at all. Obviously I am gutted for Deniro Z, his owners Ocala Horse Properties, my team and myself. We are disappointed that he won’t get his chance this time, but perhaps this is the universe telling us that this is not our event to run this year.”

Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135 in tip-top turnout thanks to #supergroom McKenzie Ragan (and #supergirlfriend Mia Farley, probably). Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Also withdrawn prior to the jog were Great Britain’s Leslie Law and Voltaire de Tre.

In the USEF 3*-L National Championship, all horses presented were accepted by the Ground Jury of Peter Gray (CAN) and Valerie Pride (USA).

Christina Henriksen presents JTH Zest in the 3* jog. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Dressage begins tomorrow for the 3* at 8:30 a.m. EST, with the 5* following at 2:00 p.m. EST. We’ll also kick off the USEA Young Event Horse competition tomorrow for both the 4- and 5-year-olds, so there’s plenty to check out if you’re planning to come in person. View the full schedule here. All ride times are now available and you can find them for each division here. You can still purchase tickets here.

Does anyone have a cuter pony face than Jessie Phoenix’s Wabbit? Definitely not. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

And don’t forget to sign up for our 4 Days of Giveaways with Ride iQ, World Equestrian Brands, and Horse & Rider Books, which kicks off tomorrow. You can click here to sign up, even if you aren’t here in person, and you can also sign up for notifications on our course walk with Kyle Carter and Sharon White Friday afternoon. We hope to see you there!

Tilly is here with shiny boots on and ready to bring you our famous (infamous?) Jog Awards later this evening, so stay tuned for much more from Maryland.

MARS Maryland 5 Star:: [Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [Thursday 5* Times] [Friday 5* Times] [All Ride Times] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Interactive XC Course Maps] [Digital Program] [EN’s Coverage]

Maryland 5 Star: Team EN Makes Their Picks + Pick Yours & Win!

As is tradition here on EN, we love to nerd out ahead of a major competition and make our picks. For the MARS Maryland 5 Star, presented by Brown Advisory, it’s a small-but-mighty CCI5* field to choose from, and we’ve broken out our picks into a few different categories this week. Check out the full entry list here (and, if you want more detail on each pair, click here to view EN’s Form Guide inside this year’s program) and keep reading to see EN’s picks + submit your own for a shot at winning some cool prizes.

Up for grabs is a prize bundle containing:

One primary U.S.-based winner will be drawn from correct picks to receive the grand prize. Additionally, one international-based winner will also be drawn to receive a bundle of EN Merch! Prizes will be drawn the week of October 17 and the winners will be announced in News & Notes and notified via email. Scroll down to submit your entry ahead of the start of dressage (the form will close at 1:30 p.m. EST tomorrow, October 13).

Oliver Townend and As Is. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

SHELBY ALLEN

First Phase Dominator: I would keep the flaming hot cheeto Danito on your radar. Though it’s his debut at the level, he’s proven himself a fierce competitor on the flat. Recent notable dressage marks include a 24.7 at Boekelo last autumn and a 23.9 at Jersey Fresh in 2021.

XC Machine: Phillip Dutton has been around a few five-stars in his career, and he’s on Z, a horse who hasn’t had a cross country penalty in the last three seasons (and before that only from a flag penalty or fall of rider). That, combined with the bittersweet motivation of being a World Championship traveling reserve, will make them a force to keep your eyes on Saturday.

Show Jumping Star: Dondante has a penchant for the final phase, having only one or two poles down at International events in his entire career. The final phase could prove lucrative for him and Will Coleman.

Sleeper Alert: It seems hardly fair to call Liz Halliday-Sharp a “sleeper” but  she’s my choice for a U.S. victor. Partnered with Cooley Quicksilver, it could definitely be in the cards. “Monster” had strong performances at both the Luhmühlen and Pau 5*s, but those tracks are much different to this weekend’s. That considered, the horse’s record gives me confidence that he and Liz could go for it — he can be quick on cross country and come Sunday the poles will more than likely stay up.

Maryland 5 Star Winner: Oliver Townend is usually a pretty good bet a at a 5*, but this will be a debut for As Is, though the Andrew Nicholson-produced ride is not short for experience. Though he may be just above the mark on the flat, he’ll finish on that result. Oliver knows how to get the most out of horses on cross country, and the striking grey has never had a pole down at an International, giving him a good shot at the win.

Tim Price and Coup de Coeur Dudevin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

TILLY BERENDT

First Phase Dominator: I loved watching Tamie Smith and Danito at Boekelo last year, where they ultimately finished tenth — but it was their first phase that really got people talking. The tiny orange dynamo put a 24.7 on the board on that occasion, and he’s been similarly well-marked in other CCI4*-L competitions, including earning a 23.9 at the Jersey Horse Park last year. Tamie is a real perfectionist in this phase and doesn’t throw a mark away, so I think we’ll see them set the standard for the rest of the field.

XC Machine: He’s a five-star debutant, but Oliver Townend‘s As Is is a really interesting horse in this line-up. He’s Spanish-bred, from the same farm as former rider Andrew Nicholson’s stars Nereo and Armada, and he’s been seriously consistent, and seriously fast, since stepping up to four-star. We’ve not seen him finish outside the top ten in an international since 2019, and while Oliver’s only been competing him this year, he’s already nabbed a placing in the toughest four-star in the world, Bramham CCI4*-L. He should go the distance here without much trouble.

Show Jumping Star: I wouldn’t historically have put Liz Halliday-Sharp‘s Cooley Quicksilver in this spot, but whatever she’s been doing with him this season is working — he’s become a really reliable final-phase horse, and has just had one rail at the very start of the season in internationals. He made Luhmühlen’s showjumping course — the toughest in the world at this level — look like a real doddle back in June. It’s a tough call whether I want to put this pair as my jumping stars or my winners, if I’m honest. Liz is riding a high after a super week at Boekelo with Mik’s Master C, and she’s got the highest win chance according to our pals at EquiRatings. Cooley Quicksilver might have been an overcooked noodle of a horse in his scrappy youth, but he’s turned into a serious competitor, and his performance at the Germany five-star this summer certainly looked like the precursor to a major win. I think this could well be his to walk away with.

Sleeper Alert: Can we call anything Tim Price rides a sleeper, really? But of all his horses, new ride Coup de Coeur Dudevin is the biggest unknown: he’s been very exciting at the lower international levels with former rider Chris Burton, but he only joined Tim’s string at the start of this year and has done just three long-formats in his career. I loved watching him in the very, very competitive and tough CCIO4*-S at Haras du Pin in August, though, and certainly saw in him the sparkle of something special. For Tim to bring him all the way to the States as the one Price family entry this year tell me that he feels exactly the same way. I think this is the week we all learn this cool ten-year-old’s name.

Maryland 5 Star Winner: I’ve long loved Astier Nicolas’s sweet Babylon de Gamma, whose path to greatness has deviated a few times from its intended route as the result of niggling injuries and a hoof situation that bubbled up after his tenth place finish here last year. Time and patience are great healers, though, and although we were robbed of the chance to see the striking gelding at Tokyo or Pratoni, he’s got something very big in him. He comes here off the back of a decisive win in the intense CCI4*-S at Scotland’s mountainous Blair Castle, and I think that’ll prove to be the perfect prep for this week’s course.

Astier Nicolas and Babylon de Gamma. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

AMANDA CHANCE

First phase dominator: Tamie Smith & Danito
This is a horse that was bred for dressage, ridden by someone who is exceptional in the first phase… hard to bet against them!

XC Machine: Quantum Leap
This Maryland-bred gelding has been really fun to watch come up the levels. He’s got the scope of his warmblood sire and the gallop, heart, and speed of his thoroughbred dam. At last year’s Maryland 5 Star, Quantum was clear with 1.2 time, and at Kentucky this spring he was again clear with 1.2 time. Doug is a fast rider and I bet he’s itching for that elusive double clear – this horse is certainly capable of delivering.

Show Jumping Star: DonDante
This one was a struggle for me between As Is and Don Dante. Both have excellent records over the colored sticks but Don Dante comes from the Diamant de Semilly sire line, showjumping royalty, so… ultimately that’s what pushed me to give him the nod.

Sleeper Alert: Coup de Coeur Dudevin
Ok I’m willing to admit that I’m not sure any horse ridden by a Price could ever truly qualify as a sleeper, BUT it’s the horse’s 5 star debut and his first time leaving the continent – that makes him a bit of an unknown quantity here. That said, he is being piloted by the world #1 and he’s yet to add a cross country jump penalty to his FEI record. Plus his dam is by 5 Star horse Leprince des Bois, and we’ve got a Leprince des Bois filly here on the farm, so there is an immediate bias that I won’t apologize for.

Overall Winner: Babylon de Gamma
I know, I know, I bet all my imaginary money on the French for Pratoni and ended up cursing them all, so apologies in advance to Astier but I just love this horse. He pings off the ground like he’s got springs in his feet – maybe not surprising since he’s by an Olympic showjumper and out of a French Anglo Arab mare. Such a très chic and very typically French pedigree, lots of blood and lots of scope. This horse did well here last year, adding just a handful of time to his dressage score, and they’ve shown improvement since that performance.

Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

EMA KLUGMAN

First Phase Dominator: C’est La Vie 135 (Woods Baughman) strikes me as the one to watch to lead the dressage. This striking horse is really impressive in this phase, and if he can follow it up with good cross country and show jumping performances, he could be one to watch to snatch a top placing.

XC Machine: FE Lifestyle (Jennie Brannigan) is an amazing cross country horse and if the track is especially difficult, this will be his day to shine. The course designer couldn’t build a fence too big for this horse to jump, and it will be a treat to watch the well-seasoned go around.

Show Jumping Star: DonDante (Will Coleman) is really strong in the show jumping. He rarely has a rub, much less a rail, and his jockey is also very stylish in this phase. I think that if he entered the final day in a strong position, he could move up the placings onto the podium if the show jumping track is difficult.

Sleeper Alert: Superstition (Harry Meade) has now done a couple of American five-stars, and he always turns in a very solid performance. If he can knock off a couple of points in the dressage, he is capable of finishing on that score and quietly rising up the standings.

Maryland 5 Star Winner: You absolutely cannot bet against Tim Price at the moment. He could be on a mustang and still have a shot. Jokes aside, the riders coming from overseas would not enter if they didn’t think they had a shot at the prize money. Even though Tim is on a 10 year-old five-star first-timer, Coup de Coeur Dudevin, he could well win the whole thing.

Doug Payne and Quantum Leap. Photo by Abby Powell.

ABBY POWELL

First Phase Dominator: No stranger to leading the field after the first phase (or any of the phases, mind you) I’m betting that we’ll see the familiar names of Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z at the top of the leaderboard when the dancing is done and dusted.

XC Machine: Zoe Crawford‘s K.E.C. Zara is the definition of an XC Machine to me. They won’t be contesting the top of the leaderboard after the dressage and they may not be in the ribbons at the end of the weekend either, but they’re sure in contention for the biggest mover award thanks to this mare’s zest for cross country!

Show Jumping Star: I have to admit to not keeping up with show jumping statistics very well, but Quantum Leap, really jumps out at me (but not intended, but welcomed) as being exceptionally strong in this phase. This horse clinched the CCI5* National Championships thanks to a double clear round in his debut at the level in Kentucky this spring and you know he and Doug Payne put in plenty of practice over the poles.

Sleeper Alert: I have to admit, I don’t know very much about As Is, the former Andrew Nicholson ride who is now ridden by Oliver Townend. But I do know that Oliver wouldn’t be flying him across the pond if he didn’t believe he were a right contender for the top.

Maryland 5 Star Winner: I may have picked Deniro Z to lead after the first phase, but I’m going to get top honors to his stable mate, Cooley Quicksilver, who (from a rudimentay glance at FEI records) looks to be just a bit faster across country and is seriously on top form with Liz Halliday-Sharp this year. Here’s to another home-country five-star winner!

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Quicksilver. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

SALLY SPICKARD

First Phase Dominator: Danito

Ever seen a Cheeto Puff dance? Well on Thursday afternoon we’re likely to see just that. The early dressage lead is likely to be taken by Danito and Tamie Smith, who can coax a 25 out of a giraffe if she needs to, and while this test is a step up for the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding he’s already shown his prowess for the first phase at the 4* level. If he can put the pieces together, Danito’s also game to finish on that score, but Tamie may choose to prioritize education over competition come Saturday.

XC Machine: Superstition

At this level, it’s often hard to find a horse without a cross country penalty on its FEI record, but the 13-year-old Superstition, ridden by Great Britain’s Harry Meade, has managed to achieve this in 23 international competitions. Truth be told, this pair could easily make me eat my words when it comes to my winner pick — they knocked on the door at both Kentucky and Maryland in 2021, finishing 5th and 7th respectively. Cross country is this horse’s jam, and Harry won’t be hanging about on Saturday as he tries to catch that elusive podium finish.

Show Jumping Star: Quantum Leap

Gotta go with the part-time show jumping rider on this one (though you could easily slot Quantum Leap into the Sleeper or even potentially the Winner spot here). Quantum Leap is piloted by the very experienced Doug Payne, who knows a thing or two about turning and burning. Show jumping here at Maryland can feel a bit like a fishbowl with the close arena sides and small dimensions in comparison with its Kentucky counterpart, so the ability to come forward, not succumb to distraction, and turn efficiently will all play a key on Ken Krome’s show jumping track later this week.

Sleeper Alert: Twilightslastgleam

I’ve been a huge fan of this big-galloping Thoroughbred ever since I caught a glimpse of said gallop during Young Event Horse finals at this venue several years ago. Add in the fact that he’s got a big 4*-L win under his belt with “Need for Speed” Jennie Brannigan at Bromont this summer and the fact that Ian Stark builds — you guessed it — big, galloping tracks and I think you could well see this pair slip right up into the top five or even onto the podium when the dust settles Sunday.

Maryland 5 Star Winner: Cooley Quicksilver

It feels odd to go against the reigning world #1 (Tim Price) and former world #1 (Oliver Townend), but I am going to give this nod and a first 5* win to Liz Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Quicksilver. This pair won the very tough Lexington 4*-S this spring and followed that up with a top-5 finish at Luhmühlen. Despite his relative young age, “Monster” is well-traveled and has all the chops to put in a personal best weekend: he’s solid on the flat, he’s nippy and bold on cross country, and he can leave the poles up on Sunday. Liz, a need for speed lady herself, is oh-so-competitive, so you know she’ll be gunning for a top finish this weekend with plenty of momentum on her side coming off a strong finish at Boekelo last week aboard Miks Master C.

Now, it’s your turn! Up for grabs this week is a $100 Starbucks gift card provided by Ocala Horse Properties, a 6-pack of FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips in the color of your choice from Achieve Equine, and an EN merchandise bundle. Submit your pick to win as well as the winning score for tie-breaking purposes no later than Thursday (10/13) at 1:30 p.m. EST to be eligible to win! Use the form embedded below or click here to submit.

Tuesday Video from Kentucky Performance Products: When Jumpers Do Dressage

Now here is a cool update from the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search, in which junior jumping riders are challenged to develop skills that they can call upon as they build their professional careers. With qualifying classes held across the country each season, this is a healthy pipeline for well-developed young riders, and this new “dressage” portion of the Talent Search is case in point. Check out a test in the video below or here on Instagram.

The test features shoulder-in work, 15-meter circles, medium canters on a circle, turn on the haunches, and more, making it quite a solid test of horsemanship and intelligent riding. It’s a very cool crossover of disciplines, if you ask me, and a little foundational flatwork never hurt anyone. What do you think? Could you ace this test?

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There is still time to grab your 2022 fall sticker KPPusa.com/fall22.

Tickets for the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event are Now on Sale!

Jonelle Price and McClaren. Photo by Shelby Allen.

Happy Ticket Tuesday! If you’ve been having Kentucky withdrawals, you can salve that wound right up by snagging your tickets for the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by MARS Equestrian, happening April 27-30, 2023 in Lexington.

General admission passes, tailgating passes (which will go quickly!), reserved seating, and VIP options are all available as of 9 a.m. EST today, so move quick particularly if you’re in need of reserved seating or tailgating. Click here to buy your tickets.

The 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event will also feature the return of the Lexington CCI4*-S, which will be sponsored by Cosequin. Your tickets will also grant you access to this competition.

As always, we look forward to seeing you once more in Kentucky! April can’t come soon enough. Go Eventing!

Your Guide to the MARS Maryland 5 Star presented by Brown Advisory

After an absolutely whirlwind of a 2022 season, the penultimate five-star and the final such event in North America looms large this week. A small-but-mighty field for the second Maryland 5 Star features a boatload of Olympians, five-star winners, and WEG riders, making for a true top-flight competition all week long.

We’ve got plenty in store for you as Tilly Berendt and I travel to Maryland this week, with support from Shelby Allen and Abby Powell remotely. You can bookmark this page as your Ultimate Guide to Maryland, including links to all of EN’s coverage and information about the event.

Keep scrolling for the latest information!

THE PROGRAM

2022 Maryland 5 Star Program

THE FORM GUIDE

Click here to view EN’s Form Guide to the 5* competitors inside this year’s Digital Program.

THE SCHEDULE

The full schedule can be found here. The CCI5* schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, October 12: First Horse Inspection – 1:30 p.m. EST
Thursday, October 13: Dressage – 2:00 p.m. EST – 4:00 p.m. EST
Friday, October 14: Dressage – 2:00 p.m. EST – 4:00 p.m. EST
Saturday, October 15: Cross Country – 2:00 p.m. EST – 4:00 p.m. EST
Sunday, October 16: Second Horse Inspection – 9:00 a.m. EST
Sunday, October 16: Show Jumping – 2:00 p.m. EST – 3:00 p.m. EST

THE OFFICIALS

The CCI5* will be presided over by Christian Landolt (SUI) alongside Ground Jury members Gretchen Butts (USA), Judy Hancock (GBR). The 3*-L will have Pratoni Ground Jury member Peter Gray (CAN) as President alongside Valerie Pride (USA).

The Young Event Horse East Coast Championships will be judged as follows: 5-Year-Olds: Marilyn Payne (USA), Martin Plewa (GER); 4-Year-Olds: Debbie Rodriguez (USA), Anne Moss (USA), Phyllis Dawson (USA), Karen Winn (USA)

Ian Stark is the cross country designer this week while Ken Krome will design show jumping.

THE ENTRIES

All entries can be found here. Entry drawn order can be found here.

HOW TO WATCH

USEF Network is the carrier for the Maryland 5 Star if you’re in the U.S. or Canada. Existing USEF members can use their credentials to log in and watch all phases of competition, or you can sign up to watch free with a USEF Fan account or take 40% OFF an annual USEF Subscriber Membership with promo code Maryland22. Click here to view the USEF Network Maryland page.

For those outside of the U.S. and Canada, Horse & Country will be your provider. An H&C+ subscription is required. Click here to view the main H&C Maryland homepage.

The schedule for Maryland 5 Star can be found here. We’ll update this page with ride times once they are posted.

HAPPENINGS

You’re invited to join EN and Ride iQ for an exclusive cross country course walk on Friday, October 15 with Kyle Carter and World Equestrian Brands rider Sharon White. You can also get in on the action even if you aren’t attending in person by signing up for our 4 Days of Giveaways with World Equestrian Brands and Horse & Rider Books! Click here to sign up and enter.

You can also view Special Events happening daily at Maryland here. For the shopaholics out there, stalk the trade fair vendor list here.

EN’S COVERAGE

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

Maryland 5* Weekend Social Recap
Ride the Maryland XC with the 3* National Champions
Elisa Wallace and Renkum Corsair Named USEF 3*-L National Champions
Tim Price is King of the Hill at MARS Maryland 5 Star
Top Ten Contender Held in Final MARS Maryland 5 Star Horse Inspection
Ian Stark: Course Designer and Part-Time Baby Horse Wrangler

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capitol HIM Maintain Lead in USEF CCI3*-L Eventing National Championship
Can’t Hold the #1 Down: Tim Price Takes the Lead after Maryland 5 Star Cross Country
It’s Go Time: Maryland 5 Star XC Live Updates
Hold Onto Your Butts, You’re Now in Jurassic Park: Previewing Ian Stark’s Beefed-Up Maryland CCI5* Track
A Real Bum Clencher: Riders React to Ian Stark’s Sophomore Maryland 5 Star Track

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

The Sky’s the Limit for Sky Moon After Finishing First in Dutta Corp. USEA YEH Five-Year-Old Championship
Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capitol HIM Top USEF CCI3*-L Eventing National Championship at Maryland 5 Star
Maryland 5 Star: Tim Price Heads Friday Field but Woods Can’t Be Felled
Maryland 5 Star At-A-Glance: Meet the Horses

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

Shmick Conquers All to Bring Home 2022 Dutta Corp. USEA YEH East Coast Four-Year-Old Champion Title
Woods Baughman Leads Day One at Maryland in the Downpour
Thursday Video: Watch Woods Baughman Take the Maryland 5 Star Lead
Maryland 5 Star At-A-Glance: Meet the Riders
We Have Footwear Questions: The Golden Chinch Jog Awards

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

1 Spun, 24 5* Horses Move Forward at MARS Maryland 5 Star

Pre-Competition

Team EN Makes Their Maryland Picks + Pick Yours & Win!
Maryland 5 Star Drawn Order: Liz Halliday-Sharp First in the 5*
Meet Hayley Frielick, the U.S.-Based Australian Heading to Maryland
The Pre-Performance Advantage at the Maryland 5 Star
Tim Price Joins Maryland 5 Star Line-up
World #1 Returning to Maryland 5 Star
Maryland 5 Star Right Around the Corner: Catch Up with Entries
Get An Early Look at Entries for the Maryland 5 Star
Maryland 5 Star Welcomes Title and Presenting Sponsors to the Helm
Want to Be Part of a Five-Star? Join Maryland’s Donor Program!

MARS Maryland 5 Star:: [Website] [Entries] [Schedule ] [Drawn Order] [USEF Network Live Stream (North America)] [H&C+ Live Stream (Worldwide)] [Form Guide] [Digital Program] [EN’s Coverage]

Tuesday News & Notes from Ocala Horse Properties

Exciting news! Sharon White has been added as our special World Equestrian Brands guest for our cross country course walk Friday at Maryland 5 Star. We’ll be touring Ian Stark’s course with Sharon and Ride iQ coach Kyle Carter, so be sure to sign up here to receive email notifications about timing! Not attending Maryland in person? No worries — you’ll still want to sign up as we’re launching 4 Days of Giveaways on Thursday with chances to win a big prize from World Equestrian Brands, a book from Horse & Rider Books, or EN merch each day.

And if you’re hankering to make your winner prediction for this week, stay tuned for our Pick ‘Em contest, which will go live later today and features a chance to win a $100 Starbucks gift card from Ocala Horse Properties.

Events Opening This Week

FEH & YEH Last Chance Qualifier & West Coast Championships (CA)

Events Closing Today

Chattahoochee Hills H.T. (GA)

Tuesday News & Reading

While the East Coast Young Event Horse Championships are happening this week, several Young Event Horse program graduates will also be contesting the 3* and 5* at Maryland. Find out who here.

Trish Gilbert is one of the riders receiving an invite to the USEA Hall of Fame class for 2022. She sat down with USEA podcast host Nicole Brown to chat about her career and the sport as it’s evolved.

Hot on Horse Nation: Preventing colic during cooler weather with Kentucky Performance Products.

Former eventer Lauren Balcomb and her former event horse, Verdini D’Houtveld Z, took home the top honor (and beat partner Sharn Wordley while she was at it #girlpower) in last weekend’s $75,000 John Deere Greenville Turf & Tractor Grand Prix CSI 2* at Tryon. Lauren made the full-time switch to eventing not long after she moved to the U.S. from Australia. Read more here.

Sponsor Corner:

Our Ocala Horse Properties find of the week is just 15 minutes from Ocala’s World Equestrian Center and features a great ranch-style home, barn and plenty of turnout, and even a workshop space for that long-suffering horse husband!

Tuesday Video

Another #TrainingTipTuesday video from our course walk leader, Sharon White, all about setting your horse up using line selection on cross country:

Join Eventing Nation and Ride iQ for a Maryland 5 Star Cross Country Walk (+ 4 Days of Epic Giveaways!)

Eventing Nation is excited to once again team up with Ride iQ for an exclusive course walk at next month’s Maryland 5 Star. The popularity of our course walk at Kentucky even impressed Chinch, so we’re keen to make this an ongoing tradition. Here’s the scoop:

The course walk will take place in the afternoon of Friday, October 14. A specific meeting location and time will be emailed to RSVP’d participants no later than Friday morning, but it’s safe to plan for later in the day after the conclusion of competition.

Kyle Carter entertains the group at the EN x Ride iQ course walk at Kentucky. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Canadian Olympian and Ride iQ coach Kyle Carter and World Equestrian Brands rider Sharon White will be joining us as tour guides du jour, so you can count on colorful commentary and plenty of useful information (plus plenty of utterly useless information to balance things out).

As if that isn’t enough excitement, we decided to add some more. We’ll be doing daily prize drawings for stellar items from World Equestrian Brands as well as books from Horse & Rider Books — and the grand prize is an Equilibrium Magnetic Rug that’s sure to spoil your horse to (happy) tears (not convinced? Check out our review here). You do not need to be present to win these prizes, so you’ll want to enter even if you aren’t attending Maryland in person!

Last but not least, the first 25 people to RSVP to attend the course walk in person will receive a free EN x Ride iQ tote bag that can be picked up at the Dapplebay booth on site.

Whew — you still with me? Great! Hop on over to this page to enter.

A Delightful Pau Entry List to Close Out the 2022 5* Season

Caroline Martin and Islandwood Captain Jack are one of two pairs representing the U.S. entered at Pau this year. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Typically the penultimate five-star event of the season (in most years, Australia’s event in Adelaide is the latest, happening in November but this year postponed until April 2023), this year’s edition of Les Etoiles de Pau will close out the season and a 52-strong entry list has just dropped. The French five-star will take place in the South of France October 27-30.

Pau has, in recent years, produced winners that have gone on to appear on championship teams: 2019 winner Tom McEwen along with 2020 winner Laura Collett would each go on to win gold medals in Tokyo aboard their Pau partners Toledo de Kerser and London 52, respectively. 2021 winner Tim Price would be selected to represent New Zealand on this year’s FEI World Championship squad with Falco (collecting two medals in the process). With this year featuring its share of Olympic horses and riders, previous five-star winners, and re-routing World Championships horses, it’s safe to bet that the to-be-named 2022 winner could springboard in similar fashion.

Two American riders will tackle longtime Pau designer Pierre Michelet’s challenge: Caroline Martin, based in the UK for the past few months thanks to the support of the Wilton Fair Grant, will make her first overseas 5* start with the 14-year-old Irish gelding Islandwood Captain Jack. Carolina has been based with Pippa Funnell — who is also entered at Pau with 2019 Burghley winner MGH Grafton Street — for the majority of her time in the UK and says the education she’s received from the Rolex Grand Slam winner is incomparable. She and “James” are hot off some seriously competitive finishes in FEI competition overseas and are primed to have a peak weekend to cap off a successful trip.

Katherine Coleman and RLE Limbo Kaiser. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Also entered for the U.S. is Katherine Coleman, who makes her first start at the 5* level since 2017 and her first with the 14-year-old RLE Limbo Kaiser, who did complete this event with Britain’s Rosa Onslow in 2020. Katherine is based full-time in the UK after packing up her bags and moving from the U.S. to England in 2012 to pursue her riding career. She’s had a handful of horses step up to this level but is still chasing that coveted first completion. Over the last decade, Katherine’s had the opportunity to work alongside riders such as Sam Watson and Lucinda Green and also helped to found ReadySupp, a SmartPak-esque supplement company based in the UK.

Other highlights from the Pau list include:

  • A handful of recent five-star winners, both horse and human: Felix Vogg and Colero (Luhmühlen 2022), Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden (Luhmühlen 2021), Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street (Burghley 2019), Jonelle Price (2018 Luhmühlen, 2018 Badminton) and Grappa Nera, Tom McEwen (Pau 2019) and Bob Chaplin and Braveheart B
  • Another 5* debutant horse for 2018 World Champion and British World Championships team member Ros Canter in the 11-year-old Rehy Royal Diamond (we hear she has a knack for almost winning five-stars on her horses’ debuts…)
  •  Season cappers for two pairs who started but did not finish this year’s FEI World Championships in Italy: Nicolas Touizant (FRA) and Absolut Gold*HDC, Aistis Vitkauskas (LIT) and Commander VG

Ros Canter and Rehy Royal Diamond. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

We’ll also see a 31-strong British contingent, a healthy list of experienced French riders looking to nab the first win for the home team since 2018, as well as riders representing Australia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and much more.

Click here to view the full entry list as we roll full steam ahead into the finale of the fall five-star season. You’ll be able to follow along live thanks to Horse & Country. Keep an eye out here on EN for the latest from Pau!

Friday Video from SmartPak: Preview Boekelo’s Cross Country with Boyd Martin

Can’t see the embedded Instagram post at the top of this article? Click here to watch the video.

Boekelo’s unique cross country challenge awaits tomorrow as the FEI Nations Cup continues with team USA currently in silver medal position on a collective score of 87.2. They’re just 11.9 penalties separated from Germany in gold, but the team will also have New Zealand breathing down their necks just 1.2 penalties back in bronze.

SmartPak rider Boyd Martin, competing this weekend with the Annie Goodwin Syndicate’s Fedarman B, clued us in to his strategy for tomorrow with “Bruno”, who steps up to his biggest challenge to date this weekend in this Nations Cup format. The first water, always a popular spot for the throngs of spectators on Saturday, will be key to setting the tone for the rest of the way around, Boyd says.

You can view the full track, which carries an optimum time of 10 minutes, 10 seconds and is designed once more this year by Adrian Ditcham, on CrossCountryApp here or by clicking/tapping the map image below. Keep scrolling for a list of Team USA times.

Click/tap the map to view the full course on CrossCountryApp.

The full order of go for cross country, which can be viewed live on Clip My Horse TV (FEI TV) beginning at 4:45 a.m. EST, can be found here.

Team USA start times:

James Alliston and Nemesis: 2:13 a.m. PST / 5:13 a.m. EST / 11:13 a.m. local
Alyssa Phillips and Oskar: 2:53 a.m. PST / 5:53 a.m. EST / 11:53 a.m. local
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C: 3:29 a.m. PST / 6:29 a.m. EST / 12:29 p.m. local
Boyd Martin and Fedarman B: 4:09 a.m. PST / 7:09 a.m EST / 1:09 p.m. local
Katherine Coleman and Monbeg Senna: 4:57 a.m. PST / 7:57 a.m. EST / 1:57 p.m. local

Military Boekelo CCIO4*-L: [Website] [Entries] [Leaderboard] [Schedule] [XC Start Times] [XC Preview] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]

Hot on Horse & Country: Productive Flatwork, Rehearsing Your Warm-Up, and More with Hannah Sue and Matt Hollberg

Photo courtesy of Horse & Country.

Did you know that Horse & Country is not only a source of frequent international live streams, it also plays host to a robust library of education and entertainment content? In an age when digital assistance is becoming more the norm (which I am 100% here for), it seems like you can really take your riding and horsemanship education to the next level with so many offerings on the menu.

One series I’ve become a big fan of recently is the Masterclass compilation, which taps the expertise of well-known riders and wraps the concepts up into a video series. U.S. 5* rider Hannah Sue Hollberg and her husband and show jumping rider Matt Hollberg paired up with MARS Equestrian to deliver the latest Masterclass, which centers on the ideas of productive flatwork, making the most of your warm-up (which includes rehearsing it!), practicing your jumping at home, and working through spooky questions.

Here are just a few bits Hannah Sue and Matt focus on in this Masterclass:

Photo courtesy of Horse & Country.

Rehearsing a Show Day Warm-Up

Hannah Sue starts out on Harbour Pilot, her Pan American partner, bred and owned by Jaqueline Mars. After some flatwork aiming for forward engagement, they jump some small fences to get warmed-up. Matt discusses that the warm-up might look different for different horses, noting “William’s” vast experience means he doesn’t need much preparation to be ready to win.

Practicing a Course

Hannah Sue jumps Harbour Pilot through a course with elements similar to what they find in the show ring. Matt explains the importance of starting on the pace you want throughout the course, riding up to the jumps and working towards a 12′-14′ stride. He also mentions they always incorporate rollbacks in their coursework to ensure the horses are looking ahead to the next fence along with the rider’s eye.

Working on a Circle

Hannah Sue switches on to J, a seven-year-old rising star, owned by Christa Schmidt. Matt talks about the difference between a younger, less experienced horse like J, and a seasoned pro like Harbour Pilot. He stresses the importance of introducing everything to the horse in a slow, thoughtful way. In their flat warm-up, Hannah Sue rides J on a circle, where Matt discusses the aim of this exercise is to get the horse’s eye to follow the rider’s eye for better focus and connection.

Photo courtesy of Horse & Country.

Breaking Down the Spookier Elements

After a few smaller fences, beginning with a cross-rail and progressing towards little verticals and oxers, Matt has Hannah Sue jump a shortened portion of the course with spookier elements. He expresses the importance of everything being introductory for a young horse. Then he supposes how J will likely react and details the best way for Hannah Sue to get his attention back on her, by continuing to incorporate the circles from the flatwork as well as downward transitions from the canter to the trot to maintain balance and connection.

Putting it All Together

Hannah Sue uses all of the elements they’ve worked on to jump through a course. Before they jump, Matt reiterates the importance of having the horse’s eye follow that of the rider– that the rider’s body language also needs to match their intention so the horse has a clear idea early on of what they are supposed to do.

You can watch the Hannah Sue & Matt Hollberg Masterclass using your H&C+ subscription here. Not an H&C+ member yet? Click here to lear more and subscribe.

Wednesday News & Notes from Haygain

The Equestrians of Color Photography Project is going strong, with new riders from a rich tapestry of backgrounds featured regularly on their platforms. The idea behind the project is multi-fold: amplify the voices of minority and marginalized riders, create art that celebrates the diversity of the love of horses, and draw attention to issues that face this demographic of riders. You can follow along with EOC on Instagram here and on the website, where the full features are housed, here.

U.S. Weekend Preview

Morven Park Fall International CCI4*-L (Leesburg, VA): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Erin Gilmore Photography] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Heritage Park H.T. (Olathe, KS): [Website] [Entries] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Hitching Post Farm H.T. (South Royalton, VT): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [Volunteer]

Middle Tennessee Pony Club H.T. (Nashville, TN): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring]

Ocala Fall H.T. (Ocala, FL): [Website] [Entries] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Radnor Hunt H.T. (Malvern, PA): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

WindRidge Farm Fall H.T. (Mooresboro, NC): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]

Woodside Fall H.T. (Woodside, CA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [Volunteer]

Major International Events

Military Boekelo CCIO4*-L: [Website] [Entries] [Leaderboard] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]

Wednesday News & Reading

Have you signed up for our course walk with Ride iQ at Maryland 5 Star? Even if you aren’t able to attend the walk, you’ll still want to sign up as we’ll be kicking off daily giveaways with World Equestrian Brands as well as Horse & Rider Books on Thursday, October 13! [Sign up here]

Nominations for the 2022 USEA Hall of Fame class are trickling out, and the latest to receive an invitation for the honor is the great Eagle Lion. Partnered with Bruce Davidson, Sr., at the height of his career, Eagle Lion became the first American horse (and one of just two ever) to win Badminton. He is also the horse we’ve all taken a photo with at Kentucky Horse Park, as he’s the horse that’s been made into the Bruce Davidson Sr. statue at Rolex Stadium. [Eagle Lion Invited to Join Hall of Fame]

Itching for a custom item from World Equestrian Items on your holiday list? Yes, it’s that time already — I know, I can’t believe it either. But if you’re planning ahead and anticipating needing a custom order from Amerigo via World Equestrian Brands, the order must be placed by October 7 to guarantee a delivery in time for the holidays. All other custom orders must be placed by October 10. [It’s Custom Season at World Equestrian Brands]

It’s nearly time for the 2022 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover! The super bowl of Thoroughbred re-training is a popular event that I have GOT to make it to one of these days, and it’s held annually for a multitude of disciplines at Kentucky Horse Park. [The Need-to-Know on Thoroughbred Makeover]

David Taylor took a moment of frustration and tried to make it into something actionable. Thus began his journey to obtaining his cross country course designer’s license. Now, his courses can be found popping up all over the country, and he isn’t done yet! [David Taylor’s Journey to Becoming a USEF Course Designer]

We love our #supergrooms! Fresh off the plane from Pratoni with their charges, USEF caught up with each U.S. eventing groom that traveled to Italy for FEI World Championships last month. [#supergrooms Reflect on Pratoni]

Tack Facts with Sterling Essentials: If you learn one thing about leather care today, let this be it. It’s all about two little letters: pH. One of the very best ways to protect your leather tack and your investment is to ensure that you care for your leather using products that support the natural pH of the leather. How? Read more here.

Sponsor Corner

Managing equine asthma with Haygain:

Wednesday Video Break

Loved this tip from Ride iQ and Lauren Sprieser on developing following elbows:

#TrainingTipTuesday Video: Does Your Horse Invert or Curl? Watch This

We’re big fans of Amelia Newcomb’s dressage trainings, which are applicable across disciplines and easily available on her YouTube channel. With the rise in digital teaching and training, it’s important to be shrewd when finding someone to learn from. Not all solutions are good fits, but one thing about Amelia’s content is it is universally useful for riders of varying levels.

I enjoyed this video on this commonly-seen method of bit and contact evasion: inverting or curling behind the bit. I know I’ve dealt with this many times due to gaps in my own riding, and I find videos like this to be really useful as they call to attention the rider’s aids and intentions.

Dressage training is useful for eventers — that’s a known fact. Help us sort out what content you’d like to see on EN the most in the coming months by filling out the poll below.

Want more from Amelia Newcomb? Click here to learn about her program!