Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by SDH Photography for Erin Gilmore Photography.

“Up to snuff” and “up to standard” were terms we heard often when describing Jay Hambly’s Advanced Championship cross country course at the USEA American Eventing Championships today. Hosting the AECs at the iconic Kentucky Horse Park, particularly at the Advanced level, feels akin to the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, and indeed we were left feeling like we’d just watched part of the 5* track in many ways.

And as such, we saw plenty of expected influence today, with nearly all of the original top-placed competitors changing places, primarily due to time penalties though several fences did catch many pairs out as the competition came to a close for the day in this division.

First things first, many will be wanting updates on Liz Halliday after she had a hard fall with Shanroe Cooley at fence 21. Her team and the USEA have put out a statement:

“After a fall on cross-country at fence 21b in the Advanced division at the USEA American Eventing Championships, Liz Halliday was transported to the University of Kentucky Medical Center where they are providing care and treatment.

Shanroe Cooley, owned by The Ocala Horse Properties LLC, was assessed by the veterinary team on-site and was uninjured in the fall.

The USEA, EEI, and Mary Fike send Halliday our best wishes.”

We are pulling hard for Liz, as are her fellow competitors who have all expressed their care for her as we did their post-ride interviews, and will provide updates on her condition as they are made available to us. Please respect her and her team’s privacy at this time.

Boyd Martin Holds Firm with Tsetserleg

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Kira Topeka for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Boyd Martin knew exactly where he needed to be with the Turner family’s Tsetserleg (Windfall – Thabana, by Buddenbrock) as he set out on course toward the end of the running order. He would have about 29 seconds in hand to best Will Coleman and Diabolo’s finishing score of 35.6, and used up 22 of those seconds to stop the clock with 8.8 time penalties added. His two-phase score of 32.8 would be enough to hold him in first place ahead of show jumping under the lights tomorrow.

“Thomas was a vintage Tsetserleg,” Boyd remarked. “The biggest challenge we had is he was, you know, attacking the fences, and I felt like all the way around he was brave as a lion. I was trying to slow him down and steady him up without wrestling him too much. But all in all, he’s such a experienced, seasoned campaigner. I think every time he’s been at the Kentucky Horse Park, he knows it’s time to go. So he was full of running and all in all, gave me a fantastic round.”

“I think he built a challenging track,” Boyd continued about Jay Hambly’s course design. “There were lots of questions [that] really tested your rideability and your turning and it was what I think was sort of a four and a half star FEI, ‘four and a half star short’, if that makes any sense. Jay Hambly, similar to Derek di Grazia and Ian Stark in the design, he builds forward distances and big jumps, and I feel like he’s got a real gift of sort of these discreet little traps that he sets around the course.”

 

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“Thomas” has historically struggled in the final phase, and not for a lack of effort on the part of both Boyd and his jumping coach Peter Wylde. The Trakehner gelding has jumped two clear rounds at Advanced this year. He does not have a rail in hand over Will and Diabolo, but a clear round would see Boyd hoist the Adequan Advanced trophy and take home the lion’s share of the $60,000 prize fund.

Boyd has ownership two of the top three spots this afternoon, also piloting Yankee Creek Ranch LLC’s Commando 3 (Connor 48 – R-Adelgunde, by Amigo xx) to a clear round with 8 time penalties to sit on a score of 36.0 in third overnight. “Connor” is preparing to step up to the 5* level at the Maryland 5 Star this October.

Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by SDH Photography for Erin Gilmore Photography.

“Conner was absolutely brilliant,” Boyd said. “I think he’s one of the best horses in the world. He’s had sort of a long preparation to be ready to go to the Olympics. And sadly, for Conner, he didn’t get his chance to show his stuff in Paris. And he did it quite easy today. I’ve been having him ultra prepared to step in at any minute. We had him very fit and schooled up and ready to rumble for last month. So he felt brilliant and I’m just so excited for the future with Conner. He’s just an amazing animal.”

Diabolo Delivers a Strong Prep for Maryland

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by SDH Photography for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Will Coleman told us yesterday that he didn’t have grand plans for the 12-year-old Diabolo (Diarado – Roulett M, by Aljano 2) this week. His main priority this week has been knocking off the inevitable cobwebs that come from not getting in a strong rule for a couple of months, and his cross country ride with “Dab” accomplished this.

“My goal was really just to give him a nice round,” Will said. “About 20 seconds of time is what I had aimed for. This event is just one step towards a bigger goal at Maryland [5 Star], but I was happy with how my horse responded. I thought the ground, they’ve done an amazing job preparing it. The conditions really couldn’t have been worse with how hot and dry it’s been, so all credit to Jay [Hambly] and Tyson [Rementer] and Mick [Costello] and the whole team that really made the most out of the ground out there. It’s still firm but we really appreciate their efforts.”

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by SDH Photography for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Diabolo is a horse that Will’s had to establish a partnership with; the horse previously campaigned through this level with Australian rider Gemma Tinney before making his way to the Northern Hemisphere and his new rider early in 2023. He dealt with some health issues from the acclimation, but from that point on Will’s seen the horse grow in both his body as well as his mind, ultimately taking the victory in the tough Lexington 4*-S during Kentucky weekend this spring.

“I think any horse you get, there’s just always this kind of 12 to 18 months where you have to invest in them to let them learn your system,” he said. “Let them kind of acclimate to your way of doing things, and vice versa, you’re doing the same in response to the horse. So I think some of the foundational stuff we were trying to establish has become established, and now there’s a lot of trust and understanding between us, and the communication is getting a lot better.”

Will and Diabolo will go into tomorrow’s finale on a score of 35.6 with 7.6 time penalties added to their dressage score. Diabolo was second here at AEC in 2023 in the Intermediate Championship and has a strong show jumping record to challenge Boyd for the overall win.

Dutton, Klugman, Wildasin Ride to Strong Top 6 Rounds

Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Hannah Lujbli for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Phillip Dutton was pleased with the efforts of the Possante Group’s Possante (Namelus R – Wendelien, by Otangelo) today, jumping clear with 10.8 time penalties to secure fourth place overnight on a score of 39.4. This is another newer ride on Phillip’s string, having formerly been campaigned through the 4* level by Great Britain’s Emily King. For Phillip, the process of building this horse up for competitive finishes at this level has been about producing him to the point where speed becomes possible due to rideability and a quickness in the mind.

“That’s probably the quickest I’ve taken him, and he handled it pretty well,” he said. “The faster you go, the more risk you take. So firstly, the priority for me is they have to have a base of fitness and the biggest errors I’ve made are running a horse fast when they aren’t conditioned enough for it. So it’s making sure they are strong enough and [rideable enough], and mentally the horse has to be able to accept, or maybe not accept but not get flustered by going at that speed and still keep a clear mind and that’s where I was very pleased with Impy today. Right to the end he was pretty alert and still very adjustable and able to read the jumps.”

Phillip has applied for the Military Boekelo CCIO4*-L in October but if he’s not selected for the U.S. traveling squad he’ll aim Possante for the 4*-L at Morven Park instead. He also expressed his thoughts for Liz. “It’s been an up and down day with Liz’s fall, and our thoughts are with her and her family,” he said.

Ema Klugman and Bronte Beach Z. Photo by Hannah Lujbli for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Ema Klugman was also pleased with the speed she was able to show with Bronte Beach Z (Verdi TN – Dalphine, by Chopin), who debuted at the 5* level in April at Kentucky and has been building that all-important cumulative base of fitness as she looks ahead to a second 5* start at Maryland in October. Ema stopped the clock with 6.4 time penalties added for a score of 39.6 and fifth place overall after two phases.

“If you had told me six months ago that she would’ve been one of the fastest horses here I would’ve been surprised!” Ema said, describing today’s course as essentially like riding the second half of Kentucky’s 5* track with its terrain and three big uphill pulls. “I was glad both of my horses have really big strides because I think it was easier to do just riding forward,” Ema said. “And if they have a big stride, you can just keep on cruising and the jumps come up well versus being on a smaller stride horses and having to add a lot.

Ema noted that she’s enlisted the perspective of many of her fellow upper-level riders as she’s built and evolved her fitness program. With four horses currently running at Advanced this season, each horse is on its own individual program. “[Bronte Beach Z] doesn’t have a ton of blood but we’ve been working hard on her fitness,” she elaborated. “Anything with horses and the sport is you kind of change your system over time and try different things and see what works best.”

“I think the first part is that fitness is cumulative so over time the horse will just get fitter, but I also think its interesting in other sports, there’s maybe more open intel about how people train,” Ema continued. “Everyone who trains for a marathon can just kind of Google a regimen for training. Whereas thats not really readily available, certainly not just randomly on the internet, for eventing horses. I did a little bit of asking different people what they do in terms of preparing horse for Kentucky or other events. I didn’t necessarily adopt any one of those approaches but I took it into account. For her, we’re adopting more faster work, but also doing the slow long sets as well so it’s kind of a combination. But really I think she’s just growing up a bit so I’m able to push her little harder. It’s a balance because the risk of injury is higher when you go fast in training, but if you don’t teach them to go fast then they have trouble in competition. And I’m learning as we go too, so I don’t think I’ve fully cracked it. But we’ll see if she can maintain that pace around a longer course.”

Arden Wildasin and Sunday Times. Photo by Hannah Lujbli for Erin Gilmore Photography.

The sole rider to catch the time today did not in fact wear a watch for cross country. Arden Wildasin told me she hasn’t worn a watch on cross country in about two years, preferring to rely on how her horses feel underneath her and achieve a natural pace. That approach certainly paid off today as she delivered a clear round with her own and her family’s Sunday Times (Cult Hero – Lackaghbeg Crest, by Sea Crest) nearly bang on the optimum of 6:27.

At 18 years young, “Mumbles” certainly knows his way around an Advanced track at this point, and Arden’s been working hard on achieving the polish she needs to execute fast and, most importantly, smooth rounds.

“I knew from riding the two Intermediate horses that the time would be hard to make, but I knew that Mumbles was fit and ready to run and I left the box saying ‘go at your speed’ and I know that’s fast,” Arden said. “Sometimes I will go slow because it’s not the right time or something where it’s more of a homework aspect I need to work on, so in that aspect I don’t need to worry about the time. Versus here at a championship, it’s a galloping course and you’ve put your homework in thats why you’re here. Trust yourself, trust your horse, and go out and gallop.”

“You leave the start box knowing what you’re sitting on that day and what stride length you can achieve,” Arden said, describing how she wound up taking the option at the coffin late on course after Sunday Times stumbled after the ditch. “Maybe what you walked isn’t what you rode, but it is the path that you planned out. It might be leaving a stride or adding one because he jumped rounder than what I wanted or thought he would. So numbers should go out the window for you and you ride from jump to jump, in the combinations, in the singles, as smooth and effortlessly as you can. But if you can be fluid and soft, your horse will come out of it wanting to keep going again and again.”

Arden is ticking off the qualifications she needs to step up to 5* with this horse and to that end is aiming for the 4*-L at Morven Park. If she’s successful there, she will have done arguably the two toughest 4*-L tracks in the country (she also finished just off the podium in fourth at Bromont’s 4*-L in June) to set her up well for a 5* debut. This possibility, she says, is all in credit to her horse of a lifetime.

“He is definitely a cross country machine,” she said. “He is special. He’s given me the mileage and confidence to go around and tackle big, huge, challenging courses. I know every course I face there is going to be a challenge, so with my head on straight if I can ride him well, he can tackle anything and he’s confident in himself and nimble and quick with his feet. He’s a horse that we didn’t know if he would go Advanced. With horses, you don’t know if Advanced is there. I think Intermediate you do, but it’s that next gear for Advanced where the pressure and technical skills are higher and it’s a question of ‘does this horse have that?’. And he’s special. Our dressage needs work, we’ll keep on working on that, but I’ll take any qualifying dressage score to get to go out and run every cross country course. He is so special to me.”

Hambly’s Build Tests Championship Mettle

Jay Hambly’s course, with which he was ably assisted by a team of builders including Tyson Rementer and Mick Costello, received high praise from all of the riders, and it certainly exerted a strong influence on the standings.

The most influential fence was fence 14, the Nutrena Narrows, which consisted of an A B C D combination that Arden Wildasin described as a “four-jump serpentine”. The combination of slight terrain changes and challenging related distances caught out several pairs, including early third-placed Sharon White and Claus 63 (Sharon was of course disappointed with this, but was overall chuffed with Claus for how well he went around the rest of the course).

“It actually reminded me of the water jump there at Kentucky in 2021,” Ema Klugman observed. “You had a similar thing where you went in the water and onto an island where there was an arrowhead. I would say that was almost easier because it was on a straight line. This one was turning. They’re big arrowheads so you can’t add a stride. I almost thought maybe I should go out [and add a stride], but then I thought both of these horses have massive strides so why would I add a stride? The whole point of having horses with a big stride is you can keep on riding forward at those type of questions. It’s good to have things that are that hard.”

In total, seven combinations encountered trouble at this fence, primarily at the C element.

Tomorrow we’ll see this Advanced division wrap up with show jumping in the iconic Rolex Stadium beginning at 6:45 p.m. EST. As always you can view the action across divisions live on Horse & Country here. We’ll add additional press releases from the USEA on the other divisions below, or you can catch up with their team’s hard work on useventing.com.

USEA Coverage Links

• A Lot to Love About P.S. I Love You After Cross-Country in the #AEC2024 USEA Open Intermediate Championship
• Four ARMA USEA Training Championships Dance in the Dressage Rings at the #AEC2024
• The First #AEC2024 Champions Are Crowned in the Modified Divisions
• Influential Final Phase Shakes Up the Standings in the Bates USEA Preliminary Divisions at #AEC2024

USEA American Eventing Championships: [Website] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [Timing & Scoring] [Volunteer] [Official Photographer] [XC Courses]

EN’s remote coverage of #AEC2024 is brought to you by Ride Equisafe, who is on site in the vendor fair at the Horse Park this week to help you with all of your safety equipment needs! You can also shop online (and contact them for bespoke recommendations) here.

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

Anyone who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks could learn a thing or two from the sport of eventing. It’s a sport where every inch, every tenth of a penalty or a second counts, and it’s also a sport where the pursuit of improvement is never ending.

As we wound our way down to the final group of horses to see in the full field of competitors vying for the $60,000 USEA Adequan Advanced Final at the American Eventing Championships in Lexington, KY, we had a solid group of horses established in the early top three. We knew Boyd Martin and the Turner family’s Tsetserleg were threats to lay down a competitive score, but with Caroline Pamukcu and King’s Especiale (Connect – Cha Cha Special, by Vittorio) sitting on a 25.9, it would be a challenge for the 17-year-old 5* and championship veteran to usurp them.

But then the first score from judge at C, Peter Gray, dropped in — a 73.9 percentage. The second score from judge at B Helen Brettell came in — a 78.2. This gave Boyd and “Thomas” a 24.0 and their best dressage mark dating all the way back to 2022 for the overnight lead in the division.

“The king is back!” Boyd said in his post-ride debrief.

For all of the practice and repetition that goes into producing these horses, Boyd notes that he’s laid off the pressure in the dressage training at home with Tsetserleg (Windfall – Thabana, by Buddenbrock). Yes, Boyd benefits from the tutelage of his wife and Grand Prix dressage rider Silva Martin in this phase (in fact, as Boyd puts it, “we had a big camp at our farm in Pennsylvania [last week] so I have to say big thanks to Peter Wylde and Silva Martin and Anna Buffini, who, in between lessons, helped school all of the horses for the AEC. So I’m a bit embarrassed to say a lot of the great results we’re having this weekend was a reflection of not my training — we had, you know, Grand Prix dressage riders and Olympic gold medal show jumpers all helping me out through the camp, getting this group of horses ready.”), but the sweet sauce with this horse has been simplicity.

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“Talking to some of my mentors now, it’s a matter of keeping him sweet, you know, and not not drilling him in the dressage every day like he did when he was younger, and learning all the movements,” Boyd elaborated. “He probably does half the amount of dressage work that he used to do, just because he knows his stuff, and to keep his body fresh and his mind happy, he more just does lots of hacking and conditioning work, and then he just schools on the flat a couple times a week.”

Tsetserleg will take a crack at the Maryland 5 Star — actually his first trip to the newest 5* on the calendar, having missed it last year to go to Burghley instead — this October, using this as a polish prep for a horse who’s got a CV longer than most of ours in terms of experience at the top level.

“He’s just a gladiator,” Boyd described. “To me, I’ve always promised myself that as soon as he started feeling a bit aged, between me and the Turner family, we already made a deal that as soon as he starts feeling old, we call it quits. But at the moment, he’s looking like a million dollars. He feels young and fresh. And I mean, to be honest, in my career, I’ve never had a horse that’s been so sound, so touch wood.”

Stablemate Commando 3 (Connor 48 – R-Adelgunde, by Amigo xx), who was Boyd’s direct reserve horse in Paris but did not need to get called into the action, is also aiming at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, which will be his 5* debut. “Connor”, who is owned by Yankee Creek Ranch LLC, earned a 28.0 to sit in equal fifth with Will Coleman and Diabolo. “I was pleased with Connor,” he said. “He’s had a bit of a whirlwind trip. He went to France and trained there and hung out there and then flew back. I sort of had him five-star fit for the Olympics. So it’s been a unusual sort of training preparation for Connor, just because [we] gave him a little bit of time off after he got home. But he’s [done] all the preparation and all the gallops for a five-star, just because we wanted him ready for a backup, and then we sort of tapered him off, and gave him two weeks off, and then just gently brought him back in. So he’s not quite where we had him when we had him prepared for the Olympics. For sure, by Maryland, I believe he’ll be in the low 20s for the dressage.”

Caroline Pamukcu and King’s Especiale. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

Boyd’s Paris teammate, Caroline Pamukcu, secured a near personal best with King’s Especiale (and truly, it is a personal best if you look at Advanced competition — “King” has scored lower on the flat, but not since he was competing at the Preliminary level) with her 25.9 to hold second after dressage. Despite his towering 18-hand size, Caroline says the 9-year-old KWPN gelding is very aware of his body, which has helped her build his strength to hold all of the moving parts together.

“He’s a once in a lifetime horse,” Caroline said, crediting her team, including assistant rider Mason Reidy, at home for keeping her horses ticking along while she traveled to Paris for the Olympics. “He’s an amazing mover, and the biggest thing with him is that I just had to ride him decent. He should always be winning the dressage, and it’s just making sure that I do a good job, because he’s got all the pieces. He just cares so much, like he cares too much. He gives you 200% even on the ground; if you just touch him on one of his legs with, like, your pinky, he’ll pick the leg right up. He is so responsive. And he just has so much heart. He’s very, very, very special creature.”

Caroline’s planning to take the foot off the gas a bit this fall, having had a big year of growth and results to this point. Her horses are predominantly under 10, and she plans to focus more on polishing each individual phase rather than pushing for more Long formats to close the season.

“I think I’m going to really buckle down this fall and winter, and work on my show jumping and pure dressage,” she said. “Looking forward to doing the best I can and training myself and them for the WEG in two years. I got to improve myself after the Olympics, you know, it just shows me how if I want to be world number one, and win an individual medal, I’ve got a lot to learn. So I’m going to spend the fall really focusing.”

Sharon White and Claus 63. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

Sharon White says she’s been focusing on reliability with her 5* partner, Claus 63 (Catoo – Tina II, by Levisto), who currently sits third in the Advanced on a score of 27.4. She got to put this practice to the test during her pre-ride, which she abbreviated due to the intense heat conditions but this meant she was out for a ride while cross country was going on for other levels.

“Usually I’d have a canter and jump some jumps to take the edge off but it’s 18 million degrees today, so I just did some dressage and cross country was going on which could have been really over stimulating for him,” Sharon said. “I thought ‘this will be very interesting’, and we worked on the focus, getting him to be there for me if I was there for him.”

Sharon was particularly pleased with the consistency in her scores from both judges, earning a 72.7 from Peter Gray at C and a 72.5 from Helen Brettell at E. Indeed, while many scores saw a decent spread between the judges, Sharon was nearly the most consistent in terms of how each judge saw her test. It’s something we may not always think about as riders — and truly each judge has a different vantage point of each movement so some differences are to be expected — but it’s good perspective and something we can all aim to achieve. The consistency shows steadiness, and validates the correctness of a movement when it’s scored similarly by judges seated in different positions. “We’ve been working on reliability – not some of the time, all of the time,” Sharon said. “Which is not easy, by the way, it takes a lot of focus. You have to look to yourself first – I have to be reliable too, which means I have to be focused all the time and it’s a lot of effort.”

“And he’s getting older,” Sharon said, speaking to the fact that Claus is gaining more poise and strength as his career progresses. “What people need to realize is that it just takes so long to produce these horses, so you just have to be so patient and I’m hoping that it’s working for me now. And he’s only 12 still!”

Sharon’s fall plans are a bit up in the air depending on how this weekend goes. In terms of Jay Hambly’s cross country course tomorrow, she says it’s certainly up to championship standard. “There are some really interesting questions, not necessarily a specific striding so it’s just proper cross country riding so hopefully I can go out and do that. That is my plan.”

Michael Nolan and Carrabeg Hulla Balou. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

Irish rider Michael Nolan held onto a top three spot for much of the day before Boyd’s test pushed him down into fourth with the 9-year-old Carrabeg Hulla Balou (Balou du Rouet – Vella Flavour, by Ballinvella), who is owned by Susan Martin, after earning a 27.8. This horse is greener to this level, having done four Advanced and two Advanced/Intermediate competitions prior to this, but he stepped up the plate to shave 6.5 penalties off his Advanced average to date of 34.3. This, Michael says, comes from strength development and the partnership he’s established with “Louie”, who he’s had since he was an unbroken three-year-old. And even with this score, which matches a downward trend started at Millbrook earlier this month, where he scored a 28, Michael knows there is more to come.

“He’s a nice horse. He’s pretty good on the flat, and he can get a little tense in the ring,” Michael said, noting that there will be more atmosphere to contend with as he continues to compete at the Advanced and 4* level. “He’s probably a year away from a big test, I’d like to be able to ride him more aggressively for the movements, but he’s not ready yet.”

The biggest change in moving a horse up to Advanced, Michael says, is the change in frame and balance in this phase. “At three-star, you can have them a bit deeper and lower, and now [at Advanced and four-star] he has to really stand on his own feet and come up more. But he’s straighfoward enough, it’s just strength for balance and the changes and getting enough bigger competitions done.”

Michael relocated to the U.S. from his home country of Ireland about 10 years ago after first coming over for a visit, situating himself with Robin Walker and splitting time between Florida and Michigan. For him, the opportunity basing in the U.S. presented was enough to persuade him to uproot and establish himself here as he works toward his goals of eventually representing Ireland in team competition. “My dad told me, ‘you can always come back!’ when I wanted to move,” Michael laughed. “And now here we are.”

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for Will Coleman, who you know by now was originally slated to compete for the U.S. in Paris with the Diabolo Group’s Diabolo (Diarado – Roulett M, by Aljano 2) but after a series of increasingly unfortunate events would wind up not starting the competition. It’s a lot of mental gymnastics to regroup from a disappointment such as that, and Will carries his disappointment with class and has expressed gratitude that his horses (Diabolo and Off the Record both traveled to Paris) were sound leaving Europe. Now, he’s focusing on his fall goals which include a 5* debut for “Dab” at the MARS Maryland 5 Star followed by a first trip to Les 5 Etoiles de Pau in France the week after Maryland with Off the Record (“Timmy”).

“I guess it was a lot to deal with mentally, but we just regrouped, got the horses home and then we sort of had targeted Maryland anyway for Dab,” Will said. “Even if he had done Paris, I think he would have gone on to Maryland, so it was just more of a re-route having not done Paris. I think I’ll give Pau a try with Timmy. I’ve never done it, and I think he could suit him. He’s a lot more seasoned and I considered bringing him [this weekend] and saw the weather and thought he could stay home and not have to deal with the heat.”

Will scored a 28.0 with Diabolo to sit in equal fifth with Boyd Martin and Commando 3, a couple of bobbles holding him back from scoring higher. Will remains pragmatic despite the frustration of mistakes. “Maybe a bit of rust,” he said. “He hasn’t been out since June and it’s not the easiest place — he’s a hotter horse and there are 1000 horses here so it’s just really busy. I didn’t come here with expectations of trying to do anything amazing. I had a feeling we’d been knocking off a few cobwebs. I’m really pleased with how he’s going overall. His changes have been really amazing. He was early behind on both changes — I thought I nailed them but then I watched the video. But we should be able to clean that up. We’re building towards Maryland so there’s plenty of things to be happy about.”

It’s very much all to play for tomorrow on cross country, which kicks off for the Advanced pairs at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday. Nearly the entire field is separated by one runout or refusal’s worth of penalties, and the time at this venue (the optimum time for the Advanced is 6:27) can also be challenging to catch. Cross country courses available for previewing thanks to CrossCountryApp here or embedded below.

I’ll be adding in links to the USEA’s awesome coverage of the other divisions from today here as they become available, so be sure to check back or visit useventing.com for much more from #AEC2024. Go eventing.

USEA Coverage Links

Modified Riders Get the First Shot at Cross Country

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USEA American Eventing Championships: [Website] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [Timing & Scoring] [Volunteer] [Official Photographer] [XC Courses]

EN’s remote coverage of #AEC2024 is brought to you by Ride Equisafe, who is on site in the vendor fair at the Horse Park this week to help you with all of your safety equipment needs! You can also shop online (and contact them for bespoke recommendations) here.

Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

We have officially kicked off the action at #AEC2024, happening this year at Kentucky Horse Park before the Championships shift to the West coast and Galway Downs for next year. This means a record amount of attendees have traveled to Kentucky for a chance to compete on hallowed ground, with AEC offering every level from Starter up through Advanced.

Today we’ve got dressage action for Modified, Preliminary and Intermediate competitors. The Intermediate dressage is currently being live streamed on Horse & Country. You do need a membership to watch, but H&C+ has opened up a free 7-day trial for USEA members if they are not current members. You can also save 15% off an annual H&C+ membership by using code EVENTINGNATION15 at checkout. Click here for more information and to access the live feed.

You can view the full AEC schedule by clicking here. Ride times and live scores can found here.

All competitors get a chance to show jump in the big Rolex Stadium at AEC. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.

For competitors, your official photographer this week is Erin Gilmore Photography, whose incredible team will be working diligently to load your photos quickly so you aren’t waiting long periods of time to get your memories. All photos will be available at the conclusion of your division. Visit this website to get started with your photos. EquiReel is also on site and working with H&C+ to provide rider videos.

We’ll be focusing our lens this week on the $60,000 Adequan Advanced Championship, which has fielded a strong roster of 42 horses and riders, including all three members of the Paris eventing team (Liz Halliday, Boyd Martin, Caroline Pamukcu). Will Coleman has also entered both of his original Paris horses, Off the Record and Diabolo, who each left Paris sound and ready to tackle their next challenge.

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tina Fitch for Erin Gilmore Photography.

Our own Ema Klugman has two of her burgeoning string of Advanced horses entered in confirmed 5* partner Bronte Beach Z as well as Chiraz. Allison Springer is competing with her Bromont 4*-L winner No May Moon as well as Vandyke. Phillip and Olivia Dutton have three rides between them, including two exciting younger horses for Phillip in Denim and Possante. Blenheim-bound Jan Byyny has entered her off-track Thoroughbred, Beautiful Storm, as they prep for their first overseas outing together next month. Ariel Grald will bring forward one of my personal favorite “ones to watch” in the striking mare Isla de Coco.

This competitive field, into which I’ve hardly done the deepest of dives for this preview, means it’s truly anyone’s game for the coveted Championship trophy and associated prize money, and we’ll see these competitors get started tomorrow with dressage, followed by cross country on Thursday and show jumping under the lights on Friday. All of the Advanced action will be streamed live here. The full list of start times for the Advanced group can be found here.

Cross country courses are also now available for previewing thanks to CrossCountryApp here or embedded below.

Keep an eye out for full Advanced reports each day, as well as recaps provided by the USEA (and you can also keep up with their awesome coverage on useventing.com as well as @useventing on socials). Best of luck to all, and Go Eventing!

USEA American Eventing Championships: [Website] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [Timing & Scoring] [Volunteer] [Official Photographer] [XC Courses]

EN’s remote coverage of #AEC2024 is brought to you by Ride Equisafe, who is on site in the vendor fair at the Horse Park this week to help you with all of your safety equipment needs! You can also shop online (and contact them for bespoke recommendations) here.