Dr Mark Hart, a former fire fighter and long time supporter of US eventing shared his excitement about the sport’s future with Eventing Nation recently, as well as some background about how he originally got hooked on eventing and what keeps him in the game, and why he thinks syndication is so important in this day and age.

We have Mark’s daughter Megan to thank for introducing him to eventing on the West Coast, when she took up the sport aged nine. From school horses, to leased horses and finally making the big leap and buying their own, Mark remembers fondly those long drives to horse trials at weekends, “There’s only one event in the state of Oregon, so the closest event other than that is four or five hours away. When you have a a young kid you have to drive them;  sometimes we’d have to leave on a Thursday, essentially in the middle of night, and wouldn’t get home until early early Monday morning, just for a horse trial and they’d ride for all of what fourteen minutes total in a weekend, but as a dad, especially with a  daughter, it was kind of neat to enjoy it together.”

When I ask Mark later what stands out over the years that he’s been involved with the sport, this is one of them,”On a personal level watching my daughter going around NAYRC clear on her OTTB which was her first team competition. There’s that special connection, especially between women and their horses, I don’t think any human can fill that void.” The other most memorable moment came during the 2006 World Equestrian Games at Aachen. By that time, Mark laughs as he recounts that he had, almost by accident, become a part owner of Amy Tryon’s horse Poggio as Amy and he shared the firefighter bond, and Amy was helping Megan, and he wanted to return the favour. Two Olympic Games and two WEGs later he acknowledges how lucky he got, “as Mark Phillips said this is the luckiest luck I’d ever known, the most backward way to get into buying a horse, it was just amazing the way it worked out!” Poggio won an individual bronze at those Championships, but it wasn’t the prize-giving, or standing on the podium that Mark cherishes, “Just before the Awards Ceremony I got to spend some time grazing him, just him and I, and being there and being part of it.  For Poggio it was amazing, he was such a special horse but certainly no one ever expected him to be an individual medal horse, especially at the WEG which is the toughest of all the competitions, and I was just so proud of him, the little horse that could, it was so neat, and of course for Amy too and all that she’d done with him.  Poggio wasn’t the horse that won a lot of horse trials, he wasn’t a flashy guy but he sure knew when it was time to put on the game face at the big events.”

Laine Ashker grazing Anthony Patch at Rolex

Mark has spent many years since the early days driving his daughter to events improving the sport he loves, which takes up a considerable amount of his precious time, and I wonder why he does it,

 “This sport is a passion for all of us: eventing is probably the most egalitarian sport that there is – where else do you have a twelve year old kid and an Olympian in the same venue? Where do you have men competing with women in the same venue? Where do you have that Olympic horse and that OTTB in Beginner Novice there competing on the same weekend? To me, and a lot of other people in this sport, it’s incredible. It’s not only about the people but about the horses, and that is the common thread that makes us all a community.  Watching that horse and what they do on cross country…to me they neatest thing is to see them in the start box, they know what’s coming up and they want to go! Then sometimes sitting on the finish line is almost as much fun as watching them over the jumps – when you see them cross the line and the riders are ecstatic and the horses have the same gestures, you’ve all seen that look in the eye of some of those horses, they’re just like, ‘Let me go again because I can just rip up this course!’ What we ask of these horses are amazing and they’re incredible equine athletes and that’s what keeps us all in the sport, whether it’s watching somebody go around their first Beginner Novice or being at the Olympics and watching your horse competing for the US team, that thrill is there and there is something about it that combines those two levels which is super-exciting. The people that are involved in the sport are all in it for that reason too.  God knows we have this huge variety of people, but what brings us all together and keeps us going forward is that passion for the horses. It is a unique sport. For me personally, the people that I’ve met along the way that I never would have met otherwise will be lifelong friends , we’re all from different areas of the world and from different walks of life and although it’s a very tight-knit community it’s open to everybody to be as involved as they want to be to get the top. I was never an athlete, I could never have done any of this but I feel part of the team helping them get there, that this is what I can do to get them there, and that’s a pretty special feeling.”

All photos used with permission for this story

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Talking to Lissa Green you could at times, for a moment, close your eyes and swear it was her famous mother Lucinda talking, especially when she’s describing her horses, but a quick and very English self-deprecating wit, a ready laugh, an innate politeness and general charm define a personality that is completely her own. Although we’ve never met before I immediately feel as if I’ve known her for ages, keep her talking for far too long and hope that we’ll remain friends even after this interview is over – I’m sure she has this effect on everyone, not just me, she’s simply delightful!

Lissa has been riding since “Forever, I used to go round on the front of Mum and Dad’s saddles!” and as the daughter of a less than Pony Club mother myself, it would have been my dream come true to have Lucinda Green fulfill that role for me, the ultimate Pony Club mother fantasy realised, but Lissa tells me in real life it wasn’t so at all. Did she appreciate what she had?

“NO! Absolutely not! Not for a long time!  I was definitely taught by the Pony Club up until the time I was about sixteen. Maybe because I’m the youngest and I’ve always wanted to do things my way rather than conform to what everyone in my family is doing, and that’s probably another reason why it took me so long to work out that I wanted to do horses. It took me a long time to accept her help, and obviously I had to in the end because you always need your parents’ help growing up, but now that I’ve matured  a little bit more I love her coming over, and she rides my babies with me, and she helps me with the young ones doing little skinnies and fun plays in the arena and stuff like that, and she’s a very good groom at competitions!  We got quite a nice system going this summer, I’d go and groom for her at a competition and then she’d return the favour.  If I ask for her help in the warm-up then she’s more than happy to give her opinion; she’ll give me little pieces of advice like tell me to do some transitions from walk to canter or canter to walk to get him sitting, but she’s not too vocal luckily as I don’t know if I could handle that!”

But Lissa, your mother is a legend! She’s won Badminton six times – what are your special memories of the event? Shouldn’t they have awarded you ‘keys to the city’?!  Again, Lissa laughs,

“I remember going to Badminton and thinking I could jump all those cross country fences on my 12.2hh pony!  I’ve often thought about how much extra pressure I’ll put on myself being there and in the surrounding environment competing there now, but at the same time I keep telling myself it won’t be any different from being anywhere else because it will be just another event with my parents, with the same horse that I’m on, and hopefully it will just be another competition.  Obviously I’ll let you know! That would be the plan that I envision though, that it’s just another event that we’re going to try and do our best at.”

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After University and a job in telesales last winter in Bristol, Lissa has decided to bite the bullet and try and make her career in professional eventing,

“I never really threw myself into it before now, I never really had more than one horse, maybe two if I was lucky here and there so it was just kind of half and half. I’d never really gone full pelt into it, I loved enjoying it as a hobby but I’d never really improved because I suppose I was scared that if I really tried and failed then I would have felt like an even bigger failure.”

Her ambitions are lofty and include all the big four star events and of course representing her country, but she’s also realistic, “Oh God, I’d love to but I’m not an idiot, I know it’s very, very difficult, especially in Britain, they’ve got so many people who are so good and I’m a million miles off that but I’d love to do it one day.”

Last March she moved into her  own rented yard of six stables, four of which are currently filled, and told me it’s been a fantastic experience,

“It’s been amazing and so nice to have that sense of freedom, and selfishly everything you’re doing is for yourself! I’ve worked in quite a few yards and they’ve been unbelievable and I’ve learnt so much everywhere I’ve gone, but it’s so nice that everything I’m doing, every horse I’m riding is making progress for my future, it’s for what I want to do. I’m making all my own choices and doing it all my own way and it’s so nice to have that kind of control over my life which I don’t think I’ve ever really had before. Although this year competitively has been a nightmare with so much being cancelled it’s probably been a blessing for me because it’s meant I’ve been able to slow everything down a bit, and give my babies a couple of weeks off here and there to get their brains back in order and take the pressure off them.”

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Jack at Osberton. Photo by Adam Fanthorpe, used with permission.

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The horses include two intermediates, Horseware Destiny who is a fairly new arrival from Ireland, and CTS So What, or Jack,  a new ride this year, owned by Mr and Mrs Sainsbury and sponsored by Succeed,

“It’s really cool to have him because the last intermediate I did was back in 2009. I was doing Wellington Intermediate this summer on Jack and I don’t normally get that nervous before cross country but this time I really was and couldn’t understand why. Once I’d finished I realized that it had been three years since my last intermediate. You think when you lose an intermediate horse you might get another one quite quickly but you don’t, I’ve been doing pre-novice and novice ever since, so it’s so exciting to have Jack and do something a bit bigger again. We finished this year with a double clear at  Osberton Two Star which was such fun.  Jack came to us because he’d had quite a few riders and the owners didn’t really know what to do with him so they phoned Mum up looking for suggestions of what they should do, and they thought it might be a nice idea to see if we got on. I love him to bits. You need to love him for him to give you anything back. He’s a really gentle horse actually, despite not being able to tell him what to do, and he’s big and black so he looks beautiful in all his photos! I’d love to take him to Blenheim next year but that’s a big if, if everything goes well, which we all know very rarely happens with horses.”

Two young horses complete the string for now, a five year old mare, Boleybawn Carly – “she is going to be my superstar, I absolutely love her, I’ve never ridden anything so talented although I’m probably very biased! She’s just so cool, she’s got such a character and she’s unbelievably intelligent, probably too intelligent but she moves and she jumps and I love her!  She came from Ireland and she’s half Selle Francais and half Irish Sport Horse” and Daisy, “Daisy is our little project who we are planning to sell on but if I have my way we won’t! She’s going to take a little bit longer; she’s six but done absolutely nothing. She’s got such a cool attitude, she’s quite brave and very independent in the respect that she doesn’t really need you but at the same time she quite enjoys you being there. I really like her. She’s German but looks more like a thoroughbred.”

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If only horses could talk….!

However, Colleen is a wonderful co-host and joins me this week as we are still unable to track down John Kyle, his loss our gain! Jumping clear cross country around the testing Pau CCI**** a few weeks ago means Colleen and Shiraz have now joined a very select group of horse and rider combinations; we do know that Jennifer Wooten Dafoe and The Good Witch also completed four different four stars, but I’m not certain if there are any others? Colleen chats about the course at Pau, what it was like going to France essentially ‘solo’, sans trainer, husband or kids, and what she’ll work on now over the winter.  Colleen is planning to go to Badminton in the Spring, and this week’s show is all about that one remaining four star…..Adelaide!

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Many thanks to Boyd Martin for popping in and reliving his memories of the event – having not done any research I was surprised to learn that he first rode at the CCI**** when he was just 19 years old, has competed in it probably a dozen times and won it on True Blue Toozac. He also has an update on his horses, as well as a recap on his Thanksgiving Day out with the Cheshire Hunt.

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Well, we could hardly talk about Adelaide without having ESJ on the show! Eventing Safety John gives us a real taste of what it was like to be there, especially in the arena when Megan Jones retired her faithful four star companion and he got the ‘money shot’ of them jumping their last ever cross country fence, “We were all in tears and trying to shoot pictures. Megan’s fiance was there, and truthfully I feel sorry for him because she loves that horse more than anything!”  Yes, this was all a subterfuge plot to try and persuade Colleen to start booking tickets down under now, but I certainly didn’t want to say too much and jinx her, and in fact it’s just fueled my own desire to go there one day more! The Eventing Radio Show will be online Thursday, and a quick PS – to the seven people who wrote in for A Stallion To Die For: Thank you, and as it is impossible (for me!)  to split seven into five please send me your mailing address to [email protected] and I’ll make sure you all receive a copy of Judith Stanton’s terrific eventing novel. Incidentally, she was talking about Will Faudree, although I agree it definitely could have been Boyd, or Michael of course! Check out The Eventing Radio Show tomorrow, many thanks to Colleen, Boyd and ESJ, and to you for listening, and Go Eventing!

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Bettina Hoy generously spent some time to talk to Eventing Nation recently about her horses and her hopes for the future.  I’ve been a huge fan since the Ringwood Cockatoo days –  for her talent on and off a horse naturally, but also for her style and grace under pressure and in horrible circumstances, and her relentless and infectious sense of humour and bubbly joie de vivre.

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 Time Off and Preparing for Spring

 Bettina has five horses to ride and compete, and after a brief break for herself and a slightly longer one for them they are all back in work in earnest, “Lanfranco had almost six weeks off after Burghley and he’s in full work again, Designer had four weeks off after Boekelo and he’s just started hacking now. When they have time off I don’t really believe in taking all their shoes off and roughing them off completely because they’re so overprotected throughout the season that I would feel bad, but I did let the five year old go barefoot for two shoeings  – he’s now got his front shoes back on but I’ve left the hind shoes off.  I also take into account what their feet look like; one youngster needs the support of the shoes behind. They go out in the field for most of the day, and sometimes they do a little while on the horsewalker on top of that so I know that they’re moving enough because the fields that I have in Warendorf wouldn’t be that big and I like to have them moving about, but I don’t ride them. The youngsters had a little bit of a holiday throughout the season as well so they didn’t need a long holiday, they just had a little bit of an easy time and now they’re doing a little bit more again.” Next year Bettina hopes to relocate to England, hopefully the Marlborough area, ” I haven’t got an exact date but I’d like to be there in time for the start of the season, so sometime in early March is the plan at this stage. I’d like to be at Maizey Manor but I’m not sure if there will be room because Caroline Powell is there with all her horses.”  Before then Bettina has a busy winter schedule teaching in New Zealand and Australia in January to coincide with Tim Price and Jonelle Richards’ wedding, and here in the US in February.

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 Teaching

“I do enjoy giving clinics. I think having done it for so many years to support myself financially from a very young age, and obviously sitting on those horses as well and riding lots of horses I’ve learnt over the years, especially when you just have someone for a short time such as a weekend or one or two lessons, to focus on what I think makes the biggest difference in bringing it forward, so you pick on maximum two things. Often you’ll see someone and there could be a hundred things that need working on, or a thousand things that you could say, but first of all there’s no way that anyone could remember all that, and they physically and mentally can’t take that on board so you have to nail it down to what is the most important to change first which is what I try to do. Having taught and ridden for so many years I’m normally quite good at working out where the problem is, and digging in and trying to give them exercises to work on until they come again, or even to move on with someone else if that’s how it works out.  I really enjoy my teaching and I definitely want to do more of that so that at some stage, probably similar to Clayton, I’d say I’m just going to produce some young horses and focus more on the training side than the top level competition, it’s just taking me a bit longer to get there!  Maybe then in time I’d even take a rider on that does the work with the horses and together we would produce them and sell them on which I haven’t done so much in the past, I’m a very bad seller of horses –  if I don’t like the person it doesn’t’ matter how much money they want to pay me, I just can’t do it!”

So can Bettina picture herself as a team trainer in the future?

“Definitely, definitely – that’s definitely something I’d like to do, having some students based with me wherever I’m going to be and passing my knowledge on because I was in the lucky position of having had great trainers, my dad obviously above every other one but there was Klaus Balkenhol and a lot of our famous German show-jumpers and show-jumping trainers that I had lessons from, and also Andrew (Hoy) in areas of cross county and the fitness work with the horses, and I’d like to be able to pass that on. I’m happy to travel all over the place and teach and pass my knowledge on.”

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How Bettina Got So Good

 “I think we are very lucky in Germany to have such an amazing system in how we start to learn riding, and then obviously it depends very much on who your trainer is. I was in the extremely lucky position of working with my dad; in my eyes he’s the most amazing horse person ever because he’s jumped up to Grand Prix level but he never evented or did dressage, and a lot of things were self-taught. He has such an amazing feel and also eye for a horse.  The one thing that probably made the biggest difference to me was when I got on a horse and I was physically not strong enough, my dad got on so I could watch what he was doing, and then he got the horse through, the horse was softer, then he put me back on so I could feel the difference.  Once you know what ‘good’ feels like you can then try to work out  a way of re-creating that feeling with your own physical strength, to bring out the best in the horse to his physical ability and your physical ability, but unless you’ve had that feeling once – how does it feel when a horse is soft, for a lot of people it is actually normal to have 20 or 30 kilos in their hands because that’s what it always feels like and they don’t know that you shouldn’t have that much weight in your hands, they don’t know what a big trot feels like, or an uphill canter feels like – unless you sit on a horse that does it you wouldn’t know what the feeling is like. That was one thing that certainly helped me a lot. In Germany we have so many good trainers and the basic foundation in our educational system is very good. We probably have easier access to learning the correct way of riding on the flat.”

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As we reported on Eventing Nation a couple of weeks ago Sinead Halpin came to Kentucky recently to teach a clinic and as Allie Slusher not only hosted but rode her two featured Training Diary horses in it, I can’t think of a better Chapter 2 to continue the series. I got a selection of video of Allie riding both her horses on each day with Sinead’s comments, and talked to Allie about her ride on Komik after the first day.

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Sinead told me that Komik was actually very similar to her own mare, On Cue, that she recently imported to the US although her Cue might have the edge in hands, “My mare is even bigger, she’s massive, huge! She’s 16.3 and keeps growing but she’s very narrow. I think Komik is a lovely horse, I’m glad I hopped on her because sometimes with young horses like that and with riders as good as Allie you’ll be watching and know that there’s something that they need help with, but you want to make sure you’re addressing the right thing. Komik has a lovely attitude even though she gets a little fussy in the bridle sometimes when you’re trying to adjust her, it’s just that she’s an opinionated mare and actually in a nice way – she’s pretty sure of what she wants and she’s brave and genuine so I think it’s a really nice mix, and I think the two of them are going to be a pretty great pair.  She’s got a nice step, and a good jump and a great brain on her and I like it that she has a little spunk, you kind of have to make her believe it, I think she’s a lovely horse. I recognise a lot of the same quality in both our mares that they’re great and brave and bold but that you need to make them believe it.  If you’re going to take a check you’d better believe you’re taking a check for a good reason but my mare is coming seven whereas Komik is rising six so mine is probably a touch more confirmed in her style, but they’re both very similar in that mentality of that great, genuine, honest, brave mare on your side but you’d better know what you’re doing when you take hold of their mouth!”

(continue reading, with more videos…)

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Karen O’Connor was kind enough to spend some time recently talking to Eventing Nation.  The Karen I spoke to is the same tough, witty, optimistic and positive Karen that our sport knows and loves, but she told me that already the time spent in recovery has been a period of reflection and huge adjustment  for her, and, as always, she’s been able to find a silver lining, “It’s been an incredible experience for me, it really has, a lot of good comes out of this for me – you can learn whatever you want to learn from it, or you can miss the whole thing; recovery for me has been a learning experience on many, many levels.”  As she prepares for a slightly different Thanksgiving Holiday than she’s used to I’m glad to report that she did manage to get out and get her nails done (“red, of course!”) and that she’s definitely counting her blessings this year.

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Friends and Family

Overwhelmingly Karen stressed how much strength she draws from the support of her friends and family around her.  In the near future she and David are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in Virginia with a mixed, international crowd; they have probably thirty of their friends and family coming for Thanksgiving, and this year Karen’s mother who lives with them in Virginia will obviously assume the role of Holiday Chef D’Equipe, a role Karen usually relishes, “For me the whole focus of Thanksgiving has changed; there’s a lot to be thankful for and all of the people that have been invited have been coming year after year after year, but this time of course instead of David and I putting it on for them, they’ll be doing it for us! I’m looking forward to it, we have people coming from all over – the whole Ramsey family is coming up from Louisiana, they come every year either for Christmas or for Thanksgiving, one of my best friends who was an international eventer some 25 years ago, Lesley Gregory, is coming down from Toronto with her family, Sue Clark who runs the entire farm for Mrs. Mars will be in attendance as always, we even have Gill Hester a great friend of the family flying over from England.  We  have David’s entire family including my mother in law Sally, and Brian and his entire family, and my brother Steve, his wife Veronica and many of my relatives will be making the trek from New England so it’s going to be great fun, I’m looking forward to seeing everybody, and I have a lot to be thankful for.”

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The Recovery

Karen has also surrounded herself  with friends, and those at the very top of their field within her team to help her with her recovery.  Dr Mark Hart, a surgeon on the West Coast and long time Eventing supporter can absolutely understand her unique needs,

“It’s a long, slow process and as Mark says, you’re not going to speed up bone healing, you can only slow it down. It’s a new challenge for me; not the one I expected but it’s a challenge that I’m taking very seriously. I’m being very, very careful so that I don’t botch it up,  that I don’t do too much too fast and the doctors are all really serious about that.  Mark keeps reminding me of that. Mark is also the medication manager in consultation with the team of doctors that are taking care of my injury and he has the final say on my medication. There’s a personal side to that I’m sure of it, because he was not only  Amy (Tryon’s) doctor but also obviously a very close friend to her as the owner of Poggio.”

“My day is round the clock staying on the medication program that the doctors have put me on; I have quite a lot of energy and stamina in the morning but it doesn’t last – I have a short window. I’m walking for half an hour a day right now; the doctors’ thinking is ‘do not let your body start to believe that your whole body is injured, you’ve only injured your spine and it’s important that the other parts of your body realize that the spine needs help and the rest of your body needs to stay strong and supportive. So they want me doing quite a lot of walking and movement that is controlled with the brace. I do a lot of isometrics. I always thought my legs were pretty strong before even though they’re little, but I’m going to have thighs bigger than Michael Jung’s!  Quad strength is critical for keeping your back still and keeping body control.

“I can’t speak for all hospitals but Johns Hopkins has been incredible with the follow up. Dr Mark Hart has been wonderful-amazing, and Andrew Bishop who was the head orthopedic surgeon for the Atlanta Falcons for a long time is my orthopedic surgeon, he and his wife retired to Middleburg and he came to our house to take out the staples in my back so I’m getting an awful lot of VIP treatment!  I’m really a very, very lucky person, I’ve got a wonderful network of people around me.   If somebody wants to reinvent themselves they can do it, they just have to decide to do it. That was sort of the M.O. of my year, I wanted to reinvent my show-jumping and the results speak for themselves; you get really fired up about what’s possible, so I take that same spirit into this injury and recovery and learn a tremendous amount about myself. I have a whole new appreciation for what horses go through when they’re injured and they can’t speak.”

The staples have been removed, but the two rods and sixteen or so screws will remain in Karen’s back for at least another 18 months or so until they’ve done their job. At that point if the screws ever cause a problem they may be removed, but the rods are probably permanent.  Marilyn Little’s mother Lynn suffered a similar injury but lower, and now lives with rods and screws in her back and told me they’ve never affected her, in fact she said, “I feel a little bionic! I ride and I’m as good as I ever was.” Lynn and Marilyn were with Karen the night of the accident, “There’s nothing worse than a hospital at night with nobody there so I’m glad that with Max, Marilyn and Joanne we were able to get Karen through that first week or so,” but Lynn remembers being concerned that Karen would not be having surgery, “It didn’t look like something you walk away from. I called Marilyn’s godmother Maggy Buterbaugh who told me no there was no way she should be released, and luckily through a good friend of ours, Jerry Stonemetz we managed to get Karen an appointment at John Hopkins for the following Monday, so that when she was at home and her legs began tingling, and things began to go south, she already had an appointment set up. Maggy meanwhile, had also spoken to the people at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York who are miracle workers, and they actually said that in her case John Hopkins was the best place to go.”

Can you say Christmas Present?

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Judith Stanton is an author of historical romance novels but has recently turned her hand, or should I say pen, to the world of eventing for her latest book, A Stallion To Die For.  I was thrilled to catch up with her for an interview for a special edition of The Eventing Radio Show this week. In the interest of full disclosure Judith is an owner of Nate Chambers’ exciting young horse Simon (aka Satisfaction) and did four years worth of extensive research for her book to make sure it was as realistic as possible; Judith logged many hours at the Carolina Horse Park, at other competitions and various barns observing eventers in their natural habitat, “There are quotes in the book that are directly out of the mouths of ..(I promised not to tell!)... and I think people will recognize those, and there are a couple of very funny little incidents that I translated from things that I actually saw happen to other people.”

We have five copies of the book to give away if you can identify who you think Judith was describing when she told me about this rider that she’s longing to meet in person, answers in the comments section please with a valid email address.

“His accomplishments and his good sportsmanship are part of the underpinnings of the book; it’s helped me to watch for this long to see how genuinely nice so many people are, and how eventers as a group do come together in times of triumph and in times of trouble, the book had to reflect that.”

In the case of a tie break please describe your own imaginary or real eventing hero/heroine in a 200 words or less, and Judith will pick the winners.

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Nate Chambers joins me as my  co-host this week and casts a fond eye back on his career with Rolling Stone (above at Galway Downs CCI*** 2011). He also describes how he found his new horse Simon, his holiday plans, and spills the beans about whether the hero of the novel is really based on him!  How could he not be?!  Tune in this Thursday, kids, and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Jock Paget has enjoyed a well-deserved and much publicised meteoric rise to become a member of New Zealand’s eventing elite – talented, hard-working, bright and ambitious, the fact that he’s gone from bricklayer to Olympian in ten years should hardly come as a surprise; what will be shocking is if his isn’t a household name to rival his team mates Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson at the top of our sport for many years to come.  2012, even by Jock’s standards has been a good year –  a Team Bronze and 10th individually at the London Olympics to add to 5th at Burghley, 6th at Rolex and 2nd at Pau CCI****s just to scratch the surface.  Barely was the dust settling on the season and most people were planning holidays, rest periods and turn-out  than he was loading up three horses to take to Germany to train with reigning World, European and Olympic Champion Michael Jung for three weeks, and he kindly talked to me during his time there, about why he went, what he was learning, and his plans for world domination the future.

Jonathan and Clifton Lush jumping to 5th place at Burghley CCI**** 2012

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Jock brought three horses with him to Germany – Clifton Lush, Bullet Proof, and Chequers Play The Game,  as well as an extremely limited German vocabulary, “I can order ‘Two Beers, Please’ so the language barrier has been difficult but we’re starting  to develop our own language a little bit!”, as well as a clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish,

“For me, I’ve got my system now that I use to produce horses and to prepare them for events and bring them through the levels, and I’m not looking to change that, I’m looking to get better at it. I’m looking to pick up another ride – when you go to Michael’s, the ride he uses at home is slightly different to my ride at home so maybe instead of me changing my ride to his ride, I just need to be good enough so I can do his ride and my ride, and Mark’s ride and Andrew’s ride.  That’s what I’d like to be able to do. For me it’s not about just being able to give one ride it’s about being able to give every ride, and being able to give each ride when you need to; so if this horse might need this ride at this fence and then need a completely different ride at the next fence I’d like to be able to flick it on and off just as easy as you say it.  I think the only way to do that is to go and watch that person, ride with them and train with them – the person who’s going to do Michael’s ride the best would be Michael, I really enjoy watching other people and watching the best ride that they do and what makes them and their horse good. You’re never going to be able to be as good, but if you can recreate a bit of that ride or that feel it’s good if you can add it to your system rather than change your system.”

The chance to ride and train with Michael has been a long time coming for Jock, it’s something he’s been patiently hoping for for some time, but concrete plans weren’t made until this summer and he describes how it came about in his typical laid-back style.  (This is the guy who confesses he sleeps like a baby the night before cross country at major three days!)

“I always watch the other riders go, and I’d seen Michael and his father work with his horses and I love the way Michael rides, and talking about different rides, he can give lots of different rides whenever he wants, I’d picked up on that in the warm-up rings in lots of events I was seeing him at, and I liked the way horses go for him, I like the way he rides, I like the way his father trains with him and they always seem nice to their horses and their horses always seem happy so I thought it would be a great place to go and see what they’re doing. Then of course he went and won his first four star, his first World Championship, the Europeans, the Olympics….whatever he’s doing has got to be right! When he won Luhmuhlen this year on another horse I said to Erik (Duvander) I should be going to spend some time with him, so Erik started watching Michael and his father even more closely after I mentioned that and strongly agreed.  Erik approached Mr Jung at Luhmuhlen and asked him if it was something they’d be interested in and they said yes.”

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Once again Sinead started each session chatting to the group about the general goals of the day, and about how yesterday’s lessons on the flat and in the arena would help them out here in the open. Making good use of the available space, terrain and jumps she managed to test everyone without over-facing anyone. One rider cantered back to the group after jumping, beaming smile, and announced in revelatory tones, “I needed someone to tell me I could touch his face!” Sinead merely laughed, “I’m your woman!” Several times she told riders to have the conversation with their horse earlier so they were doing less right in front of the fence, to do your home work, the moving away from the leg and then coming back in canter as a test, as they’d done in the warm up yesterday, far away from the fence and then make any necessary adjustments sooner.  Once again I was impressed by how articulate she was, and want to share her words with you.

” Talking about cross country, it’s certainly something that keeps evolving and it’s very important that whoever you ride with, or the events you go to, you start to notice the trend of what’s happening, and I actually think that on the whole we’re getting back to a really good place with our cross country riding and our building. It’s funny because you talk to a lot of people about the ‘good old days’ and for some reason in my head I thought that back then it was just fields full of massive galloping fences and you just galloped them fast, and that was that! But I was on the phone with Lucinda Green about a month ago and I was asking her about it, and what the courses were like, and she told me that the jumps were actually so significant, and the questions that they were asking were so blatant,  nothing hidden, but there were serious terrain changes and serious questions that you HAD to  make adjustments-  you HAD to make adjustments or else you’d get in a lot of trouble, and I think out of the six times she won Badminton she won once with ten time penalties and I think she won another time with seventeen time penalties.  You just couldn’t jump the jumps without making a serious change, and of course the horses had to be bold and brave and all of that stuff.  Our sport keeps changing and asking us to be better riders, better on the flat, better in the show-jumping, better on cross-country, asking us for that adjustability, and to be able to go and jump a galloping fence and then make a significant change to jump an exercise. I think we’ve shifted around with types of horses that do the job and that sort of thing, trying to get big-moving dressage horses and show-jumping horses and teach them the cross country and then that didn’t quite work because they still had to have the heart and bravery and the adjustability, so it comes back to that management but not over micro-management.

 If you watch the riders that are really winning now, and the riders that were really winning then, they made very significant changes in their gallops and what they were doing, the horses always had a lot of heart and were very brave, but position-wise there were a few things that were really fundamental that we don’t teach enough now, I think, and that is really making an adjustment and then putting the responsibility back on the horses.  If you think about a horse running cross country, number one, if they can see a fence and if their eyes are on it, even if they get to it wrong, rarely are they going to have a fall. If you go back and watch a fall or something that went wrong most of the time it’s because a horse wasn’t accepting something that the rider was saying; so that leads you to three things – either the rider’s not saying it right, the rider’s saying it too loudly, or the rider has said it too late. When you’re making an adjustment on course, and it’s something to really teach these young horses is that your homework starts well away from the fence, because at the point when you get within four of five strides of that fence you need to have everything done because at that point you really want to make sure that the horse’s ears are looking at what they’re doing, that they’re focused on what they’re doing. At that point I pass the responsibility back, I’ve done my homework early enough, I’ve picked my speed, I’ve picked my rhythm, I’ve picked my line, I’m hoping that at that point I can let the horse pay attention to their job. 

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Lexington is used to welcoming some of the word’s best three day event riders – we do host North America’s only CCI**** every spring after all, but in the winter it tends to get horribly cold and depressingly quiet (my opinion, address your comments to me!) so we were thrilled to have Sinead Halpin, one of US eventing’s very brightest stars, return to the Bluegrass recently to teach a clinic.  National Champion when she came 3rd at Rolex behind Mary King in 2011, and of course 2nd at Burghley this year behind Andrew Nicholson she hardly needs an introduction. The clinic was hosted by Allie Slusher at her facility in Paris, Kentucky and ran over two days, the first concentrating on a little flatwork and gymnastic/show-jumping, the second on cross-country. Sinead taught from 8am until after 6pm each day, and the sessions were about 90 minutes to two hours with between three and five riders in each group. Huge thanks to Allie, and to Stephanie Spaulding-Cherry for hosting and organizing.

Day 1: Warm-Up and Show-Jumping

On both days Sinead spent some time in the beginning talking about what she hoped to accomplish with the group that day, and her goals for the clinic. A natural communicator, she’s witty and quick and had great rapport with her students throughout the day making the learning fun, but I think that what she said both days before the riding began is so relevant, and she was so extraordinarily eloquent that I think it’s worth repeating here.

“Basically, warming up is being passed by; we’re all so eager to get on and go and attack some fences, and be really great and really good that we’re kind of missing the foundation that will allow us to be really great and really good. It seems to be be viewed that spending time warming up a horse is a negative thing sometimes.  I think there’s sometimes the mindset that you have to get on, get out there, you have 45 minutes, you’ve got to make every second count, which is true but a lot of that time needs to be spent warming up, and that’s for the rider and for the horse. Every time you come out to the ring, without even meaning to, you’ll often bring your day, yesterday, your thoughts of what you want tomorrow with you. I really think that a big reason why guys dominate the sport is because they just come out like…’meh, whatever!’  – right?!  And if something goes wrong, they just carry on! Whereas we come out with the world on our shoulders and sometimes that can resonate with our horses; so it’s very important when you get in the tack to spend the time checking in, at the walk, at the trot, at the canter. Number one first priority – is the horse in front of my leg? I put my leg on – he has to go forward. Then I can start deciding how forward I want him to go and in what step I want him to go. Then your horse will develop a balance and a self carriage on his own, one that I’m not always constantly picking the speed, or rhythm, call it what you will, and the reason for that is that as you get through the levels, up to training level there’s no lateral work in your dressage test, but once you start going preliminary they actually hit you pretty hard, because then you have to start doing your counter canters and your leg yields in the arena. If you’re so busy with your leg and hand maintaining rhythm or speed, and keeping your horse’s head down, you have no aids left to direct the lateral step or to place them into a shoulder in because your leg is so busy keeping the trot going, and your hand is saying don’t canter, then you add on top of that a lateral step or something along those lines and it’s a little overwhelming for the horses.  

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Welcome to a new training series on Eventing Nation; we’re going to follow Allie Slusher diary style, as she develops two five year old mares in her barn, currently at training level, and prepares them for hopefully long and successful eventing careers. First of all, let’s meet Allie:

Allie is in her mid-twenties and has been based in Paris, Kentucky for a year since transplanting from California, “I miss my extended family at home the most; it’s going to take time to go to an event and feel like I know every person there – I’d been in California so long it was like always having an extended family so that’s definitely been a little bit more of a lonely feeling here, but I know that will just take time – everyone has been very welcoming here. I do miss the California events because I was on the circuit so long and I knew what to expect all the time, but again, that’s just time based here. What do I like most about Kentucky….? The space, the room, the accessibility to things, to have the training tools that we want right at our fingertips. There’s more of a horse community obviously, more than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life, it seems like there isn’t anyone that’s not involved with horses in some way, and having said that I really appreciate the connection I feel to people.  We all share these ties to horses, whether it’s in the TB industry or standardbred, eventing or dressage…”

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Although the one hundred acre farm in the middle of the Bluegrass is undoubtedly a fantastic opportunity, it also comes hand in hand with enormous responsibility and massive commitment; Allie admitted that if circumstances had been different she might have loved to have been able to consider other options when she left home but hasn’t given up hope! “I do think that going to England and training with William for a year, or anything like that would be such a great learning experience but the fact of the matter is I personally own too many horses, it just was not a feasible decision for me. I had already committed my life to running a business, I was already too into that in California to be able to go back to being a working student. I’m learning just as much doing this, I’m just learning different things. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to spend some time in Europe and do some training there.”

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You may recognize Allie’s name from the 2011 Pan Am Games Short List, or from the USEF High Performance Training Grants. Allie has been a consistent presence on the West Coast eventing scene for many years and ridden through the three star level with a burning ambition to achieve much more. A Certified Level Three ICP Instructor, Allie rides about a dozen horses out of her barn, Dashaway Farm, and teaches, as well as breaking and rehabbing babies on a thoroughbred farm near Lexington during her lunch hours. As she faces her second winter in Kentucky Allie is pondering a short trip south to Ocala, but hopes to stay at home for most of it, “We’ll probably start at Pine Top in January, then maybe go down to Ocala and get some lessons from Buck (Davidson) in February. Obviously I’ll still be on a budget so I’ll have to watch how far I travel and for how long I go, and to not abandon the students I have here, and it will be a learning curve as to how I manage all that because in California we never had to leave for such an extended amount of time, but we’re tough girls here, we have no problem weathering the storm that we have. Hopefully we’ll be breaking ground on the indoor this week, so if the weather holds that will be done before the worst of the winter and we’ll be able to ride all the way through here.

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Komik

Komik is a five year old 16.3 hh Trakehner mare bred by Tim and Cheryl Holekamp.  She’s by their famous stallion Windfall and out of a four star Trakehner mare Kokett that they also owned. Allie describes her as ” very brave, very opinionated, very much like her dad! She’s very talented and I’m very excited about her. She’s pretty straight forward on the jumping, and on the flat she’s going to be very fancy; she has a beautiful canter and a lovely disposition, she’s just working out where all her legs are right now. She thinks she’s the queen bee. She’s definitely feminine but she doesn’t really like to be loved on, she’s cool with or without you but she definitely likes her friends and she does sometimes get a little bit too attached to them. She’s very opinionated – you know where she is all the time, always! She’s not typical for a mare in the sense that I don’t feel like she goes into heat and I don’t feel like I deal with that very often, but she is typical in that she gets a bit herd-bound and she is opinionated and you need to compromise with her, you can’t just bully her around, but she’s definitely not prissy; you can treat her like one of the boys in the sense that she’s not weak, she’s very bold, very brave, and very happy to come out and do her job every day.”

Komik started eventing this year, and Allie tentatively feels she’ll be ready to move up to preliminary sometime next spring, “As soon as I feel like I have the rideability and we’re always working together, because she’s very talented and sometimes she feels like her opinion should trump mine, which is fine because I actually really appreciate that she is opinionated and tough, I think that will work for me in the long run, it’s just a matter of working out everybody’s roles right now. Once I feel like I really have that I’ll have no qualms about moving up.”

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Richard Jeffery, above, who travels the globe to design show-jumping courses for both eventers and pure jumpers, is back at the Kentucky Horse Park this week for the Alltech National Horse Show. Already familiar to countless Rolex fans, he and several of those famous fences were in the Alltech Indoor Arena Thursday night for the International Open Jumper Class with a purse of $75,000 and an SSG Gloves bonus of $6,000 which Lauren Hough eventually took home on Quick Study. Ireland’s Richie Moloney smoothly guided the gorgeous Slievenorra to a deceptively fast second place in the jump off, and Kent Farrington rode Raylyn Farms’ Venus into third place. The disappointingly sparse crowd was treated to top class jumping with fourteen jumping clear in the first round including Jessica Springsteen on her new mount, Peter Charles’ Team GB Olympic gold-medal winning Vindicat W who had two down in the jump off. Katie Dinan, who trains with McLain Ward (competing but sadly did not get through to the second round) was particularly impressive, and will be a name to look out for in the future. Kaitlin Campbell’s Rocky W was amazing and the fastest horse in the jump off, but had a rail down, and Margie Engle has taken over the ride on the previously Russian-ridden Royce who everyone wanted last year, and it looks like they’ll be phenomenal when they get to know each other better.

Eventual winners Lauren Hough and the super but quirky Quick Study

What a treat to sit in the heat controlled (ie. cosy!) and sumptuous indoor arena at the Kentucky Horse Park and watch round after round of top class international jumping.  Alltech are doing everything right, and I suspect that within a few years the National Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park will rival the biggest and best horse shows in the US, and hopefully given a bit longer it can hold it’s head up alongside the big shows globally. I wonder if it’s been given short shrift on the calendar though, competing against Canada’s well-established Royal, and also locally Halloween which is an enormous deal here in Lexington; Huge props for bringing in the Lexington March Madness Marching Band, one of the very best things about this town, full stop.

Here they are, above, playing at the Fourth of July Parade, but I wonder why they were relegated to the Front Steps last night and not parading around the arena either before the start of the class, or in the interval?

The presentation is gorgeous throughout the show, check out the beautiful backdrop, below, and I was thrilled to see the big blue horse from WEG make a re-appearance with all the signatures from the 2010 Games winnners adorning him proudly; again, I’ll try and do better with the pictures tonight, and there are plenty of tradestands which I was trying to stay away from but which I intend to check out tonight. I did see several people wandering around in costume, “for ambience”, and there was some carriage driving but I admit I didn’t stay for the gaited horses which I have zero interest in, but I would love to see this show on a par with something like Olympia eventually – if anyone has the vision, the means and the balls to make it happen it’s Dr Lyons and Alltech! Lexington is supposed to be the Horse Capital of the World, and yet most of my non-horsey friends are blissfully unaware of this great, very kid-friendly spectacle on their doorstep, despite Alltech’s best efforts – show-jumping demonstrations literally in the heart of downtown the weekend before the show. Of course, I’m not at all biased, but I can’t help but think that some friendly, brave eventers might get the party started – perhaps a class for them, how about a Kentucky version of scurry racing, or indoor driving, some pony club games? Is there any way we could move the show back one week and the Southern Lights up one week so that they both coincided? Right now they’re just a fortnight apart although there was a token mare and foal lit up last night as we drove out, and obviously a lot of the lights are very close to being ready. Come on, Lexington, and Come on Horse People, please put on your thinking caps, and also if you’re in the area, come on out to the Horse Park and enjoy the show!

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Go the Alltech National Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park and Go Eventing!

Colleen and Luke at Plantaion, photo by Samantha

Americans Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz have just jumped a clear round at the Pau CCI**** which makes them four for four, having already accrued clears across country at Kentucky, Burghley and Luhmuhlen CCI**** in the last couple of years.  I spoke to Colleen shortly after her round and asked her how the French course compares to the others,

“The course rode really well; when I got my lines it was fantastic. This is definitely a wicked course, and with the footing as it is, there were a ton of questions.  This was definitely a big, nasty course – the fences themselves didn’t look big walking them, but they ride so much bigger because the terrain is so different from anything I’ve ever done.  The number 3 fence was literally almost straight up hill about 30 feet, and when I say straight up – we walked up it on hands and knees a couple of times because it was so steep and we were sliding backwards so badly.  That was the third fence and Luke got up there and overjumped the jump, and we had a corner on a bending line at the bottom of the hill so rather than risk the oops I just went around and took the long route.   It was a rollercoaster of a ride; it was great but this course was testing all of my weak points – I like to see my spot from way off and this course wouldn’t let me do it, I was constantly coming round corners looking for the spot and trusting that it was going to be there. A lot of these combinations are not just turning one way or another it’s changing direction through the middle; it’s the first time I’ve ever had an A,B, C, D and E and that was the first water and it was number six on the course, and it’s a humdinger – a duck that you had to jump offset to another duck on a very short stride, then a hard ninety-degree turn and straight on down to a huge drop log into the water, then a change of direction in the water and a huge bank, followed by a long one stride to a good jump!  I’ve never had to jump something like that and looking back on it, it was great fun but I remember riding it going ‘OH.MY.LORD!’ Some of the other stuff, as long as I could get Luke’s eye on the next jump, rode great, but some of the stuff just didn’t happen fast enough. I couldn’t get him turned fast enough to get his eye on it.  Luke was fantastic – he was a little overly bold, he jumped past a couple of distances and the hills were so big that we couldn’t really do anything about it so I had to take a long route rather than get ourselves into trouble but all in all….great fun, absolutely great fun!”

Colleen told me that the combination of a less than ideal preparation coming into Pau, as well as the conditions, and the trouble the course was causing, all factored into her playing it slightly on the safe side this time,

“He felt fantastic. I was a little conservative, well, I was a lot conservative on time because the ground was so wet this morning and horses were sliding all over the place in the CIC**, and having had such a bad run at Richland and then a good run at Plantation it was still in my head that we might have some issues, so I was very conservative on our speed. He jumped fantastically, I’m thrilled with how he jumped and how bold he was, I’m just more mad at myself because it was my problem not his.

I ended up taking more long routes than I’ve ever taken in my entire life because he was just jumping out of his skin, and I knew this course would be really, really tough for him because he’s great when he can see what’s coming up but there were so many hidden fences, we were constantly turning and having to change direction, and he would often jump past our line so we would have to take the long route rather than get an unfortunate oops, but when it was straight going he was phenomenal.  I’m bummed with myself because there’s about ten places that I could have shaved off some time but I can’t really be upset with Luke for that, that was my problem not his.  The ground was definitely a bit slicker than I was prepared for so that made me a little more conservative because I really like to finish with numbers not letters, and I’ve just seen Mark Todd and Mary King fall, and they were both horse and rider falls.  The course doesn’t look huge but it is so twisty and turny, and if this is going to be what the WEGs look like and the WEG is going to be bigger, then it’s going to be very interesting.”

The best news is that Luke came out of it feeling great according to Colleen, even if his rider is already planning his winter training program!

“Luke feels fantastic, he wasn’t even tired at the end of the course, he was cool in about five minutes and that’s kind of why I’m mad at myself because he wasn’t even tired! I had plenty of horse left in the tank, plenty of horse, and so I’m bummed with myself but it is what it is.  I am thrilled really, he jumped fantastically, he ran fantastically, it was more my issue which of course I can get over, I can work on that. I’ve already texted Jimmy (Wofford) and told him my goal is to learn to put my eye on a fence and to keep coming around a corner to it, and I will learn to take care of this, and to learn to get Luke’s eye on the fence earlier. It’s always great to have homework, and I’m so happy that I get to show-jump tomorrow.”

Colleen told me that she was surprised by the amount of atmosphere at Pau, that she’d expected it to be quieter like Luhmuhlen, but “they’re cheering you all the way around and there’s definitely a lot of party here!” I hope that she gets to celebrate ticking off yet another milestone with her incredible little horse. We’d talked a couple of months ago and Colleen had mused that she wasn’t sure if she would ever do Adelaide because of the huge distance involved, despite her fondness for having a full set of things. The plan was to complete Badminton this spring, but they re-routed to Luhmuhlen upon it’s cancellation, and I know from following Colleen’s Facebook page that she’s already making plans to go there next spring. I ask her if perhaps she’ll change her mind about going down under, “I’ll answer that question after Badminton, we’ll see how our spring goes.”

Massive Congratulations to Colleen and her entire team, and thank you to her for talking to Eventing Nation on this and so many occasions. I wonder if the knowledgable readership can help Rutledge Eventing out – Colleen’s husband Brian posed the question earlier on twitter, and I don’t know the answer and so far we’ve had no replies – has any other US  horse and rider combination completed four CCI**** without cross country jumping penalties? Thanks for reading, Eventing Nation, and Go (Rutldege) Eventing!

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been anxiously awaiting news on how Karen O’Connor is doing since surgery (after her fall at Morven), so I’m pleased to be able to bring you a brief progress report from Max Corcoran. Karen came through the procedure well, and is expected to go home from the hospital tomorrow (Friday) which as you can imagine, will be a very welcome relief. Max told me Karen is almost back to where she was before the operation, getting up very slowly and carefully, but that she now “has a lot of hardware in her back; it’s going to be a long, tough road to recovery but if anyone can do it, Karen can.”

The surgeons watched footage of the fall at Morven Park (courtesy of Buzzterbrown, but which will remain private as according to Max it’s fairly horrific to see) and all agreed that Karen’s Point Two air vest was a help in this case – as far as they are concerned they think it definitely helped keep her spine straight and aligned at the point of impact, and they’re surprised she didn’t break her neck, they think thanks to the air vest. Due to the severity of the fall the broken back was almost inevitable, but Max told me the doctors were of an opinion that her Point Two saved her from much more severe trauma.

Meanwhile the mass exodus of the horses south to Ocala has already begun with the first wave going via Chattahoochee Hills, and Max is planning on taking the rig down on Saturday (weather permitting) with an overnight stopover en route at Will Faudree’s to give her and the horses a break.  Max also added that Veronica is completely back to herself, and has been enjoying some time in the field. Karen had always planned to spend Thanksgiving at home in Virginia with friends and family, and hopes to migrate to Florida shortly afterwards, pending, of course,  the approval of her doctors.  Eventing Nation wishes Karen a safe and successful recuperation, and we look forward to speaking to her in person and bringing you more details of her recovery soon. Safe journey to Max, and thank you as always for the updates, and thank you for reading and all your good wishes. Go OCET and Go Eventing!

[OCET facebook page]

Michele and Amistad in a pre-Olympic training session at Maizey Manor this summer

I recently discovered some more lost footage of Amistad at training camp in England earlier this year on my phone, and this little gem was so sweet, and yet brought back so many mixed memories, especially for I’m sure for Michelle that I wrote to her and asked her how he was doing, and if it would be alright to post it.

“Amistad is healing really well and he goes out all day; he is sound but seems to miss all the attention he was getting. The Olympics were the most amazing thing to experience, to represent your country is the highest privilege one can receive. The fact that I couldn’t finish the event, and  also the bad luck a good team like ours had leaves me with a sense of unfinished business!”

On her website Michele writes that pre-London she was considering a switch to dressage, but those plans have now obviously been put on hold, while Amistad may do dressage once his leg is healed – time will tell.

The day I spent at Canada’s training camp at Maizey Manor a couple of weeks before the Games remains one of my fondest memories of the summer – the camaraderie and team spirit, the quiet, efficient atmosphere,  and the happy horses and people seemed to make up all the ingredients for a successful Olympics but alas….

Michele told us a little bit about Amistad that day, about his history as a ‘bucket baby’ because he was weaned from his mother at a week and a half, and here is the little clip of him suckling after he eats, in this case a peppermint!

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Many thanks to Michele for the update and for her permission to post this, and wishing Amistad a long and happy second career whatever that may be. Go Canada and Go Eventing!

I’d only just arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park on Friday, late again ( I missed the Trot-up entirely on Thursday, not my week so far!) and thought I might be hallucinating when I saw these two beauties coming towards me. In my excitement, I managed to delete all the pictures I took of them off my proper camera, but I’m hoping to bump into them again during the weekend, and if I do I shall try and remember my manners, and a) ask the two very nice men their name, and b) I have so many more questions I was longing to ask but it was cold and windy and Mitch and Dill were obviously anxious to get going so….

Many many thanks to they guys for stopping to chat – Mitch and Dill are gorgeous up close and personal, and ENORMOUS, and awakened in me a desire to go carriage driving that I never knew I had, or maybe BEER! Go the Budweiser Clydesdales, the Kentucky Horse Park,  and Go Eventing!

The CCI*

Vanity and Selena Pape, the new USEF CCI* National Champions after leading the competition from wire to wire.

Canadian Holly Jacks rode her little thoroughbred More Inspiration beautifully for a clear round to clinch second place. Although undoubtedly talented, he definitely didn’t look like an easy ride.

Deborah Iezzi and Maxfli in third place

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Current CCI* leaders Selena Pape and Vanity

It’s turning into a gorgeous day here in Kentucky – not quite as cool as it has been, the sun is out, the horses all look pretty spectacular, and I saw all sorts of outfits at the trot-up this morning! Dr Duncan Peters, the FEI Vet here this weekend told me the horses yesterday finished well, and that conditions were indeed ideal so I’m going to try and give you as many pics as I can before the start of the show-jumping.

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CCI*

Katie Bondrager’s Counterpoint was sent to the holding box and then passed upon re-inspection. Sadly Anna Kjellstrom’s Copernicus and Jennifer Bazan’s Allegretta were not so fortunate and after re-examination they do not go forward to the show-jumping phase.

Valerie Vizcarrondo’s gorgeous Fernhill Whatever positively floated down the lane, and lies in 2nd place currently.

I’m sorry to report that Fernhill Whatever knocked down the first part of the treble in the show-jumping before stopping at the last fence, and then having it down, but Valerie did win the Best Presented Award for turn-out at the Sunday Morning Vet Inspection.

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Vanity and Selena Pape on a bit of a long one! They lead the CCI* going into the show-jumping phase on Sunday. Although tough, Derek Di Grazia’s well built cross country course rode really well Saturday morning in perfect conditions.  Particularly the second water in the infield and the coffin next to it which came near the end of the course – angled on a bending line – and which no doubt caused much scratching of heads and some sleeplessness, was actually very forgiving and I watched several combinations though both ride it all different sorts of ways with great results!

Keeping her 2nd place, Valerie Vizcarrondo and Fernhill Whatever.

Deborah Iezzi moved up a spot into third place with Maxfli, and Canadian Holly Jacks (above) rode More Inspiration up place into fourth overnight.

Anna Kjellstrom and Copernicus were foot perfect through the skinny to corner combination, riding it exactly as ‘we’d’ planned to when walking it the night before and move into fifth place!

Jennifer Bazan and Allegretta round out the top 6 in the CCI* after cross country

Canadian Siobhain O’Connor and Chiron sit handily in 10th

Local girl Leah Snowden and her stunning OTTB Ivy League – look at him, so gorgeous! 11th overnight.

Jennifer Czubak and Kings Ransom are in 9th place

I had to leave before the Training and Prelim Three Days, but will be back in the morning for the Trot-up and Show-Jumping. I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone at the Kentucky Horse Park who makes Midsouth happen of course, but also to Eventing Nation’s Jenni Autry who’s been doing a fantastic job at Fairhill, keeping us all equally apprised of the very latest action and distracted with non-stop reports!  Karen O’Connor must be getting just the tonic she needed as she recovers from her surgery; to see her former protege storm round and maintain her lead in the CCI*** on a horse that David started – congratulations to Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot and all their connections, and also Marilyn Little going so well, Valerie Vizcarrondo going so well here in Kentucky and Lauren Kieffer getting a good round on new ride Cosima, a lovely little mare that Karen rode for her in Breda this summer. Get well soon, Karen, we’re thinking of you. Looking forward to tomorrow, Go Eventing!

Moving steadily up the ranks, and lying fourth after a quick clear round cross country, local girl Jennifer O’Neill represented Team Antebellum on That’ll Do.

The weather has been perfect for autumn eventing – cool and crisp with intermittent sunshine; I’m sure the jump judges might have appreciated it a few degrees warmer, and for the wind to have dropped but for the horses tackling the CCI* and long format at Prelim and Training level later today it’s pretty ideal.  The preliminary course was considerably softer than the CCI* course, as it should be, and from what I saw, rode well for the most part, and was ridden well.

Jennifer’s team mate, and galloping vet, Dr Chris Newton on Antebellum Jewel

Diana Rich won Open Prelim A after a clear round cross country, just ahead of Andrea Glazer (above) and Detail Specialist in 2nd place. Dressage leader Park Avenue ground to a halt in front of the house in the 2nd water in the infield. All scores are available here.  Both Andrea and her team mate Lauren Lambert, who won Open Prelim B  from wire to wire, were stopped and held on course and handled it like absolute pros, and it struck me once again what invaluable experience all these riders are gaining across the board here at the Midsouth Team Challenge.

Pam Kimmel moves into 5th place in Open Prelim A; I had the pleasure of a day’s hunting last year on one of her former eventers and it was honestly one of the best rides I can remember.

Katie Hensley gave Boot Scoot N’Boogie a super ride clear inside the time to slot into sixth place in Open Prelim A. A quick shout-out to Dan Kreitl and Spartagon who absolutely stormed round clear inside the time, making little of the course and eluded me and my camera!

Gina Moore and Appalachian Trail

Alexandra Kalinich and Ariel

Susan Clagg and Blessed Event

Brigid Williams and Bourbon Tee

Caitlin Henderson and Creative Dreamer

Megan Cleary and Feeling Sinister

Margie Darling and Fine With Me

Kari Briggs and Lawman

Elizabeth Foos and Penfold Park

Siobhain O’Connor and Scout

Karen Chandell and Stilt Walker. They fell later on course, near the end, although I believe both horse and rider are fine and Karen got up after being checked by the medics. Theirs was the only hold on course during the prelim.

Erin Kowalewski and Twizzler

Last to go for the Prelim Divisions was Carrie Mulks and Voodoo Magic, clear inside the time and into 7th place. The Team Competition was won by the Future Olympians which was made up of Lauren Lambert, Andrea Glazer, Megan Cleary and Sydney Hagaman. Congratulations to all the competitors. Huge thanks to all the volunteers, organisers, jump judges, mothers and grooms. Prelim competitors get to go home but CCI and long format have to show-jump tomorrow. More reports from the Horse Park to come, Go Eventing!

Not to be upstaged by the weather at either Fairhill or Le Lion D’Angers, it was decidedly chilly at the Kentucky Horse Park Friday for the Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge and Three Day, and definitely windy, and then just to really test our resolve, it started raining! The dressage rings, all in the dressage complex by the Museum of the Horse and various Association buildings, all ran to time if not early, and with all the good artificial footing both there, and in the show-jumping up in the arenas by the FEI stabling the weather didn’t cause any problems in that regard whatsoever.  It might have explained some rather fresh horses and it’s definitely my excuse for bunking off early from the dressage to go and walk the course. I did see a few nice tests in the CCI* before I left. You can access all the scores for every division here.

Jennifer Bazan and Allegretta

Siobhain O’Connor and Chiron

Each year Organiser Mary Fike and her amazing crew pull off a miracle to  make the Midsouth Team Challenge and Three Day happen, with the support of Hagyard as title sponsor and help from many others. With Beginner Novice through Prelim Divisions running fun team competitions, as well as the CCI*, and the Prelim and Training Three Day it’s a labour of love, but also one of the most popular events on the calendar in this area, and loyally supported. Waylon Roberts  is riding two and ably deputising for his dad, Ian, who’s riding in the CCI** at Fairhill this year, coaching a few of his students here in the CCI*, and I asked Waylon what Midsouth means to him.  “I did my first one star here at Midsouth when I was 13 years old, it was in my 14th year, so I’ve been coming here for ten years, although I had to miss a couple because I was in England.  The great thing about it is where could you find a better place to ride in North America than the Kentucky Horse Park? It’s such a beautiful facility, and the organisers and the volunteers are always brilliant . It’s twelve hours down the road for us but we don’t mind coming that far to a nice event like this.”

Waylon just got this lovely specimen, a Canadian TB, four weeks ago and is riding him in the  Training Horse Trials Division for the HGS Team. He’s seven years old and 17.2, and rather nice, I’ll be keeping my eye on him!

To warm up after standing watching some dressage I went and walked the CCI* cross country, designed this year by Rolex designer Derek Di Grazia, and Melissa Miller and Anna Kjellstrom very kindly let me tag along.  Anna is riding two in the Training Three Day and one in the CCI*, and even though she is still getting her groove back after breaking her shoulder this spring it was important to her to ride at Midsouth, “they put so much effort into making it educational, and I think it’s very important with the long format, for those of us who don’t want to go to the Olympics  – what are our goals? I think to go from Training to Prelim is huge, and then from Prelim to Intermediate is not quite as bad but this gives you a goal to do in between. The steeplechase helped me relax with my upper level horse and let him  gallop forward to his fences and that was a big turning point when I was comfortable getting a rhythm, maintaining it and trusting it.” Anna participated in the Steeplechase training today, a practice run over a timed distance and a couple of fences with advice from Diana Rich or Dorothy Crowell depending on which session you were in, “That was great. I believe in my group, everyone I saw went in very tentative and came out comfortable, so now tomorrow it’s not so much closing your eyes and kicking at the first fence!” Melissa is here with a four year old doing his first event in the Novice Division; having just leased out her Advanced horse to a Young Rider,and sold her preliminary horse, Melissa has a horse going in the CCI** at Chattahoochee Hills next weekend, but Anna was happy to pick her brains this afternoon, and I was very grateful to eavesdrop as she gave some great advice.

“I competed up through three star level and I’ve done two one stars here in the past back when they were long format and this is by far the toughest one star I’ve walked out here. There’s a lot of questions, there’s a lot of skinnies for them which they normally don’t have, and there’s a lot to do, you’re constantly doing something. I actually would like to see some more gallop fences for these first time one star riders. A more experienced rider will be able to make those changes happen but for some of these younger riders at their first one star, it’s a lot, and there are some big fences out there too.”  I spoke to a couple of experienced riders later on who agreed with Melissa, but were also looking forward to riding the course.

Lauren Lambert, who currently leads Open Prelim B on the lovely Honour Mission, jumping for the aptly named “Future Olympians” team. Lauren agrees wholeheartedly with Waylon, Anna and Melissa about the value of Midsouth, “This is a fun show, it really is, and it’s a good competition – you have people coming down from Canada, it’s a bigger atmosphere than what we usually see.” Lauren is hoping for a good run here this weekend to set her and Honour Mission up for the CCI* at the Virginia Horse Park as they need one more prelim run under their belts for qualification otherwise, she told me, she would have done the CCI* here.  Lauren knew team mate Andrea Glazer before the show as they both come from the same area, but since being assigned to the ‘Future Olympians’, (“we have a lot to live up to, girls!”) she met her two other teammates via facebook, and they plan to walk the course together, and supported each other during the dressage. The team are sporting the stars and stripes on their saddle pads and plan to wear red, white and blue on cross country – Go Future Olympians!

Andrea Glazer and Detail Specialist, a fellow Future Olympian

Megan Cleary and Feeling Sinister – a Future Olympian from Ohio

Jennifer Lewandowski is leading Open Prelim A on her superstar Park Avenue III; they jumped a lovely clear round, one of not very many.

Margie Darling and Fine With Me

Brigid Williams and Bourbon Tee

Caitlin Henderson and Creative Dreamer

Carrie Mulks and Intoxicated

Cathy Wieschoff and Ready for April

I was very happy to see Dan Kreitl back with his Curly Sport Horse/Holsteiner  Spartagon. Last year Dan won the Five Star Tack Award for Best Sportsmanship whilst competing in the Training Three Day, and I’m delighted to see them back again this year, competing in the Open Prelim Division.

Emily DiMaria and Counterpoint

ERIN (not ERIK) Dierks and Mimic, my bad!

Gina Moore and Appalachian Trail

James Meister and Going Tribal

Jennifer O’Neill and That’ll Do. Jennifer rides for Chris Newton’s Antebellum Farm Team, and if I’m not mistaken Antebellum Farm are represented this weekend at every level.

Julia Spatts and Ginnetts Makricko

Katie Hensley rode a very nice round but for an unlucky rail on Boot Scoot N’Boogie

Kelsie Bricker and Grace Under Pressure

Laura Crowl and Zee

Maggie Hoffman and Celtic Storm

Megan Woods

Melanie Rousseau and Menai Creek

Nicola Kowalski Burgio  and Master Oliver

Rebecca Gall and Can Ya Dig It

It’s going to be cold again tomorrow; cross county starts at 8:15am and runs all day until about 6:20pm if there are no delays. If you’re planning on going to the Kentucky Horse Park: 1) Dress warmly 2) Please thank every volunteer you see 3) Keep an eye out for the Budweiser Clydesdales – there are ten of them here for a week en route to Miami and they are truly a sight to behold. 4) if you follow steps 1-3 then you will be able to master the final challenge – have fun! Thank you to the entire Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge and Three Day Crew and to the Kentucky Horse Park, and looking forward to bundling up tomorrow to Go Eventing!

We continue to examine the future of US Eventing here on Eventing Nation by talking to Allison Springer; on a night that she’s set aside for calls and conference calls, an evening during which she’ll probably spend upwards of about four hours on the ‘phone, a consequence of sitting on various boards and committees,

“I’m on the USEA board of Governor’s and I think that probably has the most influence on the sport of eventing as a whole across our country. We’re already looking at next summer’s calendar trying to pick a date that’s going to work for the Board Meeting – one day I hope to achieve the ever elusive idea of balance in one’s life, especially an eventer’s life!  There are some great riders involved but you want riders, organizers, vets, lawyers…you want a wide range of people that are a representation of the membership. I’ll do anything to help promote the sport. As fun as it is to whine you actually probably won’t hear me whine, I’d rather try to do something about it.”

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Allison on The Big Picture

 “I love being on the Board of Governors because you really get to know an entire cross section of the eventing community. We discuss everything from budget to membership.  I think there’s a responsibility for us all to participate in it and that’s why I’m involved; I have so little extra time in between my own business and riding the horses, and what I do with Platinum Pistol, but being on the USEA Board of Governors and PRO and PHC and all that is important; it’s so important to help make this sport safer, more fun, for better education – everything. It’s great that so many riders are involved, they’re just a good group of people that represent such a broad base of eventing; it’s fun to talk about how we can go forward positively, and help to make some good changes.”

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As one of the founder members of PRO, it’s close to Allison’s heart as a vehicle to improve the sport for absolutely everyone, and something that she saw being bore out during her summer in England,

“I think a lot of people think that the highest levels will trickle down and help improve the lower levels but I think it’s sort of the other way around, it’s our base of support; we have to garner that excitement and connection within the eventing community and that’s what supports us. Some random wealthy person isn’t going to show up in this country and decide they want to own event horses, most people barely know what eventing is over here; it was so awesome in England to turn on the tv in the pub in the afternoon, (not that I was in the pub every afternoon!) and there were always horses on tv, so that people who don’t even ride or own horses know who Frankel and William Fox-Pitt are, it’s just part of the culture. I don’t think we’ll ever change the culture here in the US but I think we can strenghten the overall eventing community, and what PRO has really tried hard to do is to promote the sport as entertainment, and make it a better overall experience for everyone involved, be they spectators, competitors, owners or organizers. I think we’re getting there but it’s working on making the base stronger and working on upwards.”

“Going forward and improving our US team finishes in the future I don’t think it’s just about the High Performance Programme, I think it’s everything. We need more owners and horses, and more support; we are never going to be a country that’s lottery funded, it’s just not going to happen so we have to think about that differently and we have to think about footing – it’s not just about having better footing at the upper levels, it’s footing for all levels and all horses. We have a much harder time getting horses to the higher levels and keeping them sound because our country as a whole has much harder footing here than it is in England and Europe, not just at our competitions but getting our horses fit and ready to compete we deal with a lot more concussion. The wonderful novice/training/prelim level packers – they don’t need to be constantly running around on hard ground either.  This is something we can improve for every level and every type of horse. There are a lot of great horses in this country, I don’t think we don’t have enough good riders or good horses but it is hard to get more horses to flourish; it’s hard to have consistent seasons and it’s harder to keep horses sound and get them to the highest levels. I’ve enjoyed a wonderful career with Arthur, touch wood, he’s wonderful but he’s also something of a freak of nature, and I recognize that!”

 

The PHC has worked hard on improving footing, and introducing a consistent benchmark at events, as well being responsible for Rider Reps at competitions, while  PRO continues to emulate the english ERA,

“I think in Eventing as a whole in this country there has to be a better all-around community, and support from every different sort of angle, and that in effect, will help us succeed at the highest levels as well.  We’re not going to be able to do it the same way here as other countries, it’s very different.  I think the biggest challenge is for the upper level riders. You look at the way some of the events have been and unless these people are already heavily involved in eventing it’s not that fun for them, and this is something PRO has been trying to address – we try and do something special for the owners – at Southern Pines and Kentucky we do a dinner for them, get them all together and try and have a fun gathering and make it more of a community, and that’s what they do in England so well. We lack community in this sport in this country at almost every level. It’s not so much the disconnect between the lower and upper levels, I feel like the reason why I wanted to get involved on the committee side is I think that this is the best equestrian sport ever, it’s just so much fun and it’s so complete, and it’s very inviting and welcoming, but we still need to work on making it a better overall experience for everyone. That will bring more people into the sport, because at the end of the day we do need better sponsorship, and owners, and all that sort of stuff.  I hope people recognize that PRO is not about getting more prize money for upper level riders, that’s not what it about at all, it’s about making it an overall better experience for everyone so we can bring in more sponsorship and we can have better footing and better course design across the board, and we want to make it easier for organizers to provide these things, and that’s why we’re stepping in to try and help get it done.”

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Like many, Allison felt that the late selection did the US team no favours,

Veronica and Karen O’Connor jumping into 2nd place in an Advanced division at Rocking Horse Winter II Horse Trials earlier this year

Following her fall just less than a week ago at Morven Park in the Advanced Championship division, Karen O’Connor was released from the Fairfax Trauma Center on Wednesday evening and allowed to go home, “Everybody got everything ready for me. Max (Corcoran) went shopping for me at Whole Foods before I came home so I’m only eating organic and really healthy food”, and if you were worrying that Karen might be bored or lonely, you’d be sorely mistaken!  “I have lots to do; I just wrapped up a meeting with Sue (Clark) and Max  going over the plans for the trip to Florida, and I’m talking to each owner and finding out the individual plans for every horse. Where I am right now having just got back from the hospital on Wednesday I have a physical therapy meeting this afternoon, another doctor’s meeting later – it’s pretty filled in with the acute trauma of the injury and getting that all sorted out. I get tired very, very quickly: just sitting up or getting up in my brace, I’m realizing that twenty minutes of activity equals about six hours of resting.” As for pain, ” I’m on a very controlled programme of medication and I know when I get behind the meds, as it’s called, meaning that you’ve gone too long – I’ve done that a couple of times trying to be the tough guy only to realize that you really need to stay on the schedule because it’s there for a reason.”

Karen has already embarked upon her twice weekly schedule of physical therapy, “Although I do have to stay pretty still there are other parts of your body – your ankles and feet, your lower arms for example – that need stretching: moving your neck within the injury, bringing your knees up – things that need moving.  You can get very comfortable in the one position and the next thing you know you’ve really lost a lot of muscle tone. Sandy (Cole) just passed me a tension ball that I’m supposed to squeeze with my hands, I have a spirometer to breathe into so that I keep my lungs open and don’t develop pneumonia – right now physical therapy is about those kinds of things.  There’ll be a stage when physical therapy is to strengthen the muscles around the injury but we’re a long way from that right now” and when I ask if she’s a good patient she ponders the question and I hear a resounding “No!” and much laughter from her assorted crew, “Am I a good patient, I don’t know, am I? I’m a bit active in the bed, a bit twitchy but having said that I am very conscious of the fact that this is a serious injury and that if I don’t do what I’m told then I’m an idiot – if I don’t take care of myself properly then I’m going to be facing surgery which I don’t want, or I’ll be faced with healing with a hump in my back which I don’t want either. When you get those kinds of alternatives it makes you understand the severity of the situation.  Dr Mark Hart has been co-ordinating and organizing the medical side of everything for me – Fairfax did a great job in consultation with John Hopkins and Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, so there’s lots of help and Mark Hart is heading that all up which is a great comfort, he’s amazing.”

Karen may be bedridden for the most part, but she seemed remarkably stoic and positive; she gets dressed every day and seems to have accepted her limitations, ” I can walk around but the doctors want me to minimize that, so I walk to the bathroom or I’ll walk to the couch and sit down for fifteen minutes or so. I walked around the kitchen island today as silly as that sounds,  but that’s about it!”, and even this takes enormous planning, and energy, “The brace comes on and off easily; I’m flat on my back on the bed, I roll over and put the bottom half of the brace on, then I roll back over and put the top half of the brace on, stand up and then I can walk, but I can’t take the brace off and get out of bed, I have to put the brace on, get out of bed, get into bed and then take the brace off.”

Luckily Karen has a steady stream of friends and family visiting to keep her on the straight and narrow, “David comes back from Boekelo on Monday and then he’ll be leaving for Fairhill on Tuesday so I’ll see him for a little bit; I know he thinks about it and he’s worried but I have a great, great support crew here – Max has been sleeping on the couch for the last two nights, we’ve got Sue  here and Sandy Cole,  Marilyn (Little-Meredith) is going to come and visit, Lauren (Kieffer) was here earlier this morning. Hannah(Burnett) came by, my mum lives here with us, my mother-in-law Sally has been here every day both at the hospital and here at home, Brian (O’Connor) has been here to make sure that most of my electronic needs have been taken care of, but even as I say that Sandy has her head behind our tv and dvd player trying to get that to work!  It’s a great group; when you have a big farm, or a big operation like this, this is when everybody pulls together, it’s a fascinating time and a really great time for everybody to remember how close you all are.  Everyone has stepped right up, it’s been wonderful, I’m very grateful.”

Max agreed that the entire O’Connor Event Team have done a sterling job, spearheaded by Sue, “It’s been around the clock, but Karen does sleep through the night, I have new-found appreciation for mothers of small children, it’s exhausting! You wouldn’t have it any other way though, it’s what you do.”

Sally O’Connor has not only been visiting Karen regularly but also helped her Fairhill students run through their dressage tests on Friday, a ‘fix-a-test’, which they’ll repeat, on video for Karen to also critique, on Monday before they leave for Maryland, and amongst the many visitors in hospital, there was a particularly poignant one, “Sharon White came and visited me for an afternoon at Fairfax, knowing that hospital and that floor very well having spent six weeks there, so she brought me a care package knowing all the things that I would need, all the little things that make a difference in making you feel comfortable, and she was spot on with every item, that was pretty cute of her.”

In between catching up on some popular culture and current affairs, “I’ll certainly be going back and watching all the episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, I have seasons of 24 which are great, I’ve seen Downton Abbey which is really very good and I might have to break that out, and of course it’s football season so whenever Jon Holling is staying with us that’s what we watch. Then factor in the presidential debates and the presidential race and all of that, and it’s a good time of the year for tv, that’s for sure!”, Karen has also drafted in help with videoing her students ride, “There’ll be a lot of videoing, we just had a meeting about the importance of videoing to keep me happy!”. Hopefully this will help in some small way to make Karen feel a tiny bit better about not being able to be at the competitions in person, “It will be painfully difficult not to be at Fairhill especially,  because we’ve got such exciting entries there this year; besides my horses that were entered,  we’ve got Hannah (Burnett) on Harbour Pilot, we’ve got Lauren (Kieffer) on her new mare,  and we’ve got Ellie (Macphail) on RF Eloquence so we’ve got a pretty strong group just based here on the property. Marilyn Little-Meredith has three entered, so obviously it’s going to be hard to be away from all those horses, and we’ve got all the outside students – Valerie Vizcarrondo on her really nice grey horse that’s going in the one star,  and we’ve got horses going to Chattahoochee so I’m losing all of the chances of watching any of those horses.”

Karen and Mandiba a few weeks ago at Plantation Field Horse Trials CIC***

I asked Karen if she’d entertained the idea of letting anyone else deputize for her on her horses while she was out of action, “No, for a number of different reasons. Each horse has their own individual reason, and I hadn’t even discussed it with the owners, and nor have the owners come to me with their own wishes for that to happen.  Joan Goswell was at Morven Park and I saw her on cross country day as I was being put into the ambulance, and she and I didn’t even need to have that conversation because I know her so well. For Mandiba it was always that he was going to finish at Fairhill then start again in the winter and see where we were. He feels like a champion right now; he ran great around Morven and although it’s sad for him and for Joan that they don’t get to go to Fairhill we will pick up where we left off.  We bought Mandiba unbroken, no one else has ever competed him except for Phillip when I was busted up last time  – he actually rode him for me at Morven and Middleburg and did a great job, but he’s always been absolutely a one-rider horse.”

Veronica is “totally fine and 100% sound”, according to Max, “she was more body sore than anything for a day or two after the fall” but now she’s started her holiday a little earlier than planned, and is enjoying time off in the field along with Mandiba and Sunset Paradise who were also aimed at Fairhill.

Mandiba may be a one-rider horse, but Karen is surrounded by love, supportive friends and family, and of course dogs!  She answers with a resounding “Absolutely” when I ask if dogs are allowed on the bed too; and before we say goodbye she teases, “You never know, with all the excellent care I’m getting I might end up at Fairhill after all!”  Eventing Nation wishes Karen a speedy, and sensible recovery, and we look forward to seeing her back in action whenever the time is right!  Go Karen and Go Eventing!