The answer to this week’s, obviously far too easy Quiz, is indeed Colleen Rutledge. It’s going to be a busy month ahead for Colleen, as coming off the back of finishing 2nd in the Intermediate Championships at Morven with her homebred Covert Rights, they now head to the Fairhill International Three Day Event, and immediately following that, Colleen flies to France to contest the Pau CCI**** with Shiraz. I caught up with Colleen before the whirlwind to ask her how her preparations are going, “I am so excited to go to France right now because Shiraz (Luke) is going fantastically.  I just had a lesson with Linda (Zang) today, and he feels great. I have my last jump school on Wednesday so I’m looking forward to that, but right now I am so thrilled with how he’s going that I can’t wait to get there. I’m excited!” Colleen and Luke fly to France on Saturday, “we’re flying over on Saturday and me being OCD, I have to go with him!” Colleen will return on Tuesday just in time to ride at Fairhill starting Wednesday, then return to France on Sunday evening as soon as the competition finishes to be re-united with Luke. Phew!

Best of luck at both events to Colleen, and to “Kilcoran” who was the first to post the correct answer, if you please email me your address to [email protected], I’ll be sending a Burghley cap your way! Go Team Rutledge and Go Eventing!

Becca Hart and Lord Ludger (Lolu ) at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Photo used with Becca’s kind permission.

Heads up, Eventing Nation – If you can’t get near a television to watch Good Morning America on Wednesday morning (October 10th),  you’re going to want to set your recording devices. Rebecca Hart, five time USEF National Para-Dressage Champion and multi-time WEG and Olympian will be making a guest appearance WITH her 2012 Olympic partner, USA Team coach Missy Ransehousen’s ex Prix St George horse, Lord Ludger. I spoke to Becca who told me that a tv film crew will visit her at Blue Hill Farm on Monday to get footage of her riding and do some background interviews. Then on Wednesday, Lolu and Irish ParaEquestrian James Dwyer’s horse, Ben will ship to New York City, and Becca and Ann Romney, who is guest co-hosting that day,  will both ride together.

Becca explained that Ann, who suffers from MS, remenbered chatting to her when she presented her with her award at the 2012 National Championships, and hence the invitation. Becca realises that this certainly won’t harm Ann’s image, but told me it’s not politically motivated at all.  Ann and her,  she shared,  had connected in New Jersey at the Championships over their common bond – Ann rides and is involved with horses to help with her MS and disability stemming from that, and Becca herself first started riding as physical therapy for her condition, Familial Spastic Paraplegia, “We had an honest connection between her therapy programme and my personal therapy.”  Becca added that she’s “petrified, but also very excited. I’m trying to train myself that I’m totally cool  with it all, but inside I’m going OH MY GOD!”

Becca isn’t sure yet what she’ll wear on Wednesday, whether she’ll be in Team USA gear, or breeches, or a mixture of both. I asked her how she thought the horses would react to being in the Big Apple and she told me she’s hoping for the best, ” They handled London beautifully, and we’ll have lots of people helping.”

Starbucks, where Becca works part time, helped Becca get to the Games in London by sponsoring her, and letting her arrange her schedule and vacation days to suit her competition and training calendar; Howard Schultz, the CEO, called her up personally to speak to her, and I was almost as gobsmacked as she was when she recounted the story to me earlier this year.

Hoping, in purely Showbiz terms of course, that Becca breaks a leg, and can’t wait to cheer her on from my sofa, once again! Go Becca and Lolu, and Go Team USA Para-Equestrians!

Is this too easy? Which four star rider, pictured above, has pretty nails? – Clue: Yes, she’s a girl! Please answer in the comment section below,  and we may be able to  find a prize for the first correct one. Go Eventing!

Next weekend the Boekelo CCIO*** will host the final leg in the 2012 FEI Nations Cup Eventing Series, and although I’m fairly sure (math is my Achilles’ heel) that Germany can’t be beaten at this point, the US is sending a strong team of talented, mostly younger horses to gain experience, and some of its best riders to benefit from representing their country. Phillip Dutton will undoubtedly be the most experienced rider on the squad, and he kindly spared Eventing Nation some time to talk about the upcoming trip.

Like the rest of Team USA heading to contest the Nations Cup at Boekelo, Phillip used the Plantation Field Horse Trials as a last run to prepare Atlas before the trip, placing 5th in the Advanced Division.  He explained that with this horse he’s really thinking about the big picture, “I was pleased with him, his flatwork is getting better and stronger.  He’s a great jumper but he does get quite strong on cross country so generally at Horse Trials I’m just trying to train him to go a bit softer and quieter and that’s why I usually get time faults on him. He show-jumped well even though I broke my stirrup leather [video] which was a little hairy for me to hang on to him! Overall though I was pleased, and the footing was good at Plantation; he went well.”

The improvement in the dressage might be partly due to US Olympic Dressage rider and trainer Michael Barisone who has recently started helping Phillip on the flat, “We’re trying to get him to come once a week, and establish some consistency; he’s obviously very enthusiastic and has a lot to offer. He understands that we’re not doing straight dressage and that these horses have to do a couple of other jobs as well, so he’s been a big help.”

Surprisingly, this will be Phillip’s first trip to Boekelo, and also the first time he’ll ride on the Nations Cup team for the USA, and he told me that although he thinks the cross country might not be ideal for Atlas, he is looking forward to the competition for a multitude of reasons, “I haven’t been before and I’m really excited about it, I’ve heard nothing but good things which is one of the reasons why I applied to go.  I believe it’s a pretty unique event in the way they run it  and there’s a lot of crowd participation, it should be fun. Also, since David O’Connor will be involved for the first time I wanted to try and be a part of that as well, and it’s exciting for Tom Tierney, Atlas’s owner, to have a horse at this level and be trying to make a bid to get on the American team.”

Although Phillip was understandably reluctant to commit to any plans before he’d even arrived in Holland, he did allow that Boekelo is part of a long term career path for Atlas that will hopefully lead him to Rolex next spring, “We’ll wait and see, but he’s a big, big jumping horse, the scopiest horse that you could ever hope to have, so the four star part of it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, it’s more about just getting that rideability. This course might not be exactly geared to him, I believe it’s got a lot of turns and twists but I think on the whole  it will be a good experience – going overseas, trying to do a dressage test and show-jumping in a little bit more of an atmosphere; I think it’s a good stepping stone for him if that all goes well to then move on and do a four star next year which probably would be Kentucky.”

Team USA leaves for Holland on Friday, “I don’t think the journey will be a problem –  the horse flights nowadays are arguably a bit easier on the horses than putting them in a trailer and going down the highway, plus he’ll be well looked after as Emma (Ford) is going with him so he’ll be well taken care of.”  Dr. Kevin Keane will stay at home for this trip as he’ll be preparing himself and his horse Fernhill Flutter for Fair Hill, but  Team True Prospect Farm will be supplemented and superbly represented by Jennie Brannigan on Cambalda, her groom Jackie, Phillip’s wife Evie, and Jennie’s owner Nina Gardner.  Making up the remainder of Team USA will be Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen and Jon Holling on Downtown Harrison – Go USA, rock the Netherlands!  Many thanks to Phillip for his time, and we wish the entire US team a safe and extremely successful Boekelo – Go Eventing!

Phillip with Fernhill Eagle and Mighty Nice (Happy)at Rolex earlier this year

 PS: Phillip mentioned that he’d taken Atlas, Mighty Nice and Fernhill Eagle up the gallops in a group the other day, and it had crossed his mind that all three are horses sourced for him by Carol Gee under the Fernhill Sport Horses banner – you can listen to my interview with Carol on this week’s episode of the Eventing Radio Show, as well as John Kyle’s chat with sport horse expert Carole Mortimer, and Kitty King weighs in with a rider’s perspective as we focus on sourcing your next event horse – Go Eventing Radio Show!

Susan Beebee had a fence in hand over second placed Buck Davidson who had just jumped a lovely clear, but Wolf was never in danger of touching a pole, and this combination are the new worthy winners of the Plantation Field CIC**. Susan had already jumped a nice clear on her first horse Uptown Higgins, another very nice type, but had picked up two time penalties to finish 12th, so she knew exactly what she had to do and never wavered.

Buck has yet to put a foot wrong this weekend, and rode the tightest lines all morning, cutting the corners on the somewhat twisty two star course, taking no chances of giving Susan any extra leeway, and as you can see there wasn’t much chance of D.A. Adirmo knocking too many down either!

Click below for the full recap…

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Congratulations to Sharon White and Severn Sky who added just one time penalty in the show-jumping Sunday morning  to win the CIC* at Plantation Field.

Buck Davidson kept the pressure on Sharon by jumping a beautiful clear on Copper Beach which meant only two points separated them as Sharon entered the ring to jump. Both these horses are absolutely stunning animals and must be exciting prospects for their riders and owners, and the US, for the future.

Click below for much more CIC* action:

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Apologies for missing the Plantation Field CIC** overnight leader but EN congratulations to Susan Beebee on Wolf. Buck Davidson is in 2nd place on D.A Adirmo, above.

Caitlin Silliman rode another good round, this time on her boss’ former four star horse Remington, adding nothing to her dressage to move up three places into 3rd place overnight. I bumped into Caitlin walking the course earlier in the day and she told me that she as much as loves having the ride on Remington, she now appreciates how easy Boyd made him look, but they looked good together too on the CIC** course saturday even with just the one prelim run around Maryland Horse Trials under their belt so far, so hopefully this bodes well for for a long and happy future together.

Lindsay Beer and El Paso, above and Will Coleman and Ole Boy, below, both moved up from tied 7th place to tie for 4th place overnight with clear rounds inside the time

After a less competitive dressage Will gave Zipp a steady clear round

Master Frisky added a handful of time with Boyd Martin to slip from 3rd to 7th place overnight

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John Nunn, one of the great supporters of US eventing on the aptly named Smilelikeyoumeanit, gave his horse a beautiful ride through the foundation combination in the preliminary rider division on Saturday  morning. Congratulations to Sharon White on leading the CIC* on Severn Sky after cross country and several other good placings this weekend, some small compensation for missing Burghley and now Pau CCI**** on her big horse Rafferty’s Rules who’ll be home stateside very soon.  The CIC* and prelim courses rode very well all morning and although they may have been a touch on the soft side, they certainly weren’t as soft as I thought they were when I mistakenly believed I was watching the CIC**!

Buck Davidson and Copper Beach, second in the CIC** going into the show-jumping on Sunday

Madeline Parisan and Hope To Star in the CIC*

Elizabeth Ricklefs lying 7th in the CIC* with On the Rocks

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Karen O’Connor added just 1.2 time to Mandiba’s leading dressage score to maintain her hold on the top division here at Plantation after a long and successful day of cross country. The courses across all the grades have really ridden well, perhaps in the CIC** the solid corner at the very far end of the course was responsible for the most falls, but everyone I saw got up unscathed.  The time in the CIC*** was tight and only three combinations managed to achieve the optimum – three experienced partnerships who accordingly moved right up the leaderboard.

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Will Faudree and Pawlow moved up into second place after a fast clear inside the time

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Similarly, Buck Davidson sits handily in third place overnight after zipping round easily inside the time on Ballynoe Castle RM. They made it look like a pony club hunter trial, and I hear they are hoping to join Colleen Rutledge in France for the Pau CCI****.  Phillip and Boyd had multiple rides today, but Buck rode an incredible nine stylish clears today.

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Smoke on the Water seems to be suffering from no ill-effects after his unhappy trip to Blenheim just two weeks ago, or the journey back to the US, and he completed a speedy clear round with Marilyn Little-Meredith to drop one place and lies fourth overnight.

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Mighty Nice just keeps getting better and better; he was stopped on course while tearing it up but was the third horse to finish inside the time and also the third horse who didn’t even look like he was going that quickly. Phillip told a friend of mine that he is “a horse of a lifetime,” and she said he doesn’t say that very often, and who could disagree! They lie in 5th place after the cross country phase.

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Clark Montgomery and Universe added 10 time penalties and change to slip a few places to 6th place overnight but looked rock solid the whole way round; considering this was the horse’s first outing since Jersey and that they’re headed to Boekelo in a couple of weeks I imagine he and his wife Jess will be thrilled with the day.

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Boyd on Neville

After reading a couple of the comments (yes I pay attention!) I caught up with Boyd in between his riding and coaching duties to have a quick chat. Boyd told me that Neville is sound to the untrained eye, but having ridden and competed him for ten years or so, he feels that he is not quite right, and has abandoned his plans to campaign him for Pau CCI****, which included Plantation and Morven Park Horse Trials as part of the preparation, “We’ve got to figure out what this little part of him that doesn’t feel 100%, he’s 95%. It’s not a limb lameness. You’re riding around and he looks sound but I’ve ridden him for ten years and he just doesn’t feel right, especially in the canter. Dr Kevin Keane is trying to investigate if it’s something in the chest or the shoulder. We’re going to try and get him into the New Bolton Center and we’re going to use some of their fancy equipment to really try and figure out why he’s not feeling at his best. As a horseman, the feeling I’m getting is that he’s happy and he’s enjoying his work but something is bothering him; he’s usually wild and crazy, and he’s normal at the moment so something inside tells me we’ve got to figure something out!  They (Syndicate owners) are all on board with it, we feel good in that to try and prolong his career, we feel that he’s got a number of years left in him competition wise, and deep down I felt as though if I’d pushed him hard to bring him here and get him to Pau we’d have got a result but that might have been the end of him. Plus, if you’re going to go overseas, it’s a hard trip and expensive, and for four stars you want to start out feeling like you’re Superman.”

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Boyd on Fitness

We also discussed Trading Aces increased level of fitness and Boyd told me that was something he has been conscious of after his summer in England, “Staying there for a month or two, and talking to Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd about their fitness programme I’ve come back with a whole new system in training, getting them hard and fit; you look at the Olympics – Michael Jung’s horse could have jumped four rounds, or Nereo! They’re just tough and strong and hard and fit, I’ve nearly doubled my fitness work, which sort of eats into your dressage work I must admit, but with Trading Aces, he’s only 8 years old and I’ve got the benefit of Silva working him on the side for me which is a great bonus, and obviously I want to do very well here and at Fair Hill, but my big focus is on Rolex next year, and on the big Three Days the year after. I’m more looking at the CICs and the CCIs this year as stepping stones and the hard fitness work here is going to benefit him for Fair Hill, but more importantly it’s going to benefit him for Kentucky, and get that real, strong, hard baseline of fitness on him.”

Boyd on Michael Barisone

Boyd also touched on how his dressage has improved both with the help of his wife Silva, probably the most beautiful dressage coach in eventing, and also more recently US Dressage Olympian Michael Barisone, “He trains Silva so he comes down regularly and he’s been helping Phillip (Dutton) and Jennie (Brannigan) a bit too. He’s very positive, very motivating, passionate; it’s good to have someone like that – and he bloody knows what he’s talking about too! When something’s not right he’ll let you know and when something is right he’s also quick to pat you on the back. One of the problems I’ve got is Silva and I know each other so well, so it’s also good having an extra set of eyes. His heart’s in it, he came over to England and helped me twice without charging me, he’s here for a day spending time away from his horses seeing how we operate at a competition, you’ve got to admire a guy who’s willing to talk the talk but also walk the walk.”

Wishing Neville a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him out and about next Spring, and wishing Boyd the best of luck this weekend and at Fairhill on the extremely fit Trading Aces!  Many thanks as always to Boyd for stopping to chat during a very busy weekend. Go Windurra USA and Go Eventing!

I’m always delighted to see Caitlin Silliman and Catch A Star out competing, and Friday at Plantation was no exception; they turned in probably one of their best dressage tests yet, and I was lucky enough to meet Caitlin’s mother afterwards. We chatted briefly and she remarked in disbelief that it was  just a year ago that Caitlin moved Hoku from the medical facility to the new farm, that Hoku was still on restricted one hour turn-out then,  and they were still unsure if she would ever fully recover normally.  Fast forward to this weekend and you have to look very closely to see the scars, and, without wanting to write too much for fear of jinxing them,  they look like live contenders for a strong finish both here and at Fairhill.

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 http://youtu.be/ijff56LddNw

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Many thanks to Caitlin for her time, and wishing the very best of luck this weekend and for the rest of the season, and of course with Remington too! Go Eventing!

Karen O’Connor returns to the US and brings Mandiba back to Plantation Field to lead the CIC***. Mr Medicott is also back in the USA, and we talked about his plans for the future, as well as Karen’s own plans, and the future of the US team…

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Michael Barisone may well be one of the secret weapons in the US Team’s arsenals in the next few years – overwhelmingly positive and incredibly winning not to mention determined, dedicated and passionate about dressage he’s just the ticket, and he told me what he expects from his students

 http://youtu.be/_MmC4D-L-H8

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Clark Montgomery leads the Advanced Division on Loughan Glen going into the cross country, and sits comfortably in third in the CIC*** on Universe after the Dressage. We walked some of the CIC*** together on Friday morning, and he talked me through the water jump, and also told me about his plans for next year.

 http://youtu.be/VN5rPwR2FVo

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Saturday promises to be a long and full day of cross country – the first horse goes out on course at 8:30am and the last horse is scheduled to start at 6:02pm.  I’m in denial about quite how I’m going to best bring you as much news and as many pictures as I can. I will be tweeting, and everything else will hopefully fall into place! Go Plantation and Go Eventing!

Eventers vs Foxhunters vs Steeplechaser – I have a nasty feeling the jockeys won but it’s all a bit hazy, I might be mistaken!

Jennie was robbed – disqualified for using two hands!

Karen definitely had the moves…

Go Bull-Riding and Go Eventing!

The Plantation Field 2012 Commentator: Uptown Eventing’s Rachel Wakefield

Plantation Field here in Pennsylvania has all sorts of things going on – all the heritage and history, Clark Montgomery found a broken arrow while we were walking the CIC*** course this morning, one of the cross country complexes is set in the old foundation of the original Plantation, it’s evidently the mushroom capital of the country (not the magic kind, I don’t think, or perhaps that would explain why I feel so ropey this morning, I thought it was just the ciders!),  the countryside is stunning, and there is definitely an international flavour to the event: we have an Olympic re-union of sorts, the US team is here minus Tiana, but we also have celeb GB Eventing magazine gossip columnist Rachel Wakefield on the commentary side of business, Alec Lochore is the TD, Michael Barisone is positively irresistible in the warm-up, cajoling ‘Phil’ (Dutton!) to give him half an inch more which will make the difference of a mark in the arena in his singular, New Jersey, irreverent style, and I just this minute bumped into Para coach Missy Ransehousen back from her Team USA trip too.

Did I mention that Karen O’Connor is back? With a vengeance! Karen rode a flawless test on Mandiba, technically almost perfect, to move into the lead in the CIC***. She also sits in seventh place on Veronica, and if that wasn’t enough, coached Marilyn Little-Meredith into third place on RF Smoke on the Water into third place.

Marilyn and RF Smoke on the Water. You can find all the scores here.

Tucked in tidily in between them both is Clark Montgomery on his lovely wife Jess’ Universe. Clark told me ‘Buzz’ hasn’t been out at a competition since Jersey earlier this summer, and although he whinnied once in the halt and rein back, he managed to contain his enthusiasm for a smooth, forward-going test.

Will Faudree and Pawlow also turned in a lovely test to sit in fourth place currently.

The scores at the top were all pretty close, and I saw some very nice tests throughout the day, Will’s was definitely one of them.

Mara Depuy and Funmaker – another quality test

Jennie Brannigan rode very well on a fit and fresh Cambalda – I really like this horse but Jennie looked like she was sitting on a bag of springs today. The Boekelo team is looking pretty solid after today’s performances, I hope I can write the same thing on Sunday evening because they’ve yet to put a foot wrong.

Ballynoe Castle RM looks in superb condition, and Buck rode a perfect test, it was only slightly marred by the horse constantly blowing his nose,   I’m not sure if they were marked down for that or if it was just a distraction to me, or to the horse – Buck certainly didn’t seem to pay any attention, he’s far too professional.

Jan Byyny, above on Syd Kent, sits in 5th and 9th place on Why Not and InmidAir respectively. I caught up with her briefly after her test on Why Not and she told me when she first started eventing she was based here in Pennsylvania, across the road with Bruce Davidson. It’s hard to imagine now, but she said she came here from Colorado having done about three training level events, and he got her started and showed her everything, and she couldn’t dream of a better place to learn all about the sport.  Jan talked about her test on Inmidair earlier in the day and said she was really pleased with him, although annoyed with herself for making several mistakes – picking up the wrong lead in the canter and a couple of bobbles in the changes but was happy with his trot work.  Jan was probably among the majority of riders who chose to wear helmets in the FEI CIC *** division today which was interesting.

Selena O’Hanlon’s exciting young horse A First Romance had moments of tension in the rein back to canter transition but there is so much to come from him, he is such a lovely prospect and  I’m really looking forward to watching him jump these next couple of days.

Lizzie Snow and Coal Creek

Caitlin Silliman and Catch A Star – every time I see this combination my heart swells just a little, and they keep improving. Today they did a beautiful test, and I spoke to Caitlin afterwards. (all videos hopefully coming at some point tonight!) Hoku looks wonderful, she’s carrying great weight, her coat is great, she was relaxed and did what Caitlin and trainer Silva described as probably her best test to date, so I’ll keep my mouth shut and fingers crossed for continued success for them this weekend, although I’m happy to add that Caitlin also rode Remington into 6th place after dressage in the CIC**, AND I believe she was the highest placed rider wearing the SSG gloves so she will take home a very nice chunk of change for that – karma!

Couldn’t resist!

Mighty Nice did one of the best tests I’ve seen him do and I was surprised to see him lying in 12th place tonight, but we were spoilt with quite a high class field today and not much separates them.

The good news for all Shiraz fans is that Colleen told me ‘Luke’ feels like his old self again, and seems to be completely recovered from his Lyme episode – thank goodness. Colleen also wondered if she may have her horses rather too fit! She told me Covert Rights was a bit opinionated in the CIC**, and although Luke actually behaved very well in his CIC*** dressage and probably did the best test he’s done yet, he does look ready to run back to back ultra marathons!

Boyd obviously benefited from having Silva and Michael tag-teaming him in the warm-up as Trading Aces did a nice test to sit in 8th, despite looking pretty fresh outside. Boyd had mentioned when he got back from England that he really wanted to work on this horses’s fitness, and he looked tired at the end of the Richland course but he looks much fitter this weekend, perhaps it’s telling in his flatwork! Nonetheless he was good in the arena, and I can’t say enough how much I’ve enjoyed watching Michael coach today. I have a short video interview with him to come soon, and he is wonderful, I can’t wait to share it. Lots more video interviews lined up as soon as the hotel internet will allow, but in the meantime I must investigate who rides a mechanical bull better – eventers, hunters, or I forget…all the scoop later! Thanks for being a part of Eventing Nation, thanks to all the volunteers at Plantation (and every other event today) but especially to the lovely girl who gave me a lift up the hill. If you’re an apparently rather handsome Irish man and also rode on her buggy earlier today you might want to get in touch with her…?!  Go Plantation and Go Eventing!

 Read last week’s article US Eventing – Now What? Part 1: Sinead Halpin

Jon Holling and Quigase Du Lac earlier this year

In the second part of our series we talk to Jon Holling. Selected to represent the US at the Pan Am Games last year in Mexico with the precociously talented Downtown Harrison until a heartbreaking lameness at the very last minute prevented them from making the trip, this year they’ve bounced back with stunning form – 2nd at Fair Hill CIC***, winning the Bromont CCI***  and selected to go to Boekelo as part of the US Nations Cup Team.  Jon, like many horsemen, is no stranger to disappointment. He reels off a laundry list of boards, committees and councils that he variously sits on, governs, chairs, I can barely write quick enough, “…USEF Eventing Committee, USEA board of Governors, VP of Active Athletes on the USEA Executive Committee, Chairman PHC, Nominating Committee of USEA…” and explained that several years ago it was partly a run of bad luck that spurred him to action, “In 2008 when everything was going wrong with the sport and I saw all of us as riders complaining, I looked at who was on the boards and at that point there were two riders on the boards actively doing stuff. One of my horses was one of the ones that had an accident that year and although I didn’t blame anyone for it, I felt that if I thought that things needed to be changed then I needed to be a part of it, so that was a conscious choice at that point to get more involved in the behind-the-scenes action of the sport.”

Since becoming involved Jon has been instrumental in several changes, “In general we’ve been trying to make it a better sport for everybody, really and truly make it more user-friendly – easier for professionals to make a living and easier for amateurs to go out and have a good time.”

In his role at the Professional Horseman’s Council Jon helped finalise a rule to mandate an additional oxer in the show-jumping warm-up, and a solid fence in the cross country warm-up, something that may not seem like a big deal now but faced a lot of opposition at the time, and he’s also been partly responsible for the Rider Reps, although he admits that’s still a work in progress,  “there are still some changes that need to be made to make it easier for one day events and make it work a little bit better, and for riders to fulfill their responsibilities, but I think that’s starting to work pretty well.”

Jon and Downtown Harrison at The Fork this spring

Running his own business in Ocala with horses to train, students to teach, a wife and a young son means that time is at a premium, but Jon takes the commitment seriously, and once again I’m struck by how lucky the US is to have young riders such as Jon, Sinead, Allison, Doug (to come in next instalments) and so many others who are hard-working, talented, thoughtful and smart, and are willing to put something back into the sport, and try to make a difference,

“I’ve really tried to be a voice for the riders, a strong voice but a reasonable voice in all the USEA decisions, and I do wield a lot of influence in all the board decisions, in all the things  we’ve talked about such as the warm-up jumps and riders reps, as well as things like the AECS and three day events and where they should be. Not that I have any more say than anyone else but as a rider I think it’s important that I do the best that I can for all of the riders. Now there’s a good handful of professional riders with Leslie (Law), Allison (Springer) and Peter (Grey) on the board this year so we’re starting to have more of a say and more input which I think is really important.”

Jon doesn’t have to be a lone voice in the wilderness – he encourages you to look up the USEA representative in your area and email them if you have any ideas or issues you’d like to discuss, and take part on a regular basis, help out and volunteer. The riders at his event delivered lunches to the jump judges which was a huge success, “All that stuff goes a long long way. If people want to give back and have more a voice, put yourself out there and get nominated to be on committees and boards; there are so many committees that need good, strong people, and we have such a small handful of volunteers who are willing to serve on all these committees and councils and on the boards;  the burnout rate is so high, I can tell you myself it gets exhausting after a while, so we do need people who can help.”

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Although the USEA doesn’t deal with the High Performance or Team issues directly, it is still relevant Jon explains,

“It’s the USEA’s job to make sure that the competitions are right, that the judging is right, to make sure that things are on a par over here with what they are in Europe and I think that’s a huge thing; there is an argument to be made that horses over here that are scoring in the low forties in FEI tend to go over to Europe and score in the fifties and that’s a problem. I don’t think it’s as important that we’re competing against William and Andrew and Michael, I think what’s more important is that we’re getting judged comparably.

“I think we have to be careful how much we compare ourselves to the Europeans because we live in a very different country. We can’t do it like the Germans or the British do it – they live in a much smaller pool; just by the nature of where they live they’re competing against each other a lot more. We’ve done it our way very successfully for many years, and Australia has done it very successfully too, and yes, they have some riders based in Europe, but I would argue that they have some very good riders based in Australia who have been and  could still be very competitive internationally. We need to know what everyone else is doing, and we need to obviously improve what we’re doing, but I would be reluctant to say we have to have a full-scale change to what we’ve done over the years.

 “I think it’s slightly ironic that Mark Phillips has been in England during his whole career with the US;  people give him a hard time about not developing talent in this country but I think that’s purely been because he’s not based here.  I think having David now, one of the biggest plusses is that he’s going to be here, he’s going to be at a lot of events watching a lot of people ride a lot of different horses. I don’t know that he’s going to have time to coach more people in the training sessions than Mark did, but he’s going to watch a lot more, he’s going to see a lot  more, he’s going to scout out a lot more on his own. I think that Mark, just because of who he is, as far as basically being as close to royalty as I’ve ever known (!), he has a certain aura about him that if you don’t know him it makes it hard to go up to him and approach him, whereas David is a much more approachable person and it might just open that up a little more.”

 

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A truly well-rounded horseman, Jon can also add Event Organiser to his resume, as he runs a series of events out of the Ocala Horse Park with Peter Gray –  the Ocala Horse Properties Series.  Footing and cross country design are extremely close to his heart;  amongst many other things PHC has been innovative in adopting standardised testing for footing akin to racecourses (“going: good to firm, soft, etc”) and would eventually like to see it become mainstream at all events. his cross country course designer Jay Hambly makes regular trips to Europe to stay current, “I think that helps keep him fresh and also know what level the playing field is really at. Even if you meet all the specifications on paper that doesn’t mean you’re putting the right track together.”

Jon is preparing to head to Europe himself. If things go to plan, he tells me a touch superstitiously, and who can blame him –  he dropped his son off at school last week and said goodbye hopefully for the last time in a month before heading up to compete at Plantation Field in Pennsylvania this weekend. He’ll remain there until he travels to The Netherlands with Downtown Harrison, “I actually think these Nations Cups could be huge, because the more that people can get used to the team environment and get put into situations like this, the better they’re going to be, getting the chance to compete on a team, to compete against the best. Even the Training Sessions for the Developing Riders can be daunting for the first time, riding alongside Phillip, Karen and Boyd…it can be a little overwhelming dealing with that so the more they can do that the better.”

Jon and Downtown Harrison

Finally, I ask Jon what he hopes to see during the next few years for the US team,

“I hope that people are patient, although having said that I do think that we could do the WEG or the next Olympics and do very well; what I want to see put in place is a really good programme, a programme where the riders feel like they have a legitimate shot, where they aren’t feeling like they’re doing their own thing out on an island and then it all has to come together at the right time  – a good broad-based programme, where David’s at the top but he has good people underneath him to keep things going. At the end of the day, what I think we should be doing as a national programme is that every person who goes into a training session, whether they make the team or not, should come out feeling like they’re better for having been there, and I’m not sure that always happened – I think because of the team selection process, because of having to pick at the last minute the horses get trained a little too hard, the riders get a little fried, the horses get a little bit fried, and I think quite honestly you come out the other side not as competitive. I think it’s hard to compare the Pan Ams to the Olympics but having been a part of the Pan Ams, we were named early, and we were all genuinely there for each other, even the alternates. We were excited, and we trained our horses to win that competition, not to make the team, and I think that was a big part of the success of the team.  Personally I would like to see some version of earlier team selection be a part of the process, I think that’s huge, and I think having David based over here will make that easier because he can stay on top of it, and make sure that those people who are selected are doing what they’re supposed to, and not bubble-wrapping their horses too early.  I think that would be a very small change that could make a very big difference.”

Many, many thanks to Jon for his time, and to everyone who’s helped me so far with this ongoing series – as well as the riders you read about there are so many people who work tirelessly behind the scenes, we all owe them huge debts of gratitude. Please check back next week and in coming weeks for the next installments including Allison Springer and Doug Payne. Thank you for reading, and Go US Eventing!

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This is the first part of a series to discuss the future of US Eventing, which perhaps surprisingly, actually looks rather bright; many thanks of course to everyone for their time and generosity in contributing. Once again, I’m touched by the wonderful camaraderie in our sport, the hope and determination that prevail, and I feel positively buoyant after my conversations with everyone who talked to me for this piece.  America’s young riders are smart and talented and  have plans; and there are smart, talented people behind the scenes who care enough to try and help them execute them . As Sinead Halpin’s dad Eamon told me at Burghley, if corporate America could bottle the essence of eventing there would be no such thing as recession or unemployment!

Despite being last year’s USEF National Champion and completing Burghley, Sinead was not on the 2012 London Olympic team, but instead finished second at Burghley CCI**** this September, in between Andrew Nicholson and William Fox-Pitt, cementing her reputation as one of the brightest hopes for US Eventing’s future.  We chatted about that show-jumping round at Burghley, “I’m much more comfortable in the show-jumping arena because of the work that we put in down in Florida this winter with Lauren, and I think that made it an easier pill to swallow when we were done  because I felt that if you don’t put the work and the time in, and you go in crossing your fingers, you’re always leaving yourself doubting, wondering could I have done more? I felt like Tate and I have been very strong in the show jumping all season,  and he jumped a great round.  I felt confident that I’d done enough work to jump a great round with him, and he was just a bit tired. We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m so excited – it’s funny because David is almost like a dad to me, he’s been in my life since I was about 18 years old and we have a wonderful relationship. You always want to make that person proud and do a good job, and all of the American riders, we’re expecting a lot from David, but he’s expecting a lot from us and I think that it’s very important that we show up with our game faces on and our businesses working and horses showing and competing, because he’s got to have something to work with. I’m so excited going forward, I’m excited with the horses we have, and hopefully some new horses will come this way, that’s something you’re always working on, but I want to show up ready to work, and with horses that I can capitalise and use David and be there for the Team. I think it’s important that all of us look within and figure out the best way to show up to the party; we’re putting a lot of faith in David, I think it’s well warranted, I think he’s going to do a wonderful job. I’ve seen a lot of his thought processes written down on paper moving forward, and a lot of it is to do with us getting real honest, getting back to the basics and looking in – not blaming anybody but figuring out a way to really ‘fess up, and a lot of that comes with horse power, experience, making the supporters, sponsors and owners have a really positive and enjoyable time and come together – it takes a village to get medals won, and so we need to do a better job of bringing the community together. I’m really excited for the way David’s looking at the big picture.”

As part of this community, Sinead believes anyone and everyone can help,

“Get involved! People are on the internet all day long! You can onto the Experience Eventing website and there are so many people that are behind the scenes on that website, communicating and reaching out. I have a wonderful lady who is a client and a friend, and she doesn’t want to be involved in syndication, she doesn’t want to be an owner, but she has become so involved in helping me run better business practices, and there are so may different ways to get involved and help. I just feel there are a lot of jobs – we need help sometimes and it’s not always financial. You get so busy doing a hundred million different things it’s just nice to have someone lend an ear, or lend a hand. Now is the time to put forth ideas for change and ideas for whatever you think is going to help the sport and there are so many people to get in touch with and to talk to that if you really feel like there’s something you can do to help, or an idea that you have, and again, it doesn’t have to be financial, there are so many ways to grow the sport, and so many different things to be doing, just reaching out and getting involved will help.”

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Sinead and I discussed whether the remarkable performances that she and Allison put up at Burghley were in any way due to a summer spent concentrating on just one horse each, on not having to ride so many, teach long hours, travel long distances to clinic and competitions, on basically a summer spent not earning a living at home,

“I don’t think it’s necessary that you spend two months preparing for a competition with one horse and that’s the only way you’re going to get focused!  I do think we need to utilise this ‘village’ of people – everybody should help everybody. When riders are at competitions they are athletes and should be able to focus on riding, and just riding their horses. Event riders as a whole are such jack of all trades and masters of none because we spread ourselves so thin, and that’s why we should turn to our grooms and business managers more. I think reaching out and communicating and really using the community to help makes everyones’ lives a little easier so that everyone can focus on the job that they’re really meant to be doing. In England it was super just being able to focus on Tate for that week leading up to Burghley but it was hell for the whole summer, it actually made everything a lot more difficult because you could easily just over-analyse and over-stress and over-everything! The week leading up to the event it was great because you could hone in and focus but that’s again where the teamwork helped because we all focused on each other.  Previous to that, I didn’t feel like a lot of conversations were open – everyone was just working so hard to get on the team that you couldn’t have open, honest dialague and it didn’t feel like a team because it felt like there were closed doors everywhere, whereas moving towards Burghley all that was gone and it just felt like everything was open, every conversation was open and it felt like a team effort.”

Sinead’s father was at Burghley and I chatted to him for a little while after the prize-giving, and asked him, among other things, what his favourite part of the weekend had been,

“This summer he saw the raw heart of the sport, and decided he wanted to be a part of it, it’s been fun having him around” – Sinead

 “We’ll keep him for a year and then we’ll make a plan because I think if he’s going to be a great horse then we’ll try and maybe move in the syndicate direction, and if it looks like he may just be a two star horse or something like that, then we’ll sell him on; so my dad came on board for that which was exciting and unexpected. The horse needs a little more time so I made a mental promise to myself that I wouldn’t compete him until Florida; he could probably go out and do the job now, he’s very genuine and very straight but he just needs a little more time so I think we’ll just to get to know him during the Fall and that way he can come out with a fair chance of getting to know me and vice versa.”

Look out for Part 2 in the Series next week. Thank you for reading.

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As you know, Eventing Nation is a an enormous fan of Claire Lomas, and we’d like to ask you all to show your solidarity and  please vote for her in the upcoming Inspiration Awards for Women. Claire has been nominated in the Inspirational Fundraiser Category, and as her total raised from the Naked Riders Calendar, London Marathon and other efforts has already surpassed 200 thousand GB pounds and continues to rise, you could argue that she deserved your vote on mathematical merit alone.  That would be to ignore her tremendous spirit, courage and what we’re voting for – inspiration. Barely a few days after becoming the first person to complete the London Marathon in a robotic suit, and being awarded the Virgin Trophy, Claire was already thinking of ways to try and keep the momentum going, and to raise more funds and awareness for Spinal Research, and to this end she’ll be attempting to bike from Paris to London next Spring. Please, Eventing Nation, let’s do this for Claire – you do need to vote in all the categories to make your vote count, and then you might want to do it again if you have another email account, and you’ll definitely want to pass it on to all your friends please –  Let’s do this for Claire! Go Eventing Nation and Inspirational Women, especially Claire Lomas!

Sinead did more than win 2nd place at Burghley this weekend, she won over legions of new fans with a deadly combination of talent, brains and beauty – everyone from the Chairman of the Event who came up to congratulate her at length, to Horse and Hound’s Pippa Roome was rooting for her.

 Even in defeat, or especially in defeat she’s gracious, thoughtful and still determined to learn and move on – what’s not to love?!

We chatted about her extraordinary weekend, team philosophy, the future of US eventing and perhaps Tate’s plans for next year shortly after the prize-giving.

Whichever event Sinead decides upon I look forward to supporting her, as will all her new admirers.  A quick shout-out to Meg Kep, Irish Sarah and all the grooms who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the horses look and feel their absolute best.  I can only imagine that there’s going to be some serious partying going on at Maizey Manor until the Burghley’s Angels fly home at various times on Monday – Go and Raise your glass to Burghley’s Angels and Go Eventing!

Sinead and Tate galloping away on xc, photo by Tilly Berendt