Olympic Gold medalists: Laura Kraut and Cedric cruising in the warm-up class

The Kentucky Horse Park had it all going on Wednesday afternoon. It was hard to choose between the mayhem that was the cross country schooling held to benefit the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation which was very well-attended, more on that later, or to watch some of the very best show-jumpers in the country work out the kinks before the Olympic Observation Trials begin here on Friday. Personally, it was made even more difficult by two rather bolshy children, so I’m sad to say I didn’t get to see nearly as much of either as I would have liked!

Beezie Madden, practically a legend!

I interviewed Ashlee Bond in the lead up to the 2010 WEG  when she was wearing her hair in a long blonde pony tail, much to George Morris’ despair, and taking the European circuit by storm. As well as a wonderful rider she’s great fun to talk to, very gracious, and everything you’d hope she’d be if you follow her on twitter which I highly recommend. Also, even though she spent this past winter in Wellington, there’s no mistaking her cool West Coast Style, even if she has adopted a hairnet, I especially admired her coat, after I’d admired  her horse and her riding style of course!

If you’re not lucky enough to be able to catch all the action ringside, you can watch the Trials live thanks as always to the USEF. Go Jumpers and Go Eventing!

Claire Lomas and Peter Atkins (all photos used with Peter’s kind permission)

Peter Atkins has settled in quite nicely in England by now, and we caught up  after he’d joined Claire Lomas on a portion of her Marathon walk around London, “I caught up with Claire and she looked at me and said, ‘What is this, a race?!'”  Although physically pretty knackered after hobbling quite some distance, it’s the most upbeat Peter’s sounded since he broke his leg, and he told me meeting Claire had completely changed his attitude and perspective,

“I probably only walked about half a mile with Claire, although in total to and from the Undergound stations I probably did about four miles.   I was trying to get some tips off Claire’s physio who was walking with her for exercises I could do to strengthen my leg, and first of all she told me horse riders never heed her advice anyway, and then she said I’d probably been on my leg more than enough for one day, and that I should I should head home!  As it was getting late anyway and I’d been thinking about leaving because I didn’t want to get stuck in rush hour on the Tube with my crutches I did pay attention to her!”

Claire had some wonderful company today including riders Mark Todd, Bettina Hoy and Blyth Tait, and Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee Lord Sebastian Coe, and London 2012 Eventing Manager Alec Lochore. Companions over the past ten days have included Clare Balding, Ben Fogle, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Tim Henman and many others. In a travesty of what the London Marathon should represent, officials have told Claire that because her finishing time will be longer than the 24 hours required, they will not be able to recognise her monumental achievement, and she will not receive the same medal that all the other competitors received upon completion. Although there isn’t a medal big or shiny enough to honour Claire adequately, I think it’s absolutely disgusting and I see no reason why they can’t bend the rules in this instance.  Perhaps public opinion will sway them, we’ll keep you posted.

Henny and Drake in the field at Maizey Manor

Meanwhile, Henny and his stablemate FireDrake are settling in very well in the bucolic Wiltshire countryside, perhaps even better than Peter!

“Henny prefers the cooler weather to the heat so he’s probably quite happy, but I’m not overly happy with the weather and the temperature like everybody else, because it’s pretty damn cold!  Almost every day we’ve been here has been like our worst winter’s day at home, and it’s supposed to be Spring! Maizey Manor is just amazing though, it’s got a really good feeling, great gallops, Bettina’s girls are great, everyone there seems really cool. It’s a really good place for him, I couldn’t wish for a better place.  Bettina does as much as she can, she washes most of her horses off herself, tacks them up if she has time, they love her, she really treats her horses as friends and special people so it’s really, really cool.”

Bettina galloping Henny (in the rain!)

Henny is in full training with Bettina up until Luhmuhlen, while Peter who still admits to feeling rather useless with one leg, will come back to the States to teach and clinic while he can’t ride. If you’d like to schedule a clinic with Peter, he’ll be on the East Coast traveling between Kentucky, Indiana, Virginian and Pennsylvania in the next three weeks, and he’d love to try and squeeze you in.  He intends to be riding again by the time he returns to England at the end of the month, and he told me that although Bettina will be away at Bramham competing right before Luhmuhlen, she is hoping to compete in the CIC*** there, so she’ll be available to help him in Germany. Peter’s also hoping that his wife, Amy and son, Owen will also be able to join him out there too. Peter’s Badminton fund rolled right over and turned into a Luhmuhlen fund, if you’d like to help him, please donate here. I couldn’t help but wonder what ran through his head when he heard the news that Badminton had been cancelled, and he answered my question without any hesitation,

“I was really depressed for everyone else. I lost my Badminton when I broke my leg and for everyone else to lose theirs just really sucked. Not just the horse side of it, but think of all the vendors, especially the smaller ones that depend on Badminton to make up their income for the year to some extent, I feel just as bad for them as all the eventers that have nowhere to go with their horses.”

Oh the bloody British weather, and horses, horses – it’s all character building stuff as my mother would constantly tell me. Let’s hope Peter and Henny make it to Luhmuhlen, and if any of those London Marathon officials have a shred of sense let’s hope they award Claire a medal at the very least. Go Claire, Peter, and Go Eventing!

Claire Lomas with Mark Todd and Bettina Hoy

It’s hard to describe Claire Lomas without using words everyone else has already – inspirational, courageous, bionic, amazing…Paralysed from the chest down, she is continuing to walk around the London Marathon Course, the race that officially finished over a week ago in filthy weather that has cancelled Badminton and many other events around the country.  Claire has reached and passed her goal of raising fifty thousand pounds sterling for Spinal Research, and as she keeps walking, celebrities, sports heroes, and eventers join her, and the money keeps coming in. Today, Peter Atkins emailed me after walking with her, also on crutches due to his broken leg, and asked that I relay this to the Eventing Nation, “Off for a few weeks with a broken leg was pretty depressing till I met Claire and saw the courage she has and what she is doing”, and I think Peter speaks for pretty much everyone who meets her under any circumstance.

Claire Lomas and Peter Atkins

Please donate whatever you can to Claire here, and you can read more of her story in The Daily Mail here, The Telegraph here, or on Eventing Nation here!  Go Claire, Go Peter and Go Eventing!

Before we announce the lucky winners, Eventing Nation owes Devoucoux a huge debt of thanks, not only for the two lovely shirts we’re giving away, and of course for their continued support and association with EN, but more than anything for going above and beyond the call of duty and babysitting Leo for me whenever I had to de-camp to the (dog un-friendly!)  Media Centre.

We had so many great captions that the chinchillas couldn’t decide so Devoucoux picked one, and Leo the other, and the winners are….

Denise:   I throw my hands in the air sometimes, saying ayo, Buck cleared the hollow!

time2fly:  Never turn your back on the KHP fish!

Thank you to everyone who commented and kept us all in fits of giggles, it was great fun reading all the captions. Denise and time2fly, if you’d like to email me your  addresses at [email protected] I’ll make sure you get your polo shirt asap. Many thanks again to Devoucoux, and to Bruce and Doug for being such great sports – Go Eventing!

Why the Kiwis are looking so good right now

“It’s a real problem for us, we’re trying to work out where to send everybody and what to do. It’s not so bad for the top horses like Nereo and Lenamore, they don’t really have anything left to prove, but there’s a couple on the fringes who want to show us how good they are, I feel for them more than anything. I’ll have a meeting with Erik Duvander and we’ll thrash things through.  Luhmuhlen is a little close to the Olympics, Saumur is definitely an option. We’re looking at Chatsworth although they’re saying that might get cancelled too, but it’s a little hillier, twistier and bigger than Saumur, it would be harder to get the time and would mirror London more.  We’ve got Barbury, and all the horses that are running are experienced so it shouldn’t be too bad, it just makes our job a little bit harder, I suppose.”

While he was at Rolex Andrew discussed the New Zealand programme with me,

“We have a lean, mean hard system that we’re working; we have moved on from the Olympics being the prize and we’re looking at medals. We’re working to get our riders to understand that they have to perform at the highest level, and the best thing they can do is compete – the more you compete, ‘ten thousand hours of practice will make you better’. We won’t name our team until the final day before the Olympic cut-off, and we’re expecting everybody to perform.  That’s why Andrew Nicholson brought his horses here to Kentucky this week to prove that if something should happen to one of his other horses, then theses horses might be up to it. We expect everybody to be able to finish on their dressage score but the way the courses are structured these days there is inherent risk – a skinnny, then they put bravery in front of skinny – we tell all our riders they’re allowed one mistake in five, so an isolated refusal or even an elimination as long as there’s a reasonable explanation wouldn’t be the be all and end-all.”

Funnily enough Andrew Scott is the only kiwi on the Selection Committee which is made up of himself as Chairman, High Performance Manager, Swede Erik Duvander, and Dressage Coach, Brit Judy Bradwell. In an interesting statistic to illustrate what a small eventing nation his is, and which I can barely believe, Andrew told me there are only about 15-20 advanced horses competing at home in New Zealand, and perhaps about 30 total in the UK.

Equestrian Sports New Zealand has a nice, tidy wrap of all the decisions that were eventually made regarding Badminton, and Andrew will returning to New Zealand next week.

It was also just announced that Mark Todd’s Land Vision is out of Olympic contention following a tendon injury.  10-year-old NZB Campino is aiming for Chatsworth, while NZB Grass Valley, who still needs to qualify, is pointed for Saumur, with Major Milestone looking towards Tattersalls.

British Olympic Hopefuls

“We’ve re-routed Percival to Chatsworth next week, and Easy Target is going to go to Luhmuhlen. They’re both going to run in the OI at Aston-le-Walls, and I’ve also entered them both at Houghton in the CIC*** just in case Chatsworth is cancelled too. Yogi spoke to me, and said that those that are on horses that are in the selection process have been routed to Chatsworth, and he added that if it rains too hard he’d put all of us on water-skis! I told Yogi that William would be alright because the way he’s riding at the moment he’d be able to walk on the water!”

Francis had watched the entire Rolex Kentucky Three Day event online, and as  Chairman of ERA has an invested interest in the frangible pin discussion that arose during the cross country. Already, he has sent out an online petition on the subject garnering feedback from all over the world, and just while we were talking William Fox-Pitt sent him a text telling him that was a good start. Most people – riders, organisers, officials, seem to agree that the rule needs to be discussed, it’s just what needs to be done and how it is implemented that will be hard to agree upon. Meetings and forums are taking place this week, and we intend to cover this issue in much more detail on Eventing Nation shortly.
Eventing Safety John, as we would expect, has all the scoop on the Australians and their non-Badminton plans, and we will keep you posted on any new developments as we become aware of them. I’m glad to report that the lone US Badminton entry Colleen Rutledge seems to have developed a healthy British sense-of-humour, ie dark and very dry (no pun intended) : her coach Jimmy Wofford reported today that Colleen’s theme tune is now Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain!

Wishing that I was indeed somewhere over the Atlantic, and sorry not be bringing you all the news from Badminton, but thank you for reading regardless. Rain, rain Go Away and Go Eventing!

I think it’s safe to say that our inaugural Rolex Course Walks for a Just World were an unqualified success, and I can’t thank the riders enough, and everyone who joined us, I hope you enjoyed them as much as Leo and I did. Sharon White and Doug Payne  got the ball rolling on Friday lunchtime, and we had a great turnout of probably about 60 or 70 people, a large portion of them orange, and huge thanks to Course Walk App who gave away vouchers for their app on each walk, also to Kerrits for the caps, and Nunn-Finer for some lovely goody bags.  Before we started, Doug and Sharon did a speedy poll and asked our walkers if they would prefer to do an abbreviated version including the more complicated combinations, or walk the entire course, and the general consensus was to go long, so we set off on the whole course from start to finish. Not quite everyone made it, but my heart swelled watching Doug and Sharon give so generously of their time and expertise, for such a wonderful cause – I’m not sure how I can ever thank them enough, repay them or describe how grateful I am but it’s because of people like them, and Buck and the eventing community as a whole  that make our sport so unique.

While both Doug and Sharon’s horses were first-timers at Rolex, as they described them to us, they could not be more different – Sharon and her horse Rafferty’s Rules or Reggie as he’s known in the barns, are an orange flash across the country, and she told us at the beginning that she’d probably let him come out the start box and just gallop at the first fence without helping him too much, to try and settle him down a bit. Doug’s Running Order, he told us laughing, is incredibly spooky, and still has trouble getting over a novice sized log, so he’d probably need strong encouragement to get over the first fence. I think we all appreciated not only of course the excellent insights into how they hoped to ride the course, but their banter, and the obvious mutual respect between both riders.

Buck walked the course for us on Friday afternoon after the last dressage, and we had an even larger turnout including Buck groupies wearing T-Shirts with his own photo on it,  some Windurra fans who’d missed Boyd’s walk earlier and quite a large delegation from the Cirencester Royal College of Agriculture who come to Kentucky every year to study the effects of horse business on the economy.  At this point, as far as I know, Buck still had every intention of running both his horses and as something  of an experienced international veteran of CCI**** events it was interesting to get his perspective on the course. He discussed his usual Saturday morning routine, he’ll ride early then put the horse away, then get on shortly before his time and a little tip which I found interesting, that when he’s getting ready to go at the last minute after his jumps, he’ll have someone lead him around, so that the horse can completely focus on what’s coming, doesn’t have to respond to his hand or leg aids,  or concentrate on anything but has a couple of minutes before leaving the box of just total “in the zone” with no distraction.  Buck was really fascinating to listen to, a wonderful mixture of witty and self-deprecating anecdotes, with tips and educational hints, and he had the sizable crowd spellbound.  At some of the trickier combinations he stressed the need for a partnership with your horse, that your horse has got to help you out, and want to jump, for example the last jump of the coffin if you have a sticky jump in and get discombobulated. At that level, Buck told us, the horses know what skinny jumps are all about, and they should be looking to go between the red and white flags (not the insanity in the middle!), and also, he said, he takes jolly good care of his horses 23 hours a day, this is the one hour he expects them to step up and look after him!  There will definitely be times on a four star course, he said, that things won’t go according to plan, and that’s when you and your horse have to count on each other.

Spot the Brits!

It’s easy to see why Buck’s picked as an ambassador for the sport, and for his country so often, he had us all eating out of his hand, and his delightful girlfriend Andrea told me she falls in love with him all over again when she watches him do stuff like this – aaah! If only we had been able to watch him go cross country too, but there will be many more opportunities I’m sure. We were thrilled that Caitlin, a representative from Just World, was able to join us on Friday afternoon for Buck’s walk,  and as an eventing newbie, I’m glad to say that she was suitably impressed by Rolex, Buck, the turnout, and the generosity and spirit of eventers. Thank you again to everyone who attended and gave so generously to Just World, I hope you will consider joining us again next year, or by all means helping them out before then if you’re so inclined! Thank you again of course to Doug, Sharon and Buck,  thank you for reading, and Go Eventing!

Hurray for William winning Rolex Kentucky and the second leg of the Grand Slam with his OTTB Parklane Hawk (actually Catherine Witt’s OTTB!). William touched briefly on how much he likes a good thoroughbred for eventing, he explained that Parker can gallop easily, he doesn’t ever worry if he’s down on his minute markers and he has a great brain. Brilliantly bred to race he must have been a huge disappointment, William said, because “he went off like a rocket and out like a light!” but then took to eventing very quickly and moved up to the grades with very little mileage. With his usual humility William talked about the Grand Slam, saying it was a fantastic position to be in, not only for him but for the sport and for Rolex, and that he’s never won two legs before , and although he thinks it’s “unlikely” that he’ll win the third, “we’ll see”. We will indeed, and we’ll be keeping everything crossed in the meantime!

Allison drives away in a Range Rover as the new US National Champion, and Arthur also wond best conditioned horse this weekend. She said she was thrilled with him all three days, rightfully so, and now has to stay in Kentucky an extra day, not only to celebrate with copious amounts of bourbon and champagne, but has been asked by CMP and Sara Ike to participate in fitness evaluations monday morning.

Boyd now has four horses qualified for London, but more impressive is Otis finishing in the top 3 at his first CCI****, and Boyd thanked his Syndicate members for having faith in him all this time when he went and picked him out, and spoke about how happy he was to see them well-rewarded.

Will Faudree and Andromaque under the big screen, and then not!

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Jock Paget returned to the Kentucky Horse Park with Clifton Promise this year for the third time, having completed Rolex in 2010, and then the World Equestrian Games later that year. This year he brings the horse back looking even better, with two years of intensive New Zealand squad training under their belts, and the benefits of having been based in England for most of that time also paying dividends. I caught up with him just before he was about to get on Promise.

Many thanks to Jock and wishing him the very best of luck this afternoon. My stomach is in knots already, good luck to all the riders, what a huge achievement to come this far, and these wonderful horses. Thank you to everyone for visiting Eventing nation, we appreciate it, and thank you to everyone here at the Park who has said hello to Leo and I, we appreciate it!  Go Rolex, Go Clear, Go Eventing!

After two inspired rounds on the Rolex Cross Country on Saturday, it was a shame that Marilyn Little-Meredith only presented RF Demeter at the Final Horse Inspection on Sunday morning. I caught up with her briefly to find out how RF Rovano Rex was, and to talk about her stupendous  cross country.

*********http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQkMmZTT150&feature=youtu.be*********

Many thanks to Marilyn, and hoping for a temporary return to her show-jumping roots and a clear round this afternoon. Go the Jumpers and Go Eventing!

Doug Payne and Jess Hampf both had good rides around the Rolex Kentucky Cross Country course yesterday. Jess, who trains with Jan Bynny has had some blips in her Spring training after breaking her collarbone in a fall from her jumper mare earlier in the season, and then falling on cross-country when nearly to the finish line at The Fork.  But, Jess was helped with a boost of confidence this weekend since she has competed at Rolex before.  Her boyfriend Doug, on the other hand, has had a great Spring, but he is contesting both his and his horse Running Order’s first CCI****.  Add to the those dynamics the fact that Doug and his sister Holly were the first brother/sister duo ever to compete here too, and there’s a whole lot of complicated relationships going on, surely it’s just a soap opera just waiting to happen?!

Many thanks to Doug, Jess and High Society for their time, and wishing them great rounds this afternoon. Go Four Star Couples and Go Eventing!

Peter Barry jumped around the Rolex Three Day Event Cross country like a hunter round, and has been friendly, relaxed and seems to be having a wonderful time all weekend whenever I see him. True to form, even though he was getting to ready to go and jump with Coach Phillip Dutton when I bumped into him after the Final Vet Inspection, he laughed and told me, “I’m a man, I find it easy to multi-task”, and agreed to a brief interview!

Currently lying 12th place, we’ll be keeping everything crossed for him this afternoon. Go Canada and Go Eventing!

Yogi has had mixed fortunes this weekend, but still has William sitting in pole position going into the show-jumping this morning.

William has been coming to Rolex for quite a long time and would be a very popular winner, here seen embracing long time Director Janie Atkinson.

Jackie, very proud of Parklane Hawk, rightfully so.

Andrew Nicholson and Qwanza. One of my houseguests was talking to him at length last night about the frangible pins at the coffin, and told me he felt very strongly that had the rail not fallen he believed Calico Joe would have kept going and got over the jump somehow, that the rail collapsing scared him, and that was what stopped him and made him step backwards. We then all studied my photos again, and it’s a hard call to make, the horse’s knees are up high but I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure. What is certain is how much controversy these pins have caused this weekend for one reason or another.

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As I was leaving the Horse Park this evening I bumped into Team Alliston heading out too, and had a brief word. The good news is James and Parker are both fine. James is bandaged up, a bit shaken, and very disappointed, “it’s a long way to come from California for a day like this”; Parker was on fluids all afternoon but is now resting comfortably. The whole team looked shattered, and when I told them at least they could sleep in tomorrow morning, James replied that he’s looking forward to coming back to watch all the action tomorrow, and that it should be exciting. It should be exciting indeed. I’m glad for all the good news, and I’ll be even gladder for a good night’s sleep, as I’m sure will a lot of the riders, grooms, volunteers, organisers, media and tradestands at Rolex. Go to bed and Go eventing!

After the bad news that Buck had to withdraw this morning because his collarbone still wasn’t completely healed, it was the general consensus among the riders, certainly the top 3 who came to the Press Conference at the end of the Day, that Andrew Nicholson would blaze a trail and make the course look deceptively easy. His campaign on Calicoe Joe came to a premature end at the Coffin Fence 9, and this was definitely a sign of things to come.  The course was held for about ten minutes while the crew worked on replacing the frangible pin, and then with it breaking again later when Clark Montgomery looked to knock it quite gently,  what is the answer? Safety first says in the pictures above  the frangible pins did their job, but in Clark’s case had he gone clear, and been penalised I think he would rightfully have felt hard done by.

Becky Holder had a tough day – Courageous Comet was going beautifully, to huge applause, until he belted the rail on top of the Normandy Bank. Becky sat amazingly to stay on, and re-routed to circle back to the corner, but I think the near miss had shaken both of them and this time they weren’t quite so lucky. Can’t Fire Me, her second ride was heart-breakingly, pulled up at the 28th fence for blood on his knee, and retired there while he looked to be going well. I wonder if he’d been a chestnut horse if he might have made it to the finish.

Marilyn Little-Meredith rode two clear cross country rounds today – will this be enough to prove that she’s an eventing force to be reckoned with?

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Devoucoux make wonderful tack and sponsor some of the top riders in the world across the disciplines, so when they decided to bring out a Rolex special edition Polo shirt we weren’t surprised that they were a) great looking b) going to be worn by said top event riders and their grooms during Rolex, and c) were even more delighted when Devoucoux told us that to compensate all the Eventing Nation readers who can’t be at Rolex in person to meet the riders signing the autographs at their booth after cross country we have two of these shirts to give away!

Please only enter if you are NOT at Rolex in person. If you are at Rolex, why not come to the Devoucoux booth after cross country and meet Bruce Davidson, Boyd Martin,  Sharon White, Holly Hudspeth, Barb Crabo, Marilyn Little-Meredith and others where they will be signing autographs and talking about their rides.

To enter to win one of the Polo shirts simply submit a caption in the comments section below. Preface it Doug or Bruce, and we’ll ask the chinchillas to pick the funniest entry on Monday at midnight. Good Luck and Go Eventing!

Never one to waste a second, Sinead Halpin, who was the Guinea Pig on Thursday, doing the Test Ride on Manoir De Carneville for the Rolex Three Day Event Dressage judges, has filled up the rest of her days here in Lexington with flat and jumping lessons with Linda Zang and Lauren Hough. Friday morning was nippy, to say the least, and found me bundled up early watching Sinead jump with Lauren, definitely worth getting up for!  Lauren changed the exercises quite frequently, and had Sinead do several tight turns and roll backs, but keeping everything nice and smooth and in a rhythm. Meg was dispatched for spurs and once Sinead was wearing them he jumped even better. I couldn’t hear what Lauren was saying, so I accosted her afterwards, and she chatted for a couple of minutes.

While Sinead was schooling with Lauren, Andrew Nicholson also brought Qwanza in for a canter around, but didn’t jump her, and Bruce Davidson coached Kristi Nunnik over some jumps in preparation for Saturday’s cross country.

After their jump, Sinead took Manoir de Carneville out for a gallop around the park; I think their plan is to have a dressage lesson with Linda on saturday, and then Meg will start the long drive home to New Jersey early Sunday morning – no news yet as to the whereabouts of a certain pig.  Many thanks to Lauren, Sinead and Meg for their time, many thanks to you as always for making Eventing Nation a part of your day, and Go Eventing!

Rolex generously arranged for reigning/reining (?!) Olympic Medalist from Hong Kong Gina Miles, above, and David O’Connor to ride around parts of the cross country course with some of the media corps on Thursday so that we could have a feel for what it might be like to approach those massive fences from the perspective of a rider, and talk to them about what it’s really like, and how they would tackle this year’s course.

Course Designer Derek Di Grazia started us off with a brief overview of the layout of his course, and his thought process that went behind the changes this year. The tighter galloping lanes and roll-backs are a nod to the twisting and turning expected on the limited space available in Greenwich later this summer.  Our horses were all Western style, and we walked round gently, taking in the major combinations so although I didn’t get a feel for galloping around the four star track, if you can put up with the shaking and slight wind, I did get a chance to catch up briefly with Gina as we rode from one fence to another.

Gina and David both had some interesting points to make, especially about the difference in the three and four star level, that at four star it tends to be the cumulative effect that will make a difference in the end, not just one mistake or particular jump.  David  also shared some great memories of past Rolex’s, anecdotes about various rides and the evolution of the course, for example  how they moved the site of the present coffin over  to accomadate the crowds and television, but essentially they just recreated exactly the same ground a few metres over.

We all enjoyed this alternative way to ‘walk’ the course, especially after walking it on foot again twice the next day! Many thanks to Rolex and the USEF for their organisation and generosity. Wishing everyone out on cross country today safe rides, and Go Eventing!

William Fox-Pitt rode a stunning test on  Parklane Hawk on Friday morning to move into the temporary lead, and was promptly mobbed by actually very polite eventing groupies, which he handled with the grace you’d expect, so in order to chat in peace we jumped into his luxurious Jeep, and took a spin around the Kentucky Horse Park – enjoy!

Huge congratulations to the entire Fox-Pitt team, and wishing them the best of luck this weekend, how exciting if we could go into Badminton with the prospect of the Rolex Grand Slam in William’s grasp. Go Jeep, Go Rolex, Go Parklane Hawk and Go Eventing!

Clark at The Fork (not Loughan Glen!)

I found myself sitting next to Clark for a brief moment as we watched Will Faudree do his last warm-up before going into the ring on Andromaque on Friday so I had a very quick chat with him about how the lovely Loughan Glen is handling life at the Horse Park,

Clark does his dressage shortly after the lunch break on Friday. Lately he’s been acquiring some lovely new rides, and as always with plans and horses, Jess told me they’ve decided to delay their trip to England for a number of reasons. Clark will ride her horse Universe,  (Buzzy) who’s in Lexington this week too, here for the beer , at Jersey in the CIC, and then Bromont in the CCI, and instead concentrate on his horses and business in the States for a little longer. Crossing my fingers for  a super go in all three phases this weekend, and a busy summer. Many thanks to Clark for the update, and thank you as always for being an Eventing Nation supporter! Go Eventing!

Karen O’Connor and Mandiba winning at The Fork

One of EN’s favourite galloping vets, Dr. Duncan Peters was kind enough to take some time during the Rolex Three Day Event to describe an interesting study he’s participating in at Hagyards, his practice, and  in collaboration with two other vet practices. They’ll be x-raying horses at Rolex to see under what conditions these top athletes perform. Dr. Peters explains,

When we talked, they had just finished extensive x rays on one of the competing horses and all in all it took about half an hour, although “they had been chatting a bit!”. The team that are working are experienced, efficient and friendly, and the horse stood in a rubber matted stall quietly the entire time. The  x-rays are all digital so the results are instant, and the rider was able to see and discuss them with the team afterwards, although it was not a veterinary exam or diagnosis of anything by any means, merely an observation. Thank you to Dr. Peters for his time as always, and thank you for visiting and being a part of the Eventing Nation. Go Rolex and Go Eventing!

Boyd leads the field after the first day of dressage at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event on his veteran campaigner Remington.   Gill Watson, esteemed GB Junior and Young Rider Team Trainer and here in Kentucky  as Lucy Jackson’s trainer, saw all the top tests today and  told me she was actually surprised the margin between Boyd’s winning ride and Karen O’Connor’s second placed score on Veronica wasn’t larger.

After laughing about how thrilled she was to win the best turned out lady award at the Trot-up on Wednesday for the first time in 35 years of competing at Rolex, and crediting her friend and fellow competitor Marilyn Little-Meredith for helping her to choose the outfit, Karen addressed her svelte new look, specifically her physique, “I think it’s really hard as you get older to stay fit. It was sometime last fall that I just woke up and I decided that if I’m going to be a player at this level, at this age, I have to do what it takes to be fit and be strong and be ready for everything that’s going to be thrown at you during a four star competition. This Kentucky is very  important to me, the lead-up to London is extremely important to me and I owe it to myself, but to everyone else who puts me out there, my staff and my owners, and David my husband, and everyone who’s put a lot of time and effort into it. If it don’t give it 110%, then shame on me. “

Andrew went early on in the order on Calico Joe and his test was solid enough to keep him in third place when all was said and done this evening. Andrew said that although Calico Joe “has perhaps not had the experience, he’s got a very good mind in the arena and he always tries his hardest.”  He told us at the press conference that they chose Kentucky specifically for these two four star rookies, Calico Joe and Qwanza to see if they’ll be ready for the  London Olympic Games this summer if needed.  He described Kentucky as a decent four star – “the lovely surfaces for the dressage and the show-jumping, the cross-country is big and up to four star standards so it’s a good fit to bring two young ones here.”

Becky Holder sits in fourth place on Courageous Comet, and I chatte briefly to her after her test this morning. Becky told me she’d never been that  early in the draw before on Comet before, the last dressage test he did here was the 2010 WEG, and she said he really missed the crowds, that he felt a bit flat. She was also annoyed with herself for messing with his frame she said, but the whole time that she listed the things she felt she could have improved upon as a rider, she was smiling, and then she shrugged and said it was still fantastic to have him back, and I agreed!

Although James was perhaps disappointed with his test, Gerd Reuter who was helping him told me he was very pleased with James and Jumbo’s Jake, just not so much with the score. I’ve enjoyed watching Gerd help James these last couple of days, he’s very dry, quite terse and demanding but then will frequently  reassure James, “it’s OK, James, it’s good, we love you, we love you, we love you, James!” in a thick German accent, “don’t we?” he’d add, slapping India McEvoy on the back and beaming at them both – if that won’t break the tension right before a test..!

Jolie Wentworth, wearing a yellow rose with her green ribbon to remember Amy Tryon, had Good Knight going beautifully in the second warm-up ring, but the wind had really picked up while she was riding, and by the time she moved into the first warm-up ring the stewards tent in the corner by the chute was flapping and moving and it was pretty much the undoing of him.

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