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Blue Grass & Blue Ribbons: EN’s Team Picks for KY3DE

By on Apr 25, 2024 12:00 pm -

 

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tilly Berendt

Winner: I’m eenie-meenie-miney-mo-ing it between Tom McEwen and JL Dublin and Yas Ingham and Banzai du Loir – and I think it’s probably Tom’s year. That decisive third place finish at Pau last year, plus the second at Kentucky, suggests that the win is on its way, and I reckon it’ll be seriously close, but it’ll go his way this week. Yas will, I think, also have her redemption with a podium finish.

Top US Finisher: It’s got to be Liz Halliday and her formidable Cooley Nutcracker for me. I’ll be real, here: I actually wasn’t ever that wowed by this horse when he was younger and learning the ropes with Astier Nicolas. But since he’s grown into his legs and figured his job out, I’ve been so thrilled to be proven wrong – and in the two years that Liz has had him, boy has she proven me wrong. They’ve got 13 FEI runs under their belts so far and have been in the top ten in 11 of them, including taking the USEF CCI4*-L National Championship at the tail end of last year. This’ll be the gelding’s first five-star, but last year he came achingly close to winning the tough CCI4*-S, but for an 11 at a table that I still haven’t emotionally recovered from because from where I stood, he looked super over it. In any case, he won his next run — the CCI4*-L at Tryon — and so that bodes well for this week, because he had an 11 in his last prep run at Stable View. I like to turn a bit of rough luck into a good omen in whatever tenuous way I can, frankly.

Best Mare: Logic says Boyd’s Maryland victor, On Cue, or Oliver’s Blenheim Eight- and Nine-Year-Old champ, Cooley Rosalent, but actually, I’m going to throw my vote the way of the sole Irish combination here, Susie Berry and Clever Trick. Clever Trick, or Owl, is a real classic kind of cross-country horse – she’s game, and blood, and quick with her footwork and her thinking, and I really rate her as the kind of horse that the late, great Jimmy Wofford would have been vocal in his admiration of. She’s not done a five-star yet, but I think she’ll be serious on Saturday, and while her dressage isn’t her strongest phase, if Derek’s built us a blinder this year, she’ll climb and climb. There’s another reason to get behind Susie, too – she helped produce Morswood, and rode him around a Young Rider Europeans before he came over to be Allie Knowles’s best ginger boy.

Dark Horse: He shouldn’t be a dark horse, really, but I suspect that Stateside audiences may not yet be super familiar with Germany’s Christoph Wahler, who has been second at five-star and seriously consistent at Championships with his top horse, Carjatan S. His ride this week, the leggy D’Accord FRH, is a debutant at the level, but quite a cool one. He and Christoph came together in 2022, and after a few early runs where they ironed out the getting-to-know-you bits, they’ve been absolutely on fire: in their last eight FEI runs, they’ve never finished lower than twelfth place, and have been clear and inside the time in six of them, adding just 2.4 time penalties in the other two. They’re also excellent show jumpers, which will be another tick in the box to help them climb from their first-phase score, which will set them around the 30 mark. While five-star first-timers always have the inevitable question mark over their heads about whether they can make the difference, I would be the most unsurprised person in the Rolex stadium if these two popped up in the top ten, or even the top five on Sunday.

Heart Horse: I’m not sure who I love more, Phelps or Mia Farley — but I do know that I want them to have all the nice things, all the time, because they’re great. This is, in part, because I’m a sucker for an OTTB, but it’s also because every interaction I’ve ever had with Mia has come about because she’s been helping me and Sally bully her partner, Woods Baughman, which means that she’s totally and completely a woman after my own heart. They were so, so, so cool at Maryland, and I really hope their Kentucky debut fulfils all their dreams, too.

CCI4*-S Winner: Shout-out to Katie Malensek, who pilots STX Mex in this class – this is definitely a horse to watch this year, and I really enjoyed seeing him develop on this side of the pond with my pal Tom Crisp aboard.

Lillian Heard Wood and LCC Barnaby. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Cheg Darlington

Winner: I’m convinced it’ll be JL Dublin’s day on Sunday and we’ll see Tom McEwen grinning as he gallops ‘round the Main Arena for his lap of honor. He was pipped to the win by Tamie here twelve months ago due to cross country time penalties, but this pair have another year together in their saddlebag and have come out in winning form this season, taking the title in the 4*-S at Kronenberg last month. Dubs truly is a special horse: his dressage is genuinely a sight to behold, his bravery on the cross country is matched by his talent, and he’s super reliable on the final day. Still etched into the database of great eventing moments in my brain is the image of Nicola Wilson at the top of the podium at the European Championships in 2021. Dubs was a just a ten-year-old when he took that title after finishing on his dressage score of 20.9. He’s a true event horse, and Tom’s a true eventer – a winning combination – and, although it would be cool to have another US victory at Kentucky, I think Tom and Dubs would be popular champions.

Top US Finisher: I reckon we’ll see Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capitol H I M as the best of the US camp. ‘Chito’ really showed his mettle at Maryland last fall when he finished 4th – they were the highest placed US combination that day. He’s come out this season in hot form with a win in the 4*-S at Bouckaert Farm a few weeks ago and I really hope that momentum takes them forward and up the leaderboard at Kentucky. Chito’s brand number is 3, and he was drawn as third to go. They’ll actually be the second combination up the center line on Thursday after being bumped up the order by a withdrawal, but hey, I’m taking the numbers as a sign and predicting that this pair may well be on the podium come Sunday afternoon.

Best Mare: This is actually a really tough category because there are a number of very nice mares on the start list at Kentucky this year. I’m plumping for Oliver Townend’s Cooley Rosalent to top the herd. This mare is truly an exceptional talent and must be a very exciting prospect for Oliver, particularly given that she’s still only a ten-year-old. She’s proven that finishing on her dressage is entirely in her wheelhouse – in fact, she came racing out of the start blocks this season and did just that in the 4*-S at Burnham Market a couple of weeks ago – and when the dressage score is consistently in the low-20s, well, you’re surely onto a winner. Her third place at Maryland 5* last season really showed that she’s growing from each experience she has – putting the green 20 from Luhmuhlen firmly under her cinch and coming back out all the better for it. I hope she’ll do the same with the two poles that kept her from the top of the podium at Maryland and turn out a classy performance across the three phases this time around. I do want to add a shout-out to Kirsty Chabert’s Classic VI also – this mare’s day at the top of the top level is surely just around the corner. I was disappointed to see the chance of a 5* podium slip away from her in the show jumping at Pau, but I’ve no doubt that someday soon the three phases will come together for them like they did at Luhmuhlen in 2022 – where they finished on their dressage for second place – and Kirsty will take home the 5* win that this mare surely has in her. Just not this time around, purely because there are a few horses who’ll be higher up the board after the dressage, although to be honest, I hope I’m wrong about that and she starts her show jumping round on Sunday – after the speedy clear she can definitely deliver on Saturday – in with a real chance.

Dark Horse: I’m torn between two combinations for this – they’ve both got solid experience at the level and decent form in terms of podiums and placings. In no particular order, I’m hailing Ariel Grald’s Leamore Master Plan and Lauren Nicholson’s Vermiculus as dark horses to watch out for. They’re both exceptional geldings with plenty of experience at 5* as well as Championships appearances – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the pair of them added another great result to their cards this week.

Heart Horse: Ah, this one is super easy – I’m a one guy kinda’ woman and that guy is Barnaby. There are three reasons why I love Lillian Heard Wood’s LCC Barnaby:

1. My first pony was called Barnaby.
2. My Barnaby looked just like a mini version of Lillian’s Barnaby.
3. LCC Barnaby is the epitome of an eventer who lays his heart out on the cross country course.

This guy literally grins as he gallops and jumps his way around 5* courses. He’s so up for the game and his enthusiasm for the sport never fails to remind me why I love eventing like I do.

CCI4*-S Winner: Wow, the line-up for the 4*-S at Kentucky is stacked this year! I’m going with Pan-Ams individual gold medalists Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. If you write up their last seven FEI runs like a racecard, it reads 3352112. That’s one heck of an impressive streak. With a dressage score that’s likely to sit mid-20s, super careful show jumping and no cross country jumping penalties across 20 international competitions – with the turn of foot to match – I think this combination is going to be pretty hard to beat.

Monica Spencer (NZL) and Artist. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Diana Gilbertson

Winner: Well, well, well, here we are again – Team Picks – and my indecision grows ever worse. This time, the difficulty is deciding between Yas Ingham and Tom McEwan. I feel like both of them have a point to prove. Last year she and Banzai du Loir came across the Atlantic as one of the favourites, after a sparkling debut here in 2022 when she finished 2nd to a record setting Michael Jung. An out of character blip across country left them out of the running though, and instead it was fellow Brit Tom who took the runner up spot. But he and JL Dublin didn’t have a straightforward season after that, either, although they did end the season back on the podium in Pau. SO after all that, who do I think will take the win? Er…One of them. I just don’t know which. Like seriously cannot choose. Yas. But only because I flipped a coin and she was heads.

Top US Finisher: When I grow up, I want to be Liz Halliday. She has got an insane FEI competition record, and one of the most impressive string of horses out there. Cooley Nutcracker is no exception. This may be his 5* debut, but he practically eats the cross country at 4* level, so this should pose no problem to him. Plus, Liz is a seasoned 5* rider, and has been round Kentucky more times than most, so who better to show him the ropes at the level. Bali is ready to take centre stage as the latest in a longline of superstars from the Halliday stable, and this weekend will see him do just that.

Best Mare: Again, tough call, like asking to choose my favourite Spice Girl. For me, as with most of my colleagues here at Eventing Nation, it would seem, it is between Cooley Rosalent, Clever Trick and Classic IV. I love them all; they are all feisty, independent women – the Destiny’s Child of the equine world, if we are going to keep on with the girlband theme. But Oliver Townend and Rosie’s round at Maryland is still fresh in my mind, so I am going to plump for Cooley Rosalent to take the Best Mare moniker here. That and I am a sucker for a grey. I might even be so bold as to say she could take the third place on the podium behind Tom and Yas – testament to her talent, not her colour, I might add.

Dark Horse: I don’t know if Calvin Böckman and The Phantom of the Opera count as a dark horse – at the tender age of 23 (he celebrates his 24th birthday over Kentucky Weekend), this guy has already got more medals than most, and he and The Phantom of the Opera have a verrrry impressive FEI record thus far. But still, this will be their first 5* start, and so for me, that qualifies them as a contender for the Dark Horse category. That, and the fact that the name ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ is, for me at least, synonymous with mystery and intrigue (it also happens to be one of my favourite musicals). They have every chance of finishing well up the leader board having rarely been out of the 20 in recent years. I’m not one to make bold, predictory statements, but I would say that these two are The Next Big Thing.

Heart Horse: Mia Farley and Phelps, with a side of Monica Spencer and Artist. Actually, you know what, I’ve a big heart, so there’s equal room in there for both. Artist stole my heart after that Pratoni performance, when he and Monica appeared out of nowhere (or New Zealand, whatever), taking the International Eventing scene – ad the rest of us – by surprise, and they have continued to impress ever since. Similarly, Mia and her best pal Phelps exploded onto the 5* scene last Fall at Maryland, where they romped around their first 5* – the only pair to finish within the time – to finish fifth. The story behind both of these horses – bought for next to nothing ($1, in Phelps’ case) after a failed racing career, only to become world class eventers – never fails to bring me out in goose bumps, and my heart swells every time I watch them. I love a Thoroughbred at the best of times, and these two dudes are flying the flag loud and proud for OTTBs. Top 10 for both of them I reckon. I’ve made wilder predictions.

CCI4*-S Winner: Yikes. The entry list for the CCI4*-S is as exciting as that of the 5*, with a slew of top names, including Pan Am Gold medallists, Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake, winners of the Grand Prix Eventing showcase, Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS, as well as the afore mentioned Goddess Liz Halliday with three rides – Miks Master C and Cooley Quicksilver amongst them. Up until the beginning of this week of course, the wonderful Tamie Smith and Mai Baum, last year’s fairytale winners of the 5*, were also on the list. Obviously they would be my go to here if that were still the case, but since their unfortunate withdrawal I am going to have to revert to another one of the afore mentioned big shots. I can just about narrow it down to Miks Master C — third in last year’s 5* — and Chin Tonic HS. On account of the fact that I chose Liz as the best US finisher in the 5*, I am going to go with Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS. Got to keep things fair here, after all – and he does seem to have hit his prime this year – long may it last…there’s a pretty big event happening over in France later where that form might come in handy…. Still, with an entry list like that, it will be a fight to the finish, and I am looking forward to seeing it all unfold It really will be (one of) the Best Weekends all year! (I mean, we still have the Olympics to come, guys. Kentucky can’t have it all this time).

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Abby Powell 

Winner: It’s incredibly hard not to pick last year’s runner up Tom McEwen and JL Dublin for the win this year (unless you pick Yasmin Ingram and Banzai du Loir, honestly flip a coin) so I’m not going to! Tom and Dub’s partnership is another year older and another year stronger. A 5* win for this pair is simply a matter of time and Dubs seemed to quite enjoy his time at the Horse Park last year. A my disclaimer though, seriously, I’m not betting against Yas and Banzai either!

Top US Finisher: She’s 18 years old this year, but age is just a number so don’t count On Cue out. She may have had a bit of time off post-Maryland, after she won the inaugural event in 2021, but her rider Boyd Martin clearly felt that the special mare had more to give. They came back to the 5* level at Burghley last year, finishing an extremely respectable 10th place. In fact, in all their previous three starts at this level, they’ve never finished lower than 10th. If On Cue can pull out a clean jumping round in the final phase like she did that year at Maryland, I believe the fairytale could happen again.

Best Mare: Other than On Cue (as above), I think that Ema Klugman and her syndicate-owned toe-flicking Bronte Beach have the potential to take this title, despite this being the mare first appearance at this level. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Bronte in-person a handful of times now and she sure shines in the sandbox and is a beast around the cross country! If she takes a liking to the Rolex arena and puts her best foot forward in the show jumping on Sunday, who knows how far up the leaderboard this pair could ultimately end up.

Dark Horse: Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way are my pick here. It feels like it wasn’t all that long ago that “Mason” was running his first 5* (it was 2021 when he made his debut at this level which I guess is a hot minute ago now, but time still feels like a blur post-2020. I digress) but this will be his sixth appearance at the level and he’s clocked completions and top-half of the pack finishes at minimum in each of them. We know Mason has the potential to go sub-30 in dressage — he did it at Burghley — and he’s a cross country machine. If Will can get this “little boy in a toy store on a sugar high” (his words in a previous interview!) then the sky is the limit for this pair!

Heart Horse: I think Mia Farley and Phelps stole a lot of hearts, including mine, after their 5* debut last year at Maryland. Mia was the epitome of realness and relatability throughout the whole event and how can you not have a soft spot for an OTTB who can rock around cross country like Phelps can? Just keep your jumping shoes on for Sunday Phelps, c’mon!

CCI4*-S Winner: I have to admit I haven’t been quite as involved with coverage this years as I have in past years, so I am just really looking at the 4* entry list right now and yikes, that’s one big stacked list! Out of a good handful of serious contenders, if I have to pick one, I’ll pick out Liz Halliday and Miks Master C to scoop up the win here. Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS might have the edge after dressage, but “Miki” and Liz have the edge in cross country time, which I think will ultimately give them the upper-hand.

Mia Farley and Phelps. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Sally Spickard

Winner: Tom McEwen and JL Dublin

It’s been a bit of an “always a bridesmaid” for Tom McEwen and JL Dublin, who’ve twice hit the podium at the 5* level, including a second place finish at Kentucky last year in the pair’s first 5* together. They followed that up with a third place finish at Pau that fall. While this partnership is still relatively young, it benefits from the experience of both horse and rider, and one could be fooled into thinking the two have been together for much longer than two years. “Dubs” has a 4*-S win under his belt this spring and seems to have come into Kentucky in fighting form. I think we could see Tom nab his second 5* title (he also won Pau in 2019 with Toledo de Kerser) this weekend.

Top US Finisher: Doug Payne and Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap still seems like he tends to fly a bit under the radar at these major events, but in truth he’s one of the best jumping horses in the field. Doug’s been working hard on some updated warm-up strategies for Quantum, encouraging him to flow more forward in his dressage work. That practice has paid off this year as the 13-year-old U.S. bred gelding has been delivering some quality tests. If he can squeak down toward his personal 5* best of 29.5 (Maryland – 2022), he’ll be in good standing to make a bid, but don’t count him out if he scores a little closer to his low-mid 30s average — this is a pair you can nearly count on to climb their way up the standings with clear and quick jumping rounds. Experience is also not to be counted out: Quantum has completed six 5* events to date. Could this be lucky number seven?

Best Mare: Cooley Rosalent

Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent are not a pair to count out for the win, but I’m slotting “Rosie” into the Best Mare spot for now. This exciting younger mare seriously impressed with a gusty performance in her 5* debut at Maryland last fall, where she finished third. Oliver has had great success on this side of the pond in past years, and he’s also making an astonishing 100th start at the 5* level this weekend — good luck beating that number.

Dark Horse: Mia Farley and Phelps

Mia Farley and Phelps are a great underdog story. Phelps, who was purchased off the track by Joanie Morris and then sold on to his current owner, David O’Connor as a sale project. No one stamped Phelps to be an upper level horse, full stop, in the beginning. But I’ve grown to really respect Mia’s ability to quietly and empathetically produce a horse, and mostly to her surprise she put in the work and secured a top five finish in her very first 5* last year at Maryland as the only rider to go clear inside the time on cross country. Mia is nervous for this first go at Kentucky, but she should believe in her preparation and the relationship she’s built with Phelps and who knows — maybe a podium finish is in the cards for this easy-to-root-for pair.

Heart Horse: Claus 63

This was a bit too easy of a choice, as I’ve worked for Sharon White for several years now and have had the privilege of watching Claus flourish under her expertise. Claus is the sixth horse Sharon will have brought to this level; many fans will know her well from the iconic photo of her and former 5* partner Cooley On Show over the ditch and brush fence on cross country. In Claus she has found a different type of ride, but one she believes very strongly in. She’s been qualified to bring Claus out at 5* for a couple years now, but as is her nature she meticulously ensures no stone is left unturned in her preparation. I’ve watched her continue her own education as a horsewoman while also helping Claus be his best self in all three phases. Their record has a few growing pains on it, but on their weekend this pair is absolutely capable of delivering a competitive finish. Education and setting the horse up for a long career will be her priority this weekend, but Sharon’s also as competitive as they come so you know she’ll be in it to perform her best.

CCI4*-S Winner: Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS

Is this a unanimous team vote? I’m not sure, but I feel it likely might be. While the Cosequin Lexington 4*-S is very competitive this weekend, and while I also know Will is setting his horses up for the Olympics rather than necessarily trying to go for gold this weekend, he’s also sitting on a potential world-beater that could earn 10s in his sleep. Time will be tricky to make on cross country as it usually is in a short format, but should Will find himself atop the board after phase two it’s hard to imagine anyone besting him.

Veronica Green-Gott

Winner: Phillip Dutton & Azure
We all know Phillip Dutton’s credentials, it would come with very little surprise to see him at the top of the podium. Azure is a slightly more controversial choice to win the 5* this weekend, as this will be the mare’s second attempt at the 5* level. However, if you look at Azure’s record, you’ll quickly see that this mare is a real athlete with a top-level pilot on board. This deadly combination has had no obstacle faults on their record, and the time penalties they do receive are typically at the 4*-S level. I think there’s enough galloping room on this track for the brave mare to really hit her stride and crack on to finish with few time penalties (I’ll refrain from saying zero to avoid jinxing them).

As for last year’s elimination at their first 5* attempt at the Maryland Five Star, that was a combination of a bit of bad luck and some miscommunication. As Phillip said, “I accept the blame, as I didn’t get the right line for her to the second corner.” We all have a few bad days sometimes, and I’m willing to bet Phillip has fewer than pretty much everyone. All that being said, he and “Sky” seem to be back at it and right as rain based on their 2024 performances. I wouldn’t hold their involuntary dismount against them heading into this weekend’s competition.

Top US Finisher: Barring Phillip & Azure, Liz Halliday & Cooley Nutcracker
Barring Phillip & Azure, Liz Halliday and Cooley Nutcracker would be my choice for Top US Finisher. Sure, it’s the gelding’s first crack at 5*, but I’d be willing to bet Liz will be riding competitively. “Bali” is just as much a competitor as his rider with a record filled with podium finishes. Together, I wouldn’t put it past this pair to make their first 5* a great one.

Best Mare: Ema Klugman & Bronte Beach
When I ran into Ema on the cross country course this morning, I greeted her by calling her Esquire Klugman, before remembering that she’s a lawyer, not a medieval knight-in-training. Either way, I’m a big fan of Ema Klugman Esq. and hope to see her at the top of the pack. I’m also a big mare person and Bronte Beach just seems like a lovely horse. Plus, with Bendigo on her shoulder, there’s no other mare I’d rather believe in. According to her record, “Bronte” is particularly brave, with only one run out/refusal. She does get some time penalties, but with fewer on the longs than the shorts, the galloping room at Kentucky may work in her favor there.

Dark Horse: Mia Farley & Phelps
If you were there when Mia Farley and Phelps crossed the finish line as the only pair to make the time at the Maryland Five Star last year, you would have them as your dark horse pair, too. The cheering, the tears, the hugs, the joy– the whole mix zone/rider tent celebrated with her. Mia always has a smile on her face and a great attitude to go with it. Plus, I’m a sucker for an amazing OTTB and Phelps is absolutely one.

Heart Horse: Chin Tonic
You know how some people are convinced that some celebrities are just lizards disguised as people? Well, I’m convinced that Chin Tonic is not actually a horse, but a Pegasus in disguise. This horse is so silky smooth and catlike in his movements; I could just watch him all day long. If I ever had the chance to ride Chin Tonic (hell I’d take a pony ride) my life would be complete.

CCI4*-S Winner: Danito & Tamie Smith
How can you not choose a horse with the nickname Danito the Flaming Cheeto as your 4* winner? After a brief hiatus, I’m thrilled Danito is back and ready to go. He’s finished on the podium at events like the Maryland Five Star and Rebecca Farm. While this will be his first return to competition at the Kentucky Horse Park since he was eliminated here in 2021, I have faith that this redhead can get the job done.

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Gillian Warner

Winner: It’s hard to not pick Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. While we see an incredibly talented field, these two consistently wow with a low 20s dressage score, typically pick up just a bit of time cross country, and jump well under pressure on the last day. They’ve certainly had their experience under pressure, and have delivered. It will be exciting to watch them in Kentucky again this year.

Top US Finisher: I’m keeping my eye on Liz Halliday and Cooley Nutcracker. Although this will be his 5* debut, with top ten finishes in seven of the nine 4* these two have run together, and with Liz’s extensive experience, I imagine they’ll impress.

Best Mare: I love a good mare, and there are plenty competing this weekend I’d love to take home with me. That said, a few in particular catch my eye, including On Cue, who has only ever finished in the top ten at the 5* level, and Karma, who may be making her 5* debut, but who has two 4* wins under her belt, as well as a top 15 finish at the Boekelo Nations Cup.

Dark Horse: 5* debutante Wakita 54 has my eye. As I said, I love a good mare, and “Kiki” and Andrew McConnon have years of experience together, including three top ten finishes at the 4* level in 2023, an impressively clean cross country record, and a trip around the Kentucky 4* last year.

Heart Horse: I have to pick Doug Payne’s sweet Quantum Leap. During my time working with Doug, Quantum’s kind personality, athletic ability, and adorable face made him so easy to fall in love with. Of course, he’s also finished in the top ten in five of the six 5* events he’s competed in.

CCI4*-S Winner: This is near impossible with so many strong pairs in the mix for the 4* this year. For me, it’s between William Coleman and Chin Tonic HS and Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Both are wildly impressive in the dressage, hold incredible cross country records (HSH Blake without a cross country jump penalty to date) and tend to show jump quite well. Chin Tonic HS has competed through the 5* level, and HSH Blake has the experience of a win at the Pan Ams last year. It’s hard to pick, and I could see it going either way, but I’ll go ahead and say Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake.

Liz Halliday and Cooley Nutcracker. PC – Sherry Stewart.

Token Horse Show Boyfriend of Team EN, Alex 

Winner: A rumour, that I am definitely not starting right now in this article, has it that Yasmin Ingham prepares for every cross-country round with 37 Cadbury’s creme eggs, bought at a post-Easter discount price. I think that’s probably the diet of a champion so she’s going to win this with Banzai du Loir.

Top US Finisher: Liz Halliday dropped 200 pounds of dead weight over the winter and I reckon that’s probably made her even more aerodynamic than usual. Cooley Nutcracker is ready to crack some nuts, and so is Liz, probably, and if I’m honest, I’m a bit scared of her, but also very impressed. Go show ’em, Liz.

Best Mare: I pick Kirsty Chabert and Classic VI, because Kirsty is a real magician. This is an inside joke that I’m including purely to make it very clear here that my primary role at these shows is to befriend everyone, but also I don’t annunciate very well, because Kirsty thought I was a magician when I told her I was a musician. You win some, you lose some. Anyway, Kirsty wears good sunglasses for cross-country and I do think this horse could move into my winners’ spot if she, too, wore sunglasses. Just something to think about.

Dark Horse: Susie Berry and Clever Trick seem really cool. I base this entirely off the fact that Tilly went to their yard recently to do a photoshoot and all the horses looked like nice horses. Also I hear the Irish have started winning five-stars now. Good for them!

Heart Horse: Last year at Boekelo’s Tuesday night party I confidently told Christoph Wahler that he and D’Accord FRH were going to win. They came twelfth, so this time, I’m just going to say that I like this horse.

CCI4*-S Winner: I was going to say Liz again, but then Tilly reminded that Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS exist. He’s a pretty-coloured horse, isn’t he? Just an excellent shade of horse. I think that’s all you really need to win.

 

One in the Pink; A Journalist on the Brink: The 2024 Kentucky Golden Chinch Awards

By on Apr 25, 2024 7:10 am -

Every year, I grow more and more convinced that EN only buses me out to five-stars for one reason: to lose friends and do whatever the opposite of influencing people is. But boy, oh boy, do the riders keep giving me plenty to work with. Every time I write one of these things I also live in abject fear and horror of the day that some probably-well-meaning but also faintly deranged person tries to fight me in the comments, so as always, a disclaimer: everyone at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day looks fabulous. I bully you because I love you. I also often miss at 90cm fences so if you want to make fun of me right back, I promise I’ll make it easy for you.

And with those i’s dotted, and those t’s crossed, let’s get down to the serious business of being recreationally mean on the internet. It’s time to hand out some Golden Chinches, folks.

The Golden Chinch for Just Being Ken

Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Look, let’s get the elephant – or the rhinestone cowboy – in the room out of the way nice and early, shall we? Will Faudree, who presented Mama’s Magic Way, has already won the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, no matter what happens from here on out. I’m certainly not the first to draw a Barbie comparison here, nor will I be the last, and I certainly can’t top the trot-up announcer remarking that Will had just stepped out of the cover of Beyonce’s newest album, so I won’t even try. Suffice it say that if Faudree’s job is just beach (or, um, trot-strip sand dune), then he’s, like, really good at it. Anywhere else he’d be a ten; here, today, he is a twelve.

The Golden Chinch Award for Requiring Your President to be Locked Up

Sara Kozumplik and Rock Phantom. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It works better as a visual, I’ll admit, if you picture JFK rather than any of our more immediate recent presidents, but in any case, Sara Kozumplik’s shimmy-worthy white wiggle dress is giving Marilyn Monroe huskily breathing out a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, much to the chagrin of wives everywhere. I honestly have no idea how she ran in this little number, but by god, did she make a good show of it. It’s a look that says ‘when you’ve got a trot up at 2, a PTA meeting in which you’ll need to get your flirt on with your son’s geometry teacher because he’s failing the class and only a bit of extra charm can save the day at 5, and an upmarket competitors’ party which will swiftly descend into chaos and table-dancing at 8′. In short, she looks smoking hot, AND she doesn’t have horse bogeys on her, somehow, so really, gold stars all ’round. Also well done to Rock Phantom for not treading on her toes in those admittedly wildly impractical flats.

The Golden Chinch for Getting the Milkin’ Done in Time for the Show

Phillip Dutton and Quasi Cool. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Well done, Phillip! You got all 600 of those heifers drained right on time to present your horse. We love a man of many talents, we love a practical jacket, and we really love it when, after a moment of deep concern, we spot the THIS logo on the red cap and can breathe a sigh of relief that today is not the day that the Facebook comments go ham.

The Golden Chinch For ALSO Frightening Us All with a Hat

Buck Davidson and Sorocaima. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Two red hats, two very different vibes. Would you like to buy a nice little hatchback, only 20,000 miles on the clock and definitely, 100%, absolutely working in a totally functional and reliable and legal way?

The Golden Chinch for Legacy Admissions

Boyd Martin and On Cue. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Earlier this week, before I got to the Horse Park, I spent a day exploring Lexington, by which I mean I kept somehow choosing Starbucks franchises on Google Maps that didn’t have a drive-thru or any parking because they were actually tucked away inside the University of Kentucky campus. I ended up so lost within the guts of the place that I’m not convinced that I didn’t accidentally matriculate at some point and now, probably, I am about to be financially eviscerated by student loan debt that spirals out of control faster than my mental health on day four of a three-day. Ha ha, just kidding, I’m fine! We’re all fine! Anyway, while being held hostage by UK (go Wildcats! So High School Musical of them! We’re all in this together, babayyyy!) I saw a lot of examples of two specific kinds of people: Stanley Cup girls (“why are they all carrying around sippy cups?” asked my beleaguered other half, with a touch of dismay) and frat boys. And it would appear, perhaps, that one of them might have been Boyd Martin, who looks for all the world like he’s about to sidle up to me at a bar, tell me about his crypto accounts, neg me a bit, and then ask for my Snapchat. Ultimately, though, it’ll all end in tears, because I know, with all the confidence in the world, that I would thrash him at beer pong and he wouldn’t like it, not one bit.

The Golden Chinch for Copyrighting a Colour

Sharon White and Claus 63. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

In 2016, artist Anish Kapoor somehow managed to acquire exclusive rights to use Vantablack, a revolutionary paint so black that it traps, rather than reflects light, which is actually quite cool and also a really weird and unnerving effect. Anyway, those exclusive rights meant that no other artist could use the paint, which pissed a few people off in the art world – which is something I really love, because it proves that no matter how niche of a world you live in, someone will be annoyed about something really petty within it. The story gets even better, too: not long after, another artist, Stuart Semple, decided to create the world’s pinkest pink, and made it available for any artist to use, except… Anish Kapoor. Take THAT, art nerd!

Anyway, all this to say that I truly hope Sharon White considers filing for exclusive use of her signature shade of orange, which she’s truly made totally emblematic of her brand over the years. Every time I see her, I think of Josie and the Pussycats. “It’s new, it’s orange!” And really, all I ever want to be doing is thinking about Josie and the Pussycats, the most underrated film of the early 2000s.

The Golden Chinch Award for Teaching Me Maths and Making Me Like It, Maybe

Bec Braitling and Caravaggio. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

If Sara Kozumplik (see above, by a few slots) is on her way to a PTA meeting to flirt shamelessly with a geometry teacher, Bec Braitling might well be that geometry teacher, because the combination of sharp tailoring and muted plaids feels, on paper at least, like quite an academic sort of aesthetic. But if that’s the case, then she’s the really cool substitute teacher that appears twice a year and thrills all her students by dropping savage one-liners about the other teachers and occasionally doing a little swear while teaching. Also, actually, there’s no way someone who’s really into math would wear such a fun shirt, so I’m going to say she’s a cool substitute English teacher, and one who’ll give you a bonus point on your essay because you closed it out by saying “In conclusion, Holden Caulfield is actually a bit of a dick.” Maybe this is just wish fulfilment for what I wish my own English teachers had been like. Maybe I desperately seek the validation I didn’t get when I was sixteen, even now I’m thirty-two. Maybe I ought to take this up with my therapist.

The Golden Chinch Award for Getting the Comments Section Going

Calvin Böckmann and The Phantom of the Opera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

All I’ve seen on various social media platforms and eventing message boards today is Calvin Böckmann objectification. So here you go, you thirsty, thirsty readers. Wait ’til you see how he salutes the ground jury in his dressage test.

EN’s coverage of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.

Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Tickets] [Scoring] [Live Stream] [Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage]

The Ultimate Guide to the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

By on Apr 24, 2024 9:00 am -

We’re beyond excited to finally have arrived at the first day of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by MARS Equestrian at the lovely Kentucky Horse Park. To prep you for the weekend ahead, we’ve compiled our traditional Ultimate Guide, which we’ll keep updated with links to each day’s posts so consider it your handy guide to keeping up with all the coverage from both the 5* and the 4*-S.

EN’s coverage of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.

Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Tickets] [Scoring] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]

THE OFFICIALS

The Ground Jury panel for the 5* this weekend will be presided over by Robert Stevenson (CAN), joined by Xavier Le Sauce (FRA) (both Robert and Xavier are also members of the Ground Jury for the Paris Olympics) and Judy Hancock (GBR). The 4*-S will be judged by president Christian Steiner (AUT), Valerie Pride (USA), and jumping judge Charlotte Skinner-Robson (USA).

The cross country course is designed by the USA’s Derek di Grazia, assisted by fellow designer Jay Hambly and the hardworking jump building crew. The show jumping will be designed by Steve Stephens (USA).

THE ENTRIES

You can view the Form Guide for the 5* here and the 4*-S here to learn all about the competitive field in attendance this year. We’ve got strong entries in both divisions with plenty of Olympic selection potential on the table; most of the horses aiming at Paris for the U.S. are opting for the 4*-S this weekend, but that by no means indicates we should count out any of the 5* pairs.

THE IMPLICATIONS

Across both classes, there’s a coveted title on offer – especially in the feature CCI5*. But excellent performances in either class, too, will help certain riders and horses make their mark on their country’s selectors as we head swiftly towards this summer’s Paris Olympics. As far as the US race for selection goes, we’re largely seeing it play out in the jam-packed CCI4*-S class, which features heavy-hitters such as Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS, Boyd Martin and Fedarman B, and Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C, to name just three of a seriously solid list.

But the five-star isn’t devoid of Olympic battles, either – they’re just largely playing out for other nations. Yasmin Ingham and Tom McEwen are both trying to earn podium finishes, which would help to put a couple of wobbles last season behind them and thrust them into contention for the formidable British team, and our trio of high-flying Germans are also here with a point to prove.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event will be livestreamed on ClipMyHorse TV / USEF Network. If you don’t have a ClipMyHorse account or a USEF account, you can sign up for a FREE Fan Membership, which will give you access to the live stream at no cost. Click here to sign up. ClipMyHorse members (including those overseas) can click here to access the live stream.

Wednesday, April 24

  • 2 p.m. – CCI5* First Horse Inspection — High Hope Inspection Lane

Thursday, April 25

  • 7:45 a.m. – CCI4*-S Dressage Test Ride
  • 8 – 12:30 a.m. – CCI4*-S Dressage
  • 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – EEI Invitational Pony Club Mounted Games – Walnut Arena
  • 1:00 p.m. — Retired Racehorse Project – Walnut Arena
  • 1:00 p.m. – CCI5*-L Dressage Test Ride
  • 1:30 –4:30 p.m. – CCI5*-L Dressage 

Friday, April 26

  • 8–11:30 a.m. – CCI4*-S Dressage
  • 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Champions Live! — Booth #316 (The Hill)
  • 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – EEI Invitational Pony Club Mounted Games – Walnut Arena
  • 11 a.m. – Kentucky Invitational CSI4* Jog, sponsored by Hagyard Pharmacy-Claiborne Ring
  • 12:30 – 4:10 p.m. – CCI5*-L Dressage
  • 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. — Retired Racehorse Project – Walnut Arena
  • From 7 p.m. – Kentucky Invitational CSI4* $38,700 Welcome Speed Cup 1.45m, presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute

Saturday, April 27

  • 9:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – CCI4*-S Cross-Country 
  • 11:45 a.m.  – Kentucky Invitational $35,000 Special Phase 1.45m – Rolex Stadium
  • 1–4:15 p.m. – CCI5*-L Cross-Country
  • 6:00 p.m. – $225,000 Kentucky Invitational CSI4* 1.60m – Rolex Stadium

Sunday, April 28

  • 7:30 a.m. – CCI4*-S and CCI5*-L Horse Inspection, sponsored by Hagyard Pharmacy
  • 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – CCI4*-S Jumping Test; reverse order of placing
  • 12:30 – 12:45 p.m. – Presentation of the Awards
  • 2 p.m. – CCI5*-L Jumping Test first group; reverse order of placing
  • 3 p.m. – CCI5*-L Jumping Test second group; reverse order of placing
  • 4 p.m. – Presentation of the Awards

Pre-Event Coverage

Behind the Barn with Doug Payne and the Pitfalls of Lactose

Bec Braitling Reflects on a Return to 5* Two Decades in the Making

Behind the Barn with Liz Halliday and Tamie Smith

One for the Money, 63 for the Show: EN’s Form Guide to the CCI4*-S at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

We’re Back! EN’s Form Guide to the 2024 Defender Kentucky CCI5*

Behind the Barn with Will Coleman and His Sunscreen

“Timing is Everything”: Reigning Kentucky Champion Withdrawn from CCI4*-S

What’s Happening at the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event

Kentucky CCI5* At A Glance: The Horses and Riders of The Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

Get a First Look at Derek di Grazia’s Defender Kentucky Cross Country

Behind the Barn with Sara Kozumplik and Sharon White

Kentucky Entry Update: A German Withdrawal + A New Trailblazer

Buy a Mai Baum Hat, Support Strides for Equality Equestrians at Kentucky

Defender Kentucky Drawn Order is Live; Phillip Dutton to Lead Off

Behind the Barn Returns: Get to Know Boyd Martin and Will Faudree

Fancy a Career in Equestrian Broadcasting? Learn from John Kyle at Kentucky!

Feral to Five-Star: Camarillo’s Ready to Step Up with Doug Payne

Catching Up with Derek di Grazia Ahead of Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

Defender Kentucky Entries Released: 47 Entries Headline 5* Field

Cosequin® Lexington 4*-S to Offer Increased Prize Money at 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian

Kentucky 5* Gets a New Name: Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by MARS Equestrian

Wednesday, First Horse Inspection Day

One in the Pink; A Journalist on the Brink: The 2024 Kentucky Golden Chinch Awards

Behind the Barn with the Next Generation

All Horses Pass First Horse Inspection at Kentucky, but Not Without Drama

Join EN and Ride iQ for a Kentucky Course Walk with Kyle Carter + Will Faudree

Behind the Barn with Jennie Brannigan and Her ‘Distinctive’ Salute

Make Your Nominations: Choose the Achieve Equine #Supergrooms for the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event

Thursday, Dressage Day One

Behind the Barn with “The Smiling Assassin” Jessica Phoenix

Yasmin Ingham Sets Sail on Day One of Defender Kentucky CCI5*

Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS Withdraw from Lexington CCI4*-S at the Kentucky Three-Day

Commando 3 Surges to Front In the Final Ride of the Day in Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S

Let’s Get This Party Started! – Live Blog from the 5* Dressage Day One at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

Behind the Barn with Buck Davidson and Leslie Law

Blue Grass & Blue Ribbons: EN’s Team Picks for KY3DE

Do You Accept Your Mission? EN’s Trivia Tour with Chinch

Behind the Barn with Phillip Dutton and A Walk Down Memory Lane

Friday, Dressage Day Two

Tom McEwen Takes Command, U.S. Riders Charge on Final Dressage Day at Defender Kentucky CCI5*

Miks Master C and Dyri Tie for Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S Lead Heading in to Cross Country

Dancing Shoes On for 5* Dressage Day Two – Live Blog from The Best Weekend All Year – Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

Behind the Barn with Caroline Pamukcu and Hannah Sue Hollberg

EN’s coverage of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.

Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Tickets] [Scoring] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Apr 23, 2024 8:02 am -

Want to make your own mark on tomorrow’s first horse inspection at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event? Then make sure you give Liz Halliday’s latest reel a watch and make your vote count in the comments, because this stylish gal needs some help narrowing down her outfit choices. (I’d like to raise my hand and ask very nicely if she’ll be discarding the second, third, and fourth-place options, but I guess being blocked by Liz for solicitation before the competition has even begun probably isn’t my wisest move. Also, though, Liz…I’m here. And I like shoes.

Events Opening Today: Mill Creek Pony Club Horse Trials, Middleburg H.T., Cobblestone Farms H.T. I, Golden Spike H.T.

Events Closing Today: Winona Horse Trials, River Glen Spring H.T., Queeny Park H.T., Majestic Oaks Ocala H.T., Unionville May H.T., Galway Downs Spring H.T., Tryon International Three Day Event

Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World:

Find yourself spending the majority of your time in the arena? Obviously, in a perfect world, you’ll be able to add lots of variety to your horse’s life, because hacking, or finding new places to school, gives him exposure as well as preparing him for variable terrain, which is an essential innate skill for cross-country. But sometimes, you are a bit stuck, whether that’s for lack of access to riding space or because you’re on a very green horse. Here’s some tips for making sure he doesn’t get sour in the school.

Sometimes, articles are worth a read almost entirely because they created such a maelstrom of split opinion and conversation online. This piece, published in the Chronicle of the Horse, is certainly an example of a conversation-starter: when I last checked, the Facebook comments were popping off with thoughts and opinions. The subject? Electric vehicles, and whether they’re the future of towing horses. It’s well worth a read if you’re interested in making your rig a bit more environmentally forward-thinking, but also if you, too, want to spend some time with your popcorn in the comments (where, it’s got to be said, a few fair and valid points are also being made). Give it a read here.

It’s an interesting time for the FEI’s Nations Cup series, across the three disciplines. Over in the showjumping world, we’ve seen the series rebrand this year as the Longines League of Nations, with mixed feedback so far, and in dressage, a couple of key venues have decided to follow Aachen in switching to a team competition format but outside the bounds of the Nations Cup. Horse & Hound has more on this.

And finally, need a good listen to start your day? Tune into the latest episode of the USEA Podcast for an Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Eventing special, as a team of brilliant ladies gets together to chat through Championships, opportunities, a whole heaping helping of excitement for a whole lot of riders, and more. Listen here.

Sponsor Corner: 

Does your horse have spring allergies, or is just me? Find some help on identifying and managing horse allergies here.

 

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Watch This: 

A moment, please, for Will Coleman.

“Timing is Everything”: Reigning Kentucky Champion Withdrawn from CCI4*-S

By on Apr 22, 2024 9:16 am -

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

We’re very sad to share the news that Tamie Smith and hot favorite Mai Baum, 2023 CCI5* winners at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, will not be contesting this week’s CCI4*-S competition as planned, following an unfortunate incident at home that slightly derailed the gelding’s preparation for the competition.

“We arrived in the amazing state of Kentucky and [are] excited for a great week ahead with the Young Guns!” writes Tamie in a post on her social media channels. “Sadly, Mai Baum will be sitting out this Kentucky 4S and resting up for an exciting summer. They say timing is everything and while I was away competing some of my other horses last weekend, Lexus was a bit wild & feeling exuberant and pulled away from his handler and tweaked himself. He wasn’t 100 percent in time to make the trip across the country to Kentucky and we have elected to withdraw him from the Defender 3-Day Event.”

The CCI4*-S at Kentucky is set to be a significant event in the Paris selection infrastructure for the US Eventing Team, with many of the sport’s heaviest hitters lining up in this, rather than the feature five-star, class.

“It can be difficult to withdraw your horse from a key competition, especially leading up to this summer, however, this decision is in his long-term best interest and the one thing we’ve never wavered from is our commitment not to compromise the well-being of any horse,” continues Tamie, who won with Mai Baum in their prep event at Galway Downs CCI4*-S this spring. “I look forward to seeing everyone in the Blue Grass state; and, although I know Lexus will certainly miss seeing all of his fans, he has been given strict orders to behave himself until I return home.”

While we won’t have the treat of seeing the Ahearn family’s eighteen-year-old superstar in action, there’s still two exciting shots in it for Tamie: she’ll ride Danito, who was second at the MARS Maryland Five-Star in 2022, and nine-year-old Kynan, who’s never finished lower than seventh in an FEI event, in the CCI4*-S. Plus, you can still represent Team Lexus this week – just head to the USEA booth at the Horse Park to pick up your Mai Baum x Strides for Equality baseball cap, which will help fund the Mai Baum SEE Scholarship to help increase diversity in the sport.

EN’s coverage of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.

Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event: [Website] [Tickets] [Entries/Drawn Order]

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Apr 22, 2024 8:59 am -

 

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Last week, we shared news that the European contingent of horses had all cleared quarantine en route to the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event – and now, they’re not only in situ at the Horse Park, their riders have all arrived, too! I fly in yesterday from London and was surprised to bump into Germany’s Christoph Wahler at the gate – but because eventers are truly bonkers, he explained to me that he’d ended up coming via Heathrow because he wanted to squeeze in a last-minute show with his young horses in the morning and getting a short flight to London to then travel long-haul to Cincinnati was the only truly viable option. I, on the other hand, considered heading to the yard to squeeze in a short 8.30 a.m. schooling session and ultimately decided that I simply could not be bothered to add another thing to my day, so that’s probably why I’m not a professional rider.

Anyway, insanity aside, so much goes into these long transatlantic journeys, and I think it’s all too easy for us to assume that once people get to that level of sport, it’s all pretty smooth sailing. Christoph was filling me in on his own Kentucky drama as we waited to board: when the horses arrived at Chicago from Germany last week, somehow, his tack trunk didn’t come off the plane. And so groom Lilly and his horse, D’Accord, have been without, well, everything for the past few days as she’s settled him into his new digs. Fortunately, a local tack shop kindly lent her everything she needed to get her charge out hacking around the park, and, Christoph has been told, his trunk should be with him today. We’re crossing our fingers – and I’m on a mission to find out which tack shop saved the day, because this is such a classic example of horse folks just being really quite good eggs.

National Holiday: It’s the Monday of Kentucky week, duh. I won’t even say ‘for those who celebrate’, because… come on now.

U.S. Weekend Action:

Fair Hill International April H.T. & CCI-S (Elkton, MD) [Website] [Results]

Masterson Equestrian Trust YEH/NEH Qualifier (Lexington, KY) [Website] [Results]

Meadowcreek Park – The Spring Social Event (Kosse, TX) [Website] [Results]

Ocala International Festival of Eventing (Ocala, FL) [Website] [Results]

Sporting Days Farm April H.T. III (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results]

Major International Events:

Adelaide Equestrian Festival: [Website] [Results]

Strzegom Spring Open II (Poland): [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Results:

Kelsall Hill International (Kelsall, Cheshire): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

As a news site, we maintain some degree of necessary impartiality when it comes to sharing the stories of the folks and horses within our sport. But we’re also only human, so permit us a little leeway to be complete and utter fangirls this week when one of our own, Ema Klugman returns to the five-star level with a very, very cool debutant mare. Ema’s a pretty cool character, if we say so ourselves, and there’s no shortage of reasons to throw your cheering power behind her: not only has she been part of the Nation Media team for a good few years, she also first made the step to the top level as the youngest rider in the Kentucky field aboard the oldest horse when she, at 23, piloted the late, great Standardbred-cross Bendigo around Kentucky. He was nineteen at the time, and it wasn’t to be his only outing at the top level, either. Beyond that? She’s an outspoken advocate for human rights, and alongside producing her string of horses, she’s also busy at law school. Just before shipping to Lexington, she passed the Virginia Bar Exam. This week, we all want to #BeMoreEma. Check out US Eventing’s weekend long-read on her to double down on your own fangirl vibes!

Speaking of very cool women to cheer extra-loud for, may we suggest Susie Berry? It always feels a bit naughty doing this – this is an article I wrote for the Chronicle of the Horse, but I so firmly believe in everything that Susie is doing and building, and I’m also such a big fan of the game and gutsy mare she’s brought to Kentucky this week, that I can’t not share it. Find out how the 28-year-old sort-of-accidentally became a pro, which crowd favourite US five-star horse she had a hand in producing, and plenty more about her Kentucky ride, Clever Trick, in this long read, which I named after a Lindsay Lohan film, because of course I did.

Speaking of serious, top-level competition, apparently the hobby horse movement is on the rise in the UK. For those of you who haven’t been graced with the incredibly odd videos of hobby horse ‘riders’ that make their way around social media fairly regularly (and in which you may well have been tagged by a non-horsey friend saying “haha is this u”), let Horse&Hound take you on a bit of a journey through the madness. I’ve already decided that my magnum opus for 2024 will be a full-length documentary following my non-horsey partner’s journey from a local hobby horse show to the World Championships, but I’m still trying to find the right moment to break that news to him.

Need a pre-Kentucky listen to get your day going? The Heels Down Happy Hour pod is here to serve. Pour yourself an Old Fashioned (it’s five o’clock everywhere, all the time during Kentucky week, which operates under airport rules) and tune in.

Morning Viewing:

Kentucky might be all we can think about this week, but Badminton’s creeping up, too! Catch up with amateur eventers Evie and Donut as they continue their prep for the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship:

“What, Like It’s Hard?” Your Attorney Takes Adelaide CCI5* Dressage Lead

By on Apr 19, 2024 5:29 pm -

 

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Oh, you thought two spring CCI5* fixtures was a treat? Well buckle up, eventing nerds, because – surprise! – there’s another one on the go right now, whetting our collective whistles for the few weeks of madness to come.

I won’t profess to understand how time zones work, so to be totally honest with you, cross-country at the Adelaide Equestrian Festival in sunny Australia could be starting in five minutes, or it could be starting in five hours, and I’m sorry, but not that sorry, if that’s not a professional enough analysis for you. Somewhere between writing this sentence and coming to the tail end of this article, I suspect one of my more sensible colleagues will send me a painstakingly calculated guide to when the pivotal second phase begins, and then I will copy and past that information where it belongs at the bottom of the piece, but I will not come back to the top of it and erase this paragraph. For posterity’s sake, but also because I have to live my own truth, don’t I?

Anywho, whenever the cross-country starts, what we can tell you in full confidence is this: the dressage is done and dusted, and our compact field of eleven starters has begun to establish its competitive hierarchy.

In first place overnight is New Zealand’s Diane Gilder, riding the rising twenty-year-old (yes, really, but he’s a November baby, so he’s rising slowly) Your Attorney. This is a third five-star start for the pair, who made their debut at Adelaide in 2019, finishing sixth, and then returned last year, finishing seventh. Though they didn’t quite match last year’s 28.9, their first-phase score of 31.5 puts them 2.2 penalties ahead of second-placed Andrew Cooper and Hey Arnold of Australia, who sit on an overnight score of 33.7. Third place is the domain of Aussies Gordon Bishop and Advantage Hill on a 34.2.

Though no one broke the 30 barrier this year, we also saw only two riders head into the 40s, which means that cross-country gets underway with just 14.1 penalties spanning the entire field. That means that a refusal will be the difference between first and last place, as will a flag penalty – while a MIM activation or even a smattering of time looks pretty pricy, too. Diane and Andrew, who finished seventh and eighth last year, respectively, are the highest-placed 2023 returners to this year’s event, with reigning champion Shane Rose sidelined after a nasty fall recently.

Over in the CCI4*-S, Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture lead the way on a score of 27.8 – the only sub-30 score in the class, and a great start to their bid for Paris selection, while the CCI3*-L is helmed by Olivia Barton and APH Sodoku on a 29.9. You can find each class’s dressage leaderboards here.

And what of the cross-country challenge to come? Well, it’s going to be a big’un, by the looks of it. Course designer Clayton Fredericks has an interesting challenge on his hands laying his routes around Adelaide’s available space, because this is a true city event, not dissimilar, all things considered, to the location afforded by Pau in the south of France. Here’s a look at some of the challenges he’s snuck into this year’s track.

Want to follow along? Of course you do – who on earth wants to miss a five-star?! Luckily for all of us a touch too far away to enjoy the show in person, Horse&Country TV will be live-streaming all the action – you can find all the information here, plus a closer look at the course in full. I’m semi-reliably informed that the start times for the remaining phases of the CCI5* are as follows, but Our Attorney (ha, ha) tells us that we can’t be held responsible if we got those calculations wrong, so please don’t shout at us. Go Eventing, Go Adelaide, and, um, Go Math Lessons, I guess.

Saturday 20th – 5* Cross Country – 1pm local time / Friday (19th) 11:30pm ET / 5:30am CEST

Sunday 21st – 5* Show Jumping – 2:45pm local time / 1:15am ET / 7:15am CEST

Adelaide Equestrian Festival [Website] [5* Entries] [Schedule] [Scoring] [Live Stream]

Olympic Flame Starts Journey to Paris as 100-Day Countdown Begins

By on Apr 17, 2024 12:30 pm -

A composite image of the Port of Marseilles, which will welcome the Olympic torch to France this month. Photo © Paris 2024 – Florian Hulleu.

We’ve officially made it to the 100-day countdown to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and whether you’re one of the (very lucky) few who managed to bag some tickets in today’s final release, or you’re planning a watching party from home, it’s hard not to feel the frisson of excitement that comes with this kind of proximity.

And if that spark hasn’t quite been lit for you yet? Perhaps a literal flame will do the trick.

Yesterday saw the start of the traditional torch relay, which wends its way to the site of the Games, begin as usual in Olympia, Greece – the site of the original, ancient Olympic Games. Though traditionally, the torch is lit using the sun’s rays and a parabolic mirror, an unseasonably overcast day meant that a bit of help was needed from another flame. The ceremony was helmed by Greek actress Mary Mina, who adopted the role of high priestess in the dramatic ceremony, which took place in Olympia’s ruins. Mina lit the flame, and then passed it along to its first torchbearer, Greek rowing champion Stefanos Douskos, who won gold in the men’s single sculls at the Tokyo Olympics.

Now, the torch begins a long and winding 3,100 mile journey to Paris, where it’ll land on July 26 for the Opening Ceremony. In the meantime, it’ll first spend eleven days travelling around Greece – helped by 600 torchbearers –  finishing its tour of the country in Athens at the Panathenenaic Stadium on April 26. Then, the torch will travel on the Belem, a historic ship that dates back to 1896, the first year of the modern Olympics, to Marseille in the south of France.

Once the torch reaches France, it’ll begin its passage between a whopping 10,000 people chosen as torchbearers – from Olympic athletes to ordinary citizens to folks with incredible stories of their own, representing a cross-section of the diverse French population. While Marseille looks set to have the biggest celebration of all (Paris notwithstanding, of course), with a full day of parades, workshops, parties, and exhibitions planned for April 26 at the city’s port, there’ll be plenty going on elsewhere in France as the torch makes its way through the mainland and overseas French territories, too – and these celebrations can be tracked from 8 May using the official Games app.

The torch isn’t just a celebration of the Olympics – it’s also intended as a symbol of global unity, which feels particularly poignant as conflict continues to escalate around the world.

“This torch is a message of peace, a message of friendship between peoples, which is all the stronger at a time when the world is in such bad shape,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to France 2 TV at the torch-lighting ceremony.

The full route of the Olympic torch can be previewed here.

EN is proud to partner with Kentucky Performance Products for coverage of the Paris Olympics. Click here to learn all about KPP and their line-up of science- and research-backed nutritional support products.

Top Contender Among Latest Badminton Withdrawals

By on Apr 17, 2024 9:15 am -

Gemma Stevens and Jalapeno at Badminton in 2023. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.

Speak to any rider who’s put in an entry for a five-star, and they’ll all sing you some variation of the same song: “I’m not even worrying about the cross-country right now – all I’m worrying about is getting there.” Keeping a horse at top-level fitness while also avoiding minor strains and injuries is one of the toughest balancing acts a horseperson can manage, and so for every stacked entry list we pore over with excitement, there’s always a handful — sometimes a double handful — of horses on it that’ll disappear from the line-up before we even touch down on the competition grounds.

That’s certainly been the case with the MARS Badminton Horse Trials field of entries so far, which is now sitting pretty at 82 following a spate of withdrawals. That’s good news for some: all three of our initially waitlisted horses and riders have now been accepted to the competition, though one of them, Becky Heappey with DHI Babette K, is also on our withdrawal list. But the addition of Harry Meade‘s Away Cruising means that the British rider will be the first in this modern era to take three horses around Badminton, thanks to a tweak to this year’s rules, and we also have the good fortune of welcoming Gemma Stevens and her 2021 Bicton pop-up five-star winner, Chilli Knight, back to this level.

Aistis Vitkauskas and Commander VG. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Our thoughts are with those who’ll unexpectedly be staying home, though, even if their sad departure is someone else’s golden opportunity. We’ve seen eight withdrawals so far, all but one of which has come from British competitors. The outlier? Lithuania’s Aistis Vitkauskas and his game, tough Commander VG, who contested four five-stars last year and has been a stalwart competitor at championship level. The duo have earned their country an individual berth at this summer’s Olympic Games and so, we’d like to hope, their withdrawal is out of an abundance of caution and favours a safe, steady lead-in to Paris.

Beyond Aistis and Commander, and Becky Heappey and Babette, we’ve seen withdrawals come in from comeback queen Bubby Upton, who has pulled second ride Magic Roundabout from the entries, but remains in situ with Cola; Andrew James, who will not ride the homebred Celtic Morning Star after a tricky final prep run at Burnham Market saw them retire in the CCI4*-S; Alexander Whewall, who has withdrawn Ellfield Voyager after missing all his planned prep runs; and Heidi Coy, who scratched Halenza due to a minor injury.

We’ve also seen two withdrawals from major contenders: Gemma Stevens will not run Jalapeno, who finished sixth in extraordinarily tough conditions in last year’s running of the event, due to a ‘tiny little tweak’.

“She […] needs 6 weeks walking but she is absolutely fine in herself,” writes Gemma in a statement on social media. “She is feeling in the form of her life and is so fit and ready to go which has made this even harder to take this time for us as a whole team. Over the last year we have had our fair share of injuries (all completely different) and we all work so hard every single day — it really does take a village and so much meticulous care, time, work and effort to get event horses to a 5* and we started with that care at the beginning of November with Jala.”

Piggy March and Brookfield Inocent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Also withdrawn is 2019 winner Piggy March‘s sole ride, Brookfield Inocent, who was tipped as the winner by EquiRatings – but who has struggled to stay consistently sound since the 2021 season, when the pair won team gold and individual silver at the European Championships after withdrawing from the travelling reserve slot for the Tokyo Olympics. He returned at the start of the 2022 season on exceptional form, but after two short-format runs in April of that year, wasn’t seen again until August of 2023, when he once again returned for two short-format runs with top placings, and then bowed back out of the spotlight. This year, the 15-year-old ran a slow HC in the Intermediate at Thoresby rather than undertaking his intended run in the CCI3*-S, but didn’t come forward for his Advanced entry at Burnham Market last week.

We wish speedy, uncomplicated recoveries and fruitful reroutes to all those combinations withdrawn from Badminton so far. You can take a look at the full, revised entry list here, and keep it locked onto EN for a full form guide analysing the results and stories of each and every combination, coming soon. This year’s MARS Badminton Horse Trials will take place from 8–12 May. Until then: Go Eventing.

EN’s coverage of MARS Badminton Horse Trials is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.

MARS Badminton Horse Trials: [Website] [Tickets] [Schedule] [Entries] [Live Stream]

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Apr 16, 2024 8:04 am -

We’re on the final countdown to Kentucky now. Here at EN, Sally and I have been not-so-secretly checking the weather for Lexington (currently very warm at around 28C; cooling down as we head into the start of next week, just FYI); I’m frantically placing last-minute orders for whatever additional bits and bobs I feel like I simply must have for next week’s photos; the European horses are loading up for their trip Stateside; the tummy-rumblings for a heaping helping of bourbon chicken have kicked off; in short, every last one of us is almost too excited to function. How are you preparing for your Kentucky experience – whether you’ll be watching in person or via the live stream? Let us know in the comments!

Events Opening Today: Carriage House Farm Combined Test, Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club Spring H.T., Poplar Place June H.T., GMHA June H.T., MCTA H.T. at Shawan Downs, Essex H.T., The Spring Event at Archer, IEA Horse Trials, Equestrians’ Institute H.T.

Events Closing Today: Riga Meadow at Coole Park Combined Test, Windridge Farm Spring H.T., Waredaca H.T., Texas Rose Horse Park H.T., Stable View Local Charities H.T., The Event at Skyline

Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World: 

For the people of Gaza, simply surviving the ongoing genocide is the sole focus. But what happens beyond that, when – we can only hope – the violence ceases, the dust settles, and the chance to rebuild is on the table? For the team at the Aljawad Riding Club, reuniting with their beloved horses and bringing the joy of equestrianism back to their home is goal number one. Find out more about the riding school and, if you can, help them out here.

This summer’s Paris Olympics will have a unique opening ceremony. Stretching across the city and utilising the River Seine, it’ll be the first one ever to take place outside of a stadium and with free access for spectators. But that format can also pose security risks, and President Emmanuel Macron isn’t blind to that. Here’s what he has to say.

Suspect your horse might have something funny going on with his stifle? Then it’s worth reading up on patella injuries and locking patellas (while you wait for the vet to come have a look, of course). This comprehensive piece provides an overview of how the patella works, the most common ways it can be injured or not function properly, and what the prognosis can look like.

I love Lauren Sprieser’s writing, and once again, she doesn’t miss with her latest piece. She might be a dynamo in the dressage ring herself, but once upon a time, she liked to dabble in triathlons – at a level that she describes as being equivalent to the Intro level at a schooling show. And that, she says, is exactly where she’s happy to stay – just as many folks competing in those schooling shows might not want to deal with moving into recognised territory and, let’s be real, the huge financial and time commitments required to do so. Dive into her latest column here for all her thoughts.

Managing your horse’s diet can be confusing. And wandering around the feed store can often only add to that confusion, because man, are there a lot of options! This article from nutritionist Madeline Boast makes for an interesting and useful jumping-off point, helping you to understand the basic function and relative necessity of many of the products you’ll find on the shelves. 

Tegan Vincent-Cooke is a pioneer in her discipline. She’s the first Black para rider in the UK, and after contesting a CPEDI3* freestyle last month, she’s working hard on reaching her dream of riding for the British team. And along the way? She’s sharing her unique experiences and hurdles, and providing another rallying point for important conversations within the sport. Find out more about her here.

Sponsor Corner: 

Does your horse have spring allergies, or is just me? Find some help on identifying and managing horse allergies here.

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Apr 15, 2024 6:08 am -

 

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Another big weekend of eventing’s in the books, and with it came a win for the USA, signed, sealed, and delivered by Hallie Coon and Cute Girl in the CCI4*-S at the North Holland Horse Trials. The pair began the week in fourth place on a 26.7, climbed into the lead after adding just 4.4 time penalties in a decisive, bold cross-country round, and then delivered a classy, characteristic clear in the showjumping to secure their first international win as a partnership. Expect big things from them this year – we last saw them make waves at Boekelo last year, when they put themselves in second place after dressage, and this year is set to be Cute Girl’s first truly competitive season at four-star after learning the ropes and being produced steadily last season. Go Hallie, Go USA – and Go Eventing!

National Holiday: It’s National Laundry Day. I spent two hours the other day making plans for all our yard’s winter rugs to go off for washing and reproofing and, as if on cue, a storm rolled in. So that’s that on hold for a bit, I guess.

US Weekend Action:

F.E.N.C.E. H.T. (Tryon, SC) [Website] [Results]

Longleaf Pine H.T. (Raeford, NC) [Website] [Results]

Unionville Horse Trials (Unionville, PA) [Website] [Results]

Spring Bay H.T. (Lexington, KY) [Website] [Results]

Twin Rivers Spring International (Paso Robles, CA) [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Action: 

Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International (Burnham Market, Norfolk): [Website] [Results]

Oxstalls (X) (Stroud, Gloucs.): [Results]

Major International Events:

North Holland Horse Trials (The Netherlands): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

To microchip or not to microchip – that is no longer the question. Now that USEF’s bringing in mandatory microchips, though, are you feeling up-to-speed on what they do, how they work, and what you’ve got to do, or are you slightly winging it and hoping your barn owner might take the reins on this one? Never fear: it’s all actually pretty straightforward. Here’s a handy primer from USEA on how they work and why they’re so important.

Sitting the trot: a necessary evil, right? Well, not necessarily – if you learn how to do it properly. As it turns out, developing your seat will allow the motion to flow through you in a much more manageable way, rather than making your teeth rattle in your head. Who’d have thunk it! Dressage aficionado Amelia Newcomb runs you through the need-to-knows here – give her tips a try and you’ll be gliding, rather than jackhammering, your way around the arena soon.

Go behind the major results and find out the story of Lauren Nicholson – from young rider hellbent on Olympic glory to a mentee of the O’Connors and well beyond.  My favourite part of this piece? Finding out more about how Lauren and the O’Connors use natural horsemanship in a sensible, practical way to put the foundations on their young event horses. Check out the full story here.

And finally, a bit of silliness from our sister site, Horse Nation. You know what’s worse than trying to get an iPhone to let you vent your spleen through a serious of creative swear words? Getting it to help you pass a horse-specific message along without having it jumbled into nonsense by autocorrect. A ducking nightmare.

Morning Viewing:

Mustang Sally (er, Elisa) is back – and this time, she’s showing us how she works through the fundamentals of getting a Mustang to trust her and work with her. Her tips can be implemented with your horse even if you don’t have a Mustang yourself, so check them out:

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Apr 9, 2024 8:42 am -

Posted by Shane Rose Eventing on Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Some nice news this morning – Australia’s Shane Rose has been able to get back onto the yard following a horrific accident last month that resulted in a broken femur and ribs, fractured pelvis, and concussion. Indefatigable Shane is still putting all his focus into getting to Paris this summer with the warhorse Virgil, and frankly, if anyone can do it, it’s Shane – but we do also hope he’s taking it easy for now in the aftermath of that laundry list of injuries. We have no doubt that his team and horses were delighted to see him back at the stables, and we’re looking forward to seeing him back on the leaderboard before too long.

Events Opening Today: USEA MDHT YEH/NEH Qualifier, Flora Lea Spring H.T., Willow Draw Charity Show, Woodside Spring H.T., Spring Coconino Horse Trials, Virginia Horse Center Eventing

Events Closing Today: The Event at Archer Spring Fling YEH and NEH, University of New Hampshire Spring H.T., Loudoun Hunt Pony Club Spring H.T., Horse Park of New Jersey Spring H.T.

Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World:

Competition management teams are true unsung heroes. From making sure multi-horse riders don’t have timetable clashes to chasing a million late payments and missing Coggins tests, they do some seriously heavy lifting with the admin stuff to ensure we all get to experience the thrill of being counted down in the startbox. So how can you make their jobs a bit easier? By ensuring your own admin is in decent shape. Here are some sage tips – which are so easy to implement! – from STRIDER and USEA.

We’ve seen a spate of withdrawals from Badminton and Kentucky in the last 24 hours or so. Chief among them? Ros Canter’s Izilot DHI, who won Pau last year and now looks to be heading to Badminton, rather than to Kentucky; Gemma Stevens’ Jalapeno, who finished sixth at Badminton last year but will not compete this year, and Tamie Smith, who has withdrawn her five-star mount, Elliot V, from Kentucky and will not defend her crown. Catch up on all the latest withdrawal news here.

An oldie, but a goodie from The Plaid Horse on managing stressors on competition day. Did you know that stressors are more than just internal worries about things like remembering your test or managing your time? There’s actually six major types of stress: social, emotional, physical, spiritual, mental, and environmental, and all of those can sneak into your show day and derail your performance. The solution? Learn to identify them as they pop up and manage them accordingly. This piece is a great starting point.

We tend to be so focused on truly egregious welfare issues in our sport, like abusive training techniques and devices. But USEF’s new rule sheds light on those welfare concerns that might take a back seat – such as the quality of a horse’s sleep, and how his environment affects that. Find out more about the rule, what it hopes to change, and how your horse can have his best night’s sleep here.

Derek di Grazia at his ‘other’ five-star home at Burghley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sponsor Corner: Resident course designer Derek di Grazia is busy getting ready for the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event! Kentucky holds a special place for Derek, who won the event itself in 1985 aboard Thoroughbred/Appaloosa cross Sasquatch. Get a teaser of what the track could look like and hear what Derek has to say in this article sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products.

Watch This:

It’s time for another helmet cam to give you a much-needed adrenaline boost as you head into your day!

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Apr 8, 2024 5:42 am -

Strzegom in Poland was the weekend’s major European eventing fixture, and what a competition it was: twisty, technical courses from 1* to CCI4*-S put horses and riders to the test, and that four-star was, as is always the case at Strzegom, packed with names you need to know. The eventual winner was Belgium’s Tine Magnus and Dia Van Het Lichterveld Z, a horse I’ve been obsessed with since her young horse class years, and who climbed from first-phase eleventh place with a super-speedy 2.4 time penalties across the country. Belgium’s exceptional 2023 season looks set to be continuing in much the same way in 2024.

Second in this class was a pair who US audiences, particularly, will want to take note of – Germany’s Christoph Wahler and D’Accord 70, who’ll be heading stateside in a couple of weeks to tackle their first Kentucky. Prepare to fall in love with the incredibly leggy tall glass of water that is D’Accord. Also, let’s be real, you’re going to fancy Christoph. In ninth place, too, we saw another high-flying German duo who are aiming for Kentucky – that was Calvin Böckmann, once dubbed ‘the young Jung’ by EquiRatings, and The Phantom of the Opera, who’ll be making their 5* debut this month. And, finally, in fifteenth place after a great run, we see Nicolai Aldinger and Timmo, who’ll be rounding out that trio of German-lads-we’ll-all-be-talking-about in Lexington soon.

And, of course, we actually saw the Stars and Stripes represented in Strzegom, thanks to Alexa Gartenberg and Cooley Kildare! They finished 36th after an educational early-season run, and we can’t wait to see how they develop as 2024 unfolds.

National Holiday: It’s National Empanada Day. I still dream daily of the surprisingly excellent Mexican food that can be picked up at dodgy-looking gas stations in Ocala, so if you’re on that side of the pond, have one for me today.

US Weekend Action: 

Stable View Spring 2/3/4* and H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results]

CDCTA Spring H.T. (Ruckersville, VA) [Website] [Results]

Pine Hill Spring H.T. (Bellville, TX) [Website] [Results]

Rocking Horse Spring H.T. (Altoona, FL) [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Results:

Larkill (Larkhill, Wilts.): [Results]

Norton Disney (1) (Norton Disney, Lincs.): [Results]

Major International Events:

Strzegom Spring Open 1 (Poland): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

There are few things that strike fear into the hearts of horse owners quite like the idea of soft-tissue injuries. That’s because these tricky, nuanced lamenesses can be a real bugger to get right – each has a very specific rehabilitation plan and timeline associated with it, and setbacks aren’t particularly uncommon on the road to recovery. But while that might sound pretty doom and gloom (can you tell I’ve had to deal with an ongoing and particularly tricky one?!), there is light at the end of the tunnel, and with careful management, lots of horses who’ve ‘done a leg’ can return to their peak performance. This article offers an interesting insight and overview into each part of the process.

It turns out I really needed an essay on half-halts as a metaphor for life this morning. After a long, achingly tough weekend, I can relate all too well to Camilla Mortensen’s beautifully penned blog about finding a way to momentarily regroup before powering forward into the unknown with a clearer head, better balance, and a touch more confidence. Read her words, which are much better than my summary of them, here, and I hope, if you’re in need of galvanising this morning, that they do that for you, too.

Another thing I needed this morning? This very good advice on when and why to clip. My mare didn’t get a clip this winter, and now she’s in peak shedding season, and believe you me, I am desperate to take the blades to her and skip the next few weeks of accidentally flossing my teeth with grimy belly hair. But Cat Hill of World Class Grooming is here to put a stop to my crazy, once and for all. Maybe.

Struggling with muddy pastures and bottomless gateways? I feel you. Here in England, all we have is mud, mud, mud, and some more mud, and very occasionally, an event that manages to run despite the mud which kind of, somehow, distracts us from the mud. It’s not fun, and it’s not ideal for our horses’ legs, either. But what can you do about it at home? A few things, actually – and this short piece from Equus has tips for things you can try right now, like laying material in gateways, and plans you can put in place ahead of next mud-season.

Morning Viewing:

Join British eventer Ashley Harrison and her 4* horse, Zebedee, as they head to Munstead for a combined training outing in something that actually appears to resemble sunshine, unusually.

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Apr 2, 2024 7:02 am -

 

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Here at EN, we’ve long been big followers and fans of Black cowboy and cowgirl culture – and now that Queen Bey has well and truly catapulted it into the mainstream conscious, we’re thrilled that that’s giving the work of photographer Ivan McClellan some well-deserved attention, too. He’s one of the foremost documenters of the culture, with work that carries us from the thrill and ferocity of the rodeo ring to the quiet of the stables, where woman and horse meet as equals. Fair warning: you’ll lose yourself for hours in his back catalogue of extraordinary work. But it’s well worth it.

Events Opening Today: The Vista Spring YEH/NEH Qualifier, Spring Gulch H.T., Fair Hill International Recognized H.T., Bouckaert Equestrian H.T., Otter Creek Spring H.T., Hunt Club Farms H.T., Hitching Post Farm H.T., Spokane Sport Horse Spring H.T.

Events Closing Today: Masterson Equestrian Trust YEH/NEH Qualifier, Meadowcreek Park-The Spring Social Event, Sporting Days Farm April H.T. III, Fair Hill International April H.T. & CCI-S, Ocala International Festival of Eventing

Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World:

When Kate Chadderton needed to make teaching a more prominent part of her business, she went straight to the source. That is to say, rather than simply advertising her services and drawing up business based on her good name, she signed herself up for the USEA Eventing Coaches Program in a bid to ensure that the quality of her training program is top-notch. Here’s how she found the experience of attending her first workshop.

How old is the oldest horse you know? A friend of mine has still got her childhood Pony Club partner, who’s now 32 years old and thriving – but New Years Eve has him beat. He might just be the oldest ex-racehorse in the world right now at 38 years old – and he’s still happily cantering around his field, which is either a testament to his great care or that ineffable Thoroughbred spirit, or a bit of both. Meet him here.

The spring grass is coming through, and that’s an exciting, heartening moment after a long winter. But for your horse, whose diet hinges so much on forage – which includes grazing – it can lead to a few different digestive wobbles. Here’s a primer on how spring grass could impact your horse, and what to do about it.

Sponsor Corner: Who will tackle the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event this year? We’ve got a list of 47 entries so far this year, featuring international stars 🌟 like Ros Canter and Izilot DHI, as well as an exciting rookie from Australia, Bec Braitling. Check out the full entry list here. Our competition coverage of the Best Weekend All Year is sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products, your source for high-quality supplements.

Watch This:

Occasionally, I just want to indulge in a trip down memory lane – and the FEI’s Horses of History series is such a great way to do that. Join me in reminiscing about Pippa Funnell’s brilliant Supreme Rock:

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Apr 1, 2024 8:40 am -

In the latest in Paris Olympics teasers, we’ve got this short, sweet, truly tantalising glimpse of the building that’s currently underway at Versailles, getting the palatial estate ready to host the world’s best horses and riders – and several thousand of their biggest fans. My current emotional state whenever I receive even the most mundane update about Paris is pure and abject exhilaration, so these little glimpses at the building works themselves? Sensational.

National Holiday: Happy Easter Monday to all those who celebrate! It’s also the 21st day of Ramadan, which honours the Martyrdom of Imam Ali, and it’s the Assyrian New Year, too. Oh, and it’s April Fools’ Day, so don’t take anything you read on the internet as gospel today.

US Weekend Action:

Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. (Fairburn, GA): [Website] [Results]

Galway Downs International H.T. (Temecula, CA): [Website] [Results]

Jumping Branch Farm Spring H.T. (Aiken, SC): [Website] [Results]

Morven Park Spring H.T. (Leesburg, VA): [Website] [Results]

The Event at TerraNova (Myakka City, FL): [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Results:

BEDE Events’ Thoresby Eventing Spring Carnival (Newark, Notts.): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

Finding joy and purpose in eventing isn’t always about winning every class. For Lucy Walter, who transitioned from spending her adolescence riding lots of different barns’ horses across the disciplines, getting her own horse in her teens was part of a strict bit of bargaining – one that helped her get a handle on her anorexia, set herself on a secondary academic pathway, and find grit and gumption in tackling the training process. Here’s her story so far.

Could a mouthguard help you avoid a concussion on cross-country? Research across other high-impact sports suggests so. And while it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see them become a requirement, this could be an easy way to add additional protection to your arsenal when you’re jumping solid fences at high speed. Get those numbers in full in this report from H&H.

This is a really tough, but necessary, read. When Marlo Baird decided to get back into riding, she found the perfect partner in lease horse Nero, with his kind eyes like Ferdinand the Bull. All too soon, though, he was gone – a victim of the neurological strain of EHV, which he picked up at a show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, where several horses who’d been exposed to the virus at the Desert Horse Park were in attendance, their trainers flouting the rules of isolation after exposure. Prepare to shed a few tears for both sweet Nero and Marlo, but consider this one required reading across the horse world. It’s a very small minority of horse folks that would decide to go against veterinary rules and endanger other horses, but I truly hope that this reaches them.

Could be be harming your horse by lungeing him? The short, but insightful, answer to that question comes from Jec Aristotle Ballou, who explains that yes, lungeing can have a negative impact – but with some creative, clever workarounds, you can make sure you’re helping, not hindering, his body. Here’s what she suggests.

Morning Viewing:

Let’s catch up on the latest with Badminton Grassroots-bound Donut:

“The Most In-Sync We’ve Ever Been”: Emily King Becomes First Back-to-Back Grantham Cup Winner

By on Mar 30, 2024 7:13 pm -

Buckle up! Emily King and Valmy Biats take the scenic route over the bank complex at 11ABC en route to a second consecutive Grantham Cup win. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

After a long, reasonably challenging day of cross-country (that’s 31 clears from 40 starters, if specificity is your bag) at Thoresby’s Spring Carnival of Eventing, we crowned a new winner of the prestigious Grantham Cup CCI4*-S – or, rather, an old winner, all over again. 2023 champions Emily King and 15-year-old Selle Français Valmy Biats retained their title after tying for first place in dressage on a score of 23.2 – the gelding’s best-ever FEI dressage score – and then adding just 6.4 time penalties across the country today, following a clear showjumping round this morning.

For Emily, who’s now the first-ever rider to win the Grantham Cup twice in succession, and who once again won the Polly Phillips Memorial Trophy for the highest-placed British rider not to have competed on a Senior team, it wasn’t just a great honour to retain the throne – it was also a heartening preparation for her forthcoming bid at Badminton.

“He was unreal – it was the smoothest, easiest, most in-sync round I think I’ve ever had with him,” she says. “Normally he’s quite lairy and really brave and strong, and you have to really set up for everything. I have to really plan stuff and think about the balance. I had it all planned to do everywhere today, but I actually didn’t have to, because he was doing it on his own. I was like, ‘god, this is nice!’ I didn’t press him, I just let him gallop.”

Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Although Valmy was at his most rideable on course – a course, it’s worth noting, that was widely regarded as Thoresby’s toughest effort yet – Emily didn’t have that feeling from the first moment she got on. Instead, she had to use her warm-up wisely to get him well on side.

“It’s funny, because in the warm-up he felt pretty difficult,” she laughs. “He didn’t feel particularly different to normal. He’s so brave and sometimes you just have to gallop to something and really think for him. But when I went out of the start box, I could move him up and he was looking at the fence, not through it, and actually weighing it up — I could set it up rather than just gallop.”

Emily used his malleability as an educational tool around the course: “I thought, as I had just done the first combination, I’d let him be a little. He was a little bit close to the brush but I thought, rather than helping him, I’d leave him alone so he had to work a touch harder. Then he really was thinking for himself. That [approach] doesn’t always go to plan, but it worked quite nicely for everything else.”

Emily and Valmy negotiate the bounce bank at 11ABC. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Valmy’s one moment of crowd-pleasing excitement on course came at the new Irish bank complex at 11ABC, where he took an enormous leap off the brush drop B element.

“He was a good boy at the step, because I wanted to jump a bit on the outside line so I had fresher ground,” Emily explains. “I thought then, jumping the step we wouldn’t land in so much of a hole – but then, actually, it was quite a moving four strides to the bank. I should probably have actually waited for a fifth stride and kept further out, but then I don’t know what he did, but he certainly did it! He sort of skipped over the top and then cat leapt off, and I was like, ‘please land!’ and then he did. He was just awesome everywhere; he felt really on it and cool and calm, not too nervy and lairy, and he just felt like he’s getting relaxed with going at that speed, which is good.”

Emily King (and entourage!) accept the Polly Phillips Memorial Trophy from Vere Phillips.

Emily and Valmy are the only combination ever to win the Grantham Cup twice in a row – and Emily attributes part of the gelding’s affinity for the venue with his comfort in dealing with tricky spring going.

“He really doesn’t mind the mud at all — he lives out in the field basically the whole time, and even when it’s really wet, really rainy, really muddy, he just has extra rugs on and he lives out,” she explains. “So he’s used to that, and then we also gallop on the grass even when it’s deeper, we just go a bit slower. I wonder whether that’s just a thing at this time of year – it’s always gonna be wet here, and everyone else has to be a touch more cautious because their horses’ legs aren’t acclimatised yet to the going. But he is because that’s where he works the most, in that going, so I wonder if it’s just that I feel it’s less daunting to run on a bit deeper going with him.”

Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue surprised absolutely nobody by delivering the fastest round of the day – a scant 15 seconds, or 6 time penalties over the optimum time, which boosted them up to second place from thirteenth on their first-phase score of 30.4.

“He’s not put a foot wrong, really – he was good in the dressage, with one or two little improvements to be made, but not far off,” says Austin. But cross-country, as always, was where ‘Salty’ truly shone.

“He jumped well today, and was quick, but he’s a quick horse. I can’t ride him slow, and if it was perfect conditions he’d gallop around inside the time all day long. He’s just so nifty, but I wanted to look after him towards the end when [the ground] got a bit deep. It’s just great to carry on the feeling from last year – we know he’s on good form, and he’s loving it.”

Salty’s season opener comes off the back of a win in the CCI5* at Maryland, where Austin became the first Irish five-star winner in 58 years – and his exceptional horse proved exactly the kind of classic stayer he is.

“He came out of Maryland so well, he could nearly have gone to Pau the next week,” he laughs. “And now he’s come out of the winter better again.”

Making history for Ireland, too, is no small confidence booster for Austin and his compatriots in this crucial year.

“You’d like to think success breeds success. It gives you know when it gives myself the belief, but it also gives everybody else thereabouts the belief that we can really go and do it,” he says. “Sure, you need a bit of luck and things have got to go right, but I think we’ve got a good squad of riders, and we’ve got a good team around us now. I think it’s all working.”

With Paris firmly at the top of his priority list, Austin’s opting out of a spring long-format run, and instead maintaining Salty’s fitness and training using short-format runs: “probably, thinking out loud here, he’ll run the short at Bramham [in June],” he says. And, he says, he plans to fit in some dressage shows throughout the spring, too, in a bid to make those marginal gains in the first phase.

“You’ve got to improve everything all the time; we’re certainly not resting on our laurels,” he says. “If he goes to Paris, he’s got to be fit, and he’s got to be well, and so we’ll certainly have a programme, it just won’t be quite as intense as it could be.”

Beginning his season proper on a beefed up Thoresby track has been an ideal box-ticker, explains Austin.

“It was a true four-star, and I’m sure the results from the results page will tell that story. And rightly so — so hats off to Thoresby. They’ve put on some show considering what they’ve been up against. But they put their neck on the line and I think they got the results they deserved — and this is what eventing is all about. I think we’ve got to be careful not to forget that.”

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though reigning World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir began the day tied for the lead, they ultimately settled for third place when opting for a slightly steadier preparation run, with 13.2 time penalties, ahead of their bid at Kentucky supremacy in a few weeks.

“He did a lovely test yesterday and then jumped a great, quick clear round today,” says Yas. “He was trying really hard for me. With him, there’s a bigger picture this year, and it’s always building up to that point. It’s all about progression, and about building the confidence together. It’s early doors, but I’m delighted — it’s been a really good weekend.”

Like many riders in the UK, getting the season well and truly underway hasn’t been totally straightforward for Yas, with prolific cancellations and abandonments across the calendar in the first month of the season.

“It’s nice to get the run under their belts,” she says. “We’ve all been itching, really, for runs, and the weather has just not been helpful. But the sun’s finally come out today, and the ground was mostly good, with just a couple of soft patches where I looked after them. But all the jumping was brilliant; it was a very testing track, with lots of interesting questions, and lots of new questions that we haven’t seen before.”

Like Austin, Yas praised the Thoresby team for delivering a serious rust-knocker of a course.

“It was actually nice to have a bit of a mix-up and a bit of a head scratcher. There were lots of options everywhere, so you could do whatever suited your horse and really ride what’s underneath you.”

Tim Price and Vitali through the influential corner complex, moments after being held just before it. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tim Price took fourth place with Badminton-bound Vitali, who added 9.6 time penalties to his first-phase score of 27.2, and ninth place with his 2022 Boekelo champion Happy Boy, who added a rail and 12 time penalties to his 27.8 – but in the secondary CCI4*-S section, for lesser-pointed horses, he was victorious, piloting the ten-year-old Jarillo, who now sits comfortably on four top-ten four-star results in a row out of five starts at the level.

But, says Tim, winning with him today on 19.2 time penalties “was a bit strange, because I just wanted to give him an educational round, and with the other two, I was really trying! I wanted Happy Boy to go fast for a fitness run, and with Vitali, I really thought he could have gone a bit quicker, but I got held, which disrupted the rhythm a bit.”

Tim’s hold came just one fence before the influential treble of corners at 9ABC, and was due to a surprise fall for Pippa Funnell, who tumbled from Billy Walk On at the complex just moments before, but who we’re pleased to report was back on her feet after a check-over by medics at the fence.

“It wasn’t an ideal place to be held, but really, we’re just pleased Pippa’s alright,” says Tim. Despite the hold, though, his primary objective – giving Vitali a proper pipe-opening run ahead of Badminton – was well accomplished.

“I pushed him on and galloped him through deep ground and did all the things that make him puff – it was a really good run for that,” he says. “And the hold was early enough — what wouldn’t have been ideal would have been a hold halfway round with enough time to fully recover.”

Tim Price and Happy Boy. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Perhaps most excitingly was Vitali’s clear showjumping round – the phase that has been his ongoing bogey with three rails down at each of his five-star starts, but which didn’t put a dampener on his performance this week despite the relocation of the jumping to a new, smaller, and more undulating patch of ground that Ros Canter described as ‘like cross-country over showjumps’.

“I hope I’m not using up all my clear rounds before they really matter,” he laughs. “He’s trying, he’s just a strange little horse with a whole lot of talent and abilities. I’m trying, with the showjumping, to attack it and be bit more positive, not all defensive. When you’re on a really good jumper, you sit there and think rhythm, and smoothness, and all those things. With him, I think I need to be a bit more disruptive and take it on a bit — that’s my plan, anyway!”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Laura Collett and London 52 took fifth place, adding 14.4 time penalties across the country and nothing in the showjumping to a first-phase score of 23.9 – and while that first phase wasn’t quite up to Laura’s own high standards, the feeling she got on today’s course far overrode any disappointment she may have had when leaving the ring yesterday.

“He was lovely, and very up for it,” says Laura, who also finished seventh on Hester. “It’s just so nice getting on one you know that well. It was almost like [London 52] had walked the course, it was that smooth. He’s finally grown up from fighting and thinking he knows best, and now he’s like, ‘you tell me where to go, and I’ll go,’ which is so nice. He feels amazing, and he’s been squealing all weekend, but it was probably one of the nicest easiest rides I’ve ever had on him, because he just literally just felt like he was on railway tracks.”

As one of the last riders in the Grantham Cup, Laura had to contend with well-travelled ground – but ‘Dan’s’ rideability meant that she could choose the lines that best avoided the overworked areas.

“I went on some rogue parts of the course to find the best ground – I went very wide,” she laughs. “But actually, it rode fine; the last bit was a bit deep, but it was nice to get them out. It’s been so long!”

Above all, Laura was delighted to get the chance to tackle a sufficiently challenging early-season four-star track.

“I thought it was a great course, and I was actually praying that the ground would be alright [so I’d get to ride it], because we actually had to ride – not just go through the motions, but actually ride the lines and the horses had to be focused.”

It is, by Laura’s reckoning, “by far” the toughest Thoresby course that’s been presented – something that she, and her fellow competitors, view as an overwhelming positive.

“I think it’s great. For a couple of years we’ve missed a proper Badminton prep; Belton always used to be so good for that. Here, there’s nothing big, but we all know our horses are scopey, so it’s about having proper questions that make us ride. What’s so good is that we were all scratching our heads over several places on the course, but everything worked; all the different options worked, so you just had to make a decision.”

Those influential corners were the frontrunner among those headscratchers, closely followed by the new bank complex at 11ABC.

“We were all going to go on four strides, and then we watched a few and said, ‘okay, it can be four or five’,” she says. “You could make the decision as you landed, but you did have to react — and that was good for me and my horses, because you can’t practice those reactions in training.”

Ros Canter and Izilot DHI pop down the new bank complex at 11ABC. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

All three of Ros Canter‘s rides in this class enjoyed a sterling day in the office, and chief among them was last year’s Blenheim CCI4*-L and Pau CCI5* winner, and day one dressage leader, Izilot DHI, who took sixth place after adding 14 time penalties to his first-phase score of 25.6.

“Izilot was a superstar; he’s come out so level-headed this year,” says Ros, who explains that she’s spent the off-season dialling back the Pau winner’s schooling in a bit to ‘break the habit’ of his characteristic spookiness. “He feels like a different horse. We’ve been training, but only away from home, and spend a lot more time hacking, because he’s a lovely hack. I don’t mind him being spooky, but when he’s sharp with his spook, it makes it very difficult. So I’ve been very mellow with it; if he spooks out hacking I just drop the reins, because I’m not schooling, and so it doesn’t matter. That’s just made him lose the habit of needing to fly.”

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ros also finished twelfth with her Badminton champion and European Champion Lordships Graffalo, who had an uncharacteristic rail in the relocated showjumping – “it was rider error, and it’s nice to be able to say that, rather than it being a horse mistake” – and thirteenth with the inexperienced MHS Seventeen.

“We had to get stuck in – I think we’re all a bit out of the habit,” says Ros. “My horses felt great, but the rider was a bit rusty! But it was great to have a spin on the big boys.”

Alice Casburn and Topspin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Eighth place went to Alice Casburn, who had one of the fastest rounds of the day, adding just 7.6 time penalties with her homebred five-star partner, Topspin, while the top ten was ably rounded out by Tom Rowland in his second season with the former Oliver Townend mount Dreamliner, with whom he added 11.2 time penalties to a 32.7 first-phase score.

For those horses who’d already picked up their CCI4*-S and CCI4*-L or CCI5* Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) last season, and who managed a CCI4*-S MER today, that’s a major box ticked en route to the Olympics – because they’ll now be totally qualified. As MERs simply involve scoring 45 or below in dressage, 30 or fewer time penalties at this level across the country (clear or with a single 11 penalty addition for a frangible activation), and 16 or fewer jumping penalties in showjumping, that sees quite a lot of newly-minted totally-qualified horses on the pathway to Paris, including nine-tenths of our top ten – Tim Price’s Happy Boy still needs a long-format qualifying result.

But, of course, there’s still an awful lot of time, and events, yet to go before we reach team selection time – including the CCI4*-S at Burnham Market and Kentucky’s CCI5* and CCI4*-S just next month, and, of course, Badminton approaching swiftly thereafter. And so, until the next one: Go Eventing.

The top ten at the culmination of the 2024 Grantham Cup.

The Eventing Spring Carnival at Thoresby: Website | Live Scores | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage

Tight at the Top: Thoresby Reigning Titleholder and World Champion Go Head to Head

By on Mar 29, 2024 5:29 pm -

Emily King and Valmy Biats return to defend their title. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

At the close of today’s competition at Thoresby’s Eventing Spring Carnival, which is in the North of England no matter how much anyone tries to convince us otherwise, a whopping 97 CCI4*-S competitors across the two sections at this level had produced their dressage tests in the walled garden. That is, no matter how you spin it, quite a lot of dressage. And while the walled garden does provide some sound and atmosphere buffer from the rest of the capacious estate, there was no escaping the faint and familiar noises of tannoys, whistles, and studded hooves pounding across – or perhaps through, in some places – the ground outside as cross-country unfurled through some of the other classes on the stacked roster of offerings here.

That meant, ultimately, that the first phase of the enormously star-studded Grantham Cup CCI4*-S – a class that’s effectively a feeder for Badminton, Kentucky, and, a bit further on, the Olympics – mostly came down to who could behave themselves the longest.

And so, as we head into tomorrow’s jumping and cross-country phases, we do so with a dynamic two-way tie for the top spot. Reigning World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir surprised absolutely nobody when they came into the arena this morning and delivered a 23.2, taking the lead away from overnight frontrunners Ros Canter and Izilot DHI – but as we inched closer to the end of the day, it all got rather tight at the top. Last year’s Grantham Cup winners, Emily King and Valmy Biats, made a compelling start to their bid to retain their title, equalling Yas’s 23.2 in what is the 15-year-old Selle Français’s best-ever international dressage score

“He was awesome – he was a really, really good boy and so calm,” says Emily, who betters her score from last year by over 3.5 marks – even with one tiny mistake. “He had a little jig-jog in his walk, but apart from that, he was a really good boy, so I’m dead pleased with him.”

One of Valmy’s great assets, which served him so well in last year’s tough conditions, is that he’s kept out at Emily’s Cheshire yard, which she shares with partner Sam Ecroyd. That gives him a not insignificant amount of innate ability to cope with variable footing – and while we’ve had a bit more sun over the last 24 hours than we saw last year, the weeks of bucketing rain in the lead-up have meant that once again, everyone’s had to work just a touch harder than they would have otherwise.

“He’s a really sensitive horse, and he really loves being out in the field. Even if it’s snowing or it’s sideways rain, if he has loads of rugs on, no matter what, he’s always happier being out,” laughs Emily. “I don’t take too many pictures of him out in the field, because you wouldn’t believe he enjoys it so much – it’s pretty rural! But if he comes in he weaves around. I do think there’s a benefit as well in that he gets used to the going. We gallop on grass at home, and even when it’s a bit deeper, he’ll still gallop on it, just a bit slower. So he’s accustomed and acclimatised to deeper going, which hopefully puts him in a bit of better stead when he has to perform in it at a show.”

Today, with last year in mind, Emily planned a conservative preparation for her test in order to allow Valmy to grow in confidence in the ring.

“I tried not to do too much in the warm-up as it’s quite deep but actually, in the arena the going is beautiful, so I didn’t want to put him off trusting me to move him forward. I’m glad I did that, because then I went in and I was able to really go for it and he was trusting. Last year it was a fine line between going for it and them losing their balance, because it was that much deeper.”

Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Now, she’s looking forward to another crack at Stuart Buntine’s tough course, which features several exciting new complexes, including two banks that haven’t previously featured.

“It looks really good out there,” says Emily. “It’s a similar sort of path, but with a few quite different questions [to last year]. There’s a few combinations that are similar to last year, and then a few that are quite different – there’s a new bank complex that’s pretty interesting! We’ve got a good few places to really open them up and test their fitness, because this is a prep run, in the grand scheme of things, for Badminton. He’s a strong horse, so I like practising galloping on and then settling him back, and we’ve got a few good places to do that here, as well as the more intense sections. I’m going to try to be competitive, but also use it as a great schooling run for Badminton.”

For Emily and Valmy, all eyes are on the UK’s spring five-star – but for Yas and Banzai, this is a stepping stone en route to a third visit to next month’s Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

“He was very good today – obedient, calm, attentive, and ticked all the boxes for me today,” she says. “He had some super work, and there were some big highlights in the test, so I think that’s a great starting point to go into the jumping tomorrow. Kentucky is the plan, depending on having a good run here at the weekend!”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The hot favourite to lead today’s dressage would, no doubt, have been Laura Collett and London 52, who so love to flirt with the 20 barrier – but, laughs Laura, “he was pretty feral this morning when I tried to ride him, so I’m just glad he didn’t completely disgrace himself!”

‘Dan’, who’s on three five-star wins from three attempts and has grown into the consummate unapologetic showman over the last few years, was so delighted to be back at a party that he picked up an uncharacteristic mistake, breaking in the half-pass to lose valuable marks. But even with that blip, the pair sit pretty on a very competitive 23.9, putting them into third place as we head into jumping.

“I guess you feel a little disappointed when you know things don’t feel quite as good as they can be, but I also know he’s not at his best in the mud,” says Laura pragmatically. “He’s always offended at not being on a surface, and holds a little bit back for himself. But he’s pleased to be out, and the sun is shining, so fingers crossed it stays!”

Unlike the two horse-and-rider combinations ahead of her, Laura’s spring plan with London 52 doesn’t involve a five-star run – instead, her focus is on maintaining his good form and fitness with a view to straightforward selection for the Paris Olympics, sans heroics.

“It’s going to be a hard call, but he’s feeling good and it’s all about going out and getting the show on the road,” she says. And as far as Thoresby goes? “We pray the sun keeps shining,” she laughs. “They’ve built a really good cross-country course here and fingers crossed it rides well.  It’s going to be an educational and challenging run, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

 Laura, too, has her eyes on the new bank complex at 11ABC as a significant part of the course’s tests.

“The first real challenge are the corners [at 9ABC] — they’re big old corners and there’s three of them, so I think it’s going to be really important to get the line right through there because of the back rails. They’ve been very clever; if you try and shut down a run-out then you make it a very wide question for them, so I think that’s the first real question. Then the other one is the new bank complex — a trailer bank, down to a very big skinny down the hill after a bounce step up.  I think that’s a really good test for the horses.”

Ros Canter now sits fourth on yesterday’s leader, 2023 Pau champion Izilot DHI, on a 25.6, while her reigning Badminton and European Champion Lordships Graffalo slotted into fifth at the tail end of the day on a 25.9.

“I was pleased with him, really, but he was quite hot to trot when he came down here and heard the tannoy going on from the cross-country,” laughs Ros. “Definitely, over the last few weeks, he’s been telling me at home that he’s ready for a good pipe-opener, so he was maybe a bit hot in there! There was a bit of sneezing, a bit of anticipating, and the walk was questionable — but he feels amazing. I can’t ask for more, really; it’s only the start of the season and I’d rather him fresh than lazy at this time of year.”

Lordships Graffalo won’t return to Badminton to try to retain his title – like London 52 before him, he’s being maintained in favour of a – hopefully – straightforward bid at a berth on the British team for Paris.

“I’ve only got Izilot DHI aiming for an early five-star at the moment; Lordships Graffalo’s not going to do a big one this spring, which he’ll be very disappointed about. After today he does feel like he could maybe do with a run around Badminton!”

Gemma Stevens will go into the jumping phases on her Badminton-bound Jalapeno, who finished in the top ten at the five-star last year, in sixth place on a 26.4 – a test that she was pleased with despite battling slightly with the going.

“I’m seriously questioning my life choices,” she jokes, “but I’m really pleased with that test. There’s only so much you can do when it’s a bit slippy and boggy.”

Comeback queen Jala, who Gemma spent the better part of two years meticulously rehabilitating from an injury sustained in 2019, is joined by stablemate Chilli Knight, who returns for his first bid at a five-star season since he won the one-off Bicton CCI5* in 2021.

“He’s busting for a run – he’s been a little out of control,” she laughs. “He’s usually furious with me if I make him go at anything other than a hundred miles an hour! But he does need to get a qualifying result here for Badminton.”

His rehab process, she explains, has been very similar to Jalapeno’s, and both horses have benefited from plenty of time spent hacking on the hills of the South Downs to build strength on long, slow rides rather than over-relying on gallop sets.

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Gemma and Jala are followed in overnight seventh place by individual European silver medallists and team gold medallists Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, on a score of 27, and in eighth place by New Zealand’s Tim Price and his Tokyo mount Vitali, who posted a 27.2.

Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“Vitali feels like the fitness is starting to come on board for his preparation towards Badminton,” says Tim, who also sits tenth on a 27.8 with his 2022 Boekelo winner, Happy Boy. “[Vitali] went in there and tried really hard for me. He’s just a little diddy thing, so to go in after Laura and London 52 — that’s always quite difficult! My wee guy in the deeper going just finds it a bit difficult to be as flamboyant as he can be.”

Badminton-bound Vitali, whose last four FEI runs have been four top-ten finishes at five-star, will, Tim hopes, benefit from the pipe-opener that this weekend will offer him – something he felt was missing ahead of his Burghley run last year, in which he finished fourth after leading the first two phases.

“For Vitali, I think he needs to work a bit hard,” he says. “His prep into Burghley last year was probably lacking one good proper run, with Gatcombe cancelled, and we paid for that with some time faults, so I’m hoping that this year I can push him along a bit and make him work a bit. I’m sure there’s a proper cross-country test put to us out there and lots of jobs to do.”

Pippa Funnell and Billy Walk On. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Pippa Funnell will go into tomorrow’s jumping in ninth place, having posted a 27.4 with the charismatic Billy Walk On, who will, all being well, aim for a run at Luhmühlen’s CCI5* in June.

“He got a bit stuck in the mud on the first corner, got his feet in a muddle and popped into canter, and then I couldn’t get him back to trot — so that spoilt the whole first shoulder-in movement,” she says, “but other than that he did a good solid test and was a good boy.”

The secondary CCI4*-S section, for lesser-pointed horses, is led going into jumping by Wesko Equestrian Foundation beneficiary Saffron Cresswell, who posted a 28.5 with Vivendi Hero.

“I was really, really pleased with Louis’s test today,” she says. “Obviously at only nine years old he’s still new to the level, so I’m delighted with him; he tried really hard in there.  The ground was testing, particularly in the warm-up,  but it was actually much better in the ring, and I just tried to utilise the warm-up ground to prepare for the test.”

Showjumping will begin at 8:30 (ish, anyway – we’re currently awaiting updated times!) tomorrow morning, with cross-country following on from 12.00 p.m. You can follow all the action live on Horse&Country TV, and tune back in to EN tomorrow evening for a thorough unpacking of everything that happened – and what it might mean for the season to come! Until then: Go Eventing.

The top ten at the conclusion of dressage in Thoresby’s Grantham Cup CCI4*-S.

The Eventing Spring Carnival at Thoresby: Website | Live Scores | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage

“It Was Probably One of His Best Tests”: Ros Canter’s 5* Champ Back with a Bang at Thoresby

By on Mar 28, 2024 6:44 pm -

Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Hannah Cole.

And just like that, after a long, quiet, soggy off-season in the UK, we’re back in action at the first FEI event of 2024. This year, the Eventing Spring Carnival at Thoresby Park – which is somewhere pretty north and I won’t be able to tell you anything with more specificity than that because I’m (kind of) a Londoner – has eased us in to its jam-packed double CCI4*-S offering, putting on just two hours’ worth of day one dressage in the walled garden to start the weekend today. And look, we could run you through that handful of dressage tests across the two sections, going heavy on the analysis right off the bat, but let’s be real: there was one stand-out performance, and that’s where we’re going to focus all our attention.

The primary CCI4*-S section, the prestigious Grantham Cup class, hosts roughly half of the 120 or so four-star entrants at Thoresby this year (the higher-FEI-pointed half, for what it’s worth). Today, we saw thirteen of them take to the ring, and subsequently, a thorough tour of the 30s and low 40s on the scoreboard. Except, of course, when reigning European Champion Ros Canter put the final halt and salute on her test with Izilot DHI. The pair’s test was much-anticipated for two reasons: firstly, for the simple fact that they were the first duo in the ring, and thus our first official British four-star competitors of 2024, and secondly, because the last time we saw the quirky eleven-year-old KWPN gelding (Zavall VDL x Un, by Cavalier), it was when he was winning on his five-star debut at Pau in October. That win, which followed just weeks after victory in Blenheim’s CCI4*-L, wasn’t a surprise where ‘Isaac’s’ talent is concerned – but it was, perhaps, a bit of a surprise because of how mercurial the gelding can be.

In 2019, though, we saw Laura Collett’s London 52 win Boekelo’s CCI4*-L, a victory that she has always professed to be the making of the horse, who had had a spate of up-and-down results prior to that. Now, he’s a three-time CCI5* winner – and it’s not hard to imagine that Isaac, too, could be entering his winningest era yet after tasting success last autumn. Today, his pathfinding test earned him a 25.6, which might not be one of his best four-star scores – he’s previously gone sub-20 at the level – but, Ros tells us, it felt like one of his top efforts yet.

“It was one of his best tests, if not the best he’s ever done,” she says. “He felt really rideable and with me, and not spooky, which is really nice for this time of year! He’s a really uphill horse with a very long neck, and it can be quite a challenge sometimes, because he can look like he’s peacocking. Today, though, he felt the best he has in his neck.”

One of the catalysts for that feeling, Ros explains, was a change in his routine over the winter.

“He’s not a hot horse, but he’s a spooky one – but he’s definitely gotten better this winter,” she says. “I’ve changed the way I do things a bit with him. I’m doing much less schooling at home and a lot more hacking. And then I go out and about to do his training. It feels like we’ve broken the habit, now, of spooking quite so much.”

Thoresby’s an exciting start to the season for Isaac — even with two very competitive phases yet to come — but it’s also a crucial stepping stone. Currently, Ros has the gelding double-entered for both Badminton, which she won last year with Lordships Graffalo, and Kentucky, and while she’s open-minded about which of the two she ends up at – “or he might go to neither!” – her presence at either event with the talented gelding will make her one of the firm favourites in either field. We’ll be taking a close look at the rest of the field here in tomorrow’s full day of dressage, but in the meantime, we’re already daydreaming about Isaac’s campaign to become one of the sport’s most successful five-star weirdos.

The Eventing Spring Carnival at Thoresby: Website | Live Scores | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Mar 26, 2024 7:31 am -

Gemma Stevens and Jalapeno at Badminton in 2023. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock since yesterday afternoon, the entry list for the MARS Badminton Horse Trials has officially gone live, and boy oh boy, is it stacked. This year, we’re seeing the introduction of three-horse riders for the first time, which is an exciting — though admittedly probably unenviable — change, and a week between Kentucky and Badminton, which might just allow a few more riders to make the trip to both. Oh, and speaking of Kentucky – entries for that close today, so we’ll be taking a look at that list very soon, too. Can you even handle the excitement?! I certainly cannot.

Events Opening Today: Winona Horse Trials, River Glen Spring H.T., Queeny Park H.T., Majestic Oaks Ocala H.T., Unionville May H.T., Tryon International Three Day Event

Events Closing Today: Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, Spring Bay H.T., Unionville Horse Trials, Longleaf Pine H.T., F.E.N.C.E. H.T., Twin Rivers Spring International

Tuesday News & Notes From Around the World:

If you’re based in the UK and considering importing supplements, wormers, or medication from abroad, maybe don’t. While prices might be cheaper elsewhere, and you may be able to find higher doses of active ingredients, it’s also definitely not legal to import unauthorised veterinary products. Plus, say experts, it could actually put your horse at serious risk because those imports might not be what they say they are.

Speaking of things that seem too good to be true — it’s probably not actually that useful to send your horse’s hair samples in to a company that’ll then tell you what illnesses he might be prone to and what you should be feeding him. Here’s why.

Does your horse hollow in transitions? This is something that’s plagued me — I can ride a really lovely, uphill, soft upward transition, but I find downward ones much harder to get right, especially transitions down to walk. I’ll be trying these exercises from British dressage legend Emile Faurie, and I reckon you should too.

You know frangible devices are important — but are you fuzzy on the details? This handy refresher from US Eventing is a great read, whether you’re likely to jump some MIM-clipped fences yourself, you’re an avid viewer of upper-level sport, or you’re an event organiser or course builder. Click through for interesting stats, a rundown of the tech, and information about the Frangible Fund.

Sponsor Corner: Kentucky Performance Products’ Sponsored Rider, CCI5* eventer Lisa Barry, has had an exciting month with her current 4* horse, Possum. Despite a rider error in the show jumping, Possum jumped one of the best show jumping rounds she’s ever had at Chatt Hills in early March. Check it out.

Watch This: 

Head out of the CCI3*-S startbox at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International with Elisa Wallace and Tullymurry Fifi:

 

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Mar 25, 2024 8:24 am -

One of the most exciting things about any Olympic year is the surprises it throws up. It’s easy enough to spend the long off-season speculating about which horses and riders are most likely to make the team based on their form over the season that came before, but every single time, there’s always an endless stream of wildcards once the new one starts. Great horses are sold on; top contenders are sidelined; and, much more positively, unexpected comebacks change the whole landscape of the selection process. And at Kronenberg’s CCI4*-L over the weekend, that’s exactly what we saw, with a win for France from Astier Nicolas and the exceptional Babylon de Gamma, who we’ve seen just once in an FEI event since he ran at the Maryland Five Star in 2022. Now he’s back and better than ever – and Astier knows exactly what he wants from the 2024 season, and that’s glory in Paris.

National Holiday: It’s National Waffle Day. Some of the greatest days of my working student career at Phyllis Dawson’s Windchase Farm came on snowy winter mornings, when we’d get the horses sorted and then decamp to the nearby IHOP for a big breakfast because it was too blisteringly cold to try to ride. May you all have an IHOP morning today, just without the snow and cold.

US Weekend Action: 

Full Gallop Farm March II H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results]

March Horse Trials at Majestic Oaks (Reddick, FL) [Website] [Results]

Texas Rose Horse Park H.T. (Tyler, TX): [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Results:

Munstead (1) (Godalming, Surrey): [Results]

Tweseldown (X) (Church Crookham, Hants.): [Results]

Major International Events:

Outdoor Horst (Kronenberg, Netherlands) [Website][Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

Two horse-mad kids get their kicks in Pony Club, grow up, find one another, and fall in love. Oh, but plot twist: they both grew up thousands of miles apart and came together through a series of moves in pursuit of chased dreams. That’s the genesis of the love story of James and Helen Alliston, who run a busy and successful coaching and competition program out of the West Coast and live a pretty charmed life doing what they love by one another’s side. Dive into their story here.

The loss of Blair Castle International, which will run for the last time this year, was a major blow to the eventing world. Since the announcement last week,  emotions have been high and there’s been a whirlwind of response, and much of this was discussed at the British Eventing Scotland AGM. Horse & Hound reports on the discussion, which includes underrepresentation of Scottish riders, lack of upper-level fixtures, and the difficulties in finding a replacement venue for Blair.

Fascinating, if slightly damning, research from a number of different studies suggests that riding a horse behind the vertical in a dressage test is actually more likely to lead to better marks. Riding behind the vertical, of course, has been proven to dramatically hinder a horse’s airflow and comfort, but analysis of a plethora of tests across the last few decades shows that the trend is on the rise – and the marks being given are helping, not hindering, this. Read more about what the studies found here.

Morning Viewing:

Jump back in with Donut’s progress en route to tackling the Badminton Grassroots Championship:

 

 

Sunday Video Break: Journey to the Top with Yasmin Ingham

By on Mar 24, 2024 5:00 pm -

And so we come to the close of another week, the advent of another, and, to our minds at least, the perfect moment for a pause, a breather, and a little bit of inspiration to set the tone for all the things you’ll accomplish in the days to come. Today, that inspiration comes from World Champion Yasmin Ingham, who’s the subject of the first episode of LeMieux’s new Journey to the Top series. Find out how this young talent made her stratospheric climb and the incredible community around her, and get ready to cheer her on at a certain big event soon!

Tuesday News & Notes from Kentucky Performance Products

By on Mar 19, 2024 9:09 am -

It’s always fun to see a new horsey podcast hit the airwaves, and even better when we get the chance to hear one made by a professional rider — because those fly-on-the-wall chats are so interesting to sit in on. British-based Italian eventer Dan Bizzarro is the latest name to hit podcastland, and I enjoyed tuning in for his chat with the incredible Ros Canter. Check out all the episodes of Our Equestrian Life here.

Events Opening Today: Waredaca H.T., Texas Rose Horse Park H.T., Stable View Local Charities H.T.

Events Closing Today: CDCTA Spring H.T., Pine Hill Spring H.T., Rocking Horse Spring H.T., Stable View Spring 2/3/4* and H.T.

Tuesday News & Notes from Around the World:

The best part of the Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Championships is back: the Spirit Awards! Entries for the 2024 championships, which will be held May 4-5 in Aiken, open today — and USEA has shared all the details about the brilliant and bonkers Spirit competitions here. Sign me up for that mechanical bull competition.

Today in personal essays: the invaluable importance of a good boarding barn. Writer Jamie Sindell has a barn at home, but even despite the financial challenges it presents, she opts to board her teenage daughter’s horse at a busy hunter-jumper facility. Why? Well, the all-in environment is a great way for her kiddo to learn social skills and teamwork, as she explains in this piece for COTH.

Over on our sister site, Horse Nation, they’re mad keen on a good myth busting session. And you know what? Good for them! There’s an awful lot of misinformation out there that somehow gets cemented into ‘fact’ through repetition. Anyway, this week, they’re looking into EHV and whether you can actually vaccinate against the rare neurological form. Here’s what they uncovered.

Sponsor Corner: To maintain his horses’ digestive tracts, International Grand Prix Rider Jaime Irwin feeds Neigh-Lox® Advanced. This blend of ingredients, including probiotics, prebiotics, and yeast, works to maintain long-term gut health for the horses we love.

Watch This:

We’re all systems go for the 2024 Paris Olympics — but before the countdown really gets underway, take a look back at the sport 40 years ago at the 1984 Games in this, the first part of an eight-part series.

Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

By on Mar 18, 2024 9:03 am -

Ahh, and so it begins again. After a seriously, record-breakingly, trench-foot-inducingly wet 2023 season, I think all of us in the UK were hoping for some respite this year (and maybe the prospect of a slightly drier Badminton). Alas, it would appear, we’re having no such luck. We’re two weeks into the eventing season and we’ve already seen several outright cancellations and mid-event abandonments. Will we ever get going properly? Or will next week’s Kronenberg International, where British-based riders are heading en masse, be the first real chance we’ll get to see some eventing over here?

National Holiday: It’s National Awkward Moments Day. I don’t know who’s doing the copywriting over at National Today, but I suspect much of their output falls under the remit of today’s celebrations.

U.S. Weekend Action:

Carolina International CCI & H.T. (Raeford, NC): [Website] [Results] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]

Ocala Winter II (Ocala, FL): [Website] [Results]

Pine Top Spring H.T. (Thomson, GA): [Website] [Results]

Ram Tap National H.T. (Fresno, CA): [Website] [Results]

UK Weekend Results:

Lincolnshire (Grange de Lings, Lincs.): [Results]

International Events:

FEI Eventing Nations Cup Leg 1 (Montelibretti, Italy): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List from FutureTrack:

The 2024 FEI Nations Cup series officially kicked off over the weekend at Montelibretti. There, we saw the French team take a decisive victory in this early outing, with France’s Benjamin Massie also taking the individual win with Figaro Fonroy. This’ll certainly be a case of starting as they mean to go on – and while we won’t have another Nations Cup leg to judge each country’s standard by until mid-May, we’re now officially into the form-stalking part of the season. Find out more about the Olympic host nation’s victory in this round-up from the FEI.

Goodbye and goodnight to Seacookie TSF, the exceptional Trakehner with whom William Fox-Pitt recorded one of his Pau victories. Together, the pair also won Blenheim and finished second at Kentucky and Burghley before the gelding’s retirement in 2014. Since then, he’s enjoyed a happy retirement with owner Catherine Witt, and was put down, aged 25, after years spent living his best life turned out with his fellow five-star winning best buddies. Look back on his career here.

If you buy, sell, or source horses, you’ll need to understand how the law pertains to your position. Lucky for you, equine law specialist — and international eventer — Jodie Seddon is here to help. She and solicitor Hannah Bradley are putting on a comprehensive webinar on the 8th of April that’ll take you through all the nitty-gritty of what you need to know. Reserve your place here.

Sometimes, I just sit in my horse’s stable and think about how lucky I am to have her in my life. Owning horses is hard – it can be brutal on your emotions, your body, your bank account, your schedule — but there’s so much good that comes out of having these odd, opinionated, beautiful animals in our lives. USEA caught up with a cross-section of its membership to find out why they feel so lucky to have their horses, and it makes for some nice, heartwarming content to start your day.

And finally, based in or near London and looking for an entertaining, educational day out for a kiddo in your life? I love the look of this picture book reading and illustration session at the Southbank Centre on the 4th of April, featuring writer Raymond Antrobus and illustrator Ken Wilson-Max’s new book, Terrible Horses. It’s all about learning to understand the perspective and emotions of the people around you, told via the story of a bickering brother and sister and a notebook full of horse drawings. Find out more and get your tickets here.

Morning Viewing:

Catch up on all that juicy Nations Cup cross-country action from Montelibretti with the entire live-stream on replay: