Here’s a brief video from Paul Tapner and Inonothing on cross-country, thoughtfully edited with on-the-ground tv footage in split-screen.  Unfortunately, Paul retired at fence 12 after trouble at the Trout Hatchery.  Still…you get to experience a rider’s view of the Leaf Pit, and the video is remarkably smooth and steady– a testament to superb riding position down a massive, heart-pounding drop!

We’re big pony lovers here at EN, and we’ve featured Courtney Sendak and the palomino Connemara Will Ya Love Me a few times on the site.  Last week we received a tidbit from Beth about two pony superstars:

From Beth:

Brothers from Other Mothers

After the Olympics, we ran a brief photo caption contest sponsored by MDBarnmaster.  Heather Maples submitted the winning caption, and received some cool goodies from MDBarnmaster.  Heather sent us a note of thanks, along with a photo of her horse London sporting their MDBarnmaster swag.

Thanks, MDBarnmaster!

Earlier this week, Jenni Autry wrote a fantastic piece about Doug Payne’s up-and-coming event horse, Lysander, a 5-year-old Oldenburg/Thoroughbred gelding who won the Training Horse division at the American Eventing Championships last weekend. Doug kindly sent us another fantastic helmet cam, and you can see Leo’s potential around the course.  Stay tuned next week for Jenni’s follow-up article with more from Doug and Lysander!

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Andreas and Franco, shown here at Aachen, were listed 3rd reserve for the German Olympic team this year. 

We’re sad to report that German eventer Andreas Ostholt has lost his horse Franco Jeas following a fall at Blenheim Horse Trials.  Apparently he landed badly at a jump, putting all his weight on one foreleg and shoulder while twisting.

They attempted an operation but had to realize that the damage was so severe, that even a painless life in a field was not to be.

Full story (in German) on Andreas’ website.

http://www.andreas-ostholt.de/aktuell.html

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Thanks to Louise for the tip.

I have always wanted to go riding on the beach someday.  I’m not sure how my horses would react to the surf– I would imagine foamy waves advancing and retreating may be a little scary!  This video was taken in Norway, from TommytheHorse, the same user who brought us “Don’t Panic” the amazing pony jumper round.

 

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A few months ago, we published an introduction to Brianna McHorse, who is studying equine conformation in the event horse.  She is conducting this study as part of her thesis research, seeking to quantify “good conformation” within each level of competition in real numbers, and see just how much conformation really affects performance.  Brianna went to Aspen Farms Horse Trials this past weekend to get some hands-on data, and kindly sent us an update on her research.  Thanks for writing Brianna, and we can’t wait to hear the results when it’s all done!

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From Brianna:

Science! And eventing! And science!

Hello all! You may remember me from my post awhile back about the conformation research study I’m doing for my thesis. If you missed it, go on and check it out – this update will be here when you get back. (If anyone still feels like sending me pictures, please do so! More data = more better.)

This past Thursday and Friday I spent two hectic days painting dots on and photographing horses at the Aspen Farms Horse Trials, run by Jonathan and Suzy Elliott in Yelm, Washington. Congrats to them, by the way, for hosting Washington’s first Advanced division this year! Very exciting, and that meant I got to collect some data on Advanced horses too. Accompanied by my capable and dedicated assistant Meagan, I collected 20 horse’s worth of data on this trip. This was our first trip into the field, so I focused on working out the kinks in my protocol. (Duct tape good. Wet wipes good. Having someone other than me take the pictures good. Not enough coffee bad.)

So what do two days of Eventing Science look like?

Begin by loading food, tent, laptop, camera, waterproof notebook, research assistant, and coffee into the car. Drive up I5 for five hours, with coffee! Arrive at Aspen and set up camp. The view wasn’t too terrible.

Go talk to the show office, post fliers in all the porta-potties (people need something to read, you know!), stare at all the beautiful horses. Work up courage to approach first person with horse who looks like they’re not too busy. Receive positive response. Huzzah! Square up horse. Take picture. Paint dots. Square up horse again. No, square. No, don’t move that foot, move the other one…take picture. Wipe off dots. Pro tip: the wet wipes are great for getting bright yellow paint off not-white fur…but not so much on white socks. Water does the trick, as it turns out. I’ll definitely bring some rags and a bucket next time. Approach next person.

So for most of the time, we were doing this:

And this:

In between, we stared at more beautiful horses, drank delicious strawberry Italian sodas, reapplied our sunscreen, and texted with riders to organize times to meet and measure their horses. The most difficult part of the weekend was getting the poor event horses to stand square on the left, a concept not all of them were familiar with! Once we got them there, they usually stayed put…unless they had an itch.

We finished up on Friday evening after getting one more Italian soda from the wonderful ladies at the coffee cart. My one regret is that we didn’t get to stay to watch XC on Saturday, especially the Advanced division, but alas – a family reunion called, and even Eventing Science doesn’t get you out of that one.

The most consistent thing about the whole trip was the open, friendly atmosphere. Not a single person turned us down for the study (unless they were about to go ride). Everyone was interested in the project and was happy to talk to us about it, let us take pictures of their horses, and send us off to other friends with horses at the event. This is why I love eventers! Never have I had such a positive response to a research project. I pointed everyone to my article here at EN and told them to keep an eye out for updates, so if you came here after running into me at Aspen, you rock. I owe a huge thank-you to everyone who graciously took time out of their competition weekend to let me poke at their horses. I truly appreciate it and this project wouldn’t be possible without you.

I will be at the Northwest Equestrian Center HT in Rainier in two weeks, and I’ll actually stay for the whole weekend this time. Following that, it looks like I’ll be heading down to California here and there through the fall – right now I’m planning on going to Woodside, and possibly Galway.  If you see someone running around painting yellow dots on horses and writing in a (waterproof, thank goodness) notebook, come say hi! Either that, or look for the fliers in the porta potties…

Until next time, ride safe, and go eventing!

Brianna

Francis Whittington piloted Easy Target to a clear and fast cross-country round at Blenheim CCI3*.  They were held around the 6-minute mark, but it didn’t seem to affect their performance.  The pair was double clear in show jumping the next day to finish on their dressage score of 47 in 6th place.  Congrats to Francis on a great ride!

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Loyal EN reader, and former 2011 Blogger Contestant, Chesna Klimek kindly sent us a write up and photo gallery of the brand new Advanced course at Aspen Farms. The course is absolutely beautiful, and looks like a lot of fun to ride.  Many thanks to Chesna for writing, and thank you for reading.

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Aspen Farms Advanced Course Walk

From Chesna Klimek, Rainier, WA

This past weekend Aspen Farms hosted their September Horse Trials in Yelm, WA, including classes for the Area VII Championships and for the first time ever, a $4,000 Tin Men Supply Advanced division. You read that right, an Advanced track in Washington! Before if Washingtonian eventers wanted to watch or ride Advanced, it meant a 500+ mile road trip east to Kalispell, Montana or south to California.

Here’s the wrap-up from Aspen Farms’ inaugural Advanced track:

•    Amazing weather. This is notable because Western WA is not known for amazing weather. XC day was sunny and warm with dry footing.

•    Eleven brave horse and rider combinations from Area VII, CA, and Canada started in the Advanced division, and a good-sized crowd of awestruck supporters gathered each day to watch.

•    The XC course (pictured below fence by fence), proved to be very influential in the standings, with only six horses moving on to show jumping on Sunday.

•    Karen O’Neal and her mare True Avenue were the tenth place combination after dressage, but rocketed right into first place after XC with the only clear, inside-the-time run. In the end this pair was untouchable, with another clear jumping round on stadium day.  Karen more than earned her $2,000 first place prize money, as she rode not one, not two, not three or four, but FIVE horses at the show (including two in Advanced)–how is this humanly possible?

Winner Karen O'Neal and True Avenue

Full results from the Aspen Farm Horse Trials are available here: http://eventingscores.com/eventsr/aspen/ht0912/

Kuddos to the Elliots and Aspen Farms crew for their lovely event and especially their attention to detail. This show was so classy I almost forgot I was in Yelm. They had roped off viewing areas along the XC course, fresh flowers, hand-crafted wooden signs pointing out show landmarks, free tee-shirts to spectators who could catch them, and their signature “cooler jumps” stocked with ice cold beverages for course walkers.

The new Advanced track at Aspen Farms may provide Area VII eventers with a new perspective: perhaps Rolex isn’t so far away after all!

Unfortunately I lost my course walk map that listed all the jumps with their proper names. In lieu of the names given by event organizers, I have renamed the Advanced XC fences with more or less accurate descriptions…  I’ve been having nightmares about Fence 4 ever since I saw it under construction back in June–nevermind the fact that I’m not riding Advanced, or in the show at all. But my sleepless nights were not completely unwarranted, this jump did cause trouble for horses and riders, including a fall (horse and rider are ok). As the fourth fence on course, it definitely served as a strong reminder that Advanced is for, well, advanced people.

Four star eventer Emily Beshear went overseas for the Blenheim CCI3* in England last weekend.  Emily and her lovely horse Here’s To You aka Quincy competed at Rolex earlier this year.  Emily owns and operates Brickland Farm out of Somerset, Virginia along with her husband and top sport horse vet, Jeff Beshear.  For much more from Emily, check out her website and Facebook.  Today Emily checks in with a report from show jumping day at Blenheim.  Many thanks to Emily for writing and thank you for reading.

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Meeting the Duke of Marlborough

From Emily:

Apparently when you host a major three-day event on a private property the owners so have a say in the proceedings.  We were made well aware of that when the Sunday morning vet inspection was scheduled at 7 am! because they had to finish the day by 4:30 at the request of his grace, The Duke of Marlborough. Normally it would not seem to be that great of a challenge to get done at that hour but at Blenheim your talking about close to 200 horses, almost half to show jump and the others still needing to run the cross-country for the CIC***.  So it was an early morning and all of our practicing the night before on the jog lane helped Quincy to do what we needed, jog straight and sound, and we were passed on the first go.

Now to plan for the show jumping.  Again it would seem simple to plan but somehow managed to get exciting for me… The show jumping was set to begin at 8:30 but the top 25 would not be jumping until 3:00. After cross-country I was lying in 27th.  The jog was in reverse order of placing so I paid close attention and saw that 2 of the horses placed ahead of me were withdrawn before the jog.  We double checked with the stewards so it seemed I had move to 25th and would be 1st in at 3:00.  Quincy got to go back to his stall for his customary nap and Jeff and I planned to head up and watch the first session of show jumping but I did want to wait just long enough to see the official order of go posted since it was quite a trek to the main arena.  At 8:50, after several horse had already jumped, they posted the official times at the stables.  Much to my surprise I was down as the last horse in the morning session, jumping at 9:40 (and remember it takes 20 minutes to hack to the main arena…). A slight moment of panic set in as not only would we need to rush to get tacked up and ready but I had planned to go over the course with David later in the afternoon.  I did a quick scan of the list and counted 24 horses listed for the afternoon session… after a call to the organizers and a check with the ground jury it was decided that I should be in the afternoon session.  Of course it only took another 10 minutes for this decision to be made so by that time I was dressed, Quincy had studs in, and we were just about to put the saddle on…

A good way to get the heart rate back down from that excitement was to go out shopping around the trade fair with our entourage :). We wasted a good bit of time doing that (but not too much money) and then I filled the rest of the hours beginning the task of packing and making everything fit back into the trunks to ship home.  The day was delayed even more when the CIC horses had plenty of trouble and (I overheard) ended up breaking the frangible pin 8 times on the 2nd to last fence alone.

Show Jumping was pushed back to 3:30 and I was tacked up and ready to hack over at 2:30.  They were only planning to allow 10 minutes for the course walk just before the start so I needed to plan time for that. Little did I know that the reason the course wasn’t open was because of all of the interesting attractions being shown in the main arena.  One of which being two local hunts with their hounds…I found out when I saw them leaving the arena and coming straight towards me.  Quincy and I slightly diverted our path towards the arena to give them a little space and thankfully he was not set off by the whole display.  Then we were met in the warm-up area by roaring crowds as the bareback high jump was happening within the trade fair.  Here it appears it is made more exciting by starting with tack and having to remove a piece of tack in order to continue on so by the end they are all bareback and then the winner is the one that can jump 6 feet.  The cheering did make Quincy prick his ears and I’m pretty sure he thought they were all cheering for his arrival!

Warm-up felt great and for what we lacked on Saturday we made up for in a big way on Sunday.  Without a doubt we had our best round ever! The course was a series of related lines followed by sharp roll-back turns and we nailed all the distances and made quick turns to finish clear and within the time.

There were few in the morning session that were able to jump double clear so we kept Quincy in the warm-up to see if we might move up into the top 20.  However the afternoon session showed the caliber of horses and riders we were competing against as one after another jumped beautiful clear rounds with very few rails falling off the cups.  Jeff took Quincy back to get comfortable and I headed over to watch the finish with our group of supporters. My favorite horse to watch was Kitty King’s “Zidante” and the best ride was given by Mark Todd on his catch ride “Conair”.  He definitely worked to keep all the rails up on that one…

Nice that the completion ribbons look just like the winners!

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All in all an awesome experience that gave me a very clear vision of what it takes to compete on the world stage and I am so very excited to do it again (hopefully next year!).

Four star eventer Emily Beshear went overseas for the Blenheim CCI3* in England last weekend.  Emily and her lovely horse Here’s To You aka Quincy competed at Rolex earlier this year.  Emily owns and operates Brickland Farm out of Somerset, Virginia along with her husband and top sport horse vet, Jeff Beshear.  For much more from Emily, check out her website and Facebook.  Today Emily checks in with a report from cross-country day at Blenheim.  Many thanks to Emily for writing and thank you for reading.
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From Emily:

Cross-country day has arrived! But it doesn’t actually get underway until 11 since the CIC*** is show jumping in the morning so there’s plenty of time to get organized, walk the course again, and find any and every way to keep busy. My go time was 12:46 so I planned to head to the main arena to walk the combination there (in the 15 minutes between the finish of show jumping and start of cross-country in which they took down the whole show jumping course and warm-up) and watch the first horse come through. It was NZ Olympian Jonelle Richards and she made it look easy but her speed did get the best of her at the corner combination towards the end of the course… It was difficult to see much with all of the crowds so I headed back to get ready.

Quincy’s cross-country preparation

We planned Quincy’s usual long warm-up so we could have a cooling off period because (believe it or not!) it was a pretty hot, sunny day and the going was quite firm. I’m not sure exactly what it was, and if I had I would’ve changed it, but Quincy and I were just not in sync in the warm-up.  It was difficult to get his focus as horses were going in every direction and the jumps were placed all around the field…so I was not getting a good feel of being able to go forward to the fences. Then we had an even longer delay as one of the German horses fell in the Dew Pond and took a while to clear the way.  The competitor in me wanted to go out on course and push the envelope to tackle the course within the time but the trainer in me wanted good, confident jumps the whole way around.  That side won out and I started a little conservative but after Quincy sailed the ditch and brush I felt like we were getting in a good rhythm.  He jumped great into the Dew Pond, turned super and met the out right in stride but caught his knee on the way up and twisted pretty badly.  Galloping away I felt like he was suddenly a little less enthusiastic and we were only 2 minutes into the course  so I stayed with my conservative ride and gave him a little more time in the ring to see the basket combination.  He jumped it perfectly and we were off onto the long galloping section where I did start to push on but according to may watch we were already almost 30 seconds down, a bit deflating that early in the course.

After spending awhile kicking myself for the time faults I finally got pulled into the celebration that had been going on among my fabulous supporters from the moment we crossed the finish! I am so fortunate to have such a great group and the fact that Lansdowne had great purple shirts for them to buy made the whole thing even more fun :).  There was champagne at the barn then I headed out to make the most of my day and study how the big boys get it done… Jeff stayed behind to look after Quincy and Alston and my mom headed out to find the required post cross-country pizza. All the efforts payed off as Quincy looked great when we jogged later that afternoon.  He was happy to have plenty of people to be passed between so that he could get lots of grazing time.

One important note: being in the barn with the New Zealand team really paid off when Mark Todd asked to use my step stool…I’m pretty sure it now carries Mark Todd greatness so we may help fund our next trip by charging a fee to anyone wanting to use it…

Flipping through the channels last week, I stumbled upon America’s Got Talent and a surprising artform: Sand Art, by Joe Castillo.  Intrigued, I went to Youtube (where else?) to learn more.  Joe uses sand to create pictures and tell a story.  This is perhaps his best work, a moving tribute to September 11, 2001.

(click here for the amazing, full 12-minute version)

Emily Dunn grooms four-star horse September Bliss for Ireland’s Elizabeth (Esib) Powers.  Emily is also known as Meg Kep’s “partner in crime” during this summer’s stay at Maizey Manor.  Esib and September Bliss were on track for the Olympics, but like Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville, they did not make their country’s team.  So, like Sinead and Tate, they re-routed to Burghley.  Emily was kind enough to give a recap of their Burghley weekend, and once again we see how strong the support is for the Maizey Manor Team.  Thanks to Emily for writing, and thank you for reading.

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Emily and "Seb," photo courtesy of Will Baxter

From Emily:

Just as it feels like the summer is officially over, the sun comes out here in England, I’m not complaining, obviously, but now that most of the overseas Maizey Manor visitors have recently departed, the yard is definitely quieter, and the eventing season feels like it is winding down. My fellow wine connoisseur Meg Kep was the last to leave on Wednesday, with Sinead Halpin’s recently purchased herd of horses. It was sad to see a good friend leave, as without Meg around this year I think things could have got a whole lot darker at certain points during this season, although I’m now hoping that come the end of September both my liver and bank balance will be looking a lot healthier.

Tuesday morning was the mass exodus from Maizey to Burghley Horse Trials, with four grooms, four riders (Esib Power, Sinead Halpin, Allison Springer and Bettina Hoy), three cars, one trailer, one lorry and Cooper all heading north for the week. Before we left however there was one slight difference of opinions between Esib and our American co-pilots. The trick to packing and travelling with Esib is to be quick, concise and clean, which is why when Meg asked where to put their unwrapped bales of hay, we nearly had a full scale heart attack in the middle of the yard, a small debate later we were on the road……. minus the hay bales but Irish-American relations still intact.

PHASE ONE: We had arrived, safely, excitedly and inflated with confidence for the week ahead, which was quickly deflated by one trot up later. This was our most nerve wracking phase of the whole week. September Bliss by all standards is not a show off, this resulted in a wobbly first trot, followed by detention in the holding box, a re-inspection, the longest rejected or accepted decision in the history of eventing and me vomiting quietly in the corner. What felt like an hour and a half later we were accepted and allowed to proceed to the next phase, which for me was drinking a large cocktail.

PHASE TWO: Dressage day for us was thankfully a lot more uneventful than the trot up, Seb was relaxed and produced the best test he is capable of, at this time in his career, which resulted in a pleasing score of 51.9. That night it was on to the cocktail party where I was kind enough to let everyone in to my home, and serve guests Champagne in the beautiful surroundings of the library. And by my home I mean Michael Cecil’s, the 8th Marquess of Exeter, and by homeI mean Burghley House, I can but dream. On the final day of dressage we witnessed Team Maizey whitewash the leader board, with Sinead in 1st, Allison in 2nd and Bettina sitting on a score of 49.0.

PHASE THREE: Cross country day. I know everyone talks about how big the course is at Burghley, but I feel that until you have walked up to those fences and witnessed it for yourself, television, photographs and imagination do not even bring you close to the size of them. Nerves were abundant that morning, particularly because someone decided watching ‘Thrills and Spills’ was appropriate viewing the night before cross country. So after several hours of lubricating and taping up Seb, and me pacing the stables we were ready for cross country.

The first fence we got to see Seb tackle was the Leaf Pit, and it was the fence that they picked up 20 penalties. It was nothing more than bad luck, he landed back end first off the drop, got it together, unluckily he slipped behind on the slope and simply ran out of impulsion to make it over the final element. They stormed around the remainder of the course both came home, safe, sound and a stronger combination for it.

Relieved and happy that Esib and Seb were both home O.K. we watched the rest of Team Maizey cruise around the course, with Sinead keeping hold of her overnight lead. Cross country day over, it was time to relax, enjoy, what for the Team, had been a successful day with three of our residents inside the top 20.

PHASE FOUR: As always on a Sunday it was an early morning, there was no way Seb’s second trot up was going to follow the dramas of the first. My brilliant piece of advice just before they hit the trotting strip, ‘RUN FASTER’ surely did the trick and he sailed through without hesitation from the ground jury.

PHASE FIVE: Ecstatic to have made it to the final phase of Esib Power’s Five Stage Three Day Eventing it was onto show jumping. Seb’s show jumping is without doubt his most impressive and strongest phase of eventing, but on Sunday morning he was the politest and easiest to ride I had ever seen him in a show jumping ring. Which unfortunately in Seb’s world meant that he was tired and he sadly pulled four rails, but even so we had just completed Burghley horse trials.

With Burghley over it was time to reflect on what had been an amazing but emotional event, with Esib crying when Meg tried to pack hay, me crying when we nearly didn’t make it past the first trot up, Esib then cried four times whilst watching P.S. I Love You on Wednesday night, we all cried at Sinead and Tate’s dressage test and the end of their cross country and Meg cried every time she realised that Tate was in first place. The tears didn’t stop there as it was clear Maizey Manor had blown all other competition out of the water to win GOLD in the Team event. Admittedly we were the only yard to send a team, and there wasn’t actually any‘Yard Team Event’, but still, with Sinead 2nd, Allison 6th and Bettina 10th we were taking it.

Finally, thank you to everyone that helped make Burghley happen for Power Eventing, especially Jackie Green and Jessie Foster, also thank you to Esib for not falling off and congratulations to SINEAD HALPIN EVENTING! Now all put your hands in and ………GO TEAM MAIZEY!

The Maizey team at Burghley

Keeneland Photo

Hip #131 sold last night for $1.65M to top the opening session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.  Bred in Kentucky by Brushwood Stable, the bay colt is by Distorted Humor out of multiple graded stakes winner and million dollar earner Mushka (by Empire Maker).  Consigned by Eaton Sales, the colt was bought by Shadwell Farm.

I knew this colt last year as a young foal, and he was very nice.  He certainly grew up well, and looked outstanding last night in the ring.  Congrats to his connections, and best of luck to Shadwell for his racing career!  In total, 5 horses broke the million-dollar mark yesterday; I particularly loved an AP Indy filly, out of the great mare Moonlight Sonata, who sold for $1.1M.  The September Sale continues today with Book 2, beginning at 11am.  [Live Stream] [Catalog] [Results]

Proud mama Mushka and her $1.65M colt, about 5 days old

EN’s favorite British-based correspondent is back again with a little write-up after the Blenheim CCI3*.  Jacky Green of Maizey Manor has enjoyed an especially busy (and successful!) summer this year, and while things quieted down after Burghley, the Maizey team was still out to compete at Blenheim.  As always, thanks to Jacky for writing, and thank you for reading.

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Rebecca and Rupert at Maizey Manor, photo by Samantha Clark

From Jacky:

Blenheim recap (Or in hindsight….)

A  sunny and warm three day event?  In England?  Oh Wow!  As the temps rose through the week so did the hopes of Team Canada as Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master (Rupert) made a meteoric rise through the leaderboard. One of only three to finish on her dressage score (Francis Whittington and William Fox-Pitt being the other two) it was a really great performance.  65^th to 17^th to 11^th……those stats show just how tough the track was this year at Blenheim.

I drove Rebecca’s truck (AKA Will Faudree’s truck!) up to Blenheim on Tuesday and Irish Sarah followed in her little green buggy with Rebecca in her red estate car and  as our much reduced entourage left Maizey Manor it seemed a far cry from the eleven or twelve vehicles that left for Burghley!  Having deposited said truck and gang in a nearly deserted field I left in Rebecca’s car, hurtled down the exit road and very nearly went straight through the exit barrier as I discovered her brakes were a tad on the soft side.  When I returned with Rodney Powell’s truck 24 hours later the field was a mass of horseboxes, gazebos, picnic tables, dogs, children, horses and riders all basking in the sun.  There was a best dressed prize at the jog, although personally I would love to present a worst dressed as there really were some shockers.  Predictably in England it was the tweed that won…..

Two days of dressage produced some excellent scores with Marilyn Little-Meredith right up there with RF Rovano Rex on 41, the simply gorgeous Smoke On The Water on 46.4 and (much credit to David O’Connor) the enormous Rockfield Grant Juan with Shandiss Weiora on 49.  Shandiss left Maizey Manor for the depths of Cheshire after the Games so we had not seen her in a while but she must have been working on everything the boss had told her as breaking 50 with such a big, young horse was quite an achievement.  Rebecca was struggling with Rupert all week as he had somehow managed to pull a muscle in his neck and decided that bending right was simply not an option.  At all.  With Mr. O’Connor’s legendary help he improved all week and posted a 56 which was disappointing but it was clearly not going to be a dressage competition.

Saturday dawned and it was pretty warm, 26 degrees (C) with no cloud cover and no breeze.  It might have been helpful to have some shade in which to cool the horses down (Blenheim is not exactly short of trees I might add) but as usual the support crews were amazing.  Irish Sarah looked like she had been swimming for most of the day she was so wet and the cross country started to take its toll.  RF Rovano Rex looked to be doing a classy round before he jumped into instead of over the ditch three from home.  Rockfield Grant Juan was cruising round until Shandiss rather inexplicably fell off, Marliyn retired Smoke On The Water after the 7 year old found it all rather too much and then Rebecca and Rupert blitzed around to make time.  They had a few “moments” but the message was clear:  we are doing this, and we are doing it today.

As the poles fell with monotonous regularity on Sunday afternoon, Rupert decided his neck was fine now and bust a gut to jump a great clear and move up yet again.  Hats off to Rebecca Howard, she had a great week with a great result and really does deserve it.  She did the Maizey Manor Team proud, as did Bettina Hoy who finished in 4^th in the 8/9 year old CIC*** with Designer.  Rebecca plans to stay on in the UK, she is staying here for a while and has a job riding and competing for Tim Price and Jonelle Richards and who would not be proud to have her as a team addition.

So Team Maizey is pretty much done with the American contingent, the Canadian has stayed and for the rest of the three days its pretty much all about team New Zealand as Caroline Powell is planning to return for most of October. Well, the horses will be here, she seems to be planning to hang out in Holland and France and meet up with them.  Irish Sarah is a USA visa refugee so we have adopted her too and finally, to keep a promise, there is just one last thing to say…

I am glad I did not buy and then shoot Arthur as a 4 year old [see Hartpury International report] because then I would have missed the unbelievable bond Allison Springer shares with him, and I also would have missed out on a complete education this summer on how to train a spooky horse to the ultimate level.  Allison, I salute you, I learnt so much from you and I have even developed an admiration for Arthur as he has to overcome so many more fears and tigers than the average horse will ever face.  Roll on 2013!

Doug Payne is back again with another awesome helmet cam and insightful commentary.  Here he is riding cross-country at the AECs on Royal Tribute. Royal Tribute started his career at DPE as a 3 yr old. He was since named Grand Champion of the USEA Future Event Horse Series 2009, and Champion of the USEA Young Event Horse 2011,.  He has continued his winning ways in 2012 winning 6 preliminary events, 2nd at the Bromont CCI* and 7th here at the AEC’s.

Not all good horses are expensive... Graded stakes winner Daisy Devine was purchased at Keeneland in 2009 for $5,500. She has earned over $700,000 for owner Jim Miller.

Need something to do this evening?  The Keeneland September Yearling Sale starts this afternoon at 4pm (EST).  Watch live streaming here, and check out the catalog here.  Book 1 sells tonight, 132 Thoroughbred colts and fillies with some of the best pedigrees in the world.  This year is the last crop of AP Indy yearlings, so expect them to bring good money.  The highest prices will likely be tonight… check it out!

Remember the joy and pride you felt when you saw Sinead Halpin’s dressage score at Burghley?  A 36.3, over four points ahead of her nearest competitor?  An AMERICAN in first, at Burghley?!  Remember waiting desperately for her cross-country ride, and then seeing that clean, FAST result on the scoreboard?  An AMERICAN STILL in first at Burghley?!  You know you were wrapped up into all the emotion, excitement, and drama…now imagine how it felt to be Meg Kep, Tate’s faithful groom.  You knew Meg would be back to write about it, and I bet you’ve been looking forward to it all along.  And I promise it’s the best reading ever.  Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us, Meg!  A job well done by Sinead, Tate, and his whole team.

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Boekelo 2010, The first picture I had with Tate. Helping his then groom Chrissy McBride prepare for the jog.

From Meg:

A Horse Called Tate.

When I first met Tate, I wasn’t sure of his abilities. He had his own style, his own personality, and his own opinion. But as the years went by, and I eventually took charge as his caretaker – he has never failed to amaze me. I believe in that horse. A horse that has matured over the last three years so considerably, partnered with Sinead, taking the entire team to new and unimaginable heights.

There was something about the overall feeling of Burghley this year that was different. Maybe it was the fact that I knew if they had done it before they could do it again.

I felt more organized and ready. We had a plan. Tate was fit. Sinead was determined. I had my pink spray and a clean towel.

We had nothing to prove to anyone but ourselves. Regardless of the notions from being left off the team – We didn’t go to Burghley angry. We went happy – in a caravan of the DAF Hotel (Esibs lorry), Kermit (Sara McKenna’s car), and THE GROOMSTER (my rental car renamed by close friend- til-the-end Emily Dunn). Three riders and three horses – all who had been left off the Olympic squad prepared to go tackle one big mother of a track, with three grooms, one puppy named Cooper, and some Costa Coffee in tow.

With plenty of time to digest the disappointments of the summer, we had refocused our energy on being better than we were. And that is exactly what happened.

Tate is not what I would call an “impressive”  horse to look at, but he most certainly is beautiful one. And although I may never win best turned out because of his lanky neck or his heroin chic hips – Tate always finds a way to be noticed at a jog. Hello Burghley, I’m back.

Walking the course this year, I only felt sick at one jump . . . no, not the leap – those bloody white rails. (Oxymoron alert?) But, I felt it was rideable. And by me feeling it was rideable, I mean – Sinead and Tate could do it. Lauren Hough asked me if I would ever want to jump any of these jumps – I replied 1, 2, 3, 4a, c and 5 were alright. . . and maybe the second water I could muster.

We had a late morning dressage test. Sinead, as usual, had her game face on.  They entered the ring in time to catch the applause from Mary King’s ride. That is all Tate needed to know – his fans were there waiting to see what Manoir could do.

Tate is more than capable of consistently scoring in the low forties. And this is what I expected him to do. His changes can be perfect, he had learned to nail his walk pirouettes, he can halt square, and twinkle his toes all the way home. I strategically placed myself so I could see the scoreboard and Sinead simultaneously, and that is when the 9’s started rolling in. The test was by far amazing. Dressage has been an uphill battle for this pair – but today on this sunny day in Stamford, England, the fruits of their labor were shown to the eventing world.  A THIRTY SIX?! (enter: crying megan)

Tate was leading Burghley.

Tate was leading Burghley?

Tate was leading Burghley!

HOLY SCHNIEKIES TATE WAS LEADING BURGHLEY.

I allowed myself until midnight to enjoy first place at Burghley. I enjoyed a nice bottle of wine thanks to Sinead’s dad all by myself after getting bounced from the groom’s restaurant (apparently BYOB is NOT allowed)… and later celebrated with friend Sara McKenna whose horse Arthur was in 2^nd after an equally stellar performance.  But with the arrival of Saturday I knew that an entire field of horses were going to be chasing Tate around that course – and it was back to the game face.

Every groom has their “pre-xc”  routine down to the minute – and it is always unfortunate being late in the day. We spent the day grazing and pacing and quietly talking to ourselves with the occasional nervous laugh. I managed to watch two rounds: Esib who had an unfortunate early 20 with her super jumper September Bliss, but continued on and had an exponentially great round as each jump passed; and Jock, who managed to save a near disastrous tumble in the trout hatchery (watch this and keep an eye on his face and you will see about 5753 different emotions and reactions in approximately 2 seconds. Priceless.), but continued on to a near flawless round. Those damn Kiwis are pretty good.

Finally it was time to get on and warm-up. The weather was getting warmer, and there had been plenty of problems out there. The pit in my stomach started to grow. But Tate was on prime jumping form and he was ready for a gallop.

We proceeded to the final warm-up.

Along the way we passed comrade Will Faudree and Missy as they were walking back after a disappointing tumble at the Dairy Mound. He offered words of support and encouragement as we passed each other and I knew there were only a few minutes left.

At final warm up we had CMP and DOC there to offer final words of reaffirmation and wisdom. Sinead set her clock, I did a final check on boots, tack, and my respiration and we headed across the galloping lane and through the vetbox to the start. I knew the cameras were on us, so I tried not to look like a pansy…. This meant I couldn’t look at Sinead in the eye or speak.

During the final minute I always get paranoid that my reins aren’t fastened. I don’t know if this is just me – and I always tape them before she gets on so I am sure they are on safely, but that is usually the last thing that goes through my mind.

With 10 seconds to go, and with a tear in my eye I managed to squeak “Bring him home” to Sinead and they were away.  This tear was full of nerves, yes, but pride and hope as well.

I quickly set up my vetbox buckets and ran into the rider’s tent to watch. Usually in this tent, the minutes feel like hours…but today, the time flew. Foot perfect and stronger than ever, Tate ate up the meters around the course. There were several instances that in a previous time, Tate would have carefully added, but Sinead’s confidence was so contagious, each question looked easier and easier.  I heard Ed Holloway announce Sinead was approaching the second water. . . wait a minute? He’s already at the second water? The smile hit my face and I grabbed my halter and ran out to wait for my team to come home.

And came home they did, penalty free and under the time – one of four teams to do so that day. (enter: crying megan)

His legs looked clean, his nose was clean, and for the first time at a four star, Tate did not seem to be at his bottom.  Tate was a better, stronger, fitter, faster horse.

And he was still in the lead, unable to be caught.

Sinead was whisked away, and my comrades helped cool him off. I looked at David O’Connor and he gave me the famous DoC wink that said it all.

I led Tate home who was squealing and bucking the entire way. I was laughing and trying not to lose the leader of Burghley. No pressure.

I walked into the barns and was greeted by friends and strangers – with congratulations for Tate. The true feeling of team was in those barns.

Photo courtesy of Will Baxter

Sunday morning after Tate passed the jog and we were still in first heading into show jumping.(enter: crying megan). Sinead gave me a leg up and I got to ride my Tater all the way home, past the Burghley House, past the pony event which nearly got me bucked off, and back into the barns to wait for our 3:17 jump time.

Riding Tate back to the barn. Photo courtesy of Bobby Costello

The hours passed and the rails were coming down. The horses were tired after the big track the day before. When it was time for Tate, he warmed up beautifully. William went in the ring. 2 down. Andrew went in the ring. 1 down.  It was our turn. Sinead has a way of handling pressure that I will never have.  I wriggled my way to the front of the line and watched Tate jump a great round. You could feel the crowd’s support. Everyone wanted Tate to win. He tried so hard. Sinead rode great. It just wasn’t meant to be.

The first thought you have is disappointment. But eventually you take a breath and you think to yourself : “Idiot!”  And the disappointment vanishes, and there is nothing left but happiness.

Photo courtesy of Calina Naomi

This could single-handedly have been the longest summer of my life.  But I did it all for a horse called Tate, who in return has given me more than I could ever have asked. I will never forget this year for as long as I live. And I will never forget the love and admiration I have for my team. And I can guarantee that fifty years from now, I will never forget the Flying French Princess and the time that he (almost) won Burghley. (enter: crying megan)

Upside to being second at Burghley – the person we had to stare at the backside of was this guy:

Andrew Nicholson and Avebury. Photo by Samantha Clark.

Chris Burton & Underdiscussion at Adelaide, photo by ESJ

Australian Tim Boland was finally knocked off his top spot on the leaderboard when fellow Aussie Chris Burton and Underdiscussion stepped in with a score of 31.8.  Ingrid Klimke and Tabasco still sit in third, just behind Tim Boland.  Two Brits round out the top five, Burghley starters Lucy Wiegersma with Simon Porloe and William Fox-Pitt with Seacookie.  The two US riders remain in the top 15, with Marilyn Little-Meredith and Rovano Rex in 9th and Emily Beshear with Here’s To You in 15th.  Not too shabby in a very competitive division!

North American Results at a glance:

Rovano Rex – Marilyn Little-Meredith  41.2  (9th place)

Here’s To You – Emily Beshear 44.8 (15th place)

RF Smoke on the Water – Marilyn Little-Meredith  46.4 (tied for 23rd)

Rockfield Grant Juan – Shandiss Wewiora (CAN) 48.2 (tied for 33rd)

Riddle Master – Rebecca Howard (CAN)  56.4 (65th)

RF Rovano Rex and Marilyn Little-Meredith, shown here at Red Hills, photo by Samantha Clark

More than half the dressage has completed at Blenheim, with some excellent scores for American and Canadian riders.  Placings listed here are provisional, as of 8am EST.  There are still 23 horses to go, out of 89.  Tim Boland (AUS) leads with GV Billy Elliot on 35.2, followed closely by Ingrid Klimke (GER) and Tabasco on 35.8.

[Full Results – select CCI Dr Results in top scroll box]

Rovano Rex – Marilyn Little-Meredith  41.2  (3rd place)

Here’s To You – Emily Beshear 44.8 (7th place)

Rockfield Grant Juan – Shandiss Wewiora (CAN) 48.2 (tied for 21st)

Riddle Master – Rebecca Howard (CAN)  56.4 (44th)

Marilyn still has RF Smoke on the Water left to ride near the end of today’s competition.

2011 Advanced Champion Barb Crabo and Eveready

The Olympics are over, Burghley is over, Blenheim is approaching…that means the American Eventing Championships are upon us.  The AECs, held at Chattahoochee Hills (Fairburn, GA) again this year, feature all levels competing for a national title.

The Advanced division has 19 entries, including Becky Holder and her two grays, Can’t Fire Me and Courageous Comet.  Becky’s been on a roll this year, most recently winning the CIC3* at Richland with Can’t Fire Me and placing second with Comet. As we reported from Richland, the AECs is likely to be Comet’s last upper level competition.  I’m sure he’ll go out on a high note!  Buck Davidson has two horses entered at Advanced, the experienced Ballynoe Castle and up-and-comer The Apprentice.  Hannah Sue Burnett will be there with Harbour Pilot, as well as Jon Holling and Bromont CCI3* winner Downtown Harrison.

EN’s own Jessica Bortner-Harris and Win the War (Bug) will be competing at Intermediate.  Best of luck to all competitors!

[Full entry list/ride times]

Dressage begins on Thursday for Training through Advanced, and Friday for Beginner Novice and Novice.  John will be on-site to bring excellent coverage throughout the event.  Go AECs!

[Live scores]