I caught up with Boyd Martin this afternoon at Richland after he took the lead with Trading Aces in the CIC3* thanks to a beautiful double clear trip in the show jumping. As you’ll hear Boyd discuss in the interview, Oscar has now had about a year’s worth of experience at the Advanced level, and Boyd thinks it’s time to start treating him like less of a green horse when it comes to the cross country. As of this afternoon, his strategy for Ian Stark’s big three-star course is to go for it, and he’ll certainly have to do that if he wants to get around clear. I asked him about the tricky Keyhole Combination at 19AB and 20 — which Sharon White walked me through this morning — and he said he thinks it’s more of four-star question, so horses and riders will absolutely have to be on form to tackle those fences, as well as a variety of other big asks on course. Many thanks to Boyd for taking time out of his busy afternoon to speak with me, and best of luck to all the riders as we head into the cross country tomorrow.
I have to apologize for the total lack of posts from Richland this morning. My hot spot worked beautifully all day yesterday, but today I couldn’t get a strong enough connection to upload a single thing. After trying all morning to upload photos and videos without any luck, Samantha and I finally retreated to a nearby Panera to use the free wifi early this afternoon after the CIC3* show jumping concluded. We’ll be making up for the lack of updates this morning by bombarding you with content tonight, so please check back to see much more from Richland. I’m also starting a new tradition of uploading all my photos to Eventing Nation’s Facebook page after each day of competition, so be sure to check there tonight as well to view my CIC3* show jumping album, tag your friends and leave notes of encouragement for the riders. The CIC3* cross country starts at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow morning, and I’ll be out on course early in the day bringing you snippets of the action from the Intermediate and CIC2* divisions. Go Richland!
[Richland Website] [Entry List] [2013 Schedule] [Live Scores] [Cross Country Preview]
