Classic Eventing Nation

Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent are the best of day two in Blenheim’s CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Friday afternoon dressage advantages be damned: throughout today’s packed day of CCI4*-S dressage for the eight- and nine-year-olds at Blenheim, we saw an extraordinary array of talent, but no one could usurp the top spot, claimed yesterday morning by Tom McEwen and MHS Brown Jack on an impressive score of 24.6.

Actually, admirable judging has been one of the major takeaways over the two days of this class — while the CCI4*-L has seen some major variations in several tests, the ground jury in the CCI4*-S has been the picture of consistency, with two of the three judges united in awarding a 75% score to Tom (the third, at C, was just marginally more generous at 76.25%) and, most remarkably, all three judges giving overnight fifth-placed Jarillo, ridden by Tim Price, a 73.33%.

They’ve been happy to reward greatness where such a reward is due, but similarly unafraid to penalise problems; eight of the 95 tests earned scores in the 40s.

With a quality field like this, that yields close margins — and they couldn’t be closer at the business end of the leaderboard. Piggy March and Brookfield Future News remain in a close overnight second behind Tom and Jack, just a tenth of a penalty off the lead on a 24.7, and today, they’re joined in equal second place by Burghley winner Oliver Townend and the exciting Cooley Rosalent (Valent x Bellaney Jewel, by Roselier), who’s one of the more experienced horses in this class with a five-star start under her belt already. That start, which came at Luhmühlen in June, was her last FEI event; though she underperformed in the first phase there with an uncharacteristic high-30s mark, the 2020 Six-Year-Old Reserve World Champion looked back to her best today, logging her second sub-25 at four-star.

Tim Price and Chio 20. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tim Price has a seriously exciting trio of horses for this class this year, and while yesterday afternoon’s ride, the splashy Jarillo, was relegated to overnight fifth on his score of 26.7, it’s hardly a hardship when another of the string takes the spot ahead. Today, that was the role of the nine-year-old Holsteiner Chio 20 (Castelan 3 x Nobelis, by Heraldik xx) who, with his expressive paces and natural balance, was a delight to watch — but even for all that, Tim was surprised to earn a 25.1 and overnight fourth place.

“He’s really hard work, actually — he’s quite agricultural to ride,” admits Tim. “I’ve got a little wheely spur on behind and double bridle in front. But he’s always got a very friendly face about his job, and it’s just who he is as a build and a type. He’s big and strong and always wanting to you run his balance long and down.”

Unlike Cooley Rosalent before him, Chio is very inexperienced, with just six FEI starts — and a decidedly up-and-down cross-country record across it — to his name, in comparison to Rosalent’s 15. But for Tim, the primary goal of this week is simply to continue quietly plugging away at the talented gelding’s education, one big milestone at a time.

“This was his first Advanced test, and it’s nice to get into some movements where they help everything, compared to 3*,” he says. “It’s nice to actually put him into a shape and make him go sideways, because it’s all improving. I’ve been looking forward to this stage.”

Tim initially sourced the horse as a six-year-old through Canada’s Rebecca Howard, who had got him from Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 via agent Francesca Pollara — and over the three years he’s been on the Prices’ yard, he’s made himself something of a main character.

“Rebecca was around for a barbecue one night and said, ‘I’ve got this big horse that is quite impressive’. That was him as a six year old. I bought him then and have just been quietly coming along with him, really, since then.  We’ve taken me a wee while to get to this level — he’s nine, but he’s been that sort of horse that I’m just taking  my time over. He’s quite a character; he likes to have everyone on, and he imposes himself on people a little bit, in a BFG kind of way.”

All smiles for Storm Straker and Fever Pitch after an exceptional test. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Just three-tenths of a penalty behind Chio, and on an impressive career personal best of 27, is amateur rider Storm Straker‘s nine-year-old German Sport Horse Fever Pitch (Tannenhof’s Fahrenheit x Sinfonie, by Sherlock Holmes).

“I felt a bit of pressure, only because it’s a big championship and you want to do well, don’t you?” says 25-year-old Storm. “But he was really good. He was a little bit tired, probably because of the heat, but he was quite responsive — normally, he can get a bit flat, but actually, he was with me, which was nice.”

Storm and her mother, Victoria, have owned the gelding since finding him as a four-year-old through friends in Germany, and now, he’s her sole international eventing ride; alongside her job in the farms and estates division of Howden Insurance, she also maintains two exciting young horses, one of whom she’s aiming for pure dressage. But riding and working full-time presents its own unique challenges: “It’s difficult — I don’t get to cross-country school very often, because I’ve got a full-time job, so balancing the two is a bit tricky,” she says. “But we’ve been getting a lot of help from Chris Bartle, and so I really put recent successes down to him.”

With Fever Pitch, who she describes as “a difficult horse, just because he’s so sensitive,” she’s had to be particularly methodical and smart with her time — and part of that sensibility is simply in giving him time.

“To start with, teaching him half-passes and things was a very slow process, but he started to really get it, and he trusts me now, which is great. He’s also started to show his character in the last year, which is really nice. He’s special, and we adore him. He knows he’s the king of the yard — it’s really nice that he’s shining. It’s time, and it’s training,” says Storm, who trains on the flat with dressage rider Nicola Naprstek, with whom she’s ridden since her early teens. “She’s really understood him, and that’s how it started to click.”

Stephen Heal and Quidam de Lux. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Stephen Heal and the Irish-bred Quidam de Lux (Boswell Mr Heartbreaker x St Breddans Lady, by Lux Z) move into overnight seventh place after a smart 27.5 — a four-star personal best on the 2021 British Seven-Year-Old Champion’s third start at the level.

“I’m really pleased. He’s done plenty of good tests and he generally always does a good one, he just sometimes struggle with the contact a little bit — but today he felt mostly on side. He always wins the warm up and then I go in and I’m like ‘that wasn’t quite as good as the warm up’, but it was fine,” says Stephen, who explains that finding the fine balance in getting the right amount of work into the gelding is an ongoing process. “He’s tricky like that, because he’s naturally actually quite a lazy horse. So I don’t actually want very long on him, but then you need long enough to get all the gears working. So factoring in quite a long walk down [here from the stables] is quite difficult. You’re like,  ‘It’s quite long, but I’m only walking’ —  so we’ve been playing around with things, but it feels like on the whole we got it about right today. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on him any longer in here.”

The flashy chestnut has progressed quickly while learning the tougher movements demanded at four-star, but as for any nine-year-old, this year has been all about learning to find the fine margins and eke out the work he can get at home while at a show.

“He struggles with his changes one way to the other, but he seems to just save them for the test,” laughs Stephen. “At Bramham I was in the warm up and I was like ‘I can’t do a left to right change’ and then he went in, and was like ‘I can!’  Everything’s there — all the lateral work and everything, it’s just getting it in the ring. At home, I can do an 18, and then you go in the boards and he goes a little bit tight and a little bit less off the leg and then you just lose that half a mark from where he will be, but then, he’s only nine.”

Stephen’s had Quidam de Lux since he was a four-year-old, and each year, the gelding has contested the British national age finals — “in the five- and six-year-old championships, he had his only fences down of each season, so winning the seven-year-olds made up for that a little bit!” — but Stephen admits that having such a prodigious youngster in his string also requires him to step back and retain some perspective.

“It’s always really easy to forget how young he is because I’ve had him five years,” he explains. “I’m like, ‘Oh, God, we need to keep up with everyone.’ But then everyone’s like, ‘Oh, he’s only nine’ and then I’m like, ‘Oh I suppose he is —  it feels like he’s about 15 now!’ When you look at these top guys that are still there… Ballaghmor Class won Burghley six years ago and then he’s just won it again and then you think, ‘oh, there’s actually loads of time’ — but you just panic!”

Clare Abbott and Mr Mighty. Photo by Tim Wilkinson/Eventing Images.

Ireland’s Clare Abbott and the charmingly-monikered Mr Mighty will go into tomorrow morning’s showjumping in eighth place on a score of 27.9 — their second-best score at this level, but not quite in the league of the 22.4 they picked up in their last run at the level at Lisgarvan.

“He’s very capable, but some things were just out of our control today,” says Clare, who balances competing at the top levels with part-time work as a maths teacher. “Like, a few people caught his eye in the seating area when we first went in, and then his first halt was dodgy, and in the walk, the flies were annoying him — we didn’t have enough fly spray on. It’s just small things like that, but he’s very capable, he just needs to get some mileage at events like this for experience.”

And, she says, he needs the mileage to learn to curb his enthusiasm for the task at hand.

“He has so many gears, and he’s so powerful — he’d like to be doing tempi changes and bouncier stuff, so the main thing, really, is keeping a lid on it to just do one flying change,” she laughs.

Clare’s particularly excited about riding around David Evans’ track come Sunday, and giving the smart son of Gatcombe another pivotal building block in his education.

“It’s definitely built with an eight- or nine-year-old in mind, which is nice. The course is progressive in size and difficulty, and they give the horses every opportunity to get built up into it. It’s great — we’re looking forward to it,” she says.

The top ten at the culmination of dressage is rounded out by Caroline Harris and the British-bred D. Day (Billy Mexico x Dillus, by Dilum xx), with whom she finished third in Chatsworth’s tough CCI4*-S earlier this season. There, they put a 26 on the board, and while their 27.9 is a marginally worse score on paper, Caroline is delighted with how the talented nine-year-old has come on since then.

“He’s just getting physically stronger,” she says. “He’s not the most flamboyant and flashy, so it’s just getting some strengthening into him. He  wants to do everything so correctly, so the stronger he’s getting, the more I can show him off and do better movements — better half passes, better changes. I still feel there’s a lot more to come when he gets stronger, and I think next year, when he can actually hold himself even more than he did last year, he’ll be even more impressive. He just tries so much.”

Tiana Coudray and D’Artagnan. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British-based US Olympian Tiana Coudray sits 62nd overnight on a 34.9 with the nine-year-old Holsteiner D’Artagnan (Diamant de Semilly x Cherie Nema), who she describes as “the most generous horse I’ve ever met.”

“He was a Novice horse last year,” she explains. “We picked him up as a bit of a project — I thought I’d put a bit of form on him and sell them as a moneymaker, and he did one Novice, went Intermediate; did one Intermediate, was double clear; went to a 3*, jumped clear around that, and finished up the year having done three three-stars. This year he came out and was supposed to have a few Intermediates but they all got abandoned, so he came straight out at Advanced, and jumped double clear around that. He doesn’t know if he’s coming or going or which way is up, but he tries his heart out. He’s absolutely gorgeous.”

Now, she’s hoping to keep the ride on him for the future, if she can find a buyer or a group of buyers to invest in him, but more immediately, it’s all about giving him exposure and mileage — particularly where big atmosphere is concerned. And if all goes well here? A step up to CCI4*-L at Boekelo — arguably the most atmospheric of all the events — could be on the cards. His test today, she says, is a really positive start.

“He tried so hard,” she says fondly. “By the end, he was getting body tired and he was wobbling about and bouncing off the boards and he sort of fell onto the centerline, but it’s simply his strength. He got tired at the end of the test. He really is like a nine-year-old going on a five-year-old! But I couldn’t ask any more of him. He tried so hard in there.”

The final US competitor of the class was 21-year old British-based Rowan Laird, who trains with Angela Tucker — one of this week’s CCI4*-L judges — and competes this week with his own nine-year-old Sceilig Concordio. They’ll go into tomorrow morning’s showjumping in 89th place on their score of 41.

That showjumping phase is the star of the show for this talented group of nearly 100 eight- and nine-year-olds tomorrow: it’ll all kick off bright and early at 8.00 a.m. (3.00 a.m. EST) and run until roughly 11.00 a.m. (6.00 a.m. EST), prior to the start of the CCI4*-L cross-country at 11.30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. EST). Then, Sunday will see them head into their cross-country finale over David Evans’ educational track. Head on over to Horse&Country TV to follow along with all the action on the livestream here, and keep it locked on EN for an update on all the action tomorrow, as well as a full report to come tonight from the CCI4*-L dressage.

Until then: Go Eventing!

The top ten after dressage in Blenheim’s eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S.

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Tom McEwen and MHS Brown Jack take the day one lead in Blenheim’s CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Day one at the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials didn’t quite start how Tom McEwen might have planned — “I’ve got puppies in my lorry, and they woke me up at five!” he bemoans with a laugh — but nevertheless, he rallied those dwindling energy levels to produce a serious test on Fred and Penny Barker’s oversized MHS Brown Jack to take, and hold, an early lead in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds. And as in the CCI4*-L, that day one gauntlet isn’t going to be an easy one for tomorrow’s competitors to catch: they posted the gelding’s four-star personal best of 24.6, uniting the judges at E and M, who each gave the smart test a 75%.

That test came despite an unforeseen challenge: “I was hoping he’d have a friend next door in the ring,” says Tom, referring to the side-by-side competition arenas, which have seen horses and riders entering in pairs to perform their tests in tandem through the day, “but there was no one there. So I was like, ‘right — he’s going to have to be really mature.’ And he was; he was fantastic.”

The ride, he says, was just about “on par with his test at Bramham”, at which he scored a 28.7, but today, both the highlights and the little errors were more numerous.

“With him, it’s just general progression through basics and strength,” says Tom. “His highlights are that there’s a lot more air time, but in a relaxed way rather than with tension, though that’s probably the wrong word. It’s just really nice air time. The little mistakes were that he just got a little bit tense coming into his last change, and because I went for a bit more extended trot today, we just took two seconds to find a balance.”

But, he reasons, “they’re all minor minor things and it’s all part of the learning stage.”

For a big horse — the nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse (OBOS Quality 004 x Gowran Lady, by Cavalier Royale) sticks at over 17hh — that time to learn, and to itemise one’s limbs, is key, and although he’s making his Blenheim debut a year later than planned thanks to last year’s clash with the World Championships, that’s something that Tom is taking in his stride as he fine tunes everything the gelding needs for a top-notch performance.

“He’s Mr Relaxed when he’s in a relaxed place, but he can be a bit of a panicker, and because he’s so big, he can move his weight a bit,” says Tom. “It’s just getting him in the right mindset, and the more he relaxes and listens, the more you can ride for a test like today — but when he panics, it’s time to just pop him away and try again later. He’s just taken time; he’s a powerful horse, and he’s better over a bigger course, and so we’re just playing around a bit with him.”

Piggy March and Brookfield Future News. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Just one-tenth of a penalty behind Tom is his fellow Brookfield Stables rider, Piggy March, who posted a 24.7 with Brookfield Future News to take overnight second for the eventing enterprise spearheaded by owners John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn.

“He’s a horse I’ve always thought a lot of, and I think he’ll be a five-star horse,” says Piggy of the eight-year-old Irish gelding (Future Trend x Cashmere Breeze, by Last News xx), who she’s piloted throughout his international career. Like MHS Brown Jack, he’s a big horse — and like many Irish-breds, a slightly late-blooming one, and Piggy’s now beginning to dial up the pressure she puts on him in competition.

“He’s not done masses this year, and because he’s a big-framed horse, we’ve taken it easy with him,” she says. “This is a great competition for him — the jumping in the main arena on Saturday will be a whole new thing for him, and I’ll be really interested in how the whole week goes for him.”

That week has certainly begun positively; this is just his second CCI4*-S test, and though he’s scored exceptionally well at the lower international levels, his only previous test at the level saw him post a 34.8 — a ten mark difference between starts at the level.

“The work he did today is as good as he’s got at the moment, and I was so impressed that he wasn’t spooky at all — he was very settled, and he’s getting more and more expressive and starting to come off the floor,” says Piggy. “He’s a very blood horse, and so it’s great to see that there’s all this movement coming out of him.”

That tendency to spookiness hasn’t been a major factor in ‘Matthew’s’ production — “he’s quite simple,” but, Piggy says, “for some reason, every now and then, white boards do feel like they have dragons in them! It’s frustrating at times, but he’s a good boy — it’s just the confidence, and getting out and doing it. He was at Bramham for the CCI4*-S, and there were definitely dragons down at A that day, but the thing with these big arenas is they only get the confidence and experience by getting in there and doing it.”

Tim Price and Jarillo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tim Price has been introducing a fierce little string of future superstars to spectators so far at Blenheim; this morning, it was Viscount Viktor who took the spotlight, taking overnight 21st on a score of 31.4 and totting up another bit of valuable experience en route to becoming, as Tim describes him, his next big star — and this afternoon, all eyes were on the flashy Jarillo.

The nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Dantos x Fiorilla, by Alicante) isn’t just flashy to look at — though he is that, with his four white socks and sweet white face — he’s also expressive and mature in his balance in his movement, too. That tidy little package combined to earn the pair a score of 26.7, putting them into overnight third place.

“He’s a very sharp little red-headed thing that’s a little bit scared of his own shadow sometimes,” says Tim. “But it’s nice to be somewhere for a couple of days, rather than at a one-day event, because we get to show him the places and give him the confidence to ask him a little bit more.”

Handily, the gelding finds the atmosphere and eery quiet of the main arena a more relaxing environment than the hubbub of a warm-up ring full of friends: “He’s actually a little horse-shy,” explains Tim. “It’s a nice way around to have it though. It’s the same in the showjumping; he’s a really cool little jumper, and sometimes the warm-up arenas are a bit manic, so when he finally gets in the arena, he’s like, ‘aaaah, this is better — let’s go and jump some jumps!'”

For now, Tim’s focus with Jarillo is development — but in time, he’s confident that the horse is going to be a real weapon in his arsenal. With four top tens out of six FEI starts on his record, and a clean sheet across the country in international competitions, it’s hard to disagree with him, and heartening to see him afford the requisite time to letting that strength develop at its own pace.

“He’s working at a good level, and he’s got a lot of exciting things in there,” says Tim. “As he gets more established at this level, I think I’ll be able to go for a bit more, to come out of a turn and really just hit the button for an extended trot, whereas now, I’m nurturing him around a bit.”

British-based Aussie Sammi Birch holds fourth place overnight on a score of 27.9 with Jutopia (Caretino Gold x Bali-Utopia, by Sandreo), who also adds a positive tick in the box for the Dutch Warmblood studbook.

“This is her first ever attempt at four-star, and so she hasn’t done this test in a competition before — and I’m thrilled with her,” says Sammi. “I had a baby earlier in the year, and she’s a nine-year-old, so she’s probably a bit greener than some of the others, but it’s very exciting to have her here.”

While Sammi was off games, Jonelle Price deputised by bringing the mare to Spain to showjump for the winter — a nifty little swapover that might not have worked so well for a young horse, were it not for Jutopia’s best quality: her brain.

“She’s just the sweetest thing, and she tries harder than any horse,” enthuses Sammi. “If they all tried as hard as her, we’d have a yard full of superstars!”

Mollie Summerland and Flow 7. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

2021 Luhmühlen winner Mollie Summerland might have bid a bittersweet farewell to her famous partner, Charly van ter Heiden, who’s now soaking up the sun in Ocala, but the horse who’s moving into the top spot in her string is no slouch, either.

“I really do think he’ll go sub-20 in the future,” she says of Paula and Adrian Cloke’s Flow 7, who rounds out the top five on day one with a score of 27.9. “He has so much ability on the flat and I think we’re just scratching the surface of what he’s capable of. It still feels so green, and he’s not seen many atmospheres like this, so I think he’s definitely one who’ll go right down.”

The Oldenburg gelding (For Romance x Hauptstutbuch Disney) only began his international career in the latter part of 2021, and as a big horse, has taken time to physically mature — a process that remains ongoing. But his progress is also clearly evident from event to event; where the flying changes were particularly tricky for him at the beginning of this season, they’ve already matured into something much more flowing and functional, helping him to nudge his four-star scores down from the mid-30s we’ve seen when they’ve slightly fallen apart in the ring.

“It’s quite remarkable, actually, what he’s achieved with the lack of mileage he’s got,” says Mollie. “He’s new to all this, and he’s big and still quite weak, but he continually excels himself. He has all the ability to be a top one, it’s just about time — I could take him up the hills and all that [to physically strengthen him], but at the end of the day, he’s a big horse and he just needs time to grow into himself.”

Mollie, who is herself a formidable dressage rider and trains with the likes of Carl Hester and Olivia Oakley, is also settling into translating the language that she shared with her former top horse into how she works with her greener up-and-comers.

“I knew Charly inside out, and he’d basically speak to me in the warm-up and tell me if he needed to do more or less,” she says. “With Flow, it’s a bit more of an unknown quantity; I wasn’t sure whether to do much more with him this morning, or whether to leave him, and so it’s still about building that relationship and learning what ticks with him and what the best system is like. We try different things at every event; at Jardy [Nations Cup] I actually undercooked him, and then with the big screen and the speakers, it wasn’t enough — but he’s coped really well in there today, so it shows how much he’s come on.”

Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The best of our US competitors in the ring today was Hallie Coon, who cruised the nine-year-old Cute Girl to a 29.5 and overnight equal seventh, just a fraction of a penalty behind sixth-placed Oliver Townend and En Taro des Vernier. For Hallie, who relocated from Ocala to base in the UK in December, getting to know the Holsteiner mare (Coventry x Caligula, by Clearway) has been a process of ups and downs, trial and error, and an unwavering commitment to learning, which has seen them spend much of their tenure here learning under Australia’s Kevin McNab, with whom the mare won the Seven-Year-Old World Championship two seasons ago. Now, they’re continuing to work part-time with Kevin, but have relocated to Wiltshire, to the base of fellow US rider Katherine Coleman, where they’re working with British team performance manager Dickie Waygood and, like Mollie, dressage rider Olivia Oakley.

All these factors, and all that education, have helped Hallie to unlock a new side to the occasionally mercurial but enormously talented little mare, who’s found a new flow to her extravagant movement in the ring.

“We’re just learning a lot about her and how to manage her,” explains Hallie. “I think the maturity is coming, finally, and the ability to just go in there and take a little bit of a breath. And now I’m able to, too, because I know a little bit more about what to expect with her, so that’s been really helpful. We’ve just been sort of grinding away things bit by bit.”

Getting the measure of Cute Girl’s massive movement has been a huge milestone, she continues: “It’s so hard to actually get it rhythmic within all the gaits; like, collected, medium, all the things in the same rhythm with her, because she is a little bit all over the place. And then she does use it against you — and when they move this big, if you don’t get it just right. They absolutely nail you. So consistency is really what we’re after.”

Katie Malensek and Landjaeger. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Canada is out in force at Blenheim this week thanks to the help of a set of travel grants kindly put forward by Kelly McCarthy-Maine and Shane Maine, which saw a full north-of-the-border team take on the Nations Cup at Arville, Belgium, this summer, and then continue their education on this side of the pond. One of those? Small animal veterinarian and reptile specialist Katie Malensek, who’s been based with Tim and Jonelle Price through her tenure here and will continue to be so until after the CCI4*-L at Lignieres in France at the beginning of next month.

Her partner for her exciting sabbatical is the nine-year-old Landjaeger, who she’s owned since he was a weanling and with whom she’s made her return to the upper levels for the first time since her Young Rider years. Today, they tackled their third four-star test as a partnership, and showed the extraordinary consolidation of skills they’ve been working on since flying over, delivering a significant level personal best of 29.9 to take overnight tenth, just fractionally behind equal-seventh-placed Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star (“this horse might actually make me enjoy dressage,” he quips) and ninth-placed Oliver Townend and Caunton First Class.

“I’ve been working with Jonelle over the last month or so, and we’ve really been working on trying to change his shape and get a little more energy and power in the gaits,” says Katie. “For where he’s at in his career, I’m super happy. It’s about balance — he’s not built with the most uphill, smooth conformation, so he works against himself a little bit, but he tries really hard, and he always wants to do the right thing.”

Being able to take the time away from work to train, thanks to “a great crew at home” has been transformative, says Katie.

“It’s been an amazing experience. I have a full time job; I’m a small animal veterinarian and I own a practice, so to have the time to just focus on this horse and the training and just immerse myself in the programme with the Prices and watch and just take it all in… I’m definitely not taking any of it for granted. I have to go back, because someone’s got to pay for it, but honestly, I feel I’m very proud of the fact that I’m an amateur, I work really hard at it, and I find a way to do it.”

And to do so with a horse she’s had throughout not just his career, but his life? That’s even more special.

“We’ve raised him, broke him, trained him — and I’ve actually tried to sell him several times because his legs are all crooked and I didn’t think he’d get this far,” laughs Katie. “He just keeps surprising me — so now he’s not for sale!”

Katherine Coleman and Sirius SB. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

One of the most exciting horses of the day was, arguably, British-based Yank Katherine Coleman‘s Sirius SB, who’s probably one of the greenest horses here — he’s making his Advanced debut in this class — but also quite possibly one of the most naturally talented. You’d be forgiven, at a glance, for mistaking him for World Champion Banzai du Loir — “I get that a lot,” laughs Katherine — not just for his stamp, but for his effortlessly airy movement. The pair impressed roundly in their test, just losing marks here and there for inexperience, to earn a 30.3 and overnight thirteenth place.

“This is his first time doing changes in a test, so it’s really exciting,” says Katherine, who sourced the horse from Jody Amos, who had, in turn, sourced him from Harry Horgan. “I think he’s one of the nicest horses I’ve ever had. His trot’s amazing — it’s unreal, and his gallop is insane. He gallops the way that he trots. His weak point at the moment is just his showjumping; he’s super scopey, but he doesn’t quite know what to do with it yet!”

This week will be a foundational milestone in his learning journey — and whichever way the competition itself plays out, Sirius is absolutely in his element.

“He’s so funny — he’s actually calmer at a show than he is at home,” Katherine explains. “At a three-day, especially, he just gets into his stall and takes a breath, but at home, he’s such a busybody — he’s dancing around in the cross-ties and pawing in the truck. He comes to the competitions and he absolutely loves it.”

Tomorrow sees the CCI4*-S dressage resume again at 9.00 a.m. (4.00 a.m. EST), with Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon and DHI Jackpot first into the ring. Alas, there’s no livestream for this phase — but keep it locked onto EN for all the news and updates from this class, and stay tuned for a full report on the feature CCI4*-L shortly!

The top ten in the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S.

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