Michael Pollard and Cheyenne Blue FTW in the Open Intermediate. Photo by Jordan Lambert
While everyone was having a blast up north at Plantation, there were a bunch of us having our own bit of eventing fun down at Poplar Place Farm in Hamilton, GA. If you have never been to Poplar, you should add it to your list of “must competes”. It is a gorgeous facility with a very friendly staff and a host of lovely volunteers. I was competing my boy in the Open Intermediate, so I did not get to watch as much as I would have liked, but I did get to take in quite a bit. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many photos and video as I would have liked.
Making time is always an issue at Poplar due to the undulating terrain and the lay out of the course, so you can usually expect that it will not be a dressage show! The show jumping also proved to be very influential in the final standings.
Out of the 4 people that started in the CIC***, only 3 finished, and two of them were clear on the XC. Emily Renfroe and Walk the Line won the division, adding only time penalties in both XC and SJ to her dressage score. In the CIC**, all 12 entries completed, with Lara Borson-Knight bringing home the blue. The CIC*, Julie Richards and San City led from start to finish. Her dressage score of 39.7 was 15+ points ahead of the second placed, Lily Barlow. She went on to add only 2 seconds of XC time and 2 rails to her dressage score.
For the Advanced, Katie Ruppel and the lovely Houdini (gotta love a flashy chestnut!!), led wire to wire. I did not get to see them go XC, but word on the street was that it was a BEAUTIFUL round, and Katie was spot on at every fence. Congrats to Katie!!
Michael Pollard leading the OI victory gallop with Cheyenne Blue. Win the War following closely behind. Photo by Jordan Lambert
In the Open Intermediate, Michael Pollard and the aptly named, Cheyenne Blue (as she did bring it home), won the division. It was Cheyenne’s first Intermediate, and it was definitely a success. This mare is GORGEOUS and so very talented. I know that Michael sees a lot of great things in this mare’s future. Cheyenne is being offered for syndication, and you can get more information on that here. I must give a shot-out to my amazing horse, as we finished 2nd, just behind Michael!! Bug was a superstar, and he keeps getting better and better!
Becky Holder was, again, out in force this weekend winning both the Open Prelim and the Prelim Horse on Carrera and Sierra respectively. It’s good to see that Becky has some new, fancy prospects coming up through the ranks. Molly Van Arsdalen moved up from 8th in the JYOP to bring home the blue!
–
The big eye catcher for me this weekend was Kim Severson’s Cooley Cross Border in the Open Training. He put in a BEAUTIFUL dressage test for an 18.6 (see video above) and finished on that score. This lovely Irish horse has all of the makings of a big time horse, and Kim is really excited about him. If you want to get involved, Cross is also available for syndication. For more information, check out Kim’s website here. As with Becky, it is great to see Kim out and about with horses coming up through the ranks.
There were so many great horse and rider combinations out this weekend at Poplar from BN through the CIC*** level. It was a great weekend with a lot of great riding and a lot of lessons learned. I have to give a shout-out to Jordan Lambert and Rio Wild (part of Team Bonnie Mosser with me) for bringing home a 3rd place ribbon in the Training Adult Amateur Rider division!
–
Video of Michael Pollard and Cheyenne Blue:
–
Also, we may or may not have witnessed Kyle Carter giving his daughter a lameness exam on the jog strip Saturday night… We thought she might have looked a little bit off.
Spotted at Poplar: Kim Severson Eventing's mascot, Sock Monkey, was out doing some videography work for the KSE Team.
