Catch up on the standings from #AEC2023 after Thursday’s action below! Today, we’ll see the conclusion of the Adequan Advanced final this evening, as well as cross country for Novice riders, show jumping for Training level, and dressage for Beginner Novice.
Chin Wins Again: Coleman and Chin Tonic HS are the 2023 USEA Intermediate Champions at AEC
Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS. USEA/Lindsay Berreth photo
What better way to conclude the first day of championship crowning at the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds than with a show jumping session under the setting Kentucky sun? Competitors and spectators at the Kentucky Horse Park were treated to just that as the USEA Intermediate Championship came to a close Thursday evening with show jumping in the Rolex Arena. A total of 43 contestants came forward, but ultimately none could top Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS (Chin Champ x Wildera).
Coleman and Hyperion Stud’s 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding led the division from start to finish, wrapping up their competition week with just a few time faults on cross-country added to their dressage score. Coleman started the week out in first and third, and his third place mount Diabolo (Diarado x Roulett M) moved up to second following cross-country and also remained unscathed after show jumping this afternoon.
After their cross-country run, Coleman noted that Chin would be heading to Stable View (Aiken, South Carolina) next before making his way to France for the five-star at Pau. Coleman felt that Pau would be a good opportunity to help Chin get more five-star miles under his belt in an appropriate environment.
“He’s done Kentucky, obviously, which I think has quite a bit of terrain,” he said. “Maryland and Burghley have tons of terrain, and I think that maybe would have been just physically a step too far. Pau is a competition that we thought would continue to season him as a five-star horse. He’s pretty good at the technical things, and he has a very big stride. I’m hoping that we can just go there and improve on our performance a little bit, we’re just trying to get better.”
[Read the full Intermediate recap]
That’s a Wrap on the Bates USEA Preliminary Championships at the AEC
Bates USEA Preliminary Amateur Championship
Kelly Beaver and Excel Star Pluto. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
Getting to ride with your close friend is always special, but getting to stand next to one another as Champion and Reserve Champion of your division at the AEC is on a whole other level. Bates USEA Preliminary Amateur champion Kelly Beaver (Elverson, Pennsylvania) got to do just that with her friend and division reserve champion Kathleen Bertuna (Athens, Ohio).
“The sport is so tough,” said Beaver. “It’s an individual sport, you’re really just competing against yourself, you know, and so to be able to have someone that understands it, and then to be able to share it with each other is really special.”
In the earlier part of the championship week, Bertuna actually sat one spot ahead of Beaver with her 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Excel Star Harry (Luidam x Moysella Cool Diamond), in third and fourth respectively. But after cross-country, both riders moved up the scoreboard with their horses with Beaver moving up to first with her 8-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Excel Star Pluto and Bertuna in second. Knowing they were going to have to battle it out for first between each other brought a whole new sense of friendship and humor into the equation.
“She was hot on my heels,” shared Beaver. “I knew her horse had like an anaphylactic reaction to rails; you have to make this horse have a rail so I knew I did not have any chance of her having a rail.”
While Beaver did add .4 time penalties to her score after show jumping, she still held onto her lead and finished with a score of 34.3. Bertuna and Excel Star Harry concluded their weekend in second on 35.7.
Bates USEA Preliminary Horse Championship
Sharon White and Jaguar Duende. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
A new leader emerged in the Bates USEA Preliminary Horse Championship as Sharon White (Arlington, Virginia) piloted her 7-year-old Westphalian mare Jaguar Duende (Jaguar Mail x Latina) through a double-clear show jumping round.
“Jag is what we call her,” shared White, “and I always say I’m taking the Jag out when I get on her because she’s really beautiful and fun. She’s a competitor. She wants to win. She digs deep and wants it in all three phases, which is really cool.”
White purchased Jag as a three-year-old but she stayed in Germany for a bit before coming to the States as a 4-year-old. Bringing the mare along from the ground up has been extremely rewarding and White has big dreams for her.
“The plan is all of the things,” White said. “I would love for this to be the start of many blues in Kentucky.”
Bates USEA Preliminary Rider Championship
Susan Moessner and Satin Art. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
Susan Moessner (Ann Arbor, Michigan) started the weekend out in the lead aboard her homebred Warmblood gelding Satin Art (Indian Art x Epic Satin) with a dressage score of 25.7 but was bumped down to second after adding 7.6 time penalties to their score on cross-country. Going into show jumping today Moessner had just one goal:
“My plan was to stay out of his way because he’s a lovely jumper. I basically just get him in a rhythm, get him into balance, and try to stay out of his way,” she said.
Moessner noted that she backed the 19-year-old gelding off a bit on cross-country resulting in the time faults, but that “Artie” jumped wonderfully and answered all the questions the way she would have wanted.
“He’s just such a wonderful horse, and it’s so special that he finally gets the recognition,” Moessner said of her fourth-generation homebred. “He started out competing up through Intermediate, and I hoped he would be my next big Advanced horse, but he had the injury. And we had that repaired, but I just felt like eventing would be more likely to re-injure it, so he just did dressage for several years. Then I started to take him out when I was teaching some students and thought, ‘Oh, we’ll pop over one or two’. He was locking on to everything. So then I thought ‘Well, maybe we’ll go jump some fences.’ And so for the past couple of years, I’ve taken him out once or twice in the season and qualified to bring him here. He could probably go Intermediate again, but I just feel Preliminary is a safer place for him.”
At 19 years young, Moessner has a new goal for her beloved stallion: Grand Prix dressage. She has three of Satin Art’s daughters at home that she intends to bring up through the levels. Her hope is to produce those in her home base of Area VIII so she can support keeping the upper-level divisions at her local shows.
Bates USEA Preliminary Junior/Young Rider Championship
Annabelle Sprague and Da Vinci Code. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
Annabelle Sprague (Brookfield, Vermont) was feeling the pressure going into show jumping today in the lead with Kylie Lyman’s 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse Da Vinci Code (Master Imp x Clovers Appollo). One rail would result in losing their lead, so Sprague kept the plan today short and simple.
“The game plan was just to get a good canter and pretend like it’s any other day,” she shared. “It’s a big relief [to be Champion]. It was very nerve-wracking.”
Sprague started her championship performance in third place and is concluding the week on the same score she started with; quite a feat in a championship setting.
“In dressage, he was really good. We’ve done the test a bit, so he anticipated the halt, but besides that, I thought he was really good,” she said. “And then in the cross-country, he was just amazing. I couldn’t have asked for any better.”
She has had the ride on “Da Vinci” off and on for three years now and feels like they have really formed a solid partnership. “I feel like we know each other really well, and that helped us out today,” she said.
Making it Count: Winners are Made in Modified Championships at AEC
USEA Open Modified Championship
Chelsey Sawtell and Toto’s Weather Tamer. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
Chelsey Sawtell was awarded first place in the USEA Open Modified Championship while piloting Deb Warner’s 7-year-old dark bay German Warmblood stallion, Toto’s Weather Tamer (Totals x Baquette). Adding 0.8 seconds in time faults with one rail down, increased their score to a winning 36.5.
“I haven’t even processed it yet. I feel like at any time I’m going to wake up,” said Sawtell, helmet still on and cheeks still flecked with a rosy hue of pride. Off to her side—and all throughout the week—owner of “Jakes,” Deb Warner, was misty-eyed. “It was amazing.” Dubbing him sassy and playful on his cross-country course yesterday, Sawtell laughed when she said that not choking in show jumping today was her only game plan, and fortunately she was the rider she planned to be on the stallion she shares such an obvious connection with. Naturally, on the flip side of a big win, there are future plans to keep excelling.
“We are going to do our first one-star and see what happens,” said Sawtell. “This was a big one for him…he just tries so hard and he has the scope, and he’s a big goofball.”
Sawtell knows this horse inside and out, and quite enjoys him being such a workable and polite stallion. Back at his stall, she noted that he will be very curious—almost investigatory—about a newcomer, keeping a close eye on Sawtell, which proves his loyalty to the beloved rider who lets the dressage-bred stallion do his favorite thing.
USEA Modified Rider Championship
Sylvia Byars and CSF Dassett Decoy. USEA/Meagan DeLisle photo
Sylvia Byars secured a first place finish on Nicole Byars’s CSF Dassett Decoy (Flipper D’Elle x CSF Doorn Cruise), the bay 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse-Selle Francais cross gelding. The pair managed to make an impressive leap up the leaderboard throughout the week.
“My week was pretty amazing,” said Byars, who was sitting in tenth position coming out of her dressage test with a score of 31.6, then moving up to third following her cross-country trip, and now claiming the first place win while holding tight to that initial score all the while.
“Dressage was fine—it wasn’t quite what we could’ve done, and I was a little actually disappointed with the score.” Byars noted feeling like the week was right there in black and white on the leaderboard, but when she was walking the cross-country course with her coach, they made a plan to ride for it and see where the chips fell.
“I didn’t have anything to lose and I went for it,” said Byars. “We came in right at the optimum and he’s not a very fast horse, so to go double-clear there was pretty incredible and I was really surprised to see how much it moved me up, and I went into show jump thinking, ‘Ok, super—if I can pull this off, we’ll be in top three’ and he was just amazing in the show jumping.”
And the age old phrase stands—it’s not over until it’s over! Byars noted that “Flipper” really excels in all three phases, and she’s beaming over this win. “I just have to thank the Lord for everything in my life that’s helped me to get here.”
[Read the full Modified recap]
Also getting underway yesterday was the Novice competition, while Training ran cross country. You can read the full recaps from those divisions + more over on the USEA hub here.
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