Friday Jersey Fresh Dressage Wrap Up

Caitlin Silliman’s dressage score of 41 in the CCI** could not be bettered all weekend, although Veronica came very close in the CIC** with Lauren Kieffer, leading that division on a score of 43.3.  Lauren posted good scores on all her horses – she lies 2nd and 8th in the CCI** with Czech Mate and Lucky Devil respectively, 4th in the CIC*** with RF Cosima and leads the CIC** on Veronica. Both Caitlin and Lauren are bringing Remington and Veronica back to Jersey in order to fulfill FEI qualifications requirements and while Lauren told me she’ll be taking Veronica around fairly conservatively albeit with enough pace to jump around clear and get the job done safely, Caitlin shared that Remi is due for a holiday after this event and she’s out to be competitive. Although Boyd is out of commission he did manage to commandeer a golf cart and has not been short on advice for Caitlin this weekend,

“Boyd tells me to go as fast as I can on Remington, he’s not the fastest horse so you have to keep the pace up, all the normal stuff that he tells me on all the horses but it’s cool on Remington because I feel as if there’s an extra security because he can tell me exactly how it should go.  He was pretty  excited today because it was a good score and he rode the horse all the way up through the levels and the horse is so much more broke now because of all the training he’s done on him so I think it’s a little bit of a walk down memory lane because he thinks back to when he rode him here, and all weekend he’s been telling me, ‘Oh, Remi really likes it here, he show-jumps really well here, he likes the cross country…’ so it’s really fun!”

Lauren can identify because she’s been getting similar advice from Veronica’s former rider Karen O’Connor, although in an ironic twist of events, it was Lauren who rode her first, “I actually had her to sell and broke my wrist and asked Karen to catch ride her for the 2* several years ago and Karen rode her at Red Hills and bought her, so the Broussards have owned her since then, and they’re so kind to let me have a chance on her, there are so many top riders they could choose from and they’re doing a big thing to show their support for the next generation. Veronica’s so lovely and so experienced, she’s so nice. It’s been so long since I’ve ridden an upper level horse, it’s so nice to get on something that’s done it so you just go out and cruise around and have a great time, she’s always been one of my favourites.”

Lauren wasn’t sure of her Fall plans yet with Veronica, she told me just wanted to tick all the boxes first as far as the qualifications went, and then they would see, “Luckily the footing is perfect  here, I’ve run her minimally and I’ve just let her go at an easy pace and she’s not hard on herself. She feels great and her body’s great, and obviously the Broussards are super-supportive too, if she starts feeling sore or something then we’ll just back off but we’re just letting her tick along at her own pace so that we can do what we want later in the year and next year.”

Lauren’s 2nd placed horse in the CCI**, Czech Mate, is a completely different ride; a big, chestnut gelding, he got very nervous before entering the arena but performed a beautiful test and Lauren explained that as the last test before lunch, he got very nervous at being the left alone in the warm-up, “He’s such an amazing horse.  You’ll never meet a horse that tries harder but he needs his people! He definitely needs his people and he needs to know they’re with him. When he got  left behind today he melted down a bit and was quite wound up but he goes in that little  white box and it’s his comfort zone. We went in and in the beginning we were a bit tentative but by the end he was great and it’s nice that on a tough day he can still throw down a 48, he’s a great horse for the future, he’s only 7. We bought him as a just-coming 5 year old and I’ve gone up the levels with him. He belongs to Court and Kylie Ramsey who are huge supporters, their son competes and is aiming for Young Riders.  Kylie is Australian and Czechie is Czecholavakian hence Czech Mate! He’s really fun; I think tomorrow’s going to be a big test for these two star horses, it’s almost ten minutes and that’s if you’re on the time, and the hills here are beautiful but they’re very long, you’re going to have to go out and be steady rather than go out and be fast in the beginning because you’re going to run out of horse to be sure.”

Sharon White on her 3* horse Wundermaske

 Sharon White rode Don Sheffield into 2nd place in the CIC** behind Veronica, “I was very pleased with my horse, he tried really hard. He just bumped up to Intermediate this Spring, he won at The Fork, and the CIC** at Fairhill, he’s just been a good boy. I wasn’t ready to move him but his owner persuaded me, she told me it would always be scary the first time! I think the course looks fabulous, it looks like fun but there’s enough out there that you’ll feel like you’ve done something. I think it’s really clear to the horses, and very forward thinking and going, I think it looks like a lot of fun.”

Jennifer Simmons has nursed GV Tuscany back after injury and returns to competition following a break of  three years. Although she’s thrilled to have him back and counting her blessings, she did admit that it’s much nicer to be lying in third place after the first phase (in the CIC**) than to be eliminated which is what happened to her a couple of weeks prior at Fairhill, “This is his fourth event this year; pretty much everyone said he wouldn’t come back so it’s really special, I just love riding him, he could have been last today and it still would have been awesome! Just being able to ride him every day – even though I did get eliminated in the dressage two weeks ago I couldn’t get super mad because I’m just so happy to ride him but being third is better!”

The courses look fabulous; the CIC*** is already posted on EN and the CCI*** is scheduled for tomorrow morning. The Saturday forecast is for warm weather and scattered showers and thunderstorms.  Will Faudree and Riesling De Buissy are scheduled to be the first combination out on course at 9am in the CCI**, followed by the CCI***, the CIC*** and the final horse of the day will go out in the CIC** at 4:41pm if everything stays on track.  Wishing everyone safe rides – Go Jersey Fresh and Go Eventing!

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