Will Faudree went in first thing this morning and took the lead with Pawlow, and was the penultimate ride on Andromaque and did another lovely test. The Fork is a happy hunting ground for him, I seem to remember him winning the intermediate here last year so I don’t doubt he’ll be looking for a repeat performance this weekend a level higher. I’m going to try and get some of these photos and a quick review up and then head to the barns and out on course and see who I can talk to before I leave the riders alone in peace for the evening! One person I really want to talk to is Selena O’Hanlon to find out exactly what happened to her as it was hard to hear what was happening during her test on A First Romance. As she trotted across the diagonal for the second time the judge at C, Ciska van-Meggellen rang the bell and called her over.
Selena trotting across the diagonal
The judge at E, Brian Ross got out of his hut and came up to C and they both spoke to Selena for a couple of minutes.
Finally, the vet came and examined the horse, cleared her evidently, and the judges told Selena to continue her test from the point at which they’d stopped her. To give Selena credit, she remained very calm and professional and rode very well both before and after. I’m not sure if the horse had a red peppermint right before he went in, or if he did indeed bite his tongue and have a tiny nick, or if it was nothing at all, and I will definitely try and catch up with her later to find out, but it’s hard to imagine that if this had been Rolex or the Olympics that you wouldn’t feel really hard done by.
In a happier note for the Canadians, Diana Burnett did a nice test on Shigatzi who looks more and more mature and established all the time
Exponential also behaved himself very well for Jessie Phoenix
and lovely Riddle Master was fabulous for the equally lovely Rebecca Howard, they scored 45 to lie in 5th place provisionally
Look at his lovely dappley bum! Many thanks, and apologies to Canadian Chef D’Equipe Graeme Thom (of the fabulous hair!) and Canadian Dressage Olympian Jacquie Brooks who generously and immediately downed tools to help me search for my lost phone in a field of long grass. What great sports they are, I do owe them a big Easter Egg each, especially when we found the phone in my car – this has NOT been my weekend!
Hannah Sue Burnett did a lovely test on Harbour Pilot, and having been thoroughly impressed with his jumping (and her riding) at Poplar a couple of weeks ago I think this is going to be a very exciting partnership; they just had the one bobble when he kicked out in the second change but what a lovely combination they are, and Hannah Sue has him looking fabulous
Speaking of which, Lizzie Snow did a lovely test in the Advanced on Coal Creek
Will Coleman leads the Advanced Test A Division on Ideal Contini, another lovely grey horse, similar in type to all his other lovely horses,
and I was happy to see Danielle Dichting’s second string, The Graduate, also in this division, also another lovely horse that makes up a dynamic pair for this young rider with her more experienced ride Tops.
Downtown Harrison is back, baby, with Jon Holling and looks superb and promises even more, another very exciting combination for the US. I think I forgot to mention yesterday that Jon’s ride Quigase du Lac is lying 8th after dressage in the CIC**. Jen told me had banged his stifle pretty hard on the cross country at Poplar so they didn’t trot him up there, but he, obviously, is fully recovered; they did x-ray it just to make sure, but I saw his test yesterday and am happy to say that it looks like Jon is really building a nice string for himself in the future.
Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison score 31.6 in the Advanced Test B
Doug Payne told me he was fairly happy with Running Order’s test yesterday, as we watched Jess do hers on High Society this morning. To me Running Order looked good, but not as good as he did in the training session the day before, and Doug agreed and said that with success comes pressure, and people (me!) tend to forget how green R.O is, and that he’ll take time, he’s only ten, and Doug isn’t going to rush him. Doug was also quite thoughtful about what makes Running Order such a different, and in some ways slightly more difficult ride on the flat to his other horses, but seemed very mellow about it all. I love picking Doug’s brains, he’s definitely a rider who thinks and analyses things and can articulate the process, which is one of the reasons why I think he’ll be fantastic to walk the Rolex course with in just a few weeks time. Don’t forget, we’ll have details about days and exact times as soon as we can, but you’ll be able to walk the course with Doug, Boyd, Buck or Sharon – any or all of them for a donation of your choice to Just World International. Personally, I can’t wait!
Jess Hampf on High Society, a blonde moment meant a late circle, and some bobbles, but otherwise a solid performance. Whitney Weston also completely forgot that circle on Rock on Rose until the judge gently reminded her!
Ballylaffin Bracken, who went four from the end, was tense for Kristin Schmolze, and as you can see the footing was beginning to deteriorate somewhat, becoming quite deep and boggy. Leyland was also disappointingly uptight for Stephen Bradley, and Selena O’Hanlon’s first and most experienced ride Colombo also didn’t perform up to par
5 o Clock Somewhere, the full brother to Hawley Bennet-Awad’s WEG, Badminton and Burghley ride Gin’n’Juice did a lovely test, including a bonus change in the canter serpentine, flawless, but sadly no extra points but points deducted! I caught up with proud owner Sue Church briefly afterwards in the rain, and she told me that Chunky (his nickname, above) was her amateur event horse for four years before Hawley got the ride on him, and that she is a keen follower of hounds and Chunky owes much of his education to trotting up and down those mountains you see in the vista of pictures of Galway Downs events, and hunting the Santa Fe Hounds hunt country. Sue also told me she has another full sibling to both Chunky and Ginny, appropriately called, yes, Happy Hour (!) and that the mare is a perfect mixture of them both and is currently hacking and hunting with her husband – I can’t wait to see her!
Caitlin Silliman and Catch a Star do a nice test in the Advanced Test B to score 37 and currently lie in 10th place
Clark Montgomery and Universe did another nice test but it lacked their usual finesse – I’m sure Clark will be knocking off all the rough edges before Rolex with Loughan Glen, and then the last I heard, the plan was to take this horse to Bramham in England and remain there all summer. Clark is such a perfectionist that I’m sure both horses will come out a hundred times improved for this outing, and besides, we haven’t even started on the cross country yet!
Mr Medicott had one bobble in the canter but apart from that was the most relaxed I’ve seen him, much more so than at Red Hills or Rocking Horse Winter II.
Remington also did a very nice test for Boyd for 46, and I’m trying to remember if he always looked this good condition wise, he’s looking super – fit and ready to run but not at all skinny.
Jany Byyny did a lovely test on Why Not in the Advanced, you can see in this picture just what an enormous horse he is, and Jan, although strong as an ox, is quite petite.
Sadly, last to go in the CIC***, Inmidair let nerves get the better of him a bit, and although Jan managed him really well she lost him a little in the canter, especially the last extended canter down the long side when he just let out a huge buck and she struggled to bring him back for the corner. Oh, horses, they can break your hearts in so many thousands of ways, from annoying little mistakes, the if only’s, the coulda woulda shoulda, to the crushing disappointments.
Despite the early rain, we saw some nice tests though. Mystery Whisper and Will Faudree on both of his especially in the CIC***, and plenty in the Advanced – Will Coleman who leads, but Danielle’s Tops, Buck’s Absolute Liberty, Jon’s Downtown Harrison, and I also liked the look of Jennie Brannigan’s ride for jumper Sharn Wordley, Varmo – all exciting up and coming rides to look out for.
I enjoyed standing with the ‘real’ photographers Anthony Trollope, Leslie Mintz for the USEA and Sara Lieser for the Chronicle and not only are they brilliant, but their cameras are also ten times the size of mine, so do be sure to check out their pictures and reports online! Leslie was cracking me up with stories of her very non-horsey mother, I tried to keep up but how can you compete with a parent who can’t even tell the difference between your last horse, a paint palomino, and your current one, a plain bay? Leslie wins! Much more still to come from The Fork; as usual I think everyone’s relieved that dressage is done and dusted and we can all start concentrating on cross country. Thanks for visiting Eventing Nation and Go Eventing!
