Cross-country has finished in France at the Saumur CCI***, with mixed results for the US riders. Hannah Sue Burnett was kind enough to send us another postcard from Saumur, commenting on the highs and lows of the day. Many thanks to Hannah for writing, and thank you for reading. Go Team USA!
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Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot, photo by Diana Rowland
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From Hannah:
One of my favorite lines from this trip so far is from Keegan Faudree when we were talking about the ups and downs of our cross country day this afternoon. He dryly said, “Sometimes you eat the bear….and sometimes the bear eats you.”We had 50% bear eating vs being eaten today on cross country. Marilyn and Smoke were fast and clear and everyone said they made it look easy. I didn’t get to watch because I was in warmup but I heard she was a great trailblazer for our team.I was next to go for the USA and William and I never really got into the swing of things in the first couple minutes and he didn’t lock onto the corner at 6b. I continued and rode him harder the rest of the course and he got better and better. We finished with time and 20 jumping penalties. Disappointing, but you don’t always get to eat the bear. Ask any event rider!!Will Faudree was also extremely impressive today, bringing home a fast and flawless double clear. All of the riders really supported each other today–coming to warm up and telling the team how everything was riding. We all helped cool out each others’ horses as well. We were a real team even though our rides didn’t all go as planned.Buck was having a great go on The Apprentice, giving him a really good ride even though Dirk was a bit green at times. Unfortunately he jumped sideways over the corner at 18b, and didn’t get inside the flags. Buck saw the white flag on his left and Dirk had jumped up so he thought he was ok to continue. If he had gone back and jumped it again and the judges had said it wasn’t a stop, he would’ve been eliminated also. It’s kind of hard to ask the jump judges for clarification when no one here speaks English. So he went with what he thought and unfortunately was pulled up. Dang bear got another one! He had a wonderful attitude about it and is so supportive to the rest of the team. A real team player!The horses looked good this evening and all of the grooms were amazing today, as usual! A big thanks to Sara McKenna, no matter what happens on course or during an event, she’s smiling and supportive and takes the best care of William. We couldn’t do this as riders without all of your support–here and at home.Fingers crossed for good show jumping rounds tomorrow, especially for our 2 USA riders in the top 10!!Go USA!HSBPS: Thanks again for all of the texts, facebooks, twittering and emails!! Y’all are awesome!!!!
