Kelli Temple and Corneel took the lead in the YEH 4 year old division Thursday morning
Rule number one when coming to Fair Hill is do not get your car or truck washed the day before. Because it will get muddy…very muddy. Despite the mud you won’t hear a single person complaining about the clouds, scattered rain, and 60 degree weather because these conditions are some of the best that Fair Hill has seen in 3 years. To make things even better, the weather is predicted to be really nice over the weekend so the nature of the competition is going to come down to how quickly the course can dry out. Ok, that’s the last time I am going to talk about the weather and footing until the next time I talk about the weather and footing.
Thursday morning featured dressage for the CCI2* and Young Event Horse divisions side by side in the main arena. The YEH and FEH divisions are all too often relegated to a spectating obscurity at events, whether by scheduling or location, but they are front and center here at Fair Hill. Doug Payne took the 5 year old YEH lead with Royal Tribute, and Kelli Temple took the 4 year old lead.
At the lunch break in the CCI2*, Will Coleman and Ideal Contini, owned by the newly married Lucia Strini, have a lead on 51.7. They are trailed closely by Phillip Dutton and Young Man and Kylie Lyman and Garrison Flash.
The CCI3* division will take over the YEH division arena at 2:30pm ET for the first portion of the 45 CCI3* riders here at Fair Hill.
As the competition is just getting underway I want to give a big thanks to everyone at Fair Hill for putting on such a wonderful event. The press tent is even heated! Everyone is incredibly nice and the volunteers have gone through an incredible effort over the past days and weeks to get this beautiful venue ready to go for a great weekend of eventing.
It’s October, it’s Fair Hill, it’s cloudy and rainy, and this is the very best of eventing. Stay tuned throughout the weekend for much more from Fair Hill. Go eventing.
