Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Off the Record may be 16 years young this year, but you shouldn’t tell him that.
It’s early days, of course, here at the $200,000 US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park, but let’s spend some time on the dressage evolution of this Irish gelding, who certainly is not the type of horse you’d look at in the stable and think “wow, I bet that horse can score a 25 on the flat.”
Not that he’s been a slouch, not by any means. He was the type to average scores in the mid-30s as his career got going, but as he became established at the Advanced level around 2020, they dipped down into the 20s.
He and Will Coleman started off 2025 with a bang, earning a 21.8 en route to winning the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at Kentucky in April. Their score today of 25.1 is good enough for the overnight lead in the Open Final ahead of cross country, and incidentally it’s also Will’s best 4*-L score in his 26 runs at the level according to EquiRatings. While most riders don’t get too fussed about stats, the numbers do add additional storytelling context to the performance today. You’ll be somewhat surprised to learn that Timmy’s only ever done one other 4*-L in his career, at Tattersalls in Ireland in 2019, where he finished third and narrowly missed out on the win by a rail. It was always Will’s intention that the horse become a 5* horse (and do that he did, indeed, with four now under his belt), but coming into this year, he said on several occasions that he wasn’t quite sure whether or not he’d aim Timmy for another 5* as he gets a little older. With the US Open coming as a welcome addition to the potential prize money opportunities within our sport, it seemed a natural fit for Will to circle this weekend on Timmy’s calendar.
Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“I think it was a little bit kind of at each point of the season, just checking in with him and see how he’s feeling, but the passion is still there,” Will mused. “I think this is what he loves to do, and I think this is a suitable goal, and now we just got to see how we do.”
So how does one coax every single possible point out of a test, on a horse that, while still of course in excellent condition is nonetheless getting on in years — and, to take it one step further, produce a personal best at this stage?
While he was not the easiest or most natural horse to develop, “Timmy” is lucky to have two very intelligent humans helming his production and management over the years: Will Coleman and his wife, Katie. When he was first brought over from Ireland, he didn’t even know how to lunge — Katie and Will here credit longtime friend and fellow pro Liza Horan for dedicating the time in that early going to establish the horse on the lunge line and the ground. He was a cheeky boy, too: he’d bolt off with Katie on hacks, cross canter every chance he got, and generally just gave off the “what did we buy?” vibe in that early going. Since then, it’s been about, truthfully, horsemanship above all.
Katie is a lady of many talents, but part of her strength really lays in the groundwork that she does with all of the horses in the Coleman program. For Timmy, some extra loosening up work today helped him unlock his body to allow Will to really ride the test accurately. She describes the horse as either “dull or he can be explosive, and the happy medium is what we want to get.”
Big claps for Timmy! Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“This morning, his back was feeling a bit flat coming out,” Katie said. “He’s done quite a bit of training leading up to this, and his back was feeling a bit flat. We wanted to keep him fresh, but we have to still work his body in a way that he can come into the warm-up supple and ready to go. This morning in the lunging pen, he could see people walking cross country, so he was [giving me more energy], which was great. That gave me something. He actually cracked a couple bucks, he leapt up in the air, and I was like, ‘This is good,’ I got him really moving his body away, moving him in circles, getting him to lift his shoulders and activate his hind end. It’s a bit of a new technique with Timmy specifically because at home, I can’t practice it. You have to generate so much energy to be effective, and if he’s not giving you any energy, then you can create it but that may make them too dull in the ring.”
That coupled with about a 20-minute warm-up was the secret sauce for Will today, who says at this point, it’s really about ring craft. Some additional help over the years from top coaches like Ian and Amy Woodhead have also helped Will really level up, even on his more established horses. “It’s not a test that necessarily rewards a great, big, huge mover,” he explained. “So in that respect, he’s not one of those, so it might play to his strengths a little bit if I can pull off clean test. I don’t really go for big marks. I just try not to have any small ones. Today, I think we were able to do that. I wouldn’t say he’s enthusiastic about his dressage, but he does want to do the right thing, and it’s finding that balance of motivating him but not picking at him, and trying to keep him confident in what he’s able to do.”
Sharon White and Claus 63. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
It was also a banner day for Sharon White, who brings forward Claus 63 today after a bit of an up and down year that saw them travel to Europe for some training and competition before aiming at this Open Final. Sharon and Claus earned a 25.2 to sit just a whisker length behind Will and Off the Record, which is also a 4* personal best for Sharon and the best international score of Claus’ career to date.
Sharon White and Claus 63. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“The partnership,” Sharon answered when asked what she felt was the strongest in her test today. “My goal this weekend is just to be present for him, to be there, to be stable and there with him, like I am on an everyday basis, and not to try and be different. Absolutely [that can be a struggle], because it matters so much, and you’re a competitor, and I’m here because I’m a competitor. Sometimes I try way too hard. So does Claus. And since I believe they go the way they’re ridden, then you really have to look to yourself. I think it’s a beautiful thing, trying too hard. It’s just how much you care, so it’s just figuring out how to put all of that energy into what is useful for your horse. Each horse needs a slightly different perspective. So it’s our responsibility to figure that out.”
Boyd Martin and Miks Master C. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Boyd Martin and his first ride of the day, Ocala Horse Properties’ Miks Master C, round out the top three with a score of 25.9. It’s so fascinating to hear the riders talk about their preparation and what they do for each horse. While with a horse like Off the Record, you’re trying to create energy and motivation and expression, with one like Miks Master C, it’s been more about containing the expression. You may recall Liz Halliday would refer to Miks Master C as sort of a wiggly, difficult to put together horse, and Boyd Martin has chipped away at this element of his newer partnership with the 13-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding.
“Our biggest thing is trying to actually keep him small in his paces, which is the opposite of most of the horses,” Boyd commented. “Mikki’s so extravagant that we’re just trying to tone it down.” With the big, extravagant movements can come a loss of rhythm and connection, Boyd says. “He’s sensational — he’s one of the best-moving event horses in the world, and [I’m] just starting to get the hang of him. It’s been a daunting task trying to get the hang of him, and I felt like today, we’re just starting to get close to where he was with Liz.”
Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
With Dallas LLC’s Shanroe Cooley, who will be in sixth ahead of cross country on a score of 29.1, it was a bit of an opposite approach as Boyd got up out of the saddle to canter a few strides around the perimeter of the ring before beginning his test. “We worked out that [we needed to] try to get him to stretch his back,” he explained. “He’s, again, a very big mover, and I have trouble sitting to his trot sometimes, so just trying to get him to stretch over his topline sort of just opens him up a bit. And we found that relaxes him a bit and gets him using his topline.”
Tamie Smith and Kynan. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Tamie Smith is the final addition to the refreshed top five (which only has Phillip Dutton’s Thursday ride Denim remaining from the first day of dressage), driving all the way from her Temecula, CA base to pilot the Kynan Syndicate LLC’s Kynan to a score of 28.3 for fifth place early on. Strength and maturity are two things Tamie says have really come on with this still-young KWPN gelding, who is 10 this year.
“It’s not rocket science,” she said. “It’s just the basics and getting them through, and as time goes on they get stronger. They’re like kids. I used to say he was like a teenage boy, and now he’s like a young man. He used to kind of be this scrawny, little, tall, lanky guy, but now he’s got muscling and he’s understanding the job.”
In the past, Kynan would have been a horse more susceptible to atmosphere and electricity in this first phase. “I think I can push for a little bit more as he gets stronger,” Tamie said. “But it was a very clean test. I had my changes clean and halts were good, and the rein back was good. Coming into the ring, he was quite electric in there for a second and it took him a minute to take a breath. Before, I would have been hanging on for dear life, and today he wasn’t like that at all.”
Jennie Brannigan and Kismet. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Watching these tests from my eye is one thing, but I found myself curious about how the judges are making their decisions on the marks they’re handing out. So, I wandered on up to the show office where, lo and behold, one Mr. Peter Gray was making himself an end of day coffee and likely looking forward to a blissful afternoon of not speaking to anyone else. I swiftly interrupted that bliss, but the ever gracious Peter delayed his coffee enjoyment to give me a breakdown of what he saw from his view in the box at C as the president of this weekend’s Ground Jury. He’s accompanied by Bea di Grazia, who judged from B and New Zealand’s Helen Christie, who sat at H.
“Will squeezed every mark out of every movement,” Peter said of the top-placed pair. “He rode every movement to the maximum. The horse doesn’t show impulsion [in] that moment of suspension, but the connection is so confident and so steady. Any of the positions of the lateral work, shoulder-in or half pass is the same from start to finish. So where you’re starting off with more of an average 6.5 or 7, he’s going to 7.5s or 8s because on the positive modifiers on an average gait, he’s pushing the mark up by riding it so technically correct.”
Reference Will’s earlier comment about wanting to not lose marks on small mistakes. It’s a lesson for all of us — we won’t always have the best, biggest mover in the field, but we can squeeze those marks out based on ring skill and accuracy.
As a rule of thumb, Peter rewards a more free-moving test, really relying on that key harmony mark and the overall picture (“happy horse, happy judge” is a comment equivalent of a gold star when you ride in front of Peter). For this, he gave a shout-out to Boyd Martin for his two rides. “[They were] almost a little bit free sometimes, which is Boyd’s kind of way,” he explained. “And as a trainer and as a rider, I much prefer that over restriction. So I tend to maybe give him more marks than the other judges for that very soft light feel, because that’s the way I think the image of the sport should be. But in that, he lost a little connection. I still feel that’s a bit of a partnership in the works, but he does have super ringmanship.”
Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“That look is actually easier to see from the side judge,” he continued. “We’re not allowed to judge or comment on things that we can’t really see. So [if the] shoulder-in’s over bent, half pass is coming towards me…I can’t comment on that. Even the extended canter — we like to see the frame lengthen, and you can’t really see that [from C]. Helen [at H] could see nothing but the back. Bea has a lovely view of the extended canter. So I think this is why [with] the judges at different viewpoints, the average comes up with where the rider should be. So I think it’s a very good system.”
This week the running order is a bit unique: rather than a random draw, the order was done by the riders’ points accumulated throughout the season, meaning you automatically saw the “better” horses lumped together in today’s bunch. Here, Peter addressed the idea of bias. During Kentucky recently, Peter gathered his fellow judges before they began the second day of judging. “I said, ‘can we just pause and take a reflection on what we did yesterday?’ We can’t have EquiRatings saying the judges were in a better mood this afternoon. We have to pick up where we left off, and it’s a conscious effort.”
“You must never compare to how the horse did when you saw them last,” he continued, noting that he’d recently read an article on subconscious bias in judging. “Coming into the competition knowing that the top horses were going to go at the end and the people at the bottom of the pile were going to go in the beginning, I’m thinking, ‘this is not subconscious, this is conscious bias!’ So I’ve got to really make sure that I judge what I see and not be influenced by that.”
Did he feel he and his team of judges accomplished this over the last two days? “I do,” he said. “I know some things, some things I don’t do well, but I do know I’m fair and I judge what I see.”
Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Here’s a look at your top 10 heading into cross country on Saturday:
Cross country will be run in reverse order of standing after dressage, meaning Will Coleman will be the final rider to see with Off the Record. Some modifications will of course be made for riders with multiple horses. The 4*-L kicks off cross country at 10:35 a.m. ET. You can view the full order of go here.
You can follow along live on USEF Network on ClipMyHorse.TV. USEF members will be able to watch for free by linking their USEF account (instructions on how to do that are here). Other viewers can access the live stream via ClipMyHorse here. A pro team of commentators including Annie Bishop, Sara Kozumplik and Sinead Maynard have teamed up to bring you all of the updates from on-site. You can also follow Morven Park’s social pages (Facebook | Instagram | YouTube) for more content.
To keep up with our content and need-to-know info this week, click here to bookmark our Ultimate Guide.
Lastly for all of our competitors this weekend, while we have the incredible Shannon Brinkman shooting our photos here on EN, you can find ALL of the photos you want and then some from the crack team at Erin Gilmore Photography, your official moment capturers this weekend. Be sure to keep an eye on Erin Gilmore’s website for galleries for all competitors available to purchase.
Our coverage of Morven Park is supported by Ride EquiSafe, your go-to source for safety equipment and apparel for eventing.
Morven Park Fall International CCI / US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final (VA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Schedule] [Scores] [Live Stream] [CrossCountry App XC Maps] [Tickets and Tailgating] [Volunteer] [EN’s Coverage] [Support EN’s Coverage Sponsor: Ride EquiSafe]
