Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border. Photo by Valerie Durbon Photography.
Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border persisted through the steady rain that’s been falling all day at Morven Park’s fall horse trials to lead the CIC3* on their dressage score of 44.0 after show jumping. Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair sit in second on their dressage score of 45.9, with Marilyn Little and RF Demeter in third on their dressage score of 46.2.
“The rain has not been so bad today,” Kim said this afternoon. “It hasn’t been heavy a rain, though everything is pretty soaked. Crossy was really good in the dressage, and he show jumped beautifully. It was a nice, flowing show jumping course, and we were all happy to be show jumping in the ring and not on the grass.”
It still remains unclear as to whether CIC cross country will run at this event, as Morven Park officials decided this morning to not hold cross country tomorrow as planned due to predicted heavy rainfall. Now the question remains as to whether cross country will run on Sunday; that’s a decision officials plan to make by 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair. Photo by Valerie Durbon Photography.
Six inches of rain fell in Leesburg on Tuesday alone, and the rain has been falling fairly steadily ever since, with 1.7 inches of rain expected to fall today and another 0.3 inches predicted for tomorrow. Suzanne Musgrave, Morven Park’s director of development and communications, told EN this morning that it all comes down to exactly how much rain falls as to whether CIC cross country will run.
Kim said the footing on the cross country course is holding up well this afternoon: “The footing right now is pretty darn good. The only places that are bad are where they have re-seeded around some of the new roads that are crossing the Advanced course. The ground itself is fine except for those sections. I think it’s pretty bareable at the moment.”
Officials are certainly in a difficult position. While the safety of horses and riders must remain paramount as officials make their decision of whether to run cross country, there’s also the fact that Morven Park CIC is the last opportunity for riders to secure their necessary qualifying scores for the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International.
Overnight CIC3* leaders Kim and Cooley Cross Border are one of the combinations that need to run cross country in order to have a crack at securing a final qualifying score for Fair Hill. “Crossy,” an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by The Cross Syndicate, won two Advanced horse trials in a row at Richland and Poplar Place before tackling his first CIC3* at Plantation Field, where Kim hoped to qualify him to run at Fair Hill.
Kim and Crossy’s cross country run was clipping along just fine until the coffin at fence 9 on Mike Etherington-Smith’s course, when the horse ran out at the triple brush coming out of the combination. They carried on until fence 14, the footbridge, where Kim ultimately decided to retire on course.
Marilyn Little and RF Demeter. Photo by Valerie Durbon Photography.
“I think I got a little complacent about the coffin, since he’s been really good lately,” Kim said. “The ground was really hard, and he wasn’t moving up the way I wanted him to move up and wasn’t covering the ground very well. Coming to the footbridge, where a lot of the falls were happening, and he still wasn’t in front of my leg, it was best to retire.”
If the event does go forward with cross country on Sunday, Kim said she intends to run. “We’ll be smart about it, and I’m sure the ground jury will be really smart about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. As of right now, the ground is perfect. The course has skinnies, triple brushes and corners, as you’d expect on an Advanced course; it will be good to make sure that Crossy is all aboard.”
Officials have already canceled cross country for all National divisions, so Allison Springer and Cascani are the winners of the Advanced combined test on a score of 29.7. Lillian Heard finished second and third with Arundel and LCC Barnaby, respectively, on scores of 31.0 and 31.3.
In the CIC2*, Phillip Dutton and Z sit tied for first place with Danny Warrington and L’Alezane on 45.0 after dressage. Stay tuned for much more from Morven Park, included more photos from Valerie Durbon Photography. We’ll also be posting the latest updates on the status of the competition on Facebook and Twitter.
Morven Park CIC: Website, Ride Times, Live Scores
