Lizzy Jahnke and Princeton Jump to Victory in Poplar Place CIC3*

Lizzy Jahnke and Princeton. Photo by Jenni Autry. Lizzy Jahnke and Princeton. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Poplar Place Farm hosted a Beginner Novice through Advanced horse trials plus CIC*, CIC2* and CIC3* competition this weekend in Hamilton, Ga., and Lizzy Jahnke and Princeton, an 11-year-old Thoroughbred owned by Light Speed Equestrian, were the ultimate winners of the CIC3*, finishing on their dressage score of 57.1. They were second after the first phase, but they delivered a fault-free show jumping round and went clear and fast on cross country, finishing three seconds under optimum time, to secure their first FEI win.

“He is an incredible horse with a captivating personality and the biggest heart,” Lizzie said. “I’ve been working really hard on the dressage and it’s been getting better and better. There’s still lots of places to make improvements but I was really happy with the test overall. The show jumping was fantastic. I had a forward smooth round. He just went in the ring and jumped out of his skin.

“The cross country was great as well. I was a little worried about the first water as we had a bounce of two houses going in and that’s something I hadn’t done before, but everything rode really well. He’s a really fast horse and he’s incredibly rideable, so I knew if I let him go I could be close to the time.”

Princeton, also known as “Kiwi” had been previously campaigned by another Lizzie (Green) of New Zealand. Lizzy Jahnke partnered with the gelding with the help of Joe (also a Kiwi) and Ruthie Meyer. In the last year-and-a-half Lizzy and Princeton have made their way up the levels. In two weeks they will head to The Fork followed by the Jersey Fresh CCI3* in May with the ultimate goal of competing in the USEF CCI3* Championship at Fair Hill International in October.

“Overall it was a great weekend,” Lizzy summarized. “The weather was perfect and we even got a little rain overnight which helped soften up the footing. Poplar Place does a great job having everything organized and it’s a beautiful venue with lots of terrain.”

Joe Meyer and Clip Clop. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Joe Meyer and Clip Clop, a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse owned by Joe and Madison and Theresa Foote, are entered for Rolex Kentucky next month and had a good prep run at Poplar. A 59.3 positioned them in third place after dressage. They show jumped double clear over Jan Brodkin’s course and added 5.2 time penalties on the Tremaine Cooper designed cross country course to finish in second over all.

Joe and Chantil Ruud’s Johnny Royale finished fifth in the 8-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred’s first CIC3* appearance, adding a rail and 6.8 cross country time penalties to their dressage score of 65.2.

Chelsea Kolman and Dauntless Courage moved up from sixth after dressage, adding no jumping or time penalties to their initial score of 66.8 in their very first CIC3*. EN has followed Chelsea and “Dante’s” special partnership as they progressed up the levels. Click here to read more about Chelsea and her 18-hand Thoroughbred/Percheron cross.

Jennie Jarnstrom and her 10-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare Penelope were first after dressage, but a rail and some time penalties on cross country dropped them down to a fourth place finish overall. William Hoos and the Harpeth Valley Equestrian Team’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare Celtic Rhythm finished sixth.

Karl Slezak and Fernhill Wishes. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Karl Slezak picked up two big wins this weekend. He and Katlyn Hewson’s 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse Fernhill Cascum Marco were the only pair in the CIC2* to finish on their dressage score to win on 55.6. Karl also won the Advanced division with a final score of 54.9 riding his own 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse Fernhill Wishes in the gelding’s first Advanced competition.

Ashley Hays and her 9-year-old Holsteiner Call It Courage were sixth after dressage in the CIC2*, scoring 59.8. They moved up to third after show jumping and added 3.6 time penalties on cross country to finish second overall on 67.4 in their very first two-star. Jackie LeMastus and the very experienced Tatton Winter round out the top three, moving up from eighth with a final score of 82.9.

In the CIC*, Autumn Schweiss and her 8-year-old Belgium Warmblood Jive About Wonderland finished on their dressage score to win on 49.9. They were the only pair to show jump double-clear, and a clear and fast round on cross country gave them the win with nearly 10 points to spare.

Denise Goyea and her 9-year-old Oldenburg mare Highlife’s Je T’aime took the early lead on 49.4. While they didn’t add any jumping penalties on show jumping or cross country, time faults in both phases resulted in a second place overall finish in the pair’s first FEI appearance.

Elissa Gibbs and A Proper Gentleman, Kathleen Fitzgerald’s 12-year-old Sport Horse, were ninth after dressage, but a one rail show jump round and double-clear cross country moved them well up the standings to finish in third place.

Congratulations to all the horses and riders at Poplar Place. Click the link below for complete scores. Go Eventing.

Poplar Place Farm March H.T.: [Website] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]