On the eve of the first night of Oktoberfest, Hurricane Helene hit Aiken. When the sun rose in the morning there was no power, no running water, and most roads were impassable. Aiken was left in the path of destruction with downed trees and power lines. Stable View itself was littered with fallen trees, destroyed gazebos, and debris. However, with the hard work of many officials and volunteers, Stable View was quickly cleaned up (at least enough to be able to run competition). By Friday evening, the cross country course looked as good as new thanks to the efforts of many volunteers and competitors who pitched in during the clean-up process.
As a result of the hurricane the decision was made to cancel competition on Friday. Stable View’s secretary worked for hours on end to recreate the schedule in the format of a two-day show. After almost finishing she had to make amendments due to the curfew that was put in place by Aiken County. This curfew prohibited any non-essential workers from being on the roads from 7:30 pm Friday night until 7:30 am Saturday morning. Due to this new schedule the FEI Divisions as well as the Advanced, Intermediate, and Preliminary divisions ran as one-days today with Modified riders completing their dressage.
In the CCI4*-S, Lucienne Bellissimo held the lead from start to finish with Horse Scout Eventing’s Dyri. She started with a 26.3 in dressage before jumping double clear over Chris Barnard’s show jumping track. On cross country, Lucienne managed to only add four time penalties to finish on a 30.3. Initially placed in second, Phillip Dutton and The Possante Group’s Possante finished in fourth after taking his time around Helen West’s cross country. Lucienne was in third place following dressage and show jumping. After also adding some time she finished in fifth with Tremanton. Canadian Lindsay Traisnel and Bacyrouge ultimately finished in second after being the fastest cross country ride of the day coming in eight seconds over optimum time. Aiken-based Emily Hamel and Corvett rounded out the top three on their score of 40.8.
In the CCI3*-S, Cole Horn and MBF Cooley Permission To Land made their way up the leaderboard after initially starting in 11th. After double clear show jumping and cross country rounds they finished in first on a 34.7. After making the long haul from California, Tamie Smith added a second and third place finish to her resume, with Pierre’s Farceur du Bochard finishing second and Sumas Tina Turner finishing third.
Madison Temkin and Fernhill Bertus won the CCI2*-S on their dressage score of 30.5. Phillip Dutton and Cooley Starship finished second adding only 2.8 time penalties on Helen West’s course on a 33.8. Cole Horn had a good day in the office; after winning the three-star he finished in third place in the two-star on The Wellerman with a score of 34.1.
In light of everything Stable View extends their thoughts to everyone who has been affected by Hurricane Helene. Stable View hopes that this show gives some feeling of normalcy for riders, grooms, and their families. We hope this can be used as a light at what will be a long period of clean-up.
Stable View Oktoberfest 2/3/4* & H.T. (SC): [Website] [Scores]
