Nina Ligon and Tipperary Liadhnan at Southern Pines, photo courtesy of Stephanie Diaz
And then there were 6. The Flora Lea horse trials in Medford, NJ was canceled due to bad weather that deteriorated the cross-country course, but there are still 6 USEA horse trials in action today. Here’s a quick look at the Poplar Place standings:
Nina Ligon and Tipperary Liadhnan “Paddy” had the fastest round of the CIC3*, incurring just 2.4 time penalties and extending their lead to 4 points. Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me moved up from 3rd to 2nd. Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan smoked around the XC course as usual and had the second fastest round of the day in the 3* to move up to 4th. Carl Bouckaert and Mensa are tied for 4th with a 62.0 but Katie and Donald have the XC time closer to the optimum. Nina and Butts Leon had a run-out at the angled cannon combination at #12. The scores are still coming in for the advanced division.
If Nina wins tomorrow it will be the second straight US CIC3* won by a horse who was not produced by their current rider. Some people take exception to this and I understand that wins seem somehow more satisfactory when won by an OTTB who raced 20 times and has been with the same eventer ever since, but for better or worse that just isn’t the direction of our sport. My feeling is that getting around advanced is so incredibly difficult no matter who the horse and rider are that success at that level is an incredible achievement no matter what the history of the winning combination.
Clark Montgomery and Reignman extended their lead in the CIC2* by picking up only one second of time on the cross-country–“Maple syrup is supposed to be on the table before the pancakes.” Sydney Elliott and Pancho Villa moved up to second with one of only two double-clears on the day in the 2*. Jose Ortelli and JOS Aladar are third. Only one rider in the 2* had a stop and all finished the course.
The CIC* rode well also, with 5 out of 6 starters coming home clear. Lara Borson-knight and Shooby Do have a 5.3 point lead going into the show jumping. Former US team rider and Georgia native Julie Richards is in 4th.
[Poplar Place Scores, XC Course Photos]
Good luck to the rest of the riders at Poplar and around Eventing Nation this afternoon. Go eventing.
