I think we’ve all heard by now that Alison Springer and Arthur clinched the win by jumping clear this afternoon. They were popular winners, and to top off a dream weekend for Alison she also finished 11th on Destination Known.
Boyd Martin looked happy to take home the red rosette on Neville Bardos, who was class all weekend.
Micheal Pollard had a rail down on Wonderful Will, (who’s small in “real life” but can jump, obviously, duh!) and a clear round on Icarus to finish 10th and 3rd with them respectively.
The diminutive but Wonderful Will
Philip Dutton was the first to post a clear round on his Rolex bound mare Isabella, and this was good enough to assure them a final 13th place despite their stop on cross country yesterday.
Karen O Connor also had two finish in the top 10, both Mandiba and Quintus 54 jumped well but an unlucky rail on each of them left her in 7th and 9th spots, probably lower than she’d have liked. Quintus 54 looked especially fresh, and came out of the ring high-blowing, and looking as though he was ready to go straight back out on cross country.
Doug Payne proved that Running Order is still in fine form, but an annoying rail moved him down to sixth place.
Leslie Law jumped clean on Rehy Lux to move up into the top five, and keep the pressure on the leaders.
The top four all jumped clear rounds, despite some hefty rattling of the poles at times. Boyd Martin held onto second place, while Selena O Hanlon consolidated Canada’s spoils at Red Hills, adding 4th place in the CIC 3* on Colombo, to a second place finish in the CIC * on a lovely jumping young horse, Foxwood High.
The runaway winner when all was said and done, however, is Red Hills and eventing. What a triumphant weekend. Tallahassee, and the hundreds of volunteers make it happen for the competition, and they have every right to come out and bask in the sun and enjoy it as the town did in force these last couple of days. The community support for the Red Hills is extraordinary; shuttle buses ran constantly saturday and sunday, the local media was all over the event, and there was definitely a country fair/something for all the family feel once you arrived. The food and shopping was varied and abundant, there were all sorts of things for children to do, ranging from bouncy castles and pony rides to a giant pile of sand. Plenty of toilets, (basic but important!), botanical tours around the woods and a parade of the Live Oak Hounds, a private pack based locally, before the CIC 3* show-jumping began.
There’s a long, long list of all the things Red Hills is doing right.
I feel very lucky that I was able to be there this weekend. I met Eventing Safety John in person, a special treat, and he’s exactly how I’d imagined him, but only better! I got to see fantastic horses and riders, and spend time with my favourite people – eventers! I’m happy to be home, re-united with Leo the Labrador, swearing never to take my high speed internet connection for granted again, and vowing not to whine about it so much next time. Looking foward to the next adventure, and thanks for joining me at Red Hills.
