Jessica Pye and Lightning Bound were double-clear
Today I decided to ease my way into my live event coverage, which usually involves 16 hours of running all over the place with 17 electronic devices and one Chinchilla on a leash. So, I just focused on the advanced and even spared myself the first half of the dressage. Rocking Horse was the first advanced event for almost all of these horses so particularly the show jumping had some rusty moments. [Rocking Horse Live Scores] Results after the show jumping:
1. Elizabeth Barron and The Graduate +0 29.4
2. Buck and Ballynoecastle RM +4 30.6
3. Karen and Mandiba +4 32.4
4. Danica Moore and Dunlavin’s Token +0 34.4
5. Jessica Pye and Lightning Bound +0 35.6
–Elizabeth Barron and The Graduate moved up from 4th to 1st in the show jumping with a lovely round. This pair won the CCI2* at Chattahoochee in November and I have no idea why they are not on the developing rider list.
–Canada’s Madison Park “Parker” continues to get better and better in the dressage. The last time I saw him, he was competing at the WEG, and he looked even better today. He has all the potential in the world but he can get quite tense and lose focus. Despite one botched change, I think he should have scored better than he did–the judge was probably staring at Kyle’s helmet. Parker did drop 2 in the show jumping though.
–Lightning Bound “Bounder” jumped really well for developing rider Jessica Pye. When I first saw this horse at the training sessions, he seemed to be taking it easy over the smaller fences, but he looked super nice today. There was one moment where he completely bailed Jessica out with an incredibly impressive jump to leave a big oxer up. Overall, it was an excellent double-clear round, and Jessica came out with a smile and a huge pat for Bounder.
–33 horses started the advanced at Rocking Horse and around 400 horses are at the event overall. There were 10 double-clear rounds and 9 rounds with double-digit penalties.
–Mandiba and Ballynoecastle RM jumped alright, but they both had a rail and I have seen them both jump a lot better. It’s often a ‘jump to the given level’ for horses like that, and it takes some pressure to make them focus. That being said, Reggie and Mandiba are in 2nd and 3rd respectively going into the XC.
–When Karen walked out of the arena with Mandiba, she said that it was a tough show jumping course and it rode that way all day. There was a tight turn to a vertical set at a funky distance from the rail, and one long turning approach to an oxer caused misses all day long.
–Many of the competitors are moving up to advanced for the first time this weekend so just getting around the show jumping with a steady round was a good achievement and now the riders can worry about the cross-country.
–For the 17 people emailing me about why Steph and Port Authority withdrew, Steph just had one of those weeks and a slight foot soreness cropped up after a great training session earlier in the week. Steph told me Olie should be good to go for Pine Top.
–I think Buck rode every single horse in a fly bonnet, carrying on the trend from the WEGs. It was quite windy today and maybe reducing that blowing in the horses ears helps them stay focused. Ear bonnets are also a great place for sponsor logos.
–Randy Ward’s horse James might have been my favorite jumper in the advanced. That horse has excellent form and can really get up in the air easily.
–Devon Brown and Dynamic Image were tied for first after the dressage and had a lovely showjumping round, but they accidentally crossed the starting line while making their circle before starting. They picked up 4 penalties for the circle and 13 time penalties.
–One of my biggest show jumping pet peeves is looking back after the jump to see if the rail fell down or stayed up right in the middle of your course. There’s nothing you can do about the jumps you have already jumped and looking back for a moment is one less moment that you can help your horse get to the next jump. It’s common sense: keep your eyes looking where you are going.
Cross-country starts bright and early tomorrow and the advanced runs around lunchtime. As usual for the first advanced of the season, the XC course looks small and inviting. Welcome to the weekend Eventing Nation and go eventing!
