It’s hard to know who to Friday belonged to – the O’Connor Event Team, including Marilyn Little-Meredith certainly captured the spoils but how can you not be impressed by Buck and his team of able substitutes? Buck admitted he felt “not great” but also reminded me that there are far many more people much worse off than him, I think if he could have shrugged he would have. I asked him if it was hard standing and watching his horses being ridden by other people, and he said he thought it would be more difficult if he was able to ride, and that honestly he wasn’t the toughest person in the world but he was pretty tough and there was no way he could have ridden today – at which point I was speechless! He’s hopeful that he’ll be competing at The Fork, which is in about a month, and I swear I did see him shrug then! Later that day he also told me he his students and people at home kept texting him with updates, at last count it seems that Buck is responsible for about 50 horses!
Andrea Leatherman on Park Trader. Andrea said she’s ridden this horse regularly on the flat at home, but only jumped him once about a year ago, and so elected to withdraw after the dressage. Andrea did a super job all day though, riding one nice horse after another, especially her own Mystic My in the advanced, below.
The O’Connor/Little-Meredith Juggernaut!
Karen O’Connor leads Advanced Section A on the little rubber ball that is Veronica, she didn’t look like touching a thing today, what a lovely birthday present for her rider!
Marilyn Little-Meredith leads Advanced Section B on a relatively new ride, the Oldenburg mare RF Demeter
Karen lies second in this section behind Marilyn on Mr Medicott after conjuring up a very nice dressage out of him after all – it looked very touch and go in the warm-up, and we talked about that briefly afterwards!
Marilyn’s second Advanced horse, the eye-catching Rovano Rex, below, lies 5th after a stop and some time in the show-jumping. The course was twisty and tight, although not overly big, but the time was very hard to get and it caused a fair amount of trouble across all the divisions most of the day.
Dressage started early this morning, and due to being a bit hampered by my two darling children (!) we didn’t make it out to the first one in the ring, alas it was EN fave Sinead Halpin on Manoir de Carneville/Tate, but I did catch up with her and Meg later, and as always it was a pleasure!
Joe Meyer, a 100% converted Floridian brought out his trusty campaigner Snip, 20 years old now, and still looking wonderful – maybe that’s why he’s moved to the retirement capital of the world, it certainly suits this lovely little grey who just keeps on producing the goods for Joe!
Joe had one rail down but still moved up from 9th after dressage to lie in 5th place overnight in Advanced Section A. You can keep an eye on all the live results from Rocking Horse II here.
Missy Ransehousen and Critical Decision did a lovely test that really was a joy to watch – Missy sits so quietly and correctly and I was glad to see it rewarded with a score of 31.9, good enough for second, even if BG as he’s known in the stable, did get a bit keen in the show-jumping for two down and some time, and drop them down a few places – here’s hoping for another cracking Rolex from this pair this year.
Critical Decision/BG in the show-jumping
Kentucky was well-represented at Rocking Horse, and no wonder with reports of a winter storm heading to the Bluegrass. Here’s Elissa Gibbs with her jumping machine Medici, but I also spotted Dorothy Crowell, Cathy Weischoff and Anna Kjellestrom.
Karen O’Connor’s nice little intermediate project, RF Amber Eyes, very impressive
and just as impressive from the front too!
I owe Peter Atkins a massive thank you for making Harry’s day, week month! Finally I clawed back a scrap of credibility as a parent, yes, horse shows can be fun! I should have known that Peter would absolutely floor it though, next time I’m strapping a helmet cam on Harry, for safety and to see if we can get any traction on Youtube! Peter’s test on Henny (HJ Hampton of course) this morning was another that I was sorry to miss, but I did see them show-jump, and apart from an unlucky rail at the first, they jumped an easy clear round.
There really is something so special about Henny, he tries SO hard, and he and Peter have such a terrific relationship that I was surprised when Peter told me to look out for his intermediate horse Firedrake, who he reckons will give Henny a run for his money in a couple of years time.
Marilyn Little-Meredith’s RF Rovano Rex, very flashy, on his way to a 27.2 and 2nd place after dressage before blotting his copybook in the stadium, lovely horse though.
Mr. and Mrs. O’Connor watch Marilyn’s test
Michael Pollard rode six horses in the intermediate one day at Paradise Farm, and said he didn’t think he had it in him to do the same with all his advanced rides so got a last minute entry for Wonderful Will and Shoensgreen Hanni here at Rocking Horse to spread the event out over a couple of days;he said he would have brought one more had there been space but by all accounts both Rocking Horse and Pine Top next week have been as accommodating as possible to riders with changing schedules.
I’m a huge fan of the little horse Wonderful Will, although he couldn’t be a more different ride to Michael’s other horse here, Hanni
Click below to read the rest of the report!
This is a homebred horse that Kyle Carter co-owns with his eldest daughter Riley (5 years old) called FR’s Trust Fund (The FR for Five Ring Stable) At the moment still a green six year old but showing plenty of potential, Kyle is hoping he’ll be able to sell it in the future for heaps of money, hence the name…
Bruce Davidson was busy all day, mostly on his own rides, but he also rode The Apprentice for Buck. Here he is on his own Keltic Lion – this is the horse that Bruce said might be the reason behind his four star comeback, when I spoke to him for Eventing Nation last summer.
Bruce on The Apprentice
It’s always a pleasure to see Rebecca Howard, but even more of a jolt when she told me this was Rupert/Riddle Master’s first event since Rolex last year, and he behaved like a total angel.
I caught up with Rebecca after her dressage for a quick chat,
and then watched them show-jump, so engrossed I almost forgot to take pictures, apologies! They were a tiny bit out of match practice, and even trotted into a couple of the fences, but Rebecca just stayed calm and squeezed with her leg, and Rupert just responded and jumped smoothly over them as if he was doing a gymnastic exercise in the school at home, it was a delight to watch and I look forward to lots more good things from them this year.
Rebecca and Riddle Master/Rupert – still going smooth as butter in his rubber snaffle!
Sharon White and Reggie putting their training to the test for a 6th place score of 31.3
Emma Kate Fisher and Carlingford’s Forever
Trista Carter traveling in style!
Christa Gandolfo on Governaire. Christa, who trains with Lesley and Leslie Law, was contesting her first advanced this weekend, and I spoke to Lesley, but only briefly as she was holding down the fort while Leslie was away teaching in Seattle.
Lesley and What Law at Ocala Horse Trials last week – photo by Xpress Foto and used with kind permission of Lesley
I really enjoy Lesley’s company; of course we already know she’s extremely talented, funny and clever because of the brilliant articles she’s written, and add generous to the list because now she’s writing for Eventing Nation too, hurray, as well as all the other job descriptions she has to contend with! I know I speak for all of us when I say I can’t wait for the next installment, whenever you have time!
Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan
A nice clear round pulled them up from 18th after dressage to 11th place overnight
Canadian Penny Rowland on the enormous Flying Finn, who couldn’t be more different to the little coloured mare, Northwinds Breeze, that she rode into second place at the CCI* at the Kentucky Horse Park last autumn.
RF Demeter won the dressage in Advanced Section B for Marilyn Little-Meredith with a calm, accurate test. The mare is the opposite of her other horse who was placed just behind it and who you’d guess would get a higher mark, but Demeter did nothing wrong and showed positive, correct work with no bobbles whatsoever.
I actually saw Meredith working her on the flat earlier in the day and thought she looked like a real jumping stamp of a horse, (which she is too, of course!) and never imagined that she’d finish the day winning the dressage – goes to show how little I know!
Shandiss Wewiora and Rockfield Grant Juan
Erin Flynn Tamplin on Royal Ruckus
Karl Slezak had one of the nicest rounds I saw all day on VDL Ulando H
Whitney Weston and Rock on Rose, or Lusty. Although they had two fences down it was actually a nice round and they seem to be forging a really solid partnership together. I spoke to Whitney briefly afterwards and she told me she’s “just having the most fun of my life”, and that she’s aiming for the three star at Jersey Fresh, but if they’re not ready for that, then they’ll re-route to Bromont.
Maggie Deatrick and Divine Comedy were a very popular clear round
Sara Kozumplik jumped a nice clear on Manolo Blahnik and didn’t look to be hanging around at all, but still collected two time faults
Katlyn McMorris and Clifton Peekachu
David Adamo and River King
Emily Renfroe and Walk the Line
Angela Grzywinski and Novelle
Angela is one of a large Texas contingency, numbering about 30, four of them doing their first advanced this weekend. I chatted to Mike Huber for a bit who said that some of them will start to head home after this weekend, some after Pine Top and Heather Morris will probably stay until Red Hills, then come back east for The Fork before returning to Texas, and then driving back east to Rolex again – it’s about 15 hours from Texas to Kentucky apparently, but by then my mind had already had glazed over a bit!
Brittany kart and Llewellyn
Robert Meyerhoff and Dunlavin Token
Kristi Nunnik’s R-Star – what a horse!
Kadi Eykamp and Double Rivers Dillon – with that distinctive Australian browband.
On another note, KER, or Kentucky Equine Research, who sponsor the jump above, and many horse trials around the country, as well as top riders in all disciplines, have a fun competition at Rocking Horse – they have a weighing scale set up in the tradestand and if you can guess within, I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly how much, of your horse’s weight, you win either a KER saddle pad or a DVD of the KER Dirty Jobs episode – both equally cool, and what a great idea! KER Marvin, one of the horses used in the research and in the tv programme has been competed by Anna Kjellestrom until recently, (you can see pictures of him on EN when she rode him in the Francis Whittington clinic) as she told me she’s now passed the ride on to Bruce Davidson temporarily as Marvin was getting so keen!
Marilyn L-M’s Rovano Rex – butter wouldn’t melt….!
Imogen de Lavis and Rock Point Road
Melissa Boutin on Siamese Kat (Anglo Arab)
Beth Perkins on Sal Dali
Sara Kozumplik’s Tatton Winter doing his first advanced, and I fell in love with his kind eye and sweet face when Sara brought him out to watch some dressage earlier in the day. Look at him, how could you not…?!
Emma Kate Fisher and Carlingford’s Forever
Christa Gandolfo and Governaire – Christa has three horses based with the Laws
We’ve already talked about how naughty Mr. Medicott was in the dressage warm-up, and how Karen used all her experience and skill to convince him to pull a 28.4 out the bag, although Karen preferred to write his little tantrum outside off as him being “Irish”! Luckily he jumped like a bunny, and looks incredibly fit and well, although being a sensitive Irish red-head he has fallen prey to the dreaded Florida skin disease, if you look carefully you can see the patchy skin behind in his elbows in this picture
Werner Geven and Vandiver
Wendy Lewis and Mastercraft
Nora Battig and Borneo Royale (with three stars clipped onto the left flank, you can just see one, and none on the right. I’ve been trying to think if there’s a special reason why all day, but still come up empty!)
Penny Rowland on Flying Finn
Caroline Martin on the lovely mare Petite Flower, homebred by the Davidsons, and ridden by Bruce in the last two PRO Derby X’s. Caroline trains with Buck and he told me he really rates this little horse, and she certainly jumped a stunning clear round. We had a very enjoyable day at Rocking Horse – everything ran like clockwork, except for the show-jumping which tended to be a bit ahead of time, which for a 7:30 start and a 5pm or thereabouts finish was certainly nothing to complain about! We had planned to watch the cross country tomorrow and head out about lunchtime on our drive back to Kentucky, but with more and more reports of winter storm warnings and alerts popping up as I write this, I’m beginning to think I may have to revise my plans, we’ll check the weather and let you know. In the meantime, thanks as always for reading, and Go Eventing!
