Sara Kozumplik-Murphy: Coaching at the Bolivarian Games

Sara Kozumplik-Murphy is at the Bolivarian Games in Lima, Peru to help coach Team Venezuela riders Natascha Barrientos and Maria Suarez Garcia (“Gaby”). The Bolivarian Games are a mulit-sport event among six nations held every four years to honor El Libertator, Simon Bolivar. Bolivar was credited with starting the fight for independence for six South American countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, and Venezuela. The Eventing portion of the Games is a CCI* championship. Many thanks to Sara for writing, and thank you for reading.

Sara with Natascha and Gaby

From Sara:

Buenos Dias from Peru!

It is cross-country morning here at the Bolivarian Games in Lima, Peru, where a strong team of riders, horses, coaches and support team have come together to be a part of Team Venezuela. This includes Peter Gray, Kyle Carter, Barry Thomason and Dougie Hannum to name a few. We are not messing around!

After a few days of adventure trying to get the best food possible for our horses (have you ever stuffed bales of hay into a taxi with you?) here is a quick synopsis of the last couple of days.

All the horses jogged up well on Wednesday, and yesterday’s dressage phase brought personal bests for a few of our riders. Miguel Sarmiento got us off to a super start putting in a steady, accurate test, which scored 52.7. It really set the tone for us.

He was swiftly followed by Maritza Trujillo who kept up the trend on her lovely French horse to put in a 49.4, and Alvero Lozado, whose powerful mare looked lovely as always.

As for my girls on their superstar horses, they both managed to get docked 2 points each. Natascha Barrientos for halting in the wrong place on the centerline, and Maria Suarez Garcia (“Gaby”) for saluting with the rein in her hand! Ahhhhh! (Kyle says it is down to bad coaching?!?)

However,f I am so proud of them as despite this, Natascha and Clifton Peekachu are in the lead with a 44.4, and Gaby was cool under pressure to score a 51.9.

Finally, the experienced pair Elena Ceballos and Nounours Du Moulin rounded us off with a 55.8, giving us a solid start for the competition.

Jose Ortelli’s cross-country course will be a real test today. I am glad we have a couple experienced riders (and definitely some fantastic horses) to take on the challenge. However, we came here to fight so stay tuned!