It’s a bit of a slow weekend of reading on Eventing Nation because I’m slightly predisposed. As always, the horses come first. With that in mind, I need to get some sleep for Sunday, so here are some hastily written news and notes. What could go wrong?
Maryland horse trials
(1) On a blistering day in Maryland, short listed Last Monarch and Ballynoecastle RM took their time around the windy intermediate XC. Mark was out coaching this morning and I noticed at least one selector scouting things out as well. Ballynoecastle RM won his division in the dressage, and Last Monarch scored a solid 33. I believe that Bobby also did dressage, but I think Buck elected to hold him out of the XC. The prelim and novice divisions compete Sunday at Maryland.
(2) I saw Will Faudree’s mare Andromaque run XC at Maryland, and I’ll keep beating the drum that Will has two of the top horses in the country in Pawlow and that mare. Andromaque will move up to advanced soon and she has all the look of a superstar.
(3) Jennie Brannigan took the lead at the Stuart CIC2* on Saturday with the second fastest XC ride of the day. Shockingly, Phillip had the only double clear in the CIC2* on Syd Kent, and is just 0.6 behind Jennie going into the show jumping. Leslie Law is in second place, between the True Prospect pair, and Leslie had one of the least boring quotes I have ever read from a rider in the USEA press release:
“Of course I read Jennie’s quote last night and saw that she is getting a bit fed up of finishing second to me,” Law explained. “So I thought I would take it a bit easy today and give Jennie some confidence by letting her go into the ring in the lead tomorrow. Swinger is a good jumper, but obviously I am very different physique than Missy so I hope I am able to push the right buttons and have a clean round tomorrow.”
(4) In talking with riders at Maryland, many of the short listed horses are on the Milbrook, Richland, AEC track. The several short listers that are going out to Rebecca Farms will likely also do Richland and then the AECs, which means that Richland is shaping up to be a big-time destination.
Shade for everyone
(5) Being early to warmup is almost as bad as being late to warmup.
(6) I can’t say enough about the great job everyone has done putting the Maryland horse trials. While I was walking courses today, I was chatting with the volunteers and they seemed to be having a great time despite the heat, and thankfully they were staying well hydrated. The organizers did a good job making the footing as good as possible with aerator and water trucks. My only complaint is that the ice quickly ran out in the XC cool-off water tubs, which were sitting in the sun.
(7) One training rider pulled up halfway around the course because she wasn’t feeling well. Apparently she had pneumonia earlier in the week. Leave it to an eventer to be deathly ill on Wednesday and then go ride in 97 degrees three days later. With entry costs as high as they are, who can blame her?
(8) It’s always incredible for me how my perception of the course difficulty changes depending on the horse I’m riding. Let’s just say that today felt like novice and I feel like I’m gearing up for Burghley on Sunday.
(9) A quick EN shout out to Faye Woolf, who I met while grazing horses Saturday evening around Team Hudspeth. I try to keep a low profile, but Faye was very kind and complimentary about the site, which I always appreciate. I’m not sure how people recognize me with the gorilla suit on, but sometimes they do.
(10) Eventers are the coolest people anywhere. No explanation needed, but for some reason I noticed this more than usual today.
Go eventing.
