Settling in at The Fork

Kate Hick’s son Graham watches his mother ride Belmont on the flat.

It was very hot and sunny wednesday in North Carolina, and while no-one was complaining, most of us were perhaps caught unawares by the intense heat this early in the season; in the middle of the afternoon the temperature in my car read well into the nineties. The staff in the office were slammed with requests for shavings, stabling, parking, and all the usual headaches but couldn’t have been more helpful or cheerful while they dealt with one sweaty rider after another!

 


I managed to watch some of the training sessions even though I couldn’t hear any of them. Here’s Doug on Running Order who looked great. I also saw the tail end of Jan Byyny riding Inmidair from a distance.


Both lovely horses, and riders, and both could not be more different in physique and style.



Courageous Comet came and watched his stable mate Can’t Fire Me work with Becky Holder. Interestingly after her lesson with Mark, Becky brought Can’t Fire Me (and Courageous Comet came too!) over to the schooling arena and rode for another five or ten minutes on her own, doing lots of very forward trot to canter transitions and canter work, even though it was probably the hottest time of the day. Can’t Fire Me looks in great shape though, and I was sorry not to see Comet go, but doesn’t he look a picture?
 


Amy Ruth Borun rides Santa’s Playboy in the CIC***, and was preparing for a Friday morning dressage

Jess Phoenix and her Canadian OTTB superhorse Exponential

Jordan Litter rides Dolce & Gabanna in the Prelim Division

Katie Ruppel and Houdini

Anthony Patch at the end of his workout with Laine Ashker

Liza Horan rides Obama in the intermediate

Boyd rode Otis Barbotierre while Silva gave him expert advice via an earpiece. I stood close by and listened for a while and decided I would definitely like to take lessons from her too – she was much more gentle than I’d expected (less germanic?!) but still insistent, very tactful and sensitive and of course missed nothing. I imagine the only thing harder than the husband/wife teaching dynamic might be the mother/daughter one, but I certainly don’t intend to find out – I’ll send Lily to Silva for lessons, and come and watch!  I did ask Silva if she was tempted to event now after our April Fools Joke, and she laughed and said not at all, especially not this weekend; when I told her that Neville would look after her she looked at me as if I was quite loopy and said Neville would bolt with her! I think Boyd is safe with his ride for a while, and many thanks again to Silva for being such a good sport!  While Silva stayed cool and calm, and of course looks gorgeous at all times, Otis was a little bit on the muscle but looks super fit and probably just needed today to settle down. This afternoon the combination of the clay pigeon shooting in the woods next door (constant gunfire) and then the roar of fighter jets overhead was unnerving for some riders, let alone their horses and I think there were several competitors who might have been relieved they got here a day early to acclimatise.


 

Our gracious hosts, sort of! Rebecca Howard is based here and runs the barn for Jim and Bernadette Cogdell. She’s riding Riddle Master, aka Rupert in the CIC*** and told me it’s almost harder for him doing an event at home because suddenly things appear that weren’t there the day before, but he’s competed at The Fork every year since prelim level so she said it’s getting easier for him!  Many, many thanks to the Cogdells, to Rebecca and her staff, and especially to all the volunteers who have already put in so many hours work, and have a long weekend ahead of them. Thank you, and Go Eventing!

 

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