Many thanks to Shannon Lilley for bringing the West Coast to light on Eventing Nation. Shannon is in attendance at Galway Downs this weekend, and was kind enough to provide us with a little report from the action on Friday. Thanks for writing, Shannon, and thank you for reading. [Live Scores]
From Shannon:
Galway Downs has lived up to expectation thus far. Training sessions commenced midday on Thursday after having two full days of lessons Tuesday and Wednesday. The overall impression of the riding was that it was much improved since previous training sessions.
–
Thursday night David O’Connor walked the CIC*** course with the riders and gave great perspective on different lines within the obstacles all the while letting the riders determine the best ride for them and their horse. The course walk had a very good energy to it with a lot of discussion back and forth on theory about different kinds of canters as they pertain to different types of jumps as well as how to execute that canter specific to each pair.
–
On Friday dressage started at 8 am with the CIC ** and * in the FEI arenas followed by the CIC*** and advanced. Overall the dressage was pretty good. It may not have been everyone’s best day but definitely on the right track for the developing riders. DOC’s comments were all positive, saying that most pairs were really close and most of the components in the test were quite good. Some of the stand out tests in the three star were the ladies on the grey horses, Kristi Nunnink on R-Star and Bea di Grazia on Lad’s Night Out. Both tests showed great obedience and poise.
–
Katherine Groesbeck on Oz Proof of Purchase had a very disciplined test in the advanced. It always amazes me how in tune those two are with each other. McKenna Shea and Landioso as well as Zachary Brandt and Cavallino Cocktail both had solid tests with few improvements to be made.
Some of the two star riders were disenchanted with their scores as those riders felt the scores did not properly reflect the performance. Regardless of scoring, I saw some very good work in the arena from select pairs.
–
The show jumping for the CICs started around 2:30 with the one star. Each division had a bit of a mixed bag with the level of performances. The courses were designed by Sarah Kotchian-Dubost who always does a great job. They were some stand out performances in each division like Gina Miles on Chanel had a beautiful round, Kelly Pugh on Spot On were fantastic in the two star, and Hawley Bennett-Awad had two very lovely rounds on her two three star horses.
–
The upper level horses go this afternoon on cross country and I can’t wait to see continued good riding from our great west coasters!
Go eventing!
