Shannon Lilley: Sunday at Galway

From Shannon:

Sunday at Galway Downs didn’t disappoint!  I was talking to my counterpart, Dayna Lynd-Pugh, and one of our clients on our ride home this evening, and we discussed how Robert Kellerhouse has done so much for west coast eventing.  We said how he is so innovative in the ways he tries to make it more of a spectator sport.  Dayna brought up the point that Robert realizes that there is a limited amount of money in the sport–riders don’t have it and the owners or people who do have money are tapped out.  I could not believe the amount of people that came for the wine and music festival and just happened to see the horse show while being there.  I heard a bunch of fraternity boys in line at the competitors party talking about how cool the horse thing was last night.  If Robert keeps doing these types of things, the word of mouth marketing will take effect and hopefully the money will start flowing, in theory….

But I digress, the show also did not disappoint today.  The courses were different for each division.  They were even and fairly appropriate for each level.  The T3D course seemed a bit small for the level but it had its fair share of problems.  The winner, Madison Kauffman, jumped a clear round on a horse who gave new meaning to the word bascule.

The one-star course beefed up quite a bit from the T3D, and the majority of the field until the top ten were pulling lots of rails.  Kelly Pugh on Spot On put in a flawless round to start off a string of clear rounds.  Taren Atkinson on Gustav put in a great round and the best part was that James, her husband, was riding it for her on the sidelines behind me.  Julie Flettner, on the amazing horse Ping Pong, had a fantastic weekend winning the one-star in style.  She has worked extremely hard with this horse bringing it up from novice.  It is refreshing to see an adult amateur win the CCI*.

The two-star jumped next with a bit of a shake up in the division.  FTF’s own Zachary Brandt jumped a clean round moving him from 5th to 2nd.  Gina Miles and the new ride for her, SVR Ron, had a great weekend with a clean round to end up in 4th.  Lauren Billys on Ballingowan Ginger won the two-star deservedly so, even though she had one rail down.  Bea di Grazia finished 3rd on a one rail round which made her extremely happy with her great partner, Lad’s Night Out.

Last to jump was the three-star.  With only eight left, James Alliston had a great chance of winning, which he did on the wonderful chestnut, Tivoli.  Everyone in the division with the exception of Phillip had at least one rail down.  Michael Pollard deserved to have a great weekend, which he did on his Pan Am partner, Schoensgreen Hanni. Michael was pleased with his round today even though Hanni may have been a bit tired.  Buck also had a good weekend on the Apprentice.  He pulled two rails today but the green horse is improving and by next year will surely come into his own at this level.

The weekend on the whole was a great representation of what west coast eventing is all about.  Great riding, good team support, and fun times.  Thank you to Christina Gray, Katie Trafton in the office and especially Robert Kellerhouse for a wonderful weekend.  We at Flying Tail Farms feel so fortunate to have quality destination events such Galway Downs.

Go west coast and go eventing!

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