It’s Katie Prudent’s team on Sundays
(1) The fact that Becky and Comet won the AECs and the US World Equestrian Games selection trials is certainly impressive, but the win needs to be put in context. Ten horses were within a rail of Comet’s dressage score and of those ten, eight show jumped double-clear and all of them could have made the time on the cross-country if they had tried to do so. My point is that the selection trials results would have been a lot different if the entire US short list had gone all out for the win.
(2) Whoever decided to have show jumping legend Katie Prudent help the US team with their show jumping deserves a gold medal just for that decision. Katie has transformed the look of the US eventers in the show jumping and clear rounds are starting to become the expected result. The riders I spoke with really respect her no-nonsense approach and said they are starting to feel like show jumpers on Sunday rather than eventers. My favorite thing about Katie is that she watched every short lister in every phase this weekend. Katie watched the dressage all day on Friday and was out on the XC course watching on Saturday–and she had some pretty strong opinions about the cross-country rides. Not that Katie would want the job, but I nominate Katie to be the US eventing team’s next coach–applications are being accepted now, after all.
(3) The crown jewel of Katie’s work with the team has been the complete resurrection of Tipperary Liadhnan’s show jumping. After a stop in the Rolex show jumping and 4 rails at Bromont, everyone sighed with regret that the horse’s fabulous dressage and cross-country wouldn’t have a chance to make the WEG squad. But Kim has worked with Katie literally every week through the summer, taking lessons on multiple horses. In August we reported that Kim and Paddy had a successful jumper show with Katie in Kentucky. At Richland the pair pulled just one rail and I wrote that Paddy was finally working with Kim and helping her out when necessary. Kim knew that the show jumping at the AECs would make or break her WEG hopes and she used the tools that Katie has given her to jump a double clear.
I tried to not cluck for Paddy too loudly behind the camera, but I couldn’t help myself
(4) Speaking of clutch performances, I knew Karen would ride great after yesterday’s mishap and she did not disappoint with a double-clear. Mandiba jumped bigger than I have ever seen him and that gives Mandiba three straight big time clean rounds dating back to his win at Rebecca Farm.
(5) Along with hackamores, bonnets are all the rage these days amongst top eventers. Arthur, Woodburn, Ballynoecastle, and several other advanced horses all competed in bonnets. The idea is that bonnets muffle external sound and help keep the horses focused. Hackamores have been trendy for a while, but I noticed Phillip switched back to a bit on Woodburn after trying a hackamore at Richland.
(6) Nate Chambers and Rolling Stone had two rails to drop from second to third, but Nate should be pleased with the improvement from his last couple of competitions. Nate rode his round using a ‘bicycle grip,’ which means he held the reins in the palms of his hands with all 4 fingers wrapped around them and the ends connected to the bit coming out the front and covered by his thumbs. The bicycle grip is a great training tool because it makes you use your reins in a correct opening and leading technique, but you sacrifice some control with the hands.
(7) The Saturday heat and humidity really stressed some of the horses and there were multiple colics Saturday night, most due to dehydration. All the horses are fine, but it’s something to keep in mind as the training for the WEGs continues over the next couple of weeks.
(8) I was completely shocked at how well Remington jumped for Boyd. I have been writing this whole year about how Remington is all-effort, but Boyd has been working as hard as anyone this summer and Remington looked downright athletic today and cleared the show jumps with ease. This spring, there’s no way I ever would have imagined that the team might select Remington over Neville Bardos, but I’m not so sure anymore.
(9) The time was a factor in the show jumping, with over 15 horses having time penalties. Several of the riders, mostly Canadians, took a tight angle over the 9th fence and cut inside of another fence on their way to the triple bar. The later riders had fewer time penalties as the word got around to ride forward through between the fences.
(10) The US and Canadian teams will make their selections in the next two days. The US squad will stay at Chattahoochee Hills and the Canadians will head down to the OCET training facility in Ocala, Florida until they leave for Kentucky.
(11) The show jumping felt a little strange because the short listed horses that withdrew on Saturday morning or retired early on course jumped before and after the horses that were still competing–so Becky finished and then five more jumped. I’m not sure if we should read anything into the order of the withdrawn horses, but Neville, Bobby, and Woodburn were the last to jump for their riders. Of course, we will have much more wild and ridiculous speculation about the teams over the next 24 hours. Go eventing.
