Kitty King and Zidante slip into the lead of the CIC*** at Barbury Castle with a score of 43.6 after some breathtaking trot work. One judge gave her 190, another 166, with the third in the middle. Clayton lies a close second on Walterston Don with 44.8, you can see all the scores here.
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Will Coleman was the last of the American riders to go today, but put in the best performance, just edging into 7th place on 48.2, ahead of Allison Springer and Arthur by 0.2. Twizzel occasionally shook his head but that was the only sign of any impatience, and Will rode him forward into a wonderful smooth rhythm, but with a tact and intuition that only comes from years of partnership together.
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In time I have no doubt we shall see the same from Boyd and Otis Barbotierre but right now they are still solidifying their relationship, and although they test was fluid, forward and generally mistake free bar for the second “expressive” change, Otis is a tiny bit more argumentative, manifested in his somewhat frequent head shaking. Boyd rides him beautifully though, and all the movement is there so what an exciting combination to watch develop.
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Phillip Dutton conjured a lovely test out of Mighty Nice – is it crazy to think that these two horses, Otis and Mighty Nice, both just need another year or so’s experience with their riders at this level and they’ll be virtually unbeatable, even as they compete here in the Final Selection Trials for the US Olympic Eventing Team and put in very legitimate performances against the best in the world? Perhaps I’m speaking too soon, but I’ve also seen them all Spring, and they are here for a reason, it’s exciting for the future of US eventing.
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Poor Lauren Shannon was having the ride from hell on Nicola Malcolm’s former ride McFly, who I always used to admire zooming around the cross country courses, but that’s definitely what he looked like he wanted to be doing this afternoon. I have to admire her for stopping mid-canter and schooling him in the ring, why not, at that point she had nothing to lose, she just halted, reined back a couple of steps and then continued, although I’m sure there will be people who disagree.
I have to also mention the music, I can’t decide if it was coincidence of if certain tracks were chosen specifically for each rider, but Lauren who grew up in Utah rode her test to “American Pie”! Boyd and Otis got “Hot Stuff”, which makes sense, Allison rode in to the end of James Brown’s “Sex Machine”, (absolutely no comment!), Oliver Townend did his test to the strains of “I’m Coming Out” (see Allison!) Karen O’Connor is apparently “The Girl From Ipanema”, and inexplicably, Will Coleman, a self-confessed music fan, (which reminds me we’re waiting for the Barbury/UK/London playlist please,) but was given “Don’t Look Back in Anger”? Luckily it seems all the riders can focus much better than I can and rose/rode above it! Also, a little gem of trivia for you, did you know that Oliver Townend’s ride Pepper Anne, is a half sister to William Fox-Pitt’s Olympic mount Lionheart? They’re both out of the same mare, and were sourced out of Germany by Uptown Eventing.
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Cadoc Z and Takeaki Tsuchiva for Japan.
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Barbury Castle is hosting 900 horses this weekend from all over the world, and yet as I was discussing with a couple of people this afternoon, despite having the creme de la creme of the sport assembled here, you could probably drive down the road that runs past the Estate and have no idea it’s even taking place.
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I saw so many really quality tests by the very best horses and riders, and I think a few of the Americans were surprised at their scores, some of them have never been in the 50’s before. There is another jam-packed day of dressage Friday in the CIC*** , with the first horse starting at 8:30am and the last going in at 5:35pm, as well as the Olympic Combined Training Test that also runs all day. I hope to be unencumbered by my poor children tomorrow who didn’t sign up for getting off the plane on Monday and spending most of the week at another horse event! I was worried Harry was getting really sick today too, but he seemed to make a miraculous recovery as soon as we left the competition site! Props to all the organisers and volunteers who have a mammoth task ahead of them but seem to be coping amazingly, and also to the weather Gods – Thank you for the Sunshine as more events around the UK had to cancel again this weekend. Go Barbury and Go Eventing!
