Tryon International Update: Woods Baughman and Hopak de Greenbay Z Lead the Way in CCI4*-L

Woods Baughman and Hopak de Greenbay Z. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

After a few weather delays, dressage is done and dusted at the Yanmar America Tryon International, which is hosting (among other divisions) both a CCI4*-L and CCI4*-S this weekend in Mill Spring, NC. We’ve got a small-but-mighty field in the 4*-L this weekend, and leading them out of the gate into Saturday’s cross country will be Kentucky-based Woods Baughman with Manderly LLC’s Hopak de Greenbay Z. Woods and “Pako” scored a 31.1 to sneak ahead of newly-crowned FEI World #1 Boyd Martin and the Barney Rubble Syndicate’s Barney Rubble (31.3) and the Nutcracker Syndicate’s Cooley Nutcracker (31.7).

Woods Baughman and Hopak de Greenbay Z. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

For Woods, the past few months have been dedicated to working on the 12-year-old Zanghersheide gelding’s straightness and connection to the bridle. With the help of David O’Connor as well as Bettina Hoy, Woods says the focus has been activating Pako’s hind end to achieve that elusive connection.

“It feels like he thinks the bit is a treat and he’s trying to figure out how to get to it,” Woods joked. “He’s fairly rigid and chomps quite a bit and gets very unsettled in the bridle. He’s very relaxed, but his version of nervous is he gets uptight without raising his energy level — he just gets stiffer and stiffer. So it’s mostly been about just ignoring the front end and lining him up behind, getting him pushing through behind even if he’s not totally through [up front], just getting him bending from the base of the neck from the leg and getting him off the hand because he is very top heavy and it’s really hard for him.”

Boyd Martin and Barney Rubble sit in second on a 31.3. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker are third on a 32.7. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Woods and Pako missed their final 4*-L MER at Morven Park last fall due to a hoof injury for Pako, so this weekend will be all about achieving that MER should Woods decide to step the horse up to the 5* level. “I’m not riding to lose, but I’ll feel it out and go as quick as he can go,” Woods said. “But I won’t be super upset for him to not make the time. I’d like to be sitting inside 30 seconds, but if he’s sitting inside [the MER maximum of] 75, I’ll be leaving happy!”

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Boyd Martin also leads the 4*-S division, which is a US Equestrian Open qualifer, with his old hand, Tsetserleg, whose plans for a potential spring Long or 5* have yet to be revealed, though he’s hinted that Luhmühlen’s CCI5* in June may be on the table. He and “Thomas”, who is owned by the Turner family, scored a 28.7 to hold the lead over second-placed Sara Kozumplik and Rock Phantom (30.9) and Sharon White with Jaguars Duende (31.2).

Sara Kozumplik and Rock Phantom. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

For US Equestrian Open hopefuls, the 4*-S division is an opportunity to make up some points on leaderboard toppers Phillip Dutton and Jessie Phoenix, neither of whom have horses in this division. A win for Boyd this weekend would represent 40 points added to his tally, which would move him to third on the points standings just 10 behind Jessie in second.

Friday, the 4*-S division will show jump while the 4*-L has a day off, and then both divisions will finish with cross country on Saturday. There will be a live feed on the Tryon website of show jumping, and you can access it for free here beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday. Cross country will kick off on Saturday with the 2*-L at 9 a.m. ET, followed by the 4*-S at 10:45 a.m. ET and the 4*-L at 12:05 p.m. ET. There is no live stream for cross country this weekend. You can view the full schedule across divisions here.

Also, a fun tip for you: both Doug Payne and Will Coleman are competing in show jumping this weekend at Tryon. Will’s got three FEI horses competing in eventing as well as Hyperion Stud’s Comme Again HS competing in the show jumping. Doug Payne has a string of horses competing in the jumpers, and you’ll be able to watch both of these dual-discipline boys duke it out under the lights on Saturday $30,000 Tryon Grand Prix. The class will begin at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on the free Tryon live stream here.

We’ll be back this weekend with a full wrap-up report with our eventual winners from both divisions, but in the meantime enjoy a photo gallery from Shannon Brinkman below.