U.S. Pan Ams Team Ready for Great Meadow International

The official photo of the U.S. Pan American Games team and alternates. Photo by Anthony Trollope. The official photo of the U.S. Pan American Games team and alternates. Photo by Anthony Trollope.

There’s an air of excitement in The Plains, Virginia, as riders, organizers and volunteers prepare for the inaugural Land Rover Great Meadow International, which will see 22 combinations compete in the CIC3* and 13 pairs representing three different countries contest the Pan American Games prep trials starting this afternoon.

Team USA has been in The Plains since Tuesday evening, when the out-of-town riders arrived early for Wednesday’s combined test at Morningside Training Farm, which has graciously hosted lessons and training for the past two days. Coach David O’Connor hadn’t seen the horses in more than a week, since before he traveled to England to coach Lauren Kieffer and Veronica to a seventh-place finish at Bramham, so he said the combined test helped immensely in catching him up to speed.

Michael Pollard and Cyrano in their lessons with David O'Connor. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Michael Pollard and Cyrano, EN’s predicted winners for the CIC3*, in their lesson with David O’Connor at Great Meadow. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Jeannie McDonald, an FEI “I” and USEF “S” dressage judge, judged the combined test, which David said was extremely beneficial for the team since she doesn’t usually judge these riders. She provided feedback immediately after each rider performed 2015 FEI 2* Test B, which is the same test that will be used today in the prep trials and at next month’s Pan American Games in Toronto.

“We did the test and had comments right off the bat, and then we all went back and watched video again with Jeannie, which was great. We had a good show jumping course, which I designed with some thoughts of what might happen (on Richard Jeffery’s course Saturday night). The horses jumped really well,” David said.

Lauren Kieffer and Vermiculus after a cross country school with David O'Connor. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Lauren Kieffer and Vermiculus after a cross country school with David O’Connor at High Acre. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“So then you go back the next day and work a little bit on it, just touch on it because it’s hot out and they’ve got a lot to do this weekend. So we just go and touch on some of the things we saw yesterday and a couple of the ideas Jeannie gave us. And then we’ll see what difference we can make with the test on Friday.”

David taught dressage lessons all day yesterday between three different venues, Great Meadow, Morningside and his own High Acre, where Karen O’Connor and her Mexican team have been training this week as well (much more on Karen and her team coming your way next). With Team USA’s dressage homework complete, David said he expects the riders to implement the changes they worked on in their tests today, especially at the walk.

David O'Connor teaches Boyd Martin and Crackerjack at Morningside. Photo by Jenni Autry.

David O’Connor teaches Boyd Martin and Crackerjack at Morningside. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“Our dressage at the walk is weak, so we’ve been working on some techniques to try to improve the walk, like being a little bit more in shoulder fore instead of just walking straight,” David said. “It’s a funny test because you do shoulder-in right off the first movement going away from the judge, and a lot of times there hasn’t been enough angle on the first one. I’d like to see a little bit more right off the start — that the first movement is really good.”

The riders have also been working on the turn on the haunches, which is a new movement in this 2015 two-star test and one David has called “the money move.” It can be tricky in that judges tend to score turn on the haunches a bit differently, he said, but if you nail it, it can make all the difference.

Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Cubalawn in their lesson with David O'Connor at Morningside. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Cubalawn in their lesson with David O’Connor at Morningside. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“I think the dressage and show jumping needs to be the highest level they can do. This is not schooling,” David said, “and then for cross country, they should go. They should jump around at competition pace. It’s our last run, it’s perfect footing and it’s a gorgeous course, so they should all go out with that in mind.”

The Pan Ams riders will be jumping many of the same fences that the CIC3* riders will tackle on Mike Etherington-Smith’s brand new course, which you can preview fence-by-fence here. David worked with Mike to make modifications for the Pan Ams horses. Instead of the bounce into water, the two-star horses will do two strides, and instead of the double set of corners, the two-star will do a table to a corner.

Nate Chambers gets the crowd pumped up for the second annual Beverly Cup. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Nate Chambers gets the crowd pumped up for the second annual Beverly Cup at Beverly Equestrian. Photo by Jenni Autry.

After a long, hot day of lessons with the heat index pushing temperatures well into the 90s, riders, owners and supporters gathered at beautiful Beverly Equestrian for the second annual Beverly Cup, which pits team of eventers against each other — with a couple pro polo players thrown in to keep the ball moving.

Matt Brown’s hand-eye coordination definitely proved to be the best of the eventers, but team show jumping coach Silvio Mazzoni totally stole the show, looking very much in his element on the Beverly polo field. He helped secure the win for his team, and his horse Charlie was awarded the title of Top Polo Pony.

David O'Connor's trusty sidekick Bourbon also had a busy day. Photo by Jenni Autry.

David O’Connor’s trusty sidekick Bourbon also had a busy day. Photo by Jenni Autry.

It was a lovely way to end the day and to set the tone for the action-packed weekend still to come at the Land Rover Great Meadow International. Dressage starts this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST. Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless, who are in The Plains this week training with Karen O’Connor in preparation for their overseas debut at Blenheim in September, will perform the test ride at 3:30 p.m. EST.

Don’t forget that you can watch the entire event live on USEF Network; click here for the broadcast schedule. Follow EN on Instagram and Twitter for behind the scenes photos, and keep checking back here for much more from #LandRoverGMI.

Go Eventing.

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