Watch Kim Severson’s Record-Breaking Carolina Dressage Test

Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border absolutely knocked it out of the park this morning at the Cloud 11~Gavilan North LLC Carolina International in Raeford, North Carolina, scoring 20.8 to lead the CIC3* at the conclusion of dressage.

The score of 20.8 is the equivalent of a 31.2 under former FEI scoring and smashes the previous dressage record of 27.0 (40.5) set by Jan Byyny and Inmidair in the first running of the CIC3* at this event in 2014. You can watch a video of the test above thanks to David Frechette.

Cooley Cross Border, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse owned by the Cross Syndicate (Diamond Roller X Whos Diaz, by the Cross Syndicate), is competing in his first international since winning Blenheim CCI3* last autumn, and Kim said he has come out this season feeling more mature.

“I was especially happy with the trot work,” she said. “He can sometimes be unsteady in the bridle in the trot. He got a little tiny bit tense in the canter work where I didn’t have him quite as well as I have, but I really can’t fault him.”

Kim said new USEF Eventing Performance Director Erik Duvander has been very helpful as an extra set of eyes on the ground to fine-tune Crossy’s performance in the first phase. She has also been training with former British eventing dressage coach Tracie Robinson.

The top three in the CIC3* at the conclusion of dressage are Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border in first on 20.8, Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night in second on 27.0, and Buck Davidson and Carlevo in third on 27.8.

CIC3* show jumping starts at 10 a.m. EST and will stream live on EQSportsNet. Marc Donovan’s show jumping course always proves extremely influential at Carolina, and every winner in CIC3* history of this event has jumped clear in show jumping.

If you haven’t yet previewed Ian Stark’s beefy cross country course for the CIC3*, click here to take a fence-by-fence tour of the track, which runs in a reverse direction this year. Click here to read EN data analyst Maggie Deatrick’s full analysis of the CIC3* field — we predicted Crossy to win!

Stay tuned for much more from Carolina. Go Eventing.

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