West Coast Advanced Season Kicks Off at Twin Rivers

Helen Alliston and Ebay. Photo by Ride On Photo.

West coast Advanced riders got a chance to stretch their legs at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, Ca. this weekend, kicking off the upper level season that will quickly include Copper Meadows (March 12-14) and Galway Downs (March 25-28) this month. Riders will then return to Twin Rivers April 8-11 for the inaugural CCI4*L.

Helen Alliston and her own Ebay, a 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding, netted their first national Advanced win of their partnership, adding a small amount of time on cross country and one rail in show jumping for a finishing score of 31.7. This will be Ebay’s first full season at the level – he first made the step up the CCI4*S level in 2019 at Woodside, where he won – and Helen plans to work on building the gelding’s confidence more this spring.

“I worked really hard at home all of last year with Ebay and our partnership is feeling really solid now,” Helen said. She’s tentatively aiming for Rebecca Farm’s CCI4*L in July as Ebay’s 4*L debut, but the immediate goal for the spring is just confidence and miles. “He’s greener than he seems and hasn’t ever had a full season at Advanced, so I just want to really solidify him at the level before I do a Long.”

This weekend’s run, though, was a great pipe opener for the gelding, with whom Helen has been partnered since 2016 when he was still learning at the lower levels. “He was the bravest he’s been on cross country so I was able to go pretty fast and he came home super confident, which was great,” she said.

Second in the Advanced were Emilee Libby and Jakobi, a 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood with excellent jumping power and talent to boot. Thanks to two clear jumping rounds without time, Emilee and Jakobi moved from fifth into second to end their weekend on a 32.3. This pair is headed to Kentucky to make their CCI5* debut together – Emilee’s return to the level for the first time since 2008, when she finished 21st aboard Cahir.

“Jakobi felt great in every phase this weekend,” Emilee told EN. “The cross country track was the best I’ve seen at Twin, which is very exciting for their inaugural 4L in April. I wanted to see where Jakobi’s fitness was, and he galloped around easily and inside the time. We have eight weeks until Kentucky and everything feels on track!”

Emilee Libby and Jakobi. Photo by Ride On Photo.

Completing the top three in the Advanced this weekend are Erin Kellerhouse and Woodford Reserve, a 10-year-old Dutch gelding who we talent-spotted a few years back when he caught our eye at the Preliminary level. Erin and “Woody” make for an eye-catching pair and successfully made their debut at the Advanced level in February of 2020. This pair added 9.7 time penalties on cross country to finish third on a score of 37.1.

Finally, please join us in congratulating Tayler Ravenscroft, who made her show photography debut as the newest arm of Ride On Video, Ride On Photo. Thank you, Tayler, for providing the below images from the weekend – and if you competed at Twin Rivers, keep an eye on on the Ride On Photo website for your show photos and please support your show photographers/videographers.

To view all final scores from Twin Rivers, click here. As always, many thanks to the Baxter family and Twin Rivers Ranch for hosting these important spring (and beyond!) events! Go Eventing.