Will and Andromaque on their way to winning Advanced Section 2. Will also won both Open Intermediate Divisions on Riesling De Bussy and Pawlow, and finished 8th in Advanced Secton 3 on DHI Colour Candy. All scores are available here.
Advanced show-jumping started at 7:20 am sharp and although these riders had to get up early, and Jon Holling, who was first to go was barely riding in the light, they probably got the best of the ground. Despite tireless and persistent efforts by the ground crew throughout the day the footing inevitably deteriorated, although the rain did let up somewhat – if my pictures seem to have a grainy, instagram quality to them, that’s the constant fine drizzle that seeped into everything!
This was the dressage warm-up mid morning Saturday, the mud was over my ankles in most places and half way up my calves in others. Although a couple of Canadians told me that it was only in the forties and if they were at home they’d be wearing T-shirts I noticed they were well bundled up in down coats, “It’s the damp!” Well, it certainly was! There were understandably, a lot of scratches and I was surprised at how many people did run. I’m afraid by lunchtime on Saturday Leo and I waved the white flag and came home; apologies to all the preliminary and training riders I’ve missed. It took about two hours of blasting the heat at full blast before we stopped shaking and shivering, and until I smelt the rubber on the soles of my boots burning so I turned it down. My lasting memory of the weekend may be that as I sloshed through the mud to my car, the bit check crew in dressage warm up were still out there, smiling, laughing, and joking, and happily waved goodbye to me, they are the salt of the earth! Thanks to Lisa Barry for an update on the Florida State Border Control, she was driving south with her lovely young Advanced Horse F.I.S Prince Charming at the same time as I was heading north, and told me she crossed over with no problem and no need for special paperwork. She also said almost simultaneously it was 78 degrees and sunny, and even in the mountains of Tennessee it was a good 20 degrees warmer than it had been in Thomson, Georgia so apparently poor old Pine Top was lingering in a weather pocket of misery all of it’s own for those two days, just our luck!
Advanced Show-Jumping
Division 1
Jan Byyny led from start to finish in Advanced Division 1 on the king, Syd Kent who is a huge horse with a huge jump. Pine Top this weekend marked three years since Jan’s accident and this couldn’t be a better way to mark the occasion and underline her return to form. Of course everyone was delighted for Jan, and Jan was delighted for the horse but typically within two minutes she was out in the warm-up in the rain,helping one of her students get ready to jump.
Erin Sylvester was second in this division on her 2012 Burghley horse No Boundaries, adding just a few cross country time penalties to their dressage score. Erin was busy all weekend on a number of horses and is turning in consistently good performances on all of them, and No Boundaries looks fresh and ready for a solid Spring campaign. Downtown Harrison, 3rd, looked super first thing Saturday morning. Jon gave him a positive, forward ride in the gloom and the rain, and he responded really well making the Advanced Show-jumping course look deceptively easy.
Lynn Symansky and Donner finished in fourth after adding 20 time penalties cross country to their second-placed dressage score and show-jumping flawlessly. Susan Beebee and Wolf also added just xc time to their dressage to move up to fifth place.
Both 6th placed Leslie Law and Zenith ISF (above), and 7th placed Emily Beshear had a rail down but jumped super rounds and rode beautifully, they were just annoying rails!
Emily Beshear and Here’s To You; a lovely round, ignore the score!
Erin Renfroe and DeCordova, 9th
Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz jumped clear but accrued two time penalties and finished in 13th place. Colleen told me she was really happy with both her horses this weekend; incredibly she hasn’t jumped a cross country fence on ‘Luke’ (Shiraz) since Pau last autumn, and can count her jump schools on him this year on one hand! One of those was a saddle fitting for a new saddle, a CWD which Colleen explained has made a huge difference to Luke’s jump, “it’s jaw-dropping, Jimmy (Wofford) even said he’s a completely different horse to the one I had last fall, he’s come into his own, he’s finally figured out where his body is, he’s finally started to use himself instead of exuberantly just diving at stuff and he’s gotten so much smarter, I’m completely thrilled with him all weekend, just exactly the run I wanted to start off the season with.” Shiraz will go to Southern Pines next, then The Fork, and then, goosebump, whispering, cross-fingers, throw some salt over my shoulder and do a weather dance, fly over to England for Badminton.
Courtney Cooper and Who’s A Star, 14th. Will Coleman did his customary nice test on Twizzel to lie 4th but according to his twitter and facebook page withdrew to gallop at home.
Division 2
Will Faudree and his lovely mare Andromaque (Missy) led from start to finish to win this Division. We happened to be walking towards the show-jumping at the same time and I congratulated him on his amazing form, and he thanked me and then replied merely, “I’m lucky to have such fantastic horses”. Will is one of the good guys! I saw Missy’s test Friday, saw her through the first water cross country and her show-jump Saturday and didn’t see her or Will make a single mistake, they have a great partnership and are such fun to watch.
Mensa is another horse I love and it’s great to see him so successful with Michael Pollard. After adding just cross country time penalties to their dressage score they maintained their second place.
Holly Payne was another in-form rider at Pine Top, and took third in this division with Madeline despite having a rail down, moving up by virtue of a speedy cross country round the day before. Speaking of in-form riders, Jon Holling who had three rides in the Advanced finished right behind Holly in fourth on Team Rebecca’s DHI Zatopek B.
Jan Bynny and Inmidair took fifth place with one time penalty show-jumping and some time across country to add to their dressage score
Emily Beshear and River King, 8th
Jacob Fletcher and The Prof, 12th
Lisa Barry and F.I.S Prince Charming, 14th
Division 3
Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me led from start to finish to take Advanced Division 3 at Pine Top but only by the slimmest of margins, 0.5, after a rail down in the final phase. Despite that, it looks like she has a real star in this grey horse and they both looked extremely well-prepared and ready for a strong Spring campaign.
Phillip Dutton rode Bruce Duchossois’ Mighty Nice into second place by adding nothing but time to his cross country score; only nine years old this year and with a Rolex and international exposure already under his belt, and improving all the time I can’t wait to see what this horse will deliver.
Dani Dichting on The Graduate rode professionally all weekend for third place – you can’t see in this picture but she’s sporting one of the coveted Eventing 25 coats!
Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracken added only cross country time to their dressage score to finish fourth
Meghan O’Donoghue and Pirate, another very exciting young combination for the US
Erodium chose to ignore Jessie Phoenix’s half halts coming into the treble which was a mistake, they finished in 12th.
Intermediate Show-Jumping
Will Faudree’s lovely french Reisling de Bussy took the OI Division 1. Jennie Brannigan’s Cambalda marked a successful return to competition, his first since Boekelo last autumn by coming second, adding nothing but cross country time to their winning dressage score of 26.
Selena O’Hanlon rode A First Romance into third place, adding just ten cross country time penalties to her dressage score.
Team Rebecca’s Fernhill Eagle is being aimed at Rolex and had his first outing of the year this weekend. 2nd after the dressage with Phillip Dutton, they added nothing but cross country time to finish in fourth place.
Holly Payne, in the ribbons again, this time on Never Outfoxed, moving up to fifth with two clear jumping rounds
Susan Beebee and Uptown Higgins in sixth
Jessica Phoenix rides A Little Romance, by the same sire as Selena’s A First Romance A Fine Romance (confused yet?!) into seventh place. Fellow canadian Peter Barry was right behind Jessie on the same score but had to settle for eighth place on Kilrodan Abbot, and I didn’t get any photos but Mara Depuy and Chequers Macon in ninth were a joy to watch all weekend.
Kate Chadderton and Buckharo in tenth
Caitlin Silliman and Remington finished 12th after some time cross country and two rather lazy rails on Remi’s behalf!
Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights had two down and she told me afterwards that having watched the video she thinks it was his wet, muddy tail hitting his hocks that kept putting him off, but overall she was very pleased with him.
Michael Pollard and Reignman, one rail down for 20th.
Phillip Dutton did not jump Boyd’s Trading Aces due to the going; he’s deputising after Boyd had a fall at home on Wednesday and decided to err on the side of caution. However, I did speak to Boyd briefly, who told me he had been reading the EN reports and watching Pine Top videos while gently fanning himself under a palm tree in Wellington watching his beautiful bride Silva compete at White Fences. So rather than thinking he’s getting old and sensible, I now rather think Boyd is one step ahead of all us mugs who battled through the slop and frigid conditions! Well done, Boyd!
There are big gaps in who I saw in some divisions — I blame the weather — but I was sorry not to see Pawlow go all weekend save for a fleeting glimpse of him making mincemeat of the first water cross country. Equally, the weather was not conducive to standing around chatting, so I didn’t get much rider opinion or feedback this week. Hopefully we’ll have more news (and warmth and sunshine!) at Red Hills. If I’ve missed your favourite rider, or loved one, I apologise, and there were so many great riders at Pine Top that I didn’t get to see. Suffice it to say, congratulations to Will and Pawlow for taking Open Intermediate Division 2, adding just three and change cross-country time penalties to their dressage score.
Jennie Brannigan and Indie also added nothing but XC time to their dressage score to finish second.
Phillip Dutton and Atlas rose to third place by virtue of two clear rounds and a handful of cross-country time.
What a treat to see Jessie Phoenix’s London 2012 horse back and looking so great; Exponential went clear in both phases (duh!) but steady to finish 9th.
Lizzie Snow and Coal Creek, 2nd in the JR/YR OI. Lizzie also finished third on her other horse Ringfort Trinkaturk.
Jenny Caras and Fernhill Fortitude, 5th in the JR/YR OI
Peter Barry had a much happier ride on Qorry Blue D’Argouges this weekend and finished 3rd in the Intermediate Horse Division.
Again, apologies to everyone I missed, and thank you a million times to the volunteers, supporters, ground crew and everyone who showed up and stayed (!). Well done to everyone who competed, completed, were proud of their horses, riders, dogs, children and know what they have to work on for next time. Thank you to Pine Top for keeping the show on the road, and thank you for reading — Go Eventing!
