Will Faudree on Andromaque, who finished second to her stablemate DHI Colour Candy in the competitive OI 1 at Pine Top Friday.
Before I even start my report I want to extend my heartfelt condolences and best wishes for a speedy recovery to Andrea Leatherman. I know I speak for the entire Eventing Nation; we were all shocked and saddened by the news here at Pine Top and I’m sure as everyone keeps her in their thoughts these next few days and weeks, we all hug our horses, dogs or children a little tighter, perhaps say goodnight one more time.
On a happier note, it was great to be back out eventing again, even though it was quite a shock to the system – hence the late report and some rather shockingly bad pictures! Boyd Martin did a Will Faudree in the dressage phase (Silva was on hand coaching, braving the chilly temperatures because she’s escaping to Wellington on Monday with her horses for some intensive training of her own with Michael Barisone). Master Frisky won the dressage phase with a very nice forward-going smooth test, and Boyd also has the ride on Kate Hicks’ Burghley partner Belmont, who came 2nd in this phase, as I’m thrilled to be able to share that Kate is five and a half months pregnant. Kate told me they’re not going to find out if Graham will have a baby brother or sister, they want to keep it a surprise, but I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Graham for ‘babysitting’ Leo during the dressage (practice!) and warn Kate that he might be disappointed with anything less than a puppy!
Graham and Leo
Connor Husain rode all three phases well to win the second OI section on his lovely Swedish warmblood Piece of Hope; although he confessed to suffering from nerves when we chatted on this week’s Eventing Radio Show, he seemed a very cool customer indeed and I was extremely impressed.
The third OI division went to Caitlin Romeo and Spirit of the Outback. You can find all the scores here.
Lynn Symansky and Donner, second in this division after adding only xc time to their winning dressage score. The show-jumping proved influential with some riders just needing to get their eye in or find their rhythm, others just having an unlucky rail, and some horses looking very fresh and happy to be out again! There were also some eyecatching new young horses at this level that will be interesting to watch develop this year.
One of my standout riders of the day – Emily Beshear, above on Here’s To You. Emily rode two beautiful rounds on both her horses today – soft and quiet and yet effective, I’m pretty sure this horse is not nearly as easy as she makes him look. Her jacket with matching dressage/jumping cover was also much admired by those who know about these things! I’m also not sure how I managed not to get a single picture of Holly Payne as I admired her constantly on all three of her rides today, please take my word for it.
Click below for much more…
Erin Sylvester and her Burghley 2012 horse No Boundaries – they won the dressage, had a rail down and took it slowly cross country to finish 9th in OI 3. Love this pair.
Jan Byyny and Inmidair who finished fifth. Jan also finished fourth on Syd Kent who looked fabulous cross country.
Splitting Will Faudree and Jan Byyny in third place in OI 1: Sally Cousins and Ideal Contini
Jennie Brannigan won the dressage in her division but an unfortunate three rails and then a steady cross country dropped her and Indie down to third place overall.
Everyone was happy to see Neville Bardos back in action, especially one jump judge I talked to who had been waiting for him all day to take his picture with her ‘phone, and another one who definitely wasn’t Silva but told me she was married to Boyd! When I remarked on his “pale and interesting’ clip job to Lindsey she told me she despaired, and said that no matter how long she spends on him and no matter what she does, Neville just looks like that – looks pretty good to me, full marks Lindsey!
Classy Canadian Peter Barry has a very nice new ride, a Selle Francais gelding Qorry Blue d’Argouges. Although they’re still getting to know each other (I’m still adjusting to seeing him on a grey and not his lovely London 2012 horse Eddie/Kilrodan Abbot who he also rode later) and they had a rather unhappy time in the stadium, I did see them looking much more solid on the cross country.
I lost count of how many nice Fernhill horses I saw go at Pine Top, but Ryan Wood definitely picked a good one in Fernhill Classic. Still quite green but tons of scope and potential he must be excited for the future.
Katie Wherley and Mr Indiscretion, 13th in OI 3
Phillip Dutton brought three horses, and had three steady clear rounds xc and just one rail down all day to start his year off well. Tom Tierney’s Atlas, above, finished in 9th place overall.
Dominic Schramm rode Cold Harbor into 5th place. I do have a video interview with him and his lovely wife Jimmie if I can upload it in time.
Jenny Caras, 10th on Fernhill Fortitude in OI2. She also finished 11th in the same division on Fernhill Stowaway.
Kate Chadderton and VS McCuan Civil Liberty, 18th
Will Coleman and Twizzel did a lovely dressage and lay in fourth place but Will withdrew both him and Obos O Reilly before the jumping phases. The footing was really good, especially considering all the rain that was pelting down Thursday.
Maybe Holden wanted to go home?
Allison Springer’s lovely OTTB Going For Gusto. Although they had a silly mistake cross country ( she freely admits it was pilot error and takes all the blame) she raves about this horse, “I love him, he never shows up without his book bag and his pencil, he tries so hard; he might not always understand what I’m asking him but he always comes to work. I love him!”
Boyd Martin and Belmont
The cross country course was a decent track with a bit of everything on it – two water combinations: the first had a one stride going in and a skinny coming out, the second had a fairly large drop in, a jump in the water, and a bounce out. The coffin had an angle ditch and a corner as the third element. There were a couple of combinations using terrain, plenty of questions, but also plenty of let-up fences, plenty of options and the footing was good. I spoke to several riders and they were all very happy with the course and on the whole it rode well too. I wandered around and saw very few problems although on paper there are some scattered refusals, withdrawals and a couple of falls. As far as I know nothing was serious, I did see one of them and it was very minor.
Dani Dichting and The Graduate, capitalising on recent Under 25 training to come 4th
Will Faudree and OI1 winner DHI Colour Candy
Kate Chadderton and Collection Pass
Lauren O’Brien and Little Swift, 14th
Rachel Jurgens and Ziggy, 3rd
Jacqueline Larouche and The Gingerbread Man, students of Allison Springer’s and 4th.
It was a long, busy day with the three OI divisions all done and dusted smoothly and on time, and then it seemed before I could speak to anybody, all the riders, grooms, helpers and connections were loaded up and headed back to Aiken to refuel, swap horses and return and do it all again tomorrow! I did manage to grab a few words with Jimmie and Dominic Schramm right after they’d walked the cross country so I’ll get to that as soon as possible. Thanks to the Pine Top volunteers and crew for running such a wonderful horse, rider, groom, owner and EN-friendly event! The organisation was superb, and every volunteer I talked to wonderful, especially the Boyd groupies! Thank you as always for visiting Eventing Nation, stay tuned for more from Pine Top and Go Eventing!
