It was a great day at the Jersey Fresh International event

There were plenty of exciting moments on the Mark Phillips-designed cross-country course today at the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event, but for sheer survival skills, no one could beat Fylicia Barr ‘s determination to stay out of the water at the Jersey Shore complex.

Hannah Sue Burnett, the rider who went before Fylicia in the CCI 4-star Long at the Horse Park of New Jersey, got a dunking when Lukeswell had trouble clearing the third element of a combination and she came unseated.

Fylicia also ran into trouble there with Galloway Sunrise, as you can see in this photo.

 

We all thought she was a goner.

But Fylicia, a professional from Pennsylvania, hung on, righted herself to a chorus of cheers from tailgating spectators and galloped on for a double-clear that moved her up to first from a dressage score that put her fourth in the first phase of the competition yesterday.

What makes it even better is the fact that Fylicia found the mare through Craigslist. She had a $1,000 budget, but only had to pay an economical $500 for a feral backyard-bred thoroughbred/paint cross who kicked Fylicia upon being introduced to her new owner.

“We treated her like a mustang,” said Fylicia, explaining how the mare was tamed.

David O’Connor, the former U.S. eventing coach who has worked with Hannah Sue for years, said the problem several riders had at the trouble spot was that their horses didn’t see the C-element of the brush combo. He noted competitors eventually figured out how to handle the challenge after watching a few riders go.The key was swinging a bit wide so their horse could get a bead on the obstacle and a better approach, David told me.

In case you’re wondering, “What the heck is the 4-star Long?” here’s the deal. The FEI  (international equestrian federation) this year renamed all the event categories. So the 4-star Land Rover Kentucky became a 5-star. The change aligns eventing with the other Olympic disciplines, show jumping and dressage, for which the 5-stars are the top of their games. So the 3-stars you know and loved are now 4-stars, the 2-stars are 3-stars. Everyone got a promotion.

And instead of CCI or CIC, the categories are dubbed CCI Long or Short. Okay?

The Jersey Fresh 4-star Long (CCI4-L) ends Sunday with show jumping. Fylicia has a rail in hand (34.4 penalties) over Arden Wildasin and Il Vici (39.2).The 3-star Long (CCI3-L) also has show jumping Sunday. Today, Lynn Symansky kept her lead from dressage with a score of 27.2 penalties on RF Cool Play.

Right behind her is Doug Payne with Starr Witness ( 30.1). Doug’s name was seen most often today at the top of the standings. He also was fourth on Cascor in the 3-L and third with Quantum Leap (40.1) behind Arden in the 4-L.

The  3- and 4-star Short competitions wrapped up today. Will Coleman topped the 4-star with Off the Record (38.30) over Alexndra Knowles and Sound Prospect 42.20).

 

The 3-star was exciting because Boyd Martin, who led through dressage and show jumping with Luke 140 picked up 5.2 time penalties. Since the horse is a new mount, he didn’t want to push him for speed.

So Boyd’s lead was threatened by Dana Cooke (FE Mississippi), who knew what she had to do to win, but said, “I wasn’t planning to go for time.”  She noted, however, her mare goes better “if I ride her a little more forward.”

When she crossed the finish line, Dana looked down at her watch and found she was smack on the 6-minute, 6-second optimum time. Dana, a Canadian who lives in North Carolina, won by 0.7 penalties. It’s no accident that her mare’s nickname is Miss Perfect.

Jersey Fresh, which has too often been unlucky weather-wise on cross-country day, had sunshine, perfect footing and comfy temps in the 60s. It was a welcome reward for 17 years of hard work by never-daunted organizers and volunteers.

Come back tomorrow night to read about the final results in the CCI Long competitions.