It’s been nearly 30 years since a complete rodeo (not just the professional bull riders) came to Madison Square Garden, so let’s hope it’s been worth the wait.
The Cowboy Channel will present Rodeo New York on Father’s Day weekend 2020, with competition June 19-21. It’s not too early to mark your calendar for next year.
Find out more at https://www.rodeonewyork.com/about
The Equestrian Businesswomen group, which presented a day of meetings during its first gathering in West Palm Beach, Fla., in January, is having a meetup June 20 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The session, which runs from 6-9 p.m. at Jacob & Anthony’s American Grille, 38 High Rock Ave, will involve cocktails and conversation with female entrepreneurs and businesswomen in the equine industry.
The event will feature an open bar and hors d’oeuvres for a night of conversations, networking and community. There is no fee and no need to formally RSVP, but the organization asks that you mark yourself as “going” on the EQBW Facebook event page so they can get an idea of how many people will attend. Feel free to share the event with other women in the industry who would want to attend.
At the meetup, get an idea of what EQBW will give members when it launches its membership platform. It will offer more opportunities for networking–both online and offline–and collaboration among members and participating experts.
EQBW is creating a digital community aimed at helping engage, support, and inform equestrian businesswomen through eLearning content created by industry experts on various topics from business management and how-to business tool tutorials to personal growth and development.
For more information about both the Summit and the new membership platform, please visit www.EqBusinesswomen.com.
When you mention the name of Major Gen. Jonathan “Jack” Burton anywhere in the equestrian world, it instantly sparks admiration.
Now, however, it will bring expressions of sorrow. Word came today that this great horseman died on May 29 in Tucson, Ariz., at age 99.
Jack Burton played a big role in making equestrian sport what it is today in the U.S. (Photo©2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
The personification of dedication and fairness, he was an Olympian who made a seamless transition from the U.S. cavalry to decorated soldier and modern military commander, serving in three wars.
“The ability to lead other men in combat is a rare skill, and he found a home in the Army,” noted Jim Wofford, an Olympic eventing medalist who was a lifelong friend of Gen. Burton.
Jack went on to become a prominent civilian figure on the equestrian scene as well, serving as a judge, steward, committee member and inspiration, remaining an important part of the sport until just a few years before his passing. He served as a horse show official for the last time when he was 92.
He always made it his business to stay fit enough to do his job, whatever it was, and rode with the Loudon, Va., hunt into his 80s.
“He never takes the elevator, even if his room is on the 10th floor,” Sally Ike, the USEF’s director of licensed officials, observed a few years ago. She would always salute Gen. Jack when she saw him, and invariably received a snappy salute in return.
A native of Illinois, Jack was a member of the ROTC at Michigan State College when he graduated in 1942 in the midst of World War II. Four days later, he found himself taking an intensive six-week cavalry course at Fort Riley, Kansas, before being shipped to El Paso, Texas. There, as part of the First Cavalry Division, he patrolled the Mexican border, “looking for spies, saboteurs or whatnot,” he recalled a few years ago when I interviewed him for a story.
He got a good education in riding and horsemanship during college, because in those days, ROTC at land grant schools had horse cavalry or horse artillery, with a detachment of soldiers taking care of horses and a few officers to teach classes.
“The military system was based on the European system,” he explained to me once. The ROTC guidebook was “The Cavalry Manual of Horsemanship and Horsemastership,” vintage 1935. The instruction including shoeing, conditioning and stable management, as well as riding.
Jack Burton in his army days
But his time on horseback once he was serving with the Army turned out be short-lived.
The Australians were light on infantry, since they had shipped four divisions to fight with the British in the Far East, while the Japanese were on their doorstep in New Guinea, bombing Darwin and Brisbane.
So Jack’s outfit, was sent over, without horses, to “clean up New Guinea.”
While he was still in Australia, Burton saw an attractive blonde dancing during a gathering at a hotel.
“I cut in on her, got her phone number and it went on from there,” he remembered.
“When we took the Admiralty Islands, we spent six months building a naval base, and they let us go down to Australia on leave. I called her up and said, ‘Let’s get married.'” He and Joan were married in 194 and had two children, Jonathan Jr. and Judy Lewis. Joan pre-deceased him.
Jack didn’t get back to horses until after the war, when the show circuit started up again following a four-year hiatus.
Although the army had been mechanized, he was assigned to the cavalry school at Fort Riley, where he was the instructor for the last two years that horsemanship classes were held for officers.
Although it was clear that the cavalry was nearing the end of its days, “They finally decided they wanted to send a team to the 1948 Olympic Games in London, since the Army had sent teams to all the previous Olympics,” Jack recollected.
Jack Burton on Air Mail in 1948. USET Foundation archive photo.
He was in the elite group of officers who were getting ready for the Olympics, which had not been held since 1936.
“All we did was train,” he said. “We trained jumpers, three-day horses and what we had in dressage.”
While preparing for the Olympics, the Army team competed in jumping at the biggest shows, including the National at Madison Square Garden, as well as Dublin and Geneva.
“I was a junior officer, so I would travel with the horses. We’d go in baggage cars equipped to haul horses. When we shipped horses to Europe, we went by boat. It took about 11 days. Soldiers would clean the stalls, but I helped,” he remembered.
In 1947, the same year he was U.S. Three-Day Eventing Champion, Jack won the National Horse Show’s international individual show jumping trophy with Air Mail, beating the legendary Mexican General Humberto Mariles, whose country’s teams dominated the competition at the National for a decade.
Although Jack was selected for the 1948 Olympic jumping and eventing teams, his horse went lame and he found himself in the position of helping his teammates as reserve rider. It was the last gasp for the cavalry in the Olympics.
After the Army gave up its team in 1950, the fledgling U.S. Equestrian Team was formed. Jimmy Wofford’s father, 1932 Olympian Col. John “Gyp” Wofford, the USET’s first president, asked Jack, who was in Europe with the Army horses, to bring back any he thought could be candidates for the 1952 Olympics.
“I returned by boat with 12 horses that could be used on the team, one of which was Democrat. He could jump, he could three-day and he could dressage. He was a thoroughbred bred by Gordon Russell in the army remount system,” Jack had recounted.
“When we had 14 regiments of cavalry, we had to buy thousands of horses. The highest price buyers could pay for a horse was $165.”
Jack chose well. The fledgling USET won the bronze in eventing and show jumping, with Democrat playing a role in the latter success, then going on to major victories at the National Horse Show and elsewhere.
While Jack had hoped to ride on the 1952 Olympic team in Helsinki after missing his chance four years earlier in London, the Army had other plans for him. After serving in Korea, however, he finally made the eventing squad in the 1956 Olympics.
He fell off Huntingfield when the horse stumbled coming off an 11-foot drop on cross-country.
“In that day, we had a phase E after cross-country,” said Jack, who was picked up by his horse’s owner and thrown back into the saddle so he could complete the test.
“The horse galloped phase E, 1,000 meters, but when I arrived at the finish line, the Swedes there saw I was noncomprehensible and put me in the ambulance.”
After doctors determined Jack had a concussion, they said he shouldn’t ride in the jumping phase the next day. He followed their advice.
“There was no point, because one of the other U.S. riders got eliminated in jumping and the other was eliminated in cross-country. But I probably should have,” he said wistfully, “so we at least could have had a horse finish.”
That wasn’t his last experience with the Olympics, as his involvement with horse sports took another turn when he became an official. He judged eventing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as the 1966 World Championships in Burghley, England, and the 1982 World Championships in Luhmuhlen, Germany. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, he was on the appeals committee.
After two tours of duty in Vietnam, Jack retired from the military in 1975 as commander of the Third Armored Division and went on to be executive vice president of the USET.
Following World War II, there was nothing in the way of civilian eventing. The sport was known as “the military,” appropriate since it had started as a test of cavalry officers’ mounts.
“The Army once a year had an Olympic-level three-day event. It was the graduation of the advanced (officers) course. That was the only eventing in the U.S.,” Jack remembered a few years ago.
A correspondent for the Nashville Tennessean newspaper contacted him when he was stationed at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, asking him to come to Tennessee and help put on a civilian event in 1953.
“We went down to Percy Warner Park, where there was a steeplechase course. We added some tires and barrels and made a cross-country course. We didn’t have a rulebook, so I copied the FEI rulebook,” Jack said.
What would be a training/preliminary-level event today, attracted about a dozen riders, including some from Canada, and the sport grew from there.
“Denny Emerson (a former president of the U.S. Eventing Association) referred to Jack as the Johnny Appleseed of the eventing world,” recalled Jimmy Wofford.
Jack Burton with Jimmy Wofford. (Photo©2006 by Nancy Jaffer)
“Wherever Burton would be stationed, suddenly an event would spring up. He got Pony Clubs involved in it; he got local combined training associations started. The interesting thing is that after he left, they still kept going, so he must have had some knack of developing things that could stand on their own two feet and didn’t depend on Gen. Burton being there.”
Jack adapted well to change, knowing from his experience in the military when to argue against it and when to fall in line and accommodate it. He served as president of the U.S. Combined Training Association (now the U.S. Eventing Association) and wrote the first U.S. rulebook for eventing.
He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery last this year, and his memory will be honored in December at the USEA’s annual meeting in Boston. Jack was among the last of a great generation of horsemen, and we salute him.
The New Jersey Equine Artists’ Association’s 2019 Invitational Exhibit of equine art by local/regional artists began June 9 at Prallsville Mills, 33 Risler St., Stockton, and will be on display through Sunday, June 23. It is open Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. or by appointment.
“This is the group’s third time at Prallsville Mills and it has been a great venue to showcase these majestic animals at work, sport and play, in the wild and dreams,” commented the group’s founder/director, Sheila Barnes.
“This is NJEAA’s 20th anniversary, starting with local artists in 1999. We have been thrilled with the response of art/horse lovers‘ to our shows over the years.”
The Sawmill at Prallsville Mills is a historic site on the Delaware River and Raritan Canal, with a lovely backdrop for this exhibition. NJEAA provides information, education and networking opportunities for its members, whether beginners or professionals. To learn more contact Barnes at: xochitlb@comcast.net or call (908) 284-9751.
After its popular top-25 show rating program was put on hold for five years, the North American Riders Group (NARG) is back to represent riders, owners, trainers and their horses, with a focus on improving the sport.
After three meetings in 2019, the NARG board has elected new members, submitted an updated position statement to the International Jumper Riders Committee and approved a proposal for the return of the NARG Top 25.
Following the February and April meetings, the NARG board took on Lauren Hough as its new treasurer and invited three new members to join. Mark Leone remains as president and Tiffany Foster of Canada as vice president. The board includes Kent Farrington, Jimmy Torano, Andrew Welles, Missy Clark and Will Simpson of the U.S., along with Canadians Mark Samuel and Ben Asselin, and Mexicans Enrique Gonzalez and Eugenia Garza. Jennifer Markee continue as executive director.
The board has updated and reinstated the NARG Position Statement to IJRC, including addressing the blood rule (involving blood found on a horse in competition) with solutions for revision. It also deals with adjusting the allocation of FEI Ranking Points for the AAA Category as well as the Nations Cup Final; the escalating costs of competing at FEI events in North America, particularly 2* shows; and the potential implementation of an FEI Course Designer Certificate of Capability.
The ranking of the NARG Top 25 shows will return in 2020, taking into consideration six years of past reports, the current show jumping landscape in North America and revamping the evaluation system, NARG website and communication systems. There also has been a discussion of presentation methods and reaching out for feedback from an evaluation panel in the sport.
EqSol returns as not only producer of the NARG Top 25 report, as it was from 2010-2015, but the agency has agreed to take on the vision and mission of the entire project.
Anyone who wants to participate or has ideas for NARG should contact Jen Markee at (516) 428-4423.
The June 8 Hunterdon Polo Classic isn’t about riding for a good cause–it’s about riding for many good causes, including the Hunterdon Art Museum, Prevention Resources, Inc, Riding With Heart, The Toshiko Takaezu Studio Project, Team Velvet and Valley Crest Farm and Preserve
The event, presented by the Hunterdon Foundation, is family-friendly, with tailgating playing a big role at Fieldview Farm in Pittstown, where gates open at noon. The rain date is June 9..
Tickets may be purchased online at http://hunterdonpolo.org/ or at Bishop’s Supermarket, Whitehouse Station; Bourbon Street Liquors, Califon, Clinton, Lebanon and Flemington and
Coach Stop Saddlery, Bedminster.
Those interested in tailgates, custom packages and sponsorship opportunities may email hunterdonevents@gmail.com.
By Nancy Jaffer
May 12, 2019
Could there have been a more appropriate winner than Doug Payne for a division of the 2019 Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event?
Even though Doug lives in North Carolina now, he’s still considered a hometown hero in the Garden State, so it was nice to have him finish at the top of the standings today in the CCI 3-star Long, presented by Zoetis.
Doug Payne and Starr Witness. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Doug’s roots are in New Jersey; he grew up in Tewksbury Township at Applewood Farm, a facility run by his mother, Marilyn Payne, an Olympic judge, trainer and all-around expert in the sport of eventing. Starr Witness, the mare he rode to the title today came from Emil Spadone’s Redfields Farm in Tewksbury. And he has ridden at Jersey Fresh for many of its 17 years, although he didn’t come last year.
Jersey Fresh sometimes has struggled in the past, but many of the riders who competed in the event at the Horse Park of New Jersey commented how much they appreciate the efforts to improve conditions by event organizers and the park’s board. The weather cooperated Saturday for cross-country, with gorgeous sunshine and moderate temperatures that drew hundreds of tailgaters, although today was a complete opposite, drenched in cold rain. Even so, the footing installed a year ago in the grand prix ring held up well enough. Unfortunately, however, it was decided to cancel the park’s first Preliminary Eventing Derby as the rain continued to pour down after the regular divisions wrapped up.
Wendy Furlong of sponsor B.W. Furlong and Associates at the victory ceremony for Starr Witness and Doug Payne, who also brought fourth-place Cascor into the arena. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
I asked Doug what he thought about the event, and he replied, “There are pretty dramatic improvements. The arena footing is good, the cross-country, you couldn’t have asked for a whole lot better as far as footing goes. The courses were good, they were challenging,” he said of the routes designed by Mark Phillips.
“I was glad to see that in the end it wasn’t a dressage show. In years past, they’ve gone a little bit softer and now it got a little harder, and I think appropriately so,” said Doug.
To find out what happened on cross-country, click here to read yesterday’s story.
Going into the show jumping phase, where the course was designed by Chris Barnard, Doug stood second to overnight leader Lynn Symansky on RF Cool Play. With 27.3 penalties to his 30.1, she did not have a rail to play with. When Doug turned in a clean round, the pressure was on Lynn, who dropped a pole and finished second. Doug was also fourth with another double clear on Cascor, who came up from seventh after dressage. Doug characterizes that gelding as the mare’s “boyfriend.”
A victory gallop in the rain for Doug Payne and Starr Witness. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Starr Witness is a former hunter, but she was too hot for that division despite her classic jumping style, so Emil thought it would be worth it for Doug to give her a shot in his discipline.
“She goes in a rubber snaffle and you hardly have to touch her reins,” he said. “She’s just learning now to relax and open up her step and become more efficient on cross-country.”
Doug was standing third on Quantum Leap in the CCI 4-star Long after cross-country, but he wasn’t presented at today’s final horse inspection because he had a “pretty wicked” heel grab incurred yesterday.
“This sport’s not easy at all, and it can be very frustrating,” said Doug, who really came into his own in a big way this year, finishing fifth at the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star last month on Vandiver. It was a long journey.
“At this point, over time, we have a great group of horses. It’s been incredibly rewarding. It’s an exciting time, because we’ve had the majority of these horses forever,” said Doug, thanking his wife, Jessica; Starr’s owners Catherine Winter and Laurie McRee, and the others on his support team, as well as Emil, who kept a 5 percent interest in the Dutchbred mare so he could be in the winner’s circle photos.
Starr Witness, Cascor and Vandiver are all under consideration for the Pan American Games squad that will go to Lima, Peru, this summer in an effort to get the U.S. eventing team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The squad will be named next month, after U.S. horses compete at the Bromont, Quebec, event, and longtime selector Bobby Costello promised, “We’ll have a winning team.”
Jersey Fresh’s featured CCI 4-star Long, presented by B.W. Furlong Associates, went to Fylicia Barr, who moved up from fourth in dressage to first yesterday with a fault-free cross-country trip on Galloway Sunrise, the mare she bought for $500. (For the back story in yesterday’s article, click on this link.)
Fylicia Barr and Galloway Sunrise on their way to the 4-star title. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Fylicia had a rail in hand going into today’s competition. Sunny toppled a pole during her round but she still had extra margin after Arden Wildasin, standing second with Il Vici, also had 4 penalties. Fylicia’s final score was 38.4 penalties to 43.2 for Arden. It was the inaugural 4-star win for Fylicia, who was the first person ever to sit on Sunny and has brought her up through the levels. Her goal is to qualify for the 2020 Kentucky 5-star.
A Pennsylvania professional, Fylicia didn’t take Sunny to Florida this winter, so she wasn’t sure about her degree of fitness for cross-country going into Jersey Fresh.
“I knew after the first jump, she was game-on the whole time, hunting the flags. It’s just a really cool experience to have a horse who knows her job so clearly,” said Fylicia.
“And then today, we’ve always struggled with the show jumping but my eye was in and she was just jumping out of her skin for me.
Fylicia Barr was thrilled with her first 4-star victory on Sunny. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
“Despite the weather, she came in and put in almost a foot-perfect show jumping round. It’s been a long time coming, and I feel like all the pieces finally came together this weekend, and it’s really exciting.”
Fylicia is thinking about breeding the mare with an embryo transplant into a surrogate, so Sunny can still compete.
Arden thanked her parents for supporting her “through all of my journeys, because they’re who allow me to do what I love to do. If I want to go out and do something, they’ll say, `Go for it.'”
She added, “I’ve learned to enjoy every moment. And that’s the biggest thing. No matter what happens, you enjoy it, because you never know when it’s going to end.”
Arden Wildasin and Il Vici. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Arden, an amateur, has competed in dressage and show jumping as she seeks to expand her skill. She did both on Mystery Whisper, Phillip Dutton’s 2012 Olympic ride.
But her thirst for expanding her horizons isn’t just limited to riding.
“I went to leather-making class; when I have spare time, I can make a bridle,” said Arden.
“I’d rather learn everything in all disciplines…but also, all the horse care. You might not understand it at that point, but you always have it in your tool bank.
She keeps her horses at her house.
“I wake up, I feed them, I do night check. Everyone asks, when do I take a vacation? This is a vacation.This is my best time I can spend. Me being the happiest is always around horses.”
Eddie Blue, trained and ridden by Devin Ryan of Long Valley, has been inducted into the Equus Horse Stars Hall of Fame.
The Dutchbred gelding was purchased by Lori Larrabee in 2013 as a four-year-old.
“The deciding factor in purchasing Eddie was primarily my trust in Devin’s instincts for the abilities of young horses. I had watched him for over seven years train and develop young jumpers. It was his special skill,” she said.
In 2017, Eddie broke into the big time with a victory in the Longines FEI World Cup Qualifier at Old Salem Farm in New York. The next year, they were second in the Longines FEI World Cup Finals in Paris, where he did not have a single knockdown. Five months later, Eddie and Devin contributed to the USA’s first show jumping world championship since 1986 at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, N.C.
Eddie Blue and Devin Ryan. (Photo©2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
Initially, Eddie was a grumpy and bossy horse outside of the show ring. Very full of himself, he certainly was not the barn favorite, but his proud personality translated well to the show ring.
“He comes in and always gives off an air of confidence,” said Lori. Eddie has become a much softer horse on the ground, seeking affection.
“He has always been a very cheeky horse with a ton of character. We have such a relationship, though, that he always seems to be a little less cheeky with me,” said Devin.
“This truly special horse is a once-in- a-lifetime horse. His mental toughness is a key to his success, as many young horses are not emotionally mature enough to handle the technical aspects of the courses he has been asked to complete,” said Lori.
“He loves his job and he loves and trusts his rider.”
Other horses named to the hall of fame include Cobra, the once-wild mustang who was the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s National Horse of the Year for 2019; Big D, a Belgian draft horse who is part of the Baltimore Police mounted unit; Lazy Days Midnight Lightning, a mini-horse from California who works in therapy; Petey, a Medicine Hat Paint and former 4-H mount who is now a therapy mount in Cincinnati; Wandering Angus, a thoroughbred former race horse who also was an eventer before being involved with therapeutic riding in Maryland; Karsten, a versatile Friesian stallion; Ms. Dreamy, a quarter horse mare who was part of the U.S. gold medal reining team at the 2018 WEG and ridden to individual silver by Dan Huss and Brad Wolf’s Private Practice, the winner of the 2018 USHJA International Hunter Derby and this year, the $100,000 Hunter Spectacular at the Winter Equestrian Festival with Tori Colvin handling the riding duties.
Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)Boyd Martin didn’t see Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event defending champ Oliver Townend’s ride in the final round of today’s stadium jumping finale.
After all, Boyd already had done everything he could following a fault-free trip aboard Tsetserleg at the Kentucky Horse Park.
He knew he had at least clinched second place on 27.9 penalties total for the three phases of the event. Going into the segment, he had been 2.6 penalties behind Oli, but a rail from the leader would have given Boyd the win.
Even so, he rode Tsetserleg away from the stadium after his round because he didn’t need to see what Oli would do on Cooley Master Class; he thought he already knew.
“I had a feeling he’d jump clear,” Boyd said.
“That horse is such a good jumper. In the warm-up, he was jumping unreal, so I sort of figured… Anyone can have an unlucky rail, but he looked pretty confident to me.”
And he was right. The British rider retained his crown. Oli showed the skill that has made him the world’s number one eventer as he cruised around the Richard Jeffery-designed course before a crowd of 21,047 on a frigid afternoon in Lexington.
But once he went through the finish line, Oli lay on his horse’s neck, putting his head down in relief while he let the tension drain out.
As he noted, “The horse has had a checkered career and we’ve finally got him on top form. We’ve always believed in the horse, and it’s thanks to everybody at home putting in a huge team effort. It was just my job to push the buttons at the right point in time. I couldn’t be more proud of the horse and the whole team.”
The victory came with a $130,000 check and a brand new Land Rover. Last year, Oli had torn around the ring when he got in the driver’s seat, so this time, the organizers took the precaution of providing a driver. But you can’t keep a good man down, so Oli stood on the seat and stuck his upper body out the sun roof so he could wave to the crowd.
Oliver Townend on his way to winning the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event with Cooley Master Class. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Boyd could take consolation in the fact that as the highest-placed U.S. rider, he was the national 5-star champion, winning the Haller Trophy from the U.S. Equestrian Federation and the Pinnacle trophy from the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.
“This year he has come out blazing,” Boyd said of Tsetserleg, noting their partnership is working now, although it’s taken a while, as it usually does with horses. Actually, the way “Thomas” warmed up didn’t give him the utmost confidence. But the black Trakehner was at his best once he entered the stadium.
“I do have to say, I thin
k he loves a bit of atmosphere and the crowd,” Boyd noted.
“He tapped the first fence a bit and I thought, ‘Oh crap, this is going to be a long round,’ but at the second fence, he really tried, and then I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got a shot here.’ ’’ Once he got through the first double on course, 4A and B, he thought he was going to be fine. And he was.
If Boyd, a two-time Olympian for America, had won, he would have been the first U.S. rider to take the Kentucky competition since his friend, Phillip Dutton, did it in 2008.
Oli enjoys his new ride. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Never one to dwell on what might have been, Boyd already is looking ahead. “Next time,” he told me, with his characteristic big smile. And likely there will be a next time, as Oli said he wants to come back in 2020 and try for a three-peat in the Western Hemisphere’s only 5-star event.
Perhaps the one who lost the most was New Zealand’s Tim Price, who had been third after cross-country. He kept his placing following a fault-free trip on Xavier Faer (30.9 penalties), but lost a chance to pursue the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam. Having won Britain’s Burghley 5-star last year, if he had been first at Kentucky and then first again next week at Britain’s other 5-star, Badminton, he would have collected the elusive prize that only two other riders in its history have been able to capture.
At this point, though, Tim is just happy his horse has overcome health problems and is back in form. In 2017, while at his breeder’s farm on R&R, Xavier Faer’s pony pal kicked him in the forearm. There was a wound that caregivers tended, and the horse was kept quiet to see what would develop. Sure enough, two days later, X-rays showed a hairline fracture. The horse had to be kept in a stall on crossties for several months so he wouldn’t lie down and stress the bone.
New Zealand’s Tim Price and Xavier Faer. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
“But he came through,” said Tim, and you could say the same about the way he jumped today, despite being a rather spooky fellow.
“Liverpools? He takes a real special liking to, or disliking to, whatever you want to call it and the whole middle of the arena was like that, an ocean of water trays and liverpools today so that was something he needed to overcome,” Tim observed.
“He jumped beautiful. He’s just a lovely big, scopey honest horse and I really enjoy riding a horse like him.”.
A total of 73,049 attended the event, presented by Mars Equestrian, which is billed as “the best weekend all year.” Fans ignore harsh weather like what we experienced today, and love getting up early to attend the horse inspection, which was quite uneventful this morning, with all 31 starters passing. They just want to be part of it.
The ones who stay through the long awards ceremony really get into it when the winner does his two-round victory gallop. Some riders just go through the motions on their honor round, but you can see Oli enjoys it.
Oli salutes the fans during his victory gallop. (Photo © 2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Looking at the scoreboard, the top five all were fault-free in the jumping. Fourth place went to another Brit, Piggy French on Quarrycrest Echo (33.5 penalties) while the USA’s Doug Payne was fifth with Vandiver (35.9). Doug is a hard worker who is finally getting the results he deserves. Also fault-free was Erin Sylvester on Paddy the Caddy, who had an unfortunate refusal at the final brush at the Head of the Lake yesterday. Without those 20 penalties, she would have been sixth.
Leslie Law, the 2004 individual Olympic gold medalist for Britain who is now a U.S. coach, left the rails in place with the promising Voltaire de Tre, who was 10th, while Hannah Sue Burnett finished 11th with a perfect trip on the veteran Harbour Pilot.
Will Coleman on the often-tense Tight Lines was clear as well, winding up 13th on the French-bred thoroughbred he rode in the FEI World Equestrian Games last year.
Wednesday, April 24: And they’re off — at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event
Thursday, April 25: Dressage paves the way at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event
Friday, April 26: The Once and Future King of Kentucky?
Saturday, April 27: Is it time for an American to win the Kentucky Three-Day Event?
Oliver Townend started out today where he left off last year–at the top of the leaderboard for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. The British rider and Cooley Master Class, the 14-year-old Irish sport horse he has been riding for the last decade, put in a stellar dressage test that drew cheers from the crowd of 11,676 in the Rolex Stadium.
The 2018 Kentucky winner, Oliver Townend, waves to his enthusiastic fans after a dressage test that put him at the top of the leaderboard. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Kentucky, said Oli, “is one of my favorite events.The people here are very, very friendly, the atmosphere second to none the stadium is out of this world. If I had the last event of my career, this is the one I’d want to be at because it’s such a special place to me.”
Oli was marked at 24.1 penalties, giving him a 3-point edge over his countrywoman, Piggy French on Quarrycrest Echo.
Coolio, as his mount is known around the barn, didn’t turn a hair in the atmosphere, where Oli got more applause than any other competitor.
“He was very laid back, almost bone-idle in there,” Oli commented. If it had been warm instead of frigid with wind and occasional rainshowers, Oli observed, his horse might have fallen asleep.”
He knows the horse so well that basically, all it takes for dressage is to “Go in there and do a clear round and press buttons.”
After his ride, Oli stopped and chatted with one of the little Pony Clubbers who remove and replace the board at the entrance to the dressage ring. Yesterday, Chris Talley did the same after his ride, when he invited the girls to pat his horse, Unmarked Bills. So it’s getting to be a “thing.”
But in this case, it turned out the little girl’s mother had bought a horse from Oli, and the child took care to say her mom was very pleased with the animal.
Never one to miss an opportunity, Oli said, “I asked if her mum was ready to buy a new one yet.”
Oliver Townend made a friend as he was leaving the dressage arena. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Piggy was a little nervous warming up this morning in what she called “a monsoon” during a rainstorm. But she said she was proud of the way her 12-year-old Irish sport horse conducted himself in the arena, calling it “very professional.”
Piggy French and Quarrycrest Echo. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
He was Piggy’s mount for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games, where she finished 10th. Her last visit to the horse park was for the 2010 WEG, and she noted it’s quite different for the 5-star but “really exciting.”
The only American in the top three is Boyd Martin with Tsetserleg, the compact Trakehner who was marked at 27.9 penalties, just ahead of overnight leader Felix Vogg on Switzerland on Colero (28).
Amazingly, it has been 11 years since a U.S. rider last won at Kentucky. That was Boyd’s close friend, Phillip Dutton on Connaught. He is seventh on Z (31.7).
Could Boyd be the hero for the Stars and Stripes this time around? He had a disappointing WEG last year with the horse he calls Thomas, but the two have come together since then.
The highest-placed American after dressage, Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
“This year, he’s a bit more seasoned and confirmed at this level,” said Boyd.
It’s the third year he has been with the horse, who is by Windfall, a stallion that was part of the 2004 Olympic team.
“It takes about two years to form a partnership. Last year was probably a little bit of a rush. It sort of felt like we were doing everything on a wing and a prayer. He’s a little bit of a quirky horse.”
Now, however, “We’ve had a bit of time to figure each other out. He’s one hell of a trier and at this level, it’s wonderful having a horse who tries his guts out for you.”
Saturday’s cross-country will tell the tale, not only for Tsetserleg, but also for the 40 other horses that will attempt Derek di Grazia’s challenging cross-country route.
“It always amazes me how much the course changes from year to year,” Oli observed. “I’m a huge fan of Derek’s courses; he’s absolutely exceptional for what he does.”
Find out how it goes for Oli and the others by coming back here Saturday night to catch up on my coverage.
Wednesday, April 24: And they’re off — at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event
Thursday, April 25: Dressage paves the way at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event
Saturday, April 27: Is it time for an American to win the Kentucky Three-Day Event?
Sunday, April 28: The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event has a repeat winner
