Bouncing back is Tamie Smith’s specialty, and the same can be said of her Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event mount, Fleeceworks Royal.
The mare’s 5-star debut at the Kentucky Horse Park last month started with a dressage test that put her first in the division on day one, though she had dropped to eighth by the second day.
Tamie Smith and Fleeceworks Royal in the dressage phase at Kentucky. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Her cross-country trip was cut short at the 11th obstacle when Tamie sensed the mare was injured and pulled her up. Rory, as the mare is known to her friends, underwent surgery on her left front pastern at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute.
She’s healing now, and “as long as she gets through all of it with no complications, she should make a full recovery,” Tamie reported about the U.S.-bred daughter of Riverman.
“She is the toughest mare you’ve ever met,” added the rider, referencing everything Rory has been through. That includes a corneal transplant, an airway obstruction issue and a minor leg problem that kept her off the 2019 Pan American Games team.
But no adversity has stopped her, which also can be said of Tamie.
“Yes, she is just like me,” Tamie agreed happily.
“I told her owner (Judith McSwain) we’re going to rename her “The Cockroach”, because you can’t kill her, you can’t keep her down. She’s going to keep fighting. She’s incredible.”
It’s such good news that Rory is on the road back. The other horse who had a bad fall on cross-country at Kentucky, Emporium, was not injured and went home after a short stay at Hagyard.
Despite ending the Kentucky 5-star with a disappointment, Tamie didn’t dwell on the negative and headed off to the Badminton, England, 5-star, where she finished ninth on Mai Baum to be the best-placed American last weekend.
“Badminton was super-competitive,” said Tamie’s trainer, Erik Duvander.
“The quality of the field was totally outstanding. You looked down the line of combinations that have won championships, Worlds, Europeans and of course previous winners of 5-star, so it was highly competitive.”
He called the cross-country course designed by Eric Winter, “possibly the best I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was a decent track, it was big, it was super well-presented; nothing trappy but demanding on the horses physically and mentally.”
In the show jumping, Tamie and Mai Baum were among only four entries in the field of 52 finishers to go double-clear over Kelvin Bywater’s challenging route.
Erik sees big things in Tamie’s future now, and the rider is, of course, hoping to be named to the team for this summer’s world championships in Italy.
“Now she is really, really ready,” said Erik, ,who has been working with her since 2017.
“With Tamie, it’s not just her riding skills, but it’ her mental skills to perform all three phases in the manner she did. I feel her future is really bright now.”
