When you’ve fallen off your horse, then ended up sporting a black eye and bloody nose after another ride, it may seem that you didn’t have a good day on the cross-country course. But if you earn a nice trophy at the end of the process, it’s a great day after all,
That’s how it was for Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp, who had her downs and ups at the Plantation Field International Horse Trials in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
The first downer literally involved hitting the ground, when Flash Cooley ran into trouble at a massive ditch and oxer, the sixth fence on the 4-star Short route.
“He’s a wonderful horse he’s only eight years old,” said Liz, who led him off the course after her tumble.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Flash Cooley are none the worse for wear after a tumble on cross-country. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“He is still green and very careful. That was a huge fence– he just panicked a little and jumped into the middle. We’ll drop him down a level to finish off his season easy and happy,” she said.
He was her second mount of the day. Cooley Quicksilver had gone around the course previously without incident and finished 13th.
Once Liz had time to catch her breath, she was up again on Deniro Z, the winner last month at the MARS Great Meadow International event in Virginia. All went well for her until the eighth obstacle, a combination.
“I had a little bit of an exciting moment at the first water, just where he jumped so big in, and then I got really deep to the skinny,” she recalled.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z at the foundation wall, an iconic Plantation Field backdrop. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
She got smacked in the face by his neck, and that was some blow.
“I was seeing double on the way to the coffin,” she said, referring to the upcoming three-part combination.
“Luckily, my vision came back just before I had to jump in,” she said with a smile. Liz galloped the rest of the way with a very bloody nose and an eye that was turning black, but all she talked about was how her mount took over when she needed him.
“It shows what a great horse he is. He just jumped in (to the coffin) and didn’t look at it. He’s a world class horse. I’m just lucky to ride him,” said Liz, who envisions a great future with the Dutch warmblood.
“I would hope the Olympics happens and I hope I’m there on him. I think he’s as good as any horse could ever be. I just think the world of him.”
She was spot-on the optimum time of six minutes, 22 seconds. Only two other riders of the group that finished from the original field of 53 were able to make the time, though no one else got it exactly. Liz led since the beginning of the event, adding 0.40 time penalties in stadium jumping to her dressage score of 26.40.
Phillip Dutton had been right behind her with his brilliant horse Z since the beginning of the competition with a dressage score of 27.30, but he wound up with two time penalties on cross country to finish on 29.30 in second place.
“I thought it was a great competition and the cross-country caused a little more trouble than expected – the time was tight,” he noted.
Another view of the foundation, as Phillip Dutton rides through on Z. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Phillip, who is on the board of the event, missed the crowds who normally attend. The U.S. Equestrian Federation prohibits spectators because of the Covid situation.
He noted that a few months ago, the board was trying to decide whether an event could be held under the circumstances.
“We had to keep it kind of bare-bones, since we wouldn’t have spectators, etc. coming in. But people wanted to run their horses and we wanted to give them that opportunity,” he said.
“All credit goes to Denis and Bambi Glaccum and Mary Coldren, who put it all together.”
Woods Baughman, a 24-year-old assistant trainer to top-level rider Sharon White, finished 10 seconds slower on cross-country than Liz with C’est La Vie 135. But his trip was good enough to move him up to third on 36.90 penalties after finishing 10th in dressage and getting time penalties in stadium jumping, going from 10th after dressage to sixth following stadium.
Woods Baughman on C’est la Vie 135. (Photo © 2020 by Nancy Jaffer)
“We’re going home happy,” said Woods, who calls his 12-year-old Holsteiner “a real machine. You just point him to the jumps and he takes you there. He can put up a bit of a fight but you just kind of have to let him go and do his thing and have a blast.”
In Saturday’s 3-star, Maya Black rode FE Black Ice to the title. Plantation Field has special meaning for Maya, who grew up on Whidbey Island, Wash., and is the cousin of dressage Olympian Adrienne Lyle.
“I think this was my first East Coast win in the 4-star many years ago,” Maya recalled with a smile.
Maya Black and FE Black Ice. (Photo © 2020 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“So it’s been a very special event for me. I’ve always come here and love this event, the feeling of it, a pretty big atmosphere. It’s always just been such a blast.
“If I had my way I’d be able to come here again with more horses in the future,” she said. Maya was referring to the fact that the property owner cancelled the event’s lease after a website’s allegation that the Plantation name was racist and wasn’t welcoming to people of color.
Plantation refers to a place where trees were planted, and of course there were never slaves there because it’s in Pennsylvania. (See the On the Rail item on this website for a further explanation.
“If there’s anything we can do as riders,” said Maya, “we will get behind the event and the people who put it on and try to make it something we can enjoy for many years down the road.”
