EventingUSA

Elisa Wallace was the lucky recipient of a Stackhouse saddle after her win at one of the four classic-format Preliminary Three-Day Events held across the nation this season. One winner was drawn at random out of the four champions to receive this prestigious gift.  Stackhouse Saddles also awarded a saddle to a winner of the SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-Day Event Series this year—Kelsey Briggs and The Gentleman Pirate were the fortuitous recipients. If galloping over steeplechase fences isn’t incentive enough to participate in the Classic Format Series, then this gives riders one more exciting reason to take part in a long-format event. Thank you to Stackhouse Saddles for this generous contribution!

(Pictured: Elisa Wallace astride Good For Me, owned by Lela Wulf (pictured left) won this year’s Hagyard Midsouth CCI1* (Iong-format). Sadly, ‘Goody’ was recently euthanized after colic complications, just days after his big win at the Kentucky Horse Park. Read more about the Wallace and Goody here.)

Last weekend, Kerry Tracey, 25, of Watkinsville, Georgia took home top honors at the SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-Day Event held at the Rocking Horse Fall Horse Trials in Altoona, Florida. Partnered with her homebred Thoroughbred/Appaloosa gelding Chasing The Music, Kerry moved up from fourth after dressage to jump clear the rest of the weekend. “I was very happy to get through the finish flags in stadium with all the rails in the cups!” said Kerry. Photo courtesy of Xpress Foto.

Royal Tribute, a three-year-old Hanoverian/Thoroughbred gelding (Royal Prince—Firstar), was crowned Grand Champion of the 2009 IDHSNA/USEA Future Event Horse East Coast Finals last Friday at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia by judges Carter Bass (pictured with handler Doug Payne) and Susan Graham White. Owned by Kristen Burgers, the striking youngster also won the Three-Year-Old Colts/Gelding class and the Three-Year-Old Championship, scoring a fantastic 77.35. Complete results. Emily Daily photo.

Classic-format first-timer Mackenna Shea said she’d definitely be embarking on phases A, B, C, and D again after finishing her weekend at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event on her dressage score in the long-format CCI*. Aboard Landioso, she finished on a score of 40.0 over fellow Area VII Young Rider Teammates Tessa Becket and Sound Prospect. Josh Walker photo. Complete results from all divisions. 

More than 60 horse and rider combinations experienced the thrill of “The Chase” on Saturday at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. Fiona Graham of Portola Valley, California, blazed through the endurance phase of division A of the SmarPak Equine USEA Training Three-Day Event aboard Isengart to finish double-clear and maintain her lead on a score of 30.1. Gina Miles still leads division B of the T3D, while long-format first-timer Mackenna Shea remains atop the classic-format CCI*. Josh Walker photo. See more results here.

Sixteen-year-old Mackenna Shea made the 25-hour trip from her home in Tacoma, Washington to Temecula, California to compete in her first long-format CCI* at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. Aboard her own 7-year-old Bavarian Warmblood, Landioso, the pair earned a 40.0 in the dressage arena to lead the division by 9.1 points. Josh Walker photo. Complete Results.

It was all Robyn Fisher once again in the Spalding Labs USEA Young Event Horse Series as she galloped away with victory in both the 4- and 5-Year-Old divisions of the West Coast Championships at the Galway Downs International Three-Day and Horse Trials. Aboard Rose Sullivan’s Clair de Lune SE, a Holsteiner Stallion by Contendor and out of L’Vienna Z, Fisher scored an 83.90 for the 5-Year-Old Championship (pictured). She rode her own Dutch Warmblood gelding, Artesian (Judgement—Shannondoah) to a score of 87.00 to earn the 4-Year-Old Championship. Josh Walker photo. Full results.

Division B winners, Carrie Meehan and Jeff Beshear’s Blue Devil, took on the steeplechase course with exuberant style. The pair held on to their lead by putting in clear and fast rounds on every phase of endurance day and leaving all the rails in their cups during show jump.  37 riders tackled the 6th annual SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-Day Event at Waredaca Horse Trials in Laytonsville, MD. Leslie Mintz Photo.

Boyd Marin claimed his first CCI3* win as a United States rider at the Dansko Fair Hill International Horse Trials aboard Neville Bardos on Sunday. They caught one rail in show jumping but managed to pull off the victory on a score of 55.0. Karen O’Connor and Mandiba also pulled a rail to finish in second place on a score of 59.2. Kelly Sult and Hollywood jumped from fifth place into third after a double-clear show jumping round. Complete results. Josh Walker photo.

Boyd Marin and Neville Bardos became the only pair to post a double clear cross-country round in the CCI3* division at the Dansko Fair Hill International Horse Trials in Elkton, Maryland, to take over the lead on a score of 51.0. Overnight leaders Karen O’Connor and Mandiba dropped to third place after adding 15.6 time faults, while Phillip Dutton and Kheops Du Quesnay jumped into second place from 17th after adding only 4 time faults on cross-country. Complete results. Josh Walker photo.