When Will Coleman first sat on Chin Tonic HS as a 3-year-old, he knew the horse oozed talent on the flat and over jumps, but his future as a top-level eventing horse wasn’t so certain.
“He was a pretty stunning horse,” he said. “You watched him trot up and you were just kind of drooling over him, even at that stage. I rode him in this very small indoor [in Europe], and you couldn’t believe that you were riding a 3-year-old horse. Just the presence and the way that he sort of just connected into the bridle was just a very incredible, athletic feeling but he was not really a galloping horse. He was more of dressage and show jumping breeding, so I think it’s taken him a little while to develop a step on cross-country.”
It was a beautiful but chilly weekend in the pines at the Setters' Run Farm Carolina International. After a record-setting 19.4 in the CCI4*-S dressage, Will Coleman became the first three-time winner in the event's history when he led from start to finish on Hyperion Stud's Chin Tonic HS.
Sometimes you just have to be a goldfish, as Ted Lasso says to his team on the Apple TV series of the same name—forget what happened quickly and move on.
Will Coleman came into the CCI4*-S show jumping today at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International on top of the class with Chin Tonic HS and in third with Off The Record, but by the end of the class he was ready to forget his wild day.
Ayden Schain and Sarah Ross were two of the 19 young riders that participated in the first-ever USEA Emerging Athlete U21 (EA21) National Camp in Ocala, Florida, at the start of 2023. Ross came from the West, originally from Nevada and most recently training and competing in California. Schain came from the East, based out of Vermont. Both are now pursuing eventing full-time in Florida with Schain working for Leslie Law and Lesley Grant-Law and Ross with Zachary Brandt.
The first time Caroline Martin competed at the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships at Mondial du Lion in Le Lion D’Angers, France, in 2021, she admitted she was a bit of a deer in the head lights. With 40,000 spectators lining the galloping lanes on cross-country and a buzzy atmosphere around the arena for dressage and show jumping, it was a big ask for her horse King’s Especiale, but the experience made the gelding better and made Martin want to come back.
The USEA is saddened to hear about the passing of USEA Hall of Fame member Kevin J. Freeman. According to a social media post made by Freeman's son, Kevin Freeman Jr., the Pan American Games and Olympic medalist from Portland, Oregon, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on March 10, 2023. Funeral services will be communicated at a later date.
The United States Eventing Association’s (USEA) Area III has become a hotspot for eventing. It’s quite literally a hotspot because the warm weather attracts riders and horses from around the country during the winter with more events scheduled in 2023 than any other area in the country.
From carrots for the horses when they arrived and the coffee and donut hospitality cart that created a friendly atmosphere at the Woodside Fall Horse Trials last October, to the community support that raised funds for new show jumps and cross-country fences, to being approved to host three USEA-recognized events in 2023, there is a buzz about what lies ahead for the future of eventing at The Horse Park at Woodside in Northern California.
The 2023 Twin Rivers Winter Horse Trials were an event to remember. A hard‑working crew and community support stepped up after record rains in Paso Robles, California, flooded the cross-country course prior to the show. Tamie Smith’s wins at the Advanced and Intermediate levels highlighted top-class performances. And, Twin Rivers hosted a Modified level for the first time in the event’s history.
Dedication, perseverance and a support team like no other—that’s Liz Lund’s recipe for eventing success. An accomplished eventer, breeder and trainer, Liz splits her time between Copeland Farms North in her home state of Minnesota, and Copeland Farms South in sunny Ocala, Florida. As Liz continues growing her business, she has only one mantra: love what you do, and the rest will fall in place.
“I love it when a plan comes together” is the phrase that could sum up the 2022 season for Lady Chatterley and Leslie Law. Although, in this case, comparing the bay mare and her British Olympic gold medalist rider to the A-Team also refers to the fact that they successfully moved up to the Advanced level and earned the title of Bates Mare of the Year on the USEA Leaderboard. Lady Chatterley, who's owned by Lesley Grant-Law and Stephen and Jackie Brown, was also the Bates Mare of the Year in 2020 and second in 2021.