Three clear show jumping rounds in the CCI4*-S at the Plantation Field International Three-Day Event have placed Allie Knowles in first, third, and sixth place with Ms. Poppins, Morswood, and Business Class all owned by Katherine O’Brien. Phillip Dutton and Caroline Moran's Quasi Cool, a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Quo Vados I x B-Estelle) kept their cool to put in a double clear round and move up to second from overnight third place.
Knowles said that Ms. Poppins, a 10-year-old Westphalian mare (Congress x Copa Cabana), with who she currently has the lead, has been a bit stronger and a bit better with each outing this competition season.
“She’s always been such a trier – she was born a trier – and now she’s starting to get the strength to show off her movements and have a bigger presence in the dressage,” she said. “I felt like that was the next step, and there’s more in there.”
In today’s show jumping, Knowles said, “All three horses that I’m riding here are super jumpers, but all three have a very different way of going. I’m trying to find a warm-up that works for each of them; I worked on a lot of counter-canter with her. She’s not hot, she’s very literal, so if I say go she goes, and if I say stop she stops, so I need to be sensitive. She’s also as honest as the day is long, so as long as I point her in the right direction, she’s definitely going to try.”
Looking forward to tomorrow’s cross-country phase she said, “I’m not the fastest cross-country rider, so I just need to be efficient. I have my eye on the bigger prize this fall, taking her and Business Class to Morven Park and Morswood to the Maryland 5 Star.
“He’s my little pony,” she said of Morswood, the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Ricardo Z x Princess In Arms) who currently sits in third. “He’s just a little chestnut cross-country machine; he’s struggled with the show jumping and today we had it, and that was a big deal, to jump a clean round. All three of them have been ticking away and getting better at each event, so I’m just trying to take it one ride at a time, one phase at a time, and just stay focused.”
Kurt Martin Claims CCI3*-S Win
With just one horse to ride this weekend, Kurt Martin was able to put all of his focus on Debbie Adam's 9-year-old Holsteiner mare, D.A. Lifetime (Flemmingh x Timeless) to bring home the win in the CCI3*-S on a score of 26.9. Caroline Martin and her own 8-year-old gelding HSH Vamonos (Adiamo VH Kapelhof Z x Quasimodelle Kapekhof Z) placed second on 28.2, and Mia Farley rounded out the top three with Phelps, David O'Connor's 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding on a 29.3.
“I’ve never had a horse go better on the flat in my entire life,” Martin said. “We got here on the hilltop and she was just lit, so we had to take her for a little trot to settle down but when we went in the ring she just came right. She went in the ring and did a great test; at Great Meadow she did a great test also, so she’s showing some consistency. Honestly, we’ve been working a lot with my good friend Tom Bebb in the show jumping and he’s been helping me a lot. We had a real plan for the warm-up; he wasn’t here, but we had a plan for what we wanted to do with the horse. She jumped a good round and we were really happy with her. I think she just tries so hard. Sometimes you have to wrangle a very big, excited horse and get her to go the right direction, and that went well.”
Martin said that because the mare gets excitable he didn’t bring her to the cross-country warm-up area.
“I just brought her straight out of the barn,” he said. “She has a new bit, it’s a rubber bit so it’s not too severe, but it has a port and a control strap and it helps her hold her head up. I’m able to go a bit quicker with it. The owners, Debbie Adams and Tony Risotti, have really let me spend a lot of time on the horse, and we wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t put that time into her. We bought the horse in Germany a few years ago and Debbie had her for a year and then I got her two years ago. She’s about 17.2, she’s a big horse, and we’ve really taken our time and developed consistency. If the horse is on your side and trying then you have a really good chance. She really tried in the show jumping and on cross-country she was just ready to roll.”
The competition continues tomorrow with the CCI4*-S cross-country and CCI2*-S show jumping.
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Welcome to the Show Me state and to Area IV USEA members! The 2023 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention kicks of tomorrow and features four full days of educational seminars, committee meetings, and social gatherings all with one aim—to bring the eventing community together to continue to improve upon and celebrate the sport that we all love. This year’s Convention takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Marriott St. Louis Grand in downtown St. Louis from Dec. 7-10, and we have rounded up everything you need to know to make the most of your time in the heartland.
To accompany the 2023 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, USEA Educational Partner STRIDER has prepared Digital Resources to Maximize Education & Access for the Eventing Community. In keeping with the USEA’s mission to expand the sport of eventing, this webinar outlines ways in which digital tools can be leveraged to increase access and education across equestrian opportunities. As part of STRIDER’s popular Professional Development Webinar Series, this presentation aims to provide a quick overview of best practices and digital tools used across the equestrian industry to boost growth.
Every horse who participated this year in the USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) program has a story—a background that involves a breeder who labored over bloodlines, veterinary care, initial training, and so much more. This year’s highest-placing U.S.-bred horse in the 5-year-old division at the Dutta Corp./USEA Young Event Horse Championships, Arden Augustus, is no exception. His breeder and owner, Anita Antenucci of Arden Farms in Upperville, Virginia, started her program nine years ago and said that the Warmblood gelding was a more emotionally driven breeding for her than others due to his connections with Antenucci’s long-time friend Sharon White.
Have you ever wondered why professional riders love bringing their horses through the USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) program? USEA Podcast host Nicole Brown chats with two of this year's YEH Champions, Caroline Pamukcu who won the USEA YEH 4-year-old East Coast Championship aboard HSH Afterglow, and Andrea Baxter who won the USEA YEH 5-year-old Championship with Camelot PJ, to discuss this year's Championships and all of the great things that the program has to offer.