Debbie Adams and her horse D.A. Duras have traveled to the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championship in France to showcase this gelding on an international stage. Their trip has been made possible by the Holekamp/Turner Young Event Horse Lion d’Angers Grant. D.A. Duras is the first recipient of this award, having earned it by being the highest scorer of the 2013 USEA Young Event Horse 5-year-old Championship who also qualified for Le Lion d'Angers. Adams is a guest blogger with the USEA to share her inside experience of this event.
Today was the second day of dressage at Le Lion d'Angers. As I said 110 dreams coming into the competition to represent the 110 competitors. Unfortunately, not everyone has their dreams come true and as they say, sometimes you leave your best in the warmup. D.A. Duras looked quite special as he worked in preparation this week. His test that was obedient, but not what [he and rider, Kelly Prather] are both capable of. Still I am quite proud of him today, and he belongs here with the best of the 7-year-olds the world is bringing along. Equally as important is how much we are all learning as we live the European Eventing experience. He is placed in the top half and now let's hope he finishes on that score.
I have attached a clip of how the Germans were working their horses in for the first day of dressage. Cantering ground poles absolutely straight and the step never varied in rhythm or length. Simple and difficult exercises which produced terrific canters.
German Riders Preparing for Dressage. Debbie Adams Video.
And we have our minds on the cross-country already. The 7-year-olds will run a ten-minute course with many combinations of very demanding terrain. The placement of the fences and distances require a very forward positive ride while maintaining the balance. There is a lot to be said about this course. It features large solid questions atop a hill leading down to skinnies that will require a very precise ride. Next follows quite wide efforts into and throughout the water. There is a lot to do tomorrow out there for both levels and this will be the first time Duras is challenged this intensely. I have been told [Kelly Prather] and I will learn a lot about him tomorrow on course.
The action starts at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow which sounds quite civilized, but actually it isn't even light till 8:00 a.m.. Everything is different here but oddly similar at the same time.
Here is a sneak peak of the cross-country course.
Debbie Adams Photos.
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Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.