United States Eventing Association

Competition Report - Pine Top Horse Trials!

Photos by Hoofclix

With the 2008 Adequan USEA Gold Cup season nearly upon us, let's reflect back on last week's event at Pine Top Horse Trials to see who's looking sharp and ready to roll this year. Everyone's favorite chestnut gelding (no, not the wee pony, the bigger one!) Dobbin and his amateur owner/rider Corinne Ashton (who holds dual citizenship in Scotland, interestingly enough...who knew?) have been spot on so far this year, winning one of the three Advanced divisions with a tasty little score of 27.3. Apparently, their dressage was spectacular and I've heard reports that they scored two "10's." The 14-year-old Thoroughbred nipped around the course, easy as pie... no jumping faults, and no time faults either. According to spectators & friends, she came in under time by 15 seconds...and not once did her legs touch Dobbin's sides. This great weekend isn't just a fluke -- these guys had a busy year in 2007, winning blue ribbons at more than half of their entered event... check out their competition record, it's pretty amazing.

Well done, Corinne & Co. - to come out of the long winter break and throw down the gauntlet this early in the game is incredible. Let the games begin!

Last year's silver medallist at the NAJRYC (and winner of the Intermediate division of the AEC's!) Nate Chambers and his talented Hanoverian gelding Rolling Stone II (pictured right) pulled off a big win the Advanced B division - beating out Phillip Dutton, Leslie Law, Mike Winter, Sharon White, Amy Tryon, and a whole slew of more experienced riders. If I have my facts straight, I believe this is the first Advanced outing for this pair...ever. Wow. Very cool. A jump judge at the event said,"Nate Chambers was probably the best ride through the fences I was judging-- the truck to the log on the hill to the skinny. He and Rolly were very accurate and balanced."

Kelly Sult & her Thoroughbred gelding Hollywood (pictured below left) added only 1.6 time penalties to their dressage score of 37.9 to take over the lead in the final Advanced division. This isn't the first time these guys have had a great weekend - they had a pretty good year in 2007 with top ten placings at Fair Hill CCI3* (8th!), and Richland Park CIC3* and the NAYJRC (6th). At Fair Hill and received the Markham Trophy for being the top placed Young Rider and the Amanda Warrington Trophy for being the top placed rider in their first CCI*** competition. Recently Kelly was accepted into the Developing Rider's Program by the USEF. Also, Kelly was chosen as the 2007 recipient of the Beacon Charm Grant, previously won by Kristin Bachman. Hollywood's 16-years-old this year, so hopefully they can keep him going for a few more years - he seems to be the perfect horse for Kelly to gain valuable experience with.

Phillip Dutton (who tackled the Pine Top course on five horses...sheesh) and Mike Winter won their respective Intermediate divisions, and Kerry Torrey and Nancy Hathaway's Irish Sporthorse gelding Beantown Player (interesting name...)pulled off the win in the Intermediate Rider division. Torrey (pictured right), who hails from North Salem, New York, and the nine-year-old gelding squeaked out a pretty stellar dressage test (28.3) to lead from start to finish - grabbing a handful of time faults on xc day, but still finishing over a point ahead of Erin Renfroe and DeCordova.

The talented Jennie Brannigan (who trains with Mike Winter down in Georgia) had a fabulous weekend - galloping home at the head of the pack in the competitive Intermediate Young Rider division on her grey Dutch Warmblood gelding Cooper, bought for her by her grandfather from Kelli Temple a few years back. Talk about perfect records...take a look at THIS. That's about as close as they come,folks... The 21-year-old from San Deigo also had a fab ride aboard her other mount Plain Jane, taking home the third place ribbon in the Junior/Young Rider Open Preliminary division - which was jam-packed with talented young riders.

The winner of the JYOP was 18-year-old Danielle Quinn (pictured right) from Great Falls, Virginia on her cute little grey Thoroughbred gelding (okay, he's 16.2, not that little...but still cute!) Culcairn 14. They didn't have many competitive runs last year, but it looks as if they're starting out on the right track in 2008.

Emily Weber and her Selle Francais gelding added another win to their string of latest victories (3 firsts, and 2 seconds since last April) in the Preliminary Amateur division. Everyone's favorite Bald Brit rocked the chock-full Preliminary Horse division, adding only a handful of time faults to his 24.2 in dressage. This talented youngster -- who placed 2nd in the nation in last year's Young Event Horse Championships-- is making a habit of consistently producing incredible dressage scores. At the Ocala Winter Horse Trials back in January, he got a SIXTEEN in dressage. Let that one sink in for a moment... and of course, having the reigning OIympic gold medallist in the irons as co-pilot isn't too shabby either.

Looks like last year's AEC 2nd & 3rd place winner in the Preliminary Amateur division has a new (maybe he's not new... who knows?) ride -- Beringer II, a 14-year-old Thoroughbred gelding. Baker, who traveled south from Groton, Massachusetts, won her ribbons at the AEC last year on Black Sox Shiraz & Johnny B Good. Both geldings are still going strong this season, but this weekend was Beringer's time in the spotlight as he and Baker led the field in the victory gallop in the Preliminary Rider division - maybe they'll be one, two, three at the AEC's this year!

Thank you to Mark Lehner of Hoofclix Photography for providing these fabulous photos for us to enjoy. Be sure to visit his website and check out all the other riders as well. I have to say, Mark goes the extra mile for competitors -- he organizes his photos by the competitor's name (and horse's name)! Finally, a photographer's site that's user-friendly! Keep up the good work :) Oh, he also has quite a few pictures from The Ark Horse Trials as well.