United States Eventing Association

It’s no surprise to see the popular duo of Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister leading the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* division after dressage at the Twin Rivers Horse Trials in Paso Robles, California.

The pair has a solid history of wowing judges in the arena. Their score of 38.8 leads over second-placed Robyn Fisher and Lady Calido by 3.2 points (42.0). Kristi Nunnink and R-Star also broke into the 40s with a 48.0 to stand in third place.

Though it didn't seem to be evident to the judges, Tiana said the 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding wasn't exactly on his best behavior in the warm-up.

“He was really wild today and was yesterday at jog too," she said. "But we managed to quiet down right before we went in. All I was focused on was getting through it without blowing up.”

But while the pair always seem to unflappably stifle the competition after the first phase, they’ve had less than desirable results on cross-country this year.

“We've been here before but always seem to get hung up on cross-country,” Coudray admitted. "We've been working mostly on trying to keep him relaxed and thinking. When he gets wound up, he stops thinking. When he isn't thinking, he isn't rideable."

The CIC3* cross-country course at Twin Rivers is designed by Derek di Grazia and has commanded the respect of many upper-level riders in years past. This year’s course seems to be on par with previous years and offers riders a diverse mixture of questions and tests.

“It looks great," Coudray commented after walking the course. "It's fairly similar to what we did here [in the Advanced division} in the spring. The combinations ride well. I let him have runouts early this year so I’m eager to go out and try it again and keep it all in order.”

Though temperatures are expected to reach the low hundreds on Saturday, organizers have rearranged the divisions to run earlier in the day to avoid galloping through the blistering heat of early fall in the Central Coast.

It is highly unlikely any of the riders in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* division at Twin Rivers will be able to catch Series leaders Leslie Law and Fleeceworks Mystere Du Val, but winners can look forward to some great prizes and money.

Winners of the designated Gold Cup divisions receive an Adequan USEA Gold Cup Trophy, $500 in prize money, 7-dose box of Adequan, a three-month supply of SUCCEED, an E.A. Mattes Couture Pad, and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots. Second place finishers take home a Nutrena feed gift certificate and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots, and third place receives a pair of the Nunn Finer boots as well.