Apart from two holds for rain, local lightning, and with additional thunderstorms in the forecast, precipitating an early close, it was business as usual as Stable View continued with the USEF/USEA Stable View Spring Horse Trials and Adequan/USEF Youth Team Challenge in Aiken, S.C. As a result of the delays, the remaining CCI2*-S and CCI1*-S show jumping will be held over until tomorrow. Saturday will also see all four divisions compete in cross-country. After six weeks with no measurable precipitation, the cross-country courses will be in excellent condition.
Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous, Phoebe and Michael Manders and Jacqueline Mars’ 16-year-old Oldenburg mare (Carry Gold x Richardia) jumped a clear show jumping round to hold onto the CCI4*-S lead on a 21.7.
The rest of the field shuffled a bit as rails fell on Chris Barnard's course and Phillip Dutton and Z moved up from fourth to second place. The 13-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Asca x Bellabouche) owned by Thomas Tierney, Simon Roosevelt, Suzanne Lacy, Anne Jones, and Caroline Moran, is currently sitting on a 25.6.
Buck Davidson was sitting in overnight second on Carlevo, but the pair had two rails down to drop to 13th, however, it opened the door for another one of his mounts, Erroll Gobey, to move up into the third spot. Cassie Segal, Natalie Sandler, and Lisa Darden's 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Cassini II x Ulla II) moved from sixth to third on a 27.3.
In the CCI3*-S, the overnight leaders withdrew before show jumping which opened the door for everyone to move up a spot. Leslie Law and Lady Chatterley, Lesley Grant-Law and Stephen Brown's 10-year-old Holsteiner mare (Connor x Juicy) added nothing to their dressage score of 29.4 to take the lead.
Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and her own Cooley HHS Calmaria, the 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare (Cyrano 145 x Chester Lass) added just 0.4 time penalties to take over second place.
Tim Bourke and Lennard, the 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Likoto XX x Ronja) owned by Kristen and Mark Anderson, kept all the rails up to move from fifth to third on a 30.8.
The CCI2*-S finished their dressage this morning and Alyssa Phillips and her own Cornelius Bo, a 7-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Concours Complet x Charlotte) were able to hold on to the top of the leaderboard on a 27.5. While all CCI2*-S competitors were supposed to show jump this afternoon only 14 of the 63 entries were able to before the rain delay. The rest of the division will jump in the morning before heading out to cross-country. The updated ride times can be viewed here.
The CCI1*-S competitors had their turn in the dressage ring today and Phillips added another top spot to her weekend. She scored a 26.5 with her own 7-year-old Mecklenburg gelding, FE Celestino (CE-Matin x Antigone), who was the 2019 USEA Young Event Horse East Coast 5-year-old Champion. FE Celestino is making his FEI debut this weekend at Stable View.
Stable View is hosting the first Adequan/USEF Youth Team Challenge of the year. Area I is currently leading the CCI2*-S Challenge while Area II has a strong lead in the CCI3*-S Challenge.
The CCI4*-S division is a qualifier for the $60,000 Adequan USEA Advanced Final that will take place at the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds in August.
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This month we’re going to begin a three-part series on how to create positive riding experiences by making sure the words you say to yourself and the thoughts you think to yourself are positive. Referred to as self-talk, internal dialogue, or brain babble; the words you say to yourself can have a huge impact on your performance. In fact, your thoughts and voice are actually considered behaviors, and just like how positive physical behaviors (i.e. a balanced transition) can create success, your verbal behaviors can also accomplish the very same thing. So let's spend the next few months talking about how to talk to yourself!
Being spontaneous has paid off for Kevin Keane and Sportsfield Candy. “I bought him on a Wednesday and showed him on a Thursday,” Keane recalls about his first event with his Irish Sport Horse gelding, then 9 years old, at Plantation Field Horse Trials (Unionville, Pennsylvania) in September 2016. “I owned him for part of a day, and the next morning I showed up at a CCI and jogged him up for a two-star, and we went clean and clean and clean.”
THANK YOU to everyone who has already entered the USEF/USEA Recognized CDCTA Spring Horse Trials scheduled for Sunday, April 9 in Berryville, VA. We will continue to take late entries through Friday, March 24 using USEA’s Xentry system. If you still want to come compete, please enter! The late fee has been waived through Friday, March 24.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation announces the appointment of long-term US Equestrian employee Hallye Griffin as Director of FEI Sport. Griffin will assume the duties of former Director of FEI/High-Performance Sport, Graeme Thom, who has chosen to step away from his role to attend to personal matters.