United States Eventing Association

Kathy Cain and her seven-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Sidecar, won wire to wire at the SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-day Event at the Colorado Horse Park. This in itself is an impressive feat, but it is made more impressive due to the fact that Kathy and Sidecar were just coming off a win at the T3D at the Event at the Rebecca Farm. In between the two T3Ds they also managed a win at the Area IX Championships – finishing on their dressage score of 25.

“I decided to do the T3D at Colorado because I wanted to support the long format,” said Kathy. “Hopefully with enough support and demand from the riders they will continue to hold a fall T3D at the Colorado Horse Park. This is the only one offered in Area IX, so it would be sad if it did not continue because it is such a great learning experience for both the horse and rider.”

"I purchased Sidecar off of the internet as a four-year-old OTTB from a lady in Idaho,” continued Kathy. “He had just recently been dropped off of the "truck" that was heading to Canada. The truck driver knew the lady in Idaho and decided that Sidecar was too nice to end up where he was currently headed... he's a lucky boy! So winning both the T3D at Rebecca Farm and now the Colorado T3D is a great achievement for us. Although retraining an OTTB hasn't always been easy, it has been worth every second and I am very proud of Sidecar. He has turned out to be more than I could have ever imagined!”

Sidecar scored a 27.3 in the dressage – nearly three points ahead of second place. They used that momentum to carry them through the competition. Kathy and Sidecar had one of the fastest rounds of the division on cross-country before lowering a rail in show jumping. Luckily for them every pair had a least one rail down so they were able to maintain the lead. “My favorite moment of the competition was the Steeplechase! I think it was probably Sidecar's favorite moment as well,” said Kathy.

Sidecar will be now getting a nice long vacation as the snow sets in his hometown of Park City, Utah. Kathy hopes to move him up to Preliminary for the 2012 season.

The red ribbon went to Erin Jones riding Gennifer Guistina’s, Edmund. The 17-year-old Thoroughbred gelding has had considerable eventing experience, competing through the Advanced level with Ashley Demander. Erin and Edmund scored a 30.2 in dressage and added only a single show jump rail to their score to hold onto second place throughout the competition.

Rounding out the top three were Christian Eagles and Bugatti, a six-year-old Dutch Warmblood/Thoroughbred cross. They added two show jump rails to their dressage score of 25 to finish the competition on a 43.

Full Results can be found here.

Winners of this year’s SmartPak Equine/USEA Training three-days take home a SmartPak Wellfleet Leather Halter and Engraved Leadshank, a Five Star Tack Bridle, a pair of FITS Breeches, and are entered in a drawing to win a year’s supply of SmartPaks or a Stackhouse Saddle.

The SmartPak Equine/USEA Classic Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title Sponsor: SmartPak Equine; Presenting Sponsor: Stackhouse Saddles; Silver Level Sponsor: Fleeceworks; Legacy Sponsor: Five Star Tack Elite Sponsors: FITS and Nunn Finer.