United States Eventing Association

It was a busy weekend at the Maui Jim Horse Trials in Wayne, Illinois as riders from Novice to the three-star level competed at the beautiful Lamplight Equestrian Center.

Becky Holder Takes the Blue in the CIC3*

Becky Holder of Mendota Heights, MN and her Olympic partner Courageous Comet lead the CIC3* division from start to finish. The pair only added 6.4 time penalties to their dressage score of 40.4 and and had a double clear stadium round to secure the lead place in the victory gallop.

Buck Davidson sat in eighth place after dressage with Ballynoecastle RM, but put in the fastest cross country round of the division to move up to second place. They left all the stadium jumps in the cups to hold on to their red ribbon. Bruce Davidson rounded out the top three with his popular mare, Jam.

Buck Davidson and Jan Byyny Dominate Advanced Division

Buck Davidson moved up from eighth place to win the Advanced division on L.A. Albert. Davidson has been competing Alec Campbell's 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding since 2007, but this was the pair's first win at the Advanced Level.

Jan Byyny earned three spots in the top five placings of the Advanced divisions by jumping double-clear stadium rounds on a trio of Thoroughbreds. Waterfront and Syd Kent both added only four time faults to their dressage scores to place second and third respectively. Inmidair also only added time penalties to his dressage score to settle into fifth.

Karl Slezak was tied for first heading into the final phase with Charley Farley, but unfortunately had two rails down dropping him into fourth place.

The only downside to the day was the unfortunate death of the overnight leader Lisa Marie Fergusson's gelding Uni Griffon. From the organizer: "It is with great sadness that we announce that Uni Griffon owned and ridden by Lisa Marie Fergusson collapsed and died after completing cross country at The Maui Jim Horse Trials at 1:45pm July 11, 2009. Cause of death is yet to be determined." The USEA expresses our condolences to Lisa Marie and her friends and family on the loss of this wonderful and experienced horse.

A Talented Junior Beats the Professionals to Win the CIC2*

In the very difficult CIC2* division Callie Judy and Call On Me were the only pair to have a double clear round in both the cross country and stadium phases. This was a great present present to Callie, who had just celebrated her 17th birthday a week before the start of the event. Melissa Miller finished in second with Detail Specialist and Rebecca Howard settled in third with Roquefort.

El Cid Continues His Winning Streak With Third One-star Win

Winners of the CIC1* Lynne Partridge and her six-year-old Oldenburg gelding, El Cid have had an unmatchable season. "Cid" moved up to Preliminary in January of this year and won his very first outing. That was only the beginning--in early May the pair won their first CIC1* at the Weatherford and Greenwood Farm H.T. and at the end of May Partridge made the journey to Colorado and won the CCI* at the Colorado Horse Park.

Partridge said that Cid was a little tired after the long journey, and his dressage was not as good as it has been in the past. However, it was still good enough to sit them in first place. He is still young so it took him a few fences to get into the rhythm on cross country, but after the water Cid really clicked on.

"And what can I say about Stadium?" Partridge laughs, "Cid was great, and was very pleased with himself afterward."

This was Cid's third trip to Maui Jim. The last two years he competed in the Young Event Horse Series, and in 2008 won at the Training Level with Partridge's daughter.

"We love coming to Maui Jim," Partridge said. "Although it is a very long journey from our home in Texas we always make the effort to come since it is such a fabulous show. The volunteers are great, and the show is always so well run."

Partridge plans on making the long trek back to Lamplight for the Bit of Britain/USEA American Eventing Championships in September to compete Cid in the Preliminary Division. Next season's plans are still tentative.

"Cid is a very big horse," Partidge explains. "When I bought him as a two-year-old he was only 16.2, but he has not stopped growing since then. I haven't measured him because I don't want to know how tall he is now! I bet he is close to 18 hands!"

Partridge bought Cid from a friend who had bred the horse in her backyard. Cid lives only three miles from where he was born, but he has travelled all over the country during his short event career. Partridge describes the big Oldenburg as a "mama's boy" with lots of character. She says that he loves to follow her around in the pasture and groom her with his lips.

Lauren Kieffer and Take the Mick moved up ten places to finish in second while Caroline Martin and Classic Touch added only one rail to their dressage score to secure the third place ribbon.

For complete results of the Maui Jim Horse Trials please click here