United States Eventing Association

Photos by Leslie Threlkeld – Live Scoring Photo Gallery Below

For the first time at Poplar Place (Hamilton, Georgia) this competitive season, we were awarded blue skies, cartoon clouds, and warm, but not unbearable, sunshine.

In the CIC*, Molly Cavanaugh and Moonlight Rock N’ Roll won the dressage on a score of 46.0. I was standing ringside during the test, and it was truly beautiful. Unfortunately, she had a stop and time penalties on cross-country, dropping her to 11th going into show jumping on Sunday. Rowdie Adams and No Money Down sat in fourth after dressage on a score of 56.1, but took over the lead in the division after gaining only two time penalties. Cathy Weischhoff and the chestnut Simba hung onto their overnight second-place. A clean cross-country round put Imogen de Lavis and Brisco Bay in 3rd, moving up from sixth after one of the few double clear rounds in the division. Olivia Dillon took a tumble jumping out of the water on her Training horse early Saturday, but she recovered to produce a clear round and only .4 time faults in her first one-star and sits in fourth on the grey gelding Chance’s Lucky Run.

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen held onto their first place position in the CIC** after cross-country, despite adding 14 time faults to their dressage score , and staying just ahead of Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty who moved up from fifth after cross-country. Buck is also in third place on Haifa Bay (First of November) and fifth on All the Aces going into show jumping. Every competitor completing the two-star course had time penalties. Poplar experienced an unexpected day of heavy rain on Thursday, making the courses rather soft and muddy. Several fences were removed prior to the start on Saturday for safety purposes and it was encouraging to see riders taking their time navigating the footing.

The Advanced division had a tough day Saturday with five horses retiring on course, two withdrawals, one technical elimination, and one rider fall. The massive Indian Mound was removed from the Advanced cross-country course early in the division as the footing on the top of the mound was causing trouble for the first few horses. Mikki Kuchta and Balmoral Tim Tram moved up from eighth place to first after cross-country, with two rails in hand heading into show jumping. Colin Davidson and Draco moved up from tenth to second, just ahead of Karl Slezak (CAN) and Charley Farley who moved up from 14th. Of the top five riders after dressage, Diana Burnett (CAN) and Manny were the only pair to stay there, moving up one spot to fourth after cross-country.

Competitors were treated to a party both Friday and Saturday nights. Sue Stepp, representing Bayer, the manufacturer of Legend for Horses, was kind enough to throw a pizza party after the competition concluded on Friday. It was a lovely event and everyone was pleasantly surprised, enjoying the chance to relax after the first day of competition. Thanks to Sue and Bayer, we all appreciated the unexpected attention. Competitors attended the traditional Poplar Place competitors party on Saturday. When I left the grounds around 8:30 pm, folks were letting loose dancing and singing karaoke.

Sunday is guaranteed to be an exciting day of competition, with the FEI levels show jumping and others having a go at the cross-country. Hopefully, the beautiful weather we have had the last two days will hold out until the end of the competition on Sunday. Until then, ride safe, love your pony.