United States Eventing Association

It was a ladies weekend at the Rebecca Farm CIC3*-W in Kalispell, Montana where Kelly Prather, Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe, and Kristi Nunnink took home the top placings aboard their three respective mares.

Prather and Andrea Pfeiffer's Irish Sport Horse mare Ballinakill Glory led the event from start to finish and rounded out their great weekend with a double-clear show jumping trip over Richard Jeffery's course.

"I just wanted to have a good round and try to stay composed and ride her the best that I could. She's a wonderful show jumper, so it's a pleasure to ride her. I was just excited to get in there and do it."

Prather, 25, of Bodega, CA and 'Pippa' were the only competitors in the CIC3*-W to post a double-clear round. "I thought it was a great course, especially for her, and it had a great flow to it. If you could lock into a rhythm, it came to you. I drifted a little bit through the triple line and was a little sketchy coming out over the last fence, but the rest of the course rode wonderfully, and that was just me not holding the ride on the line. She was an amazing girl--she's a very tidy jumper!"

When asked what she was thinking coming into the last jump, knowing that she'd left all the jumps in their cups, Prather admitted she was quite nervous. "With my reins kind of on the buckle, it was a little nerve-wracking, but I know she's amazing and I just encouraged her the best I could to just pick all of her toes up, because I really did want the clean round. I'd love to have a clean round for her more than anything--she deserves it, so I wanted to give it to her."

Rebecca Farm has proven time and again to be one of the favorite event venues in the country for riders. "It's a fabulous place and we just thank everyone so much for the support to have it," said Prather. "It's a blessing, really, to have a place like this. All the courses, cross-country, and show jumping, are amazing.

It was hard for Prather to pinpoint a single highlight of her weekend, but there were a few things that stuck out. "The very last fence, and the relief of landing and not hearing anything drop! Just the whole weekend, I really feel like my mare was completely up to the task. All three phases came together and I think we can improve on that still, knowing that we have this under our belt.

Wooten-Dafoe and The Good Witch Take Second

Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe and Daisy Tognazzini's seasoned Thoroughbred mare The Good Witch hung onto their second place. "I feel like the round went well, and again I think as much as any of the riders that are sitting at this table, it's just about developing your skills, applying your skills, and being consistent so that you can be competitive in the long haul. I believe in my horse and my horse believes in me and it's just about becoming a better competitor every time I compete, so that was my focus today."

Though they didn't knock down any rails, the pair picked up three time faults. "I wasn't thinking about the time very much--although I probably should have been," she added with a laugh.

Wooten-Dafoe, 31, of Ramona, California are members of the USEF High Performance team and were one of a handful of top riders in the country who were given grants to compete at the Burghley CCI4* this fall. "Actually competing at Burghley is going to be fantastic. I really feel like I can go there and stand my ground, so that's what I aim to do. I really feel like The Witch is ready and we're ready for the challenge so I'm excited. It's going to be here before I know it."

The California-native is no stranger to the event, having competed at the prestigious venue in previous years. "It's worth driving twenty-seven hours...and twenty-seven hours back!" added Wooten-Dafoe. "But absolutely I'd do it every year--it's a great event, one of the best in the United States.

Her best memory of the event? "I'd say being in the top three after dressage! That was a pretty proud moment. It tells me that our hard work is paying off."

Nunnink and R-Star Leave All the Rails Up

Kristi Nunnink's eight-year-old Holsteiner mare R-Star jumped brilliantly on Sunday afternoon, leaving all the rails neatly in their cups, but picking up five time faults to finish in third.

"I'm very happy with her," said Nunnink, 48, of Auburn, California. "Going into show jumping, my goal is always to stay really calm so that she can do her job because she's a fabulous jumper. She's young and I always just want to get her in there and give her the best experience possible so she keeps learning to be better and listening."

"She's a pure Holsteiner--she doesn't have any Thoroughbred, but she doesn't know that though," she added with a laugh. The mare is sired by well-known Holsteiner stallion from Hilltop Farm, Riverman.

Nunnink plans to make the trip east to compete at the Fair Hill CCI3* this year in Elkton, MD. The pair competed in the CCI2* at Fair Hill last year, but feels they'll be much more competitive this year with more experience.

"It's nice to have an event out here on the west coast that actually makes you feel like you're getting prepared for the east coast," said Nunnink. "I think this place and Robert Kellerhouse [Galway Downs] and Twin Rivers have done such huge steps in helping us and you can seriously compete out here and feel comfortable when you go back east.

Capt. Mark Phillips Pleased With Weekend

The Rebecca Farm course designer and U.S. team coach Capt. Mark Phillips was satisfied with the way his courses rode throughout the weekend. "It was amazingly quiet, which I'm very happy with. I think the courses were up to height and I thought they were fair and appropriate. I think people respected them, by and large, and I think the overall picture was pretty good. There's always a few exceptions, but I've talked to some of them."

The future the upper-level riders is looking very positive heading into next year's World Equestrian Games, as many of the top horses and riders will be getting valuable experience at some European three-days this fall. "I think we've got about ten going to Burghley and maybe another three or four going to Blenheim. Hopefully, most of those people are going to be competitive. Obviously, some will be more competitive than others, but that's the nature of the game. We're putting a lot more effort now into the development program. Some are starting to show promise like Jennie Brannigan and Cooper who went to Bramham and others are starting to realize how much more they've got to learn. But if there's talent there, you don't learn it in a day."

Prather Heads to Poland for World Cup Finals

Cindy and Larry Lippon graciously donated a generous grant in Jack Le Goff's name in order for Prather to compete at the prestigious HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing Final in Strzegom, Poland on August 21-23.

Prather was thrilled to tears when she found out about winning the Jack Le Goff Memorial Grant. "I was just told that we got the grant to go to Poland, so that's very exciting and I think my coach and the owner want to do that. I've never had something like that before, so it's really really exciting."

Jim Wolf, Executive Director of Sport Programs at the USEF, explained about how riders qualify to compete at the World Cup Finals. "It's pretty straight-forward as far as our country goes, because this is our qualifier," said Wolf. "We can qualify six to go from here. There are qualifiers all over the world--we're not satisfied with a single qualifier here in the U.S. We're negotiating with them right now to have more than one. I think this event is absolutely a World Cup Qualifying event--it's a world class event. It has a fantastic course, the footing is great, the organization is great, and all of the things they're supposed to do with press and everything absolutely meet the criteria. I'm going to work very hard to make sure someone from the FEI is here next year."

"I think it's a tremendous initiative that the Lippons have done to get our riders some funding in Jack's name. It's a very Euro-cenctric sport and to play the game, you need to be where the game is being played at the highest level and that's Europe right now. This kind of initiative is just what we need right now. The World Cup was Jack's brain child ten years ago, and he's really pushed hard for it. He saw the vision of it and it's coming to a fruition and I think it's very appropriate that we have a fund in his name."

Adequan USEA Gold Cup Sponsorship & Prizes

For winning the designated Gold Cup division, Kelly Prather and Ballinakill Glory received 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 Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe and The Good Witch took home a Nutrena feed gift certificate and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots, and third place winners Kristi Nunnink and R-Star received a pair of the Nunn Finer boots as well.

For their win this past weekend, Prather and Ballinakill Glory earned 200 points plus 40 bonus points for a double-clear show jumping round. They now sit atop the Gold Cup leaderboard with 415 points, well ahead of over 24 other top horses and riders all across the country. If they finish with the most points at the end of the Gold Cup season, they'll take home $10,000 in cash at this year's USEA Annual Meeting in Reston, Virginia!

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title: Adequan; Legacy: Nunn Finer, Nutrena, and World Equestrian Brands; Contributing: Cover-All; and Patron: Back on Track, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Mountain Horse, and Succeed.

Adequan is proud to be the official joint therapy treatment of the USEA.
Interested in sponsoring the Adequan/USEA Gold Cup series or another USEA program? Contact us at the USEA! [email protected] or call 703-779-0440.