United States Eventing Association

So, apparently there only good place to eat in Albemarle (just outside of Norwood, NC - where The Fork is) is the Applebee's right outside my hotel. I've eaten there four times already... not even kidding. Since I just ate my weight in fajitas, I better write up this Blog quick before I slip into a food coma....

Okay, well here's the scoop... sounds like we're supposed to get some ungodly amount of rain tonight (good news for the area since they've had some drought issues the past several months...bad news for horse shows), so the officials thought it would be better to move show jumping to tomorrow for everyone. The few Prelim divisions were already planning to show jump tomorrow, so it won't affect them as much. This will make a very long day, though, for everyone else... tomorrow's schedule is as follows: Prelim divisions starting at 8AM, Intermediate at 11, World Cup at 1:45, CIC3* at 3:15, Advanced at 5. Wow... long day of show jumping! Hope my camera battery holds out (fat chance...). Everyone then will run cross-country on Sunday.

Ew...as I type, it sounds like a MONSOON is pounding down on the hotel (complete with lightning, too).... poor ponies!

So I guess you guys probably want to know who's leading? What's the story? Who's lookin' good, who's whippin' out the big guns in dressage? Okay, sadly... the results are NOT up on the website. Keep checking though! Not sure what the deal is, because they were up there last night. I stopped at the stabling office before heading back to my hotel to check the scores, and here's all I came up with on short notice...

The results have obviously not changed in the CIC3*W (the "Advanced" division of the Gold Cup series), so Allison Springer and Arthur are still leading, just ahead of Mara Dean & High Patriot, and Kim Severson & Tipperary Liadhnan. Oh, but check out this cool story that I heard on Kim's horse! I got an email from a lady named Tracy Economidis last night after I posted the Blog about him:

"Hi Emily
I was reading your blog from the FORK yesterday and just wanted to tell you how THRILLED I
was to read your kind words of enthusiasm about Kim Severson's mount, "Tipperary Liadhnan"!

I am his "original" mom, I imported him as a 2 year old from Co. Tipperary, Ireland. I selected him as my "dream horse" from over 500 horses that I saw on my trip that year. His barn name is "Paddy" or "Paddy the grey" as Kim calls him. He was named after the wonderful gentleman that I bought him from, Paddy Corbett of Thurles, Co. Tipperary. He is by a GORGEOUS Registered Irish Draught stallion, "Fast Silver" (owned by Elizabeth Deane of Co.Cork Ireland) out of a Corbett family dam line , "Gypsy Star" RID (by Mary King's (UK) stallion, "I'm A Star" ) So he is also distantly related to Phyliss Dawson's stallion Brandenburg's Windstar.

I am quietly following his career from my home in Va. Beach, VA and although I am saddened that he is no longer my beautiful pasture ornament , I cannot express my gratitude and boundless enthusiasm that Kim has done such a FABULOUS job with him in the past 2 years and I hope to bring along his stablemates to such fame!"

Small world! Very neat to hear about his background - I'd wondered about his name, thinking perhaps Tipperary vests had a stakehold...well, now we know!

I had a fun chat with Aussie Boyd Martin, who's leading the Advanced with Ying Yang Yo with a 27.9. Apparently, both Ying Yang Yo and his other Advanced horse Neville Bardos raced in Australia and Boyd bought them cheaply as youngsters, and pretty much brought them along from scratch. Martin joked that he bought the bay gelding with the hope of taking him to the Hong Kong Games, so he named him "Ying Yang Yo" to give him some pull with the Asian judges.

Boyd thought that Ying Yang Yo, the more experienced of the two, would probably jump better tomorrow in show jumping with the switched format... Neville, however, "would be bit fresher. He tends to get more wound up and less rideable... definitely harder than he would be if cross-country were first," said Boyd.

Speaking of Neville, the pale-faced redheaded gelding was named for the infamous Australian criminal, who has quite a reputation Down Under. Neville's & Boyd are making quite a name for themselves here in America, but only for their spectacular skills, not their illegal activities! "Neville's getting better and better. I've never rated him as highly as Ying Yang Yo, but he's such a good jumping horse. I have high expectations for him at Rolex Kentucky this year, I think the course will suit him. He's only eight, so he's still young, so he's got quite a future," said Boyd, who has both his horses entered at the big four-star at the end of April.

Be sure to check out the newest issue of EventingUSA for a great article with Boyd and his wife Silva, who's a Grand Prix dressage rider from Germany. "Silva's been in Wellington, but she helped me a lot at Red Hills. Lately, I've been on my own quite a bit, so I've been learning from my own experiences, which has been very educational. Since I'm not in Australia, I don't have the access to team training sessions from the squad," he said. However, he has been getting steady training with Phillip Dutton, an ex-Australian (but still has the accent!). "Sure, Phillip's been pretty busy with his own horses and students, but he's been really helping me out a lot as well. He's learned so much through his own personal experiences and is the champion of riding so many different types of horses, from really hot bloods to warmbloods. He's really the master of adapting to any type of horse he sits on. Silva, on the other hand, is very classic in her riding and background, she also specializes in warmbloods," he added.

The handsome grey gelding Merloch ("Murray") and Bonnie Mosser are tied for second place in Advanced with Michael Pollard on Kate Luce's gelding Tia Lusso. Back from a befuddling, but minor, lameness issue that kept them out of the Pan Am Games last year, this pair looks as good as ever. Bonnie's friend and longtime student Rebecca Polan, who owns Close the Deal (whom Bonnie showed for quite awhile), actually flew down to Brazil last year, only to hop back on the plane home two days later when she found out Merloch wasn't coming.

Close the Deal, aka "Bob," has had to overcome some pretty big adversities in his life to get to where he is now... as a youngster he had complications from strangles known as "purpura," which led to heavy infection in his legs. He still has the scars to prove it, too. Not like that's slowing him down... the talented chestnut (who's sired by the famous pinto Oldenburg stallion Art Deco) partnered with owner Rebecca to compete in the Preliminary division this weekend.

Back to Merloch - I got the chance to have a "personal interview" with him...and let me tell you, he's an absolute doll! What a sweetie... hamming it up for treats! Bonnie actually discovered him in New Zealand about six years ago for her longtime student Alexandra Zavoyna (who won individual silver on him at Young Riders in '06), but when Zavoyna went off to college, Bonnie bought him from her. "He's a true competitor... at least he always tries to be," said Bonnie.

Even though she scored a 28.3, Bonnie felt like she definitely gave some points away. "He missed a flying change and broke in his trot, but overall I feel like his canter work's really improving heading into the summer," she said. The pair still have a relatively young partnership, since she got the ride on him at the end of '06.

Murray has seemed to recover a 100% from his mystery injury, but Bonnie wanted to give him a fast, testing run at Southern Pines in the Intermediate division last week. "I needed to know if he'd be able to take it - I need to know if he'll be sound enough for Rolex, so I had to test him a little bit." So far, so good - I'm crossing my fingers that this gorgeous, dapper gelding and Mosser have a fabulous weekend.

Oh, and here's some MORE good news! Bonnie's relocating to a wonderful farm in Gordonsville, Virginia - right outside of Charlottesville - after Rolex. Great news!

Okay, so we've covered the World Cup & Advanced... now here's the CIC3*: Leslie Law & Fleeceworks Mystere du Val are leading (by a LOT) with a 36.9, Karen O'Connor & Mandiba are in 2nd with a 43.7, and Amy Tryon and Coal Creek are in 3rd with a 51.6. Quite a spread there!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to chat with Leslie about his ride because he was quite busy with a stable full of students and his own rides, but I do know that he's very pleased to have the ride on this nifty horse, who Stuart Black used to compete.

I took a TON of photos, and I'll be setting up some photo galleries later this week, but for now, I'll just give a sneak peek!

More tomorrow - cross your fingers that the rain doesn't sweep us away!