United States Eventing Association

The CH-J* Eventing division at the 2015 Adequan/FEI NAJYRC began as a beautiful breezy day and ended with the Kentucky sun beating down on the Kentucky Horse Park arenas. However, it was Camilla Grover-Dodge riding the well-known 19-year-old Hanoverian gelding Remington XXV owned by her grandmother, Densey Juvonen that truly set the temperature for the day with their early score of 38.4.

Grover-Dodge and her Area II teammates kept the burners on until the final sizzling ride of the day by Morgan Booth aboard the legendary 19-year-old Westphalian gelding Twizzel. Booth and Twizzel, owned by Will Coleman, closed out the day in second place with a 41.8. Expecting the oncoming pressure cooker, Booth and the Area II team were up late in the night clipping Twizzel. “As the anchor of team, going last in the day, a position I didn’t mind being in, I knew it was going to be hot, and I wanted to make it as easy on him as I could.”

All eyes were on Booth as she had to sit and watch all 44 of the other riders go before it was her turn. When asked about the pressure competing two well-known horses and the expectations associated with that, both girls took straight forward approaches.

“I used to care what people thought about me riding [Twizzel] and let it get to me” commented Booth. “In the time that I have ridden him I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter. I’ve had this amazing opportunity to ride this horse and I make the most of it and have a great time while doing it.”

“I am so lucky to be able to ride [Remington XXV]. I want do well on him, to show Boyd [Martin] that I really do like him, and we have a really good partnership” added Grover-Dodge. Remington XXV is the same horse piloted by Boyd Martin over courses such as Rolex, Boekelo and Barbury to name a few.

The Area II team coached by Sinead Halpin led the next best team, Area VI, by just over 18 points. Amanda Beale Clement riding Peter Pan, and Skyler Decker riding Inoui Van Bost anchored the Area II team score with 46.5 and 53.2 respectively.

Overall Quality of the Dressage has improved in 2015

The consensus from ringside chatter was that it wasn’t just the Area II team that had raised the bar for the day. Overall the riding was as competitive as it had been in years and every team had notable rides and strong contenders.

Individually, Makenna Rold with her own 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Fernhill Imperial, “Perry” didn’t let the pressure of riding against two legendary horses get to them finishing the day in third place with a 44.9. In talking about the day before when all horse and rider pairs are allowed to “familiarize” themselves with a hack in the famous Rolex arena Perry was unfazed.

Rold said “He was awesome. He was walking around like he was in his own back yard” adding “I didn’t expect him to be as comfortable as he was.”

Area VI gave their coach Brian Sabo a considerable amount to smile about with a strong second place showing in the division. Rider Madison Temkin and the 17-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Kingslee, owned by Geriann L. Henderson led the Area VI team with a 45.2, and she also finished the day individually in fourth place. Footlight's Ollie with Madelyn Holtzman, Patagonia ridden by Amber Pearson and Lord Lombardi with Megan Traynham rounded out the Area VI team scores with 46.5, 53.1 and 58.9 points respectively. The team from Ontario are breathing down the necks of Area VI as they sit just 1.3 points behind with a total score of 146.1.

All of the riders will shed their tails and put on their body protectors to head out on cross-country tomorrow. The day kicks off with the CCYR** at 8:00 AM and then the first CH-J* rider leaves the start box at 8:30.

Ride times and live scoring available here.

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