United States Eventing Association

The third SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-Day of 2011 was run last weekend at the Indiana Eventing Association Horse Trials in Edinburgh, Indiana. Stacy Curwood and her own Cat Burgler were sitting in first after the dressage and a great ride on Saturday only to withdraw at the jog. This left the door open for Cathy Weischoff, Dorothy Crowell , and Melissa Miller, who were holding the second through fifth positions going into show jumping with Sara Millett and Shawshank sitting very closely behind in sixth. The rails were flying all weekend and the T3D was no exception, Cathy, Dorothy, and Melissa all had rails on their horses, but Sara jumped Shawshank around on a lovely clear to win the event on her dressage score.

“It was actually a huge shock to find out that I won,” said Sara. “I was in seventh place after cross-country so I never imagined I could move up that much.”

Sara Millett partnered with her own eight-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Shawshank, “Rocko” who she has owned for four years and she describes as “a worker bee with a great personality.” Together Sara and Rocko tackled their first time at a jog, icing, walking steeplechase and all of the other parts of a long-format event. The pair started the weekend with a 36.4 in dressage to sit in eighth place. No jumping or time penalties on Endurance Day bumped them up to seventh before their perfect show jump round gave them the chance at the blue.

“I was encouraged by my Aunt and Trainer, Martha Lambert, to do the Training Three-Day,” said Sara. “I thought it would be a great experience to further my eventing education and as a step up to the Preliminary Level. From all of the conditioning to the educational seminars to just riding steeplechase, everything was a dream. I couldn’t have done it without my team and the volunteers, especially the farrier who tacked Rocko’s shoe on in no-time in the 10-minute box. I had a great time through all the hard work, everything was so worth it. I would recommend it to anyone who is ready to do it.”

Cathy Wieschoff and Team Rebecca's Ready For April held onto second place despite two rails down on Sunday, while Dorothy Crowell on Grenadier took home third.

Training Three-day organizer, Lee Ann Zobbe believed that the Indiana Eventing Association’s event was a resounding success and good time for all, despite a high of 97 degrees on Saturday. “I want to give kudos to the riders that had their horses so well prepared that we didn’t have any super hot horses in the D box or at the finish,” said Lee Ann. “We had 17 T3D horses and 11 N3D horses from six states start the competition. I want to give a special shout out to Dorothy Crowell, Melissa Miller, and Cathy Weischoff for not only being wonderful and helpful clinicians but also for supporting the classic format as competitors. All are three-star and four-star competitors that continue to believe the classic format is a benefit to their young horses. Thanks to all our clinicians for donating their time and expertise—Dorothy Crowell, Martha Lambert, Melissa Miller, Dr. Chris Newton, and Cathy Weischoff and thanks to all our volunteers for making these things work.”

For her win in the SmartPak Equine/USEA Training Three-Day, Sara took home a SmartPak Wellfleet halter and engraved leather leadshank, a Five Star Tack Bridle, a pair of FITS Breeches, and she was entered in a drawing to win a year’s supply of SmartPaks or a Stackhouse Saddle.

Final Results can be seen here.

Other special awards included:

The Five Star Tack Sportsmanship award was awarded to a well deserving Stacy Curwood
Best Conditioned was awarded to Willpower owned and riddon by Maggie Hitron
Best Turned out was awarded to Joy Von Handorf and her own Augustus.
Best Young Rider was awarded to Jordon Coy on McPherson
The Molokai Award (an award for the best placing senior rider) went to Sara Millet
The $250 random drawn cash prize was won by Sara Millet
The highest place OTTB award, donated by CANTER was won by Shawshank.
The highest place OTTB dressage award was won by Cat Burgler

The SmartPak Equine/USEA Classic Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title Sponsor: SmartPak Equine; Presenting Sponsor: Stackhouse Saddles; Silver Level Sponsor: Fleeceworks; Legacy Sponsor: Five Star Tack Elite Sponsors: FITS and Nunn Finer.