Texas Rose Horse Park hosted its first horse trials of the 2021 season this past Saturday and Sunday. It was a welcomed relief to all the Area V competitors and spectators after a grueling February that brought a polar vortex through the region causing cancellations and postponements for several events. The brutal storm shut down much of the region due to subzero temperatures that froze roads, broke water pipes, and even caused the shutdown of the electrical grid, which left many residents without heat and power.
So, it has been a bit of a month for Texans. Now they finally get a chance to get out, dust off the saddle, get that dually hummin’ down the road, and kick back and watch that famous Texas Rose Horse Park sunset.
For many of the riders, it was just an opportunity to knock the rust off after a grueling winter storm, but for others like Lauren Lambert, it was a chance to work on some refinement before heading to the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event next month to compete in the CCI4*-S. It was a smooth ride for Lambert and her own 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Fantastique (Toulan x Nikitona) cruising through the dressage portion of the event and demonstrating their fantastique (sorry, could not help myself) skills on the show jumping course.
Brooks Searcy and Chloe Johnson were also seen participating at Texas Rose this weekend. Several weeks ago the two were competing in the first-ever USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) team challenge conducted in Ocala, Fla. The team, Team Garth coached by Rebecca Brown, would go on to win the inaugural event with their other team members Camdyn Rahe and Kenna Jensen.
Although it was a rough start to the season for the folks in Area V everyone is excited to finally get the season underway. They will keep that momentum going with the Holly Hills HT event coming up in several weeks. So, stay cool Texas, or eh, warm, well you know what I mean.
Find the full results from the event here.
About Texas Rose Horse Park. Texas Rose Horse Park is a family-owned and operated premier event facility located in the beautiful rolling hills of Tyler, Texas. The 1700-acre expanse features a full size lighted indoor arena, six all-weather footing outdoor show arenas including one Grand Prix Jumper Ring, three show barns housing over 350 12x12 stalls, a tent pad to accommodate an additional 350 horses, a Beginner Novice through Advanced level Cross Country Course, a 61-slot RV Park and a concession court.
If you are wanting to get a good parking spot at the Kentucky Horse Park this morning, you better be on your way as early as possible! Cross-country day at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is easily the busiest day the Kentucky Horse Park sees each year, so it's time to grab your coffee and go ensure you get the viewing spot you want for both the CCI4*-S and CCI5*-L divisions today.
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.