The 2010 Land Rover USEA American Eventing Championships: A Year To Remember
by Joshua Walker
Eventers everywhere will remember the 2010 Land Rover/USEA American Eventing Championships. Whether you were there, followed online, or just heard about it, it was truly a sight to behold, and what the competition has always strived to be.
Carl Bouckaert and his Bouckaert Farm hosted almost 700 horses throughout 14 divisions, which included more than 50 entries in the $25,000 Merial Advanced division. The prize money alone rivaled that of any other horse trials in the world, not to mention the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.
The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games United States (and Canada) shortlist riders all showed up at their mandatory outing, making the AEC a true showcase of the very best horse and riders North America has to offer. All of this took place at one venue in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, from September 8 though 12.
The venue was near perfect, with some breathing room for minor improvements and for the next two years the AEC will be at Chatthoochee Hills. And though there were almost 700 horses there, claustrophobia was non-existent within the vast 8000-acre facility and five-star stabling.
The truly unique aspect of the AEC though is that Beginner Novice riders were welcomed with as much status and clout as the WEG team was, and their victories were celebrated with just as much gusto.
Some said the American Eventing Championships truly came into its own this year, its seventh year. It became the true Festival of Eventing it always set out to be and distinguished sponsors such as Land Rover and Merial noticed and helped boost prizes and prize money into the six-digit mark. Nearly 50 sponsors helped make this year's Championships into what we know and love.
And as champions received their ribbons and announcers rang on and on, listing a seemingly endless list of prizes and money each received, the smiles on the faces of the riders, horses, friends, family, and anyone involved reaffirmed what the AEC is all about; enjoying our horses and comrades in the eventing community.
Whether ten-years-old or 70, Beginner Novice or World Championship rider, we all celebrated, we all connected. There is nothing like seeing the majestic Courageous Comet perform his signature extended trot bearing tricolored championship ribbons. But then, few sights can beat the smile of a pony clubber and her trusty 14.1-hand mount, smiling from ear to ear as they gallop across the country. It's all in one place at the AEC.
Advanced Champion
The $25,000 Merial Advanced Division featured the penultimate leg of the Adequan/USEA Gold Cup Series division certainly wasn't a dressage contest this year. The key was being quick and clean, which only Champion Becky Holder and third-placed Nate Chambers pulled off.
Of course, most of the shortlisted riders either opted out or went for a quiet canter around Ritch Temple's challenging course, which is why overnight leaders Allison Springer and Arthur piled 31.6 time faults onto their score.
"I was looking for a good positive round before WEG," said the then shortlisted now WEG Individual Holder. "He's such a wonderful horse, it's really rewarding to put it together in all three phases for him and give him the kind of recognition he deserves."
Shortlisted Will Faudree and Pawlow jumped up to second place with a double-clear show jumping round, while Chambers and Rolling Stone II dropped two rails to finish up in third.
Intermediate Champion
Like the Advanced division, there weren 't many double-clear cross-country trips on the Open Intermediate course.
Which is maybe as it should be for a championship level Intermediate course. Of the 51 starters, three ran double-c lear, while six incurred jumping penalties. Time was the true test. Especially for a young horse like Donner. But Lynn Symansky was pleasantly surprised with her seven-year-old Thoroughbred gelding's performance over the track.
"I came here with lower expectations, But he was very good yesterday and great cross-country," said Symansky. "Time was tough to make but he has an amazing gallop so he ended up just a few seconds in."
A flawless show jumping trip secured their win on Sunday and made them the only pair in the division to finish on their dressage score.
Preliminary Champions
While Carrie Meehan and Blue Devil finished on their dressage score, they didn 't lead start to finish. They won the Preliminary Junior Championship in the show jumping.
Even with a solid dressage score, the scores were so tight in the top ten, any time penalties on cross-country would shift the placings, which is exactly what happened. Two time faults for second-placed Elinor MacPhail and Parador Mail dropped them from the lead and into second, while Meehan's faultless trip bumped her up into second place.
Felicia Bradley and Garryndruig Albie, who led Sunday morning, had a tough time in the show jumping, with one stop and one rail, and 12 time faults, left the top position open for Meehan and Blue Devil's double-clear to complete their voyage from fifth, to second, to Champions.
If this pair's name sounds familiar, it's probably because you read last year 's AEC article. This is the second consecutive Preliminary Amateur Championshp for Lynne Partridge and El Cid.
The powerful 17.2-hand Liver Chestnut Oldenburg geld ing has certainty proved himself at the Preliminary level in his seven-year-old year. He's even won CCI and CIC one-stars and Intermediate divisions.
So it was no surprise to see this pair in the winner's circle again. Their dressage score of 26.3 provided the cushion they needed for a very difficult show jumping course. Nobody in this division got away without a fault in this phase.
"He's going to get a big rest now," Partridge said. "In show jumping, I had a lot more horse than I thought I would. He came out feeling good. We had those couple rails, but I felt like he jumped pretty good overall. I'm hoping to come back at Intermediate next year, but we'll see."
Sure, 24.2 sounds like a pretty impressive dressage score, but believe it or not, it wasn't the lowest in the division. In fact, between Preliminary Horse Champions Doug Payne and Crown Talisman, and Reserve Champions Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison, there was only a difference of 0.3 between their final scores and half a fault difference in their dressage scores. Holling and "Harry" achieved the lowest dressage score of the show with a 23.7.
But, as the trend seemed to go, cross-country was the deciding factor, and specifically, making time. For Holling, it was two seconds that made the difference, That's a measly 0.8 faults. Payne finished on his dressage score, giving him a not-so-cushy job to accomplish after Holling jumped double·clear in show jumping. But Payne's seven-year-old Thoroughbred/Holsteiner gelding got the job done and galloped away with the tricolor.
Training Champions
The Training Horse division was one of the most competitive with a 94% finish rate. It took a perfect weekend for Robin Walker and Florenz to claim the Championship.
Like the Preliminary Horse division, it came down to 0.3 faults between Champion and Reserve Champion, Indie.
But they weren't the only pairs in this division to settle on their dressage scores in the end. 17 combinations did the same. The only other division to top that number was the Beginner Novice Juniors.
Still, says Walker, "The course was a good test. There were still plenty of places you could be disappointed at the end of the day if you weren't awake."
Had all three Training divisions been pooled into one monstrous super division composed of 156 entries, Training Amateur Champions Kerry Sachs and Good Luck Charm would have been crowned Grand Champions as they finished on the lowest dressage score of the level.
Good Luck Charm truly lived up to her name in the Training Amateur Division by carrying Kerry Sachs to the win on their dressage score of 24.B. Sachs is currently a Junior at Tufts University in Boston. Good Luck Charm, a 15-hand, six-year-old Dutch Warmblood/Arabian/Appaloosa cross. Her mom was the pony that Sachs grew up riding.
"We've grown up a lot together and spent this past summer as working students for Buck Davidson in Riegelsville, PA," said Sachs. "This was an absolutely incredible experience, and topping it off with a win at AEC was amazing!"
This was the fourth consecutive AEC for Kerry as her hometown is very close to Lamplight where the event was held for the last three years, but she believes that Chattahoochee Hills is a gorgeous facility and she was excited about the new adventure.
Natalie Epstein and Suits U held onto the second place position throughout the entire event, adding no additional penalties to the dressage score of 28.2. Rachel Taylor and Only My Life began the competition in sixth place and despite going over the cross-country optimum time by one second they managed to finish the weekend with the yellow.
Show jumping was the phase to win for Marissa Hughes and Ode. While they finished on their dressage score, it wasn't the lowest in the division.
Nicholas Hansen and Grand Cru posted a 25.2 and led through the cross-country phase. Hughes stayed right on his tail in second place. When two rails dropped for Hansen in show jumping, Hughes' double-clear round earned her the Championship.
Reserve Champions Mackenzie Spaes and Ripple Effect also put in a noteworthy performance stepping up from eighth place after dressage, to fifth after cross-country, to second after a flawless show jumping trip. While her score matched Hansen's at 33.2, being one second closer to the optimum time on cross-country gave her the edge.
Novice Champions
Local Georgia rider, Sarah Murphy piloted her own Flagmount's Irish Riverstone to the top of the leaderboard in the Novice Junior division. The pair sat in second place on a 28.0 after the dressage phase, but decked out in her signature purple, Murphy put in a double clear cross-country ride to become the overnight leaders. Murphy and her seven-year-old Irish Sport Horse left all the rails in their cups on Saturday to become the 2010 Junior Novice Champions.
This is Murphy's second trip to the American Eventing Championships. Last year she and Tawn Edward's WHF Zula finished in seventh place in the Beginner Novice Junior Division.
Alexa Easton and Carly Easton's Tiger Lily ended in second while Lulu Shamberg made her and Merry Go Round's long journey from California well worth the drive with a yellow ribbon to bring home.
The blue ribbon in the Novice Amateur Division went to Anne Wilson and her ten-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Axel who she purchased a little over two years ago from his breeder, Carol Latimer. The pair finished on their dressage score of 30.3.
"It was a really a pleasure and an honor to win such a prestigious show-it was like winning the Olympics for me," explained Wilson. "Axel has had a really good season, he was the Holsteiner Association's Novice Horse of the Year, and won the Area III Championship, but I am still walking on Cloud Nine from the win at the AEC. When I got home and opened my prize bag, I was just blown away!"
Wilson works in the Wealth Management department of a bank in South Carolina so has a very busy work schedule. "Riding mainly happens after work and on the weekends, so it takes some doing to fit it all in my schedule which is why winning the AEC was so rewarding for me. The AEC was such a fun and enjoyable experience. My trainer, Kathy Faulk had a whole group of students at the event and we all did really well and had a great time together."
Second place went to D.C. McBroom and Owl Hollow Farm's Ground Force third place finisher, Janet Mitchell and Dunlavin's Royal Rebel made the biggest leap of the group from a tenth place dressage score to finish the event in third.
Running clean across the country was another day at the office for Melissa Hyde and her 16.3-hand Hanoverian mare Sienna, but posting that key faultless show jumping round was more than just a routine.
"Every event we've been first after dressage and cross-country, but I've been incurring time penalty faults trying to keep this big mare together," Hyde said. "Today we broke our streak and put down a fast enough show jumping time."
Yet another pair to finish on their dressage score, it was in the Novice Horse division amongst droves of professionals like Boyd Martin, Mike Huber, and Allison Springer, to name a few.
It's safe to say it helps to ride with Becky Holder. Hyde and Sienna are students of the 2010 Advanced Champion and freshly-named WEG representative (and relatively new Georgia transplant), and it's certainly seemed to payoff.
"I've been out of it for many years," Hyde admitted, "so to all of the older competitors, it's never too late to get back into it. Once your kids are grown up, just hop right back in."
Beginner Novice Champions
The highlight of Saturday was the Beginner Novice Junior division. They were the final division to finish up, which they did in the big Grand Prix arena, much to the delight of the VIPs and Sponsors enjoying the show from the plush party tent atop the hill.
Beginner Novice Junior Champions Ashley Guidry and Mercedes didn't miss a step, despite feeling the pressure of a packed spectatorship and huge arena.
"It was really scary being in front of a huge crowd like this," Ashley admitted. "I've never shown in this big of an arena. It was exciting." She's had the privilege of working with Mercedes since she was a baby. "It's been a long haul to get her here," she said, "but as soon as she gets into the show ring she turns on her show mode and gets out there and puts it out for us.
"We had such an amazing show season this year. It takes a lot of hard work to get here." And was it worth it? "Oh yeah! Definitely worth it!"
Caroll Ann Bowers with her own 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Sportsfield Cocktail, moved up a place each day to slowly inch her way to the top of the Beginner Novice Amateur Leaderboard. Bowers and Sportsfield Cocktail have had a very successful partnership winning five of the ten events the pair has competed in.
Sportsfield Cocktail scored a 30.3 in dressage to place them in third, a clean cross-country round moved them up to second, and despite two time penalties in show jumping the pair was able to grab onto the lead when it truly counted! Jean Long and Full Circle finished second, while Maria Di Giovanni and River Breeze earned the third place position.
Tulla Gold only began competing in USEA recognized events in 2010, but that didn't stop his rider Heidi Wardle from going all the way in the Beginner Novice Horse division. The 11-year-old Irish Draught is owned by Guy DeCorte.
"He put in the best dressage test of his life that weekend," said Wardle. "It couldn't have gone any better. Tulia Gold comes from a fox hunting background which helps on cross-country, but he has a sense of humor and sometimes will throw in a dirty stop, so you really have to ride him every stride. He loves to show jump, he is really catty and athletic and he will keep the rails up-haven 't had one on him yet! Tulia just loves it out there; he is such a ham."
Heather Jans and Rickoshea and Sydney Conley Elliott, riding Lee and Donna Phillips's Saffario, were hot on Wardle's heels all weekend. They both put in double clear jumping rounds to finish on their dressage scores in second and third respectively.
