Colorado Girls At Maclay

Another year's Maclay has come and gone. Pretty proud of my barn buddy, Ande Sozzi for qualifying and making the journey out there. Unfortunately, she had a stop at jumps 1 and 2 and did not move into the finals. She is so young (only 13 years old), I know she will be back next year!

Another Colorado girl, Kelli Cruciotti, took second place in the finals! Kelli qualified at the Colorado Horse Park taking first place in the ASPCA Maclay Region 6 Finals over the summer. She trains and rides out of Serenity Farm in Elizabeth, Colorado. An amazing equestrian facility with rolling green turnouts, amazing jumps, and many young excellent riders. I bought my now semi-retired Irish Sporthorse, Paddy, from that stable. The trainer there, Cindy Cruciotti, has trained many young riders and has pushed them through to qualifying for the Maclay. Reviewing her show results, I would say Cindy is one of the state's best equitation trainers.

Seriously though, their stable is beautiful! I had to add these photos of Serenity Farms. How could you not want to train here everyday?! No wonder every rider is a super star here, they probably are at the barn all the time! Check out Serenity Farm on facebook.

Okay...back to talking about Maclay....Kelli all smiles with a second place win at Maclay! 

Kelli on Monterrey at Maclay. He is such a handsome guy, love his cute face over the jumps. Photo by Nancy Jaffer

After one round at Maclay, Kelli was called back at 8th place. A total of 30 riders moved into the next round, an an extensive flat class that including extension, counter canter, sitting trot, and half passes at the trot and canter. After the brutal, ab burning flat class 20 riders were invited back and Kelli was again one of them. Kelli's performance in the flat placed her in third place from there. 

The final test was three oxers in a row to a bending line over the ASPCA jump. The competitors then cantered an oxer to a trot a gate and then cantering again to another oxer, followed by a double wall combination without standards and then a counter canter to a fan jump. From there, they had another bending line and a triple bar to a vertical-oxer double combination and a final oxer. Just typing this has got me exhausted! Kelli rode her horse, Monterrey, beautifully and shined at the trot gate where her transition was smooth. and flawless. Personally, my favorite obstacle in her round.

Kelli at the double wall combination without standards int he final round at Maclay.

@Phelps Media Group http://www.phelpsmediagroup.com/viewarticle.php?id=8485

Kelli has now proudly added her Maclay second place onto her extensive show background and other wins in Junior Large Hunter divisions 15 and Under. It's hard to believe such a well educated rider is not over 15 years old! She is truly an experienced rider, making her visits to many east coast shows prior to Kentucky, like the Pennsylvania National Horse Show where she took 10th place in the Pessoa Medal Finals on her horse Monterrey.

Fair Hill International

I had all these plans to cover Hanover Grand Prix and the Pennsylvania FEI World Cup Grand Prix, but I ran out of time! I only got to Fair Hill, so I am just going to have to post it now...

Fair Hill International.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of Fair Hill International CCI**/*** event in Elkton, Maryland which took place Oct 16th-20th, this past weekend.

I've always wanted to visit this event, the cross country looks stunning with the fall colors. The festival seems like a local hit with other events like car shows, dog shows, local food, and live music. Big names show up for the event, this year Phillip Dutton, Kim Seversen, and Buck Davidson made an appearance.

Looking over the results I was rather shocked at the amount of eliminations and withdraws from both the CCI Two and Three Star. It could have been the rain that caused many to withdraw or become eliminated. Cross country jump 13A, a double brush, did cause most of the eliminations. For the Three Star, out of 25 riders, only 15 went clear on cross country. There was a total of three falls.

First place for the Two Star was Sparrow Nio, a grey 15.3H Connemara cross who recently started doing Advance competitions back in September.

Inmidair (I love that name!) took first in the three star with rider Jan Byyny. Her first place win includes a free round trip to any international competition of her choice, valued at over $20,000.

@Jenni Autry

CCI Two Star
XC Optimum Time: 8:20
Rider	Horse	Dress Score	Dress Place	XC Jump	XC Elapsed	XC Time	To Date Score	To Date Place	Stad Jump	Stad Time	Final Score	Final Place
Allie Blyskal-Sacksen	Sparrow's Nio	47.80	8	0.00	8:00	0.00	47.80	2	0.00	0.00	47.80	1
Ryan Wood	Fernhill Classic	49.70	12-T	0.00	8:09	0.00	49.70	3-T	0.00	0.00	49.70	2
Colleen Loach	Freespirit-	49.70	12-T	0.00	8:07	0.00	49.70	3-T	0.00	0.00	49.70	3
Sharon White	Under Suspection	43.90	2	0.00	8:15	0.00	43.90	1	4.00	2.00	49.90	4
Danielle Dichting	The Graduate	47.20	7	0.00	8:27	2.80	50.00	5	0.00	0.00	50.00	5
Kurt A Martin	Anna Bella	49.40	10-T	0.00	8:22	0.80	50.20	6	0.00	0.00	50.20	6

CCI Three Star
XC Optimum Time: 10:03
Rider	Horse	Dress Score	Dress Place	XC Jump	XC Elapsed	XC Time	To Date Score	To Date Place	Stad Jump	Stad Time	Final Score	Final Place
Jan Byyny	Inmidair	45.60	5	0.00	10:08	2.00	47.60	1	4.00	0.00	51.60	1
Buck Davidson	Park Trader	45.80	6	0.00	10:20	6.80	52.60	5	0.00	0.00	52.60	2
William Coleman III	Conair	50.20	12	0.00	9:53	0.00	50.20	2	4.00	0.00	54.20	3
Doug Payne	Crown Talisman	43.60	2	0.00	10:20	6.80	50.40	3	4.00	0.00	54.40	4
Kim Severson	Fernhill Fearless	52.20	17	0.00	9:47	0.00	52.20	4	4.00	0.00	56.20	5
Ellen Doughty	Sir Oberon	53.60	21	0.00	9:58	0.00	53.60	6	4.00	0.00	57.60	6

Paget, say it ain't so! Clifton Promise tested positive for illegal substances?!

Depressing news I found this morning, that Clifton Promise, a three-day horse ridden by Jock Paget, has tested positive for a strong tranquilizer called Reserpine.

I was cheering for these two to win the Rolex Grand Slam this year, after their back to back wins at Burghley horse trials and Badminton horse trials. Clifton Promise will be banned for 2 months from competition pending the "B" sample. FEI will take the "B" sample for assurance on their decision, if this tests positive as well it is likely they will be suspended. Read more here.

To read more about their previous wins that they may have just blown (sad face) check out my previous September post.

Paget and Clifton Promise Burghley Horse Trials Show Jumping 2013

 

"I am going to need some of that coffee if you are doing to be sedating me." Pretty sure Clifton Promise said that.

Paget and Clifton Promise

 

Chronicle Of The Horse: Four Issues FREE

I love the Chronicle of the Horse magazines, they have great coverage of hunter, jumper, eventing, and dressage news. This morning when scanning through my recent twitter updates I was pleased to find an update for FREE Chronicle of the Horse magazines! Four free issues, it was worth a shot so I filled out the form here. It was fast and easy, they didn’t need my credit card, all they needed was my address. I encourage everyone to sign up and get their free magazines. I am so excited to be receiving magazines in the mail, something about it, its like a new present every month.

Receive your FREE Chronicle of the Horse magazines here.

Reed Kessler and Cylana

There is no greater bond then a horse and girl and Reed and Cylana have that bond. It isn't just another mount for her to win on, you can tell it's her best friend.  Some of my favorite photos of Reed and Cylana...

Paget's Now Has An Official Chance to Win Rolex Grand Slam!

Johnathan Paget won the Burghley title this weekend on his horse Clifton Promise.  He is now aimed to win the Rolex Grand Slam, a $350,000 prize for consecutive wins at Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky Rolex competitions.

He has 2 wins under his belt...will he be able to win Rolex Kentucky this spring and seal the deal? He probably has an excellent chance!

Paget wins from this weekend on Clifton Promise at Burghley

Photos from www.burghley-horse.co.uk

Read his rider's blog from the event here.

Paget wins Badminton 2013 on Clifton Promise.  Show Jumping video.

Paget wins Badminton 2013 on Clifton Promise.  Dressage video.

Learn more about Clifton Promise by checking out his bio and stats

Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials This Weekend!

Burghley Horse Trial is an International 4-star event held in the UK.  To find more visit http://www.burghley-horse.co.uk

Cross Country rounds can be watched here starting 07 Sep Saturday at 1:30p

Check out the cross country preview video here.

Rider's blogs, profiles, and event updates here on Rider's Blog

Twitter, podcasts, and facebook updates also available

Dressage results from yesterday, Friday. Johnathan Paget on Clifton Lush has the leading dressage score.  Check out photos here.

One of the cross country jumps, holy crap!

Orange Jackets

Well you can see them from a mile away, but we can't really disrespect the orange worn by the Dutch team.  Orange is there national color and therefore we love it!

The Dutch winning team in Gijon yesterday.  Photo by Hípico Gijón. 

Even the dressage team sport's a hint of orange in their jackets.  I personally, like the orange accent better then just the straight up orange. Dressage is always so classy.

Dutch take fist at UK FEI Dressage Nations Cup May 17th. ©FEI/Rui Pedro Godinho.

Why do they love their orange so much?  It's the color of the Dutch Royal Family and lineage to the House of Oranje-Nassau dating back to William of Orange.  It symbolizes being dutch.

Orange!  Celebrating soccer, makes you want to jump right in there.

Hampton Classic Grand Prix Tomorrow!! YAY!!

McLain Ward rode to a 1st place and 3rd place finish at the Hampton Classic Grand Prix Qualifier.  His first place mount, Rothchild, had the fastest jump off time. McLain has won this Grand Prix six times!

64 horses started out in the $50,000 Spy Coast Farm Grand Prix qualifier, but only 30 will proceed on to the $250,000 Grand Prix FEI final/World Cup Qualifter tomorrow, September 1st.  

Watch and follow tomorrow with these links on twitter and video.

Ward should be a fun one to watch!!

Shawn McMillen Photography

McLain in the $50,000 Spy Coast Grand Prix Qualifier at Hampton Classic

Who will be riding in the Prix tomorrow (yay Beezie Madden too!):

entry #	horse / owner	rider
136	LACAROLUS MRN FAMILY CORP	DEREK BRAUN
137	CYRANEIKY SPLIT ROCK FARM, INC.	DEREK BRAUN
158	SANDOR DE LA POMME MARY TYREE	CATHERINE TYREE
205	SLIEVEANORRA EQUINIMITY LLC	RICHIE MOLONEY
232	HH DARK DE LA HART DOUBLE H FARM	QUENTIN JUDGE
240	MARK Q KEVIN BABINGTON	KEVIN BABINGTON
320	EVENING STAR RALPH CARISTO	HEATHER CARISTO WILLIAMS
366	OLYMPIC DE CHAMANT SAGAMORE FARMS	JOHNATHAN CORRIGAN
402	JUVINA GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES, LLC	GEORGINA BLOOMBERG
411	COLORADO CANDY TRIBBLE & WINDSOR STABLES	JONATHAN MCCREA
478	DYNAMO AMALAYA INVESTMENTS	MEAGAN NUSZ
595	VOYEUR AMALAYA INVESTMENTS	KENT FARRINGTON
634	NICE DE PRISSEY REMARKABLE FARMS LP	BRIANNE GOUTAL
830	BONANZA VAN PAEMEL PASMORE STABLES, LLC	CATHERINE PASMORE
838	CHILL R Z PONY LANE FARM	CHARLIE JAYNE
841	WOKLAHOMA ARK PARTNERS LLC	ROBERTO TERAN
853	BOTTOM LINE KAREN POLLE	KAREN POLLE
865	UBRIS CHARTWELL	SARAH SEGAL
897	ARAGON ROUET WALSTIB STABLES LLC	MEG O'MARA
904	PICOLO OAKLAND VENTURES LLC	DARRAGH KENNY
911	LASKARA R MR & MRS BERTRAM FIRESTONE	ALISON ROBITAILLE
934	KISMET 50 BELLISSIMO LLC	CANDICE KING
957	ASLAN LJUBOV KOCHETOVA	LJUBOV KOCHETOVA
970	S & L SLINGBACK ADRIENNE STERNLICHT	ADRIENNE STERNLICHT
1017	ROTHCHILD SAGAMORE FARMS	MCLAIN WARD
1027	URAGUAY LEGACY STABLES, LLC	TODD MINIKUS
1065	CORAL REEF VIA VOLO CORAL REEF RANCH	BEEZIE MADDEN
1100	THE MAN TO SEE FAIR PLAY FARM	JAMES NORTH
1147	GLORY DAYS GRANT ROAD PARTNERS LLC	KATIE DINAN
1178	WHITNEY ST. BRIDE'S FARM	RAMIRO QUINTANA
1306	CYKLON 1083 SPY COAST FARM, LLC	SHANE SWEETNAM
1307	DIKTATOR VAN DE BOSLANDHOEVE SPY COAST FARM, LLC	SHANE SWEETNAM
1311	FINE MAN SWEET OAK FARM	SHANE SWEETNAM
1348	VDL TORLANDO TORLANDO GROUP	CALLAN SOLEM
1555	NOVEMBER WINDSOR FARM SALES	ALEXA LOWE-WISEMAN
1675	AMIGO HOLLOW CREEK FARM	ANGEL KAROLYI
1747	ZERLY CANDY TRIBBLE & WINDSOR STABLES	CHRISTINE MCCREA

Rebecca Farms Helmet Cam 2013

From this past month's Rebecca Farms Event in Montana.; helmet cam strapped on Snap Decision and Jeanine Allred on their CIC*** cross country run.

A run out is included for excitement purposes!  She ended up coming in 9th overall.