Monday, October 22, 2012

Fair Hill Wrap Up

Crackerjack XC, Steve Berkowitz photo
 Once again, the Fair Hill International Three-Day Event hosted an exciting few days of sporting action. The weekend gave me fantastic rides on two of my up and coming, 8-year-old horses in the CCI** and both are showing plenty of promise for the future.



Crackerjack XC, Hannah Bennett photo
Crackerjack completed his year at the two-star level with a strong finish, in 5th place with 49.7. Throughout this year this horse has turned from a very difficult, hard to ride, crazy man into somewhat of a reliable competitor. The downside to his weekend was a huge discrepancy of 10% in the dressage judging, which is quite disheartening for a competition at this level. Once again, Crackerjack showed his quality in the jumping phases, jumping the courses with ease. Lucy Boynton, Crackerjack's owner and breeder along with her late son, Colin, has been a joy to ride for this year and I can't wait to get her horse out at the advanced level next year.


Crackerjack SJ, Hannah Bennett photo
Master Frisky, with whom I've had a short relationship so far, also showed moments of brilliance throughout this very grueling event, finishing 6th with 52.0.

Frisky Dressage
 I'm very grateful to Steve Blauner, from New York, for purchasing this promising gelding. Throughout the 8 minutes of Derek DiGrazia's cross-country course, Frisky felt green but dug deep and took on all the questions with courage.
Frisky XC, Hannah Bennett Photo
Like Cracker, I am very very excited to see what this horse has in store for us next year at the next level.

Frisky SJ Hannah Bennett photo
I'd like to thank Silva and Michael Barisone for helping me prepare so thoroughly for the dressage phase. I would also like to thank Lindso for doing an unbelievable job in the care and presentation of these horses on the weekend.

-Boyd

No comments:

Post a Comment