July 2020 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN July 2020 Page 23 Real Estate Reach families with horses and equestrian professionals looking to relocate to this region with an ad in East Coast Equestrian . For more information, call (717) 509-9800. The news East Coast horse owners need to know Please resubmit your events for July through the end of the year to steph @ eastcoastequestrian.net Please provide event name, location, city, state and contact information for inclusion at no cost in our calendar. Attention Event Organizers! respecting the new guidelines. “Everyone is doing everything we’ve been told to do and we’re very aware of the responsibility we have to follow the rules and set a good example for everybody else,” he said. “So far, today’s been very good. Usually it goes very well here – Plantation Field has a great team. The footing’s always good, they have the best people, we’ve been helping out here for years, and everyone knows what to do.” Cross-country course designer Jeff Kibbie pointed out that, because of the competition suspension, Plantation Field was actually the first event on the Area II competition calendar to take place in 2020. Because it was effectively the beginning of the season for many riders, he said, “I tried to keep the courses nice and open so everyone could get out there and have a good gallop and a good ride. Hopefully everyone’s horses are coming across the line more confident and happy.” Jennie Brannigan, who had five horses to compete on Friday – three in the Intermediate, one in the Preliminary, and one in the Training – said that she was pleased to see how easy it was for everyone to social distance. “I think Plantation did a great job of keeping everyone far away from each other and keeping the entry numbers low, so that was really good,” she said. “I think it felt very safe because everyone was really far away from each other. It made me realize that eventing is actually able to do this and still be socially distant. I feel confi- dent that it was a good day for the sport and everyone was safe.” Brannigan explained that, with the exception of a couple weeks off at the beginning of quarantine, she’s been keeping her horses going throughout the suspension. “I think quarantine’s been good because we’ve trained our horses well – I’ve had a ton of lessons with my show jump- ing trainer Scott Keach and my dressage trainer James Burtwell, and then of course working with Erik Duvander,” she said. “And my whole staff is feeling revived because we’ve been getting done at a good time and we’ve gotten a lot of things cleaned so that’s been good.” Today was a chance for some of her horses to get out and stretch their legs in prepara- tion for the fall season. “I’m happy with the way things came out,” Coldren concluded. “Are there are some things that we could have done better or differently or more efficiently? Yes. But there has been no place that you see a gathering of people, and to me that was an important goal to have and we achieved it. Even in the parking area and up on the hill people were really respecting the guidelines. If you see three people standing together, they’re all from the same household.” Plantation Field Kicks Off the New ‘Contactless Eventing’ (Continued from page 22)