Winter 2023-2024 Issue

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For permission please call (717) 509-9800 or email steph@eastcoastequestrian.net EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN Winter 2023/2024 Page 35 Tropical Storm Changes Many Plans at Plantation Field Tropical Storm Ophelia played havoc on the Plantation Field International CCI4S, held September 21-24 in Unionville, PA. Of 38 competitors, only six completed the CCI4-star. Twenty withdrew before the start of cross country. Local rider Boyd Martin of Cochranville, PA topped the lea- derboard early, riding Luke 140, owned by the Luke 140 Syndi- cate, to stand first after dressage. He was also tied for third with the Annie Goodwin Syndicate’s Fedarman B. and in 23rd place with Contessa, owned by the Turner family. After having been sidelined with an injury during the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games, Luke made a comeback and finished 4th at the Luhmuehlen CCI4-L in Germany earlier this year. “I feel like Luke’s going from strength to strength,” said Martin. “This is his final prep for the Maryland 5-Star and I had Bettina Hoy training me all week. My beautiful wife Silva warmed me up today and Luke did a ripper of a test. I feel like he’s still got a few points in there to improve on.” Fedarman B, known as “Bruno,” is prepping for the Pau CCI5 star in France. Martin said, “Bruno is continuously improv- ing. We’re working on getting his frame more uphill in the dressage, and this was one of his better tests.” He said that Contessa is also continuously improving, and while her big stride makes collection a challenge, he feels like there is a lot of improvement to come with the mare. In the show jumping phase, Martin and Luke 140 had a rail down and dropped to ninth place, making room for Jennie Saville (nee Brannigan) and FE Connery to take the lead on their dressage score of 28.7. After a fall on cross coun- try from Contessa at a frangible oxer, Martin withdrew his other Ariel Grald and Diara, one of the last combinations to tackle the Plantation Field cross country course, jumped clear with 20.8 time faults to move from third place after show jumping into the winning position. Photo credit Amber Heintzberger two entries, Fedarman B and Luke 140. (Both horse and rider walked away.) Saville, West Grove, PA, who recently competed at the Burghley CCI5-star in England and rode seven horses in four divisions at Plantation Field, said, “I’ve been working on the show jumping and my coach, Erik Duvander, rode my horse while I was teaching a clinic in Aiken last week and we changed up how we ride him. We’re not starting him out super deep; he has a short neck and likes to go with a longer neck, and we’ve also been working on me calm- ing down.” She said, “The (show jump- ing) course was beautiful and the ground held up really well. I also rode a few cross country and it felt great. There’s no better event to ride in the rain.” On Sunday, Saville withdrew both of her four star entries, FE Connery and Twilightslastgleam, who have both won FEI events in muddy conditions, before the start of cross country. “This is the first time I’ve ever scratched,” said Saville, who flew to the Netherlands later in the week to represent the USA with FE Connery in the Nations Cup at the Boekelo three-day event. “I was about to go in the start box with Twilightslastgleam and decided the risk wasn’t work the reward.” New Zealander Monica Spencer, who was prepping for the Maryland 5-Star with her horse Artist, show jumped clear and in the time to move up to second place from a tie for third. She said, “I’m thrilled with Max, he jumped super in tough condi- tions.” Ariel Grald (Vass, NC) and Diara slotted into third place after show jumping with a dou- ble clear round. Grald said “The footing is holding up well and how I ride tomorrow depends on the conditions. She kind of over jumps and I’d like to give her a good run, since we’re in a good placing, but I will do what’s best for her to build her confidence as we’re preparing for the 4-star Long at Morven Park.” In the end, Grald and Diara, one of the last combinations to tackle the cross country course, jumped clear with 20.8 time faults to move into the winning position. Caroline Pamukcu, Riegelsville, PA, and HSHS Vamonos, who were 13th after dressage and jumped clear in the show jumping, moved up to second overall. Third place went to Canadian combination Colleen Loach with FE Golden Eye, and New Zealander Moni- ca Spencer finished fourth with Artist after adding 32.8 time faults. Grald said, “The ground was holding up really well through the morning and then it kept raining, and I think that was the last straw for a lot of people. Honestly that worked in my favor because I was still able to find the good ground for the take-off at a lot of jumps. For me, it was really important for this mare’s future that she learn to run in the mud. Diara is a super cross-country horse and super powerful but she tries too hard and jumps too big. It’s been a real learning year; I ran her at the four-star at Bromont in August and she was uncer- tain about it at the beginning, so I felt it was important to run today. And the course was so good, any time I get to run a Derek (diGrazia) track I’m so excited. Once we were out there she felt great. After I jumped the first few jumps, I knew she was fine, and now I have that confidence going to big events.” She said that the mare’s owner, Annie Eldridge, was unable to attend the event this weekend, but she said, “She is the most wonderful supporter! She’s thrilled with Diara and I couldn’t do any of this without her.” Caroline Pamucku took the top three placings in the CCI3S. She and HSH Blake claimed the win on a final score of 25.4. She also took second place with Redfield Dexter (23.6) and third place with HSH Tolan King (26.8).