Is Luck the Sixth Leg? by Danny Warrington

How hard this game can be... both physically and mentally as well as the emotional roller coaster ride the sport and horses cause. Some people are not as lucky as we that do this for a living. This may also be lucky for them! With only one or two horses your odds of mishap maybe lessened. But by no means do I mean other people don't have the same problems, some just get the good luck if only by the odds.

This is the come back story of my good horse Will Smith which is still in progress. When Will came to me a few years ago, let's just say it took a few months just to be able to get him to the arena on a daily basis. Then the dressage was some what in the 50's and the topper to that was a 2 for my riding......a 2....... come on I stayed on! I thought an 8 even a 9 for the effort! Yet we managed to get better. Then the start box became the issue. At Waradaca a couple years ago he lost it, completely lost it. The quote was from Phillip Dutton who said as I was leaping through the air " I don't think he is coming back. Can I go? ". Back to the drawing board. I decided that it was the one day format the horse didn't like, it was too fast for his brain. You are done all 3 phases sometimes in 2 hours depending on how the divisions are organized. So we started to do only shows over 2 and 3 days and that seemed to work until they held me at the start box area because the judges weren't in place yet. @+(#@- ! So he got me off, got loose, got caught, ran cross country great and had a big leg sunday morning. @+)#@-! An ultrasound, 2 weeks at the fair hill therapy center, another ultrasound, months of hand walking and grazing, months of trotting and only flat work.

355 days from the "suspicious leg" we are doing a little cross country school the other day. I am having the time of my life THE BIG HORSE is back!!!!!! We jump 5 training level fences in a row ( so easy for an intermediate horse) then a prelim corner!!! Take a little breather, talk about how great he's being and off to the water! The training house in, around the corner ( the smile on my face just getting bigger!). A prelim house one stride into the water and in super slow motion he goes all the way down (and down goes Warrington as well). As I get to my feet watching him shake the water from the tack trotting away. I look for a hole (because of course my horse wouldn't just fall)....no hole! What could it be??? The 'in' was perfect, the 'down' was great, what happened!!! I am very self critical..... but I think the horse just fell. Like sometimes you just trip or stumble.

I feel like I have done everything right by the horse, by his owners and now we need LUCK! Mr. Jimmy Wofford talks about the fifth leg...... maybe luck is the sixth. Good luck to everyone!

Photo by Katherine Rizzo

Luhmuhlen Wrap-Up by Kelley Merette

Jet lag strikes again! I just boarded the train I’m taking from New York down to Wilmington, where Jennie will pick me up and take me back to True Prospect. Ping and I landed at JFK last night and he traveled very well and is safely to Newburg for the next couple days, as is standard US entry quarantine procedures. There were so many fun, interesting, and positive parts of our trip but it’s always nice to be back home, and I’m definitely ready to see my dog and sleep where no one is yelling in German! The weekend definitely didn’t finish as planned for Team Cambalda (as Nina dubbed our group) but I think that there are also a lot of positives to take away from this trip (not least that Ping seems to be getting a little better about air travel!).

First of all, props to Will and his two lovely horses for stellar performances this weekend, they did the US proud and both of those horses have yet to show us their full potential. What an exciting thing for him heading into 2012! I’m so proud of Jennie and Ping’s performance on Friday in the dressage, scoring so well in their first 4 star is really commendable, especially considering the electric atmosphere and the fact that part of the dressage arena blew over while she was circling the ring waiting for the bell – thank goodness it didn’t happen 30 seconds later when she was in the middle of her test! Friday night, we learned that European eventers put the Americans to shame when it comes to evening festivities – I never realized Clayton was such a good singer!

Jennie seemed to be in an excellent state of mind going into the cross country on Saturday – focused and confident that she and Ping were ready to tackle the course. Again, it was a cool, blustery day with periods of rain showers (the whole second part of our trip felt like English weather!) We were in good spirits from Will’s great ride with Missy (Andromaque) in the morning, so as Jennie’s start time approached I booted up Ping and checked his girth one more time and Jennie donned her helmet with Boyd’s helmet cover, a tribute to our family at home and the horses lost in the fire. Once Jennie was out of the start box, Lillian and I booked it over to the sunken road combination where we saw the second stop at the C element, then ran to the third water combination before heading back to the finish area where we heard of the third run-out. Let me make a point of this now, so there will not be an misunderstanding, conjecture, or speculation – Jennie rode like a champion, and gave Ping an extremely positive ride. He showed his youth and inexperience out on course, but the lessons to be taken from that ride have been well-learned. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the pair, they don’t make the same mistakes twice, and you can bet that the next time they come out, they will be twice as prepared and three times as tenacious. There should be no doubt that this pair is still destined for great success at the international level in the future.

From my perspective, obviously the most important thing is that the two of them return to the stable safe and sound, and that was thankfully true. Ping came home acting ready to go right back out there. It was also so eye-opening to be a part of the eventing scene outside of the USA. How strange to know hardly anyone at a competition, but so interesting to watch many of the top horse and rider combinations in the world. The level of rider skill and talent of the horses is incredible, and we definitely didn’t leave the event without making many new friends. Everyone we met, from riders, grooms, and event staff was so welcoming and gracious to us. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this experience, and hope I will get to someday return to Luhmuhlen, as it is a fantastic venue and should definitely remain one of the best courses in the world.

First Official Day at Luhmuhlen by Kelley Merette

Good Evening America!

We have successfully completed our first official day of the 2011 Luhmuhlen Horse Trial. Since I last updated all my readers (and well done, all of you who have chosen to read my blog instead of Nat's, EXCELLENT decision……just kidding, the "blog wars" are all in good fun, and as Tim Gardner, Cambalda's owner, stated tonight, they are both equally informative and well-done, in different ways) we have settled ourselves into our home at the show grounds and the horses are all very happy. We elected to stay at the barn we had been living at up the road until Tuesday morning instead of Monday, as it was quiet (even despite the reining competition), and the stalls were large and we had ample privacy. Anyways, Tuesday morning, I drove our car over to the show grounds with the lorry full of all of our equipment following me, and then Jennie, Tiana, Will, and Nat hacked the 4 horses over via some trails. Ping is an extremely workmanlike and consistent horse to ride, but hacking out is his one major dislike. Therefore, by the time the group made it to our new stabling venue, Ping was acting as if he was about to enter the start box for cross country, not returning from a "relaxing" stroll through the woods.

It took him a few hours to get settled, mentally and emotionally, but by the time we had ourselves organized and then Jennie had a lesson in the Main Arena with the Captain (one advantage of brand new footing, it needs to be broken in by being ridden on!) Ping had decided that he could get used to his view of the field from his back window, and his view of Missy (Andromaque) from his front window. It is important to note here for anyone concerned about the health of our animals in this foreign land, that 3 WHOLE bags of shaving were set up in the aisle to "quarantine" us from all the other competition horses……nope, don't worry, we have learned that this happens to be a completely foolproof way of preventing contamination between the American horses and everyone else. Thank goodness someone figured that out…..

Jennie and Cambalda's lessons with the Captain yesterday and today have gone extremely well. Ping has been very relaxed and yet focused, much the same as he looked before he put in such a good test at the Galway Downs (CA) CCI*** last November, so hopefully this is a good sign. Everyone has remained in good spirits (this trip will be remembered for those of us here as a big sing-off and dance-off, with Will's new obsession with Walt Disney's "Spectrum Song" and Nat's dance routine to "She Got a 'Donk" ranking most popular on the list -- stay tuned to Eventing Nation, videos of these performances are coming soon!) I found out this morning that European events have AMAZING breakfasts……coffee, tea, juice, pastries, meat, cheese, fruit, etc all complimentary to us. The competition is definitely starting to seem more imminent and exciting now, partially thanks to the arrivals of more of our contingent. Tim and Nina Gardner, the wonderful owners of Cambalda, arrived today after just spending the past weekend in Canada, where their William Penn put in a fantastic performance in the Bromont 3-star with our boss, Phillip Dutton, in the irons. Hopefully Ping will keep the successful streak going! Also, yesterday afternoon, our good friend Shannon Kingsley arrived, ready to jump in and help wherever needed, even if just to put Ping's tail bandage on some of the time so I'm not dodging the hind legs as often.

The jog didn't start until 5pm this afternoon, so there was plenty of time for the anticipation and excitement to build through the stables. I got him braided, beautified, and bridled in plenty of time to head down to the inspection, which was held right in front of the grandstand of the main arena (more than enough atmosphere!) Ping behaved himself very well even when things got a little electric and he and Jennie looked fantastic during their turn on the strip. A great start to the weekend, and hopefully a good sign for the next few days. Tomorrow will be the dressage for the CIC*** competition, which includes 2 of the 4 American horses, Will Faudree on Andromaque and Tiana Coudray on Ringwood Magister. It will be the final warm-up day for Jennie and Ping, as well as the arrival of the last member of our USA cheering squad, Lillian Heard. Cambalda will be doing his test Friday morning at 10:04 (4:04am EDT) so stay tuned! The photo is of me in our hotel room, wearing the new German glasses that Shannon picked up for me at the store today. These really helped me get my gameface on today, but I think I might have to draw little American flags to tape on the sides to complete the look. She also found Nat a lighter the size of an iPhone with a mini-flashlight on the bottom, so I think armed with our new gifts, there's nothing stopping us!

Bromont Wrap Up by Nikki Lendl

The weekend was amazing! Kevin had the first double clear round of the two star and finished 6th! Phillip finished with multiple horses in the top ten and everyone was very happy with that. I have had the best time of my life being able to groom for Kevin and being able to help out Emma with Phillip's horses. It is not every day that people like myself get to do this and I am just so fortunate and grateful to Evie and Phillip for taking me on as a working student and asking me to come. My congratulations goes out to all of the riders that have come out to Bromont to compete. This was a really fantastic event in every way and the orgainzers do such a nice job at making everyone feel welcome.

Of course the weekend doesn’t just didn't end with the last show jump. I have to say something about the drive home! We made it to the border ok, but it took forever to fill out the paperwork and such. It seems a little ridiculous since they didn’t even check the horses or question us about why we were here! This time I drove back with the horses, Philliip his daughter Olivia. Olivia fell asleep after a short while, which left Phillip and myself feeling a little sleepy since our official keep awaker had gone to bed. I made it to about 2:15 am, when I started to see eight lanes in the road instead of only four! But I had to keep myself chugging along to help Phillip stay awake. So I kept on drinking soda and blasting music in our ears! We eventually made it back to True Prospect Farm at 4:30 am this morning. We unloaded the horses, got our clothes and the dogs into the car and drove to the house. It was 5:30 in the morning by the time we made it home and light outside. It's been 48 hours since I've slept and we have camp starting at 8;30 this morning at True Prospect Farm! I have enjoyed writing this blog so much and I hope to be able to write one again next year… possibley as a rider!

Final Day at Bromont by Lee Lee Jones

Yesterday was the final day of the Bromont CCI Three Day Event. I got to the barns fairly early this morning to braid and bathe Cadet. The jog was around 8:30 and everyone was going crazy in the barns getting ready. The jog went pretty well, it was my first jog ever. Cadet was a little fussy and kept throwing his head up in the air. After the jog I jumped on him and had a light jump school with Phillip. He felt pretty tired from the cross country yesterday but overall he was really good! Then I changed my tack pretty quickly and got ready for show jumping. I ended up having two rails in the show jumping but I was really happy with him. It turns out that there were only four clear rounds in the one star. But an interesting thing happened during my round, the back rail of the final oxer suddenly fell down without the jump judges realizing. So coming into the final line I noticed that the jump crew guy was standing in the middle of the oxer. I jumped A but then pulled out. I ended up having to wait for about a minute while the jump crew tried to get the rail up.

I spent most of my time during the two star helping in the warmup, but I was able to watch a few rounds. I saw Kevin Keane's beautiful round on Fernhill Flutter, who by the way ended on his dressage score! I also watched Phillip on Ben, Young Man, and Mighty Nice. Unfortunately I left before the three star got underway.

XC At Bromont by Lee Lee Jones

Today was the cross country day at the Bromont CCI Three Day Event. My cross country ride didn't go quite as planned. Cadet and I had a "drive by" at 5b. Jump number four on the CCI 1* course was a hanging log on top of a hill and at the bottom of the hill were two narrow houses on a turn. I put Cadet nice and deep into #4 hoping I would be able to get him back nicely for 5 a&b but he sort of grabbed the bit and ran down the hill. Anyway I was able to get him back in time to get over 5a, but I wasn't able to make the turn to 5b. So we circled around and jumped it fine. The rest of the course went really well. We jumped just about everything right out of stride and he cooled out really quickly in the ten minute box. The rest of my day was spent icing and helping out with Phillip's horses. Overall today was a great day with only four falls on course. Tomorrow morning is the jog. Phillip has been making fun of me for putting too much work into my first jog outfit ever. I told him I couldn't help it. After all I have been waiting for this day since I was like six!

Photos: My horse Model Cadet and Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen

Day Two at Bromont by Lee Lee Jones

Today was the second day of dressage here at Bromont and leading the CCI 3* is Clark Montgomery, who had a beautiful test. Today Cadet and I had a pretty easy day since we were not competing. When I got to the barns I took him out for some grass and then at around eleven I walked my course with Phillip. He gave me a lot of helpful advice. Then at around one I watched him go on his new horse William Penn owned by Nina Gardner, who by the way has become my second mother, making sure that I eat this weekend. Thank you Nina! Then after Phillip's test I had a bit of a jump school. Phillip and I jogged for a couple of minutes and gave our horses a quick sprint to get there legs moving. After that we popped over a few jumps. Cadet was feeling pretty fresh! He doesn't like the bit that I use on the cross country very much so he kept chucking his head up into the air and trying to take off with me, but by the end of the jump he was behaving himself. Towards the end of the day I walked around my course for the last time. I went by myself this time so that I could really concentrate on my plans for tomorrow, I can't wait. I am also very excited that Jennie Brannigan gave me her cross country shirt for tomorrow! Thank you Jennie (: Hopefully tomorrow will go as well as it did yesterday!