The Fork CIC*** is This Weekend!

I’ve decided to just concentrate on my three advanced horses this weekend at the The Fork in Norwood, NC. It’s great to have Remington back in action. He had a slight sprain so we took him to the New Bolton Center last week and had the experts run some tests on him, and they’ve given him the go-ahead to continue in his preparations for Rolex Kentucky. He’s lost a little bit of fitness work but I feel we’re far enough off Kentucky that he’ll be alright by then. He’ll be running the advanced horse trials this weekend

Bruce Davidson’s mare Rock On Rose has been in fantastic form the past two weeks since moving back to Unionville. The weak link at the moment with this mare is her dressage, and last weekend I took her to a schooling show and did four dressage tests, which she performed as well as she ever has, so I’m excited and have high hopes for her dressage test at The Fork. She’s entered in the advanced and I’m confident in her fitness and jumping ability; my main focus is fine-tuning the dressage.

Last but not least is Neville Bardos. He’s partaking in the training session this afternoon leading up to the three-star with Capt. Mark Phillips and I feel like he’s going as well as he could be going. He’s been really, really sound and I’ve got him really fit for this event and possibly Kentucky, depending on what the selectors want to do with him.

Obviously the Kentucky four-star is a huge goal for any rider in the northern hemisphere and I’m thrilled to have three chances this year. I’ve got two first timers in Remi and "Lusty" and Neville ran there in 2008 so I suppose he knows what he’s in for. A lot will depend on this weekend to see how they run and pull up. Their soundness is very important, and they’re all three sound tough horses and it’s my job to give them a good ride this weekend and make sure they have a nice taste in their mouths going in to Lexington.

The horses' info is below:

Dressage / XC

Remington XXV A Thu 02:25 pm Sat 03:04 pm
Neville Bardos CIC3* Fri 10:52 am Sat 02:00 pm
Rock On Rose A Fri 02:33 pm Sat 03:57 pm

Live scores will be available from evententries.com.

-Boyd