It was a great weekend at Sporting Days Farm in Aiken, South Carolina. I rode six horses and was happy with all of them. The weather was nicer than at Pine Top a couple weeks ago, but not by much - it was a sloppy weekend but all the horses rose to the challenge.
Minotaure du Passoir led from "go to whoa" in the Open Preliminary A division, finishing on his dressage score of 30.4. It was the best he's ever gone, so I was pretty happy with his performance. I talked to his owner and she wants to keep him at prelim for a while and aim for a CCI*, maybe at Bromont this summer.
Also in Open Prelim A I rode a horse called Macintosh (pictured, right) for the first time. He came from Ohio for training and I rode him a bit cautiously on cross-country since it was our first competition together and I didn't know him well, so we had a few times faults, but I was happy with how we went around the course. His owner Ashley Johnson (pictured above, with Macintosh) sent him here to be sold and he's a quiet, easy going guy.
In the open training I rode Annie Jones's Young Man and Nina Gardner's Forgotten Emblem. They were both first timers at training level and they are both impressive young horses. They're still green but they have a lot of ability and talent and I think they are both good horses for the future. Young Man finished fourth on OT-A on 28.5 and Forgotten Emblem finished third on 34.1 in OT-B.
In Open Novice A I rode Bruce Duchoissois' Model Cadet in his first eventing start and he had a fantastic dressage test, scoring 24.5, which put him in the lead, but unfortunately dropped a rail in the show jumping and finished second.
In Open Novice B I rode AFW Ami Fidele, a horse I've been training. It was my first competition with him and he was fantastic and won the division. with 29.5.
For complete results click here.
Today I'm teaching a clinic at Carolina Cadier's in Athens, Georgia and tomorrow I'm looking forward to having a jumping lesson on Remi with Captain Phillips as a prep for running advanced at Southern Pines. We're heading up there on Wednesday and I'll be riding about ten horses over the weekend.
-Boyd
