Tornado Survival, then Showing Style and Class in the Trot Up.

It was a very unusual day here at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event. The Wednesday of this event is usually spent on fine tuning some of the dressage test, then presenting our horses for the first horse inspection. However, after an early morning ride at 6:45 that went very well, the Tornado warning sirens started screaming.
We were instructed to gather all of the horses down in the Alltech indoor stadium. This stadium is usually used for the reining horses, but today it was the bunker for around 55 horses, riders, and officials. We were held in there for about an hour and a half until the storm passed. The trot up started soon after that.

In the past, certain people have been slightly critical of my dress sense and taste in clothing for the trot-up, but this year I had plenty of help from top fashion gurus, and my get-up this year included a Dick Tracey hat, supplied by Jane Hottensen from "Folly" in Aiken; button-up dress shirt & slacks by Bill Thomas from "Bills Khakis" in PA; and Italian brown dress shoes borrowed from my Aiken roommate Nick Meyers
Not only did I look the part, Remington looked awesome at the trot up thanks to my new groom Lindsey Taylor. He also looks fit as a fiddle and in good spirits!

My dressage is on about 1:45 tomorrow. I think I will give Remia light ride in the morning to loosen him up. Looking to Saturday, the cross-country course looks long, big and technical.

-Boyd

Fourth Place for Neville at Rolex Kentucky CCI****, All 3 Horses in Top 12!

Neville Bardos placed 4th overall (51.8 penalties)

Bruce Davidson's Rock on Rose placed 11th overall (63.2 penalties)

Ron and Densey Juvonen's Remington XXV placed 12th overall (63.4)

It was a fabulous weekend for Boyd and his three horses at Rolex Kentucky! With more horses entered than any rider, Boyd posted three clear cross-country rounds and finished in the top twelve with all three horses. In spite of a packed stadium today, ominous storm clouds on the horizon and the pressure of the WEG selectors looking on, Boyd really pulled out all the stops and gave his horses the Rolex experience that each of them deserved.

-Amber Heintzberger

Photos Copyright Amber Heintzberger 2010. Not for reproduction without permission (amberwriter@aol.com)

Boyd Signing Autographs for Ecogold at Rolex KY 3-day event

Thanks to Patricia Da Silva from Ecogold for sending this photo of Boyd signing autographs today at the Ecogold booth in the trade fair at Rolex! Be sure to stop by and do some shopping!

Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Lead-Up

We’re down to the final week leading up to America’s biggest and best three-day event in Lexington, Kentucky. Somehow it looks like I’ve managed to get all three horses in peak condition.

Rock on Rose, (pictured at right), has moved back to Chesterland and I’ve been riding her under Bruce’s watchful eye; she seems very fit and happy in her work and I’m eager to get her down to KY. Bruce has opted just to have me gallop Lusty two times from The Fork to KY as we both feel she’s fighting fit and she’s such an athlete, we don’t want to over train her by galloping too much. Her dressage work I feel is consistently improving day by day; the trick with her is to actually ride her a couple times a day, morning and night, just for half an hour at a time. She’s one of these mares you can’t really drill to get the best out of her, you have to do it piece by piece.

Remington, (pictured at left, on the right), the only warmblood out of the trio, his main focus is the fitness work. I feel I’ve got him as fit as humanly possible: he’s been swimming twice a week and has got the hang of that and he’ll do three fast canter workouts up Nelson’s Hill in the three weeks leading up to Kentucky. It gives me great joy to compete Remington at Kentucky as he’s been the one horse that no one expected to do anything in his career – except for Densey Juvonen, his owner. It’s been a wonderful experience being involved in the journey of Remington’s eventing career. Ironically he was basically the first horse that an owner sent to me to train and compete when I arrived in America a couple of years ago and he’s the horse that was never meant to be, as he was originally imported as a dressage horse, tried his hand at a bit of foxhunting, failed a few pre-purchase exams when he was supposed to be sold, and lo and behold here we are about to tackle one of the greatest equestrian events in the world.

Neville (pictured above, on the left), is looking hot to trot: like Lusty I’ve been gently grinding away with the dressage work. He seems really fit and is galloping up Nelson’s Hill with ease at the moment. He is the only horse that I’m riding that has actually done a four-star before (a couple years ago he finished in ninth and I feel he’s way ahead of where he was then). He’s a failed race horse from Kembla Range racetrack south of Sydney, also ready to take on the big time.

Even though I’m the only one riding the horses at Kentucky it’s been a true team effort between my super groom Shannon Kinsley, my assistant riders Lillian Heard, Caitlin Silliman and Sarah Gumblier, the coaches/lovers Silva Martin and Phillip Dutton and Bruce Davidson (only Silva in the lover department!), blacksmith Dougie Neilson, and the veterinarians that have helped out along the way, Kevin Keane, Mary Griffin, Tom Reed and Mike Ross. Thanks also to our outstanding sponsors and last but not least, to the owners who are good enough to trust me with their most prized possessions and to train and compete their horses, Ron and Densey Juvonen and Bruce Davidson. Thanks also to the most important pieces of the puzzle, Lusty, Nev and Remi.

Kick on!

-Boyd

Top Riders From Around the World Set to Compete at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by Bridgestone

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY-- Once again, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, this year Presented by Bridgestone, will host a truly international event at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, April 22-25. The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, part of the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM Series, attracts many of the world's best horses and riders as they vie for their share of $250,000 in prize money.

Enhancing this year's schedule will be the official Kentucky Cup Dressage and Jumping Test Events for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG). The Games will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park, September 25-October 10, marking the first time that equestrian sport's biggest event is being held outside Europe.

Riders and horses from eight countries in addition to the U.S., the largest foreign contingent since the 1978 World Three-Day Event Championships, will be tested at Rolex Kentucky in the Kentucky Cup Eventing Test Event of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

As always, spectators at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event can look forward to rooting on their favorite horse-and-rider combinations from around the globe. In addition this year, thousands of people will be cheering for Oliver Townend of Great Britain, as he attempts to do what only one other event rider in the world has ever done: claim the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing.

Boyd is taking three horses to Kentucky this year: Rock on Rose, Neville Bardos and Remington XXV. He will have some stiff competition that includes:

• 2008 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Champion, four-time Olympic veteran and 2009 U.S. Eventing Association (USEA) Leading Rider of the Year Phillip Dutton of the United States.
• William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain, a member of the 2004 Olympic Silver Medal Team and 2008 Olympic Bronze Medal Team, and winner of the 2008 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials CCI**** and the inaugural HSBC FEI ClassicTM Series.
• Three-time Olympian and 1999 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI**** winner and two-time Rolex CCI*** winner Karen O'Connor of the United States.
• Three-time Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI**** Champion and 2004 Olympic Team Bronze and Individual Silver Medalist, Kim Severson of the United States.
• Members of the 2008 US Olympic Team, Becky Holder and Amy Tryon.

"With the excitement of Oliver Townend and the WEG Test Events all surrounding this year's Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, this is bound to be one of our most exciting years in recent memory," said Jane Atkinson, Executive Vice President of Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI), producer of the event. "The level of competition at Rolex is at an all-time high, and I hope everybody will come out and experience it with us in Kentucky!"

For those who can't make it to Kentucky, there will be an expanded 90-minute broadcast on NBC on Saturday, May 15, from 3:00-4:30 p.m. EDT, just prior to the telecast of the 135th Preakness Stakes, the second leg of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.

The only Four Star Event in the Western Hemisphere, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is the premier competition for the top horses and riders in the Olympic discipline of Eventing. For more information please visit the Rolex Kentucky website at www.rk3de.org.