Thursday,
April 22, The First Day of Dressage
Thursday
morning 19 horses from the Bayer Modified Four Star Three Day Event did their
Dressage Test before the Ground Jury, Barry Roycroft (AUS) President, Mr. Wayne
Quarles (USA), and Ms. Cara Witham (CAN). Mr. Roycroft is a last minute replacement
for Mrs. Angela Tucker who broke her leg last weekend and was operated on today..
The
weather was, quite frankly, appalling! It started raining before dawn and continued,
"heavy at times" throughout the day. The grounds of the Kentucky Horse
Park are already torn to pieces.Trucks loaded with stone dust and crusher run
are skurrying hither and thither trying
to put bandaids on yards and yards of "chocolate pudding mud" sometimes
eight to twelve inches deep.
Amy
Tryon, a recent winner at the North Georgia CIC***, scored 68.0 from 
Wayne
Quarles, at "H", 75.6 from Wayne Roycroft at "C", 75.6, and
from Cara Witham, at "B", 72.4, for a penalty score of 42.0. Amy Rode
My Beau, a 14 year old Canadian bred Thoroughbred gelding, who had placed 11th
with Amy at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI****, in 2002. (Amy and My Beau
are pictured at the right.)
Amy
resides in Duvall, Washington, and made her annual four day trailer trip east
earlier this spring. Amy was a member of the USET's Gold Medal Team at the 2002
World Equestrian Games, in Jerez, Spain, in 2002.
Amy
said, "I was really pleased with the test. The conditions were difficult.
It was deep in the ring. The test was better than two weeks ago, at North Georgia."
Holly
Hepp, of Middleburg, VA, riding Lester Piggott, a 13 year old German bred Trakehner
gelding who is owned by Marie and Bernardo Piskorz, also of Middleburg, is tied
for second place on a score of 50.2. (Holly and Lester Piggott arePicturedat
the left.)
Jessica
Heidemann, of Bellingham, WA, with her own French Twist, a 13 year old Thoroughbred/Belgian
Warmblood cross, bred in France, is tied with Holly also on a score of 50.2. Jessica
won the Silver Medal at the 2001 North American Young Riders Championships. Both
Holly and Jessica received 2 points off on their Dressage Tests for one error
of course.
Holly
is truly a Middleburger between two west coast riders from the State of
Washington.
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Thursday
afternoon the first 22 of the entries in the Rolex-KentickyCCI**** did their dressage
tests in front of the same Ground Jury as the Modified.
William
Fox-Pitt, of Newton, Dorset, England, the fifth CCI rider into the rain 
soaked
arena, impressed the judges, who gave him marks of 66.8, 73.6 and 72.8 for a final
score of 43.4. William's ride Thursday was Coastal Ties, an 11 year old Australian
Thoroughbred, owned by Lady Kelvedon. In 2002, Coastal Ties placed 11th at the
CCI*** at Pau, France and, in 2003m he places 7th in the CCI*** at Saumur, France.
(William and Coastal Ties
Abigail
Lufkin, of Middleburg, VA, riding her and Team Lufkin's 11 year old Australian
Thoroughbred gelding Kildonan Tug, scored 45.8 for second place. (Ab and Kildonan
Tug are pictured below at the left.)
The
penultimate rider, Donna Smith, of New Zealand, riding Call Me Clifton, scored
46.6 to slide into third place. Donna is based in The Plains, VA, with David and
Karen O'Connor. She and Call Me Clifton completed both the Foxhall CCI*** and
the Fair Hill International CCI***, in 2003.
Twice
Individual World Champion and multiple time Olympian Bruce Davidson, of Unionville,
PA, rode his and Joan Heymann-Bergmann's and Debbie Furnas' 13 year old Thoroughbred
gelding, by Babamist, to a score of 48, only the fourthpair in the CCI**** to
break 50.
The
Dressage Phase resumes on Friday morning at 8:30 AM.
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