We take a look back at some of the highs and lows, best interviews, event highlights and top training tips of 2014 from the world of international eventing, month by month, in our series of articles. Click on any highlighted text to take you to any of the articles mentioned to read in full
While the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games were still underway in Normandy the eventing fraternity decamped to England for another big one – the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials followed soon after by the Blenheim International Horse Trials.
But we hadn’t quite escaped the WEG news; while these events were underway the FEI announced that two horses competing at the FEI World Equestrian Games had tested positive for Controlled Medication substances, one being Maxime Livio's Qalao des Mers that placed fifth individually in the eventing
Events
The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials
With William Fox-Pitt's Bay My Hero putting on a show, Shane Rose's CP Qualified spun and Andrew Nicholson's Avebury sent to the holding it was an action packed start to the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials 2014. The first day of dressage was a good start for Australian riders, Sam Griffiths and Andrew Hoy, who told us about their first day at the big event but Jock Paget was back in a big way when he took the lead from Sam with the first sub-40 score. William produced a strong and very polished test but couldn’t quite topple Jock however the banter in the press conference was around whether William’s wife, Alice would go into labour during the event. On Saturday we soaked up some of the misty atmosphere before the start of cross country with some food, shopping and bumping into riders not competing there but once the action started, it was full on.
Sam Griffiths and Happy Times were held on course at Fence 15 when a previous rider, Sarah Squires broke a frangible pin fence which had to be repaired. Although there was no fall of horse or rider Sarah’s horse Orto sadly was injured and later put down; after a short hold, Sam set off again only to be held a second time when Gina Ruck, who had been allowed to pass Sam during the hold, had a fall with Rehy Too. Despite the long holds Sam had the second fastest time of the day (9.6 time penalties but it was Andrew Nicholson and Avebury, the pair that know this venue inside out, who showed how it should be done. Andrew took a lovely flowing outside line through the Main Arena hurdles then also made big questions like the Trout Hatchery and the Maltings Oxer look easy. Despite taking the longer route at the Land Rover Dairy Mound he came in with the fastest time of the day, 11:33, giving him 5.6 time penalties and putting him into the lead heading into the show jumping phase.
One name that many may not have expected to be in the top ten after cross country would be Murray Lamperd but his ride on Under the Clocks soon had people sitting up and taking notice. Murray and the ex-racehorse, who had his ears pricked and looked full of running the whole way round, produced a beautiful round and came in with only 18.8 time penalties, leaving them in 10th place at the end of the day.
The show jumping test at any CCI4* event is a big ask for horses and riders after the rigours of the cross country. At Burghley this is no exception but there are a few special quirks about the unique show jumping environment, as course designer Richard Jeffery explained
A clear jumping round from Andrew Nicholson gave him an emotional third win in a row on Avebury and a new record while Jock Paget overtook Sam Griffiths, still enjoying a well deserved purple patch with a third place, and Australia’s Bill Levett and Murray Lamperd had plenty to celebrate too
View our full Burghley coverage with interviews, videos, daily reports and photograph galleries
Blenheim International Horse Trials
Margit Appelt’s Austrian costume at Blenheim’s first horse inspection set us thinking about some opportunities that event organisers may be missing during the crucial first phase of the eventing competition. On her first visit to the UK, Austrian rider Margit Appelt really got people talking not only with her national costume at the trot up but also with her bright yellow cross country outfit and great attitude
The Aussies were out in force at Blenheim in the CIC3* while young Emily King and her own ‘Aussie’, Brookleigh, competing at their first CCI3* stole the march on William Fox-Pitt to lead the CCI3* with a little help from a very experienced but slightly ‘slack’ groom, also known as Mary King. On Friday James Bond (aka Francis Whittington) put in an appearance at Blenheim, as did HRH The Princess Royal and by the end of the day two Australians, Andrew Hoy and Sam Griffiths, topped the CIC3* and CCI3* leader boards.
The CCI3* cross country course threw up some challenges for the riders with loose dogs, some tricky fences and a bit of a re-shuffle at the top. William Fox-Pitt had a dog accompanying him for a little way on his second horse, Freddie Mac but it was Fence 11 which nearly proved their undoing as Freddie Mac slipped between the two elements but William sat tight and skidded over the second part by the skin of his pants. It was a great piece of riding resulting in the second double clear of the day, moving them into the lead where they stayed for the rest of the day however this was a jinxed fence for William, who opted to walk home from here on his other two horses Fernhill Pimms and Seacookie
In the CIC3* Tim Lips took the lead after Saturday’s challenging show jumping day for the 8 and 9 Year Old class but by the end of the competition it was New Zealand and Australia that took out the top five places with just 0.3 penalties separating first and third and Jonelle Price victorious aboard the beautiful little Faerie Dianimo
The winner of the CCI3* was a popular one – the first ever CCI3* win for Francis Whittington riding Catherine Witt’s talented grey, Easy Target in a tense finale. With only 0.8 penalties between the leader William Fox-Pitt riding Freddie Mac and Francis, a clear round from Francis and Easy Target put the pressure on the great man. William very nearly clinched the deal but the third last fence fell and Francis won his first ever CCI3*.
And just in case you’re looking for somewhere to stay during the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials we have found the perfect place – Water Meadow Cottage on the Blenheim Estate
View our full Blenheim coverage with interviews, videos, daily reports and photograph galleries
Although we didn’t meet HRH at Blenheim we got a lot closer to the royal presence at a friendly local event run event that happens to be run by a Princess – the Gatcombe International Horse Trials sponsored by Whatley Manor. Princess Anne is not only the co-course designer here but also keeps a very close eye on the condition of the fences throughout the event, awarding a prize to the jump judge with the best kept cross country fence
There were no princesses at Mudgee (well, not real ones anyway) which was the place to spend the WEG weekend. Laptops and ipads were running until the small hours to watch the Games while eventing was enjoyed by all amidst some the stunning scenery at the Mudgee One Day Event. The 2014 event attracted over 260 competitors, nearly double the numbers in 2013, with classes ranging from EvA45 to CNC* and with big events in Australia struggling for numbers in 2014 the Queensland International 3DE organising committee were very happy with their 175 horse and rider entries. The lead up to the event was perfect with approximately 70 mls of welcome rain soaking the course in the fortnight leading to the event providing perfect surfaces on the arenas and cross country courses
Interviews
“This is the highlight of my career so far” said Jonelle Price while her husband Tim had the “down part of the roller coaster” when we spoke to them about the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and Australia’s Natalie Blundell, who was recovering from a fall on cross country at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, had also had a bit of a roller coaster ride herself when we spoke to her
At Burghley we caught up with Nicky Roncoroni who has competed in the final of the Burghley Young Event Horse for the past 16 years and this year came third in the 5YO class on Templemartin Flight and for one Australian rider, Burghley is now his local event. In this video interview we talked to Andrew Hoy at his new yard about the plans for Somerby Stables
Another Antipodean living in the UK is New Zealand’s Megan Heath who has reached 4* level on her horse St. Daniel despite having only competed in eventing for the past five years and working full time in a high powered banking job while Joanne Bridgman prefers to remain in the land of the long white cloud. From there the New Zealand horse agent keeps an eye out for special horses; in this interview she tells us what she looks for in these equine ethletes, how she found horses such as Parklane Hawk and Freddie Mac for William Fox-Pitt and about her love of horses and riding
Features
Over in Qatar the host nation of the Republic of South Korea took team and individual gold in the eventing at the Asian Games 2014 in Incheon and we found out more about the Qatar eventing team who were based with Joss Gray in the UK before heading to compete at the 2014 Asian Games with some interesting horses
None of their horses were as big as Jungle George, a 17.2hh Clydesdale horse, owned and ridden by Ashley Kelly, that you just can’t help but notice. Sometimes it can be their colour that catches your eye but what brought Jungle George to our attention was his sheer size along with the way the ground almost seemed to move as he galloped past.
And where would we be without jump judges? These important helpers are made up of riders of all levels, mums, dads and dogs – we find out a little more about the volunteers who were manning (and womanning) the fences as jump judges at an event at Werribee Park in Australia
Most watched cross country video
Friends of Werribee - Tesse Cook and Rimfire Don Pierre CNC3* winners
Top 3 (most read) blogs
Elizabeth Wischer’s “Well poop!”
Alice Hirst’s “Do what you love and you will love what you do”
Tinney Eventing’s “ Thank you”
Top 3 (most viewed) photo galleries
