Simple Name, Huge Competition

by Brandon Enyeart

photos by Katherine Ohlson

When you name your event “The Event,” I guess you'd better be able to live up to the name. This Gold Cup stop took place July 23 through July 26 in the big sky country of Kalispell, Montana at Rebecca Farm and attracted such names as Amy Tryon, Jessica Heidemann, and Kelly Prather, just to name a few. This was one of eight Gold Cup events held this year around the United States and one of three FEI World Cup stops in North America.

In the CIC-W3 level (serving as the designated Gold Cup level) Bodega, California’s Kelly Prather on Andrea Pfeiffer’s Ballinakill Glory (pictured at right) would start the competition with a dressage score of 45.6, just ahead of Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister‘s 47.0 score. Kelly and Ballinakill Glory continued to lead over the Cross Country course with only a 9.6 time penalty and then took care of the final day with a clean stadium jumping round. They finished the competition, just as they did the first day, in first place. Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe and Daisy Tognazzini’s The Good Witch finished in second place, and rounding out the top three was Kristi Nunnink riding R-Star. Tiana Coudray ended up falling to eighth place.

Absent this year were last year’s CIC-W3 winners: Tory Smith and Bantry Bay V, who recently were eliminated from the Jersey Fresh Three Day Event during the cross country leg.

Other highlights included two-time Olympian Amy Tryon of Duval, WA riding five different horses in five different levels including CIC-W3 and CCI 1 (pictured at left on Jude's Law). In the latter, she finished first place. Jessica Heidemann of Cain Lake Stables in Alger, WA finished first place in the Sr. Open Training B Level and Robyn Fisher, the somewhat underrated talent from West Hills, CA took first in three different levels: CCI 2 on Lady Calido (pictured below, right), YEH 4 on Artesian, and YEH 5 on Claire de Lune SE.

The blazing hot Rocky Mountain sun paled in comparison to the competition this year at Rebecca Farm. The 400+ turnout cemented Rebecca Farm’s position as one of the top locations for Three Day Eventing in the western United States. “The Event” certainly lived up to its name; the only downside is having to wait a year for the next one.