PrintThis practiced pair led from start to finish in the advanced division.
As thunder boomed and lightning lit up the horizon, Mother Nature, not Chris Barnard’s imposing course, worried the 17 advanced division riders waiting to contest their show jumping round at the Millbrook Horse Trials, Aug. 7-10 in Millbrook, N.Y.
The organizers, crew and judges hurried competitors through in reverse order of placing, hoping to beat the impending storm.
But neither weather nor schedule-induced tension bothered the unflappable Dobbin, who, along with his loyal owner/rider Corinne Ashton, waited patiently to jump last. In fact, Dobbin’s relaxed demeanor almost got him into trouble, as he loped into the arena and jumped the first three jumps casually, dropping one rail at the third.
“I thought with the storm about to let loose he would get a little revved up, but instead we went to the first jump under-paced and messed up the striding between [fences] 2 and 3,” said Ashton, Princeton, Mass. “I had two rails in-hand, but I knew I’d better get into gear after that.”
Fortunately, Dobbin jumped the rest of the course flawlessly and went on to win by 6 points over second-placed Leslie Law on Beatrice and Guy Rey-Herme’s Fleeceworks Mystere Du Val.
That Ashton’s 14-year-old, Thoroughbred gelding would win the dressage was no surprise. But at Millbrook he won more convincingly than usual, scoring a 25.8 and beating Law’s mount by 5 points.
Ashton, who just turned pro last winter, credited her friend Marcia Kulak, who schooled Dobbin for Ashton while she took a family vacation to Malaysia. Ashton returned home only a few days before Millbrook.
“Marcia really sharpened him up for me, then she helped me warm him up for the test here,” said Ashton. “Now I want to build on all the good training she’s given us.”
Dobbin needed no such fine-tuning for the cross-country test, however, as he jumped around Tremaine Cooper’s imposing track like a working hunter.
“It’s what we all dream of, why we all do this sport,” said Ashton. “Every jump was perfect. It wasn’t a job for him, it was fun.”
Dobbin and Ashton are familiar winners at Millbrook’s U.S. Eventing Association Gold Cup venue, having won the advanced in 2007 and 2005 and finished third in 2006.
“Everyone keeps asking me, ‘Why are you here doing this again?’ ” said Ashton. “My answer is, ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ [Dobbin is] the most consistent creature, he’s sound as a bell and the best he’s ever been. Isn’t this what it’s all about, having a horse that’s sound and happy and able to compete for years?”
Ashton will aim her venerable partner for the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in the fall—“Unless,” she said, “someone wants to come along and give me the $20,000 I need to go to England and compete there.”
He Won’t Touch A Rail
Buck Davidson didn’t waste any time bemoaning his narrow miss of a berth on the U.S. Olympic team with Ballynoecastle RM, owned by Carl and Cassie Segal.
As thunder boomed and lightning lit up the horizon, Mother Nature, not Chris Barnard’s imposing course, worried the 17 advanced division riders waiting to contest their show jumping round at the Millbrook Horse Trials, Aug. 7-10 in Millbrook, N.Y.
The organizers, crew and judges hurried competitors through in reverse order of placing, hoping to beat the impending storm.
But neither weather nor schedule-induced tension bothered the unflappable Dobbin, who, along with his loyal owner/rider Corinne Ashton, waited patiently to jump last. In fact, Dobbin’s relaxed demeanor almost got him into trouble, as he loped into the arena and jumped the first three jumps casually, dropping one rail at the third.“I thought with the storm about to let loose he would get a little revved up, but instead we went to the first jump under-paced and messed up the striding between [fences] 2 and 3,” said Ashton, Princeton, Mass. “I had two rails in-hand, but I knew I’d better get into gear after that.”
Fortunately, Dobbin jumped the rest of the course flawlessly and went on to win by 6 points over second-placed Leslie Law on Beatrice and Guy Rey-Herme’s Fleeceworks Mystere Du Val.
That Ashton’s 14-year-old, Thoroughbred gelding would win the dressage was no surprise. But at Millbrook he won more convincingly than usual, scoring a 25.8 and beating Law’s mount by 5 points.
Ashton, who just turned pro last winter, credited her friend Marcia Kulak, who schooled Dobbin for Ashton while she took a family vacation to Malaysia. Ashton returned home only a few days before Millbrook.
“Marcia really sharpened him up for me, then she helped me warm him up for the test here,” said Ashton. “Now I want to build on all the good training she’s given us.”
Dobbin needed no such fine-tuning for the cross-country test, however, as he jumped around Tremaine Cooper’s imposing track like a working hunter.
“It’s what we all dream of, why we all do this sport,” said Ashton. “Every jump was perfect. It wasn’t a job for him, it was fun.”
Dobbin and Ashton are familiar winners at Millbrook’s U.S. Eventing Association Gold Cup venue, having won the advanced in 2007 and 2005 and finished third in 2006.
“Everyone keeps asking me, ‘Why are you here doing this again?’ ” said Ashton. “My answer is, ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ [Dobbin is] the most consistent creature, he’s sound as a bell and the best he’s ever been. Isn’t this what it’s all about, having a horse that’s sound and happy and able to compete for years?”
Ashton will aim her venerable partner for the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in the fall—“Unless,” she said, “someone wants to come along and give me the $20,000 I need to go to England and compete there.”
He Won’t Touch A Rail
Buck Davidson didn’t waste any time bemoaning his narrow miss of a berth on the U.S. Olympic team with Ballynoecastle RM, owned by Carl and Cassie Segal.
