PrintAfter enduring a series of unfortunate events last season, Buck Davidson is back on top with two different advanced-level horses, and four more are waiting in the wings.
The latter half of 2008 didn’t quite go as planned for Buck Davidson’s two top advanced horses, My Boy Bobby and Ballynoe Castle RM. One’s competitive edge seemed threatened by imminent burnout, while the other couldn’t even manage to complete a recognized event from June until February.
But at the Rocking Horse Advanced Horse Trials in Altoona, Fla., on Feb. 17, Davidson and his two chestnut geldings put the past squarely behind them.
Davidson, 32, Ocala, Fla., won two of the three advanced divisions at Rocking Horse with “Bobby” and “Reggie,” and he rode a total of 18 phases on six different horses at the one-day event.
“I did my last dressage test and went right over to the show jumping, and four of my horses were standing there waiting for me with absolutely nobody else there,” Davidson said, laughing. “So I said, ‘Well, I guess it’s just going to be the Buck show for awhile.’ ”
Thanks to the coordination of his assistants and the careful scheduling of event secretary Rick Dunkerton, Davidson managed to fit in all of his rides and wasn’t even the last to go on cross-country at the end of the day.
“It was just a fun, beautiful, safe day, and it was great,” Davidson said. “Everybody from our barn was there, and I was so excited for the Segals, because I don’t think they’ve ever had two advanced wins on one day.”
Carl and Cassandra Segal, Pottersville, N.J., own Bobby, who was formerly ridden by Jessica Kiener, and Reggie, whom Davidson has trained up himself. The latter horse, a 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood-Irish Thoroughbred (Ramiro B—Ballyvaldon Natalie), cleaned up in the advanced test A, division 2, which came as a big relief after last summer’s setbacks.
As alternates for the Olympic team, the pair flew to England to quarantine before the Games. After the selected horses went on to Hong Kong, Buck and Reggie remained in England to compete in the advanced division of the British Open at Gatcombe Park in August. But during their stay in Europe, Davidson and Reggie inexplicably fell prey to every eventer’s worst nightmare: pure and simple bad luck.
“He should have won that, but I jumped the wrong fence because that’s how I walked the course,” Davidson explained. “They put up the fence that we were supposed to jump afterwards, and I never saw it, so that was a bit of a bummer.”
Davidson then re-organized and aimed Reggie for the Blenheim CCI*** in September. They were tied for fourth out of 84 horses after the dressage, only to have the event canceled the next day due to extreme rain and flooding. Then, trying for one last European competition before flying the horse back home, Davidson entered the Boekelo CCI*** (the Netherlands) in October, but he fell off at the 12th fence on cross-country.
“He just sort of bellied a log, and he didn’t actually lay over it, but it threw him right on his nose and just chucked me,” Davidson said. “I’ve never been chucked out of it so fast in my life.”
The trip-up was a disappointing end to a frustrating season, but it didn’t cause any physical or mental setbacks, so Davidson was able to take it in stride.
