The Elkton, Md., sky might have been gray and heavy with rain for the Fair Hill International Horse Trials, but all Nina Ligon and Fernhill Fearless saw was blue as they accepted top honors in the CIC***, April 22-24. The win was especially gratifying for Ligon, 19, as it was her first three-star competition.

“Given the rain and my experience, I thought it went very well,” said Ligon, Esmont, Va. “I’ve never competed cross-country in the rain. But he’s very sure-footed. I felt the best way to ride him was forward, because the more I held him back the more he second-guessed his footing.”

“Sparky,” an Irish Sport Horse by Mark Twain, completed the Boekelo CCI*** (the Netherlands) with Hayden Hankey in October 2009, just two months before Ligon bought him. But at Fair Hill, Ligon set out on Trish Gilbert’s cross-country course to just “get around safe.” She’d planned to run her first three-star at The Fork Horse Trials (N.C.), April 6-10, but Sparky pulled a muscle earlier in the year, which set back their plans. They ended up running in the advanced division at The Fork, finishing 14th.

“It worked out very well for us to do my first three-star at Fair Hill,” said Ligon, the 2010 U.S. Eventing Associ-ation’s Young Rider of the Year, who is currently ranked the top young adult rider on the preliminary leaderboard. “He felt awesome, and it was a good confidence boost for the both of us.“

Ligon, who trains with Kim Severson, claimed that her gelding’s cross-country performance “made up for a tense dressage test,” in which the pair had trouble with some of their flying changes and stood sixth on a score of 66.6. With only 8 cross-country time penalties, they moved into first going into show jumping, with two rails in hand. Even with one rail down, Ligon’s victory was secure.

“Show jumping has been the most nerve-wracking for me,” said Ligon, who has been working with international show jumper Katie Prudent. “He sometimes jumps hollow because I can’t always keep him quiet to the fences.
He likes to attack. So it’s often a hard phase for me. Katie has helped us out so much.”

Ligon and Sparky’s next run will be at the Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.), May 11-15, as part of her preparation for 2012 Olympic Games in London. Born in Thailand, Ligon has dual citizenship that allows her to compete for the Thai team, and she is “officially supported by the Thai Olympic Council, Sports Authority of Thailand and Thailand Equestrian Federation for 2012 Olympic qualification.”

“Because my mother is Thai, I chose to ride for Thailand,” said Ligon, who won individual and team gold for Thai-land at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games (Thailand) and team silver at the 2010 Asian Games (China). “We’re pushing hard for it. We’re thinking Sparky would be the horse to take me [to the Olympics],” she said.
But in the meantime, Ligon’s run at Fair Hill has given her some homework.

“This weekend was a good weekend to show me all the holes I have and what I need to work on,” she said.

“Which at this moment appears to be the dressage. So we will be heading to some schooling shows before Jersey Fresh.”

Homebred Hero

Putting in the extra work to produce a solid dressage test is nothing new to Fair Hill CIC* winners Kristen Parris and No Halo Here. Parris, Mount Airy, Md., has been concentrating on improving her flat work since the Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event and Team Challenge CCI* (Ky.) last October.

“I exceeded my expectations for this weekend,” said Parris, who operates Kristen Parris Eventing out of A Deck Above Farm. “My goal was to get a 58.0 [in the dressage test], because we scored a 62.5 in our last one-star. This weekend we got a 51.2.”

Parris, who trains with four-star eventer Lynn Symansky and has been taking lessons from Grand Prix dressage rider Vanessa Swartz, bred “Briley” and has done all of his training. Although in his youth he was wary of ditches and water, she credits their success to having a “close-knit relationship.”

“He would do everything and anything for me,” said Parris of her Thor-oughbred-Quarter Horse-warmblood cross gelding (Alexandar—Bayberry).

Briley, 9, sat on the “backburner” for a couple years while Parris focused on her top horse A Deck Above. Parris lost “Decker” in 2008 after difficulties due to a left hind deep digital flexor tendon injury.  

“It’s not really until Decker went downhill that Briley had to step up—and he did,” Parris said. “I worked up with Briley through the lower levels, and I’m making sure to take my time with him because I want him around for a long time. I wholeheartedly appreciate him.”

The pair–one of only two horse-and-rider combinations to run double-clear on cross-country—finished on their dressage score. Parris was also proud of their clear show jumping round.

“I felt the hard work pay off, and we were rewarded for it,” she said. “It’s a really cool feeling when everything comes together.”

Running Off With The Win

Doug Payne is still working on getting everything to come together just right with Patti Springsteen’s Running Order, but he got one step closer by winning Fair Hill’s advanced division.

“I’m finally figuring out how to really ride this horse,” said Payne, 29, who partnered with the Irish Thoroughbred three years ago after the gelding’s short career in Ireland as a steeplechaser. “He’s a quirky horse. He’s very spooky, but he doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body. The first time we school cross-country every year, it takes some coaxing to even get him near a beginner novice brush box.”

But having already been around four advanced or CIC*** tracks this spring, Running Order handled a rainy cross-country run without problems.  

“He’s actually quite good in mud because he’s light on his feet,” said Payne, Oldwick, N.J. “I wasn’t pushing to meet cross-country time because it’s not worth getting hurt.”

Everyone in the division incurred cross-country time penalties. Payne had one of the fastest rounds, with 20.8 time faults, to move up from fourth after dressage into the top spot going into show jumping, where a faultless round clinched the win.

“He’s done a lot in the short period we’ve had him,” Payne said of the gelding, who first competed at the advanced level in spring of 2010.

“Our dressage test had some good parts to it. All the horses were up because it was cold. His canter work was good, but his trot work was a little fussy. But I was really happy with his consistency throughout the cross-country and show jumping.”

Heading into the Jersey Fresh CCI***, Payne will continue to work with U.S. Eventing Chef d’Equipe Capt. Mark Phillips and top show jumper Anne Kursinski, whose Frenchtown, N.J., facility is not far from Payne’s.

“We’re making great strides at the moment. His core strength is still not where we want it to be, but there are parts that are coming along really nicely,” said Payne. “But whether it will all come together at Jersey [Fresh], that remains to be seen. Regardless, there isn’t another horse I’d rather be sitting on.”

Smarts Win Out

Lisa Marie Fergusson also enlisted the help of experts over the winter, which she says helped her and and her chestnut gelding Smart Move secure the win in Fair Hill’s CIC**.

“The winter with Betsy [Steiner] helped our dressage a lot,” said Fergus-son, 28. “We spent a lot of time on straightness and getting him properly connected. And I see the improvement even on the cross-country course. Like, I can keep his shoulders straight to a fence with a downhill approach.”

Tied for fourth after dressage, 7-year-old “Smarty” moved into the lead with the only cross-country round inside the time. “He really loves to jump and gallop,” said Fergusson, Langley, B.C. “Smarty is inherently really brave and almost always going to go.”

Showing in some schooling jumper classes at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) over the winter under the tutelage of Canadian show jumper Frankie Chesler might have had something to do with the pair’s clean show jumping round. But Fergusson insists the gelding, who she started as a young horse and ended up buying years later, is always up for a challenge.

“He’s really willing, and he likes doing things. He’s clever and wants to figure it out,” said Fergusson. “He doesn’t find time off very easily.”

Earlier this spring, Smarty, a Welsh-Thoroughbred cross (Brynarian Brenin AP Maldwyn—Dream Contessa) and Fergusson placed second in an inter-mediate division at Ocala (Fla.) and a preliminary division at Rocking Horse (Fla.). Fergusson will try to build on that success as they head to the Jersey Fresh CCI**.

“After [Jersey Fresh] we’ll reevaluate,” said Fergusson. “I’m not in any hurry with him. He is young and willing, and the most important thing is to not ask for too much too soon—because he will give it to you. I think he’s going to be a really fun upper-level prospect.”