Lima, Peru—Aug. 3

Cross-country kicks off at 11 a.m. Central today at the Escuela de Equitación de Ejército in Lima, Peru. There is no live stream, but we will be bringing up updates throughout the day, straight from the riders’ mouths. There will be live scoring here. Make sure you’re following along on Facebook and Instagram too.

Catch up on dressage day here.

You can see photos of the course, including a course map, here. Scroll down to see the order of go.

4:00 p.m. That’s a wrap for cross-country. Check back at coth.com later today for full results and photos! Tomorrow’s final horse inspection takes place at 8:00 a.m. Central time, and then show jumping starts at 10:00 a.m. Central time.

3:57 p.m. Carlos Parro helped boost the Brazilian team into second place behind Team USA, and he currently sits in third place individually on Quaikin Qurious. They added just 6.8 time penalties to their dressage score.

“She was so good, she’s so good,” Parro said. “She’s not very big; everybody just kept saying how small she was, but she’s such a good trier. She tries hard every time.

“[The course] was awesome, everything rode really good,” he continued. “Right at the beginning I chose to do a long route at the first water; it’s where our team member [Ruy Fonseca] had a fall at the beginning. They needed my results for a team score, and I played a little bit safe—sometimes you have to suffer a little bit with your individual result to play for the team; it’s part of the game. We’re here to get an Olympic qualification and we’re on track.”

In tomorrow’s show jumping, Brazil hopes to keep the pressure on Team USA, which has a 26.5 penalty cushion. “We’ve all got good jumpers and the idea is to keep them jumping clean and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

3:41 p.m. Jessica Phoenix of Canada was over the moon with her clear round on Pavarotti. They added 5.6 time penalties to their dressage score and stand fifth individually.

“That was his best cross-country ever. I am so incredibly proud of that horse,” she said. “He was smooth, he stayed rideable the whole way around, he was confident the whole way around. Just everything about it—I couldn’t be more proud of that horse today.

“I spoke to [team coach David O’Connor] before I went out and he said with the way the course has been riding today, it’s so challenging and, like, everything that could happen has happened. He said ‘Just be smart out there and if he’s feeling unrideable, do the long ways because we have to have a clear round.’

“My plan was just to go out and make sure we had a clear round, but I got out there and he was just so relaxed and so at home that I thought, ‘We’re doing it, we’re just going straight everywhere’ and, oh, what an unbelievable day, I’m so happy with it.”

3:30 p.m. The last rider has finished. There were 15 clear rounds, but only Boyd Martin and Lynn Symansky jumped clear and within the time. Fifteen combinations were eliminated, one retired, and 25 finished. Click here for full individual results.

Team standings are as follows (click here for full team results):

1. United States (91.2)
2. Brazil (117.7)
3. Canada (163.7)
4. Argentina (218.1)
5. Mexico (224.6)
6. Peru (268.1)

The teams from Chile, Guatemala, Uruguay and Colombia did not finish.

3:28 p.m. Boyd Martin discusses his double-clear round on Tsetserleg:

3:13 p.m. Double clear for Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg! They’ve now moved into first place individually, 3.6 penalties ahead of teammate Symansky and RF Cool Play. Carlos Parro of Brazil, who stood eighth after dressage, has moved into third place with a clear round and 6.8 time penalties on Quaikin Qurious. Doug Payne and Starr Witness stand fourth, while Jessica Phoenix of Canada is fifth on Pavarotti.

3:08 p.m. Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg, the anchor combination for Team USA, are on course! There are four more riders left to go after Martin.

3:05 p.m. Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti jump clean with 9.6 time penalties for Team Canada. They’ll slot into third place individually behind Lynn Symansky with RF Cool Play and Doug Payne with Starr Witness, in first and second respectively.

2:54 p.m. Jessica Phoenix, anchor rider for Team Canada, is currently on course with Pavarotti.

2:46 p.m. We’ve got about 10 rides left, including Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg, who are fifth from last on course.

2:41 p.m. Doug Payne discusses his ride on Starr Witness:

2:37 p.m. Colleen Loach of Canada had a run-out at the second water jump and 41.6 time penalties with FE Golden Eye.

“Unfortunately my stick broke between Fence 1 and 2 and he then got a little bit backed off by the crowds and the twisty course. It’s his first experience with crowds like that, so he just got a little bit behind my leg and I had nothing to get him out in front of it again,” she said. “He was a little sticky through the first water and I think that caught up to us at the second water. And we were just a bit slow because we took some options. He was very good; he just got a little bit green out there.”

2:24 p.m. We’re a little more than halfway through the order of go. There have been 10 eliminations and one retirement on course. So far Lynn Symansky and RF Cool Play are the only combination to finish double clear.

2:22 p.m. Doug Payne and Starr Witness jump clear with just 8.4 time penalties!

2:17 p.m. The third U.S. rider, Doug Payne, is currently on course with Starr Witness.

2:15 p.m. Overnight leader Tamie Smith and Mai Baum had one run-out and then were also assessed 20 penalties for crossing their path at Fence 23.

“Obviously I’m disappointed because I had a run-out at the corner, [Fence 16]. It all rode a bit rough and scrappy. I just tried to give him as a strong of a ride as possible; he’s a good horse. The flag [at 16] was pointed kind of the wrong direction, I don’t know if it like blocked his vision, it was almost like he didn’t really read it until the last second. We were all worried about that, wondering what they were going to do about it.

“I just tried to keep going fast and end on the lowest score possible and now we just need to bring two more clean rounds home,” she said.

The run-out was “really uncharacteristic” for the 13-year-old gelding, Smith said. “I rode it strong; I don’t think I could have done anything different. I just don’t think he read it. It’s a little bit how this course is—it’s rough; you’re going fast and you’re stopping and turning and fast again, and the horses don’t get in a rhythm. But it’s like that for everyone, you just gotta make the best of it.”

She didn’t change her plan after the mishap, she said. “I just tried to make up as much time as possible and get home as fast as I could.”

2:01 p.m. Dana Cooke of Canada ran into trouble at Fence 14 with Mississippi. “[The course] was tough, honestly. I was having a super round, I came around to 14ABCD, the Machu Picchu. It walks in a three; not a long three but I knew we had to push to get up there in three. And I pushed and we kind of got there in three and a half. So we scrambled over the house [the B element] and I got ourselves together and we jumped the next one and she just didn’t see the D, so we ended up having a glance-off at the D,” Cooke said.

“Came back around jumped the option just fine; she was being super, honestly. Everything else was awesome and she got to the corners at the top of the hill; I planned to do the right-hand corner, the further one. I thought it was a nicer line .I had a good shot to it and I went to leave the ground and she jumped left of the flags and jumped the widest part of the corner,” Cooke said, laughing. “So she actually jumped but not between the flags.

“I took a moment because the guys had to get the stuff out of the way, because everything got everywhere. Came back around and she jumped it just fine, and… yeah. And I got her home, which is the biggest part—you gotta get home, so I just kind of tried to nurse her home. She was still jumping great, she jumped super. She was still brave and bold and jumping, so we just kept going. So we got home, but it was definitely not the day that we were hoping for.

“There’s a lot to do out there,” she continued. “It rides tough, really tough. Everything pretty much rode as we walked; it we knew that Machu Picchu mound was doing to be quite tough and it was.”

1:52 p.m. Correction: Tamie Smith had a run-out at 16 and was assessed 20 penalties at Fence 23 with Mai Baum for crossing her path.

1:49 p.m. Guillermo Garin Heyermann of Chile was eliminated after a fall from Bipolar.

1:32 p.m. Pedro José Espinosa of Honduras and Hipolita finish with a clear round and 34.8 time penalties.

Espinosa said he was “super happy” with his round, despite spending a nervous morning antsy to get out on course. “The course was great; the footing felt super good. The mare, since the warm-up, she was going straightforward, she didn’t hesitate on any jump,” he said. “We had a couple stumbles in the course. Number 19 [the water] she had a little doubt because [of all the spectators]; she always gets  a little bit scared of the crowds. But I managed to put her inside the jump and she’s so, so noble and she jumps every jump, so it was great.”

Espinosa said he rode everything according to plan except for one change made on the fly. “Fence 13 I was going to go the direct route, but then I saw it and it was such a tiny turn, so I said, ‘I’m just going to go from the outside’ and I lost two seconds probably.”

1:28 p.m. Unfortunately Tamie Smith and Mai Baum have incurred 40 jumping penalties and 14 time penalties. We’ll have comments from her shortly.

1:20 p.m. Overnight leader Tamie Smith and Mai Baum are currently on course.

1:17 p.m. Dana Cooke of Canada and Mississippi finish with 40 jumping penalties and 37.6 time penalties. Pedro Gutierrez of Mexico and California Mail have been eliminated.

1:11 p.m. Eight combinations have completed the course so far; Canadian Dana Cooke is currently on course on Mississippi. There have been five eliminations: Ruy Fonseca and Ballypatrick SRS (Brazil), Carlos Villarroel and Quilano (Chile), Luis Eduardo Aranco and SVR Gruñon (Uruguay), Mauricio Bermudez and Fernhill Nightshift (Colombia) and Hans Chener Alva Pierola and Conterina Z (Peru).

12:59 p.m. “Everything went very according to my plan,” said Lynn Symansky, leadoff rider for the U.S., after her round on RF Cool Play. “The first water jump did not go according to plan, but we fought hard and he jumped it well. But everything else was very good. He’s a very good cross-country horse [with a] strong gallop, and finished easy within the time.

“I think this course is more diffiult than I think we have seen in the past at the Pan American Games I rode at Guadalajara [(Mexico) in 2011]; I was not at Toronto [in 2015] but I know some other riders [who competed[. This, in difficulty level, was harder than those two. It is at the level, but technically it is more difficult. The jumps may not be huge but technically—that’s why the water [is challenging]; there’s lots of things going on—that’s what makes it harder than some of the tracks we’ve seen in the past.

“I’m very happy; I think I did exactly what I was supposed to do today. I was the trailblazer, so it’s my job to go out and follow orders and bring information back to our team so we can get the other three back with clear rounds in the time and have a very good chance going into tomorrow.”

Hear more from Symansky:

12:41 p.m. Lynn Symansky and RF Cool Play have jumped clean and within the time as the leadoff rider for Team USA.

12:33 p.m. Karl Slezak leads off for Canada on Fernhill Wishes and finishes with no jumping penalties and 11.2 time.

“It was riding well. I was a little bit down on the clock… it’s a bit spooky to be in here, it’s [Fernhill Wishes’] first time seeing crowds and kind of trying to figure out his lanes, and he was fine. I didn’t feel like I was back too far on my minutes early on. In the second [half] I backed off just a little bit and then I got behind,” Slezak said after his ride.

The pair had a slip on a turn at 23 and had to reroute to an option, so lost some time there. “He felt great at the end,” Slezak said. “He felt like he had a lot of running still.”

As for the advice he’ll take back to his teammates? “The time isn’t as hard to make, I don’t think, as we originally thought; you don’t get as far behind at the beginning as we were originally anticipating. And the horese that really gallop, they’ll open up on those stretches really easily. But there’s a lot to do at the beginning; there’s just a lot to do. But then it feels great at the end.”

12:20 p.m. Cross-country is underway in Lima. Live scores are provided here.

Here’s the order of go: