Fun Scenes, First-Timers And Long-Awaited Returns At Land Rover Kentucky

PUBLISHED

April 26, 2018
4:25 pm

WORDS BY

Sara Lieser

Sponsored by Morton Buildings

Lexington, Ky.—April 26

While all the focus tends to land on the leaders at the Land Rover Kentucky CCI****, many of the competitors come with more personal goals.

For four-star first-timer Sara Gumbiner, just making it through dressage with Polaris was an accomplishment.

“I’m really glad it’s over!” she said after her test, which scored a 47.2. “I feel like he was pretty tense in there, but we held it together. He’s shown me a lot naughtier movements in a lot less atmosphere, so I was pretty excited about it. He always wins the warm-up, but he does get a little electric. I feel like I held it together and was really happy. As soon as you get in there you can feel the electricity from the floor, and I’m so blessed to be here, and I’m just trying to live in the moment and enjoy every second of it.”

She’s had “Larry” since he was 5, and you can learn more about this pair in the April 23 and 30 edition of The Chronicle of the Horse.

Sara Gumbiner couldn’t stop smiling after her test with Polaris. Photo by Kimberly Loushin.

“I would say cross-country is his strength, but I took a look at that cross-country, and I’ve never done anything quite like that, so it’s going to be a challenge,” she continued.

Gumbiner may be a Kentucky rookie, but she can already count one victory—she won the best dressed award at the first horse inspection and will go home with a new pair of Dubarry boots.

The male winner of the best dressed award, Waylon Roberts, has competed at Kentucky before, but it’s been a while.

“I was here 10 years ago on Paleface,” he said. “That’s like a lifetime ago in riding. It really felt like my first time in there. It was [Kelecyn Cognac’s] first time doing the four-star test. I didn’t have any pressure. I just went in there and had fun on him. He was great.”

Roberts, 29, is the son of two Olympic eventers, Ian Roberts and Kelly Plitz, but he’s also worked with Phillip Dutton and Oliver Townend among others.

It’s been 10 years since Waylon Roberts competed at the Land Rover Kentucky CCI****, but he returned this year with Kelecyn Cognac and currently sits sixth. Photo by Kimberly Loushin.

“I’ve always taken a lot of instruction from a lot of different people,” he said. “My parents were very good at sending me away and getting other points of view. I’ve learned how to take what works for me and apply it, and I’ve still got a whole ton more to learn. Good eyes on the ground are worth way more than a good seat in the saddle.”

See more of our favorite photos from the day.

Another rider who was excited to return to Kentucky after a few years off was Leah Lang-Gluscic, who completed in 2016 with her popular off-the-track Thoroughbred AP Prime but then had to sit out a year when an injury sidelined the gelding.

“It wasn’t very good,” she admitted of her slightly tense dressage test. “But that’s OK. It’s even less of a dressage show now without the coefficient [in the dressage score], and I’m sitting on one of the best cross-country horses in the world. In 2016 he had the time of his life out there. I’m a little bummed because he’s been going so nicely on the flat. Even yesterday and in ring familiarization he was so honest in the contact, and then he just got a little excited, and I’m sure I got a little excited. We need to get in venues like this more often.”

Leah Lang-Gluscic gave the crowd a wave after her test with AP Prime. Photo by Kimberly Loushin.

Of the 13-year-old gelding’s return from injury, Lang-Gluscic admitted she’s careful with every run. “At this point, my threshold for calling it a day on him is so low,” she said. “If he’s not perfect, he doesn’t do this. Every ride on him is day by day. If for one second he indicates to me that this isn’t exactly what he wants to be doing, then he doesn’t. It’s just a privilege. Today is a gift.

“He just lives for this,” she added. “I’m so pumped. Yesterday, even just his jog photos had like 500 likes. People were so excited to see him back here. I’m so excited to be able to share him with everyone who’s been inspired by him and who loves him. I think he has a fan club!”

Don’t miss Lang-Gluscic’s blog from throughout the event as well!

Another pair on the rebound was Elinor MacPhail O’Neal and RF Eloquence, who scored a 34.8 for seventh place today. The 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding finished Kentucky in 2016 with O’Neal, but the horse suffered some confidence issues later that year, and then O’Neal got injured, so she turned the ride over to her husband, Alexander O’Neal, last fall to run around at the two-star level.

“He’s come out totally confident and ready to go this season,” said Ellie, who first came to Kentucky as volunteer when she was in Pony Club. “We know each other so well, especially after having an injury and having some time off. I know him so well, and getting on him, right away we just carried on and picked up where we left off. It’s really exciting to get in that ring for the third time and know what to expect with him.”