Julie Richards and her young mare make an unexpected leap up the intermediate leaderboard.

Julie Richards wasn’t exactly looking for a win at Lioness’ second intermediate outing, the Five Points Horse Trials on Sept. 11-13, but after her homebred mare placed 19th out of 23 in the dressage, her already-low expectations dropped even further.

Richards, 38, had packed her truck and trailer for the six-hour drive from Atlanta, Ga., to the Carolina Horse Park in Raeford, N.C., and her first-phase score of 40.0 didn’t do much to make her trip seem worthwhile.

“I was pretty disappointed with my dressage test,” Richards said. “She’s getting much more broke and understanding the exercises more, but it was not a good test. It was a long way to come from Atlanta, and I had to leave my children with my mother. After that test I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’ ”

But two days later, Richards was singing a much different tune as she led the open intermediate victory gallop aboard her mother, Pat Burns’, 8-year-old Thoroughbred mare, Lioness.

Richards finished ninth individually at the 2000 Olympic Games and rode on the bronze-medal  U.S. team at the 2004 Olympic Games, but she’s been staying at the lower levels since taking a two-year break from competition.

That didn’t hold her back on Saturday, however, as she blazed around John Williams’ cross-country course with only 6.4 time faults. She also managed to do so without setting her watch, instead focusing on giving her fairly green mare a good experience at the new level.

“I’ve been working on going faster,” Richards said. “I’ve had a tendency to go too slowly recently. I was thinking about going faster between the jumps but still trying to bring this young horse along and not scare her at the same time. That worked great for me, and I was able to really gallop between the jumps.

“It was a beautiful cross-country course and very well built with some big intermediate questions,” she added. “The water was pretty intense. I was nervous because she’d only done one intermediate before, but she was just super. She was maybe a little green in some spots, but she answered all the questions.”

Richards’ time with Lioness was the second-fastest in the open intermediate division, and they jumped all the way up to sixth place heading into show jumping.

Even so, the win was a big surprise for Richards. But she and Lioness were the only pair to jump double clean in their division, finishing on a score of 46.4. The rider credited her clear round to Lioness’ careful attitude about show jumping.

“I wasn’t thinking about putting pressure on anyone else,” she said. “I just wanted to ride her well and let her learn something. She jumped her heart out and left all the rails up. It’s nice when it all comes together, because there are so many times when it doesn’t.”

Lioness (Lion King—Red October) is for sale, and is the last of the homebreds Richards bred and raised. She’s aiming the mare for the CCI* at Poplar Place (Ga.) this fall and then likely a two-star in the spring.

After years at the top levels of the sport, Richards, who has two young children who take up most of her time these days, is focusing more on teaching students in the Atlanta area and on buying and bringing along a few young horses at a time, getting them schooled at the intermediate or advanced levels and then letting someone else take over.

“It’s important to not keep pushing all the time,” she said. “I’m really enjoying riding [Lioness] and doing it on a whole other level. I want to coach people, have fun and produce nice horses. I’m not on a fast track to go ride for the team again. It’s just fun being involved.”

Merloch Continues His Magic

For Bonnie Mosser, attending the Five Points with Merloch was a no-brainer. The Gordonsville, Va., rider traditionally uses the Carolina Horse Park’s spring event as preparation for the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** and the fall horse trials as a lead-up to the Dansko Fair Hill International CCI*** (Md.) because the terrain is similar to the going at the other venues.

In fact, Mosser and Merloch had already scored two wins at the venue—last spring at intermediate and this March at advanced—so it was no surprise when they added a third victory to their résumé, topping the advanced division on a 36.4.

Mosser, 46, and her 11-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred bested a field of 20 horses in the advanced division, tying for second after dressage with a 29.6. Mosser’s weekend only improved from there.

“I was very pleased with the dressage,” Mosser said. “I think that was maybe one of the first times he’s broken into the 20s. He put in a very solid test. I made a couple of accuracy mistakes, but that’s fixable.”

Mosser and her seasoned partner made light work of the cross-country the next day, coming in 6.8 seconds over the time but with no jumping faults. She found no tricky spots on the course, saying Merloch, who won the Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.) in 2007 and ran the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** this year but had to withdraw on cross-country with a locked stifle, handled all the questions like the professional he is.

“The only problem I had is that he can be a fast horse, but he gallops very uphill,” Mosser said of the gray gelding. “I have to constantly ask him to keep going faster. My point was to go around as quick as possible, but I could feel at the end I was letting up a bit. He was jumping well, we were getting home, and I didn’t believe it was the weekend to run him faster. We’ll save that for Fair Hill.”

Mosser stood second before show jumping, but the leader, Holly Hepp on Last Monarch, dropped two rails to finish in third. When Merloch jumped around clean, Mosser clinched the win with a 36.4.

“If I ever have an odd rail down, it’s probably my mistake,” she said. “You can get more out of him or less, but he’s going to always take care of his rider.”

Now, Mosser said, she and Merloch will focus on fitness in preparation for Fair Hill in October. She noted that Merloch stays sharp without much jumping, so they’ll continue working hard on the dressage with the help of coach Gerd Reuter, Barboursville, Va.

“He just seems to be getting stronger and stronger,” Mosser said. “I guess the part that everyone is so fascinated about with him is that he’s really a genuine horse. He’s really kind to be around and is just a pleasure. He’s so much more than just an advanced horse.”

Sloopy Shows A Young Rider The Ropes

While moving up a level for the first time can be an anxiety-inducing ordeal for many riders, for Lizzie Snow, Southern Pines, N.C., it was nothing but a confidence-building experience. The endeavor also ended with a top finish in the intermediate rider division.

Snow, 17, couldn’t praise Sloopy (Two Davids—Nearly Sloopy) enough. The accomplished gelding, a Thoroughbred formerly ridden and still owned by John Williams, Southern Pines, N.C., finished 10th in the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** in 2006 and has numerous advanced horse trials and three-days under his belt.

Williams offered Snow the ride after she moved from Oregon to work for him. She started riding Sloopy last spring, and the two hit it off almost immediately, though she admitted he wasn’t the easiest ride at first.

“He has his quirks,” Snow said with a laugh. “He’s actually kind of similar to the other horse I have; they’re both a little looky. But because he knows his job so well he’s been great for me, and now that we kind of know each other he’s even better. You just kind of kick and go. I can’t thank John and Ellen [Williams] enough for letting me ride him.”

Snow, who trains with John, Marc Donovan and Jim Koford, was tied for fifth after dressage with a 36.2. She and Sloopy moved up to first after they were the only horse and rider combination in any intermediate division to make the time.

“I don’t know how we did it,” Snow said. “I didn’t even wheel the course or do anything special. I think it just flowed nicely. [Sloopy] knows what he’s doing. He lands from the fence, and he just goes. He doesn’t really waste any time.”

Snow admitted she didn’t allow herself to think of winning the competition in that way until after their show jumping round. They had one rail down, but it was still enough to finish on top with a 40.2.

“I had no expectations of anything,” she said. “I was just going to get around and have a good time, and it just happened that it worked out really well.”

Snow, a high school senior, also finished third in the preliminary rider division with her 2009 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.) partner, Pop Star. She’s aiming Pop Star for his first intermediate next spring, and she’s allowing the 17-year-old Sloopy to set the course for their future outings.

 “We’re kind of letting him tell us what he wants to do,” she said. “If he stays sound and happy doing what he’s doing, I’ll keep going, but it depends on how he’s feeling. He knows his job so well and takes care of both of us so well and has a blast doing it.”