In the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, riders at the Poplar Place Horse Trials, Sept. 2-4 in Hamilton, Ga., showed their concern by raising funds for Gulf Coast residents.

Open intermediate winner Kyle Carter and his wife Jennifer organized a silent auction at the event to benefit victims of the hurricane, raising $5,600 to donate to the Red Cross. “People donated week-long training sessions and so on,” he said. “I talked to [U.S. Eventing Association Executive Director] Jo Whitehouse, and we’d like to do the same at the American Eventing Championships.”

In between the fund raising, Bonnie Mosser kept her cool to win the CIC***, part of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series. This was the last event of the year for Jenga, who represented the U.S. on the developing riders tour at the Luhmuhlen CCI**** without steeplechase (Germany) in June.

“I felt like he put in one of his best performances yet,” said Mosser. “He improved on his performances this summer at Foxhall [Ga.] and Germany and Millbrook [N.Y.]. I accomplished our goal of winning and of doing well in all three phases. The halts in dressage were my weak spot, but those can be improved.”

On cross-country, she was disappointed to add 3.6 time penalties to her dressage score of 40.4 but happy to hold her place in the lead. “Captain Phillips commented in the USEA magazine after Luhmuhlen that I was ‘inexplicably slow’ on cross-country, and that will haunt me forever!” she lamented.

Without her time penalties at Poplar, Mosser would have had two rails in hand instead of one going in to show jumping.

“I only won by one point since I had a rail down!” she said. “Maybe I just set him up too much in front of some of the fences on cross-country.”

Show jumping was held on the grass since the main arena’s footing consists of Vaseline-coated sand mixed with elastic fibers, which becomes deep and gets damaged when ridden on in very hot weather. Becky Holder and Courageous Comet stood in second, and Nathalie Bouckaert-Pollard on West Farthing was in third going into the final phase. Both riders also traveled to Germany with Mosser this summer as part of the developing rider’s tour. When Holder had two rails down, Bouckaert-Pollard moved into second on a clear round, and Holder had to settle for a yellow ribbon.

Mosser, of Unionville, Pa., also competed at Poplar Place in the spring. She believes it’s worth the 16-hour drive because of the good footing and horse-friendly courses. Despite high fuel prices, Mosser said that the trip was worth it. And in the end, the prize money paid for her trip.

“I’m pretty much going to stay home this fall,” she said. “I’m going to Plantation Field [Pa.], which is four miles from home, and Radnor [Pa.] and Fair Hill [Md.] are on the calendar.

“I think the CIC*** is a good idea; I wish they’d also have a World Cup qualifier at Poplar Place,” she added. “I like the event–the people are friendly and they look out for everybody at all the levels.”

Above ‘N’ Beyond The Competition

In the advanced, Tiffani Loudon and Above N Beyond nailed the dressage with a score of 29.6 and held their lead despite 14 cross-country time penalties. Not a single horse in that division finished within the time allowed, so Loudon’s lead was safe.

Loudon said that the footing was hard, but she kept the gelding moving along. “It’s always hard to make the time at that event,” she added.

Of her dressage, she said, “We’re making progress. He’s always very good and obedient at home, but I’ve had some problems keeping him quiet in the ring. Usually I get to the show and it’s not as good as I practiced at home. But he was better this weekend.”

Loudon heads next to the American Eventing Championships with Above N Beyond. “I know what I need to do to get a few more points in the dressage,” she said. “I don’t really worry about cross-country or show jumping, so I’ll just stick to the normal routine to get him ready.”

She also competed Ricardo, a 6-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding that she imported two years ago, at training level.

They scored a 32 in dressage and finishedwith 36 penalties after a clear cross-country and one rail down in show jumping.

“He was really good in dressage,” she said. “Last weekend he blew his canter a little, but this time he was a little on the lazy side. He can be flaky in show jumping, but we only had one rail down. He has a huge stride and he gets nervous and panics in the canter. He gets unbalanced and just goes faster as he goes around.”

Carter Claims Intermediate

Kyle Carter of Ocala, Fla., won the open intermediate on Madison Park, a horse that he has only been riding for a few months. Owned in partnership with Canadian eventer Nicole Shinton and her husband Al, Madison Park is an off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding.

The 7-year-old has been off the track since age 5 and was previously evented by Kristin Bond. He produced a solid dressage test, clear cross-country nearly on the time, and a clear show jumping round.

“He’s a very good mover and very fast on cross-country,” said Carter. “I’ve been trying to backtrack a little with him because [he] never had a good qualifying score at intermediate. I did two prelims with him and moved him up here, and he did pretty well in dressage. Then I just let him gallop around cross-country and pick his pace. I wasn’t thinking about winning, but we were just fast enough.”

The course was wheeled tight and several horses from the top five were eliminated from cross-country, so time made all the difference in the final placings. Dressage leader Missy Ransehausen on Carlingford Taldi added 26.4 penalties to her dressage score of 28.3, moving into second; Carter added 15.4 time penalties and still took the lead.

Elevated fuel prices might keep Carter closer to home this year. “We were going to go to Radnor this year, but with gas prices up I haven’t entered anything. I’m gonna play it by ear,” he said. “This horse is only 7 so I’m not in a rush. Next year I hope to move him up to advanced and then a three-star at some point. Right now his intentions are good and he has a hell of a gallop; his back end comes straight up through his front end.”