It was somewhat of a surprise, said Skyeler Icke, to pin the division 1 CCI* blue ribbon to young Tika’s bridle. But at the conclusion of Morven Park’s CCI* and Horse Trials, held Oct. 5-8, Icke beamed as she rode her 6-year-old mare around the ring during their victory gallop in Leesburg, Va. The event marked Tika’s first three-day competition.

The pair presented a pleasing dressage test for a score of 52.5. “It was one of her best tests. She’s really grown up,” said Icke.

With that, they sat in fourth place overnight but wouldn’t sit long. On Saturday, one-star competitors awoke to gray skies and consistent rain. But Tika seemed completely at ease in the mud, which quickly quelled any worries Icke may have had.

“I was a little worried because she’s young, but she completely rode like an experienced horse. It was probably one of the best rounds I’ve ever had on her,” said Icke of their cross-country trip. “She just ate the course up.”

And she left no scraps behind, entering Sunday’s show jumping in the top position.

Clark Montgomery and Up Spirit initially led after dressage, followed by Icke’s trainer, Stuart Black on Fleeceworks Mystery du Val, and Molly Hooper Bull aboard Hole In One. But cross-country became the deciding factor for these top three riders as Montgomery and Bull in-curred 20 jump faults and a handful of time faults each, while Black’s time faults dropped him down the standings.

Icke owned one rail in hand over Beth O’Rourke and Daxtra-Ordinaire, and the fate of the blue ribbon came down to the last rail in the show jumping arena. Icke cashed in her one-rail cushion halfway through the course but managed to remain composed and leave the rest in the cups to finished their three-day on top with 56.5 faults.

Tika was imported from France by R-H Equine and Black, and Icke had her first ride with Tika at Rubicon Farm Horse Trials (Va.) in November last year. “I’ve been working with Stuart Black for the last eight years, but just this year I became a full-time working student for him. So I’ve been with him every day getting [Tika] ready for this three-day, and it’s really helped us get prepared,” Icke said.

In December of 2005 Icke bought Tika with the generous help of close family friend Dr. Ilona Letmanyi, who is currently doing her residency in Santa Rosa, Calif. Though she couldn’t be in Leesburg to watch Tika win, “she’s been on the phone the whole time,” Icke said. “She’ll be very happy to hear.”

“I’m lucky to have been given the opportunity to have her,” Icke added.


A First For Everything
Hadley Warner would have been happy to head back to Middleburg, Va., with second place in the CCI* young rider division at Morven Park. But after a close contest in the show jumping, she pinned a blue ribbon to No Secrets’ bridle and led the victory gallop to finish her first three-day on top.

After dressage, Lucia Strini and Liste de Folie held the division’s highest seat while Warner and No Secrets stood second.

“We’ve really been working on dressage a lot, and we’re really starting to hit it off,” said Warner. “It always takes a little while to get to know a horse, and I feel like we’ve really reached a good point now.”

Warner trains with Rainey Andrews during the school year while attending Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Va. During the summer, she returns to her home in Bridport, Vt., to train with John Bourgoin.

“It’s definitely fun–they’re both really supportive,” said Warner.

“We ride six to seven days a week, which takes a lot of commitment since it’s not at school. I have to sacrifice a lot of other stuff for it,” said the 18-year-old senior. “But we do a lot of hill work and have definitely been working on dressage.”

And the extra work reaped major results as Warner and “Gabby” mastered a soggy cross-country course without fault.

“Roads and tracks was definitely muddy, which made it difficult. But I knew that she was fit enough,” Warner said. “[The rain] actually lightened up and was sunny when I went, which was pretty cool.” It was one of only a handful of times the sun made a brief appearance that day.

Still, it can’t rain all of the time, and Sunday brought plenty of sunshine for Warner and Gabby’s show jumping. Warner kept the pressure on Strini, who sat only 2.9 points ahead, by completing the course without a glitch.

“I was just so happy that we both did our best,” said Warner. “Even to have second place would have been great. I didn’t really care about the placing, just that we’d done our best and worked so hard.”

But Sunday was Warner’s day. Strini and Liste de Folie caught fence 7, and that rail cost them 4 faults to give Warner and Gabby the top position.

Warner’s relationship with Gabby began eight months ago after the 10-year-old Connemara-Thoroughbred finished the preliminary division in second place at Rocking Horse (Fla.) under Heather Morris’ ride.

“I knew right away when I got on her–we just really clicked with jumping. Since then, everything has really just fallen into place,” said Warner. “I actually rode my first prelim with her at Waredaca [Md.] this spring. She’s done some one-star short formats before so she knows the ropes, but it’s still a learning experience and she’s definitely taught me so much.”

Their fifth-placed finish at Waredaca came just one month after Warner and No Secrets galloped away with victory at MCTA (Md.) at training level in May. They picked up two second-placed finishes in July at Stoneleigh-Burnham (Mass.) and Fitch’s Corner (N.Y.) at preliminary level.

After achieving her goal at Morven Park, Warner and Gabby will enjoy some time off and trail rides. “Trail rides are her favorite,” Warner said smiling.


Can’t Be Caught
It would have been a major feat for any horse and rider to catch Emily Beshear and young Baileywick in division 2 of the one-star. Beshear made it clear from the get-go that collecting the CCI* blue for two years in a row was in her sights.

To Beshear’s delight, Baileywick’s dressage scored 11.5 points ahead of the nearest competition after day one. “I was one of the first to go in the division and just put my best foot forward because I knew there were a lot of nice horses and good riders coming later. I was really shocked to see the scores and ultimately surprised to see my own score,” said Beshear.

Molly Rosin and Havarah’s Charly finished the first day of competition ranked second with a 47.9. But as Beshear maintained a score of 36.4, her lead only widened as the days passed.

“He’s a very careful horse and very sensitive. He’s finally at the point maturity-wise where I can test him a little, and that’s what I did in dressage,” Beshear said of the Acorn Hill Farm’s Irish Sport Horse by Pallas Digion.

After running Baileywick at preliminary level for most of the season, Beshear took him to his first one-star this spring at Bromont (Que.). But Morven was Baileywick’s first long-format three-day.

“I decided to bring him here just to further his education,” Beshear said of the 7-year-old. “It was really muddy at Bromont so I went really slowly. But I figured he did so well and didn’t get scared there, and that was my goal–just get the education.”

Morven’s mud had little effect on Baileywick. Saturday’s cross-country shook up the rankings behind his tracks, but the pair remained uncatchable.

“I was most concerned that the steeplechase might surprise him with the fences coming up as fast as they did. But he’s an awesome steeplechase horse because he’s so careful. I can just go as fast as I want, and he just sees the jump and puts himself up,” Beshear explained. They finished that phase 10 seconds ahead of the clock.

After Rosin and Havarah’s Charly retired on cross-country, fourth-placed Clark Montgomery and Raconteur jumped into second place but still trailed Beshear by 18 faults.

Beshear took Baileywick to the show jumping ring without fret; she would have to dislodge nearly half of the course to fall from the top spot. Regardless, she and Baileywick secured victory, leaving all fences untouched.

Baileywick will enjoy some time off before beginning winter training again. “He’s still green and only has a year and a half of competition under his belt so there’s still a lot that he needs to see and do to make sure that we don’t overface him. He’s a fantastic horse, and we want to keep him on the right track,” said Beshear.

She plans to run him at intermediate in the spring and aim for two-star sometime next year.


Warming Up For Fair Hill
Kristin Bachman and Gryffindor continued making magic as they’ve done all season with yet another advanced victory. The pair galloped away with the blue ribbon for division 1 after a slight schedule change.

“It was actually kind of nice to have Saturday off,” said Bachman, a West Coast transplant who now resides in Middleburg, Va. As Saturday’s rain
saturated the courses, officials decided to move the advanced cross-country, which was scheduled to run just after the CCI*, to Sunday, following show jumping. This revision actually worked to Bachman’s advantage.

Gryffindor’s clean trip in show jumping bumped them up atop the division from second place after Darren Chiacchia and Better I Do It pulled a rail and lost 1 fault to the clock.

Then, Bachman and Gryffindor turned in 5.2 time faults, the fewest in division 1, over Tremaine Cooper’s demanding cross-country course.

“We had a perfect ride on cross-country,” she said. “I felt like I didn’t even need to be on him. He just went and did everything perfectly. And the course is great here. There aren’t many places where you have two separate courses for each level like this.”

Bachman’s relationship with her 11-year-old Thoroughbred has thrived since she found him off the track as a 5-year-old. Since 2001, the duo ran from training level up to four-star.

They started their 2006 season by finishing first at intermediate at Galway Downs (Calif.) in February. Shortly after, Bachman quit her barn job in Seattle, Wash., and she and Gryffindor trekked cross-country to Middleburg and began spring training with Jan Byyny.

It was a bold move that yielded big benefits as the pair galloped on to collect an advanced win at Pine Top (Ga.) in March and finished at Rolex Kentucky in April. Two weeks before Morven Park, they collected another advanced victory at the American Eventing Championships (N.C.).

“He’s becoming more and more rideable every time. I feel like I don’t have to worry anymore or hope or predict how he’s going to do. He’s really an amazing and intelligent horse,” said Bachman, who will compete him at the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in late October.

Also entered to run at Fair Hill are Morven Park’s Area II Advanced Champions, Peter Atkins and his one and only competition mount, Figjam.

Atkins returned to competitive riding earlier this season after a few years off, and Morven Park marked his third competition back with the 10-year-old, Australian Thoroughbred gelding. They’ve connected quickly, winning the advanced division at the Millbrook Horse Trials (N.Y.).

“We really suit each other well,” said Atkins. “I like Thoroughbreds, and he really likes to go forward. Our personalities just mesh.”

Still, winning at Morven was no walk in the park. After dressage, Atkins and Figjam’s 34.2-fault score placed them 10th, while Stuart Black and Fleeceworks Starlight led the way (30.0). After show jumping, Atkins and Figjam stacked two rails on their score but weren’t the only pair to do so. Figjam headed to cross-country in eighth.

When the division’s top placers, Black and Chiacchia, withdrew their mounts, Atkins and Figjam capitalized on the opportunity and ran a clean cross-country round, finishing inside the time.

“I actually missed the button on my timer in the start box so I didn’t know if I was on time or not. But I just let him cruise and go at a speed he was happy with,” said Atkins. “I cut a lot of corners and took shorter paths when we could.”

As the other riders finished behind the clock, Figjam and Atkins rose to the top of the standings and ultimately earned the blue.

“Tremaine Cooper always builds a good course. His courses might scare the hell out of a lot of riders, but the horses that ride forward love it,” Atkins said with a laugh.


Rising Stars
Hanno, a son of Windfall II, wants to follow in the hoofsteps of his sire, an Olympic team medalist, and he’s well on his way. With Darren Chiacchia piloting, the U.S.-bred Trakehner gelding earned the 4-year-old title at the USEA/Spalding Labs Young Event Horse Championship held at Morven Park, Oct. 6.

Hanno, owned by Timothy and Cheryl Holekamp, is one of Windfall’s first get bred in the United States. Chiacchia began riding Hanno in January, and the pair competed from Florida to New York at novice and training levels.

“I really feel like he put on his best performance this weekend, which was good timing,” said Chiacchia. “He’s an extremely athletic horse and is built uphill like his dad. In addition to that, he has a very reliable and willing attitude.

Chiacchia sits on the board of the Young Event Horse Task Force. “It’s been really great to be a part of the program and watch it develop. I think the course today was great. We’re evolving annually, and this is getting closer to what we want the finals to be–a true test of a young event horses who can hop off a bank, splash through the water, hop over a ditch and gallop to show their boldness and technique,” said Chiacchia.

Tremaine Cooper designed the young horse course again this year, combining show jumping fences, cross-country obstacles, small banks and ditches, water and galloping stretches to allow young horses to demonstrate their abilities.

Windfall’s sire, Habicht, sired Chiacchia’s other mount in the 4-year-old division, Fantastik, who finished as reserve champion.

For the 5-year-olds, Rain Man galloped through the rain with Leslie Law aboard to earn a standout victory with an overall suitability score of 89.34 out of 100.

Owned by Patricia and Ted Tackett, the irresistible black Hanoverian gelding arrived from Germany a year ago. Olympic gold medalist Law first saw Rain Man in Florida last winter and began competing him in March.

They hit the ground running to finish first in novice at Rocking Horse (Fla.), then stepped up to training two months later and won three events at that level.

“He’s a great stamp of a horse–really made for eventing. He’s really got tremendous presence,” said Law. “When we watched him go, his movement and jump really caught our attention because you’re looking for potential, which is what this class is all about.

“He showed all the potential I look for in an event horse–we really couldn’t leave him behind,” Law added.

In his first year in the United States, Law enjoyed the variety Cooper’s young horse course provided. “In England, the jumping [in young event horse classes] is done primarily with traditional show jumping fences rather than over some of the cross-country elements. I think it’s great to have some of those elements to show the horses’ boldness,” he said.

So how far will Rain Man go? “The Olympics. London 2012,” Law said with a laugh. “There’s a long way to go, but he shows all the right characteristics. We’ll quietly produce him up through the levels and hope he’s everything we’ve seen him to be.”

Joshua A. Walker