Amy Tryon went one-for-one and wire-to-wire at the Florida Three-Day Event in Ocala on April 19-22, taking the blue in the CCI** aboard her only mount for the weekend, Coal Creek.
   
“I think I finally got that perfect balance between asking too much and not asking enough of him,” Tryon said.

She bought the now 7-year-old, Thoroughbred gelding, who is part-owned by Tim and Kathryn Sullivan of Clackamas, Ore., off the track two years ago. He was second in the Galway Downs (Calif.) CCI* in November, and has been selected to compete in the pre-Olympics test event in Hong Kong this summer.

Tryon said she was “thrilled” with the young horse’s dressage, which earned a score of 41.3 and vaulted
the pair to the top of the standings, where they would remain for the duration of the competition.

Only a few points behind Tryon in second and third places was veteran Karen O’Connor aboard youngsters Mandiba (42.2) and Hugh Knows (43.7). Like Coal Creek, both of O’Connor’s horses finished on their dressage scores.

“It’s really about the big picture, educating [horses] all the way up to the four-star,” said Tryon, who has been living with the O’Connors in Florida this spring. “We’ve kind of trained these horses up together. It’s been a really educational experience, and I’ve really enjoyed the generosity of friends, especially because my dog has been digging through their trash.”

Mandiba, a 7-year-old, Irish Thoroughbred gelding owned by Joan Goswell of Valencia, Pa., came to O’Connor at the age of 4, and won the CCI* at the 2006 Florida Three-Day.

“I feel so lucky to get a young horse this talented, this late in my career,” said O’Connor.

Hugh Knows has been piloted by O’Connor while his owner, Katherine Breunig, attended college in Texas. “He’s improved leaps and bounds,” said O’Connor of the 11-year-old, Irish Sport Horse gelding. Breunig will reclaim the reins after graduating this spring.

Cross-Country Challenges
While the top three placings didn’t vary on cross-country day, Capt. Mark Phillips’ course caused plenty of turmoil in the lower rankings. The first four fences, set out in the rolling field under the blazing morning sunlight, were all similarly inviting, in effect “lulling you into a sense of security,” said Tryon.

It was no surprise then that fence 5 proved the bane of many riders’ existence. Entering a dark copse of moss-laden trees, horses approached the imposing “Seminole Corner,” cleverly situated near a tree trunk so as to make the only possible flight path over it extremely narrow.

While the Seminole Corner consistently caused problems throughout the morning, Tryon and O’Connor both exhibited perfect accuracy. “We [Karen and I] walked the course together,” said Tryon, “and we really sighted in on some grain bags on the prelim fence [under the trees] to help the horses get used to the darkness.”

Local rider Darren Chiacchia, tied for fifth after the dressage, had one of the many gaffes at the fence during the day, being thrown from the tack when his only entry, Tragumna, tanked over the corner and
proceeded to hot foot it back to the start box. Undeterred, Chiacchia hopped aboard a four-wheeler and gave chase, remounting his horse and gamely kicking his way over the big white rolltop at fence 6. The pair continued on through the majority of the course, retiring after completing the water complex at fence 19.

For many competitors, including Kate Luce and Tia Lusso, in fourth place after dressage, problems also sprang up at fence 7AB, “Pletcher’s Place.” These two skinny huts utilized the terrain of a sunken driving obstacle. Jump judges were busy re-securing broken flags throughout the day on the course’s many narrow efforts, and the bending lines and angled fences situated amongst the driving hazards put riders’ precision to the test.

Despite the difficulties, Tryon and O’Connor both asserted that the course was appropriate for the level and the time of year. “With these young horses, Karen and I never take anything for granted,” said Tryon. “But these horses are so talented that they make us look good,” she added mod-estly. “It makes your job easy as a rider.”

And the clean rounds both riders put in on Sunday did indeed make the job look easy, although O’Connor did her part to add some additional drama to the morning. Hugh Knows knocked a fence and fell in the final minutes of their warm-up, pinning O’Connor’s right leg under him against a fallen jump standard. The rider hobbled for a few moments, then hopped back on to jump both her horses and cement second- and third-placed finishes.

“Thank God I had these huge thigh muscles!” she said with a laugh afterwards. Meanwhile, Tryon and Buck Davidson, concerned that perhaps their comrade might not feel up to snuff within the week, vied for the ride on her popular superpony Theodore O’Connor at the Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

A Dun Deal
An unexpected win in the CCI* division proved especially emotional for Ruthie Harbison, of Wellborn, Fla. Harbison wore a green ribbon on her lapel for her trainer, Ralph Hill, who was seriously injured in a fall at Poplar Place Horse Trials (Ga.) in March and faces a long road to recovery.

“This weekend was absolutely for him,” said a misty-eyed Harbison after her victory gallop aboard Dun And Dusted, a 15.1-hand, 7-year-old mare.

Harbison’s dressage score of 48.9 put the pair in fourth place going into cross-country, which proved difficult for some in the top standings. Anisa Tracy and Tigger, frontrunners after the dressage, took a spill at the Seminole combination. Neither horse nor rider were seriously injured, but their elimination put an end to any blue ribbon hopes. Ralph Holstein and Franklin, starting out in third place, had a stop and time, dropping them well out of the ribbons.

But Dun And Dusted’s adept moves and long strides gave Harbison a welcome zero for the day, moving the pair up to second. “She is the fastest, easiest cross-country horse I’ve ever sat on,” she said. “I thought those huts at 7AB were particularly difficult, but it wasn’t difficult for her!”

Since Hill’s accident, Harbison has been riding with Buck Davidson, and she was also grateful to Jimmy Wofford for stepping in at Ocala as her coach.

“I am really missing him today,” she said of Hill, for whom she manages a Carepage, a website where friends and fans can post messages to the rider and read frequent updates about his condition. She also spearheaded a charity auction on the Chronicle’s online Bulletin Board this spring for paralyzed advanced rider Kim Meier, who also trained with Hill.

Robin Bass, another of Hill’s students and a friend of Harbison’s, had a double-clear round on Saturday. She and Magic Drummer vaulted into the lead from their second-placed position, but lost their grasp of the blue with a refusal at fence 2 on Sunday’s show jumping course. As the crowd sighed sympathetically, Bass finished the round, but the damage had been done, giving Harbison the win on her dressage score.

“Robin is one of my closest friends,” said Harbison, who felt her triumph over Bass was bittersweet. “She came back around [and finished], and she’s put in a lot of hard work.”

Harbison’s own hard work has so far paid off with her mount, who will get the summer off and be aimed for a two-star in the fall. “She does everything I ask of her,” she said of the dun mare, who was imported from England two months ago and whose bloodline is unknown. Her rider suspects some Connemara and Thorough-bred.

“I brought her over as a sale horse,” explained Harbison. “[But now] she is not for sale!”

The Young And The Restless Reap Rewards
Liz Zerkus’ second-placed finish in the CCI* crept up so stealthily that she even surprised herself. “I was hoping to just complete and expected to have a rail or two,” said the 17-year-old, high school senior from Fayetteville, Ga. “I definitely didn’t expect second. I’m very proud.”

In a four-way tie for ninth after dressage with a 52.1, Zerkus was quite pleased with her young horse Roselina. “The dressage is occasionally there and occasionally not,” she said of the 6-year-old, Holsteiner-Thoroughbred mare. “But this was the best test she’s ever had.”

The weekend’s gusty winds whipped around the flag poles and blew a tablecloth out of the spectators’ tent just before the pair’s test, but Zerkus said her mare handled it admirably.

Since many experienced partnerships had difficulties on cross-country, Zerkus chose to take two options and had to work hard to get her looky mare through the visual cacophony of obstacles and still make the time. But the banner ride moved them up into a three-way tie for fourth going into show jumping.

And sure enough, as the rails kept falling for everyone else, Zerkus urged her sheepish mare through the course, taking each fence with toes tightly tucked. While it wasn’t the smoothest of rounds, the young mare’s faith in her rider was apparent.

“She just has to take a second look,” Zerkus said fondly of the horse, who placed fourth in her first three events at preliminary, and was ninth at the Poplar Place CIC* (Ga.) in March.

Zerkus hopes to compete at the North American Junior and Young Riders Championships this summer, depending on her academic schedule. After high school graduation this spring, she will be starting summer classes at Georgia State University in Atlanta, majoring in management with a pre-law concentration. Roselina will stay with Zerkus’ trainers, Mike and Emma Winter, about an hour away in Newnan.

Kat Netzler