Contesting a CCI*** is challenging under the best circumstances, but add in months of travel beforehand and a small knee surgery, and you don’t get a very promising preparation for Amy Tryon.

Despite her lack of time in the saddle, Tryon rose to the occasion with a double-clear show jumping round aboard Coal Creek at the Dansko Fair Hill International, which moved her from sixth place into the lead for her second CCI*** victory of 2008.

Living in Duvall, Wash., means Tryon has to travel more than most to make her international eventing career work. This year she spent January through June on the East Coast competing. “Devon” went with her, but he hyperextended his knee and had to have a month off.

Then Tryon flew to England in June to start preparing for the Olympic Games and didn’t return to Washington until late August, so Devon stayed in work with Tryon’s working students. But
a fall in Hong Kong from her World Equestrian Games bronze-medal winner Poggio kept Tryon off his back even after she returned to the United States, since she had surgery for a hematoma in her knee.

Tryon, 38, eventually did make it back into the tack, and when some of her students headed to Illinois for the American Eventing Championships, she wanted to support them. So she decided to bring Devon
(by Devil On Ice) and her Jersey Fresh CCI*** winner, Elisabeth Nicholson’s Leyland, along. If things went well, she’d attempt Fair Hill, Oct. 15-19, in Elkton, Md.

“I haven’t really ridden [Devon] since April until the last six weeks,” said Tryon. “I thought, ‘I’ll try that.’ But I wasn’t sure these horses were going to be ready to run here because of the time they had off, so I took it one day at a time.”

Both horses ran the advanced combined test at the AECs—cross-country was cancelled due to rain—and put in good runs at Morven Park (Va.), two weeks before Fair Hill.

“They’re remarkable young horses,” said Tryon. “I’m thrilled with both of them. You come in here just hoping that things work out.”

Tryon’s mounts flip-flopped standings throughout the weekend. Devon, who is owned by Tim and Kathryn Sullivan, placed fourth after dressage (47.0), while Leyland put in a steady, accurate test for sixth place (47.4). But Devon accrued 4.0 time penalties on cross-country, whereas Leyland added just .8 points to move into third place.

However, less than 4 points divided the top six riders going into show jumping, so the lead was up for grabs. Tryon jumped early in the order with Devon because she had two horses in the top 10. The pair put in a lovely clear round over Sally Ike’s testing track, and then Tryon turned her focus to Leyland.
She started to move up when fifth-placed Boyd Martin took three rails on Belmont II. Then Phillip Dutton had a surprising five rails down, which dropped him and Bailey Wick from fourth place to 10th.

When Tryon jumped Leyland (Roy—Dream Creek), four rails fell. “I rode him horribly,” she admitted.
Second-placed Will Coleman looked like he was going to break the streak of dropping rails, but he had the last fence down with the hard-trying Twizzel.

That final fence, a liverpool, proved to be a costly bogey fence for many riders, and first-placed Corinne Ashton and Dobbin couldn’t avoid its curse either.

So Tryon moved all the way into the lead with Devon, just .2 penalties ahead of Ashton.

“You’re always humbled by the sport, and you just want to go out there and not let yourself down, not let your horse down, not let your owners down,” said Tryon. “Coal Creek was fantastic, so I was thrilled however it ended.”

Tryon had nothing but praise for Fair Hill, especially Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course.

“It’s refreshing to jump a course where for the most part the horses can see the jumps in front of them,” she said. “It was galloping and encouraging the horses to be brave and bold, but there were still some technical questions. It was a lovely track to ride. Derek should be commended. The whole Fair Hill crew should be commended. It made a better horse. You didn’t come off the course thinking you have to do damage control. You came off course thinking it was a nice step in the horse’s evolution.”

Tryon commented on the process of making her two 8-year-old Thoroughbreds into confirmed three-star horses.

“They can do all their gallops and be fit wind-wise, but strength-wise it’s a challenging thing to get an 8-year-old to jump around even the two-star level and be strong enough to answer all the questions. It’s just an evolution for both my horses right now,” she said. “They gain strength to do this sport over years, not months. We’re going in the right direction, and there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

While Tryon would like to aim both horses toward the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** next year, she said they aren’t on a timeline.

“I have done far more in my career than I ever thought possible when I started this,” she said. “I’m incredibly lucky to have the horses that I ride and the opportunity to ride them. I enjoy riding these horses every day, and they tell me where they’re going to go next. I would love them to come out in two years and
be candidates for the World Championships, but if it’s not in the cards, that’s all right. I’ve had my fair share of success thanks to Poggio.”

So Close
Ashton has accomplished her share of success with Dobbin, but a major advanced-level three-day win has eluded her, and she found it tough to be .2 penalties away this time.

“It’s going to be a long ride home as I relive my approach to that last fence,” she said. “I should have found more room rather than going the direct line. I was in too much of a hurry to get to that finish line.

“My horse jumped great, and the rest of the round felt pretty good,” she continued. “He did good. He looked after me. It’s difficult to get everything right three days in a row. But it’s hard to lose that first place. I’m fine about being second, but I’d be better about being first.”

Ashton, 46, said Fair Hill has been her nemesis over the past few years. Last year they finished in ninth place with a refusal on cross-country, and the pair didn’t finish in either 2004 or 2005.

“Even though I’m a designated professional, I have one horse at that level, so I’m very much an amateur in comparison to the other riders out there who have three or four horses,” said Ashton. “I don’t get the practice that some of the other people get. It’s taken me a little bit longer to catch up to him and be as good as he is.”

But this year, the pair clearly held their own in the star-studded field. Ashton moved from fifth to first after her double-clear cross-country go when Leslie Law, who led the dressage with Fleeceworks Mystere du Val, was eliminated for three refusals on cross-country, and second-placed Kim Severson retired Tipperary Liadhnan after two stops at the Cherry Tree Corners, fence 18AB. Third-placed Coleman and fourth-placed Tryon had time penalties.

Ashton’s been riding the 14-year-old Thoroughbred (Lyphelius—Deal Debbie Deal) for the past 10 years. “He feels the best physically and mentally that he’s felt in the whole 10 years. He loves what he’s doing, and he’s incredibly good at it,” said Ashton.

Ashton, who has two children and works for Dover Saddlery as a customer service representative and product tester, turned professional this year after someone complained that she was teaching lessons and making more than the $2,500 allowed for eventing amateurs. “It wasn’t true, but it doesn’t really make any difference,” she said.

However, she plans to take advantage of her new professional status this year when she heads south from her Princeton, Mass., home to Aiken, S.C., by teaching lessons and taking horses in training to pay the bills.

A Stable With Some Depth
As a young professional, Coleman had the kind of weekend that could only help his burgeoning career. He rode three horses at Fair Hill and finished in third place in the three-star with Twizzel and in second in the two-star with Nevada Bay, a 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood-Thoroughbred cross (N-Aldato—Doujottie). New ride Cool Connection ended up ninth in the two-star.

Although Coleman could point to a few mistakes that kept him from winning the three-star, he felt cheerful to be third on a horse that spent two years recovering from a rare cyst.

Twizzel, a 12-year-old Westphalian (Argentines—Lady Bedford), got hurt at Fair Hill in 2006, and they discovered a massive cyst in his shoulder. Dean Richardson, the head of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, operated to remove the cyst, and the gelding returned to competition this February.

“He’s a great horse, and I feel lucky that he’s come back,” said Coleman, Gordonsville, Va. “I felt like I was
jumping around a preliminary [at Fair Hill] on that thing. I should have made
the time.”

Coleman, 25, blamed himself for slowing Twizzel too much early in the course. “I got a bit worried that I’d run out of gas, so I did slow him up a bit, but I think I should have let him just blast around,” he said. “He pulled me to the 9-minute mark. He loves the job. If a horse could smile, he was showing his teeth when he crossed the finish line. He was really great.”

That enthusiasm was Twizzel’s downfall in show jumping as well. When he cleared the first fence, the crowd gasped appreciatively as he kicked up behind.

“He was trying really hard behind around the whole course, and I was having to hold him off the front rail more and more as we went around,” said Coleman. “I think it just came to a head at the last fence. I did all I could to keep him up until then, but I think it was just a bit of a snowball rolling down a hill.”

Coleman said Twizzel has taught him a lot about jumping horses, and he’s had to change his own riding to accommodate the gelding’s dramatic style. “He’s typical of his father, Argentines. They jump a little bit loose in front, but they’re scopey and careful, so you just have to be willing to wait for them a little bit,” he said.

And Twizzel’s got competition from his stablemate, Nanki Doubleday’s Nevada Bay.

“I think Nevada Bay will do a three-star next year. He’s done two two-stars now, and he was good at both,” said Coleman. “This was his first year at intermediate. So we hope he’ll move up next year and do a three-star at Jersey Fresh or somewhere else. Down the road we’d like to see him as a [World Equestrian Games] horse.” 
 
Sara Lieser