Two horses began their eventing careers during this competition. Mr. Parks, a Thoroughbred recently purchased by Courtney and Neal as a prospect, and United Notion, one of the sale horses, both had their inaugural outings in the Beginner Novice division. Mr. Parks put in an excellent first dressage test that set him up nicely in second place. Notion also performed well, staying in contention for a ribbon by placing sixth after dressage. Both horses had very positive learning experiences during the two jumping phases and posted double clears. For Mr. Parks, this meant a blue ribbon and a new dress sheet to take home, and for Notion it moved him up to fourth place.
Three horses from C Square Farm competed in the Training Level competition. Scout and Who’s A Star (Tag) were both ridden by Courtney, and Hanna was ridden by Neal. It was Neal and Hanna’s first time at Training in a couple years, but the pair showed winning form in the dressage phase, and held the top spot going into the jumping phases. Unfortunately, a couple of problems prevented them from finishing cross-country. This was Scout’s third outing at Training level. and he put in a respectable dressage test despite the mucky ring footing that landed him in sixth place. Tag also did very well in the dressage and was holding the second place spot going into cross-country. Both 5-year-olds posted double-clears in the cross-country phase. In stadium, Scout managed to post another double-clear to finish up in fourth place overall. Tag had one unlucky rail but still finished up with a third place ribbon.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A8WuvhYOaw