Katherine Coleman and Longwood (Libby Law Photography)
Norfolk, England – On the third leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing series, seven nations took part in the Houghton International Horse Trials CICO3* with a field of 100 world-class combinations. Katherine Coleman, Tiana Coudray, and Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp represented the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team under the guidance of Chef d’Equipe Ann Taylor. At the end of the challenging competition, the U.S. Team finished in seventh place. Katherine Coleman and Longwood were the top U.S. pair in 34th place on a score of 61.7.
Coleman (Wiltshire, England) put forth a solid effort in her Nations Cup debut at Houghton. She had a respectable dressage test with her own Longwood on Thursday in front of the Ground Jury of Andrew Bennie (NZL) and Tim Downes (GBR). Coleman and the 2002 Irish Sport Horse gelding had nice trot work, and despite some jigging at the end of the walk tour and being late behind in both changes, they received a score of 57.7. During Saturday’s show jumping phase, the pair had an unlucky rail at the oxer, into the triple combination, over Rodger Howe’s course to add four faults to their score. Coleman and Longwood finished the competition on a high note on Sunday with a double-clear round over Alec Lochore’s technical cross-country track to end on a score of 61.7.
“He was an absolute superstar around cross-country,” said a thrilled Coleman of her partner. “We were up on our minute markers that whole way; I actually slowed down quite a bit and was still 10 seconds under [the optimum time]. He finished full of running and still really fresh, which is encouraging that he’s on point for the CCI3* at Bramham in two weeks.”
Coudray (Hungerford, England) had a solid dressage test with Jatial, Inc.’s Sambuca F on Friday in the 2006 Westphalian mare’s three-star debut to receive a score of 53.9. They added nine penalty points to their score in the show jumping phase. Coudray and Sambuca F collected 20 jumping penalties at fence 10, the water and treasure chest complex, and 18.4 time penalties in the cross-country phase to finish on a score of 101.3 for 75th place.
Halliday-Sharp (East Sussex, England) had an excellent dressage test with Deborah Halliday’s Fernhill by Night on Friday to earn a score of 38.9. She and the 2003 Irish Sport Horse gelding left all the rails up but had four time penalties during show jumping. Unfortunately, their weekend came to an end when Halliday-Sharp became unseated at the bogey fence, fence 10, resulting in elimination.
Germany won the Nations Cup with a score of 137.1, followed by Australia in second on a 137.5 and France in third on a 146.4. Nicola Wilson (GBR) and One Two Many won the CICO3* on a score of 36.3 and also finished third with Annie Clover on a score of 41.3. Matthieu Van Landeghem (FRA) and Trouble Fete Ene HN were second with a score of 40.4.
Find out more about the Houghton International Horse Trials CICO3* and view the results.
By Kathleen Landwehr