Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister on their way to a tenth place finish (Shannnon Brinkman)
Aachen, Germany – Cross country day proved to be influential at the Aachen CICO3* at the 2013 CHIO Aachen. Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister tackled the final phase with determination and finished in tenth place in a field of world-class horses and riders. The Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team finished in seventh place after unfortunate results plagued them throughout the day. Though a disappointing end, the horses and riders come away with valuable experience that will serve them well when they next contest an international competition on such a grand stage.
Coudray (Ojai, CA) and Ringwood Magister had a stellar round over Rüdiger Schwarz’s cross country course with 35 jumping efforts. The pair made light work of the extensive, challenging course. Adding 14.8 time penalties to their dressage score, she and Jatial Inc.’s 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding finished in tenth place with a score of 57.8.
“I am over the moon,” exclaimed Coudray. “He was absolutely playing with the course today. It obviously caused so much trouble. It was very, very tough. Very experienced riders had trouble. I went later in the day and I had not seen a clear round all morning, but he gave me such a good feel out there on the challenging course.”
Clark Montgomery (Wiltshire, UK) and Universe hit a rough patch at 10c, having two refusals at the skinny triple brush following the Normandy bank. However, he and Jessica Montgomery, Carole Montgomery, Janet Higgins, and Elizabeth Smith’s 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding finished strongly throughout the rest of the course. The pair collected 85.6 penalties to finish on a score of 152.2 in 35th place.
Will Faudree (Hoffman, NC) and Pawlow set out on course looking to have a top performance for the U.S. team, but after Jennifer Mosing’s 14-year-old Irish Thoroughbred gelding pulled both front shoes early on course, it wasn’t meant to be. The pair had refusals at 8b, the corner in the Rolex water complex, and 21a at the STAWAG double corners complex, and then had an unfortunate fall at the last fence when the gelding lost his footing on the landing. Both horse and rider were not hurt in the fall.
Marilyn Little (Frederick, MD) and RF Smoke on the Water began the course on mission but lost her line to 8b, the corner in the Rolex water complex, resulting in rider fall for Little. Both she and Raylyn Farms Inc. and Phoebe and Michael Manders’ 8-year-old Wurttemburger gelding came away unharmed, with an unfortunate result marring an otherwise successful year for the pair.
Of the 41 starters, three horse-and-rider combinations retired on course and three were eliminated.
Australia’s Christopher Burton and Holstein Park Leilani claimed the win after having the only double clear round of the day, finishing on their dressage score of 35.6. Sandra Auffarth (GER) and Opgun Louvo added four time penalties to their dressage score to settle for second place with a 35.8. Germany’s London Olympic Games double Gold medalist Michael Jung and La Biosthetique-Sam FBW incurred six time penalties to finish in third place.
Germany held onto the lead to claim victory in the team competition with a score of 134.6. Great Britain finished in second with 182.6, while Sweden was third with 219.0.
Learn more about the Aachen CICO3* here.
Follow the 2013 Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team here.
By Kathleen Landwehr