Brianne writes from the Royal…

There is not too much to report today, unfortunately! It is so odd to be at a horse show with only one horse. Especially at The Royal, which is a five-day horse show. Today is my second day off in a row and I am perplexed by what “normal people” might do with a long weekend!

Luckily, being in Toronto allows for a plethora of options, it is just a matter of deciding what to do. I am going to go over to the show in a little bit to ride Onira. I do not want to do too much but I like him to be out of his stall as much as possible.

Laura Kraut and I did a joint autograph signing session yesterday in the exhibition hall. I always enjoy spending time with Laura! I have known her for a long time now and she has always given me great advice. She is obviously someone to study in the ring, but it is a fortunate opportunity I have to be able to discuss all kinds of matters with her. Her insight always seems to come from a different angle than most, given that she is based largely overseas. I personally, love to have a multifaceted view of our sport. Anyway, the signing went well and I had a great time!

Yesterday’s main show jumping event was a Gambler’s Choice class that was surprisingly entertaining. Dermot Lennon is on a roll here and rode Lou Lou over a brilliantly complicated track. I really enjoyed watching the class! I do not think one person did the same course and each track was more and more complicated.

I am hearing great reports from Verona; I am excited to find out who is doing well there. It sounds like there is a very strong field of riders and horses. Obviously, that is expected, but is nonetheless incredible. I hope Pedro keeps his photos coming…

 

Lauren Hough keeps it coming…

126. $32,000 International Jumper Class

You might know her from…

Lauren Hough has been a regular rider fashioning the stars and stripes. Qualifying for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 at the tender age of 23 was just the beginning. Lauren went on to win the National Horse Show Grand Prix back to back in 2001 and 2002, as well as the Team Gold Medal at the Pan American Games the following year in 2003. She then went on to win the CN Reliability Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows National (2007), along with a host of other highly prestigious prizes, including the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix (Germany, 2010), the Longines International Grand Prix of Ireland (2011) and the Encana Cup at the Spruce Meadows Masters in 2011. Lauren is currently ranked 50th in the world.

award	entry	horse	owner	rider	prize
1	124	Ohlala	Lauren Hough	Lauren Hough	10560.00
2	128	Belmont	Mrs. Beverly Widdowson	Laura Kraut	6400.00
3	120	Wannick WH	Windsor Show Stables, Inc & Candy Tribble	Christine McCrea	4800.00
4	104	Voyeur	Amalaya Investments	Kent Farrington	3200.00
5	129	Temmie	Stone Hill Farm	Jessica Springsteen	1920.00
6	138	Cortez	Ludo Philippaerts	Nicola Philippaerts	1440.00
7	135	Denver Van T Goemanshof	Stal de Kalvarie	Olivier Philippaerts	960.00
8	114	Hallmark Elite	J.W. Rosbotham	Dermott Lennon	800.00
9	106	Onisha	Reed Kessler	Reed Kessler	640.00
10	140	Clyde	Leonardo Aljure	Daniel Bluman	640.00
11	83	Frieda	KMA Group	Ainsley Vince	320.00
12	80	EStar	A.v.d. Kop	Angela Covert-Lawrence	320.00
13	132	Zander	McLain Ward	McLain Ward	0.00
14	62	New Idol Z	Juniper Farms	Jill Henselwood	0.00
15	118	Carrabis Z	Equinimity LLC	Richie Moloney	0.00
16	58	Ariana	Susan Grange	Yann Candele	0.00
17	112	Siri	Shane Sweetnam & Spy Coast Farm	Shane Sweetnam	0.00

127. $32,000 MNP International Top Score

You might know him from…

Dermott represents everything that Irish show jumping is proud of. He was part of the Irish team that won their first European Championship title at the European Show Jumping Championships in Aachen. Mr. Lennon won Individual gold in the World Championships riding Liscalgot in 2002. This was Ireland’s first ever win at the World Championships. The 43 year old Irishman is currently ranked 94th in the world.

award	entry	horse	owner	rider	prize
1	115	Loughview Lou Lou	Judith Sossick	Dermott Lennon	10560.00
2	113	Cyklon 1083	Spycoast Farm LLC	Shane Sweetnam	6400.00
3	134	Chicago VH Moleneind	Ludo Philippaerts	Olivier Philippaerts	4800.00
4	131	Rothchild	Sagamore Farms	McLain Ward	3200.00
5	137	Diebrich de Kalvarie	Stal de Kalvarie	Nicola Philippaerts	1920.00
6	107	Ligist	Reed Kessler	Reed Kessler	1440.00
7	125	Quick Study	Laura Mateo	Lauren Hough	960.00
8	128	Belmont	Mrs. Beverly Widdowson	Laura Kraut	800.00
9	129	Temmie	Stone Hill Farm	Jessica Springsteen	640.00
10	116	Let’s Go	Richie Moloney & Equinimity LLC	Richie Moloney	640.00
11	121	Zerly	Windsor Show Stables, Inc & Candy Tribble	Christine McCrea	320.00
12	65	Unica Van de Roashoeve	Eastwood Group	Angela Covert-Lawrence	320.00
13	141	Chanel	Christian Glanemann	Daniel Bluman	0.00

Brianne writes from the Royal…

Onira jumped amazingly last night! I was so mad at myself when I came out of the ring! The triple combination was a hard one and caught a lot of the riders. I had the B effort of the triple combination down because I under-rode the width of the oxer. Thus the fault was full rider error, and I kept replaying my mistake in my mind. So so mad at myself!

The course was big and Onira played around the rest of the track, which made the fault that much more annoying!
Michel Vaillancourt is course designing this week and I feel that he is one of our best designers. He really has a feel for what he has to build and fashions tracks not only according to standard but also to his field of riders and horse combinations. Also, I learned last night that he was the first Canadian athlete (yes, general athlete!) to win an individual Olympic medal. That is amazing!

 
All his tracks this week have been spot on in terms of number of clear rounds and last night was no exception. We saw six clear rounds that began with Olivier Philippaerts. He is young, but rides incredibly well. I always like to see my friends go clear and give it a go! The jump off course was very complicated, equipped with a lot of roll-backs and awkward or tricky angles. I thought all of the riders had excellent rounds, which is rare. Conor had one down with Landsdowne but he jumped beautifully in both rounds. Jill Henselwood won going last. The packed stands were very enthusiastic all night and it was great for them that a Canadian clinched the victory!

 
Today is a quiet day for me and Onira. I may not even ride him, I have not decided yet. I want to keep him very fresh for Saturday night and the Big Ben Challenge. There are a few classes to watch though so I am going to head over to the exhibition center to see the happenings. I am considering a trip to the Science Center a bit later. Yes I am totally nerdy but I hear it is one of the best in North America, so why not?

Photos of Onira… clearly he does not have any boundaries.

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