Canadian Eventers Continue to Succeed at International Competitions

While Canadians everywhere were celebrating their eventing team’s silver medal finish at WEG, Canadian riders continued to record victories around the globe.

At the CCI2* Osberton International Three Day Event in Great Britain, held September 29–October 3, Kathryn Robinson, who currently resides in Kettering, GBR, rode Weinkonig 3 to a fourth place finish out of 99 starters. Robinson and Weinkonig 3, a 14-year-old Hessen gelding owned by the rider, added only four show jumping faults to their dressage score to finish with 51.3. Robinson and her second horse, Let it Bee, the rider’s nine-year-old German-bred gelding, finished 11th adding 12 show jumping faults to their 47.6 dressage score to complete the event with 59.6.

Canada had one entry at the FEI World Championship for Young Eventing Horses held at the National Stud, Parc de l’Isle Briand, in Le Lion d’Angers, FRA, held October 21–24. Lindsay Pearce of Tecumseh, ON, rode Patricia Pearce’s Irish Sport Horse mare Saniki to 15th place out of a field of 66 entries in the CCI 2* Seven-Year-Old Final. The pair finished on their dressage score of 58.9.

The same weekend at the 2010 Hagyard Midsouth Three Day Event held in Lexington, KY, Lindsay Mahon of Schomberg, ON, earned a fifth place finish in the CCI 1* division, finishing on his dressage score of 55.9, aboard Master Key, the rider’s eight-year-old Canadian Sport Horse gelding. Moira Laframboise of Orangeville, ON, added only four show jumping faults to her dressage score of 55.3 for eighth place with Raniki, Steven Chepa’s seven-year-old Canadian Sport Horse gelding. In 11th place, on a score of 61.4, was Siobhain O’Connor of Guelph, ON, riding her own Mizar, a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding. Sable Giesler of Powassan, ON, and her seven-year-old Holsteiner gelding Evil Munchkin, finished in 19th, while Erin MacDonald of London, ON, finished 20th on Java, an eight-year-old Hanoverian gelding.

At the Galway Downs International Horse Trials, the last event of the North American international season, held in Temecula, CA on November 5–7, Canadian two-time Olympian and 2010 WEG team silver medalist Hawley Bennett–Awad rode Five O’Clock Somewhere, a nine-year-old Thoroughbred owned by Susan Church, to a third place in the CC1 1* division finishing on their dressage score of 53.7.

Olympian Sandra Donnelly, of Calgary, AB, and her own Babe Ruth, a seven-year-old Canadian Warmblood gelding, finished in fourth place with a total of 59.1. James Atkinson of Mountain, MB, and Liz Weeks’ Gustav, a 10-year-old Thoroughbred cross gelding, finished in fifth place with 60.6. Caroline Smith of Spruce Grove, AB rode her six-year-old Paint gelding, Lucas, to 11th place. Andi Mae Warner of Maple Grove, BC, and her eight-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Phlight Plan, an finished in 23rd place, while Lynne Larsen of Merritt, BC and her 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding Frosch, rounded out the Canadian entries in 24th place.

In the CCI 2* division, Katelyn Ziegler of Beiseker, AB, and her horse Peninsula Lion, an eight-year-old Irish Warmblood gelding finished in eighth place.