Karen Robinson
Western Canada's biggest annual three-day-event has been good to Redmond, Wash-ington's Amy Tryon and her horse Woodstock. Winning the CCI* at the event in 2000, they returned this year to take a run at Nick Holmes-Smith's two star track, with unbeatable results. A smooth, accurate dressage test put Woodstock into a lead that continued to widen through the weekend. Amy was thrilled with her horse's performance in the endurance phase. In spite of some spookiness on phases A and C, she found the full phase format to be good for Woodstock's performance cross country. "He's a really big jumping horse and he tends to jump way up in the air over something if he's a bit spooky, and I think the steeplechase leveled him out a bit. He went around the cross-country a lot smoother and a lot more like an event horse than a show jumper. He came out of the box and was all business right from the start."
Business is clearly what Woodstock is all about. The seven year old Thoroughbred, who is originally off the track, lost a shoe part way through the cross-country, a hindrance which slowed him down not at all. "I saw the shoe fly off at fence number 11, so he did the majority of the course without a front shoe on". The footing at Chase Creek at the end of summer, while not hard, is certainly firm, and it was proof of the horse's mettle that, with the shoe replaced, he jogged well for the vet check on show jumping day. Even though he pulled a single rail early in the course, Amy was pleased with her horse's effort, especially after running hard the previous day with a shoe missing. "He went in the ring and seemed to grow a little bit. He kind of backed up a little in the first part, but then he went around well and he jumped really well."
Of her talented young horse, Amy says "I'm hoping he's going to be a really nice horse for the future. He's one of those rare horses that can be good in all three phases; it's just a matter of getting the strength and training to all fit together". She hopes to move him up to advanced level next year and tackle a three star course later in the season. 2002 promises to be a busy year for Amy. With two four star horses currently going, she would love to qualify for the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, in September. Olson's Tack Shop of Bellevue is Amy Tryon's sponsor.
The Canadians bowed to another American force in the CCI* division. Twenty-five year old Kate Brumder-Teichmann of Seattle and her 13 year-old English Thoroughbred Leicester led the standings from beginning to end of their first one star outing. Kate, who is coached by Melissa Beardsley, was pleased with the dressage test that gave them an early lead: "It was definitely his best test, at least that I've had on him". Chase Creek was the first full phase three-day that Kate and Leicester have done together; she has owned the horse only a little over a year. "I don't know if he's ever done steeplechase, and so I didn't really know what to expect. He just took off!"
Leicester gave Kate a bold run around the cross country, and they added just 0.8 of a time penalty to their dressage score. Going into the final day with little more than a one rail lead over second place Glynnis Schultz of BC and her New Zealand bred horse Ngapuhi, Kate was a bit nervous. Leicester's show jumping at the previous event "Wasn't great." But on this day, Leicester jumped easily and cleanly around the undulating stadium course to clinch the win. Kate is looking forward to next season, and plans to take Leicester into two star competition. In the short term, she is looking forward to marrying Ethan Pond in October and simplifying her last name!
The Chase Creek Horse Trials is Western Canada's most important three-day-event, and the only CCI** west of the Rockies and north of California. Canadian Olympian Nick Holmes-Smith and his wife Ali have hosted this important (and very fun) event for a number of years. They plan to continue doing so, despite having opened a new snow cat skiing resort, Monashee Powder Adventures, three years ago in the nearby Cariboo-Monashee mountains.
Head of this year's FEI ground jury, Roeli Bril of Holland was impressed with the beauty of the event's setting and with the cross-country track. "I think you can see in the cross-country that the builder, Nick, is a horseman. He is using this country to its maximum. I like the course very much." Nick changes the course every year, and adds new fences on an ongoing basis to give returning competitors new challenges. In addition to horse trial divisions from Green to Intermediate, this year's event included a Training Three-Day competition and clinic that drew riders from both Western Canada and the United States. The clinician was another Canadian Olympian, Therese Washtock.
For complete results of the Chase Creek Event please visit the Horse Trials BC website at www.horsetrials.org/htbc/