 |
| Read all about today’s dressage on www.useventing.com |
Team Windurra is off to a great start at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. Caitlin and Hoku had a poised test in their first four-star competition and are currently tied for sixth place on a score of 53.7
Caitlin posted on her Facebook page, “Hoku couldn’t have gone better today. What a great start to the weekend 🙂 I feel so lucky to be here with her and all of the people here helping this weekend!”
Tomorrow Boyd and Oscar are scheduled to ride their test at 11:42, the last pair before the lunch break.
Visit the FEI website for live video feed of all the action: http://www.feitv.org/live
Here’s Silva’s professional critique of Caitlin’s ride and thoughts on Boyd and Oscar’s preparation for tomorrow’s test:
“Boyd and I are so proud of Caitlin; she’s been through lots of bad times and she suffers but never quits. She had a great test and couldn’t have gone any better at this point. Obviously she can improve in the future but this was her best test so far, especially for her first four-star.
We didn’t know what to expect because Hoku is a hot mare and it’s a big stadium. She was a little wild her first day here and I was worried about how she would deal with the atmosphere. Caitlin rode her in a little extra low and round so she wouldn’t look up into the stadium, but the mare was actually really relaxed. She had four good changes, which have been green for her; I rode her for a few months while Caitlin was injured, and we’ve been working on her changes, but today she just pulled them off. She’s a tense horse anyway so we need to improve on that but today she was better than I expected for where she is in her training.
I think Caitlin was thrilled and she’s in 6thplace so she’s right up there. If anybody deserves this it’s Caitlin! She’s hung in there through so many tough times in her riding career with horses getting hurt, and the fire, and her head injury – we are really happy for her.
Boyd and Oscar have been working really well; Oscarlooks amazing. He’s an impressive looking horse anyway. He’s the youngest horse in the field and still a bit green, and this is his first four-star, so we need a little luck tomorrow to keep it all together, but he’s working really well. I just hope tomorrow for those six minutes in the ring everything will go our way. We’ve never really had him in an atmosphere like that before so fingers crossed everything will fall into place!”
Congrats to Caitlin and good luck tomorrow!
YES!!!!! Caitlin, Best to you!