ADAMSTOWN, Md.--U.S. Pan Am team rider Boyd Martin of Cochranville, Pa.,on Christine Turner’s Tsetserleg, a 12-year-old Trakehner gelding, led the CCI3*-S division at the Maryland International Horse Trials from start to finish, adding only time faults to his dressage score of 22.5 to finish the weekend on 24.1.

Boyd Martin on Tsetserleg (Photo by USEA/Jessica Duffy)With the 2019 Pan American Games less than a month away, the horses and riders selected to represent the United States in Lima completed their final prep event on July 7 at the Maryland International Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown.

“He felt fantastic, I couldn’t have asked for a better preparation,” Martin said. “The show jumping, which has been his harder phase, he went in and really jumped well. He’s a bit of a quirky horse to show jump, and I warm him up slightly different to a normal horse. I get there a bit early and pop over a couple of small, training-sized jumps and a little combination, and then I actually give him a walk and just let him take a deep breath and walk around for 20 minutes, and then I warm him up, and it seems to work. I thought he jumped really well. It wasn’t that big. I don’t think he’s fixed, he’s always going to be a bit of work in the show jumping, but he felt like he was jumping in a good shape and it was a good course.”

 

“HE'S A PRO now,” Martin said, of Tsetserleg’s cross-country round. “It’s amazing. Last year he just felt like a young horse still ,and this year he’s just a real seasoned veteran. I’ve actually got him in a softer bit now than last year. I didn’t try to ride him fast. I was just trying to go around the course without messing with him too much and slowing down that much and practice being a bit sneaky on a few of the lines and jumping the fences out of stride. He’s good and fit, and it looks like he’s trotting up well, so I think we’re in good shape.”

Colleen Rutledge of Aiken, S.C., on Covert Rights was fourth after dressage on a score of 26.3 and moved up into second place following two double clear jumping phases to finish the weekend on her dressage score.

Doug Payne of Rougemont, N.C., on Vandiver had 2.0 time faults in the cross country to add to his dressage score of 29.4 to finish third on a score of 31.4.

Vandiver is Payne’s direct reserve horse for the Pan American Games.

Payne’s Pan Am mount, Starr Witness, was third place after dressage and show jumping on a score of 25.5 but picked up 8.4 time faults on cross-country, to finish seventh on 33.9.

Star Witness hasn’t been out since Payne rode her to win the CCI3*-L at Jersey Fresh International in May, but he said she feels excellent.

“It was a good course for her because it was a lot of stuff she wouldn’t have seen before, because we just haven’t come here [to the Maryland Horse Trials],” Payne said. “It was a really good experience for her. There were a couple distances, honestly, that were a little bit short. It surprised me a bit, but she’s so catty and quick that it’s not much of an issue for her. Time-wise, I just kind of cruised around, I wasn’t going to go for time.”

Californian Tamra Smith on Mai Baum scored 23.8 in dressage to sit in second place overnight but ultimately incurred 14 time faults on cross-country after throwing both front shoes on course to finish in 13th place.

Mai Baum arrived in Virginia from California earlier this week, and Smith said he’s been settling in quite well, despite the heat and humidity.

“He’s been really fresh actually,” Smith said. “It’s his first run since he did the long format at Twin Rivers in April, so he definitely needed a run. Everything rode really great. It gave you a really good feeling. It was such a great final run before something big.”

 

LYNN SYMANSKY of Middleburg, Va., on RF Cool Play had four faults for a refusal in stadium jumping to add to her dressage score, also adding 6 cross-country time penalties to finish the weekend in 15th place.

Lynn Symansky on RF Cool Play (Photo by USEA/Jessica Duffy)“This is why we come to shows before we go to the Pan Ams,” Symansky said. “He jumped quite well in the show jumping. We’ve been playing around with a little bit of a different style of ride, and I came around the corner to the liverpool, and I softened, and it’s like he didn’t see it and he just halted. He’s not a stopper, so it just caught us both a little by surprise. I’m not saying those things are good, but at least it was a bit of a wake-up call. He feels better in his body. I think it was just one of those things, sometimes these things happen. We definitely will be jumping a lot of liverpools!”

The riders were all in agreement that Ian Stark put together a top-notch cross-country course at Maryland.

“I thought Ian really upped the track this year, and I thought it asked some good questions,” said Symansky.

“It’s harder than it looks just because it’s on a smaller piece of land, so you’ve got a combination and 20 strides later you’ve got another combination," said Martin. "I actually think it’s good for the horses and good for your riding because you don’t have this luxury like you do at a long format where you can canter along for 30 seconds and regroup a bit. It comes up quick.”

USEF Eventing High Performance Director Erik Duvander explained that the prep event serves as a place to check in with each horse and see if there’s anything that needs fine tuning before heading to Peru.

“The reason why we’re here is to test all the horses in all three phases and see if there’s any red flags or anything we need to practice a bit more. We’ve got a couple of things we need to do before we travel so we know that now.”

“The biggest thing is that you have to ride really well in the moment on the day, that’s the thing,” Martin said. “You can do all the practicing and all the preparation and all the grooming and fancy farriers and vets and all that, but in the moment you have to be able to execute and pull it off. That’s my biggest most important thing to think about.”