But with the help of true friends and a special horse, over the next year and a half Edgar found his way back to health, to the sport he loved, and to the front of the victory gallop.

Finding Derby Blue

The lead-up to this year’s Lexington National Horse Show (Virginia), held the first week in August, was a bit of a roller coaster for Edgar and Black Rock, the horse he credits for his return to showing. The month before they left HITS Culpeper (Virginia) with a performance hunter reserve championship and a fourth-placed ribbon in the USHJA National Hunter Derby, but then Black Rock ripped off two shoes in succession and ended up a bit sore.

As a WCHR show, Lexington was an important stop for “Blue” and the young professional, but Edgar didn’t want to chance Lisa Rossi’s 10-year-old Oldenburg (Diatendro—Citina) if he wasn’t ready to roll.

“The foot needed to heal, and you can’t rush feet or make the feet grow any faster,” Edgar said. “So I told him, I said, ‘Blue, you’re not going to go to the horse show if you’re not feeling good.’ I kid you not, I went out the next day, and the horse was 100 percent.”

After some back and forth about whether to compete at Lexington, Edgar, Rossi and trainer Rachel Kennedy decided to enter Blue in a single class. That decision paid off when Blue and Edgar jumped to the top of the USHJA National Hunter Derby with marks of 90 and 92—a first derby win for horse and rider alike.

“His riding comes from the heart,” Rossi said. “He just rides the horse that he’s on and connects with them. He’s got the technical skills and know-how to ride all kinds of different horses, but it comes from feel first. He’s very aware of the horses, their surroundings, their psyche and [creates] a real partnership with them.”

Working His Way To Opportunities

Edgar grew up in Virginia, catching the horse bug as a third-grader, and when his parents didn’t have the funds to match his burgeoning talent, he got to work. Throughout his teenage years, when he wasn’t in the barn, he sold dog treats, assisted horse show photographers and worked polishing belts and bracelets for the Kenyan Collection to help pay his bills.

“I still have a binder that has my pony’s Coggins in it, and all my membership papers, back when it all had to be printed out,” he recalled. “I had my checkbook, and I would go to the office by myself with my little binder, and I would pay my bills, and I would pay the braider. I remember I used to find horse shows that were all where the pony hunters only went one day, so then I could trailer and not have to get a stall.”

Edgar rode medium pony Damingo with trainer Carol Eichner, and one day Lisa Rossi’s daughter, Anna, saw a video of the two online.

“She was like, ‘Hey, I have this great large pony. He’s just coming back; he needs a rider. You’re a really good rider,’ ” recalled Edgar. “I was finishing up the year, and I was aging out of mediums, so I needed a pony, and they needed a rider. When Anna reached out to me, we were on the phone for two hours.”

Anna, Lisa and Edgar became fast friends, and through the Rossis’ pony, One More Time, Edgar met Kennedy. The partnership with the Rossis also enabled him to go to USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) for the first time, where they introduced him to trainer Bill Schaub. A year later at that same show, Schaub to invite Edgar to be his working student and travel to Wellington, Florida, for the Winter Equestrian Festival. When he got back to the hotel he screamed in excitement, before starting the process of convincing his mother that he had to switch to online school, and that he had the maturity to go to Florida by himself.

Edgar started catch riding for the likes of Schaub and Ken and Emily Smith, sometimes straightforward mounts, but often ones who came with some baggage and required all Edgar’s horsemanship.

“I was living my dreams, and it was just crazy, because I was—as a kid and as a junior—always such a rule follower, and I was very much the kid that people really wanted their children around, and the kid that the younger generation looked up to,” he said.

A Difficult Transition

As his college years approached, Edgar couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d missed out on the biggest goal of his junior years: winning a national equitation final. He had earned good ribbons at major shows, like ASPCA Maclay Regionals and Devon, but a big win was always just out of his grasp.

“I had a good run in the equitation and I did well, but I would always get to the major finals, and I would kind of crack a little bit, I would get really nervous,” he said. “I would have little mistakes.”

Aging out of the juniors, he reluctantly set aside his ambitions to go pro immediately and followed his trainers’ advice to head to college instead. Sue Ashe helped connect him with the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia), where he earned a scholarship.

It was a hard change. On the ride to school with his mom, Edgar broke down.

“I was just so scared because it was the unknown; it was change,” said Edgar. “And I never did well with change. Going to college was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. But I’m not going to sit here and say that it was easy-peasy lemon breezy. I had to really push myself and get out of my comfort zone.”

At college he found a different horse community—and new opportunities to achieve the equitation goals that had eluded him.

“I thought when my junior years were over, that when I didn’t when I didn’t win a final, I thought my career was over,” he said. “SCAD gave me the opportunity to do a national final, and I didn’t have to own a horse.”

In his sophomore year Edgar, who majored in equestrian studies, won the IHSA Cacchione Cup, fulfilling his dream of winning an equitation final. After riding on a cloud for a week or so, Edgar’s feeling of accomplishment waned, and he felt himself wondering what was next. Without an immediate goal, he felt rudderless, and what had started as occasional partying morphed into full-fledged drug and alcohol abuse. By 2019, Edgar said, “things were bad.”

“I was a boy who once cared more about horses and being the best role model I could be more than anything,” he said. “And then slowly but surely, I only cared about finishing the day as quickly as possible so I was able to escape reality with substances, and the one thing that mattered to me most, which was horses, even that couldn’t save me from the powerful control that substances had over my life.”

In hindsight Edgar could see that his drug and alcohol abuse affected his relationships, schoolwork, and the trust that people had in him. He blames no one but himself for getting to that position, and said his perfectionism and the pressure he put on himself as a junior contributed to his difficulties.

“I think the biggest thing that was really hard for me was that, even going through hard times and struggling, I could still show up and find eight jumps,” he said. “The horses felt for me, and they tried for me, because they knew I was struggling. So I don’t think I was ever as successful as I could have been, but even my version of not being as successful was still successful, right? That’s what was a hard struggle for me, because I validated my behavior by being like, ‘Well, I’m still showing up on time. I’m still doing well. So why is it a problem?’ In reality, I may have been showing up and finding eight jumps, but all other aspects of my life were falling apart.”

Edgar stopped paying bills on time and racked up debt and parking tickets. He got arrested, and his relationships with family and friends went downhill sharply. His romantic relationships were a mess.

He got sober for the first time in 2021 and stayed clean for a while, but it didn’t stick.

“I stayed sober for nine months,” he recalled. “Then I told myself, ‘Everyone gets in trouble at least once; I’m young.’ I came up with all these excuses and validated them and started drinking again. I got in trouble again so fast; as soon as I started drinking again, it was back to the races.”

In an effort to give sobriety a fair shot, Edgar decided to quit riding and get away from the people, places and things he associated with his addictions. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he started working at a coffee shop. He was making progress, but he still wasn’t sober, until a friend invited him on a group trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, that he swore would change Edgar’s life. Edgar was doubtful.

“Everyone just welcomed me with open arms and literally pulled me in and helped me and hugged me,” he said. “I had this moment where I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for.’

“These people were happy. They were hardworking, normal people that were sober,” he continued. “They had something that I wanted, so I decided on that trip, ‘I’m going to do everything that they tell me to do, and I’m going to throw myself into this world.’ When I talked to my friend who told me it was going to change my life, I was like, ‘It kills me to say it, but you were a hundred percent right.’ ”

‘We Are So Back’

When newly sober Edgar wanted to get back in the saddle after four months away, he wanted to be mindful about how he did it, and he wanted to work with people he knew would support him. He called his longtime friend Lisa, who kept her horses with Kennedy, who Edgar knew was also in his corner. Lisa immediately thought of Blue.

“We had started him and then finances got a little tight, and he’d been on the back burner,” Lisa said. “He needed a professional to get started, and [Kennedy] travels so much, so it was hard to get a groove going. I love Adam, and always have, and he was in the neighborhood. I was daydreaming with Anna one day and said, ‘He would ride Blue so well.’ ”

In the sensitive gelding Edgar found a kindred spirit, and he empathized with the gelding’s perfectionist nature.

“I often say to people that horses find us when we need them most, and that we find horses when they need us most,” Edgar said. “And that’s precisely what happened: He was trying to find his place, and I was trying to find my place, and we found each other.”

Edgar knew it was a special connection from the first ride, but he tried to convince himself not to fall for the gelding. He took his return to the saddle slowly, commuting from D.C. to Kennedy’s ESP Farm in Brookeville, Maryland, a few days each week to ride, gradually building up his time at the barn. For their first show together, in November 2024, they went to Swan Lake (Pennsylvania) and won a class.

“I laid down this round that was just really good, and I remember Anna Rossi was standing at the in-gate, and I just hear her go, ‘We are so back,’ ” Edgar recalled. “And it was amazing, because here’s this horse that couldn’t really find his way, and here’s this rider that was trying to find his way. And then we found each other, and then we got to step back into the show ring, and it was successful. And we’ve really been able to grow together, one step at a time.”

Edgar saw a big difference in both himself and Blue as they bonded.

“In the barn, he didn’t really have his person yet, so he was a little dull,” he said. “And as we started forming our partnership, I think I got happier. My friends in D.C. would be like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re so much nicer now that you’re riding horses again.’ And the guys in the barn would say, ‘This horse is so much happier.’ ”

With support from Lisa, Kennedy and others, Edgar eventually quit his job as a barista and went back to riding full time, commuting to The Plains, Virginia, to work at Jonelle Mullen’s TuDane Farm, while still driving to ESP Farm in Maryland ride Blue.  

“He’s just a good guy; he’s honest and hardworking with a big heart,” Lisa said. “He’s just a caring human being who’s never hurt another person or been mean to a horse. He tries his best with everyone and everything he does. He’s really funny and at the same time very serious when he’s working with the horses. He and Rachel have a long history together, and they trust each other. Having her on the ground with him riding Blue has been a magical combination.”

These days Edgar is riding and working for Kennedy at ESP Farm and aiming Blue toward the Capital Challenge Horse Show (Maryland).

“I just feel like he saved me,” Edgar said. “He saved me because I was at a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to do this. I was thinking about going back to school and looking into different avenues, and maybe I just want to be an amateur, and maybe I want to look at a different career and then, you know, he just popped into my life.

“What makes it even more special to me is that Lisa owns him … so to be able to go back and do this with them makes it that much more special, because [the Rossis are] family to me, and they have stood by me through everything I’ve been through, and they’ve been there through it all,” he continued. “They’ve gotten to see me turn my life around, to get happy again, and get right again, and to be able to give back to them is just really special to me.”

Since becoming sober 16 months ago, Edgar eased into horse show life, and he’s learned to lean on people who support his sobriety within and outside the horse show world.

“To go in the ring and feel an animal rise to the occasion for you and want it just as much as you want it, and try for you, is better than anything that alcohol or drugs could have ever given me,” he said. “That is what makes it all worth it, that feeling of having a 1,500-pound animal that can’t talk go in the ring and perform for you. That’s the magic beauty of it.”

The post From Darkness To Derby Winner: Adam Edgar’s Journey Back To The Ring With Black Rock appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Show jumper Kyle King has long thought of Spruce Meadows, where the native Californian first competed as a 14-year-old, as a second home. That decades-long connection to the venue made his clear round and jump-off aboard Kayenne Z in the $5 million ($3.62 million USD) CPKC ‘International’ CSI5 Grand Prix on Sept. 7 an especially meaningful career milestone. King stood second on the podium beside winner Scott Brash, collecting $735,300 USD of the biggest purse in the show’s 50-year history.

King’s 10-year-old partner “Kaya” (Kannan—Alexsandria, Canezaro) had previously competed up to the four-star level in Europe before King took on the mare as a sale project in early 2025. It took only a few months of working with the Zangersheide before he realized that with every increasing challenge, Kaya got better. He made a plan to secure the mare, knowing he’d never had a horse quite like her, and moved her up to the five-star level in June.

“She’s impressive,” said King, 50, who now lives in Langley, British Columbia. “When you’re around her, you feel it. She’s got the ‘it factor.’ ” 

In Sunday’s grand prix, King felt the mare rise to the occasion once again, tackling one of the sport’s most demanding courses with her signature sense of ease.

“Honestly it felt like I was jumping a 1.20-meter course the other day,” he said. “You’re not looking at the jump cantering down to them thinking, ‘Oh, they’re big,’ when you’re on her. You really feel like you have this tremendous power underneath you—tons of ability, careful, smart. She’s got it all.”

We caught up with King to learn more about Kaya, whom his team lovingly calls “Big Momma,” and to learn more about his plans for the talented mare following their near-win at Spruce Meadows. 

Congratulations on your weekend. Can you tell me about the first round and the feeling of making the jump-off?

You know, when I walked the first round, everybody’s always so excited to see what’s going to be set out there in a class like that. We knew there would be something special. The first thing we kind of all noticed was the water jump with a pole in the middle of it. So, you know, it’s a 10- or 11-foot water jump and then, like, a 1.50-meter vertical in the middle of it. It was very intimidating looking. We don’t get to see that kind of stuff very often. So that was the first thing that got everybody’s attention, and it turned out to be a pretty good jump to jump. 

Then there was the skinny [before the open water]. It was a little bit of a question; some people were getting seven or eight to the water. When I walked it, my first instinct was to get the seven, which I thought would make the six, and then the five [to the next two fences] ride better for my mare. That’s what I ended up doing, and that worked out pretty good. That was about the time I kind of settled down. 

Kaya tried really hard. I got some really lucky rubs through the triple combination [which led into the last fence]. It was a great feeling, jumping the last jump, looking up and realizing you’re clean in a class like that. Those are the little moments you dream about. For sure, it was one of those moments—all these years and training build up to a moment like that. Then to be able to pull it off was pretty cool.

[Watch their second-round performance, which earned them a jump-off spot as just one of two riders with a single rail down.]

What did you think when you’re suddenly in a two rider jump-off with Scott Brash, the only person who’s ever won the Rolex Grand Slam?

Again, it’s one of those dream scenarios. That’s exactly what you dream up. I was pretty happy with myself—the way I conducted my head, anyway—through the whole thing. I was in a good zone. I was in there to compete, and I was going to win it. 

It was just down to us two. So I got on and they said [Brash] was heading up to the ring. I got ready and jumped; I just wanted to jump in the paddock, because I had just come out of the ring. They said he pulled a shoe. So then it was kind of like icing the kicker; I had to sit there for about five or six minutes—the longest five or six minutes of my life. But I kept it together. 

My wife [Emily King] was there, and I had Tiffany Foster on the ground. She’s been in that situation a lot, and it was really nice to have her kind of there on the ground just kind of helping me through. 

I stood in the in-gate and watched [Brash] go and saw what I needed to do. And, oh man, I thought I did it! I knew I was pretty quick on the rollback to the wall. That showed up just beautiful. And then I just caught a really good one coming around the end of the double. I knew I was ahead on time. I slowed down, got on her hocks to the planks to make the rollback [on the third to last fence] and just rubbed it behind. 

Watch King’s jump-off round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.tv:

Honestly, I haven’t really had time to watch it. Obviously I ended up second, but like I said, it’s a career moment—what you dreamed about your whole life and to be lined up and have a seat at the table and walk in there, I was very proud of my mare’s performance and my performance.

I read that you do like to watch videos of your riding. What do you think it will feel like to watch this one?

Oh, it’ll be super exciting. I’m sure I’ll analyze it. Nick Skelton told me after that if I would have left that step out, I probably had a better chance of leaving that plank up. I’m kind of dying to watch that, because in my head, I was thinking about making the turn on the backside of it. You don’t want to go run at the planks either, but he’s obviously the master, and I’m kind of curious to watch that back and see.

Tell me about this mare. Where did she come from, and how did that partnership come together for you two?

I got super lucky. She was [ridden] by Ann Carton-Grootjans. Very good friends of mine for many years, Michael Korompis and Kirsten Rombouts, they’re partners in Europe, and they’re who I trust finding horses for me over there. I had gone over looking for a horse this time last, and they had taken me to Ann’s stables to try another horse.

I wasn’t in any position to try that mare; I was trying some younger horses. And then when I came back this winter, Michael called me and asked me if I’d be interested in taking Kayenne, and getting her sold in America.

I think she got there kind of the middle of February. She’d been in quarantine for a month, so I put her in a couple 1.30-meter rounds. Didn’t think all that much. I’d seen some videos of her jumping some 1.50-meter classes, but the rideability was a little different, and I wasn’t totally sold on her. Then I moved her up to the 1.40 meters, and she was a lot better. Then I put her in a 1.45-meter class, and she was even better. 

Then I put her in a 1.50-meter class one night in really weird conditions: a windstorm, very spooky. I almost scratched, but I’m glad I didn’t because I learned a lot about her that night. She went clear and ended up really good in the jump-off. And then at that moment, I knew that I had something pretty cool. I was sitting on a really cool horse, and was trying to figure out how to secure her for my future for myself. 

One of my very good friends, Greg Tomb, stepped up and backed me on securing her for the future, and that was just done right before we went to Spruce Meadows. We went to Spruce, and she just kind of grew and grew and grew. We got second the Queen Elizabeth Cup, and then got ourselves invited to the [Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’]. We fought hard all week and got qualified, which it was not an easy task to even qualify for the grand prix this year. She then fought her way all the way into second place in the biggest grand prix in the world. That’s pretty cool. 

It seems like you have spent a lot of time at Spruce Meadows over the years. I’m wondering if there’s a familiarity with the venue that you think kind of helped you with this recent success.

Oh, one hundred percent. Spruce Meadows, I know very, very well. I’ve been coming up here since I rode in that ring when I was 14 for the first time, which, you do the math! That’s a long time ago. I know that ring very well, and I’m very comfortable in it. 

I’ve lived in Calgary for a lot of time, a lot of summers, and it does feel like home. I feel like I have a home-field advantage, and then I also show up there all summer. So I couldn’t have had a better training grounds to get ready for what we just did.

It’s so interesting to hear you say that the higher you raise the fences, and the tougher the conditions, the more the horse rises to the occasion. What in her personality do you attribute that to?

She’s just one of those special mares. I used to always get the mares and stallions that were difficult back in the day, but I haven’t had a really good mare in a while—and maybe never quite like this one. She’s very intelligent. She’s like a bull, very strong in her body, but very willing. 

What’s next? What are your goals with Kaya?

What’s next up is pretty cool. I caught a spot on one of the Major League Show Jumping teams, the Northern Lights. So I’m going to join up with the Major League five-star tour here starting in two weeks. I go back and do Connecticut, New York and then Tryon. 

So she gets a few weeks to recover, we go back, and we do one big five-star, and then a week off, and then two more big five-stars. She’s got a lot of work ahead of her, but she does need the miles at this level and some different venues. 

We’re going to be busy the rest of the season. I gave her a really big break after the summer series of Spruce, anticipating this big push. She had six weeks of downtime after Spruce Meadows in the summer, so she should be just right for this push.

The post Ringside Chat: Kayenne Z Is Spicing Up Kyle King’s Career appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

• Karl Cook (Rancho Santa Fe, California)
• Laura Kraut (Royal Palm Beach, Florida)
• Alex Matz (Coatesville, Pennsylvania)
• Alessandra Volpi (Woodside, California)

Competition will begin Sept. 18. The Longines League of Nations Grand Prix CSIO5* takes place at 6 p.m. local time (noon Eastern Time) on Sept. 19. The Longines League of Nations two-round team competition will start at 1:30 p.m. local (7:30 a.m. ET) Sept. 21. All competitions will be livestreamed on ClipMyHorse.TV/FEI.TV.

This is the final qualifying competition for the Longines League of Nations Final taking place in October in Barcelona. After three legs of the Longines League of Nations 2025 series, France heads the league standings with 240 points. Ireland holds second place with 225 points just ahead of Germany in third with 220 and USA and Belgium in equal fourth with 200 points apiece. Great Britain sit close behind in sixth on 195 points with Netherlands in seventh on 185. The final qualifying position is currently occupied by Italy who hold onto eighth position with 165 points. Sweden and Switzerland occupy the ninth and tenth positions with 120 and 90 points respectively.

Click here for more information.

The post US Team Named For Longines League Of Nations St. Tropez appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“I just always went in for practice—no pressure, no expectation, no nothing—and he always delivered,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Havens, just because it’s a big class, you cannot ride him more. You cannot try to get a rub [in warm-up]—don’t do any of that stuff. Just ride him the way you’ve always ridden him.’ So that was a little bit hard for me. I had to keep telling myself, ‘Easy, easy.’ ”

As they walked into the ring, “CB” certainly took notice of the bigger atmosphere. His head came up, and he eyed his surroundings, so Schatt took her time before picking up the canter, making a bigger courtesy circle than she normally would for a class of this caliber, but her primary goal was giving him a good experience.

“The first probably four jumps, I felt like I kind of needed to hold his hand a little bit and just be a little bit not as brilliant as sometimes you would want for a class like that,” she said. “But I think his jumping style was covered up a lot, and by the in-and-out to the last two lines, he was just in the groove then, and I could let go of his head a little bit and just kind of get to the jump and let him explode over the jump.”

Schatt was first in the class and had to wait for remainder of the competitors to go to see whether their scores could hold up. Initially she figured they’d get pushed down the leaderboard given the quality of horses in the field, but one by one they failed to catch her, and her hopes soared. By the end of the 15-horse class, Schatt was thrilled to find herself atop the final standings.

“That class, on that day, at that time of the month or the year, suited that type of horse perfectly,” she said.

Schatt first purchased CB last September off a video with the idea that he could be an equitation horse. Though he had a beautiful jump, he didn’t have the daisy-cutter movement of the complete package for a junior or amateur hunter.

“He’s just like a big puppy dog,” she said. “He’s really, really tall, so he’s always got to put his head down for you to pet him or whatever, and he’s always more than willing for you to pet him and feed him treats. For the most part, he’s quiet and he’s super, super willing, like he didn’t even think twice about going in there and doing exactly what I told him to do.”

Watch their winning round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.TV:

Since he was still green, and it’s so expensive to keep horses in her winter base in Wellington, Florida, Schatt decided to send him to fellow hunter rider Tim Maddrix in Ocala, Florida, to get his initial show miles. When it was time to head back north to Lexington, Kentucky, Schatt took him back and later sold part-ownership to Caroline Oliver with the idea of making him Oliver’s equitation horse. Schatt showed him sparingly, but she found that judges were often scoring him in the 90s.

Nonetheless, at the beginning of last week, CB wasn’t her intended mount for the classic. Initially she thought she’d ride Julia McNerney’s Cascartini, who she’s ridden in USHJA international hunter derbies and on whom she’d qualified for the ClipMyHorse.TV Hunter Classic earlier in the year.

Though Schatt competes in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival over the winter, she made a pair of trips up to HITS Ocala in order to qualify for the classic to support her friend, HITS Chief Customer Officer Joe Norick, who asked if she’d consider participating. HITS hosts six qualifiers across the Ocala and Saugerties series, and riders must place first through third in one of those classes to qualify for the classic, where they are limited to one horse.

On her first trip to Ocala, Schatt entered three of her green hunters, but the conditions weren’t favorable for their education level, with the class taking place in the early evening on a rainy, windy day. While they went well, mistakes kept them out of podium placings. On her second trip north, she tacked up the reliable Cascartini with the goal of putting in a solid round. They finished third, cementing Schatt’s spot in the final.

“It was a little bit more nerve-wracking to know if you wanted to go for that big money [in the final], you had to make this happen,” she said. “And like I said, we spend our winters in Wellington, so it’s a lot to ask the clients to go up there to qualify for the class.”

But “Marty” made the trips to Ocala worth it, and Schatt’s team arrived in Saugerties planning to enter him in the classic.

CB had come to Saugerties primarily to go in equitation classes with Oliver, who is a working student for Schatt. But when the 7-year-old Oldenburg (Chacoon Blue—Coquista PS, Balou Du Reventon) won a 3’3″ performance hunter class with Schatt, they started considering entering him instead. After Marty took second in the $40,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, which was intended to be his warm-up, they all sat down to make a plan, ultimately deciding McNerney’s horse had done enough for the week, and that the classic could be a good experience for CB.

Schatt thinks CB’s relative inexperience benefited him in the ClipMyHorse.TV Hunter Classic. The one-round class featured more classic hunter fences, and she felt that, while more experienced horses might not find the jumps interesting, CB still did and would maintain his expressive jump.

“I think you need a fresh horse that hadn’t been everywhere, seen everything, to think OK it’s another round, but you need one brave enough and solid enough to go in there and deliver,” she said.

The post Last-Minute Horse Swap Pays Off For Schatt In Saugerties appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“I really hope he will go down as a legend of our time and a legend of the sport, not only for the performances he gives, but his character as well. He is an unbelievable horse to have at home,” she said of Archie and Michele Saul’s 13-year-old British Sport Horse gelding (Birkhof’s Grafenstolz TSF—Cornish Queen, Rock King). “He absolutely thrives on these occasions. I could have dropped the reins and waved at the crowd for 15 minutes and he would just have thoroughly enjoyed himself. I don’t think there are many horses in the world that would do that.”

To help put the pair’s latest victory into context, we turned to the folks at EquiRatings. When words fail, go to the people who can describe the pair’s feat in numbers.

Canter and Walter also won at Burghley in 2024—on a record low score, nonetheless—which already puts them in elite company. Only two other horses have been repeat winners at the event—Priceless, ridden by Ginny Leng of Great Britain, who won in 1983 and 1985; and Avebury, ridden by Andrew Nicholson of New Zealand, who won in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

But Walter is the only horse to have been a repeat winner at both Burghley and the Mars Badminton CCI5*-L, which he won in his two consecutive appearances, in 2023 and 2025. (They did not contest the event in 2024; focusing instead on the Paris Olympics, where they were part of the gold-medal British team). Carter is one of just six riders to win Badminton twice on the same horse, and the first to do it in more than 20 years. The others repeat winners are Frank Weldon on Kilbarry (1955 and 1956), Sheila Willcox on High And Mighty (1957 and 1958), then-Lt. Mark Phillips on Great Ovation (1971 and 1972), Ian Stark on Sir Wattie (1986 and 1988; the 1987 event was canceled) and Pippa Funnell on Supreme Rock (2002 and 2003).

Only one other horse has won consecutive Burghley-Badminton-Burghley events: Priceless, ridden by Leng, who won Badminton in 1985.

Walter’s win at Burghley last year set a new record-low final penalty score: 23.6. Amazingly, they matched that feat over the weekend, scoring 22.4 in dressage and adding 1.2 time penalties in show jumping to finish on the exact same final score. Their winning margin of 9 penalties over Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue was the largest in the modern era of the event, since roads and tracks and steeplechase were dropped in 2006.

Walter has never had a rail in show jumping at the five-star level, and his only cross-country time penalties came during a particularly muddy and challenging year in 2023, where their 11.6 time penalties were still the second best of the day, behind only O’Connor and Colorado Blue, who had 10.6 time penalties and went on to finish third that year.

Both this year and last, the pair sat second after dressage, but took the lead after cross-country. In 2024, Walter was second (22.0) to Canter’s other ride, Izilot DHI (19.9) who retired on cross-country after a run-out. In 2025, Canter and Walter were just 0.4 penalties behind dressage leader Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent (22.0), who had a glance-off at a corner and finished 12th.

Canter and Walter were the only pair to make the optimum time on cross-country at this year’s event. Thirty pairs completed the course from a field of 50 starters, with 19 clear rounds.

Being in the pole position after cross-country at Burghley is a good place to be, as every leading pair but one since 2013 went on to win the event.

With the Burghley win, Walter has now completed five five-stars, never placing worse than second. And in that first Badminton appearance, where they finished second to Tokyo Olympic team gold medalists Collett and London 52, Walter still performed faultlessly, finishing on his dressage score of 26.0. Canter confirmed that she plans to head back to Badminton in 2026. For the record, no horse has won Badminton three times … yet.

The post Lordships Graffalo’s Unprecedented Burghley Win, By The Numbers appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Leaving home to follow horses runs in the family: Jeannie moved at 16 to work at a pony breeding farm on the other side of New Zealand. When Jeannie met Cook’s father, they moved to his family’s sheep farm where they raised three daughters and a handful of ponies alongside their wooly flocks.

Nicky was the only one of the children who truly caught the riding bug, though. She grew up showing, participating in Pony Club, and hunting in the winter.

“Real hunting, not American hunting,” Nicky said. “Our ponies did everything.”

After graduating from high school and spending some time in Canada, she completed a teacher education program, hoping for a job in a country school so she could stay on the family farm and continue riding for fun. When she couldn’t find a job locally, and she didn’t want to teach in South Auckland, she said, “I ran away to Ireland.”

“The family was super nice,” she said of working at Ballymacoll Stud in County Meath. “Their kids were our age, and there were a lot of Kiwis, and it was like a big family. We went on holidays and traveled around the country. I think I’ve been to every stud in Ireland.”

But life at a Thoroughbred breeding farm lacked the excitement that young Nicky craved. The job largely entailed turning out the mares and young horses and doing stalls before bringing them in, and it grew boring.

She interviewed for a teaching job at a school in Ireland but wasn’t offered the position. If she wanted to teach, she was told, she should try London, where there were more available jobs.

“I’m not really a city girl,” she said. “That just wasn’t going to happen.”

So she bummed about Ireland for a few more years, milking cows in Tipperary, nannying a bit, and working at a boutique with a friend, until an ad in Horse & Hound for an eventing groom caught her eye.

The ad sparked a memory she hadn’t thought of in years: Seeing Mark Todd and Charisma after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when his team toured around his home country of New Zealand, celebrating his individual gold medal and team bronze. Nicky remembered talking to Todd’s groom, Helen Gifford, intrigued by her tales of the team’s travels around the globe.

“I’m a Kiwi,” she said, laughing. “We’re on the bottom of the world and so far away from everything. All we want to do is travel!”

She was offered that first grooming job, kicking off an unexpected career. For four seasons she was an eventing groom at various barns in Ireland, learning the trade in real time.

“At one of the first events I went to, I had to put in a fake tail for the dressage. I’d never done that before, and it fell out in the warm-up,” she recalled. “I heard a nearby big-league rider say, ‘Sack the groom.’ ”

But thankfully, she found a veteran groom at her barn who was willing to show her the ropes.

“I had an older, experienced groom who became my mentor,” she said, “and I picked up so much from her, and from watching others at all different barns.”

Sometimes Cook’s only responsibility was to groom. But other times, she hacked horses out and even had opportunities to compete. 

“Looking back, I don’t know how I did it,” she said of the competitions where she was both groom and competitor. “I’d have half a dozen horses to groom, and I was eventing myself. It was a lot.”

Then tragedy struck. Nicky was working for 28-year-old Beijing Olympic hopeful Sherelle Duke of Ireland when Duke suffered a fatal fall on the cross-country course at the 2006 Brockenhurst Park Horse Trials (England). It shook Nicky to the core.

“It took me a long time to watch cross-country again,” she said.

Nicky thought she needed a break from the eventing world. She answered another ad for a show jumping position with Malaysian rider Syed Omar Almohdzar, who was living in Belgium and needed a groom for the Southeast Asian Games. Nicky was up for the adventure and traveled with the team for a month to Thailand.

Shortly after the SEA Games and the team’s return to Belgium, Nicky was hand-walking an injured horse in the indoor. It was Christmas Day, and she was chatting with her mom as she circled the ring. But suddenly the horse bolted, leapt forward then kicked back, breaking Nicky’s arm.

Casting the arm for six weeks was the prescribed treatment, but the bone didn’t heal as hoped. Two months later her arm was still giving her trouble, so she returned to New Zealand where she underwent surgery to put in supportive plate, followed by two months of rehab. 

While recovering, Cook searched for the next interesting position. She was itching to return to Canada, where she’d spent some time between high school and university.

“I applied for every single job in Canada,” she said. “But didn’t hear from anyone.”

That is, until she heard from Millar Brooke Farm, the home facility of Olympian Ian Millar and his daughter Amy Millar, now an Olympian too. Nicky took a position as Amy’s groom. When Ian’s former groom left after the 2008 Olympics, Nicky took over his horses.

“I did two [Florida seasons] with Ian,” Nicky said, “then ended up working for some other riders who needed grooming help at competitions.”

Those riders included Germany-based Irish rider Denis Lynch and his mount All Star 5, whom Nicky called “really special,” and whom she’d known and worked with as a young horse. But the travel and showing was getting to her, and she was starting to feel burnt out.

“So I took a home job at Mark Armstrong’s in England,” she said. “I refused to go to horse shows, but I kept everything fit and going at home.”

Nicky was also struggling with her old arm injury, as the plate was acting up. She returned to New Zealand to have the plate removed, and while she was stir-crazy in recovery from her second surgery, she interviewed to be a jet boat driver in Kawarau Gorge between Queenstown and Cromwell.

“I made it to the last two candidates” she said, “but they gave it to the other guy because he had more mechanical knowledge.”

Once the arm had healed, jet-boat-captain dreams aside, Nicky returned to North America and bounced around for a while, freelancing and grooming for different riders.

While in Wellington in early 2024, Nicky learned that Aaron Vale was looking for a show groom. Vale was excited about the possibility of bringing such an experienced and knowledgeable groom into his program.

“I knew that she had worked for lots of top people,” he said. “She’s been there and done it. From the beginning I just felt like I could trust her completely, and I have never felt like I had to be checking to see if she’d done this or that. I know that when I’m not there, she’s still doing things 100% how we want it, or sometimes even better than you’d actually do it yourself.”

Vale was making a run for the Olympics, so Nicky spent that summer in Europe with his team. Just recently, she returned from another overseas tour with Vale that included Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Aachen (Germany), Dublin and Dinard (France), where he and Carissimo 25 won the $582,280 Rolex Grand Prix Ville de Dinard CSI5*.

Nicky loves the adventure that comes with show grooming and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

She’s learned something new about caring for horses at each of her stops around the globe, and she’s added those methods and tips to her ever-growing tool box to help her equine charges.

“I have seen so many different levels of turnout around the world,” she said. “And I truly believe that it’s best for horses to have as much as possible. When we travel now, I try really hard to make sure that the horses are out every day and look for places with turnout paddocks.”

“And I believe so strongly in getting horses out of the ring for their fitness work,” she continued. “We are close to some woods, and I love to take horses in there and do fitness, trotting around in there. When I ride them for fitness, I avoid the ring.”

Her final, and most important takeaway: “Anything you can do to keep them happy, you should,” she said. “You’re going to get a better performance in the ring from a happier horse.”

The post Nicola Cook Has Traveled The World With Horses appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

A Florida court has ruled against Canadian show jumper Eric Lamaze and determined that he owes the Rein family more than $5.5 million for misrepresenting the cost and ownership of various horses he sold the family, along with court costs, legal fees and interest. The judgement in favor of the Rein family comes four months after Lamaze won a legal victory in a related case, and a state appeals court reversed a $1.4 million judgement against him and returned the case to Florida Circuit Court Judge Maxine Cheeseman. 

The judgement in favor of the Rein family stems from a crossclaim the family filed against Lamaze in October 2023, after being embroiled in a suit brought by Lorna Guthrie and her deceased husband Jeffrey Brandmaier. The suit accused the Canadian rider of selling the couple’s share in show jumper Nikka VD Bisschop, who under the Reins’ ownership went on to represent Canada at the 2023 Pan American Games (Chile) and 2024 Paris Olympic Games, to the Rein family without their consent and then reimbursing them for only a fraction of the sale price. 

In the Rein family’s crossclaim, they accused Lamaze of falsely inflating the price of several horses he purchased for them and misrepresenting Guthrie and Brandmaier’s stake in “Nikka,” among other things. In her final judgement, issued Sept. 5, Cheeseman ruled that Lamaze owed the family $3,043,010 in overpayments for the five horses; $1,175,000 for “misrepresentations and statutory violations related to the Guthrie Parties’ interest in Nikka; and $310,000 in legal fees incurred as part of Guthrie’s suit—for a total of more than $4.5 million in damages—plus more than $900,000 in pre-judgement interest and an additional $88,000 in attorney’s fees for a total of $5,525,630.26.

Although the judgement commands that payment be made immediately, Lamaze has filed multiple letters with the court asking that he be given access to his bank accounts, which were frozen as part of the Guthrie case that is currently under appeal. In his letters, Lamaze said that while people helped fund his legal defense earlier in the case, which has been going on since January 2023, his resources have “since been exhausted.” He called his financial situation “dire” and said he had been unable to find a firm willing to represent him pro bono due to the complexity of the case, and that all attorneys he spoke to required a retainer of $30,000 or more, which he could not afford. 

In July, Tal Milstein Stables in Belgium announced—in a since-deleted social media post—that Lamaze would be offering coaching services there. However, the rider has been suspended by the Fédération Equestre Internationale through Sept. 11, 2027, and it was not immediately clear whether the coaching job would be a violation of the terms of that suspension. An FEI spokesperson said the organization was reviewing the matter. 

“The FEI is reviewing the situation and so far has found no evidence that Eric Lamaze has acted as a coach or has been involved in FEI-related activities,” the FEI spokesperson said in an email to the Chronicle.

A spokesperson for Lamaze did not immediately return a request for comment.

The post Lamaze Ordered To Pay Rein Family $5.5M In Horse Sales Lawsuit appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Throughout the summer, more than 160 athletes participated in 10 regional training sessions held nationwide, receiving invaluable education over the course of five days with mounted and unmounted instruction. Based on the recommendations of the riding and stable management clinicians, 16 athletes and five stable managers are selected to attend the National Training Session each year.

Riders at the National Training Session will vie for the title of champion and a $3,000 grant to be applied toward the cost of advanced training based on their performance in the riding and stable management sessions throughout the week. Congratulations to the following athletes and stable managers on being selected to participate in this year’s National Training Session:

Athletes

• Elliette Baker of Versailles, Kentucky
• Caroline Barclay of Roswell, Georgia
• Reese Dorsey of Parkton, Maryland
• Simi Gibson of Denver
• Anna Huard of Howell, Michigan
• Jocelynn Johnson of Falls Church, Virginia
• Alyson Jones of Groveland, Florida
• Hunter Lewis of Denver
• Molly McKeon of Laguna Niguel, California
• Olivia McKinstry of Vernon, Connecticut
• Brooke O’Malley of Los Angeles
• Cristina Pinnow of Winston Salem, North Carolina
• Jillian Puthoff of Reno, Nevada
• Abigail Ringuette of Unionville, Connecticut
• Lauren Satola of Fulton, Maryland
• Finley Scheffel of Georgetown, Kentucky

Stable Managers

• Emmie Esplin of Diana, New York
• Avery Houser of Raleigh, North Carolina
• Abigail Karl of Mundelein, Illinois
• Lucy Mackowiak of Westerville, Ohio
• Carly Williams of Efland, North Carolina

EAP athletes will be closely observed and evaluated during all phases of the four-day national training session, including flatwork, gymnastics, related distances and coursework, an intensive stable-management curriculum, and through a written test that gauges the horsemanship knowledge each finalist has gained throughout the year. In addition to the competition, finalists will participate in joint educational seminars with USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Nationals, which is held concurrently.

One rider will be named the overall USHJA EAP National Champion and will receive a $3,000 grant to be applied toward the cost of advanced training, as well as a variety of additional products and gifts from USHJA sponsors. Additionally, the top two EAP finalists will receive a coveted riding spot at a USHJA Gold Star Clinic within the next two years of their choice. Part of the USHJA Emerging Jumper Rider Program, these clinics offer horsemanship, stable management, mounted instruction and additional education from top clinicians and athletes.

For more information on the MZ Farms/USHJA Emerging Athletes Program National Training Session, visit ushja.org/EAP.

The post EAP National Training Session Participants Announced appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

A life with horses means a life outdoors, hours spent in shadeless arenas and caring for horses under the glare of the sun. For many equestrians, excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays is a fact of life—and for those equestrians who spend much of their life on the road, getting to a dermatologist for regular skin screenings to detect sun damage and potential skin cancer can be a challenge.

That’s why a horse show family from Louisiana has created SunSafe Equestrian, a nonprofit organization that brings skin care to the horse show, offering free skin cancer screenings, skin protection tips and free sunscreen samples at horse shows.

Sisters Stella and Vivian Prather-Silva, ages 14 and 12, respectively, have been riding ever since Stella took her first lesson at age 6. The girls have grown up knowing the importance of sun safety thanks to their father, Dr. Chad Prather, a dermatologist with a practice based in their hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Prather has been a dermatologist for the past 20 years and specializes in detecting and treating skin cancer, cosmetic reconstruction, and cosmetic work. 

“I see patients from all walks of life,” he said. “There are certain fields that we see people with lots of skin damage [from the sun], and we see that in such a big degree within our equestrian community. Many of my days are spent removing skin cancer and fighting the effects of long-term sun exposure.”

Late last year, the family created SunSafe Equestrian to offers free skin cancer screenings at horse shows to grooms, trainers, horse show staff, riders and others. Their mission is to “promote sun safety in equestrian riders through education, prevention, and early detection of skin cancer.” 

“Vivian and I observed how many of our fellow equestrians were out in the sun without proper sun shirts, sunscreen, or visors,” Stella said. “We decided to come up with a way to help people educate themselves on sun safety and also provide a way for people to do skin checks in a convenient way.”

“Over the years, our national dermatology organizations have done programs like this in Major League Soccer and baseball,” Prather said. “We thought it would be a great opportunity to bring it to the horse show world, whether that was partnering with [U.S. Equestrian Federation] or [U.S. Hunter Jumper Association] or another national organization within the horse world, to help bring this type of program to equestrians, where I think it’s really needed.” 

SunSafe Equestrian has had a booth at two horse shows this year: one at the Gulf Coast Classic at the Gulfport Horse Show Circuit (Mississippi). and another at USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky). They offered free cancer screenings to anyone present at the horse show, and they also handed out educational pamphlets and free sunscreen to anyone who stopped by their booth. 

“We know trainers and folks involved in the horse show world have trouble getting to the doctor while they’re on the road,” Prather said. “We can do a complete skin cancer screening at our booth to say, ‘That looks completely fine,’ or, ‘We should be concerned about that.’ ”

While competing on the road, the girls train with Mississippi-based hunter/jumper trainer Meghan Felts. Stella competes By Starlight in the children’s hunters and Nightcall in the 1.0-meter jumpers. This year, Vivian qualified her medium pony, Shenandoah Moonspinner, for Pony Finals, and the whole Prather-Silva family traveled to Kentucky to watch her compete.

With the help of USEF’s Marketing Events Manager Olivia Woodruff and Kentucky Horse Shows’ Cindy Bozan, SunSafe Equestrian was able to secure a vacated vendor’s booth outside the Rolex Stadium during the final Friday and Saturday of Pony Finals. They offered skin cancer screenings from 10 a.m. to noon both days, and Prather did more than 30 skin cancer screenings in that time. Many exhibitors stopped by the booth for free information and free sunscreen samples. Woodruff also added free SunSafe Equestrian SPF 15 lip balms to all the Pony Finals welcome bags for riders.

Prather’s skin cancer screening in the SunSafe tent is not done with machines. He uses magnification loupes to tell if a spot on someone’s body is concerning or not. Each patient is required to sign a consent form prior to each cancer screening. 

“Once the paperwork is filled out, we can step into the tent where there is privacy,” he said. “Many people just want to show me a spot on their face or arms or other exposed areas so they don’t have to get undressed. Some people want to show me a spot on their back—we do have gowns available if patients want that.” 

The screening itself only takes a couple of minutes to complete. Prather assesses the spot and recommends whether it needs further workup by a dermatologist, like a treatment or biopsy. Then Prather fills out an American Academy of Dermatology form, which states his clinical observations. 

“If the spot I screened is anything concerning, I’ll refer that person back to a dermatologist in their home zip code,” he said. “Patients are usually happy to get either the reassurance or confirmation that it is something that they need to get check out. They are appreciative that we are there, and they can stop by for a minute on the way back to their barn. I’m glad to screen as much or as little as you would like to show me.”

Prather also shares with the horse people who stop by his best advice for preventing sun damage to their skin, like reapplying 1 ounce (a shot glass’s worth) of sunscreen every two hours to exposed skin. He stresses not brand names but the need to pay attention to the SPF number of the sunscreen—he recommends SPF 30 or higher—and remembering to reapply often.

“Sunscreen can actually break down,” he said. “There are two components to most sunscreens: a chemical component and a physical component. The physical component is a zinc [oxide] or titanium dioxide. That stays on the skin and will come off with sweat. The chemical component absorbs the sun’s rays and protects your skin from the sun. 

“The chemical part can be broken down over time,” he continued. “After a couple of hours of riding, the chemical component has been broken down by the sun, and the physical component has been wiped away from sweat. When you’re doing equestrian sports, it’s going to be a matter of sweating and physical wiping away and the chemical breakdown. Reapplying every two hours is a great rule of thumb.” 

Prather also recommends a lip balm with an SPF of 15 or higher, riding before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. to avoid the day’s strongest UV rays, wearing sleeves and sunglasses, and always wearing a hat or visor when outside. 

“One of the things equestrians are known for are their fashionable hats,” Prather added. “Wide brim hats with a lot of coverage are the most helpful.”

Vivian and Stella created the educational pamphlets that are distributed at their booth, and their hope is to spread as much knowledge about sun safety as possible. 

“Our pamphlets talk about the ABCDEs of skin cancer,” Stella said. “That’s an acronym for asymmetry, border, color, diameter, and evolution of a spot or a mole. We tell our patients that if you notice this, you should probably go get it checked out. We also can do that for them at the SunSafe show booth.”

The girls have also created a social media page for SunSafe Equestrian on both Facebook and Instagram, where they post educational content related to sun safety. SunSafe booth visitors can also scan a QR code, which takes them right to the SunSafe Equestrian social media pages.

“The posts are the same tips we give at the horse shows: how to protect yourself, from the sun, what to wear, when to reapply sunscreen, etc.,” Stella said. “When they scanned the QR code at Pony Finals, they were automatically entered into winning our giveaway basket, which consisted of the hat, the sunscreen, sunglasses, the sleeves, and the neck gator.” 

The girls have now set their sights on creating a website for SunSafe Equestrian, which they hope will be completed soon. 

SunSafe Equestrian has one more show on their calendar for this year: the 26^th Annual Halloween Horse Show, Oct. 24-26 in Folsom, Louisiana. Their hope is that in the future, SunSafe Equestrian will be invited to more shows, either across different disciplines or shows that the girls do not normally compete at themselves. They have already been asked to return to Gulfport in 2026. 

“Our booth has been really well-received by the equestrian community,” said their mother, Camile Silva. “I think it’s fun to see people’s positive response to it—it energizes you. It’s nice when you put effort into something, and people are excited about it and grateful to you.”

Prather is grateful for the ability to help educate horse people on the importance of sun safety. 

“For me, this is my job and calling as a professional,” he said. “To be able to do that on the side that has become our family’s hobby is really rewarding as well. I can see that the need for education and early detection is there, and it’s nice to be able to do that for the horse community as well.” 

Although SunSafe Equestrian has not officially partnered with any organizations yet, the Prather-Silva family see this as an option in the future. 

“The girls want to expand SunSafe through future partnerships, other trainers, and sponsors, to try to make the sun safety and prevention a part of the national equestrian community,” Prather said. “The safety from the sun is just part of responsible riding.”

“It’s important to take care of your skin,” Stella said. “Our long-term goal is to make sun care a normal part of every equestrian’s daily routine: You put on your helmet, you put on your sunscreen, and then you go ride.”

The post Horse Family Brings Sun Protection, Cancer Screenings To The Show Grounds appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Brash topped a two-horse jump-off against U.S. combination Kyle King and Kayenne Z with Lady Pauline Harris and Lady Pauline Kirkham’s 16-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Cooper Van De Heffinck—Hovis, Irco Mena). The British rider, who was also celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his groundbreaking 2015 Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping win, took one-third of the total prize pot with the win.

The tracks for the CPKC ‘International’ were designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela. The first-round course featured 13 obstacles and 17 jumping efforts, including two open water elements. Athletes had to clear all the efforts and cross the finish line in a time allowed of 80 seconds.

The top 12 pairs of the first round returned for a second round in reverse order of merit. King and his 10-year-old Zangersheide mare (Kannan—Alexsandria, Canezaro) were the only pair from the U.S. to contest the second round; Aaron Vale and Carissimo 25 missed the cut by mere tenths of a second after being the slower of two, 1-fault performances in the opening round.

The second-round course featured another 12 obstacles and 15 efforts that challenged the contenders. No one jumped clear, so determining a winner came down to a jump-off between the only 4-fault rounds, Brash and King. 

Watch Brash’s winning round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.tv:

Watch King’s second-placed round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.tv:

Brash was first and posted a clear, quick round in the jump off with a time of 46.97 seconds, putting the pressure on King. King was up on the clock when a rail at the penultimate fence cost him the top spot.

Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and Venard De Cerisy, who won this class at the 2021 ‘Masters,’ had to settle for third place thanks to a rail and 1 time fault in the second round.

“Me winning 10 years ago, it was just incredible; you can’t really write it,” Brash said. “And, the venue seems to get better every year. And, what a fantastic place to be able to showcase the top end of the sport.”

King took to social media to thank his mare, “Kaya,” and his team for their impressive second-place performance.

“No words for today. Kaya, you are one in a million,” he wrote on Instagram. “Couldn’t ask for a better partner to help me achieve my dreams. Your heart and try is second to none.”

Guerdat recalled how, years ago, he complained to Palacios that his Spruce Meadows courses were too difficult.

“It was a probably 13, 14, 15 years ago, and I complained in the press conference … about Leopoldo and what he was doing, and that it was too tough, and you had to change something, and the show had to change something,” Guerdat recalled. “And thank God, Leopoldo didn’t listen to me. Because the truth is, you know, as, athlete or as people, sometimes we don’t like to be challenged. And we like [our] comfort zone. And this is not what we have here. And I would say that thanks to the team and thanks to Spruce [Meadows], I became a better rider.” 

As the new Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping live contender, Brash will have the opportunity to continue his journey at CHI Geneva in December.

See complete results here.

The post Video: Scott Brash Tops $5M CPKC ‘International’ CSI5* Grand Prix appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.