Kim Severson of Charlottesville, Va., riding Cooley Cross Border, won the 3* Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, September 13-17 in Woodstock, England, while Lynn Symansky of Middleburg, Va., on Donner and Boyd Martin of Cochranville, Pa., on Steady Eddie finished sixth and tenth respectively at 4* Burghley on Aug. 31 to Sept. 5.
While U.S. riders were competing successfully both nationally and internationally, Phillip Dutton had a serious fall while schooling a young horse cross country in West Grove, Pa., on Sept. 21.
He is recovering from a broken collarbone, three broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The horse was uninjured in the incident.
Phillip was released from the hospital on Sept. 22 and will have a follow-up appointment with his orthopedic doctor on Sept. 25 to determine the date for surgery on his clavicle.
In the meantime, he is resting as comfortably as he can at home and thanks everyone for their well wishes.
Severson, who finished on her dressage score of 37.8, led a strong U.S. contingent in the Blenheim CCI3* with four U.S. combinations finishing in the top 25 out of 84 starters.
“I FEEL a lot younger than I did when I got here thinking that I won it 16 years ago,” Severson, referring to her 2001 win with the legendary Winsome Adante. “This win made the whole summer worthwhile and all the traveling back and forth worth it. Huge thanks to my sponsors, owners, Dr. Brady, my groom, and the Cooley team who got him fit all summer. I’m so thrilled!”
Severson and The Cross Syndicate’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding had spent the summer competing and training in Ireland since the Tattersalls International Horse Trials at the end of May.
They performed their signature lovely dressage test at Blenheim to earn a score of 37.8 that put them in third place after the first phase.
Severson and Cooley Cross Border maintained their position on the leader board with a double-clear cross-country round on Saturday and closed out the competition by delivering another double-clear round in Sunday’s show jumping phase to finish on their dressage score of 37.8.
When the two combinations ahead of Severson and Cooley Cross Border had eight-fault rounds, the American pair was declared the winner of one of the most challenging CCI3* competitions in the world.
Three fellow U.S. combinations had strong performances in a field of serious competitors.
Hannah Sue Burnett of The Plains, Va., and RF Demeter, Jacqueline Mars’s 15-year-old Oldenburg mare, scored an impressive 39.7 on their dressage test prior to collecting 2.8 time faults in the cross-country phase and 16 jumping faults in the show jumping phase to finish in 12th place on a score of 58.5.
Doug Payne of Aiken, S.C., and Vandiver, the 13-year-old Trakehner gelding he owns with Debi Crowley and Jessica Payne, scored 46.6 in dressage, added 5.2 time faults on cross-country, and had 12 jumping faults in show jumping to finish in 14th place on a score of 63.8.
Andrea Baxter of Paso Robles, Calif., and Indy 500, her 12-year-old Thoroughbred mare, scored 63.1 on their dressage test, added 8.0 time faults on cross-country and had a four-fault round in show jumping to finish in 25th place on a score of 75.1.
Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp of Ocala, Fla., competed in the two CIC3* divisions at Blenheim.
In the Event Rider Masters CIC3* division, she and Fernhill By Night had a dressage score of 40.3, had a double-clear show jumping round and collected 7.2 time penalties on cross-country to finish in sixth place with a score of 47.5.
In the CIC3* division for 8- and 9-year-old horses, Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z scored 44.4 in dressage, had a double-clear show jumping round and 8.8 time penalties on cross-country to finish in fifth place on a score of 53.2.
AT BURGHLEY, Symansky scored 49.2 in dressage and added 3.6 time penalties on cross country plus four faults in stadium jumping to finish on 53.1, while Martin had48.0 in dressage and added 2 time penalties cross country and eight faults in jumping on Sunday to finish on 58.0.
Oliver Townend of Great Britain on Ballaghmor Class won on 45.6 with two fellow Brits, Piggy French on Vanir Kamira finished second on 46.9 and Gemma Tattesall on Arctic Soul finished third on 47.0.
After a disappointing mishap at Kentucky earlier in the year, I was eager to get a good result at the 4* level on Eddie," said Martin on his facebook page. "We jetted him over to England to tackle a very big Burghley. I had not been there for six years ,and I had almost forgot how tough of a course it was."
"Eddie did not disappoint," said Martin. "We lost both front shoes and cut a hind leg that required 10 stitches. The toughness and bravery of Eddie was evident with a top 10 finish."