Ocala, Fla.—Feb. 26

Winning one class makes a rider’s day—winning two in the same day is just doubly exciting! That’s exactly what Adam Prudent did the opening day of the Live Oak International horse show, winning the $35,000 Sovaro Longines FEI World Cup Grand Prix Qualifier class with Vasco, and he piloted Si Bella the top of the $10,000 Waldron Private Wealth power and speed class.

“There’s a saying that you can’t win all of them if you don’t win the first one, and I was saying that to myself but didn’t want to really say it to anyone when I won the first,” Prudent said. “But it paid off, and hopefully we can do well in the next classes, so I’m very happy.”

Prudent’s win in the $35,000 speed class was particularly noteworthy, because he was more than five seconds faster than second-place finisher Chloe Reid and Codarco (Prudent’s time was 60.24 seconds; Reid clocked in at 65.63). 

“Vasco is one of the fastest horses I’ve ever ridden; he loves grass [footing].  I just let him open up his stride and go as fast as he could,” Prudent said. “So that’s how I pulled it off.”

Chloe Reid piloted Codarco to a second place finish, not a part of the young rider’s original plan for the opening class.  

“[I] came to the class today kind of with the object of just having a smooth clear round, but he’s so much fun with his big open stride. You get on this grass field and it’s hard to slow down,” Reid said with a laugh. (Her uncle, Chester Weber, owns the Live Oak plantation where the show is hosted.) “So I kind of went a little bit faster then I probably should have, but I’m happy with it.”

Reid and Codarco’s smooth fast round was juxtaposed by an uncharacteristic fall with Reid’s other mount—her mare Athena got a funny distance out of the one-stride combination and swam through the oxer, throwing Reid to the ground on the back side. Reid reports neither her nor the horse were injured when she fell. 

“I’m fine, feeling good, my horse was a little bit confused, so I fell off,” Reid said. “That horse is not one I usually part ways with, but you win some you lose some!”

Reid did have some nice looking turf to break her fall—rains in Ocala early Wednesday morning proved the perfect primer for the picturesque field to be jumped on Friday.

“It felt like a trampoline out there today, it really just felt good,” third-place finisher Callan Solem said (she rode VDL Wizard to the yellow ribbon).

Solem is targeting the big chestnut horse for the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Sweden, which will take place at the end of March, so she used Friday’s speed round at the Live Oak International horse show to practice going quick and clean in the speed round at the final.   

“We’ve been getting some dress rehearsal here today,” Solem said with a laugh.  

Make sure to check in with the Chronicle at our homepage of www.coth.com and our Facebook page for all the news from the Live Oak International horse show!