As Jennie Brannigan prepared for her cross-country run in the CIC*** at The Fork, held April 7-10 in Norwood, N.C., she had more on her mind than usual.

Her safety vest pressed down on her freshly healed collarbone, serving as a constant reminder that she hadn’t competed in six weeks, since breaking the bone while cross-country schooling a young horse on March 1. But with the help of Cambalda (Balda Beau—Cathy’s Lady), Brannigan quickly shook off the rust and topped the field of 51.

Brannigan, West Grove, Pa., and the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, “Ping,” landed in second place after dres-sage with 45.9 penalties behind Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen’s 42.1.

Before Brannigan could even worry about her ride on Capt. Mark Phillips’ three-star course, she first had to navigate the intermediate track. She was a bit apprehensive about how she’d handle her intermediate mount, Walkabout, who can get strong, but the pair jumped around clean, accruing 5.6 time penalties. Going into her three-star round, Brannigan knew that few riders were making time, but she planned to play it by ear.

“I just tried to ride forward everywhere, and once I felt like I was riding well enough that [making time] could be a possibility, then I was fine to think about it,” said Brannigan, 23. She and Ping turned in one of eight double-clear rounds, which moved her into first place over Montgomery, who had 5.2 time penalties. With the exception of a mistake through the first water, Brannigan was satisfied with her ride. And she never had any doubts about Ping’s preparedness.

“I couldn’t have asked more out of him. He was fantastic,” she said. “[Chef d’Equipe Mark Phillips] told me for the first time that I rode well today. I was pretty excited about that.”

In Sunday’s show jumping, Bran-nigan and Ping finished the job with a clear round over Sally Ike’s course. They ended up with a deep distance into the last line, but Ping recovered quickly, galloping to make up the distance of the forward five strides that followed to an in-and-out. “I planned to move forward and take that on, and then I knew I wouldn’t get there, but he jumped the crap out of it,” said Brannigan, who finished on her dressage score of 45.9.

Clearly Brannigan was back on her game, but she attributed the majority of the success to Ping, who earned the win for owners Tim and Nina Gardner. “I still feel a little rusty, but he’s such a talented horse, and he really wants to keep the rails up. At the end of the day, really good ones do that no matter where you put them,” said Brannigan.

Surprisingly, Brannigan’s faith in Ping has not always been as strong as it was at The Fork. When she first started riding him at the preliminary level in 2008, she questioned whether or not they’d be compatible enough to compete at a higher level.

“I have a hard time with a horse that’s behind my leg, and he really is.
I felt like he wasn’t the right match for me, but Phillip [Dutton] said to me, ‘This is a good horse. You need to learn to ride him no matter what,’ ” said Brannigan.

Brannigan took his advice, and with their win at The Fork, they now have five wins at the two- and three-star level in less than a year. Ping also won the USEA/Smartpak Horse of The Year award for 2010 and was the Chronicle’s Eventing Horse of the Year.

At the conclusion of The Fork, Bran-nigan wasn’t sure whether she and Ping would compete in the Bromont CCI*** (Que.) or the Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Ger-many), both held in June. She hopes to compete at Burghley CCI**** (England) in September.

Remington Rebounds

Boyd Martin and Remington XXV had a redeeming performance in the advanced division at The Fork after their less-than-stellar showing at Southern Pines (N.C.) two weeks earlier. Martin and “Remington” (Rubinstein I—Weser-palme, Wenzel I)) stayed in striking distance through dressage and cross-country, then rode for the win by putting in a clear round in show jumping.

Martin, West Grove, Pa., decided to play to Remington’s strength and enter him in the advanced rather than the three-star. “My horse needs a more technical dressage test, and ironically the advanced test is tougher,” he said.
Martin and Remington put in a solid dressage performance with 29.3 penalties, which tied them with Tiana Coud-ray on Ringwood Magister and Allison Springer on Arthur. Heather Morris and Slate River had the lead with a score of 28.3, and Kim Severson and Tipperary Liadhnan were second with 29.0.

On Saturday’s cross-country course, time became a huge factor, with only two of 38 horses posting double-clear runs. Martin, 31, and Densey Juvonen’s gelding made it around with 4.4 time penalties. They moved into second place behind Will Faudree and Andromaque who had risen seven places to take the lead after putting in one of the double-clears.

Remington seemed to have no trouble with the course, which came as a relief to Martin after Southern Pines, where the 15-year-old Hanoverian had an uncharacteristic cross-country stop. After their run at The Fork, Martin was pleased with how his horse went as well as the design of the course.

“They’ve improved the course every year. It really leaves a good taste in the horse’s mouth leading up to the spring four-star,” he said.

Martin and Remington were in prime position for show jumping, which has been a weak link for them. In their November trip to Pau (France), they ended the CCI**** with four rails down and 1 time penalty. In their last outing at Southern Pines, they incurred 8 jumping and 9 time penalties. However, at The Fork, they made their clear round look easy.

Even Martin has been confused by the horse’s performance at times, but he’s worked hard to understand the gelding and get the best out of him. “One thing I’ve learned is not to be too hard on him. He thrives on confidence. I probably jump some of the smallest jumps in the warm-up of all the horses at this level. The secret is making him feel like Superman,” said Martin.

Martin planned to head to Rolex Ken-tucky with Remington after The Fork. “I feel good going into Rolex. We need to get a little more fitness under our belt, but I’m confident. He’s been around a couple of four-stars now, and we’re starting to click and understand each other, so I’m pretty psyched up,” he said.