Boekelo, the Netherlands—Oct. 11
An as yet unsuccessful protest by dressage leader Clark Montgomery has left him in 30th place at the Military Boekelo CCIO*** in the Netherlands.
Sue Benson’s cross-country track proved to be an influential one, but Montgomery, a USEF Land Rover Competition Grant recipient who’s based in Wiltshire, England, tackled the majority of the muddy course with ease aboard Loughan Glen, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Jessica Montgomery, Kathryn Kraft, and Holly and William Becker.
But the pair had a “slight deviation” on course between the last two fences, resulting in the ground jury assessing 20 penalties to the pair. Montgomery protested, but the ground jury upheld the opinion of the fence judge. There may be further review of the decision in the morning.
Montgomery and Loughan Glen now sit 30th with a score of 64.0, which reflects the 20 jumping faults and 18.8 time penalties.
Montgomery’s teammate Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp, East Sussex, England, put in a strong performance with Deborah Halliday’s Fernhill By Night, incurring 17.2 time penalties. She and the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding stand in 32rd place with a score of 65.1.
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The U.S. team, however, is out of the running in the nations cup competition after Tiana Coudray, Hungerford, England, and her own and Jatial Ltd.’s Kinnordy Rivaldo came to grief at the first water complex. Coudray elected to retire after having two refusals with the 12-year-old warmblood gelding at 10A.
Because the fourth member of the U.S. squad, Sharon White, withdrew her mount Under Suspection from the competition on Friday morning, the team will not complete.
“Clark and Loughan Glen had a lovely round; the horse jumped exceptional well, and they had been communicating fine until the end when Glen shot left, but otherwise he was good all the way round,” said team coach David O’Connor. “Liz was good; she rode to plan and had a great go today. Tiana’s horse is one that she has only competed a few times, so they will improve.”
Thomas Carlile of France and Sirocco du Gers now lead the field heading into the final phase on a score of 42.5, while New Zealand sits atop the Nations Cup leaderboard with a score of 165.2.
You can find full results for the Military Boekelo CCIO*** here.
