West Yorkshire, England—June 12
As the two days of dressage wrapped up at the Equi-Trek Bramham International Horse Trials, Land Rover Eventing Competition Grant recipients Lauren Kieffer and Veronica sit tied in 10th place on the CCI*** leaderboard amongst a field of strong international competitors.
In front of the judging panel of Christina Klingspor (Sweden), Harry Payne (Great Britain), and Angela Tucker (Great Britain), Kieffer, of Ocala, Fla., and Team Rebecca, LLC’s 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare performed a lovely test to score 44.7.
“I was very happy with Veronica, it was a lot of atmosphere and she feels fit and ready to tackle the rest of the weekend,” Kieffer said. “The atmosphere here is great and I’m very grateful to Team Rebecca and Land Rover for this opportunity.”
(Want to know more about Veronica? The Chronicle went Behind The Stall Door with her earlier this year.)
“Lauren rode a professional test,” said U.S. eventing Chef d’Equipe David O’Connor. “The mare was quite good and performed well.”
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Kieffer and Veronica will tackle Ian Stark’s cross-country course Saturday with the aim of having a solid round, keeping them in a top position in the field.
O’Connor shared his thoughts on the course, saying, “It’s a very good course, very open and galloping. We are expecting rain Friday night and Saturday, so that may play a factor. Lauren and Veronica have lots of experience and I think they are in good place for the rest of the weekend.”
Katherine Coleman and Courage Under Fire also performed their dressage test, scoring 59.6 and putting them in 61st place following the first phase. Four Britscurrently lead the CCI***, with Flora Harris on Bayano in first (36.8), William Fox-Pitt in second on Fernhill Pimms (38.1) and Kitty King on Persimmon and Pippa Funnel on Sandman 7 tied for third (38.9).
In the Under-25 CCI***, U.S. rider Caroline Martin is in 17th after the dressage on Quantum Solace with a score of 52.9. That division is led by Holly Woodhead on DHI Lupison (33.0).
