Another Rolex Kentucky CCI**** is in Phillip Dutton’s rearview mirror, with some top finishes for his three horses: Mighty Nice placed fourth, Fernhill Cubalawn took fifth, and Fernhill Fugitive placed 13th.
Any rider would be thrilled to finish that many horses in the top 20 at Rolex, and Dutton is pleased with the result, but he’s not any rider. He has things he wants to fix and improve upon, particularly the show jumping phase, where Fernhill Fugitive pulled an uncharacteristic five rails, and no ride was without jumping penalties.
Dutton’s barn manager and head groom, Emma Ford, gives us the horse care perspective, and both look ahead at the elephant in the room no one wants to address too head on, lest they jinx themselves: the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
From Phillip: [Rolex] was a great competition. There was some disappointment on the last day, especially for Fernhill Fugitive. He tried so hard, and I think he jumped the first, I think, seven fences, clean in the show jumping and then had nearly all the rest of it down.
Phillip and Fernhill Fugitive during the show jumping at Rolex Kentucky. Photo by Lindsay Berreth
I think the whole weekend caught up with him; he paid the price of going pretty quick the day before, and that’s never happened to him before. I think he’ll get stronger and better from there, and I’ll try and make some adjustments as well.
I think in the preparation he probably is a horse who doesn’t need too much warm-up before he goes in the ring. When the horse is tired you only have so many jumps before you’re getting in the area where they’re too tired, so probably if I had my time over again I might have done a few less jumps before I went in the ring.
I was really pleased with Cubalawn. I could have prepared him a little better in the dressage [they scored a 48.2], and I think he probably needed another gallop or two fitness-wise for the cross-country, because he did tire quite quickly [they collected 7.2 time penalties], but then he show jumped really well on Sunday. He had the very last fence down, which, if I had my time over again I would have given him a little more time to look at it than I did.
Then I thought Mighty Nice really excelled as well, did a great dressage [they scored a 45.0] and went during the worst of the footing [it was a very rainy cross-country day] and then show jumped pretty well.
Phillip and Mighty Nice on cross-country at Rolex Kentucky. Photo by Lindsay Berreth
So overall I was proud of all three—certainly there’s still room for improvement but it was a good preparation for the Olympics. I’m starting to give it some thought. I think it’s a bit too early to think about [picking a horse] yet, and certainly the Games will be a lot different competition to the four-star at Kentucky—certainly there won’t be the wet weather.
There will be atmosphere, so you need a horse that’s focused and is not going to be upset by a noisy crowd or whatever, but at this stage we’ll just give them a short break and get them putting on a little bit of weight and getting them back into light work soon and we’ll see. I’m sure I’ll get an opportunity to talk to David [O’Connor] the coach and the [Olympic] selectors as well.
Soaked to the bone or not, Phillip Dutton was happy to discuss the cross-country efforts of his three super horses at Rolex Kentucky. Photo by Ann Glavan
Dutton’s barn manager and head groom, Emma Ford, discussed what a week in the life of Dutton’s top horses looks like during, and after, big events like Rolex.
From Emma: I think we got in to Rolex at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon Monday, so we actually left before midnight Sunday. The pre-preparations, Jack [Fernhill Fugitive] we always tube [give fluids through a nasal gastric tube] for a long trip because he doesn’t drink that well, so we always like to give him some extra fluids so he’s feeling good when he comes off the other end. All of their shoes get double checked.
When we get to Rolex on the Monday it takes sort of a while to set up; this year I was lucky I took another girl with me and a friend met me there, so when I got there we got the horses straight off the trailer. They could go out and have a good half an hour of walking and grazing, getting their heads down.
Obviously one of the problems with shipping that distance is having their heads up for so long; it’s not good for their airways, so we like to get them off the trailer as quickly as possible and get their heads down and eating grass. That gives me time to get everything set up and pull everything out of the trailer.
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Then Phillip always just hacks them out in the afternoon to stretch their legs out; basically Mondays are an easy day once we get there, but a little bit hectic for me just trying to get everything done.
So Tuesday Phillip rides them twice or takes them for a loose hack in the morning, and then in the afternoon he flats them. We’re just keeping them quiet, and we take them out of their stalls as much as possible.
Then Wednesday obviously we start prepping them for the jog first thing in the morning. Phillip gets there at 8 a.m., and we jog them all up to make sure we’ve got no surprises. Then he starts to ride them. He normally rides them once before the jog, and then we have a few hours to get them ready. Then after the jog he rides them for the ring familiarization—the main ring opens after the jog.
Thursday is an early start. Phillip wanted to pre-ride Jack, so I got to the barn around 5:30 a.m. to feed them and get them out walking. Then once Jack was finished he went out for a bit of a hand-walk and a bit of a graze. Phillip rode the other two and then went to walk cross-country again.
Friday we actually got to lie in—we didn’t get to the barn till 7 a.m. because Happy wasn’t going until the afternoon. Once we got there on Friday, Phillip actually cantered the ones that did dressage on Thursday—he went for a bit of a work and opened their wind pipes up a bit.
Then Happy did end up having two pre-rides before dressage, because he was a little excited in the morning. And Friday, my day is making sure I have everything for Saturday ready and organized, so we know who’s going to be where and what the horses are supposed to be doing.
Our team farrier is there, and he’s checking them over and making sure the shoes are tight, and then throughout the week the horses get worked on by the team masseuse, Jo-Ann Wilson. She saw them Tuesday, and then she would just touch them up through the week according to what each horse needed.
At this stage it’s all about keeping the horse relaxed and feeling their best in their muscles. So some of the therapies I use are the Rambo Sportz-Vibe blanket, which is like a massage blanket, and then I also have the RevitaVet unit, which is infrared light to help warm up the muscles. For the most part, I use them pre-ride so they’re feeling good when Phillip first gets on them.
Then the big day, Saturday! I was there a little bit before 6 a.m. to give them their feed; you always want to feed grain four hours out from running. Then Phillip actually got on Jack and Happy again just to move them around. If Phillip ran at 10 a.m. (Dutton was first on course), the horse is ready to go at 9:30 a.m., for half an hour of warm-up.
I get the team together and we have a couple of people that go to the end and set up the cool-out box and help Phillip warm-up and set fences. Then Phillip gets off about 10 minutes prior to start time, and I double check the girth and all the tack. He would get on like five minutes before start time and head down to the start box three minutes out.
Emma Ford gets Fernhill Fugitive prepped and ready for his cross-country run at Rolex. Photo courtesy of Emma Ford
They all went super well in cross-country; they were such stars. Mighty Nice had the worst of the footing, and he just kept trying for Phillip—he loves his job and will put all his heart into it when he can.
Then our vet is there so he does a quick check usually in the cool-out, making sure we’re good. Fortunately this time we didn’t have any stifle bangs or anything.
Once they go back to the stalls, I let them have 10 or 15 minutes in the stalls to pee and drink, and then I actually like to get them out for a walk. I think it’s very important that they start walking and get their muscles in tune for the next day, and then I ice twice. I always try and ice once before the next horse goes out, and then the second icing just happens whenever I can fit it in. All three stand in boots; they’re very good with that.
I think Happy, our last one, was back in his stall by 3 o’clock, and at that stage our vet came around, and we double-checked them, making sure they were good. Then they did all go on fluids—they were actually drinking great through the week, but we want them to go their best on Sunday, so they all went on fluids, and what happened then… I’m falling asleep at that point!
Then the great tidy-up begins. Because it was so wet everything was coming back wet and muddy. It was a nightmare trying to keep things tidy.
Between walking and grazing and icing and putting them on fluids we got done about 9 o’clock; that was pretty good. They get jogged up a couple times to make sure they’re all good, and they were super Saturday night so that was a good confidence boost.
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Sunday, the barns open at 5 a.m., so we were there at 5 a.m. I got the wraps off and checked their legs and just brushed out their tails. Then we all started walking them. Phillip got there at like 6:30 a.m. to jog them up, make sure they’re still good—which they were—so that was nice.
Then I got them braided, and we were the first to jog at 8:30 a.m. After the jog, Philip likes to pre-jump Happy and Jack. With Cuba we like to save his energy—he goes better the less you do with him for show jumping, but Happy can get a little wild, so it’s just good for him to go and remember that it’s show jumping, not cross-country day.
Emma Ford (right) giving Fernhill Cubalawn a good luck pat before his show jumping round. Photo by Sara Lieser
For Jack, it’s just good for him to get his shape back for show jumping, not flat-out. Then obviously show jumping didn’t work out quite as planned [Happy had two rails, Cuba one, Jack five], but overall, three horses in the top 14 is a pretty great result. And they all came out feeling fit and well so that’s always a good thing.
We stayed the Monday after because, fortunately enough, the horses got vetted by the [Olympic] selectors. Also, just personally, you’ve just asked them to do such a big weekend and then to pack on Sunday and ship 12 hours is a little bit rough on the horses, so we stay until Monday.
When we get home from a big event like that, I like them to be horses. I don’t fuss over them too much. Obviously I check them day to day, their legs especially, for any minor changes because a lot of times it won’t even show up until a week after the competition, but they get to go out in the field.
Even Jack gets to stay out a little bit longer [check out Emma’s first Road To The Olympics post for details on Jack’s special diet], and both Cuba and Happy will go out in a big field overnight. I actually just pick their feet the first week—I don’t brush them too much. I’m like, ‘You guys be horses; you deserve to be horses.’ I think they deserve that.
They’ll do that definitely for the next week, and then I’m not sure what the plan is. Because of the Olympics this year the ones that the selectors are interested in are going to have to come back into work sooner than normal. It’s tough, but it’s part of the game—if you want to be part of the team you have to have them ready to go for the Olympics.
Want to know more about Phillip’s horses? Check out Behind The Stall Door With: Fernhill Fugitive and Behind The Stall Door With: Fernhill Cubalawn.
In this series, the Chronicle follows six riders as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. We’ll check in with them every few weeks as they pursue a team spot, seeing how they’re getting their horses ready and preparing mentally. You can learn more about Solem and VDL Wizard’s challenge-filled path to the top of the sport in our One To Watch article about her.
Read all of the Road To The Olympics with Phillip Dutton and Emma Ford
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