Castle Farm News

Ashley can add her name to the list of prestigious Castle Farm riders who have made it over the Bench Jump in the field. On Saturday May 3rd, 2008, Ashley and Sandi cleared the 3'3" jump and made it look quite easy. Watch out for this pair at the competitions!

Our final day at Rolex, but what a way to end the trip! The day started with the final inspection of the horses. The Rolex field started with 40 on Thursday, but by the end of inspection, there were only 28 that would go on to jump the stadium course. At the final inspection, horses are groomed and braided to a T, and the riders are dressed up as well. They must trot their horses in front of several vets and a ground jury to determine if they are sound and fit enough to go on to stadium. Three horses were determined unsound at this inspection and were not allowed to continue competing. It's definitely a hard blow to take when you've come this far. After watching a few of the early awards being handed out, we were able to be present for the retirement of Winsome Adante, previously ridden by Kim Severson. "Dan" and Kim had set a Rolex record by winning 3 times in their career together. No one else has yet to beat this record. Dan will likely spend the rest of his days in lush pasture enjoying the good life. Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for - the stadium course. The course itself did not look too tricky - there were a total of 15 jumps with an allowed time of 88 seconds. However, looks can be deceiving. Out of the 28 horse and rider teams, only two managed to go double clear - Stephen Bradley riding From and Phillip Dutton riding Connaught. Teams ride the course in reverse order of standing, so the team in last place will rider first and the team in first place will be the final ride of the day. Becky Holder and Courageous Comet were, of course, last to go since they had held their lead from the first day. Unfortunately, it was not Becky's day, as they pulled two rails, putting them in second place. So the winner of the 2008 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event became Phillip Dutton on Connaught! This is the first time that Phillip has ever won Rolex, although he has come in second on several occasions. Karen O'Connor and Theodore O'Connor ended up coming in 6th - not bad for a pony! We watched the awards ceremony and the victory laps and then headed for home. We got home about midnight, exhausted, but happy. If you have never been to Rolex, it's definitely something you should see at least once. We definitely plan on going back. You can click here to see a video of the Final Inspection, or the retirement of Winsome Adante, or the Stadium Jumping. Warning: the Stadium Jumping movie is large and may take time to download. You can also click here: http://www.castlefarm-nc.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8999 to see pictures from our final day in Kentucky. Enjoy!

Today was definitely the best day so far. It started out kind of dreary weather-wise, but ended up sunny and warm. We set out to finish our shopping today (and then had loads of fun playing musical parking spaces). We watched the final round of the Prince Phillip Games. Our favorite team was definitely the Mean Green Lima Beans! Finally, it was time for the part we had all been waiting for - Cross Country!! It was definitely worth the entire trip. There were plenty of thrills and spills and a few scary moments. Becky Holder and Courageous Comet started out in first after dressage and managed to hold onto their lead after going double clear in cross country. Theodore O'Connor and Karen O'Connor made even the biggest jumps look easy, also going double clear. Not everyone had such a good ride, however. We watched as Dornin Anne North riding Lion Display missed the second brush at jump 7b and got separated from her horse. She got back on only to fall again at the Double Diamonds, jump 16abcd. Sarah Hansel riding The Quiet Man also ran out of luck at jump 13 - the Footbridge. Her horse hung his front leg on the front of the jump turning them head over heels. She luckily walked away with no injuries, however The Quiet Man was hauled off in a trailer with a rumored broken vertebrae in his neck. The worst accident of the day was at jump 5, The Flower Basket, where Frodo Baggins ridden by Laine Ashker completely ran into the jump and flipped up side down landing on his rider. Laine was airlifted to the hospital with a broken jaw. Frodo Baggins was rushed to the nearby equine hospital. We have yet to hear of his condition. Despite the difficulty of the course, 14 horse and rider teams did manage to go double clear. We were definitely exhausted by the end of the day, but looking forward to the finale tomorrow. You can click here to see pictures: http://www.castlefarm-nc.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8892 and you can click here to see a video of the cross country rides Enjoy!

Back again today for more dressage. This morning we got to watch Kim Severson riding Tipperary Liadhnan, Heidi White riding Northern Spy and Phillip Dutton riding Connaught, just to name a few. We also took time away from the dressage to watch the USPC Prince Phillip Games. They were awesome - a bunch of kids on ponies running back and forth through relays and various races and games. It was very exciting. We also saw a demonstration of a Future Event Horse series. For those who don't know, this is where they show young event prospects in hand, which are then judged on their conformation and movement. We were also able to watch a demonstration by the Lexington K-9 unit. We finished the day with a little shopping and a visit to The Red Mile Harness track. They don't have any races going on, but we were able to walk around the track and grandstand. You can check out pictures at this link: http://www.castlefarm-nc.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8755 You can click here to see videos of today's dressage tests. Enjoy!

The second day of Rolex was pretty awesome! We watched several dressage rides. I will hopefully have videos up soon of Teddy and Courageous Comet's dressage rides. Becky Holder and Courageous Comet are in the lead right now by a huge margin. Teddy is in 9th place right now. There are about 20 more dressage rides tomorrow, so anything can happen. We also walked around the trade fair with all the stores - of course we couldn't resist a little shopping. In between it all, we also managed to watch the Keeneland Pony Club Quadrille team perform, in addition to the Lexington Mounted Police and a dog agility contest. There is so much to do here that we are completely exhausted! Oh, and we also visited the Kentucky Horse Park where we got to see several different breeds of horses and the famous Hall of Champions, including the great Cigar! Tomorrow should be even more fun. We will keep you posted. You can click on the following link to see pictures from day 2: http://www.castlefarm-nc.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8550 You can click here to see videos of two dressage tests. Enjoy!