William Coleman and Twizzel jumped a flawless stadium round to win the CIC*** at the inaugural Plantation Field International CIC and Horse Trials, September 19-21, 2008 at the property of Mr. and Mrs. Cuyler Walker.

Coleman, 25, Charlottesville, Virginia explained that Tivoli Farms purchased the warmblood gelding in Germany two years ago for him to ride. “We looked at the horse for a couple years before she agreed to sell it – she had a bad fall from another horse and agreed to sell him, so we jumped at the chance. He was still quite green at the advanced level, and then he had an interruption in his training, but he’s a super horse.”

This was Coleman’s first three-star win since he won the under-25 division at Bramham, England in 2003.

Last year Twizzel was plagued by unsoundness. Veterinarians eventually discovered a cyst in his shoulder and Dr. Dean Richardson, New Bolton Center veterinarian of Barbaro fame, performed an operation that involved drilling through the scapula and injecting the cyst to shrink it. Twizzel has only been back in action for a few months but the surgery seems to have made a huge difference.

Local Olympian Phillip Dutton, West Grove, Pennsylvania and his assistant trainer Boyd Martin were tied for second place going into the final phase of the CIC***. Dutton and Acorn Hill Farm’s Bailey Wick had a double clear round to finish on 54.4 which put the pressure on Martin, who riding Kate Dichey’s Belmont II had rails at the second and last fences, dropping him to fourth place on 62.4 behind Dutton on Nina Gardner’s Loose ‘N Cool (61.5).

Molly Rosin and her 10-year-old Hungarian Warmblood gelding Havarah’s Charlie claimed the CIC** (51.8) with a double clear round after Boyd Martin and Bellaney’s Destiny added four faults to drop into second place (54.0).  It was a very competitive division with 27 starters.

Adding a yellow ribbon to his blue tricolor, Will Coleman placed third on Nevada Bay, (54.4), a horse that Nanki Doubleday purchased for him a couple of years ago from Ollie Townend in England. “I personally love this horse,” said Coleman. “He’s got everything we’re looking for in an event horse. I think he’ll be a nice four-star animal. We’re taking it slowly and making sure all our ducks are in a row before he moves up to advanced.”

A California native, Rosin has been based at Sarah and Luke Allen’s Waterford Farm in Oxford, Pennsylvania for the past couple of years. She and the Minyan Syndicate, which now includes 11 owners, have owned Havarah Charlie for four years now. His first two-star was at Stuart Horse Trials and this is his first win at this level.

Rosin was very pleased with the weekend. “They did a good job of making a nice, flowing cross-country course with good questions that still allowed the horses to get in a rhythm,” she said.

“The dressage went great, it’s been a big thing and we’ve been working a lot on rideability. I was lucky enough to come in contact with Boyd and Silva Martin and Silva has really helped make him more trained and rideable in dressage. She got on him right off the bat to figure out what he’s like and really liked him but could tell that he’s strong and needs to work.”

Rosin continued, “Boyd has also helped me a lot with the jumping – we realized right away the horse wants to jump and is very careful but he wants to go off and doing it all on his own so we’ve been working on making him more rideable there too.”

Lillian Heard, 22, riding Share Option won the CIC* on 47.9, even with one rail down. She and Hans Gerling had been tied for first after dressage but Gerling and Clifton Jackaroo had added 6.4 time faults on cross-country and finished second overall. Nikki Smith placed third riding Suzie Q (52.5).

Heard grew up in Potomac, Maryland and is now a full-time employee at Jan Byyny’s Sure Fire Eventing in Hamilton, Virginia. She also trains in dressage with Silva Martin. Heard recently graduated from the University of Virginia where she studied English and Politics. “Right now I’m concentrating on horses, and I’ll just see where its takes me, see over the next couple of years what my life is going to be like,” she said.

This was Heard’s first one-star win. She said, “I’ve been close but never sealed the deal with a win, and this is my horse’s first one-star. It’s something like his sixth prelim; I’ve competed through the two-star level on Anything But Ordinary.”

“My dressage here was great, I felt like I was on a whole new level with this horse, he was much brighter. It was also the first time I’ve ridden in a large arena and it was so much easier! He’s a little bit spooky but cross-country was great, I went out to make the time and it was hard work but we got it done.”

Cross-country day was outstandingly successful at the inaugural Plantation Field International CIC and Horse Trials, with ideal weather and footing and all horses and riders finishing safely. William Coleman and Twizzel maintained their lead in the CIC*** (45.2), ahead of Phillip Dutton on Bailey Wick and Boyd Martin on Belmont II, tied for second on identical dressage scores (49.20) and cross-country time faults (5.20) for a total of 54.4 penalties. Dutton is also fourth on Nina Gardner’s Loose ‘N Cool (61.5). Out of 17 entries 14 are still in the running, with one elimination and two horses retired on the cross-country course.

In the CIC** Boyd Martin is leading with Bellaney Destiny, (50.0), an Irish horse owned by Debbie Kuhns that is a relatively new ride for him, though he already won the preliminary at Seneca. “He’s top class and gave me a great ride today,” said Martin.

Molly Rosin, who has been training with Martin, is in second on Havarah’s Charlie, her partner in winning the preliminary championship at the American Eventing Championships two years ago. Rosin was thrilled with Charlie’s cross-country round and said that he felt unstoppable on course today. 

Photo Copyright Amber Heintzberger 2008

Dressage day at the inaugural Plantation Field International CIC and Horse Trials was a success, with Will Coleman of Charlottesville, Virginia riding Nanki Doubleday's Dutch Warmblood gelding Twizzel, taking a strong early lead in the CIC***.  The day concluded with a fun "human horse show" for children as well as entertainment from a Bluegrass band. The competition continues Saturday as competitors tackle the cross-country courses designed by Tremaine Cooper (CIC***) and event organizer Denis Glaccum CIC* and CIC** and National divisions) and constructed by Eric Bull and crew. The conclusion of the competition, the show jumping phase, will take place on Sunday.

photo courtesy of T. Tchir

The event will be held on verdant, rolling terrain in the heart of the hunt country of Chester County, Pennsylvania on property owned by Mr. And Mrs. Cuyler Walker and Mrs. Carol Davidson. Plantation Field competitions are held six weekends of every year at this venue. The only other event occurring at this location each year is the Mister Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds Point-to-point.

In addition to the CIC***, FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale) recognized competition will be offered at the two-star and one-star levels, and USEF (United States Equestrian Federation) and USEA (United States Eventing Association) recognized horse trials will be offered for preliminary through advanced levels. Prize money will be offered at all levels.

Plantation Field has long attracted competitors from the upper echelons of the sport: winners of past horse trials include Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Stuart Black and Kim Morani. Event organizers are excited to offer an international caliber event for the first time.

"A lot of the time the lower levels are held at the same event as a CIC to make it profitable, but we want to put all of our focus on the upper levels at this event," said event organizer Denis Glaccum. "We've always emphasized to the riders that it's their event - we do this for you. We want to have a first-class event that is very friendly to competitors."

Dressage judges will be Marilyn Payne and Brian Ross. Payne is an FEI "O" judge who will be just back from judging the eventing competition at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong. She has also been on the ground jury at the Badminton CCI**** in England among other events. Ross is an "S" rated judge who has judged at the World Equestrian Games and the Rolex Kentucky three-day event.

The CIC*** cross-country course will be designed by Tremaine Cooper, and the CIC** and CIC* as well as the horse trials courses will be designed by Denis Glaccum. Eric Bull and crew of ETB Equine Construction will build the courses.

"It's one of the prettier sites in the world and we believe our venue offers some of the finest galloping terrain around," said Glaccum.

Vendors will be available on the grounds, and for extra entertainment a "human horse show" will take place for children. "We set up a course with dog agility jumps and kids come out and jump them," explained Glaccum. "It's lots of fun - we'll probably do that on Friday evening." Riders and spectators can enjoy a guided cross-country course walk sponsored by Bit of Britain Saddlery with an upper-level event rider.

Three-day eventing is the triathlon of horse sports, consisting of dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping phases. A CIC (translated Competition International Combined) includes these three phases without the steeplechase and roads and tracks elements found in traditional long-format three-day events. Both the CIC and CCI (Concours Complet Internationale) are run under the rules of the FEI rather than the rules of the host country. A CIC Three-Star (***) is run at Advanced (US) level.