Aiken Opener Sets Tone for 2017 Stable View Season!
Since last year’s Oktoberfest, we’ve had time to reflect on our horse trials in preparation for the 2017 Season, and we are ready to take on the new year! We would like to express our gratitude to all the riders who came out to compete this past weekend at our Aiken Opener horse trials and we hope that your experience was a positive one.
The entire team at Stable View worked tirelessly to ready the property for our first event, deciding to change things up a bit for the first horse trial of the season. Moving the start box to the opposite side of the property allowed for the riders to experience a different approach to the flow of the course.
Event Director, Anne Dearborn, expressed that with each passing event, the team at Stable View is developing into a well oiled machine. “The relocation of the dressage rings allowed the younger horses to stay focused, yet the stadium and cross country course challenged horses at this stage of the season. Stable View’s goal is to develop flexibility and diversity in the cross course tracks, as shown by the creative way Mogie Bearden Muller used the landscape to create flowing courses at all levels.”
Barry Olliff, was pleased to see the percentage of out-of-towners at our first event of the season. “I had expected this to genuinely be the Aiken Opener but in fact riders came a significant distance to compete; 135 entries was a good number for a new event so early in the season. By starting over by the Kennels, there was no congestion at the start, finish and dressage entrance.”
Feedback from the competitors was that they really enjoyed this new layout and perspective of the grounds at Stable View.
Prior to the weekend, we reached out to young rider Morgan McCue, who was recently named to participate in the Eventing 25 Training Sessions, and who had entered 3 horses in the Junior YR Open Prelim division. Morgan, who hails from the Malvern, Pennsylvania, is spending the winter season in Aiken. We asked her to reflect upon the weekend at Stable View and we’re so appreciative that she took the time to write us with the following feedback:
“Reflecting on my first ever Stable View experience, I felt as though the first thing I should say is that the venue is BEAUTIFUL! Aside from that……things that popped out at me were the overall layout of the venue and design of the courses. The dressage rings were so secluded and quiet, which I thought was awesome for the young horses! The show jumping ring was beautiful, spacious and atmospheric. The horses had a lot to look at, which had the horses leaving the ring more prepared for arenas with more atmosphere. The footing was incredible in the rings and Stable View’s XC is very modern and ‘with the times.’ The XC course was designed beautifully for an opener event and my horses went around feeling great and finished confident, which is what I wanted for the first event of the season. I’m looking forward to more Stable View events this season.”
Morgan had a strong finish to her weekend, placing 3rd, 4th and 5th on Fernhill Flutter (Kevin Keane’s Rolex mount), Abecca GS and Monbeg Myth.
Cosby Green, who won the JYROP division is another young gun who’s up and coming in the sport of eventing. We called Cosby after her win to chat with her about her riding background, her experience at Stable View and her plans for the season.
Cosby is only 16 years old, a sophomore at the Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky, who was recently named to the Eventing 18 Development list. Cosby trains with Maggie Wright at Champagne Run in Lexington, with whom she has ridden with all of her life.
“I owe everything to my trainer, Maggie Wright, who I’ve been with at Champagne Run since 4. At 11 I started to event and fell in love with the sport. I stepped up to the Prelim level November of 2015 on Balmoral Mighty Legend who I leased from Charlotte Collis. She (Mighty Legend) started me out….getting my feet wet. In July we bought Frenchie (Takine De La Barbais) from Lauren Kieffer who competed her to the 2* level.”
A common theme with both these young riders and their parents is understanding the importance of learning on a well schooled horse and approaching the progression through the levels when the time is right.
Cosby and Frenchie started out this season at Prelim but the 2017 plan is to bump up to Intermediate this season with the CCI 2* level in their sites. Together Cosby and Frenchie will make the big road trip out to compete in the CCI1* at Rebecca Farms to ensure that they’re truly competitive and ready before taking it to that level.
Cosby came to Stable View and stayed at the property during the event. We asked her for her about her experience at Stable View and the following are her reflections on the weekend:
“We were in love with the XC course! It was the perfect first show of the season and a really positive ride. The rings are world class with the (Attwood) footing. It’s really a world class facility and we had great friendly interaction with the staff, they were very welcoming and it’s a good atmosphere!”
Cosby is now down in Ocala for the Eventing 18 sessions and is balancing her studies while away from school for 3 weeks to pursue this opportunity.
We chose to focus on interviewing some of our young riders after this first horse trial as we gear up for our 21 Challenge Young Rider series which will kick off at our Spring Horse Trials on March 21st & 22nd. We hope to see these girls and all the other aspiring young riders here at Stable View throughout the season.
Thank you to all the officials, our staff, the volunteers and our sponsors for kicking off our season with enthusiasm, which resulted in great success. Congratulations to all the competitors at every level who support our facility and equestrian sport.
Full Results from our Aiken Opener.
We are looking towards the end of the month with great anticipation, as we will be welcoming William Fox-Pitt to Stable View for 3 days of clinics, and then to compete in our second horse trials which will run January 31st and February 1st.
Boyd and Silva Martin have also settled into the facility and we’re buzzing with activity! Many thanks for Boyd and his owners for offering William Fox-Pitt a horse to compete during the Winter Horse Trials. We are looking forward to an extraordinary season here at Stable View!