United States Eventing Association

The second half of each division will take place Friday, July 18, beginning with the CCI1*-L at 8 a.m. Mountain time.

Elite equine and human athletes, pairs stepping up to new levels and dazzling pink decorations promoting the breast cancer research campaign -- Halt Cancer At X -- intensified the brilliant Montana summer day.

Virginia-based Chris Talley and FE Marco Polo top the CCI4*-L standings after 7 rides from what will be 14 competitors in this division. Their 32.2 from Ground Jury members Helen Christie (NZ), Jane Hamlin (USA) and Bea DiGrazia (USA) reflected nicely contained energy in the distinct atmosphere of Ring 1.

“It’s unique because you are kind of by yourself out there,” says Talley, a three-time Rebecca Farm competitor. “Yet there’s so much going on around you. First, we walked through cross-country warm-up (for lower levels) to get to dressage. In the test, you can hear people cheering in other rings and out on cross-country. I thought he handled it really well.”

Tamie Smith is right behind Talley with Kynan, one of her 5 international rides. They earned a 32.9 and are followed by Karen O’Neal and Clooney 14 on a 35.6. Several-time Rebecca Farm champ, and the division’s defending champion, Jennie Brannigan, is fourth in the day-one pack, this year riding Kismet to a 37.3.

New Track Drops

Talley echoes his fellow riders in expressing excitement over Saturday’s cross-country track, designed by Jay Hambly. The Canadian stepped into the top course design role this year after assisting his renowned predecessor Ian Stark and being part of the Rebecca Farm crew often since The Event’s beginning in 2002.

An imposing new drop fence (to a corner) at 21AB on the 4L track highlights challenges Hambly has been brewing for the past year. A good gallop, pinpoint control and guts will determine success over a course that clocks in close to the format’s 11-minute edge: the optimum time is 10:56 seconds.

Surveying several course questions from “Spectator Hill,” Hambly said, “Even if you think I’m making you go slow, if you have the inside line, you let your horse travel and carry pace through the turns – and be brave and good!! -- you’ll be rewarded. I don’t want the mistakes to come from going too fast. I want them to come from being off the line.”

The inspiration for the new drop fence is to ensure that Rebecca Farm has all the major course questions that pairs will likely face at international championships and 5* events around the world.

“We’ll see!” concludes Hambly, whose resume includes building for the Tokyo and Hong Kong Olympics. “I hope it works!”

The international divisions tackle cross-country Saturday, July 19, starting with the CCI3*-S at 8:40 am.

Praise O’Plenty

Riders were universal in their praise for Rebecca Farm as a venue and as a core of the eventing community. Talley is among the 23 riders allocated a total of $64,000 in Rebecca Farm Travel Grants to help defray the cost of getting to Kalispell.

For Talley, the atmosphere, the courses and the genuine welcoming vibe were all reasons to travel from the East. It all fits perfectly into the development of both FE Marco Polo, who is doing his first 4*-L, and MBF Firebrand, who sits 5^th in a tightly-bunched first half of the CCI3*-L.

Click here to view results from The Event at Rebecca Farm.