Waylon Roberts 2nd at Carolina International

The Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International concluded with a bang on Saturday at the Carolina Horse Park after an extremely influential cross-country phase had pairs rising and falling through the rankings in the Sandy River Equestrian Center CCI4*-S. Ultimately it was Jennie Brannigan and Nina Gardner’s FE Lifestyle (Leo von Faelz x Berina A, by Brandenburger) winning the division on a score of 40.3.

Originally in second after the dressage phase, Brannigan moved up to the lead after Monica Spencer and her own Artist activated a frangible pin, dropping them to 22nd place. “Monica and Caroline [Pamukcu] are great competitors, but at the end of the day, what I’m most proud of is that I didn’t let my competitiveness override doing the right thing for my horse. That’s what matters most. And the fact that it still turned into a win? That’s just amazing. It validates my process and my mentality,” Brannigan said.

Waylon Roberts started his weekend in 23rd place, only to shoot up the rankings to finish in second place. Riding Michelle and John Koppin’s OKE Ruby R (Namelus R x B. Termie R 6, by Germus R), Roberts added just 3.6 time faults to his score for a total of 42.1. After pulling the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare out of competition last year to give her more time to build up her fitness, the Carolina International & Horse Trial was the first real test of “Ruby’s” strength and stamina.

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“We pulled her out of competition, took the pressure off, and let her reset. And this year, she’s come back more confident in herself. We’ve kind of struck a deal— she gets to be herself, but she also knows when it’s time to show up and work,” Roberts said. “I always have to set a good pace with her because that’s just what she and I like. And she answered everything I asked of her today. There were a few moments of seat-of-the-pants riding, which, honestly, is just a bit of our style. But we always have a plan B, C, D, and E.”

Allison Springer and Nancy Winter’s No May Moon (Catherston Dazzler x Ebony Moon, by Mystic Replica) took third place in the CCI4*-S, moving up the rankings to the top three after starting the weekend in 12th place. Another Canadian, Lindsay Traisnel, placed 5th with Patricia Pearce’s 14-year-old SF gelding Bacyrouge, also stepping smartly up the leaderboard after landing 24th after dressage.

The Advanced division was the only National division to complete the cross-country phase on Saturday; the remaining classes completed their show jumping phase and galloped out of the startbox on cross-country Sunday.

Complete results here.

~ with files from Sally Spickard