In this first‑person video the rider recounts Contessa’s debut at the Kentucky 5‑Star event, covering all three phases. In dressage she delivered a strong test with high trot scores and several flying changes, though two later changes were late and scored low, resulting in a mid‑30s dressage score. She praises her trainer Bettina Hoy, Silver Martin, and daily work with Silva on flying changes, noting her own limited leg cue. In the cross‑country phase she describes walking the course, concerns about stamina, a minor course‑error halt that incurred a two‑point penalty, and a flawless run through a demanding coffin fence, emphasizing the horse’s energy and control after six months of training, a new bit, and increased mileage. The show‑jumping round was solid except for a single rail down on an oxer, which cost her a few points. Overall she placed around 15th, exceeding her expectations. The rider attributes the success to careful vet care, soundness management, and a balanced training program, and expresses optimism for future 5‑Star events, especially Maryland, where she believes Contessa can achieve faster times and higher scores. The video ends with gratitude to supporters and a hopeful outlook for continued five‑star competition.
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This is a video for Club Contessa. Well, girls, we've done it. I'm as impressed as you are. Going down to Kentucky with Contessa, I really wasn't sure what to expect. Obviously her four star runs last year were a little bit dicey and I looked on paper, she'd only done eight advanced events in her whole career. And I was going down to Kentucky thinking, gosh, am I being a little bit too gung ho here? But Contessa was absolutely brilliant in all, all three phases. We couldn't have asked for anything more in the dressage, the show jumping, the cross country, and for her to come through it unscathed and in health, good health as man, it just, everything couldn't have gone better. Obviously this is the dressage on, let's see, Thursday morning, we're about the sixth or seventh horse to go and she put in a fantastic test. Her trot work was all 7.58. Like in the trot work. She is magnificent. Like she was up with the leaders, she's so elegant. Bettina Hoy and Silver Martin did a incredible job coaching me. Silva did a remarkable job working with her sometimes twice a day to improve her flying changes. And really this test was, was just fantastic. There were still moments of green. It's, you'll see in this, this rainback, we'd been doing it well but she sort of gets to step three and gets a little bit stuck. So. And then the last two flying changes in the test unfortunately were late behind. So they were a score of 4 and 5 or something like that, which really I think we got a score of 35. If we can clean up the, have four good flying changes at Maryland, she should get in the twenties. Then again here with this extended walk, you can see her head nodding a bit. She's a, a little bit anxious. You can't see it here. But I'm sitting so quiet and making sure that I don't bumper with my leg because she knows the canter work's coming up. The great thing with Contessa is she came through this event good and healthy. Obviously over the years it's been a real art sort of keeping Contessa strong and sound and healthy. And I really feel like we figured it out through vet work and through her training. Good blacksmith and not pushing her too hard at the lead up events. So these first two flying changes were actually pretty good. That one is the easier one. She did it well, it wasn't perfect. And then the next one, which was the harder side right to Left. She actually did it perfectly. Now I'd like to take credit, but my wife had probably done 5,000 flying changes on this marker. And the good thing with Contessa, she's so smart. I really didn't actually have to do anything except just slightly slide my left leg back and then she popped in a good change there. So the cross country, you'll see in a minute was just brilliant. Again, I walked the course. I could hardly sleep the night before. I was just wondering if Contessa could do the distance. And part of me was worried about sort of her control and her balance after, you know, last year wasn't perfect, but she was so good it was almost easier just because the jumps were a lot further apart because it was such a long course and I could keep her settled. So. So sadly this is the expensive part of our test. That was a late behind change which was a score of 4 and then I think this one was clean but it wasn't great. So the marking probably would have ended on a 30 and those two flying changes. And unfortunately I made a bit of a course error here. You're supposed to halt at I and I was so excited that we got through the test well that I halted at G. Now the good news is, so we got a penalty of two there for my course error, but it had actually no impact on the final placings or her score, which was a huge relief because I'd feel like an absolute idiot if we, we missed out on a placing through to my, my course era. So anyway, Saturday morning me and Contessa were faced with the biggest course of our life and my God, she gave me a good round. This was early on in the course. You can see Contessa's jumping like anything and she's such a good girl. She saw all the jumps, saw the flags, hopped through them. She was just brilliant. I never pushed it apart. Like if you can see the speed I'm galloping there, it's just a notch slower than what she needs to go. But I was, you know, this is the second minute of a 11 or 12 minute course and I was just unsure of how much juice we'd have at the end of the track. So I never sort of sprinted or got after a bit to go faster by saying that I think if we can go to Maryland five star, I'm going to have a lot more self belief that Contessa can, can do the distance and we can start sort of going fast and, and the other thing is I know I've got the control now, where last year, if you remember, at Triumph, we were crashing through some of the jumps and out of control and, you know, it's amazing. Six months more training, change of bit and a few more. Bit more mileage and experience. She was brilliant. This coffin was as big, as hard as coffin as I've ever seen. And you can see Contessa just hopping through it like it's nothing. It's really, really impressive. So this is about eight minutes into the course and you can see Contessa still full of energy. And I remember thinking to myself, if I could just get through this fence here, I think I can get a home. And she jumped it with ease. The big crowds didn't distract her. And like I said, I actually think the five Stars suit her a bit more. Just because you got sort of. Sometimes you got a longer approach to a lot of the big jumps and I can sort of balance her and keep her together and get some good takeoff distances. And I mean, this is. She's starting to get a little bit tired here. I mean, that's as hard as it comes, I think, coming into next year or that coming into Maryland five Star, I can sort of believe that she'll slow down closer to the jumps. And just looking at this fence here, I'm sort of setting up way too early by saying that we only had six time penalties, which in my opinion it's going to be pretty easy to make her fast enough to get the time, six time penalties. And I was sort of conservative in my speed, in my galloping, and I was setting her up a long way away from the jump. So in theory, Maryland five Star, we should be able to get the time. She pulled up perfectly after the. The cross country trotted up like a million bucks on Sunday morning then. Contessa was brilliant in the show jumping. Sadly, she had one rail down and it was the rail I was most worried about. It was a back rail of an oxa. You'll see it in a moment. Sometimes she, she jumps into the combination and sort of starts slowing down in the air looking at fence B and she just nicked the back, the back pole with her hind toes, which was annoying. But by saying that, I think we finished 15th or something, man, if you would have told me a couple weeks ago that we'd be in the, the top finishing group at Kentucky Five Star, I'd. I wouldn't believe you. So I'm very, very pleased and very grateful for you guys to hanging in there after all these years. I know we've had some ups and downs. This is the pole here. She sort of just tows it. It's been a long road with Contessa and like I said, I very, very grateful for you guys to support her all these years. I know it hasn't been perfect the whole, the whole trip, but now we're here and part of me thinks this is the beginning of a great five star run with us. So we're at the top level of the sport now and it's time to have some fun.
