Tryon Takes two at Southern Pines

Tryon, a full-time firefighter from Duvall, Washington has always contended with the fact that her two top horses are wildly different in personality and way of going, and time has not changed that at all. "I don't think there are any two horses more different than 'Pogie' and 'Beau'," she said with a laugh.

"I've had to learn that he's going to go in the manner he's going to go in, and I can either learn to ride him that way, or not ride him. He gives 110% all the time, and he doesn't get hot because he's crazy, but he gets hot because he tries so hard," she said.

Poggio flew into first with Amy Tryon in advanced division C2 at the Southern Pines Horse Trials.

"It's an evolution," she continued. "Even with all that he's done, he still only 11, he's still young, and I'm still learning how to ride him."

Poggio was third after dressage, and flowed around the cross country to finish with only 10.8 time penalties. He then jumped a clean show jumping round with his usual joie de vivre to keep the blue ribbon. If his stadium round looked like a big effort, even for Poggio, it was because of an unplanned occurrence in the warm up. "I made a bit of a mistake, and missed at the oxer in warm-up and had a hard rub, which is something we never try to do with himÑhe's plenty careful on his own," she laughed.

If Poggio is the sports car, then Beau is the limousine. "He's the total opposite," said Tryon. "Every time we show him we try a new idea for his warm up, to try and keep him sharp."

This method backfired a bit in the show jumping at Southern Pines though, when a bit change left Beau a bit hollow on course, causing three dropped rails. Luckily for Tryon her lead after cross-country was substantial enough to withstand the 12 additional points added to her score. "I tried him in a snaffle todayÑI'd been jumping him in a double bridle, which really helps to keep him rounder, but last week I was in the training sessions with [show jumping great] George Morris, and he went well there in the snaffle so I decided to try it.

"But he's very lazy, and he gets stuck. I was happy with the way he jumped, he just didn't quite follow through with his hind endÑhe wasn't as round as he could have been. But he was absolutely fabulous on cross countryÑhe wasn't pulling and was very ridable."

My Beau was second after dressage, and moved into the lead after a strong cross-country round with only 5.2 time penalties. His nearly 24 point lead going in to show jumping (thanks to cross country time faults and dropped rails) was cut to 16 as he dropped the three rails, but it was enough to finish ahead of Nina Fout and the veteran Three Magic Beans.

Though Tryon has both horses pointed towards Rolex Kentucky in April, they will be running in the special Short Format class for Olympic contenders (the regular cross-country course, without the roads and tracks and steeplechase, and two show jumping rounds on Sunday), rather than the full CCI****. Tryon said this decision is based on several reasons. "One, I want to prove, to myself and the Team, that Poggio will be ridable in the shorter formatÑ[that he will settle without the extra phases].

"Two, it's a great opportunity to practice. I think a lot of us take the steeplechase phase for granted as a chance to settle our nerves and let the horses blow off some steam, but in the short format, we are going to have to be on from the very beginning.

"And three, Beau is 14 this year, and he's already done 8 three and four stars, and I kind of thought he didn't need to do another one. He has been such a wonderful horse for me to learn on, he doesn't hold a grudge, and I think he doesn't always get the credit he deserves because he's not as fun to watch as Poggio or as spectacular as [up and coming youngster] Woodstock. But he has truly been a faithful servant to me, you can make mistake after mistake with him, and he just keeps going," she finished with a smile.

Natalie Bouckaert and West Farthing jumped to the top of the national rankings last spring when then took 3rd at the Foxhall CupÑtheir first competition together. At the time, Natalie was in the irons for her father Carl, who had been badly injured in a fall in competition with West Farthing. At the time, Natalie was unsure how long she would keep the ride on the English Thoroughbred, but Carl decided to keep the pair together.

In the fall they competed at the Pan American championships, but had a glance off, a problem repeated at an earlier outing this spring. But at Southern Pines they were the only pair to finish the cross country double clear, and then jumped clean in show jumping, to move from 6th to first.

"I came out yesterday and planned to just be more aggressive with him," she said. "We've had some issues with a glance off here and there, and it's because I've just been too lax. I expect him to be more grown up than he is, but I just needed to go out and ride stronger.

"He's a little bit of a worry wart, and he counts on you to tell him what to do. But he has all the heart in the world and will always try," she finished.

Natalie is also heading for the Olympic Short Format division at Rolex, and hopes that a trip to Athens will be in her future. "Captain Phillips suggested we [do the short format division], as it's not so much wear and tear on them before the games and will give us a chance to practice with two show jumping rounds," she said.