Tryon makes it a double at Southern Pines

In her string of horses, the venerable My Beau, owned by Leigh Mesher, is her most experienced mount. But the 13-year-old bay gelding looked liked a youngster as he whinnied and bucked his was through his victory gallop. "He doesn't like horses cantering up behind him, he's always been a little silly like that," laughed Tryon. "That's why I got the ride on him, he used to buck Leigh off if something happened behind him he didn't like."

Her other winning mount Woodstock is a newcomer to the advanced level. Tryon had found the horse as a 3-year-old just coming off the track, and sold him to a friend of hers named Chris Gianini. Chris kept and rode the horse until he was six, then showed up one day at Tryon's and said, "take him back!"

"He's a lovely horse to ride, but he's very frustrating to deal with," said Tryon. "He breaks everything in the barn and gets in to anything and everything. He kicked me in the face in November and broke my jaw."

Karen O'Connor is thrilled with the comeback of her superstar Regal Scot, who won advanced division 3. Photo by Heather Bailey©

My Beau stood third after dressage, and Woodstock stood fourth, however both horses had two of the only three double clear rounds (no jumping or time faults) on cross-country, though it wasn't by design. "I didn't even wear my watch," said Tryon. "Pine Top [two weeks earlier] was their first advanced [this year], so I went really slowly. But all the horses were really spooky and not in a rhythm, so this weekend I said 'I am going forward and ride this like a real advanced round'. But, I didn't mean to go that fast, and [in retrospect] I would have preferred to be about 10 seconds slower."

Both horses put in flawless show jumping rounds on Sunday to clinch their wins.

Though she was pleased with her blues, Tryon was equally pleased with her third mount Poggio II, her Pan American games mount from 1999 who finished 8th in division 4. Poggio fractured his hind leg in the spring of 2000, and his return to advanced level competition was hardly assured. However he jumped around in his usual enthusiastic style, and if anything seems more mature for his time off. "He was fabulous yesterday, almost ratable," joked Tryon of her exuberant partner. "Seriously though, he's grown up a ton, and I'm just happy to have him back."

Tryon wasn't the only person happy to be back in the irons on a particular horse. Olympian Karen O'Connor was pleased with her blue in advanced division 3, but was really just happy to be back aboard Regal Scot.

"This is his second run and second win since he came back, and someone said, 'aren't you happy about that,' and I said 'I'd be happy with this horse if he stood on his head,' said a smiling O'Connor. "There is very little this horse could do to disappoint me after everything he's been through."

In 2000 during the prep for the Olympics Regal Scot was found to have an inoperable cyst in one of his joints. Told there was no hope for the horse, O'Connor turned him out. However, during the year he was out, a new technology called shockwave therapy became available. O'Connor's vet Kent Allen acquired and trained on the machine, and suggested it for Regal Scot. "He said, 'I don't know if it will help, there isn't enough data yet, but it's worth a try,'" said O'Connor.

They started treatment in the summer of 2001, and Regal Scot was started back walking under saddle in September. According to O'Connor, the x-rays reveal the area of the cyst has filled back in with new bone, and the joint is strong and normal. "It's very encouraging for horses who used to have no hope," she said.

In addition to Regal Scot, O'Connor rode five other horses in the advanced, finishing 9th with Joker's Wild, 8th with Bally Mar and Upstage, 3rd with Grand Slam, and 2nd with Travis who had led Regal Scot coming in to show jumping, but a rail dropped him one place. With such a full stable of advanced horses, O'Connor isn't sure whether she'll be aiming Regal Scot for Rolex or Foxhall this spring, but in the meantime she'll continue to enjoy riding him. "I don't know what the next chapter is for him," she said. "But I will say that his horse reminds me every day how much fun horses have at this sport. He just loves it."

Seeing Canadian Bruce Mandeville collect a ribbon on an elegant liver chestnut mare seems like nothing new-Mandeville's 2000 Olympic horse Larissa is just such a liver chestnut mare. However, Larissa had to settle for 6th place this time out, while her new stable mate Rose Tremiere took home the blue.

"I'm stunned and thrilled," said Mandeville. "She just came over [from France] on January 6th . I didn't expect us to get together so fast."

Mandeville's new employers, Alan and Nicole Shinton, purchased Rose from French rider Herve Le Thieu. The 8-year-old Anglo-Arab is by the same sire as Karen O'Connor's (nee Lende) former top mount Nos Ecus. Noting the similarities between Larissa and Rose, Mandeville joked, "I swear its not on purpose. I love these mares, but I would also love a plain old straightforward gelding."

However, they aren't totally similar. "[Rose] is softer in the back and rounder and more focused. Larissa is always looking around to see who is looking at how beautiful she is," said Mandeville. "[Also], on Larissa I got into this habit of sort of tapping her with my whip and kicking her in front of the fences. On Rose I need to sit quiet as a mouse. Our first cross-country was a little wild while I figured that out."

Larissa will be getting the spring off from a major three-day while being aimed for the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. Rose will be heading to Foxhall, due to her relatively young age. In time though, Mandeville is confident she'll become, "a four-star horse all the way. She gallops and jumps, and does all three phases well."

Sadly, two freak accidents did mar an otherwise excellent weekend. The first horse, Shannon Van Biert's Strictly Business, in the open intermediate young riders division fell at 11AB the Dutch's Ditch, and in his struggles to extricate himself from the ditch broke his foreleg. He was euthanized immediately, and van Biert rode her preliminary level horse the next day. In the advanced, Diann Roffe's Sporting Image made a mistake at number 11, the Weldon's Hair. At first the horse appeared to be merely winded, but when he hadn't gotten up after nearly an hour and his vitals began to crash he too was euthanized. A necropsy later revealed he had fractured his spine behind the withers. On Sunday, Roffe publicly thanked and praised the volunteers and vets who had helped her through the tragedy.

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