Apollo Star and Messaglia Top Huge Novice Amateur Division at American Eventing Championships by Kim MacMillan
L
ate summer at Chattahoochee Hills, host of the 2011 American Eventing Championships (AEC), a national championship tri-color ribbon was wrapped around
the neck of a huge, gray Trakehner gelding in the victory gallop. For rider on board, Elizabeth (Liz) Messaglia, it doesn’t get much better than that. It was the culmination of hard work and the good fortune of finding the right partner, Apollo Star, a 13-year-old gelding by Abdullah *Pg*E*, out of Angelina vom Castell by Avignon II. The Championships were held at Olympic three-
day eventing veteran Carl Bouckaert’s 8,000-acre farm in Fairburn, Georgia, near Atlanta. “It was about a 12-hour drive down to the spectacular and beautiful Chattahoochee Hills. The facility is enormous and amazing, and it makes the drive from Indiana worth it times ten. The footing is top-notch in dressage and stadium, and the cross-country ground is pampered and prepared for every level. The water complex is beautiful and all the jumps were fair questions for my level. The crescent shaped drops are intimidating, for sure, at all levels, but they rode very well. The permanent stabling is wonderful with rubber mats, large stalls, individual outlets and gorgeous woodwork. Carl has put together a magnificent facility,” says Liz.
A Memorable Event The pair topped the huge and very competitive AEC
Novice Amateur Championship division which included 54 starters. They earned a very good dressage score, and then had double clear rounds on cross-country and in stadium jumping which put them on top of the leader board on the last day. Liz shares her memories of the exciting competition.
“After dressage, I was tied for second with a 28.5. After cross-country I broke the tie, because the rider I was tied with had speed faults and I moved into second alone. Stadium was a reverse order of go, so I had to wait for 52 riders to go before I got to ride. I was quite nervous since I had blown my lead the previous year at the AEC. I kept repeating the serenity prayer in my head and that kept my nerves at bay. The stadium course was spread out with some bending lines, an in-and-out, a skinny and lots of turns. Even with the changes of direction, the course flowed smoothly when ridden.” “Apollo has a huge step and it can build as we go down a line. Luckily, he is handy and the one time I
Above: Apollo Star and owner/rider Elizabeth Messaglia over the final cross- country jump at the 2011 American Eventing Championships where they were the Novice Amateur champions. Photo by Mark Lehner/Hoofclix Photography
SPECIAL TRAKEHNER SECTION Warmbloods Today 67
American Trakehner Association
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116