Oliver Townend Tops the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill, continued...


Wood purchased Barnaby as a fi ve-year-old show jumper when she was living in Ireland. She produced him herself moving him up the levels and competing all over the world. “If there was a six-star [event], he would do a six-star and there are very few horses in the history of the sport that you can say that of,” Wood said. T e pair were in 20th


place after dressage at


the Maryland 5 Star and then jumped clean on cross-country with just a penalty for knock- ing a fl ag and some time faults. “I have a horse that is not great in dressage so a tough cross- country course suits us well,” Wood said jok-


Fifty-one entries started the CCI3*-L division at the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill last month, with 40 fi nishing the event. Placing in the top half of the division was Maryland event rider and trainer Tracey Bienemann of Lothian who rode her own Venezuelan River to 19th place overall and 18th in the national CCI3* champi- onships. She was also the highest placing Mary- lander to complete the competition this year. Bienemann is no stranger to competing at


Fair Hill. She fi rst showed at the venue as a U.S. Pony Club member participating in the regional Event Rally, which is still held there annually. But this year was special because Bi- enemann, an Annapolis Pony Club graduate, was competing for the fi rst time during the venue’s fall “big event” and had two entries in the CCI3*-L division. Bienemann has produced Venezuelan River


“Newt” and Menlo Park “Melon” from coming off the racetrack as four-year-olds, up through the international three-star level. “Newt took a lot longer to settle in [to his new career] and it took good coaches to help me make him more ridable,” she explained. Bienemann has taken her time developing both horses, moving them up and down the levels as they needed. At times, she was not always sure competing at the Maryland 5 Star would even happen. “Melon took most of last fall off due to a


combination of mental and physical issues he needed some down time to resolve,” Biene- mann explained. “But he came back out this spring very well and did his fi rst three-star long at Tryon earlier this year.”


Bienemann


and Melon, owned by Carol McRoy, fi nished eighth at Tryon in May before winning the Open Intermediate division at Seneca Valley Pony Club Horse Trials in June. “We have to be careful with the hard ground so he missed most of the preps we should have done in Sep- tember,” Bienemann added. “So I ran him at Maryland [Horse Trials] in the Prelim divi- sion to get him one last run before Fair Hill.” T ey fi nished third in the Area II Preliminary Championships division. “Newt is a bit more tricky and has a lot of trouble with atmosphere at competitions,” Bi-


ingly. Wood went on to explain that Barnaby is a “cross-country machine” but is a “little bit wild” at times. “But that is what I love about him and what makes him such a great event horse,” she said. He’s also a clever show jumper and fi nished the event clean and over the time but just by one second. “T is is a tough sport and at this level, you will


always see people dropping out on cross-coun- try,” Wood added and pointed out that the event had a smaller than normal number of entries to start with. “But even with the small number of riders to fi nish, it was a good day in my opinion


Tracey Bienemann is Top Marylander to Finish at Fair Hill


enemann said. “He had a meltdown on cross-coun- try at Morven Park this spring and I took a step back to the drawing board to fi gure out what to do next.” Bienemann and her team of coaches and veterinarians conducted all sorts of diagnostics to fi gure out if there was any physical reason for Newt’s behavior and after fi nding out he was physi- cally doing great she con- cluded “I just needed to train him better.” Where Melon took a break from competing for most of the fall, Newt’s schedule was ramped up. “We kept grinding away at competitions because that is where the mental behavioral issues show up.” By the fall season, Newt was starting to show Bienemann how competitive and focused he re- ally could be. T e pair won the Open Interme- diate division at the Seneca Valley Pony Club Horse Trials in September and then headed to Plantation Field International to, hopefully, get the fi nal qualifying score they needed for Fair Hill. “We stabled off site so he could keep get- ting turn out each day and that really helped,” she explained. With the last qualifying score they needed, the pair headed to Fair Hill. “We couldn’t stable off site at Fair Hill due to FEI rules but we made sure he was out of that stall as often as humanly possible,” she added. All their hard work, perseverance, and dedica-


tion paid off as Bienemann and Newt ended up having the fastest double clean round on cross- country at Fair Hill in the CCI3*-L division. “Newt was good in warm up and he went out of that box and gave me the best ride he ever has before,” Bienemann said. “T e course felt easy for him. It’s really exciting and makes me just think ‘wow’… this horse has so much more to come!” Bienemann had already gotten around the


cross-county horse that day with Melon, think- ing she had jumped clean with a few penalties


22 | DECEMBER 2024 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION


for knocking some fl ags. After reviewing the offi - cial course footage, how- ever, the Ground Jury decided


they missed a


jump on course. “He was a bit distracted at times but jumped his heart out,” Bienemann


explained,


Tracey Bienemann of Lothian is the top placing Maryland rider in the CCI3*-L with Venezuelan River.


adding, “and at the Roller- coaster, I knew he drifted left and hit a fl ag but I re- ally thought we were over the fence.” T e Ground Jury ruled that Melon’s hind quarters did not clear the fence and thus they were technically elimi- nated.


Bienemann fi led an inquiry and was able to


meet with the Technical Delegate and watch the footage herself saying, “I fought for Melon be- cause he fought for me that day but in the end, a TE is better than a lot of other letters you could end an event on.” Since the event, Bienemann has received an outpouring of support via social media with a lot of friends and total strangers conducting “Facebook investigations” and dig- ging through FEI rule books. “At this point it is what it is and I’m just happy he ran so well and fi nished the day sound and happy,” she said. Bienemann joked that after Melon’s techni-


cal elimination, show jumping day “got much simpler with only one horse to juggle.” She added that normally she is very nervous about show jumping because of Newt’s previous bad behavior but “for whatever reason, I was really calm that day.” So was Newt! “He absolutely nailed it!” Bienemann said about the fi nal show jumping phase. “We had one unlucky rail but he was as good as he’s ever been.” Although not entirely the results she had hoped


for with both horses, what makes the event spe- cial for Bienemann is that both horses are off -the- track T oroughbreds. “I’m very passionate about these T oroughbreds and seeing them competing at this level,” she said. “T ey work so hard and the whole event was such a great experience.”


800-244-9580 | www.equiery.com


because people were not getting hurt out there. Horses were not getting hurt out there.” Wood offi cially retired the now 18-year-old


Barnaby after the fi ve-star. “I pulled his shoes and everything,” she said adding, “he retired sound after so many fi ve-stars and now is run- ning around his pasture with my other retired fi ve-star horse.” Wood admitted that retire- ment might not be exactly what Barnaby has in mind though and said she’s already given some pony rides on him to her nieces and nephews.


Katherine O. Rizzo


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