Tuesday, May 17, 2011

RK3DE followup: Kelly Sult and Hollywood

Of the horse/rider teams that completed all three phases of Rolex, Kelly Sult and Hollywood got third to last place, with a score in the 60's in dressage (that's eventing scoring by penalties), 40ish x-country faults (see footage of a near-fall here), and 4 show jumping faults. Finishing is an honor and testament to talent; but what makes them blog-worthy? Plenty.

Hollywood, an OTTB, is 19 this year, and he's her first horse! Kelly, who's in her early twenties, doesn't train with the O'Connors, or P. Dutton. She trains with her dad, a truck driver who does not have the typical training -- actually no formal training or experience in eventing -- and he doesn't have a big bankroll to finance a fancy horse. THAT'S blog-worthy. Read more about her story in this news article and/or view this video coverage...

I watched their dressage, and I thought it was nice. I was struck by how thin Hollywood was/is (remember I mentioned some of the horses were super-thin?) and by his loooong, sloping pasterns.  They don't look like Rolex-capable pasterns, but he's done Rolex  FOUR TIMES. Conformation does not always dictate your fate, huh?

Such a good face
Good boy!


5 comments:

  1. Hurricanes12May 17, 2011 at 4:15 AM

    aww that's such an inspiring post; hollywood is gorgeous.. but he's dark bay so i may be a little biased..

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  2. JenMay 17, 2011 at 5:43 AM

    Absolutely blog worthy. Who doesn't love reading about regular folks like this that worked their tails off to get where they are? Great post :o)

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  3. ValMay 17, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    I love her attitude! She is so talented, as is Reggie, and this is a great example of how far a partnership between horse and rider can go! Thank you for sharing!

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  4. AnonymousMay 17, 2011 at 10:18 PM

    I know "if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all," but I can't help myself. One would argue that he didn't owe her a 4th trip around Rolex, and that she should have pulled up since it wasn't going that well. Especially since he stung himself from breaking the pin on the corner and was visibly lame afterwards. Anyway, congrats to anyone who competes at that level because it takes so much work. I can't even imagine.

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  5. JeanMay 18, 2011 at 12:41 AM

    Love this kind of story. It proves big money and big names don't always spell success.

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