It might not have been her goal, but when Lauren Hough allows her small but mighty mount Ohlala to gallop, more often than not, she smashes through her competitor’s time to win.
That’s what happened on Friday, June 16, 2017 when the USA’s Hough was pitted last to go in a jumpoff of seven in the day’s feature ranking class at Bolesworth International Horse Show CSI4* in Tattenhall, England. The 1.50m jumpoff competition saw an entry list of 47 competitors, but with a very tight time allowed in Round 1, the jump-off order was kept short.
Hough went late in the class and was the last clear of round one, which allowed her to watch first to go in the jumpoff, Great Britain’s Robert Smith. Aboard Ilton, Smith laid down a time of 43.06 seconds that held up all the way until Hough and Ohlala, a 13-year-old SWB mare (Orlando x Cardento), entered the ring.
“I wanted to still be ready for Sunday so I went what I felt was her comfortable speed, but she’s just naturally so quick across the ground,” Hough said. Ohlala was so quick that she won the class by a huge margin, in 40.91 seconds. “I absolutely did not expect to be two and a half seconds faster, that was not the goal!” Hough added. “But just going her own tempo, that sort of puts her there.”
With mostly CSI5* shows on her schedule, Hough targeted Ohlala for Bolesworth International to give her a good, solid show that fit into the summer’s bigger goals: performing on the Nations Cup teams for the United States in Aachen and Dublin. Hough’s longtime partnership with Ohlala—she’s had the mare since Ohlala was seven—helps her manage the partnership perfectly, and she’ll now be entering Sunday’s CSI4* Grand Prix at Bolesworth as one of the favorites.
Photos: Erin Gilmore for NF.com
Source: Noelle Floyd.com