The sport of eventing, especially on cross country, demands an extreme amount of fitness from both human and equine athletes. But it also requires learned experience, feel and acute mental focus. Today, experience paid off in the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S during the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

After delivering a personal-best dressage score of 21.8 yesterday, Will Coleman (USA) and 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Off the Record held onto their overnight lead after making the fastest time over Derek di Grazia’s challenging four-star track on a final score of 29 and adding only 7.2 time penalties to their dressage score.

“When I walked the course, I wasn’t sure anybody was going to be able to get the time,” Coleman said. “It was a fantastic track and extremely challenging, but the way the questions were sort of strung together made it difficult to get the necessary average speed for the time allowed. In a way, this actually kept the competition a little more intense because you never knew how everyone was going to line up when the rides went well.”

Seven-time Olympian Phillip Dutton (USA) and 12-year-old KWPN Possante had a commanding ride today to retain their second-place spot on 33.5. “He worries about things a bit, so it’s not a case of being too firm with him,” Dutton said about his fairly new ride Possante. “You’ve got to sort of let him understand it and learn that way rather than forcing him to do it. But he’s really coming into becoming a top horse.”

Dutton and 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding Denim, who held the overnight lead during the first day of dressage competition on a score of 25.6, also had a solid run today on 37.2 that landed them in third going into show jumping tomorrow. After running two horses over di Grazia’s four-star track today, Dutton admitted he was relieved when it was over.

“It was a lot of hard work. We certainly knew it was a strong track going in and then it being a bit soggy after the rain yesterday, but I was really happy with both horses,” he said. “You just try to block out all the distractions and make sure that when you get on your horse you’re thinking about everything you need to do to get the job done and what your horse likes and dislikes and what he’s good at and not so good at.”

The Mental Toughness Game

Tackling three disciplines in three days in a highly unpredictable sport—where the horse’s health and well-being are top priority and Murphy’s Law is inevitably more applicable—requires a high degree of mental toughness. And every eventing athlete develops this capacity through their own process over time.

With decades of experience under his belt, Dutton has honed his ability to conjure the right mindset when he leaves the start box to focus on his horse’s needs.

“Obviously coming to an event like this with more distractions, it’s not quite as easy to do that. But as riders and horsemen, you have to get used to understanding what’s best for your horse,” he said. “I think everybody’s got a different way of doing it. And I think that’s a good thing. But it’s certainly something that you’ve always got to be working on and making sure you’re at your best.”

Coleman agrees that learning to focus on your horse’s needs is key in the sport. “I focus on what that particular horse needs from me and our communication and just try to stay in the moment as much as I can while negotiating a dressage test or jump course,” he said. “That way you can compartmentalize all the other distractions that try to grab your attention. It’s definitely easier to do as you get more experience.”

Underdog Story: 15 Hands of Hot-Pink Fury

After Ali Kuhn and the small but mighty 16-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred Little Hail sailed through the Lucky Horseshoe—the final obstacle on di Grazia’s 22-fence CCI4*-S cross-country course this year—a sea of pink ran out to greet and congratulate the pair for completing their first Kentucky four star.

Little Hail, who’s owned by Dorothy and John Crowell, was born about five minutes down the road from the Kentucky Horse Park, and during his limited days as a racehorse, pink, black and white were his and his jockey’s signature colors.

“Every time he heard the crowd roar today, he was convinced they were all here for him. But he’s such a star and athlete and knows his job,” Kuhn said. “My job is honestly to just point him toward the chute and stay the heck out of his way. I’m just so blessed to ride this 15 hands of fury in bright pink and can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Heading into Kentucky, one of Kuhn’s good friends advised her to do her best to avoid looking around because it can be easy to get distracted in the electric atmosphere. “It’s really easy here to get too much in your head when you think about the fact that you’re at Kentucky,” she said. “So I just tried to stay focused and in the moment and had tunnel vision the whole time and it really paid off today.”

Before partnering with Hail, Kuhn had gone through a rough patch in her eventing career after several tragic and unexpected horse losses due to freak accidents. “I was at that point where I was just about done and ready to hang it up,” Kuhn admitted said. “So, it been an emotional weekend because I never thought as a girl from Wisconsin you don’t often get to play and here. And here we are doing it.”

For more of our coverage of the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, click here.

Thanks to Kent Nutrition Group and Blue Seal for our coverage of the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. It includes lead-up events, rider interviews, competition reports, horse spotlights, photos, videos and more.