Fellers secures Longines FEI World Cup Jumping North American League success

Riding his stallion, Flexible, the pair are long-time partners and perennial crowd favourites and they did not disappoint by coming top of a field of 25 combinations.

The course set by designer Alan Wade from Ireland proved difficult for the inexperienced and the experienced pairs alike. Just a few months after appearing at the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping final in Las Vegas, USA’s Vinton Karrasch and Coral Reef.

Follow Me II were eliminated after two refusals with two additional horse-and-rider teams also not finishing the round.

Sixteen pairs unsuccessfully attempted clears before the first clear round came from America’s Will Simpson and The Dude. Following a record-breaking HITS Thermal winter circuit earlier in the year, the 2008 Olympian efficiently manoeuvred the sprawling course without a single fault.

A few rounds later, 2012 Olympian Fellers added a second clear round to make for a jump off. Canada’s Ben Asselin, aboard Plume de la Roque, was the third and final clear as the 24th in the order of go.

Fellers drew on this experience in the jump off, shaving just over a second off of Simpson’s clear round. Asselin attempted to improve on Fellers’ score, but a pulled rail in the seven-obstacle course forced him to settle for third place.

Despite winning the first West Coast event for the North American League, Fellers’ goals for Flexible are not set on the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping final in Gothenburg, Sweden just yet.

Flexible is scheduled to remain at Thunderbird for another week to compete in an upcoming three-star class on Sunday.

Then he will return home to Oregon for a couple of weeks to rest before traveling to the Spruce Meadows Masters and to the next North American League event on the West Coast at the Sacramento International Horse Show.

After one round in Bromont and one round in Langley, the East Coast League sees Schuyler Riley on top with 20 points, while Fellers heads the West Coast League with his 20 points.