Press release from Thunderbird Show Park

Like in any good relationship, there is always a certain amount of give and take. Ireland’s Jordan Coyle and Ariso (Casall x Contender) have found their middle ground, taking the win in the CSIO5* West Coast Cup 1.45m Friday afternoon at tbird’s Odium Brown BC Open. 

Of 10 who qualified to jump the short course set by Peter Holmes, three—with their eyes set firmly on Sunday’s Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ of Canada—elected to withdraw; that left just seven to return. 

It quickly became apparent that some bold inside turns would be necessary for a winning outcome, but that also came with risks. The move ended up actually being costly for Brazil’s Santiago Lambre and Zeusz (Cartogran x Chacco-Blue), who incurred two time penalties while getting “stuck” in the tight turning. Coyle and Ariso had the luxury of jumping late in the order, allowing Coyle to watch and adjust his plan. He ultimately elected to take a few inside turns and a few take outside turns, maintaining a strong, forward momentum to seal the victory.

“It’s funny: He’s very foot-fast, and this course didn’t really suit him,” explained Coyle of Elan Farm’s 12-year-old gelding. “If you had to go really fast, there would be places to leave out strides, but I didn’t feel we needed to go quite that fast today."

“My plan was actually to do the round that we did yesterday together [in the CSIO5* Nations Welcome 1.50m],” he continued. “We had a very good round; I did all the ‘leave-outs,’ and it was very fast, and he just pulled the last jump. So today I wanted to just give him a smooth round—still win, but not really run quite as hard.”

Clean and fast, they left all the jumps up and stopped the clock in 45.15 seconds—four-tenths of a second ahead of second placed Susan Horn (CAN) and Kirlo van den Bosrand (Cardento x Utrillo Z). Vanessa Mannix (CAN) and Carmela Z (Candillo x Nissan Caretano Z) finished third (45.78 seconds).

Partnered together since 2020, Coyle and Ariso won the CSI5* MLSJ Grand Prix at tbird last year and have a 67% clear rate at the 1.45m height in 2023, according to Jumpr App. Naturally fast and full of scope, 12-year old Ariso has been learning to slow down and have a little more respect for the task at hand.

“Ariso used to be quite strong, but he’s got much more respect now that he’s jumping up at the higher levels,” Coyle said. “Everything was so easy for him. He just thought he could do what he wanted, and that was that. And although most of the time it was true, I’ve caught up with him and try to be just a little bit smarter!”