Lady Calido's first time was a charm as she and Robyn Fisher took home the big win in the mare's inaugural CIC*** this past weekend at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, CA. The CIC*** also served as the final event in the 2009 $10,000 Adequan/United States Eventing Association (USEA) Gold Cup Series, where top horses and riders across the country competed for cash, prizes, and leaderboard points.

Needless to say, Fisher, 29, of Topanga, CA, was thrilled with "Callie's" performance. "She was phenomenal," she said. "I'm just relieved that the weekend is over and I can just enjoy it and take care of her now."

Poor Fisher, who had multiple horses in the event, suffered an accidental kick to her forehead on Saturday evening while she was wrapping Callie's legs. "She went to kick at a fly, and got me right in the forehead!" Though she was more than a bit sore, and had quite a bruise, Fisher was none the worse for wear to finish out her weekend.

She and the 13-year-old Holsteiner mare (sired by Calido) began their weekend in second place after the dressage following a stunning test that scored a 42.0. A quick and tidy trip around Derek di Grazia's challenging cross-country course added only 5.6 time penalties to their score, giving them a one-rail cushion over second-placed pair Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister.

"She jumped phenomenally," said Fisher after her show jumping round, where they dropped only a single rail. "I made a mistake thinking I could go out in six [strides] when it was supposed to be a seven, but it sharpened her up a bit for the rest of the course. Thank goodness for our lead!"

After a brief stint in the jumper ring last year, Fisher was eager to get Callie back into the eventing world. "She's stellar in everything! She put in a phenomenal dressage test so I could not ask her to be any better. She picked her pace on cross-country and ran around and didn't miss a thing. Even today in show jumping she just jumped her guts out for me. I just love her—she's a great mare."

Considering this CIC*** win was only the mare's fourth Advanced competition, Fisher was exceptionally pleased with both of their performances. "I didn't have any expectations as far as where we'd finish. It's been three and a half years since I've even competed at this level, with Le Samurai in '06, so it's been awhile."

After such a fantastic weekend, Fisher made the decision to take Callie and some youngsters out east to compete at the Fair Hill CCI*** and Spalding Labs/USEA Young Event Horse East Coast Championships. "I think she's going to be competitive back there, and I think she'll be a contender. I've got to coordinate with some of my owners and work on getting her out there as well as some of my youngsters."

Tiana Coudray, 21, of Ojai, CA, must've been very pleased with the performance of her rising star Ringwood Magister after taking home the second-place ribbon. The talented duo led the field of 13 after dressage with an impressive 38.8, then added 15.6 time penalties on cross-country day. They jumped cleanly on Sunday afternoon, but picked up two time penalties. Julie Anne Boyer took home third with Rumor Hazit in the athletic mare's first CIC***, after picking up only a handful of time penalties on cross-country and a single time fault in show jumping.

Winners of the designated Gold Cup divisions receive an Adequan USEA Gold Cup Trophy, $500 in prize money, a seven-dose box of Adequan, a three-month supply of Succeed, an E.A. Mattes Couture Pad, and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots. Second-place finishers take home a Nutrena feed gift certificate and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots, and third place receives a pair of the Nunn Finer boots as well.

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors—Title: Adequan; Legacy: Nunn Finer, Nutrena, and E.A Mattes; Contributing: Cover-All, and Patron: Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, and Succeed.

Adequan is proud to be the official joint therapy treatment of the USEA.