The Open Weekly: Ashker Wins at Maryland & Jacobs at Traverse City

Eventing Ashker Takes Her First Top-Level Win at Maryland

Last weekend, Laine Ashker and Lovedance won the Maryland International CCI4*-S. It is Ashker's first top-level eventing win and her first points of the 2026 Series. She sits joint 17th with 40 points.

The pre-event article pointed to cross-country time as the likely differentiator. It was. Nobody went inside the time. The fastest combination on course was Ema Klugman and Chiraz, who picked up 14.8 time penalties on their way to second. Lovedance added 19.2. A clear show jumping round and a dressage score of 29.7 did the rest. Final score: 52.1. Maryland's cross-country keeps its record as one of the most demanding in the Series.

Ema Klugman and Chiraz were second on 54.8. Lisa Marie Fergusson and Ratheoin Quality Imp third on 60.3.

Ashker is the first athlete to compete in the US Equestrian Open across both eventing and dressage. The full story of how that happened is here.

Tamie Smith holds the Series lead on 235 points. William Coleman sits second on 215. Both have all six counting slots filled. Six qualifiers and the Final remain. No one in the top five can simply add a result anymore, only upgrade one they already hold. The full Series picture is here.

Current Leaderboard of the US Equestrian Open of Eventing

#	Rider	Points
1	Tamie Smith	235
2	William Coleman	215
3	Boyd Martin	190
4	Caroline Pamukcu	185
5	Lucienne Bellissimo	175
6	Waylon Roberts	110
7	Mia Farley	85
8	Alexandra Knowles	80
9	Tommy Greengard	75
10	Bruce O. Davidson Jr.	70
10	Karen O'Neal	70

View Full Leaderboard →

Jumping Vogel and Jacobs Win Big, Vale Takes Ocala

Richard Vogel (GER) and Gangster Montdesir won the CSI5* AON Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows on Sunday, beating Katie Laurie (NZL) in a jump-off to take the  title. It is their second CSI5* 1m60 Grand Prix win of the year.

At just ten years old, Gangster Montdesir was one of the standout horses of the WEF 2026 season, taking a five-star Grand Prix win and building a run of results that put him firmly in the conversation at the top of the sport. An Elo rating of 740 places him among the top three ten-year-olds in the world. 

At Traverse City, Charlotte Jacobs and Korbach van de Renger won the CSI4* Grand Prix at 1m55 for the US. An eight-horse jump-off came down to speed. Jacobs edged out the 2026 US Equestrian Open Champions Kent Farrington and Greya to take the win, their second CSI4* Grand Prix victory of the year. 

In Ocala, Aaron Vale (USA) and Helios du Moulin were the fastest double-clear in the CSI4* Grand Prix by more than two seconds. It was the nine-year-old's first four-star Grand Prix win.

Dressage Five Movements to Know Before the Series Returns

The Series is on its summer break, with the next qualifier at Dressage at Devon on September 22. This pause is a good opportunity to sharpen how you watch. Grand Prix dressage rewards anyone who knows what they are looking at. The horses are doing far more than trotting and cantering around the arena: each is performing a fixed sequence of trained movements, judged one at a time, and in the Grand Prix Freestyle those movements are set to music and carefully choreographed to suit the horse. Here are five movements to know before the qualifiers return this fall.

A trot on the spot. The horse keeps full rhythm and elevation while staying more or less in place, almost all of its weight loaded onto the hind legs. The best ones barely travel an inch and never lose the cadence. It is one of the hardest movements in the sport to do well.

A trot in slow motion. Huge elevation and a long, floating moment of suspension where the horse seems to hang in the air between steps. Judges want that suspension even and unhurried, the same height every stride. The easy way to tell it from piaffe: passage travels forward, piaffe stays put.

A turn on the spot. The horse keeps cantering while its hind legs stay almost planted and the front end circles around them through a full 360 degrees. The rhythm has to stay true the whole way around, which is where many of them lose the mark.

Flying changes of the leading leg, strung together on a set count. Every fourth stride, every third, every second, and at the top, every single stride. The Grand Prix asks for fifteen one-tempis in a row, and done well the horse looks like it is skipping across the arena.

The horse travels forward and sideways at once, crossing the arena on a diagonal while bent in the direction it is going, legs crossing over. The more ground it covers sideways while staying balanced and uphill, the better the mark.

Want the why behind all of it, including how collection makes every one of these possible? The full guide breaks it down.