Okay readers, I guess you weren’t wishing me quite enough good luck at the Maclay Regional.
I got off the plane and went to the Westbrook Hunt Club show facility in Connecticut, the region of my trainers Missy Clark and John Brennan. I rode multiple horses in multiple classes, then went in and competed in the Zone 1 Medal Final, which was a night class with about 70 competitors. I won it with a very smooth round on Littlefoot.
The next day I went in and crawled around an equitation class with a very forgettable round. I went in on Sunday and won the Maclay Regional warm-up round of 84 competitors. Although winning the warm-up should have made me feel more confident going in to the Regional qualifier, I was actually a little anxious about the supposed “curse” of winning the warm-up.
Then, I went into the Regional round, the round that counted, and had a very smooth ride with the exception of a rail coming down into an in-and-out. Littlefoot stubbed his toe in the deep footing on the front side of the jump and rolled the rail, but he got to the next element without any difficulty or change in pace.
My trainers felt that it was obvious that the horse took a bad step and that it would not be considered “rider error.” This is a grey area in the Equitation division and it is up to the judge’s discretion. In this case, judges Ralph Caristo and Ronnie Beard must have concluded that the rail was my fault and killed me for it.
I was devastated. I was not even called back for the flat phase, which included 49 riders, three-quarters of the competitors. Now that I have some distance from the situation and can reflect on what happened, I am still disturbed. It is an interesting scenario, because the judges clearly liked the way I rode or they would not have pinned me first in the two classes that I won. So, I was “severely” penalized for the rail. Perplexing because Brianne Goutal won the Maclay Final two years ago with a rail and Maria Schaub recently won the Washington Final with a rail in two of the three rounds.
It is confusing for riders who are very ambitious, because it can appear that the judging is political or arbitrary. My case is an interesting one because I thought it was very clear-cut. They liked the way I rode, and hated what they considered to be my mistake in the round. Because I was not even called back for the flat, my chance to ride in the Maclay Final evaporated in the split second that the rail came down. Keep in mind that this is the Regional Maclay that I won last year. I was crushed. The other North Run riders tried their best to console me but it’s hard when you ride well and aren’t rewarded for it.
On To Gladstone
My next stop was the USEF Talent Search Finals East in Gladstone, NJ. This is a very difficult final to qualify for. I was one of 82 competitors who can be up to the age of 21. Some are riders who have aged out and a few are even professionals. They are all very competent and talented riders. Many of them are on very amazing, tractable and highly trained jumpers.
The two judges, Olympian McClain Ward and Grand Prix rider Jimmy Torano, made it clear in the rider meeting that they were looking for “good riding” that got the job done, looks aside. They even told the first group of flat riders the night before that they would be asked for a change of lead, flying or simple, in the flat phase. They told us so that those in the first group would not be disadvantaged by not being able to practice while those in the later group had a chance to see what was asked and practice it. An even playing field and fair judging were the priorities for Ward and Torano.
There are three phases to this final: flat, gymnastics and a timed show jumping phase. Each is weighted according to difficulty. The jumping phase includes liverpools and an open water. I rode Sander, the chestnut horse that I rode in the George Morris Horsemastership Sessions last January. I had never ridden him in a competition, but Julie Welles came in second on him at the USEF Equitation Final at Harrisburg and the Maclay Finals last year. He is a small scopey horse with a very round jump but is incredibly fun to ride!
I was awarded the third highest score in the flat phase (which has a 1.0 weight), placing just below Kyle Wolf (92) and Maggie McAlary (91). I had a 90 and was tied with Maria Schaub. In the phase II, gymnastics (which has a 1.5 weight), I got a 129.75 which put me in seventh just below Christopher Karpowicz (135), Cassie French (136.5), Nikko Ritter (138), Kimmy McCormack (141), and Addison Phillips. Averaging the two rounds together I came into the third phase in fourth.
The jumping round has a 2.0 weight, making it the most important round. My jumper go was good, with a swap in the short four-stride line to the skinny jump and a second swap in the short line after the open water.
With the two swaps taken into consideration I got an 82.75. Four other riders had terrific rounds: Addison Phillips (93), Nikko Ritter (86), Jessica Springsteen (88) and Kimmy McCormack (84). The averaged totals meant that I was just out of the top four who came back and switched horses. After the work-off, the final placing went Nikko Ritter, Addison Phillips, Kimmy McCormack and Jessica Springsteen and I came in fifth.
Great news for me as Nikko Ritter is no longer a junior, so I moved into the fourth position in that the top four juniors from Talent Search East automatically qualify for the Maclay Final. This is referred to as the “safety net,” the soon to be obsolete “safety net,” as there supposedly will be no Maclay Regional next year.
Hearsay has it that the Final will be held early in the fall at the Capital Challenge Horse Show in Maryland and the qualifying process will be point based like the USEF Hunt Seat Equitation Final.
I went home for a couple of days, caught up on some missed exams at Santa Monica High School, then got back on the airplane to Washington D.C. to compete at the Verizon Center in downtown D.C. In next month’s column, I will fill you in on my efforts in the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Class, the finals for the class that I’ve been competing in all year.
Zazou Hoffman is an accomplished junior hunter/jumper rider who lives in Santa Monica. California Riding Magazine is pleased to have this hard-working young rider as a regular columnist. She can be reached via e-mail at barnum1126@adelphia.net and her past columns can be viewed at www.ridingmagazine.com.