Jane and I slept luxuriously late, getting underway at 6:30. We waltzed in, in time to see our good friend Melanie, who had been up all night braiding, but still beautiful and cheerful, even when cross eyed tired…
The horses did not hold their late breakfast against us. Both Derry and Bart are very cheerful, even though this confinement is not their favorite lifestyle.
Hunters went first today, and it was a long day of hunter trips, rather like watching paint dry, with the occasional dropped can of paint tossed in.
We watched Allison Chick, who rides at Kirin, and who is the daughter of a woman we rode with for a long time, Lynn Piper. There was much reminiscing with Lynn and husband Jim about the old horse days on both sides of Missouri. Allison is over 30, and looks like I remember her mother. It’s uncanny. She moved her lovely horse, Ambience (Shrek to his friends), up today to the Amateur Owner Division, his first time showing at a new height, and he was very good. She, like her mother, is an excellent hunter rider, a feat that eludes me. Primary colors in every class!
Another hunter friend had a less successful day, stopping out (meaning she was eliminated for 3 refusals) on her old horse, but coming back and acquitting herself well on a new horse she showed for the first time here. Yet another friend had a beautiful round, then came back in for a second trip and had a very dramatic stop. This sport is a real rollercoaster, up one day, down the next – sometimes up one round, down the next. It takes stamina and grit. Good for the character, if you can endure it!
A wonderful sculpture at The Royal…
We took the horses for a light hack and watched some of the Grand Prix riders working their horses to prepare for the evening InItToWinIt Qualifier. This is an exciting series of Speed Classes that qualify riders and horses for the Finals at The International Omaha Horse Show in April 2019. Tonight’s class is the second qualifier. Omaha is the premier show in the Midwest, and is well regarded now all over the world, since their hosting of the World Cup in 2017. Jane and I are hoping that we will be able to do the Adult Jumpers there next April (for that, you don’t have to qualify). That means staying healthy and lucky, both riders and horses. It really is the most fun horse show we have ever done.
Eventually, the jumpers started in the early afternoon. There were 20 horses to show twice in the Low Children’s / Adult classes. Jane and Derry had a good round without any faults, though too slow to qualify for the speed portion. Jane elected to scratch from the second class, and the Saturday classes, because Derry had done a good job.
Bart and I were early in the order in the High Children’s / Adult class, and Bart was very frisky in the warm up! I could not find a jump smoothly for anything. It was a terrible warm up, but Bart went into the ring and jumped his guts out. He was so good!! And was even in first place for a couple of trips! We finished 4th, and I was thrilled. There is some real competition here – 20 in the Highs, as well as the Lows.
We returned for the Speed Class, and I made a terrible error at the third jump. Somehow, Bart was able to jump from a standstill – I am NOT exaggerating – a 3’6” vertical clean! We galloped on, and he finished 4thin that class, too!!
On that note, I, too, have decided to scratch the Saturday classes – we all end on clean rounds, we can pack and depart at a reasonable hour, and we can go see George on Sunday well rested. God forbid we might yawn auditing a George Morris clinic! I have seen it happen, and it’s not nice.
We watched this evening’s class – it was very well attended and a great competition, with 20 horses trying to get to Omaha. The top 5 qualify. The class is Faults converted to Seconds, meaning 4 seconds are added to the time for every knockdown. The fastest time wins.
The winner was Hunter Holloway on Lucky Strike (a former Kirin horse), second went to NKH Carrido, with Mathis (pronounced MAT-yes) Schwentker, the German rider for Christian Heineking, who I misidentified as Mattias a couple of days ago. Christian, from Texas’ October Hill Farm, had a very bad break of his femur in a riding accident this summer, so he cannot ride and is training on a crutch. But his horses are doing well!
Third went to Hunter on VDL Bravo S, who was spectacular, as always. Fourth was Gen Munson, thirteen years old! She was riding Stillwater (Joey), a relatively new mount for her (a Dutch horse) and a great partnership already. Her youth and fearlessness combined with his talent is fun to see. They had one jump down, but the fastest time around the course, so with 4 seconds added, they still qualified for Omaha. And fifth, another magnificent NKH horse, Caruso with Mathis.
Really good to see Brandie Holloway and Eduardo Braun this evening (with Kris)… these three turned Hunter’s luck around!
Bart and Derry are very happy that they will get home and out into their pastures tomorrow!
Terrific pix of both you all, esp Bart jumping that big bunch of poles from a standstill. And he had room to spare! What a guy!