I honestly don’t even know where to begin. The NAJYRC always has an exciting Sunday afternoon in store for the eventing, but I had no idea the gamut of emotions our team would experience today. For me, the morning started at 4:45 am. Mary Frances and I went down to the barn early, as Dr. Newton wanted to see the horses jog at 6:00. We worked quickly to feed the boys, clean stalls, and unwrap and wash off the poultice. I then started braiding Falcon while my other teammates were jogging for Dr. Newton.
Jacob and I walked down to meet Dr. Newton, and I must say, I was holding my breath. Falcon had looked great on Saturday night, but he is an older horse, and gets stiff easily, and Dr. Newton had already warned me that Jacob was probably going to ride him before the jog. For a groom, this is probably the worst thing you want to hear on Sunday morning, especially when the horse you’re grooming has a lot of white on his body, and the torrential rains the day before have made all the arenas very soggy. Luckily, Falcon looked super, and I got to simply hand walk Falcon while Jacob showered, instead of having to frantically clean him up after Jacob rode. With Jacob being number 1, and our team drawing number 1, he was the lucky one to start off the Sunday morning jog. While Falcon had looked a bit slow and “pony like” on Wednesday, he looked amazing this morning and the judges accepted him without a moment’s hesitation. It seems that Falcon needs a hard gallop across country to make his joints feel all loose and happy. After the rest of our two star team jogged up perfectly sound and happy, we went back to the barn, excited to have four very good scores going into show jumping.
Our 1* team also looked very good, other than the scary moment when Alexa finished jogging and the President of the ground jury nodded her head to say accepted, and the announcer got confused and announced that she should go to the hold. After Mike and Dr. Newton freaked out for a moment, the announcer hastily corrected her mistake. Alexa hadn’t seen the ground jury nod “accepted”, so I’m sure she was feeling terrified!
Area V then headed up to watch a little bit of the young rider show jumping final and enjoy a nice breakfast egg casserole. After we had enjoyed a few moments of rest, Karen, our barn manager, decided it was time for us to pack. While I don’t really enjoy packing to begin with, I really dislike it when Mike’s trailer and all the boxes are behind the Alltech arena, and the horses are stabled next to the Rolex arena. Nevertheless, we got a majority of the packing done, and proceeded to prepare for the 1* team to show jump. Since I wanted to keep Falcon out of the heat as long as possible, I stayed up at the barn with him while the one star jumped. Jacob very kindly called me after every ride and kept me updated. I was joyfully announcing to our whole barn when he told me Alyssa had jumped double clean to win the gold, and the team had won the gold, but I was crestfallen when he told me that Tori had fallen off at the second to last fence. Alexa and Avery certainly did their part, helping clinch the gold with only one rail apiece. There wasn’t a dry eye in that stadium after Alyssa won, as this is Dancer’s last competition. He is 19-years-old, and certainly deserves retirement!
I then took my wonderful steed down to the Rolex arena. I found a spot of shade and I was standing there talking with Kendyl’s sister Anisa and Mary, Emma’s groom. Next thing I knew, Mr. Chris, Jacob’s dad and Chris Stafford, founder of the Eventing Radio Show were walking up towards me. Chris interviewed Jacob the first year he did young riders, and has since then followed his career with Falcon. I received the Christine E. Stafford Groom of the Year Award from USEA last year, and it was very cool to have Chris come over and chat with me about how Falcon was doing and what Jacob and I’s plans were for the rest of the year. After Chris left, Jacob got on and started warming up. I could tell Falcon wasn’t pulling Jacob around, but he certainly felt fine, which was a big difference from how he felt at Jersey Fresh. As I followed behind him and Falcon down to the Rolex Arena, I was extremely nervous. I know Jacob and Falcon are quite capable of a clear round, but at Jersey, Falcon had had four rails because he’d been so tired from the cross-country and had been anemic, which we didn’t know. I told Karen, “I can’t watch”, but luckily I did. Jacob’s round was spot on, even after they got in deep to the first element of the double, and Jacob kicked him off the ground to make the stride. You could have heard us cheering back in the hunter world when Jacob crossed the finish flags. Everyone was high fiving and hugging and going nuts. Emma and Galway had already gone double clear as well at that point, so we were extremely excited about our team chances. At this point, I really wasn’t thinking about Jacob’s chances individually, I was just hoping we could hold on to the gold medal. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Rowdie had a great round, and just barely had one rail. Kendyl went right after Rowdie, and her little mare just looked a bit green in the arena and had two down. With this, I knew our team would end up in the silver position, as Area III’s top three riders had double clear rounds! However, I stood in the shade with Falcon and an Iphone, tabulating individual scores in my head. After Devon had a clear round, I knew Jacob could be no worse than third, but I didn’t know how Joelle’s round had gone. Joanie Morris, who rode Falcon at one time, came over to me and told me he’d gotten the silver individually! I told her to hide it from Jacob for a moment. You wouldn’t have believed his face when he saw that ribbon! He hugged me and then picked me up and proceeded to start swinging me around. This was slightly terrifying to both Falcon and myself, but it will always be something I remember about this day.
The rest is history. We did the typical team medal ceremony, and after a quick word of advice from Mike about galloping together as a team, our team looked foot perfect galloping around the arena matching stride for stride. Jacob then got to gallop around again as an individual medalist, and I took Falcon back to the barn, while Jacob attended the awards ceremony and press conference.
Ms. Lisa, Jacob’s mom, called me right before the eventing part of the ceremony began, and I quickly ran over to the hospitality tent just in time to see Jacob take off his helmet to receive his individual medal. Everyone got a great laugh from Jacob’s helmet hair! I missed the press conference, because I was trying to pack all of the Area V stuff so that Mike could get on the road, but I heard that Jacob was quite the ham. Hopefully, I will find a recording of it soon!
All in all, this trip to the NAJYRC couldn’t have been a better experience. I never would have guessed that Jacob would end up the silver medalist individually. I know Area V has a depth of talent, but now I’ve seen it in all shapes and forms! Enough thanks cannot be expressed to the parents, grooms, coaches, and of course, our amazing coordinator, Diane Pitts. Without all these people, we never would have been as successful as we were!
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