Mar 31, 2008

Poplar Place Wrap-Up

It's the Monday after, and I am happy to report a safe and successful show ran at Poplar Place this weekend in Hamilton, GA.

The weather on Sunday was frigid and icky, a stark difference from the sunshine and warm temperature on Saturday. Nonetheless, I saw smart riding, smart horses, and good sportsmanship. As I mentioned before, Mom and I judged the big water for Training and Preliminary with very few penalties occurring at our fence. Only one poor girl took a dunking in that freezing water, and a pony running her first Training slipped on the grass, but she picked up and continued on to finish the course. The big water, however, was not the big question on the course. The Mulberry Pond, the second water complex on course, proved to be challenging for many horses and riders. Roland Thacker, the judge at this fence, joked that after a while he gave up sitting down. Kudos to Roland for handling his fence well. All of the volunteers were super and worked hard. The medical teams and course officials were spot on, also.

In the CIC**, Amy Tryon held onto her first place position on That’s Smart. The pair posted only four jump penalties and finished over ten points ahead of Michael Pollard and Gaspar, who moved up from fourth place after cross-country to finish second. Congrats to Melissa Roddy and Never Summer for being the only pair to post a double clean round in this division.

The CIC* had a new leader after stadium jumping. Nicole Parkin and Lexus jumped double clear to push ahead of Andrew Palmer and Stiletto, who dropped a single rail, to win by .2 points. Area 3 Young Rider Emily Renfro and Chaps held on to third by adding no penalties, and she finished 1.2 points behind the leader.

Bruce and Buck Davidson went head to head in the Open Intermediate A division. Bruce and Rouge had no rails in hand going into stadium, but with a clean round, they sealed the deal. Buck finished second on Grace Under Pressure, and Jonathan Holling and Tragumna moved up from fifth after dropping only one rail to finish third. Bruce also won the Open Intermediate B division with Wynella Wolverine with no jump penalties and a final score of 30.7.

In the Open Preliminary division, Amy Tryon finished first on Leyland with a final score of 31.9, and second on long-time partner Poggio II with a score of 33. Third place went to William Ward and James who also jumped clean and finished with a score of 33. Amy Tryon followed up with a fourth place finish on Coal Creek, and Kim Severson was fifth on Queen Wannabee. This was quite the large and competitive division with many top riders and experienced horses. They ran cross-country on Sunday with very few jump penalties.

Ruthie Harbison won the Preliminary Horse division on Tommy Too after a tie break with Melissa Miller and Detail Specialist. She also had two other horses in this division, one of which gave her a good smack in the nose after a big drop in the water. There was the simultaneous “Ouch” from the crowd, but Ruthie never missed a beat. She finished the course with no penalties.

Jonathan Holling and Hudson’s Bay held onto their dressage score of 22 for the entire weekend and finished first by a large margin. Second place honors in Training Horse A went to Taylor Schaepe and Know Pregunta with a score of 33. Jonathan also won the Training Horse B division on Laugh Out Loud.

It was a great fun weekend. Horses and riders really had their grits together and the competition was impressive. We’ve been due for a shot of good karma, and I’d say this weekend’s results provided just that. Congrats to all of the competitors, and thank you to all of the volunteers and officials who worked hard to keep the show running smoothly. I truly enjoyed myself and the awesome atmosphere. The Humane Society was there to find animals loving homes, and there was plenty of shopping to be had by all. Thanks to the Stegman’s for another successful competition. Being reminded how exhausting competition weekends can be, I can think of nothing more pleasurable than a giant cup of coffee this very moment. For now I bid you farewell. Ride safe, love your pony.

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