United States Eventing Association

Photos by Sylvia Palmer

On March 9^th, the Spalding Labs/USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) competition for four- and five-year-olds was hosted at the Florida Horse Park (FHP) in Ocala. Like other early season competitions, the number of entries was small, however the quality of horses was quite impressive. Cheryl and Tim Holekamp are to be complimented for their very professional organizational effort. The outstanding venue and smooth running competition made for a wonderful learning opportunity for the young horses.

Sponsors Spalding Labs and Fleeceworks are very supportive of the YEH program believing that it is a true “talent search” for future horses at the top levels of eventing. Fleeceworks generously rewards the winners at each qualifier with their really nice sheepskin saddle pads and quilt liners. For the first place finishers Spalding Labs provides Fly Predators giving six months protection against flies for the entire barn. The five-year-old winner was Adirmo, a KWPN gelding owned and ridden by Debbie Adams. This was his first competition ever and his score was high enough to qualify him for the national YEH Championships to be held during the Fair Hill CCI in October. Winner of the four-year-old section was a Hanoverian mare, Galiba, owned by Julia Bitler, and ridden by Maren Foster. Full results are posted here.

Officials Jo Dimmick from Germany (in the US judging Red Hills and Rocking Horse) and Mike Huber (who assisted as second jumping judge) were excellent with their comments. We were fortunate to have Jo Dimmick, as he is a top judge in Germany for Young Horse competitions, and judged the National YEH Championships at Fair Hill International in 2009. At the end of the day, when the awards were presented, they explained the scoring, which is still a mystery to many. They then did a wrap-up to tell the participants their rationale for the placings, giving an overall view of what they “saw,” and then they spoke to each competitor. It’s really fascinating to get their immediate feed back on your horse; what is good, what is weak, and how you could improve the horse’s abilities to help them become successful. This commentary on the young horses was of great interest to all watching. Of course, you received your written score sheets from all three phases as well and there was the opportunity to discuss them with the officials.

Also offered were “open classes” which were at Novice or Training where you could participate with other horses (any age) doing a similar format to the YEH. Hopefully, the Holekamps and others will keep offering the extra classes as it is such a great low pressure and affordable way for the horses to get mileage. What a great chance to give the horses an outing in a proper dressage arena and then go jumping.