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California Riding Magazine • March, 2009 On Course with Zazou by Zazou Hoffman |
Madonna, gators, the best show jumping and dressage horses in the world. I haven’t seen the first two, but the last two are here in abundance. The Winter Equestrian Festival, the big horse show in Wellington, FL goes on for three months. When I arrived I got on horses right away. Missy Clark, my East Coast trainer, had a number of horses to be tried. The first one, a flashy chestnut, which no one bothered to tell me was quite young, had a miscommunication over the first jump and flipped over, sending me for a roll in the dirt. No problem, we both popped up and continued jumping.
Zazou on Catwoman at WEF in Wellington, FL. Missy actually decided she quite liked the horse even though I had promptly fallen off. I took a bunch of horses in schooling rounds including an equitation horse from Canadian show jumper Erynn Ballard’s barn. I also took two jumpers, Felix de Noues and Jamison, in schooling jumper rounds. They were both great. Felix was very strong and dragged me around a little and Jamison was super fun! Missy told me to ride him “like a little motor scooter” and that is exactly what he feels like. Missy and John were happy to see me. Many of the juniors came in that week and we all had lots of lessons planned with Missy and assistant trainer Kristy McCormack. The show grounds were a mess that first week. Everything was still under construction. It will be very nice when completed. There are many riders and trainers here from California. Happily, my friends Olivia Esse and her mother Tracy are amongst them, as well as their trainer Jim Hagman of Elvenstar. I went to dinner with my mentor Julie Welles. She is now riding and showing horses for Laura Kraut and loves her job. She was a working student for Missy when I first started riding with North Run.
Olivia Esse and Zazou. The first week I showed Goodtimes, the equitation horse from Erynn Ballard’s barn, in all of my equitation classes. He was fantastic and we got good ribbons in everything including a win in the Maclay. I also showed Felix and Jamison in the Low Junior Jumpers. They were both a lot of fun. I realized that Felix was going to take some getting used to, but I immediately clicked with Jamison. We were eighth in the $10,000 Low Junior Jumper Classic! Ups and Downs I rode the Esse’s hunter Stars Go Blue in the Large Juniors. He is a lovely black horse with snappy knees. We got good ribbons all weekend and just missed the reserve championship. I also went to Olympic show jumper Peter Wylde’s barn and rode three Junior Hunters for him. I got to jump around a perfectly set hunter course on his incredible field on all three horses. Each horse was a little quirky but they were all a ton of fun. Later in the week Peter told me some fun stories about Jamison. Owner Sheila Burke brought Jamison to Europe to show in some of the big championship classes and Peter helped her out. It turns out that Jamison is one of Peter’s favorite horses.
Did I forget to mention that I'm still a working student and clean a lot of tack - So week two rolled around with great news. I won the $10,000 Low Junior Jumper Classic out of 63 riders on Jamison and was champion in the division because I was second the other day I showed! But don’t be too envious and don’t think it went to my head because it definitely didn’t go as planned on my second Low Junior Jumper. In the jump-off I was getting to a deep distance and had a minor panic attack. I kept pulling, froze, loosened the reins and got a stop spin. It was like rodeo pony days, suddenly I was flying over the head and ended down past the shoulder by the horse’s knees. Somehow I groveled/hoisted my way back into the saddle, spanked the horse twice and finished the course. Although the mishap was unfortunate, it was a good reminder that having the determination to not fall off can benefit the horse and the rider by being able to finish the course. I also came away from week three with a blue. I actually won the Maclay again but this time on Missy’s new equitation horse Catwoman. She is an incredible horse and has come along very nicely since being in the barn. I will check in again soon with more details from the Winter Equestrian Festival!
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