On Course with Zazou
HITS Thermal Circuit, the $10,000 USHJA Hunter Derby and a youngster’s first show.

Thermal is an odd place. At first glance it looks like a bleak sandbox with a few scraggly palm trees, some striped tent barns and a lot of rings. Upon closer examination, you realize that the grounds are designed for the future. They are cleverly laid out to avoid over-crowding and to host international caliber events. The show has improved tremendously from last year and more thought has been put into making the experience fun for the exhibitor. That said, there is still room for improvement.



I was lucky enough to ride in the Junior Hunters and the Equitation on some very talented horses owned by Oscany Inc. and the Esse family. I was champion in the Small Junior Hunters on the renowned horse Country Grammar. I picked up some good ribbons in the Large Junior Hunters as well, and won the Classic on Valor, a large Junior Hunter.
I was very proud of my USEF Talent Search rounds Weeks I and III. The class takes place very early in the morning in the Grand Prix ring. It is a two-phase class with the jumping portion taking place first and the flat following. The purpose of the class is to “educate and test participants by encouraging Juniors and Young Riders (you can be 21) to develop show jumping skills, thus laying the groundwork for future international successes.”
The courses, designed by Olaf Petersen Week I and Anthony D’Ambrosio Week III, were challenging and the fences were set at maximum height. Most, if not all, of the rails and panels are set on flat jump cups, making for easy rails if the horse is not careful or the rider gets to a bad distance.
The Grand Prix ring is very large and the horses tire easily by the end, making a simple plank as the last jump potentially a heartbreaking knockdown. I had never been in the Grand Prix ring on either horse, but Richard Spooner and Marla Amormino, the trainers, instilled confidence in me and I won the class on Clocktower Optimist Week I and was fourth Week III on Dutch Star.



New Hunter Highlight
The debut of the $10,000 USHJA Hunter Derby took place Week III following the Grand Prix. I had seen it at the Washington International Horse Show and the World Cup in Las Vegas. It is an exciting new class that hopes to infuse the Hunter division with the kind of excitement that the big stake jumper classes have. According to the USHJA website: “The discipline of hunters is deeply rooted in tradition. Names like Sally Sexton, Ronnie Mutch, Bert DeNemethy and Bill Steinkraus bring thoughts of admiration, tradition and horsemanship to our minds. Looking at old photos of brave horsemen soaring over stone walls and other natural obstacles in perfect form and style will give chills to just about anyone. These classes will be judged on the true jumping style of the horse and the brilliance of the round. These classes will require fresher, more athletic horses and they will be rewarded accordingly.”
The Esse family generously offered me Clocktower Optimist to ride in the class. Richard and Marla once again helped me prepare. There were 27 entries in the class. Amongst the riders were John French, Archie Cox, Peter Pletcher, Jenny Karazissis and Jill Humphrey. The course included many unusual fences that were made especially for the class. Many horses had trouble in the first round and even the most stalwart conformation hunters tensed up at the sight of some of the spooky jumps. Many of the professionals took advantage of the opportunity to gallop the course and show off their horses’ bold temperaments.


Me, Marla Amormino and Richard Spooner before the $10,000 USHJA Hunter Derby.

In my case Richard Spooner, who trained the horse that I was riding, encouraged me to “go for it” and take the four-foot options. The course caught a lot of horses off guard. Most riders continued on undaunted and loved going at a fast pace and showing off their riding skills. I made it into the second round, but the second round was a little confusing. It was a Handy Hunter round, but it was not made clear that the riders would get extra points, as well as additional style points, for being creative and choosing unmarked obstacles such as the boulders, some low flowers and even finishing with a tight roll-back rather than a courtesy circle. These details will have to be stated more clearly in future classes or else the subjectivity granted to the judges may create a backlash from the really great jumper riders that this class will surely attract.
The only other thing that I noticed was that the announcer was very difficult to hear which was a problem for the audience. The spectators could not follow the multiple scores from the judges and could not understand what the bonus points meant. One articulate judge should probably be put in charge of the running commentary so that the format and scoring system are easily understood. I finished in seventh place and would love to go in this class again.

A Grand Day Out
During off-week of Thermal, I decided to take my young homebred mare Balthus to the Gold Coast Horse Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Balthus is the full sister to Andy Warhol, another homebred horse that I competed on. It was a spontaneous decision and I intended it to be a simple field trip to get her used to the sound and feel of a show and to get her measurement card. Try to picture the show grounds through the eyes and ears of a young horse. Big scary monster tractors, loud speakers, horses galloping past, manure dumpsters being hoisted into the air…your basic sensory overload.
David Ravins, of Ravins Equine Transport (a knowledgeable horseman who evented with the U.S. team in Ireland) made the whole experience pleasant by confidently helping load Balthus. We bought a day stall so that she had a space to settle in. She had never been in a stall because she lives outdoors, so it was interesting to see her panic briefly, then adapt. It was nevertheless many hours before she was comfortable enough to drink from her bucket of water.
After hacking her and finding her relaxed to the point of feeling confident enough to jump her, I found the stewards and arranged for Balthus to be measured. The horse must be jogged in front of the vet then taken to a concrete slab for the official measurement. This is a scary thing for a young horse as the steward measures the heel with a metal device, then assembles a tall metal rod to measure the height of the horse from the withers to the ground. The horse, of course, is measured in four-inch increments called hands. A seemingly insignificant measurement can make the difference of thousands of dollars in the competitive world of Hunter Ponies and Junior Hunters. A Small Junior Hunter at the outer limits of the official measurement of 16 hands commands a greater value than a Large Junior Hunter at the short end of his or her official, over-16 hand-measurement. Both horses may possess a huge stride, as the fences are the same distances apart, but there are fewer Small Junior Hunters in the United States. This means the Small division is smaller and more manageable, particularly for those riders transitioning from Ponies or Children’s Hunters.
As part of the measurement process, the horse must officially enter one class, but may choose to scratch if the owner thinks the horse will disrupt the class. You pay the show fee either way. After checking out the height of the jumps in the Children’s Hunter class and consulting with Meredith Bullock, my trainer from Sullivan Canyon, I felt comfortable enough to go ahead and enter the over-fences portion. Plan A had been just to go in the flat class. As the jumping came first I went in the over-fences portion before the hack. I don’t advise this tactic. It worked for me because my horse has a willing disposition. My horse had never been in the ring before and we had some problems in the first round. In the second round we improved tremendously and completed the course. Our flat went very well. I now know that I can bring Balthus back to another show and know what we have to work on at home. Oh, and the best news yet: she measured as a Small Junior Hunter!

Zazou Hoffman is an accomplished junior hunter/jumper rider who lives in Santa Monica. California Riding Magazine is pleased to have this hard-working young rider as a regular columnist. She can be reached via e-mail at barnum1126@adelphia.net and her past columns can be viewed at www.ridingmagazine.com.