Final day provides excitement and fun at NAYRC

The morning started off with the final phase of the eventing competition, the show jumping. As in years past, the show jumping phase would be decisive, and the individual standings would shuffle quite a bit. A few teams would also sweat it out waiting to see if their placings would change.

Lindsey Cox and Nautical Ridge had led through two phases of the competition, but they met with heartbreak after he stopped at fence one, and then at the vertical after the combination. Cox showed everyone what the sport is truly about though as she stifled her sorrow to reach down and give her mount a kind pat to thank him for all he had done this weekend.

Carte Blanche and Jessica Pye from Area 5 had made a steady climb up from 6th place throughout the weekend. They then put in a flawless double clear round, the only one in their division, to take over the top spot. Third-placed Rachel Zoller and Ben Starr jumped clean, but added four time penalties to take the silver medal, and Megan McGregor and Sunday Surprise won the bronze by keeping their show jumping tally to one rail.

Things didn't go much better for the CCI* young riders, who had only three double clear rounds among them. Luckily, one of them belonged to overnight leader Charlotte Merle-Smith and Sportsfield Twist-she'd had two rails in hand coming in to the ring, but she didn't need them as the handsome Irish Sport Horse soared over the fences with ease.

Cayce Harrison put in two fault-free rounds today aboard Jashar to take the individual gold in show jumping at NAYRC. Photo by Heather Bailey©

Smith found Twist while working in Ireland last summer. She was between horses, and her foxhunting aunt and uncle set up a summer job for her with some acquaintances of theirs in the Emerald Isle. While there, she purchased Twist, and pointed him towards this year's NAYRC.

"This is just so special," she said.

Anchored by Smith's performance, the Area 1 team managed to retain their position atop the leaderboard as they brought the gold home to the Northeast for the second year in a row. The team of Hilary Moses and Madox, Smith and Twist, Courtenay Brines and Which One's That, and Alexandra Small and Azlan, also credit Smith's "Mental Book" with helping them as a team, and Temple's coaching as the centerpiece which drew the team together.

Area 3 held on for the silver, while Area 2 moved up into the bronze medal position by adding only an additional 13 penalties to their combined score.

Then it was the CCI** competitors turn to tackle the show jumping. Again, rails, stops, and even a few eliminations tested the nerves and determination of those waiting to go. First to put in a double clear was Brazil's Bruno Limongi and Grisalho, followed a few rounds later by his countryman Rafael Gouveia and Ava. Sarah Hansel and G & R had been lurking in sixth when the former Irish show jumper showed his stuff with floating double clear-good enough to give her the silver medal.

Overnight leader Brittany Kart and Semper Fidelis had a rail in hand, but they needed it as they ticked a rail. Katie Evans and Forest Glen maintained their upward march, dropping only one rail to take the bronze medal.

Kart, 18, is from Atlanta, and has owned the Hanoverian-Thoroughbred cross for about a year and a half. Though she was confident in her mount's abilities, she says bringing home the gold was a surprise.

"My horse was great," she said. He was wonderful, jumped everything, and it was all smooth.

Kart admitted that the difficulty of the show jumping course made her nervous, but that she tried to focus on the job at hand.

"You had to ride to a lot of forward distances, and come back and adjust to a short distance," she said of the course. "It was tough on a tired horse."

Hansel knows how she managed her strong clear round though-her Irish Sport Horse G and R was a successful show jumper in Ireland before he arrived on American soil. "You just point him at the jumps and you're all set," she laughed.

Hansel hopes to do some advanced horse trials this fall, and contend the Foxhall CCI*** in the spring.

The Area 2 team had led after cross-country, but as they watched the rails fall, began to feel their gold medal slipping away. Kathleen Dingus and Springcroft Tia Maria dropped two rails, Maisy Grassie and Heyday and Erin Freedman and Captain Hook had three, and Stephanie Butts and Bungee had and unfortunate seven.

"Our dressage and cross-country was good, but our show jumping was not so hot," said Grassie. "We didn't leave much room."

"We were definitely getting a little worried," laughed Butts.

However, the rails were falling for everyone, and their score still kept them ahead of second-placed Area 1 and 5, and an exuberant Brazil who were thrilled to take bronze.

The girls from Area II credit their coach Phillip Dutton with helping them through their NAYRC experience. "He doesn't just help you with your riding, but with the whole care of the horse," said Grassie.

"And it's amazing that he would give his time to us like this, with him preparing for the [World Equestrian Games in three weeks]," added Dingus.

After the eventing was tied up, I wandered over to the dressage rings where I watched the dressage individual championship, a Prix St. Georges-level musical freestyle. This is always a fun event, combining music and artistry with the classical principles of dressage. It's always fun at NAYRC as the kids tend to choose music that's a little more fun than the more staid choices of their elders.

Team gold medallist Martin Kuhn's ride on the flashy Romulos was a bit more exciting than he'd planned when the handsome bay became unnerved at the start of his music. Rather than extended canter-halt intro he'd planned, Kuhn's freestyle started with a dramatic rearing levade at A, followed by a semi-bolt down the center line to halt. The horse was a bit "on the muscle" for the first few exercises, but then settled into an elegant freestyle choreographed around music from The Man From La Mancha.

Not surprisingly, Jackie Paxton and Sangmelima continued their record-breaking string of performances with gorgeous freestyle highlighted with interesting choreography and flashy trot work. The mare seemed to some a bit undone in the final canter work, fighting Paxton in one of the half pirouettes, and missing her three-time changes. But the overall quality of her work was sufficient to earn them a 71.20%, making her the first dressage competitor in NAYRC history to break the 70% mark in all of her tests.

The techno-flavored music suits the delicate bay well, and the pair stayed with music throughout the performance. The freestyle was designed and assembled by a professional in Germany, where Paxton spends several months each year working on her dressage career.

Paxton, 21, of Cincinnati, Ohio has had the 11-year-old Oldenburg since March, and she fell in love right away with mare's looks and manner. "I really liked how light and sensitive she was, and easy to ride. I love mares-I was used to these big clunky guys," she said.

Paxton says Sangmelima is very solid at Prix St. Georges and Intermediare, but that they are schooling the Grand Prix movements, and she hopes to get a team slot for next year's Pan American games. As much as she enjoyed her individual medal, being part of the gold medal team was equally rewarding.

"Region 2 hadn't won since 1990, so it's so great to get the gold," she said. "We've tried so hard and we finally got it this year. It's great to accomplish it together-that team medal is really the most rewarding."

Leahe Webb and Hugo had focused their sights on improving their standing after a difficult Team Test performance where Hugo blew up in his trot extensions. The bay Hanoverian continued to rise to the occasion, putting in a smooth performance to his Spanish themed music called "Peruvian Prince."

The 19-year-old San Diego native is making her NAYRC debut, and she's been working towards this goal since she bought Hugo two years ago. At the time Webb hadn't been looking for a horse, but when a friend sat on Hugo, she knew that it was the horse for Webb.

"Leslie Tellis would not let me say no. She even helped us to buy him-I was kind of suckered in to it," said Webb.

After a difficult first year with the hot Hugo, Webb went to work with Olympian Steffan Peters, who she credits with making a positive change in her riding and her relationship with Hugo.

"He's used to dealing with hot horses, and so he helped me understand that every day is different, and worked on getting him to trust me," she said.

In the afternoon it was the show jumpers turn. Faults had been accumulated over three previous rounds, and the top 20 from those qualifiers came back in reverse order of placing. Though they seem to have mastered the water jump this time around, rails still fell often, although the faults were generals spread out over the course. Only Cayce Harrison and Jashar managed to come home fault free in the first round, with Maggie Jayne and Jubulent and Carly Campbell-Cooper and Rex Get Busy having only one rail.

Lisa and Andrew Ramsay had been leading, but dropped two rails to fall a mere 1.6 faults behind Harrison. It was clear the final round of this individual competition was going to come right down to the wire, as the top 14 came back in reverse order.

Zone 10's Cordelia B and Catherine Boettcher threw the first gauntlet down. They'd had two down in the first round, but put in faultless round to stand on a total of 17.25 faults. Then Ramsay and the fiery chestnut mare came in, knowing they had to put pressure on Harrison. They got in short to the big triple combination, and Ramsay called out to the mare, asking for a tremendous effort as she stretched out over the huge final oxer, leaving the rails in the cups, and giving them a double clear.

It was now all up to Harrison and her gray gelding she affectionately calls "Josh." If she had more than one time fault, she'd settle for the silver medal. Early on the Josh was jumping spectacularly, but Harrison's round seemed a hair slow and cautious. Her trainer Missy Clark, standing on the sidelines, clucked and slapped her thigh, willing the pair to go faster. They rattled a few rails in the big triple combination, but sailed over the last fence and landed galloping, to finish double clear and secure the gold.

"This is so cool," enthused Harrison, who had made a less grand debut at young riders in 2001. "Last year I was just glad I lived. This year I wanted to come back and be consistent."

Harrison has owned the Dutch-bred Josh for a year, and she loved him from the first. "I tried him in a 24 hour period, and loved him right away."

That relationship, and her faith in the horse, helped her through her nerves as the pressure mounted.

"I wasn't as nervous in the first round [coming in in fifth], but it really hit me the last round. I've never been in that position before, though I'd watched other people go through it, and I knew what a cool competitor Andrew is. So I didn't watch Andrew's round, and just stood outside until it was my turn to go. I just knew my horse could do it," she finished with a smile.

And as for trainer Clark's ringside encouragement?

"I could hear her making noise, and I was getting there as fast as I could, but there wasn't a lot of space to make up time," laughed Harrison.

Ramsay was equally pleased with his and his horse's performance, even though their medal is silver. "The mare jumped well and gave it her all," he said. "She's the kind that wants to compete. She doesn't like hacking, or practicing or warming-up, but when you walk in the ring she's with you 100 percent."

After the last fence has been jumped, the last test performed, only the awards ceremony remains. It's normally a colorful and fun affair, with the parade of teams and medal podiums made to echo an Olympic experience. However today, as the temperatures soared well in to the 90's and the sun beat down on the sandy ring, I could only pity all those kids and horses broiling away in their formal outfits (I was hot enough in my shorts).

But there is no denying those smiles, the big ecstatic grins of a NAYRC competitor whose dream has come true. To watch their eyes light up as a medal gets hung around their neck is a real treat, and a reminder of what makes this competition so special.

Until next year . . .

Heather