The Area III championships finally arrived on a sun filled weekend that drew in well over 300 horse and riders from the Beginner Novice division through Preliminary. There were so many competitors that the overflow had to go into temporary stabling in an enormous tent that resembled Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was obvious that summer had officially arrived with temperatures in the high 90’s, mounds of empty water bottles and the cross-country footing becoming brittle and stiff.
The crew at Poplar Place Farm of Hamilton, Georgia were well prepared for anything that Mother Nature tossed at them and spent many hours into the night aerating the entire cross country course or spraying water from a huge tank on a tractor watering down foot paths and roadways. The Stadium course was set up in the main arena where the modern footing is Cushion Track Premiere Footing. It’s an interesting footing to ride on because it feels as if your horse has running shoes on. It’s soft yet supportive to the horse’s tendons and joints. The other component about it is that it has ground up rubber and wax that never dries out and becomes dusty. To maintain it, the grounds crew simply took an enormous roller on a tractor and would press it down between the divisions to pack it and firm up the turf.
There were some really nice horses competing over the weekend and all were there with their game-faces on. The Dressage began on Friday with 5 arenas running from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The rides were quite nice with many of the scores in the high 20’s and low 30’s, making the room for error slim between competitors. After talking to many of the riders in all the divisions, everyone had been working and training to strengthen their Dressage, understanding that it isn’t necessarily a clean jump round that makes you win these days, but rather it is a low Dressage score.
All the championship cross country courses had a few new fence designs added on course along with some technical questions that were meant to make the rider ‘think’. You definitely had to step up the pace on course in order to avoid time penalties and get out of the comfort zone and become more aggressive to the fences.
The courses would start out with the first 2 to 3 fences that were rider friendly and would build confidence. By the 4th fence, it would be time to concentrate and to ride balanced and forward.
The Cross Country phase was exciting to watch at all the levels, with a variety of riders getting hit with jumping penalties and time. It were the riders you would see out on course who walked their fences 4 or sometimes 5 times who generally came out on top. Again, after the Dressage on Friday, there were a lot of great scores that were sometimes only a half a point difference between riders. Talk about pressure!
We all know that horsemen are also avid lovers of canines. Dogs were running around everywhere. There were your traditional terrier breeds, a couple sleek Whippets, and your good ol’muts running around and enjoying the water fences out on Cross Country. Yes, there was the "Puppy Jail" for those who would slip away from their owners, and you can bet that the farm made a few dollars from the owners bailing out their dogs.
There are many people who are behind the scene when it comes to preparing a horse and rider for competition. It is most definitely a team effort on the part of the rider and groom, and it’s important to keep the line of communication open. You basically want a groom who is assertive and who can sometime do the thinking for you. Quincy Miller of Little Kentucky Farm has many years under her belt of managing and turning out horses to look their best for competition. Her ability to get things done and to always be two-steps ahead of the game makes for a less stressful weekend.
What is a better way of traveling around the acreage of Poplar Place Farm but by motorbike? Mona Maertz (Beginner Novice Champ. Division) and Jenny Segal (Training Rider Champ. Division). The ladies were able to save time and energy by riding the bikes out on the cross-country course to find their fences. It’s true that people were getting out of their way because Jenny had just learned how to drive the bike 5 minutes earlier!
It was an exciting weekend that many have been preparing for since last season. Donna and Gary Stegman gave it their all when it came to putting on a trial of that size, not to mention the countless number of volunteers. The facility is fantastic and offers riders at all levels the chance to feel quite proud of themselves just to be there whether they came home with a ribbon or not.
Story and Photos by Zeb Fry.
Zeb Fry owns & operates Little Kentucky Farm. Little Kentucky Farm is in Ball Ground, Georgia, where Thoroughbreds are trained and competed in Eventing. The main goal of the farm is to take young off the track Thoroughbreds and retrain them to be successful show horses. Whether it be assisting a owner in selling their Thoroughbred, lessons or problem solving, Zeb is able to get positive results. Please visit the Little Kentucky Farm website or you can contact Zeb This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .