Agreed - lots of beautiful rides here. And of course the judges have a different view from us.
10th: Caroline Blake
9th: Amira Kettenah
8th: Mimi Gochman
7th: Jennifer Staniloff
6th: Sophee Steckbeck
5th: Dominic Gibbs
4th: Taylor Griffiths-Madden
3rd: Zayna Rizvi
2nd: Ava Stearns
Winner: Elli Yeager
Well-deserved! And apparently itās Elliās birthday today.
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Grappa trophy goes to Elliās horse, Copperfield 39.
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Funny sidenote. There was an equitation webinar within the last month or so, and one of the panelists was talking about how it used to be much more common to change horses for the test at any show, not just at the finals. And she said that because of that, she would often choose to show a tougher horse herself, so that it would be harder to ride when somebody else switched onto it. :lol:
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Maryland has (or had, maybe itās gone now) a āGittingsā equation medal where swapping horses was the only test allowed.
(edit: I glanced at the MHSA rulebook and see that theyāve changed it, and now you can do any of tests 1-17)
Hlk
The last time I showed in the gittings was probably 10 years ago and we never saw it used thenā¦havenāt seen it since either.
Itās an equitation class over a jumper course. There are time faults and rails just like a jumper class.
The last time I showed in the Gittings was more than 10 years ago, but we may have shown against each other. 
My last junior year I was the queen of the bridesmaid award. In that class, at the time, in order to qualify for finals you had to earn 10 points AND win at least one class. Points earned 5-3-2-1 or something like that. At the last qualifying show for the season I had 22 points, of which I think 7 had been second place. So up we go to try to get my blue, and some 25 other kids in zone 3 all had the same idea because it was the biggest class I had ridden in all season. Well, I nailed it. My horse was brilliant and I wasnāt bad myself. I came out thinking I might have won the class.
And that was the day the judge had us switch horses.
Not only did she have her top riders switch horses, she had EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE CLASS switch horses and re-ride the course, regardless of their initial performance, inclusive of stops, rails, missed leads. Again, this is the last show of the season, there were at least 20 of us, thatās at least 16 horses who didnāt need to jump again.
I wonāt say it was bedlam at ringside but it did get heated. I do remember that David Loman and my trainer both got pretty animated- Davidās rider on a brilliant white horse had also had a great trip. Not only was the ask to have a full class swap horses and reride the course when it was unnecessary for the majority of the horses to jump 8 more jumps, but on top of that, it was already getting on in the afternoon and we werenāt halfway through the schedule, and running out of daylight was a real possibility- so why add a half hour to the day? I donāt recall if the steward was enlisted to intervene, but the judge held firm. After at least 20 minutes of arguing, we all swapped horses.
Oh, and did I mention that there did not appear to be a rhyme or reason to who swapped onto whose horse, because I knew I was up at the top of the class and the sweet horse I pulled I knew had been in the bottom of the class, and I knew this because I had seen it go, and that is how I knew that it didnāt have a lead change.
And thatās the story of how I never qualified for Gittings finals, but I did get 8 red ribbons in my last junior year. :lol:
Davidās rider did win the class and I think she had a good finals. I canāt remember her name but I can picture that marvelous white horse. Oh, and the show went on into the dark, we pulled out at midnight, and I remember this because my mother was terrified to have me driving home from the barn down windy country roads at 3 in the morning and made me promise to roll my windows down so the cold would keep me awake.
And that is the only time I have ever seen the judge swap horses in the Gittings.
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Iām a bit moreā¦seasonedā¦ In the early 90s it was not unusual to have to swap horses for the Gittings - I did it several times.
Renn/aissanceā¦Ooof. My belated sympathies.
I think when I was showing, it was 1 blue and 10 points to qualify for the MHSA horse or pony eq finals, while a single win qualified you for Gittings and nothing else did. In Zone III at the time, you also needed 2 blues to qualify for the Medal finals. Maclay and USET were also # of blues, with nothing else counting.
Sadly this is the first posthumous Grappa Trophy as Grappa passed away last month at the age of 34 at his ownerās farm, after a life well lived.
34 - wow. I knew he had passed after a long life but I didnāt realize exactly how long it was.
I didnāt have a chance to watch any of the class today but Iām looking forward to catching up on USEF Network. Delighted for Elli Yeager!
Wow! I think the last time I did the finals was 2012. I also did the local equitation on my 3ā6 Junior hunter who was definitely not an equitation horse and definitely quirky to ride to the jumps, especially if they were jumper-y. Quite frankly most of the people doing the 3ā equitation when I was doing it did not ride that well and I would not switch if I was put into that situation. The big eq finals are one thing but the 3ā local medalā¦no thanks.
ā¦Sassy, your profile picture didnāt show up when I responded to your comment originally. I went looking at your profile because I thought āwe have to know each other.ā Then your pic loaded. Hi from two stalls down. :lol:
Renn/aissance, wow. I can only imagine that judge was never asked back again. That sounds like a terrible testing idea for many reasons.
I remember back in the day when only blue ribbons counted to qualify for the Medal and Maclay, there was one rider in my area who rather famously finished second in a Maclay class. At least twenty-five times. Without ever winning a single blue ribbon that year. Ouch.
I believe she did qualify the following year. Thank goodness.
I donāt even remember who she was. I do recall feeling like she judged fairly for the rest of the day but I would love to know what was going on in her mind when she put that test on the table for all of us. It does make a good story.
I remember back in the day when only blue ribbons counted to qualify for the Medal and Maclay, there was one rider in my area who rather famously finished second in a Maclay class. At least twenty-five times. Without ever winning a single blue ribbon that year. Ouch.
I believe she did qualify the following year. Thank goodness.
Oh, thatās so frustrating- what a shame for her. Iām glad she made it the next year!
Here is a lovely tribute to Grappa for anyone who is interested.
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Were you and my mom in the same area? She had one year, when you needed 3 blues to qualify, she had 2 blues and 26 seconds. Sheās still bitter about it :lol:
Did Elli train with Emily Smith? I feel like she changed barns.
Elli has been with Stacia since 2018 or 2017, but she was a west coast rider back maybe 4-5 years ago. Iām not sure who she was with, if anyone, between her time in CA and then moving east. Perhaps Ken and Emily, but Iām not sure! I saw she was with NR/Missy for this show so Iām wondering if thatās the recent move? She definitely rode with beacon Hill for quite a few of the recent championships.
