Ellie Raidt really is a beautiful rider. She got ribbons in equitation finals too.
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As did the other judge in the class, Nicki Simpson, who won the Maclay final as a junior.
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And the Medal! Am I right in recalling that Nicki had never done the USET finals? I think Fairfield always skipped it back in those days?
At one time there was no finals for the USET class, in the 1960s and at least part of the 1970s there was a bronze medal for winning five USET classes (didnāt have to be in the same year), a silver medal for winning ten classes and a gold medal for winning 20 classes. The late Jimmy Rice of Huntington, NY was the first person to win a gold medal.
According to this extremely entertaining archive of equitation results, the first year they held an actual class for the USET final was 1982.
Itās always interesting to peruse the results and see all the riders who went on to become Olympic gold medalists, top riders and trainers, etc., etc.
Itās also fascinating to see the horses who kept winning and getting ribbons year after year, often with different riders. The great horse Trapeze Act, who was 10th at the USET finals in 1982, and also in the ribbons at the Medal and the Maclay finals that same year, was a really wonderful horse. I knew him later on in his career.
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Fair, but I aged out of the juniors in 1986 and Nicki was beating my pants off at about age 12 (maybe younger) in my last year. The USET finals were definitely a thing when she was a junior.
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Iāve literally watched Richard Spooner do it all the time during winter circuit. Candice King also does it So not sure that makes you āold-fashionedā not giving treats under tack??? It just makes you not a fan of it, which is your choice.
However, some of the greats from the past 20 years will always still give their horses a mint before leaving the ring. Itās a reward. Plain and simple. You can tell the ones that are delighted with themselves for doing a good job and getting their reward. I think thereās a lot worse things happening at a horse show that would need some clean-up before we go after someone for extending some additional kindness towards their animal.
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Twenty years is not that long for some of us. Lol.
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Fair point, but still 2 epic World Cup riders that didnāt think it was a problem and have continued with the tradition. I can think of a few more than were probably closer to 30-40 years ago that also were very pro-rewarding their horses.
As I said, Iād rather we focus more on the lack of horsemanship by so many today and the degree of lack of hands-on workmanship. Iāve watched so many kids barely pat their ponies or horses, or do it just for āthe judgesā and hop off and walk away without even acknowledging their mounts, so Iāll take a mint reward as opposed to the current state of affairs.
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According to MHMās post the first USET final was held in 1982. I was too lazy to look it up.
Watched a kid have a trip at Cap Challenge that scored par for the company (80s), and was no disaster by any stretch. Camera followed them up the ramp and out. I waited and I waited for the kid to acknowledge the horse in some way but no pats, not even a perfunctory one āfor the judge.ā
I try really hard to remind myself that this is an intense time of year for juniors, theyāre just kids, and we have no idea what the full context is. But I was still ā¦ not approving ā¦ given the extreme blessing it is any time one gets in the tack, let alone in the tack on a horse of this quality. I know my own mother wouldnāt have me forgetting that for a moment.
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Agreed. Those equitation horses work so sooo hard.
It never fails to make me smile when I see a kid just throw their arms around their horse and make a big fuss.
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I love nothing better than to see an equitation horse about knock over the prize table searching for peppermints or eat his own flowers.
I donāt assume the horse is a pig on the ground. I assume he knows his worth.
I do mind if he bites my hand off but a little nosing about never hurt my feelings.
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Not that it changes our sentiments one bit but, I shouldāve clarified the horse was in the junior hunters.
āIt never fails to make me smile when I see a kid just throw their arms around their horse and make a big fuss.ā
And I love, love, love seeing this, too. Especially the older kids ā though seeing how delighted the littler ones are at, like, Pony Finals, full-on melts me. And when they have a less than par round but still hug the pony? Because theyāre that thrilled to be there? Thatās my favorite.
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Nicki was IT for us early 90ās kids!
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Any idea where I can get a copy of the gymnastics and jumping courses?
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Do you think they would understand if they did a piss poor job and did NOT get a reward? And, arenāt you kind of rewarding leaving the ring? Seems like it would be better served at the beginning, to me?
Huh? That would just be weird. Itās reward for performanceā¦ not reward for entrance.
I guess you donāt go to a lot of shows? People are literally shoveling mints into their horses once their classes are completedā¦ so much so that some mint baskets at the rings are actually sponsored.
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I remember the first time I saw her at Shallowbrook in 1985 on Ghostbuster. She might have been 10 or 11 and I was 16. She was champion in the small Jrās while I was jogging for pastels!
She also won the pony classic and was really sweet about kissing and praising the sale pony she was on (Millbrook Blue something or other, and she lived up to the blue part of her name!).
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Itās also rewarding leaving the ring. You have to think about it from the horses perspective.
I know what people do. I just donāt think the horse understands it that way.
