I liked it. I thought it was properly hard and it made riders choose where they wanted to go for broke. The conservative hand gallops (and two nonexistent hand gallops) were in service of trying to land the lead on the back side- a choice was made! Sadly it didn’t pan out. It also asked if you could hand gallop in balance with the front end up to protect the rail, which is exactly the skill you need in a jump off.
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Grammar nerd here, but the lack of apostrophe is actually correct — it’s similar to, say, farmers market or kids club, in that it is not a place that is owned by the trainers, but rather a place where they congregate. It’s a descriptive modifier, not a possessive noun.
Here’s a nice explanation: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/is-there-an-apostrophe-in-farmers-market-punctuation-possessive
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OK, if the grammar question is actually up for debate, then I’m not going to whip out my magic marker this week. Lol.
I hadn’t considered it that way- I thought it was the Trainers’ Stress Box, owned by the trainers, in the same way that the Parents’ Bench is possessed by the parents who are no longer permitted to be by the ingate as they are too much and they must be sent to the bench for the well-being of their children.
I’ll accept that context!
Well, really, trainers have been standing in that spot for years and years and years.
It’s only relatively recently that somebody got the bright idea to put that sign underneath it. So it more accurately belongs to the person from the show who came up with that idea for the social media aspect. Lol.
I still remember when JJ was in diapers at the VT Summer Festival, and now he’s winning Medal Finals.
This is what getting old is, isn’t it?
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I was just saying to his dad today that I remember the day JJ got his first tall boots and he was trying them on at their tack room at the Lake Placid horse show. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago.
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I didn’t have a kid in the Medal, but I did want to chime in to say that my kid and her lovely horse got a 4th in the Handy in her division, which also qualified her to ride in the Stakes class! So exciting, and so much fun. Thanks for listening to the proud trainer brag 
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Congratulations to you both! 
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