Annabel Revers, Taylor St Jacques and especially Ellie Ferrigno were fantastic.
Well, I’m off to a rough start here. I slept in (which is great, I have been sleeping terribly for the last three weeks.) My cat mistook the sofa for his litter box. I can’t get my TV to recognize the display cord to my laptop, and I have no freaking audio. Unfortunately the first two riders I saw had worse days than mine.
I have three devices, but only one is feeling cooperative so far. But thank goodness at least one of them is letting me watch. Knock wood!!
There have been a handful of very good trips. Which means the course is doing its job. It doesn’t look that tough at first, but it’s sorting them out pretty well.
I’m always sad for the kids who don’t make it over the first jump. That’s a rough way to finish out the year. 
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Well, I took a drag and two trips to figure it out, but I got my TV, laptop, and sound bar to make friends and here we go again. Kate Abajan’s horse is adorable and can come home with me.
Lovely trip by Daisy Farish. She made that look easy
She did. And I hope to see her back in the callback, which I should imagine we would do. But I couldn’t help but notice that her lovely soft following hand was partnered by an unstable leg, and I found that distracting enough to keep other riders on top.
I agree about her leg, but her course was soft and had a relaxed flow. I wouldn’t put her on top either, but I’d definitely put her somewhere in the first group.
This may date me, but I find Equiline breeches, Animo coats and silly stirrups way too distracting in a group of 177 riders. Then again, I’m super picky
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I’d buy that on a t-shirt.
Yes, it’s true that $10 is cheaper than the movies, a trip to the bar (for those of age) or dinner out (and gets you a month) – having been on the other side of the desk, I know all this has to be paid for somehow.
That said, for some folks, there may have been a whole month or more of “just $10” expenses piling up that makes them think twice at adding on one more, despite the educational value – I’ve been on that side of the desk, too, especially when I owned a horse.
I’d strike a medium compromise of maybe offering the second round or final testing free, especially if sponsor support could be rustled up. That could be inspiring and would definitely be educational to young and would-be riders. Even if they don’t go on to do big eq, it’s pretty instructive. If I were still involved in 4-H, I’d want to get horse club members together to watch it for that value.
That, that said, I’m glad for audio and COTH and social media commentary.
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Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. She was so soft and smooth all the way around from start to finish. For me, she would be right in the mix.
I’m listening to the audio at the moment. I’m not exactly complaining but the thing is–I can’t watch the whole thing in real time because I won’t be at my computer all day, so it’s not quite worth the money and the pain of cancelling to just watch parts of it. I’m hoping the best trips will be posted on social media and elsewhere. I second @HipNo34 's comment that yes, of course it’s worth it–but so many things have gone up $10 per month or so for me this year, I’m trying not to add anything!
I will review all of the COTH comments here, too, of course!
I agree that she deserves to be in the first group. She understood the course today.
Are the Equiline breeches the ones with a little black triangle on the thigh that makes it look like someone has spilled boot blacking?
My feed is a little choppy care of some internet misbehavior this morning. Was Caroline Ellis a little short coming out of the outside combination? I very much liked her trip but I wasn’t sure if that happened or if it was an artifact of my connection. I’d like to see her again, if only to watch the large pony hunter she brought to the Maclay Finals. What an adorable horse!
Yes, those Equiline breeches kill me with that triangle.
I agree about Caroline Ellis’ horse… absolutely adorable!
And, ooooh, Class Action. My all time favorite eq horse. When Coco Fath moves on from him, I’ll send a shipper 
First Standby (posted here for posterity)
36 Annabel Revers
44 Alexandra Worthington
29 Ellie Ferrigno
16 Abigail Brayman
27 Samantha Cohen
41 Taylor St. Jacques
20 Tanner Korotkin
6 Emma Crosbie
17 Katherine Dash
53 Breanna Bunevacz
59 Bay Noland-Armstrong
43 Ava Stearns
43 Briley Koerner
53 Lolly McLellan
12 Catalina Peralta
49 Rylee Shuffle
2 Maverick Helmer
18 Emma Wujek
21 Devon Thomas
32 Grace Boston
37 Savannah Andrews
I have to say how much I love the commentary from George and Anne. They’ve both been there and done that, to the nth degree. And the little historical asides are fantastic. George first did this class in 1950. 1950!!!
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Poor kiddo, the Maclay finals are never a good place to fall off
Some of these horses are stepping in to the arena awfully impressed this morning.
Re: the standby.
Several of the names and numbers are not matching up–do you think the names are right and the numbers wrong?
To be fair, it’s a pretty impressive setting. And some of them are probably picking up that vibe from the rider.
Yes, I think the names are right and the numbers are wrong. I copied and pasted from the COTH commentary
I was wondering how many of the impressed horses were also impressed in the warm up class yesterday. I’m sure the ring looks different today, but surely yesterday they had the chance to look down the diagonal and see a big ring with a lot of stuff in it. It’s hard for me to tell whether we have first-fence-itis, a big echoey arena with a lot of ambiance, a nervous rider, a horse who would rather be somewhere else today, or all of the above.
ETA- every time I see a horse walk in and inform everyone that it will not be participating today, I remember that Jacob Pope first walked into this final on a horse who stood up about 20 strides into the ring, and it all turned out all right for him. I always hope that riders who have this experience are able to come back successfully.
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