So glad Augusta won! As a petite/short legged rider myself, I finally see someone like me crush the Eq. otherwise I am kind of depressed…
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Congrats to Augusta. Sportsmanship first. Now that’s done, that was a messed up class. I agree with top 24 but then after that, might as well pick from a hat. We need some new blood to judge. We need to make it easier for qualified people to get their license.
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This feels like a desired outcome at the top rather than judging what was in front of them. I really want to hear someone explain how you possibly end up with a top 5 testing that doesn’t include Ellie. Also, Augusta is an amazing rider, but she was 18th on the 4th standby list, and I’m sorry, she was not SO much better in the next two phases that she should have moved 13 places. If they were that enamored with her, she should have been placed higher to begin with.
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I completely agree.
I know. It’s hard to not know how without scores being announced. If her flat score and her second round score really were that good, it would certainly help move her up if 18th and 5th (to get into testing) are only 4-5 points off. Kind of wild to think they would be, but hey. We will never know.
I think she tested best of the 5 so she was my winner after watching everyone. Her hand gallop was a real out-of-the-gates gallop.
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“You’re going to be doing the talking…”
“You should!”
“You’re so good at it!”
“No I’m not!”
So this might be a silly thing to harp on but with the press conference immediately following the awards ceremony where the top three riders are expected to be present, I guess we just operate under the assumption that everyone has grooms to take their horses back to the barn and care for them? I mean, I know at this level it’s almost a given but the assumption sort of bothers me
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It’s a fact.
For Skylar Wireman fans, she’s entered in the WCE Jr/Am Medal final at the Las Vegas show where they run the USHJA championships.
https://blenheim.showgroundslive.com/show-schedule/?date=2022-11-18
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Zazou Hoffman went to the press conference with poultice on her hands.
A friend’s daughter did a team jumper thing that the team won. They announced that each horse needed a handler for the awards, assuming everyone had a groom or something.
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The press conference is on the live feed right now.
Augusta just said this is the first final this horse ever did!!
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Who won best Eq horse?
My thoughts on Ellie. We saw her holding the counter lead as brilliant but the judges probably felt she should have landed left or swapped because that was a tight turn. I thought she rode beautifully.
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It states very clearly in the Equ. rules, that lameness is not to be considered unless it interferes with the performance of the rider. I am in favor of changing that wording, but apparently no one that counts is…
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I mean, I’d argue that even if a kid without normal ground crew was in the top three, someone (whether it be a groom/trainer/mom/dad/grandma) would be able to put the horse away. At this level, virtually no one goes it alone, so to speak.
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Luke has been described as a working student who takes care of the horse himself, but I’m sure somebody else at North Run could at least take the horse back to the barn and put him in his stall while Luke was at the press conference.
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Not a hard and fast one! I went to maclay finals (which was some years ago by now 
) and I did not make the top 3, but did finish in top 25. Never had a groom a day in my life. @faultfree the assumption bugs me too
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That’s an interesting point. I almost forgot about that, but I did wonder about it at the time. But everyone was praising it, so I figured it was good. Sometimes I’m not sure about when they should swap vs. holding the counter lead on a broken or bending line.
But if that was the issue, they must not have thought it was as bad as a totally missed change or incorrect lead or they probably wouldn’t have even had her sixth. Maybe just not the preference.
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This is what was done for me.
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