USET Finals West - First Two Phases; now updated with final results

[Peggy]

They did a pattern, AKA dressage test, for the flat phase: https://fbcdn-photos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xal1/v/t1.0-0/p180x540/12047106_1076917845652960_123275180582603995_n.jpg?oh=d0b10d29149e728a9c383bd8614c39f7&oe=5699AA99&gda=1449421546_c2fb4a8d396495a33166aa9c8161b94a (I hope that worked -courtesy iJump Sports). I wasn’t there for that, but based on the scores it was not generously judged. The highest score was a 76 and there were an additional three scores in the 70s.

Gymnastic phase course:
https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/12003313_10206637134101020_2000717247854048317_n.jpg?oh=ab53a28608b7eed3e14813d0079a4e90&oe=56AA3D8C
The distance in 11ab walked at 21’ when I did it after the class so I’m assuming that the 6.4 is 6.4 meters. The distance from 6b to 7a walked in 87’.

In the past, both at LAEC and last year at the Oaks, this phase was in a covered arena with less room. Having it out on the field seemed more forgiving as there were opportunities to regroup as opposed to having things spiral rapidly out of control. There was one elimination. There weren’t many stops, and several of those were clear pilot errors where the rider steadied to a fence a bit much. One of these happened to a rider trying to get the short seven from 6b to 7a who had been having a lovely ride up until then.

One disadvantage of the larger field is that you can’t really see anything. I was sitting right next to the quadruple combination, but really couldn’t see much of anything that happened on the other side of the ring, including the bounce.

Michael Williamson got the highest score and probably deserved it. He had a plan and executed it well. It would have been nice if he got it done a bit more quietly here and there, but it’s a big strong horse, and I suppose that effectiveness should count more for the USET. Eve Jobs was second with a nice ride. Miela Gross is my hero for not giving up the ride. Her horse apparently saw dead people approaching the trot jump combination and tried to stop and spin. She got him going forward and somehow over the in on an angle and then aimed him back at the second element.

There are people that I might have scored a bit higher or lower (but see note about not being able to see everything) but, looking at the scores, many of them were in the group that was low 80s/high70s so the placings are more different than the scores.

Here are the scores after two rounds:
https://fbcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-0/p180x540/12003307_10206637824798287_1944122315170512707_n.jpg?oh=d6710adcf272d260ec860bf07aaa6607&oe=5667514A&gda=1453438972_10cb618b3861f85e717821a34113eb5e

I found that by going to the show office.

Someone else can carry the flag tomorrow. I have a riding lesson and would probably make it down there just about the time that the last horse started on course for Phase 3.

As usual, I have decent notes if anyone is curious about how someone did. I also took some photos which I may or may not get downloaded tonight.

One more thing. Karen’t pants today were pinkish. Like the yellowish pants of last weekend it wasn’t a pink pink. And I have a photo.

[Coreene]

And the suit?

[Peggy]

No suit because no awards today. But here are today’s pants.

[Coreene]

Girl, no ish involved :lol:

[Peggy]

Link to photos. I stuck them in the same album as last year’s so you’ll have to scroll past last year’s Longine’s Masters to get to this year’s USET:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204338452035405.1073741844.1052681066&type=1&l=d08fd03795

[Sing_Mia_Song]

Always a fantastic write-up! But I am definitely waiting for a picture of the Pants. :lol:

[Roo]

Peggy, thanks for another great recap - it’s so appreciated! If you’re not on the Chronicle payroll, you should be

[hoopoe]

if the flat test was judged like dressage scores over 70 are very good

[Lord_Helpus]

Thanks for this. It is really interesting to see what kind of movements are asked of riders in the dressage phase (why isn’t it called that? Because “dressage” is a dirty word?)

How high are the jumps in the gymnastics phase? On paper it looks like a course, not gymnastics.

Where are the big names from the hunter ring? Not sure who they are, I just know that I do not see names I recognize from the West Coast hunter finals.

LOVE Karen’s pants. I have a pair that color. Do other people have a probmlem that she is wearing pick?

[kmwines]

After watching Mitch Endicott at the George Morris Horsemanship sessions I have to wish him luck at finals! Very sympathetic looking rider who really looked like he thought about what he was doing.

[Peggy]

A photo of the Pants (pink version) is attached to post #3. For some reason I felt odd about posting that on Facebook; like the wrath of KH was going to come and get me for some reason.

The jumps are 1.15 m. It was less gymnasticky than previous years when I can recall things like raised cavaletti, trot poles to gymnastic lines, doing weird S-turns over a snake jump, etc. This seemed more like a regular course with regular jumps (sometimes the gymnastic phase jumps would be somewhat plain and devoid of anything resembling a ground line) with a few tests thrown in.

I liked the pants. Last week at the Maclay Regionals she was wearing very vibrant yellow pants. Kind of refreshing in a sea of khaki and blue.

Some of the kids who rode also do hunters. There are kids who don’t want to do this particular final as it’s “too hard.” Others don’t have the horse for the finals, though they can survive in the qualifiers. It’s pretty typical for a kid to use their jumper or lease one.

The last two rounds should be done by now, I think.

[Peggy]

The results just floated across my FB feed, again courtesy of iJump:

Results for the USET Talent Search are in! This is reverse order
10th Madison Myro
9th Peyton Warren
8th Morgan Dickerson
7th Genevieve Meyer
6th Michael Williamson
5th Megan Hilton
4th Mitchell Endicott
3rd Eve Jobs
2nd Savannah Jenkins
1st Ransome Rombauer

[Peggy]

[QUOTE=kmwines;8322390]
After watching Mitch Endicott at the George Morris Horsemanship sessions I have to wish him luck at finals! Very sympathetic looking rider who really looked like he thought about what he was doing.[/QUOTE]
Here’s a link to a video of his gymnastic round. Not professional quality–Peggy with iPhone quality.

Link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/3pi9t1yyk8o26wk/USET_Gymn.MOV?dl=0

[Mardi]

@Lord Helpus;8322253

It is really interesting to see what kind of movements are asked of riders in the dressage phase (why isn’t it called that? Because “dressage” is a dirty word?)

Maybe “flatwork phase” would be a useful name for it.

[Mardi]

[QUOTE=Peggy;8322678]
The results just floated across my FB feed, again courtesy of iJump:

Results for the USET Talent Search are in! This is reverse order
10th Madison Myro
9th Peyton Warren
8th Morgan Dickerson
7th Genevieve Meyer
6th Michael Williamson
5th Megan Hilton
4th Mitchell Endicott
3rd Eve Jobs
2nd Savannah Jenkins
1st Ransome Rombauer[/QUOTE]

Would love to see the horses’ names included…unless the riders did it all on foot…

[Peggy]

[QUOTE=Mardi;8322757]
Would love to see the horses’ names included…unless the riders did it all on foot… :)[/QUOTE]Press release didn’t have that, though one mentioned that Lalonde was the Best Horse. But, they are listed here: http://www.horseshowtime.com/getclassresults.php?p=6444&u=4

[Renn_aissance]

I am intrigued by the flat phase being a program ride. Does anyone know at what point in the day the test was available to riders? I think I would have difficulty in memorizing that test in the same period of time that I would theoretically have to memorize a medal finals course. I base this on having learned the dressage sportif program rides from ANRC in college.

I really like the idea. It gives the opportunity to demonstrate a variety of flatwork skills with the judges’ full attention, which is not an opportunity we typically have in this division of the sport as we split the judge’s attention with everybody else in the ring. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how much you like being able to hide in a sea of bay horses when your least best skill is called. It did surprise me a little that the half turn on the haunch and the leg yield were not tested bidirectionally and that they were both ridden off the same leg.

I also wonder whether the test was scored dressage style (in which case the 76 as a 76% is pretty darn good) or judged off of the idea that 100 is a perfect ride, as we do in hunter scoring over fences.

[Peggy]

“During Phase I, judges Alex Jayne and Debbie Stephens put the riders through a nine-movement individual test designed to demonstrate their effectiveness at preparing a horse on the flat. The competitors were also critiqued on position and use of aids. Each element was worth 10 points for a combined score out of 100.” - From: http://www.equisearch.com/article/jenkins-takes-early-lead-phases-2015-platinum-performanceusef-show-jumping-talent-search-finals-west-29844#sthash.idDjjuAE.dpuf"

The course showed up on my FB feed at about 11:30, or 30 minutes before the flat phase. I imagine that they had more time than that. Maybe it was handed out at the rider meeting after the schooling round the afternoon before?

[Renn_aissance]

[QUOTE=Peggy;8322823]
The course showed up on my FB feed at about 11:30, or 30 minutes before the flat phase. I imagine that they had more time than that. Maybe it was handed out at the rider meeting after the schooling round the afternoon before?[/QUOTE]

This would make sense to me. Thanks for sharing the information about the scoring!

[dp1092]

[QUOTE=Peggy;8322766]
Press release didn’t have that, though one mentioned that Lalonde was the Best Horse. But, they are listed here: http://www.horseshowtime.com/getclassresults.php?p=6444&u=4[/QUOTE]

So I can’t help but notice that Lalonde’s barn name is Frenchie. Which was the same barn name as Tori Colvin’s old jumper, Monsuier De Reverdy. They also look exactly the same. Is Monsuier De Reverdy now Lalonde? Congrats to the winner!