Thursday September 21, 2006

NEDA Fall Dressage Festival Starts on a Damp Note, Ends on Sunshine - Page 2

She’s not alone. NEDA clearly has a strong base of competitors for its annual fall show. Nearly 500 horses competed in the popular show that featured a breed show and both a CDI competition and the USDF Region 8 Championships. The event was held at the HITS-on-the-Hudson show grounds and what a crowded show grounds it was. Along with the NEDA show, HITS played host to the Marshall & Sterling League Finals, which meant that in addition to the dressage crowd a large hunter/jumper contingent was on the grounds.

This was not always a good thing. While dressage fans traditionally remain silent through competition, hunter/jumper fans are more like cheerleaders who yell and scream in an effort to verbally push their favorite riders and horses through the course and over the jumps. Courtney King and Idocus, winners of the Region 8 Grand Prix championship class, experienced the downside of cheering hunter/jumper fans during their ride in Saturday’s CDI/FEI Grand Prix competition.

Both dressage and hunter/jumper fans gathered under the VIP pavillion. On one side of the pavillion was the Grand Prix dressage ring and on the other, the Grand Prix ring for the hunter/jumper competition. During King’s ride, bursts of yelling and clapping as hunter/jumper fans cheered on their riders was a bit more than Idocus could handle and he had several explosive moments during his test. To her credit, King dealt with it all rather graciously and considered enthusiastic spectators to be just another thing that show horses must learn to handle.

It’s a big compliment to the HITS ground crew that FEI-level competitors, known for their frequent criticism about footing, had nothing but praise for the work the crews did to keep the rings going. Granted, the rings for lower-level competition were much more mucky as they didn’t have the better footing, but FEI competitors said the footing in their competition ring was as good as they could have expected under the circumstances. As Lars Petersen said it, “How many places could even have that good of footing with all this rain?"

Related Links
Scores: 2006 CDI Saugerties, New York
Courtney King and Idocus Reconnect At Dressage at Equestrian Estates