The Derby

On Friday night of our show week in Scottsdale, they held what's called a Hunter Derby. Riders get to wear their fancy coats and show in the big ring, under the lights. There is a $2500.00 prize offered, to be split in 6 portions, the winner getting 60% of the total, so it's no small deal. All 3 of our horses competed, along with 32 other entries. Each round receives a score and the top 8 scoring entries get invited back to jump a few more jumps, which are also scored. Add up the 2 scores and you have a winner.

Here's T, getting ready to go. That's Kari on Paris in the background. As you can imagine, getting good shots in the dark was a challenge.

Kari was first from our barn to go, being number 10 in the order. She looks pretty happy going in to the ring:

But, Paris decided that turning the corner to the first jump would be a perfect time to poop, so their first fence was a little weak, but the rest of their round was nice. Score:68.

T was in the 18th spot. She'd never done anything like this before.

A kiss for luck:

They held their cool and earned a score of 77! We were so excited, hoping she'd be called back!

Last of all the entries was Kari on Aiden. In this picture, you can see a girl wearing a purple shirt. That's Aiden's mom, holding hands for support and not even able to watch.

Kari and Aiden had a beautiful round...until they knocked down a rail on their last fence. Bummer. That took them out completely.

T's score held her in the running for a while, but then she was bumped by riders with higher scores. But still, the horses were good and it was exciting to see our barn friends do so well in a big class.