March 12, Thermal, Calif.

By the time John French rode Oscany Inc.’s Clooney into the ring for the handy round of the $25,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix, he knew he was only competing against himself for first. French was already leading the class on Jessica Singer’s Cruise. 

But Clooney stepped into the ring and didn’t put a foot wrong to take the top check in the class over Cruise and Tonia Cook Looker’s Forbes, ridden by Jenny Karazissis. The 7-year-old Holsteiner (Carpaccio—Hyazinthe I) gelding, who’s been competing in the first year green division with French, jumped around beautifully and boldly despite the shadows cast by the ring lights in the handy round. 

“He’s very brave,” said French. “For a first year horse to come here in the night and do a class like this—he’s great. It got a little breezy, and I had a couple of horses get a little spooky in the second round, but not this one.”

Clooney was purchased to be a junior hunter for Olivia Esse, and French is still settling into the ride a bit.

“It took a couple weeks to get used to him, but I’m getting more and more used to him now, and he’s going better and better,” he said. “He always jumps very high over the jumps. He’s very lofty in the air. I think that’s what the judges like about him—he puts a big effort into every jump.”

The classic round course and the handy round course in the hunter prix were both fairly straightforward and caused few problems for horses or riders in the 38-horse field. There was a minimal amount of stops spread throughout the jumps, with no one spot in particular causing problems. 

“I liked the courses,” French said. “There were a lot of individual jumps where you got to use whole ring and canter around. It wasn’t like fences came up really fast, so I liked that. It gives you time to take a deep breath. I told one of my students, ‘Make the course take as long as you can out there,’ and that’s what I tried to do, too.”

Von Heidegger Vaults Into R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship First

Though Hannah Von Heidegger hadn’t ever ridden in the R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship, it wasn’t an entirely foreign process to her. Von Heidegger watched her sister Nicoletta go through the same class a few years ago, so she knew what to expect. That experience made Hannah even hungrier for the win, and it also made it more rewarding for her when she did top the championship over Sage Flynn and Morgan Geller.

“My sister is older than I am, so growing up I saw her doing this class and all the medals, and I really, really wanted to win it,” Hannah, 13, said. “It was my first time doing it, and I’ve only ridden this horse for a few weeks, so it was really exciting. There were a lot of good riders in it, too.”

In the R.W. Mutch class, juniors must warm themselves up in a judged warm-up ring, and they can only walk the course with the other riders. While the unusual preparation seemed to unnerve some competitors, Hannah thrived on it.

“I was glad we were able to talk to each other so we could figure the courses out together,” she said. “I was focusing on what was OK for my horse, and what strides I wanted, and what I thought he could do. Specifically, I thought a lot about how I could warm him up best.”

After she watched the first few combinations go, Hannah adjusted her warm-up plan slightly.

“I focused a lot on having him jump well because I saw some people have rails. I focused on doing jumps without ground rails to get him to bump one hopefully, which he did, and it worked out,” she said.

The first round of the class was over a standard equitation-type course. After all 11 riders completed it, Hannah was standing in first.

“I thought the first course was less confusing than the second,” she said. “I felt like I started out a little stiff, but then I loosened up, and it went better,” she said.

For their second round, nine riders came back to complete a jumper-style timed course. Though most made it around the jumper course with little issue, second-placed Cayla Richards had a refusal and dropped to seventh in the final standings. Seeing Richards’ stop right before she went into the ring didn’t help Hannah’s confidence.

“I was so nervous!” Hannah, Chatsworth, Calif., said. “Cayla’s such an amazing rider, and she had that stop, unfortunately. It made me worried before I went in.”

Hannah, who usually rides with Will and Nicole Simpson, has been riding with Karen Healey at Thermal. She is leasing Beckham, a 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Indoctro—Mona Lisa), from HMG Farms, and has only been riding him since the beginning of HITS Desert Circuit. The two have quickly become a successful pair.

“He’s just a phenomenal horse,” said Healey. “It’s a brilliant match with Hannah. She’s won almost every class on him this week.”

See full results from Desert Circuit VI at the HITS website.