HITS

Mother Nature wasn’t joking around when she decided to unleash a thunderstorm over HITS Ocala’s Post Time Farm on Sunday, March 21. Despite the organizer’s best efforts to move the class to an earlier time to beat the weather, the $100,000 DeLuca Toyota Tundra Grand Prix was contested in the middle of a steady downpour. It didn’t faze MTM Timon and Tracy Fenney, however. The pair posted the fastest four-fault round in the four horse jump-off to take home blue.

Meg O’Mara and War Eagle entered the grand prix ring today, Friday, March 19, at HITS Ocala (Fla.) for the R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship with hardly any history. Their performance, however, gave the impression they were longtime partners, and they cruised to the blue ribbon in their first day of showing together.

“I just played it by ear,” O’Mara, 16, said with a laugh. “My friends helped me walk the course, so I knew the strides. I just had to stay calm and breath. He was ready to win.”

Jill Henselwood had the obvious disadvantage of going first in both rounds of the $300,000 Grand Prix Of The Desert, held March 14 at HITS Thermal. It didn’t hamper her performance, however, and Henselwood and Bottom Line turned in two fault-free turns over Olaf Petersen’s courses in the Grand Prix ring and took home the top check.

“I hate going first!” Henselwood said after the class. “It’s a big advantage to be at the end of the class.”

Michelle Parker could be forgiven for not going all out in the jump-off for the $25,000 Strongid C 2X Grand Prix during the HITS Arizona Desert Finals. After all, her mount, Reina, had just stepped up to the grand prix level last week.

“I tried to go fast at the beginning and then ride a little conservatively in the middle,” said Parker. “I knew with those fast riders coming behind me I might be beaten, but I got a little lucky.”

Despite the fact that trainers aren’t allowed to assist riders when they’re warming up or walking the course for the R.W. "Ronnie" Mutch Equitation Classic, Theodore Boris wasn’t too worried. He felt like he could hear the words of his trainer, Karen Healey, in his head.

“It’s so nice to have Karen as a trainer,” Boris said. “It’s very confidence-building to be with someone who has so much knowledge. Even if she’s 20 miles away, you can still hear her voice.”

John Pearce knew he’d have his work cut out for him when he walked the course for the $50,000 HITS Grand Prix CSI-W on the evening of Feb. 13. “I thought it would be tough. There wasn’t anything ridiculous, but everything was an effort,” Pearce said. “It was challenging, but quite doable. It was a good course for me, because I love to be challenged.”

Just call John French the king of the hunter derby. The poster child of the 2008/2009 USHJA International Hunter Derby season with the charismatic Rumba, French has kicked off the 2010 season with a bang.

At the HITS Desert Circuit on Feb. 12 in Thermal, Calif., he rode Crown Affair to the top of the $10,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby and claimed second with Cruise. The class was held in the evening, under the lights of the expansive Grand Prix field.

There was a dramatic backdrop for the $10,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby, held during week 3 of the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, Calif. Light rain in the morning of Feb. 7 had given way to a wide sky of broken clouds, with the mountaintops shrouded in mist and fresh snow.