Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 12
The jumps were only 3’3″ in the USHJA Pre-Green Incentive Championship and Tracy Fenny competes in grand prix classes just about every weekend, but those little jumps had Fenny more nervous than 1.40-meter oxers. That didn’t stop Fenney and MTM Personalized from scoring the overall win on the third and final day of the championship, however.
“I get so nervous that I barely can ride. It’s so much easier doing the grand prixs!” Fenney said with a laugh at the press conference, southern drawl showing her Flower Mound, Texas, roots. “Riding against all those guys [like Day 1’s winner, Scott Stewart and Evermore, or Day 2’s leader, Jen Alfano and Castle], I just feel privileged to ride against them. They’re so good, and you hear about them, and you see them, and it’s just amazing.”
But Fenney beat all those big name hunter riders with “Peep,” a 7-year-old warmblood of unrecorded breeding.
Competitors in the USHJA Pre-Green Championship vie for the tricolor over the course of three days, with the top 30 horse and rider pairs after the first two days of competition being invited back for a third and final round, a “clean slate” class in which none of the previous qualifying days points carry over.
Scores in the 90s from three judging panels totaling to 273 gave Fenney the win, with Sandy Ferrell and Grand Luxe taking the reserve 6 points behind.
It’s hard to predict a clear winner in a competition specifically geared toward green and inexperienced mounts, especially when you throw in a packed crowd on two sides of the ring and late afternoon shadows (the class wrapped up at 7:30 p.m.). Missed lead changes, spooks away from the crowd at the rail, and general looky-ness were not uncommon occurrences throughout the class.
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“You take it step by step, because they’re horses. They can see and do anything. You’re dealing with a whole other emotion, not just your own, and obviously mine is very nervous doing the hunters,” Fenney said. “You have a whole other emotion to deal with; it’s not a tennis racket.”
A speeding yellow tennis ball is the last thing you would compare Peep to—Fenney and Peep take their time around course, giving judges and onlookers alike plenty of opportunities to appreciate their performance.
“That horse just is so elegant in how he canters so slow. I think that he stands out,” Fenney said.
He certainly made an impression—Peep walked out of the ring after accepting his trophy and check, slipped out of his championship sheet and back into tack to be tried by a potential buyer. Fenney estimates eight of the horses at the championship passed through her hands in one way or another, (Jen Alfano found her Sharon O’Neill-owned championship mount, Castle, through Fenney) and said watching them go on to do great things is very rewarding…and beating them all on the horse you still own (at least for now) can’t be half bad, either.
Don’t forget to read the August 31st issue of the Chronicle for an in-depth story about the 2015 USHJA Pre-Green Incentive Championships.
