Jessica Heidemann and French Twist didn’t look a bit rusty as they won the Galway Downs CIC*** World Cup qualifier, held April 1-3 in Temecula, Calif.

A slight tendon injury after the Rolex Kentucky CCI last spring forced Heidemann to give the Thoroughbred-Belgian Warmblood cross some time off, and Galway Downs was their first outing since then. “He’s an older horse, and I do as few events as possible,” said Heidemann.

They put it all together at Galway Downs to jump start their season and their quest to compete in Germany at the Luhmuhlen CCI**** in June.

Heidemann, 24, finished sixth after dressage in the field of 15 riders on a score of 56.4, but she admitted that dressage isn’t “Frenchie’s” favorite phase. “I love dressage, and he hates dressage,” she said with a smile. “It’s the only time we clash.”

Heidemann actually started her equine career in dressage. “I always rode dressage. I loved to jump, but I wasn’t able to because the farms I rode at didn’t do it,” she explained.

It wasn’t until she was 16 that she rode in her first event. “A friend suggested eventing, and after looking at the requirements I thought I’d start out preliminary,” Heidemann said. Luckily, her friend was wiser and made her ride at beginner novice in her first event.

“I did one beginner novice, and I was totally hooked,” she said.

She soon rose through the levels, riding at her first North American Young Riders Championship in 1998 with her mare Gaily Gifted before buying the more athletic Frenchie from Peter Gray.

She and Frenchie were on the winning one-star team at the 2000 NAYRC and won the individual silver the next year in the two-star. They finished fifth at the 2003 Foxhall CCI*** (Ga.), but he injured a tendon that September.

The old injuries made it all the more important to Heidemann that the crew at Galway Downs got the footing in order. Torrential rains this spring in usually dry southern California had riders throwing up their hands in disgust as their conditioning plans went out the window. Fortunately the weather dried up two weeks prior to the competition, giving course builder Bert Wood a chance to restore the footing.

Clean And Fast

Heidemann was one of only two riders to jump around Michael Etherington-Smith’s CIC*** course clean and within the time.

“He usually does make time,” said Heidemann. “He gets upset if I pick at him, so I usually let him do what he needs to do between the fences.”

She was a little concerned about the bounce into the second water because they had a bobble at the same type of fence at Kentucky, but he jumped in without any hesitation.

“He’s such an honest horse,” she said. “He’s so cocky and brave, and he’s full of himself, which helps on cross-country. We came off the big drop [at fence 12A], and he stumbled before the two big houses [12BC], but he had it.”

Heidemann’s fast round moved her into second before show jumping, but she was feeling nervous. “I’m afraid to ride to the base of the fence at shows,” she explained. “I feel like I need to give him some room.”

But a recent schooling session with Capt. Mark Phillips reinforced the idea that she needs to ride him to the base of the fence for him to jump around clean.

“Mark really stressed that I need to slow my brain down,” said Heidemann. “When I was coming to the last fence I saw the forward distance, but I heard Mark in my head.”

She jumped the only clear round in her division to move into first place, beating Lauren Whitlock and Kipling, who had one fence down.

Heidemann hopes to compete at the Luhmuhlen CCI****, but if that doesn’t work out, this win will make it easier for her to attend the FEI World Cup in Malmo, Sweden in August.

Part of her prize package included two weeks with food and lodging for herself and her horse in Germany at the Gestut Hotel Reiterhof Altmuhlse. The family of Matthias Schwarz, a fellow competitor in the three-star, offered this prize at their hotel to help out with the expenses for the World Cup.

Heidemann thought she might remain in Europe and train there over the summer, but her part-time job as the information technology technician at Western Washington University, close to her home in Bellingham, Wash., made that impossible.

“If I don’t go to Luhmuhlen, I might go to the World Cup and stay on for Burghley [CCI**** (England)] in the fall,” said Heidemann.

From Dancing To Jumping

A different international sport led Tiana Coudray to start eventing and purchase King Street, with whom she won the CIC**.

“I did Irish dancing,” explained the 16-year-old. “There are three rounds with a combined score, and the similarities made it easy to cross over.”

Her family was in Ireland, where she was competing at the dancing world championships, when they began looking for her first horse. They didn’t find a horse in Ireland, but they did eventually settle on an Irish Sport Horse. They bought “Danny” from Peter Green in August of 2003.

The two-star was only the third intermediate for the pair. Coudray started the 10-year-old gelding at novice in 2003 and was competing at preliminary in 2004. She finished second at last year’s NAYRC.

And at Galway, Coudray was really only hoping for a qualifying score for this year’s NAYRC. She never expected to win.

“I really made a mess out of things on dressage day,” said Coudray. “We had some technical problems–he changed leads in the counter-canter–and I just wasn’t happy with how I rode him.”

Her test put her in 12th with a 59.4, but things only improved from there, as her clean cross-country round moved them ahead. “It was a massacre out there on the cross-country, and we got home,” she said. “I was worried about making stupid mistakes, but I’d schooled some of the combinations at a clinic in the winter, so I wasn’t too nervous.”

But Coudray still didn’t expect to move up after show jumping. “I was quite happy with fourth!” she said.

Then she rode a clear round, something the three riders in front of her failed to do. “My horse was fantastic!” she exclaimed. “He was jumping so well, especially since it was so strenuous on cross-country.”

The high school junior in Ojai, Calif., rides with Bea and Derek Di Grazia when she has the opportunity, but mostly she rides on her own and takes lessons when she arrives at the show grounds. “I’ve cliniced with everybody under the sun,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve probably ridden in more clinics than lessons.”

A Nerve-Wracking Beginning

Kelly Pugh had a weekend filled with heart-stopping moments on her way to capturing the win in the CIC*. On Sunday, her 10-year-old Thoroughbred For Kicks was held at the final horse inspection.

“He lost both front shoes last week,” explained the 15-year-old. “At the jog it was the right front they were worried about, but he just was a little sore.”

She was in tears as she brought him back from the holding box, and there was a big smile when he was accepted upon re-inspection. But that was only one incident in a comedy of errors that left Pugh astounded to end up with the blue ribbon.

She began the competition by going off course in her dressage test. “He hasn’t always been the best horse in dressage,” said Pugh. “He’s stubborn about going on the bit. He puts his head in the air and is really tough in the mouth.”

The error didn’t cost her too much though, because she went directly into first place with a score of 45.7.

Cross-country day also brought its share of worries for the teenager from Tres Pino, Calif. “He’s had some water issues, and I was worried about the drop down into the second water,” she said. “When I first got him, he didn’t like drops or drops into water, but he’s learned to trust me.”

Her worries proved unfounded as they sailed around the course without jump or time penalties. “He’ll go down to anything if he knows who’s taking him,” said Pugh. “With me he’s very bold.”

But there was another debacle still to come on Sunday. Pugh had another horse, Fly, in the junior/young rider open preliminary division, and she went off course with him in show jumping. However, once she got that out of her system, she was free to concentrate on jumping a clear round aboard “Kicks.”

Pugh trains with her mother, Dayna Lynd-Pugh. “When I was younger it was hard to have Mom as my trainer,” she admitted. “But now I try not to think of her as my mom but as my trainer when I’m riding.”

“She’s a very good student,” said Lynd-Pugh. “I tried to put her in front of other people, but she wants me to coach her. I can scream and yell at her like any other student.”

Eventing has always been a family affair for the Pughs. Pugh rode her first event at the tender age of 8 with her father Steve running the entire course behind her.