Armando Hassey was worried. The amateur rider was to go second of six in the jump-off of the $40,000 Rocky Mountain Grand Prix.

His hopes for a double clear were dashed when La Roche pulled a rail at the last fence, an oxer set at the top of a slope. “I think that was the hardest jump of the whole course,” said Hassey. “The oxer going downhill made the horses confused.”

Hassey, of Mexico City, Mexico, had a very fast time (36.49 seconds), but the 4 faults made him vulnerable. All he could do now was wait.

Leopoldo Palacios’ jump-off track re-quired careful riding, and Hassey knew he still had a chance. “I knew I was very fast,” Hassey said. “I just hoped that nobody jumped clean.”

His luck was in. All of the remaining riders not only faulted but also were much slower, and Hassey and La Roche got to lead the victory lap. The grand prix was one of the featured events of the Rocky Mountain Classic, held July 12-16 in Parker, Colo.

Hassey has jumped Palacios’ tracks many times and knew that the ride in Parker would not be easy. “He knows what he does,” Hassey said. “I have great respect for this course designer. I was very glad that I could beat him.” Hassey had also won the $25,000 High Prairie Farms Grand Prix the previous week, putting him in line for a bonus payout.

If the same horse/rider combination wins two of the three grand prix events in the summer series, the pair earn an extra $25,000. If they win all three, it’s $100,000. Hassey won the first in the series on his Canada. He took himself out of contention for the three-win bonus, however, when Canada sold during the week.

Nobody felt too sorry for the young Mexican; Canada’s price was considerably more than either of the bonuses would have been. Hassey will still have a chance to win the extra $25,000 if he can take the blue in the $60,000 Grand Prix of Denver on July 22.

The weather for the grand prix was very hot–well over 100 degrees–and Palacios wanted to reduce the strain on the horses. With that in mind, he built a short jump-off that required caution instead of demanding speed. “I prefer a short jump-off with light fences so that the rider needs to slow down a little bit and doesn’t need to run too much to win,” he said. “The crowd enjoys it, and it’s not too hard on the horses.”

Palacios did not back off on the size of the jumps, however. He thinks that many grand prix courses in the United States are set too soft, to the detriment of our riders. “This is bad for the sport,” he said.

Course designers have other ways to make a track easier to jump, and Palacios believes there should be no compromises on the height. “You can be more mild in the distances or with your width,” he said, “but the height is the minimum that we need to improve the riding.”

Better And Better
Mary-Katherine Atkins has just moved up from the ponies to horses, and her first horse–Godiva–is making the transition easy. Atkins shows the 15.3-hand mare in the small junior division, and trainer Peter Pletcher rides her in the first year green hunter ring, where they earned the tricolor at the Rocky Mountain Classic. Atkins rode the mare to reserve in the small junior, 15 and under division, and third in the junior hunter classic.

“She always canters around the jumps, with no spook. She’s just easy, has good temperament for a mare, and has a big heart,” said the Magnolia, Texas professional. “Going from a pony to Godiva was perfect [for Atkins]. It was an easy transition.”

Another of Pletcher’s students, Becky Gochman, took both champion and reserve in the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over division with Primrose and Cape Town. Gochman also rode Primrose to the win in the amateur-owner classic, earning six blue ribbons in six classes with the little brown mare.

“She just keeps getting better and better,” said the Houston, Texas, amateur. “It’s unbelievable to me that a 12-year-old can continue to improve, but she’s doing it.”

Gochman took a 20-year break from competition but kept her hand in by exercising other people’s horses. It was always in the back of her mind that she’d show again, however, and she returned to competition a little more than three years ago.

“I always knew I would go back to it someday,” she said. “I’m so happy I did. I know that I’ll never leave.” Her two children are already showing a strong interest in horses. That includes the Gochman’s adopted daughter from China, who first sat on a pony at 17 months.

“Our whole family enjoys it,” Gochman said. “My husband even enjoys coming out to the barn and hanging out.”

Living Up To Potential
Noble Gesture wasn’t famous when Natalie Rae bought him. Then 9, Noble Gesture had been turned out in a field for much of his life and had only jumped a little bit. Rae, who trains with Sally Parks in Idaho Falls, Idaho, found her Oldenburg gelding in Alberta, Canada.

“He didn’t know his potential,” Rae said. She sat on the horse, and the pair immediately clicked.

“He’s an awesome horse, and he tries really hard. He’s my soulmate in a horse,” said Rae, who rode him to first place in the
junior/amateur-owner jumper classic.

Noble Gesture is very fast and also very careful, a marvelous combination in a jumper. He’s also learned to turn very well, thanks in large part to the tiny indoor ring where he gets much of his training. “It helps to be in a small arena,” Rae said. “He lengthens and shortens really well.”

It also helps that Rae is comfortable with speed. When she’s not on the horse, she’s on the slopes at Sun Valley, snowboarding on the steepest runs she can find.�

Laura Teodori rode her Mazepa to the win in the Marshall & Sterling Children’s Jumper Classic. She also took home the brand-new, custom-fitted Devoucoux saddle that went to the winner. “I was looking for a second saddle, so perfect timing,” said the Scottsdale, Ariz., teenager.

Teodori, who trains with Betty Beran, only recently began riding jumpers. She now prefers the speed and excitement of the jumper arena to the more sedate atmosphere of the hunters. She has the right horse for the job in Mazepa, a lightning-fast little Dutch gelding. “He loves to win,” she said. “I just let him go for it.”�

Anna Renier is also a newcomer to the jumper ring, after a lifetime of showing hunters. Her first-ever jumper, the 9-year-old, Belgian mare Calandria, came to her just last May. “We’re both so new; we’re just in it to get some experience, and it turns out we’re doing okay,” said the Hamel, Minn., amateur, who trains with Andre Hareseth.

Okay indeed–the pair were the runaway winners of the Marshall & Sterling Adult Amateur Jumper Classic. Many hunter riders who move to the jumper ring have trouble going fast. Renier is not among those. “It’s much more comforting when you have some speed,” she said, laughing. “You don’t want to be crawling over these things.”

Renier will soon begin her third year of veterinary school at Tufts University in Massachusetts, and she has to scramble to find time to ride. “It’s a lot of work,” she said. “I think it will be worth it in the end.”


Mr. Hula Hula Keeps Dancing
Kristina Matthews’ former amateur-owner jumper Mr. Hula Hula enjoyed his share of wins until the terrible day he broke his right hind leg. It was an injury very similar to the one Barbaro suffered in the Preakness Stakes (Md.).

“The break was down to the coffin joint, in 14 pieces,” said Matthews. “They told us he would never return as an athlete, but they thought that he could maybe be a pleasure horse, so we elected to do the surgery.”

Once Dr. Shane Miller had opened up the leg, he discovered the situation to be even worse than he’d thought. He went ahead with the procedure, however, inserting nine screws and two plates. Credit for Mr. Hula Hula’s post-op survival goes largely to the horse himself.

“He just took care of himself,” Matthews said. “He knew how to do it. He would sleep, he would rest, he would lie down most of the day, and he would get up and play when he needed to.”�

The Dutch gelding was laid up for nearly two years. Then, growing bored, he began jumping out of his pasture. X-rays revealed that all the bones had fused and that the screws and plates were holding. The vets told Matthews that if the horse wanted to jump, let him jump.

It was with some considerable trepidation that she returned him to the show ring. He’s not jumping big sticks any more but is a standout in the three-foot equitation classes and medals. At the Rocky Mountain Classic, he carried his Castle Rock, Colo., owner to the championship in the adult equitation, 18-35 division.