Only two of 17 horses went clean on a deceptively challenging course in the $10,000 Thanksgiving Show Grand Prix. In the end, by just over 2 seconds, Belynda Bond and the Belgian-bred gelding Sea Cove edged out fellow Texas trainer Mike McCormick aboard Remington in Waco, Texas, Dec. 3.

“The course suited Sea Cove,” Bond said of the chestnut 10-year-old owned by Kim and John Semyan of Fairview, Texas. “There weren’t any really tight rollbacks, which was good. The turns were more sweeping, which we could catch on a bigger canter, and he does that great. He likes it here, and he was having fun.”

Bond believed Sea Cove’s giant stride helped him win. “That big stride is for sure one of his strongest traits, and that’s why he’s especially great on outside courses,” she said. “He just gets that big gallop. This time it worked indoors too.”

A triple combination midway through the course thwarted the first-round efforts of most entries. Many horses had at least one rail through the triple, and except for third-placed Happy Hour and Kathryn Garvie (who brought down only one rail), everyone racked up at least 8 jumping faults in their preliminary round.

Bond had the advantage of riding her jump-off round after McCormick’s clean round on Remington, a horse that less than one year ago was still competing in dressage. The young gelding had warmed up well earlier in the week, winning three level 5 jumper classes. But that didn’t shake Bond’s confidence in Sea Cove, who’s been her primary grand prix partner since the Semyans acquired him in 2000. Sea Cove had also bested Remington in the welcome stake two days earlier.

“I knew my horse was fast,” Bond said, “and I knew Mike’s horse was green. But he was very fast in the jump-off, so I was trying not to get too excited and go too fast and make a mistake. My horse is fast along the ground, even though he doesn’t look like it–it’s that big stride. He’s easy and super careful, and it’s up to me to not get in his way. I just concentrated on doing my thing.”

Bond’s concentration paid off in the form of another clean round and the $3,000 winner’s check, bringing Sea Cove’s 2005 grand prix earnings to nearly $51,000. The pair won the $25,000 Magnolia Classic Grand Prix in Gulfport (Miss.) in March and finished among the top three in five similar events prior to Waco.

Bond, who owns Crown Point Farm in Pilot Point, Texas, will next compete Sea Cove at Jacksonville (Fla.) in January.

“I was glad to have the opportunity to compete here,” Bond said, “because we hadn’t done anything since August, in Kentucky [where they finished seventh of 29 in the $30,000 KHJA Grand Prix]. “Sea Cove is just now getting back to work. His schedule got messed up in September, when we were supposed to do a grand prix in Houston. But then Hurricane Katrina came, and the show was cancelled.”

Bond admits to a particular fondness for the gentle and amiable Sea Cove. “He’s like an old friend, my best friend,” she declared. “And I’ve got him a little spoiled. His paddock is right by the road at the farm, and when Sea Cove sees me drive in, he runs up and I give him a treat right out of my truck. It’s ridiculous. But he’s happy, and the more spoiled he is, the better he jumps!

“He’s very sweet,” Bond concluded, “and I’m very lucky to be able to ride him. He’s smart and he’s special. I try not to get attached to my horses, because as a businesswoman, I deal with so many. But I’m sure attached to this one.”

Bonding With Students
Bond had more than one reason to celebrate at Waco. She rode Edisto, owned by Annie Clark and Panther Ridge LLC, to the green hunter championship, and her student Clark piloted the 8-year-old warmblood to cham-pionship honors in the adult amateur, 46 and over, division.

Clark, of Tulsa, Okla., bought the 16.2-hand gelding from King Hackley a year ago. She trains with Bond at the shows and also hauls Edisto to Crown Point whenever possible.

“Belynda has lots of patience,” Clark said. “She’s also very kind to the horses, and she’s very encouraging of her adult riders.”

Bond decided that Clark and Edisto, who was imported from Europe, would make a good match. “Edisto was used to a German style of riding,” Clark said, “and I’m a pretty Americanized rider, so it was an adjustment. He’s much more mature now, a totally different horse. Belynda’s done such a beautiful job training him. He’s sweet-tempered, kind and willing to support me in whatever decision I make, but he also gets me out of trouble.”

Clark hasn’t ruled out a move to the amateur-owner division, but in the meantime, she’s just enjoying herself. “It’s a dream for me to show on the circuit like this,” she said.

Angela Barber earned the amateur-owner, 36 and over, tricolor on her 6-year-old, Westphalian gelding, Parsifal, who like Edisto was a purchase from Hackley last year. Barber, who with her husband owns a construction company in Argyle, Texas, has been riding since 1992 and still occasionally shows her adult amateur hunter, Renaissance Man, and her adult jumper, Power Stroke. She trains with Stacie Goodson at Bay Yard Farm.

This was Barber’s first championship with Parsifal, with whom she fell in love at first sight. “We put him on the fast track, simultaneously in the first year greens with Stacie and the amateur-owners with me,” said Barber. “Parsifal was very patient and willing, and we made 2005 our year for learning. Now, in 2006, we’re ready to be competitive.”

Barber credited her horse with being a true partner on course. “I like to move up to the long one,” she said, “and he always helps me out. He’s got a great brain, a great mental attitude. At this show, I felt like ‘Critter’ was focused on every jump, which made it easier for me to focus on finesse. We’re getting eight quality jumps more consistently.”

Barber also has high praise for Goodson. “Stacie is wonderful about paying attention to detail,” she said. “I’m an engineer by degree, so I appreciate that the details add up to the big picture. Stacie harps on the little things, because the little things count.”

Sister Acts
Two sets of sisters earned championships–Bailey Anderson in the junior hunters and Ashley Anderson in large/small ponies and Brooke Brodbeck in the children’s hunter, 14-17, and Paige Brodbeck in the medium ponies.

Bailey Anderson, a 16-year-old high school junior from Dallas, has owned her 9-year-old large junior hunter mare, Alaina, for nearly a year. Bailey said that being more relaxed than usual helped both of them excel in the ring at Waco–not just in the juniors, but in the WIHS Hunter Phase, which they also won.

” ‘Lainey’ hasn’t shown a lot,” said Bailey, who trains with Jim and Joan Hensen of Foxglen Farm in Argyle, Texas, “and sometimes she gets overwhelmed. Then I try to force things on her, when really I should just chill. At this show, Jim and Joan told me to try hard but also to have fun, and that calmed me down. They’re great trainers, because they push you, but in a way that makes you get better and makes you want to do better. And they’re fun.”

Bailey, who has just started looking at colleges, said she’ll “always want to keep riding,” but plans to pursue some type of business degree.

Eighth-grader Ashley Anderson, 13, acquired her large pony Madam Alexander right after the 2003 National Pony Finals, in which the now 10-year-old, chestnut mare earned the grand championship. The two have had their best year yet, with tricolors at numerous Texas shows, and ribbons at Devon (Pa.) and the Pennsylvania National. At press time, Madam Alexander (a.k.a. “Eloise”) was ranked sixth in the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s large pony hunter standings and first in Zone 7.

Anderson reluctantly agrees with her trainers that it’s finally time to move up to a horse from Eloise, who is now for sale. She not only dearly loves the mare (who favors sour cherry candy as a special treat), but believes she’s gotten the ride down at last.

“Sometimes Eloise speeds up a lot,” said Ashley, who wants to be a trainer when she grows up, “and I’ve had to hold her all the way around. She can get kind of strong, but it’s gotten a lot easier to ride her. She’s so sweet, she tries really hard and she’s never scared.”

Brooke Brodbeck is equally thrilled with her 6-year-old Holsteiner, Lavasco, who she’s owned for two years. The 16-year-old sophomore from Carrollton, Texas, not only won the children’s hunter, 14-17, championship but also the children’s hunter classic and children’s equitation over fences. She said her horse’s occasional tendency to spook was one of the few challenges she’s had to deal with on the bay gelding, who came to her and trainer Katja Kallenberger of The Paddocks as a colt.

“But he’s gotten a lot better,” Brodbeck said. “He’s definitely still green, but he takes care of me all the time–he’s a great partner. All of our hard work seemed to pay off at this show. We’ve never been as consistent before; it just all came together here.”

The duo will move up to junior hunters next season.

Brodbeck, who’d like to study film in college some day, said she enjoys Lavasco around the barn as well as in the ring. “He’s really friendly, loves people, and begs for treats,” she said with a laugh. “One of his favorite things is watermelon.”

Brodbeck’s little sister Paige rounded out the “sister acts” at Waco, winning the medium pony hunter championship with her pony, Made Ya Look.

Kallenberger had an exceptionally good show at Waco–and not just with the Brodbeck sisters. Her student D’Anne Fere-day won the adult amateur, 36-45, championship and the adult hunter classic on Kallenberger’s Told U So.

And Kallenberger herself won the regular working championship on student Caroline Gilley’s Katcha Lookin and reserve champion in the same division aboard student Brittany Hartl’s The Woman Warrior. She also won a pre-green hunter championship on Told U So–but it was for her students that Kellenberger was most ecstatic.

“All of my people rode great this week,” she said. “They’ve all been working so hard, and they did what they needed to do to achieve their goals. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”