Harrisburg, Pa.—Oct. 12
To ride Quality HDB, you’ve got to put a lot of trust in her. The mare is on the spicier side, so success relies on a strong partnership, and Olivia Sweetnam has just that.
“We have a really, really good bond both in and out of the barn because [she’s] one of those mares that once you kind of connect with them and earn their trust, she’ll do anything for you, and it definitely feels that way,” said Sweetnam. “I trust her with my life, and she trusts me as her rider, and she’s definitely a little bit different than some of the other horses, but she’s so competitive, and it’s amazing because she’s a horse that wants to win just as badly as I do. And it’s so great that I can walk into the ring every single time knowing that she’s going to give it her all.”
That partnership played a part tonight during the final phase of the Turnham Green/USEF Junior Jumper National Championship. Sweetnam had been clear all week, and was just .01 faults behind division leader Isabelle Ehman and Magnolia. The tightness of the top six riders meant that a rail would dash their hopes of a medal.
But Sweetnam, 16, of Wellington, Florida, didn’t make any mistakes, putting another 0 to their tally to put the pressure on Ehman, who’d led from the first day. When Ehman had a rail, it cemented Sweetnam’s gold medal.
“This experience has been amazing,” said Sweetnam. “This is my heart horse, so it means extra to me. I kind of put a lot of pressure on myself both last night and tonight because I wanted to do good for both my team and my horse. I know that she’s very capable of doing this with ease, so I didn’t really want to let her down.”
“Quality,” an 11-year-old Westphalian (PR.H. Quality Time—Goldgranda, Grannus), has been in Sweetnam’s barn for six years. Her dad, Irish Olympian Shane Sweetnam, initially showed the mare; later she was ridden by a couple of Sweet Oak Farm students. Olivia got her opportunity to show Quality three years ago, and they’ve moved up from the 1.20-meters to the 1.45-meters in that time.
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This is Olivia’s second medal in as many days, as she was part of the winning team from Zone 4 in the Prix Des States competition yesterday. The teenager hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps and compete on senior Nations Cup teams, so she finds this format beneficial in preparing for her future goals.
“This and Young Riders are the two experiences that we get with the team competitions and learning to deal with teammates and the drop scores and knowing what you have to do to produce the best result for your team,” she said. “And I think it’s a great experience for all of us in the class.”
Earning the silver medal was Clara Propp on Cocolina. They finished on a final score of 1.43.
“I just wanted to have a clear round and hopefully move up, and we did just that, and my horse was amazing,” said Propp. “She handles pressure really well and like Liv said, I just didn’t want to let her down because she’s more than capable of this, and I loved the course tonight. I think the difficulty was exactly right for a class like this, and I think that it was fair. I think that it was very doable, but it definitely asked the horse and rider correct questions, and it rode really nice, but definitely when I walked I was a little nervous.”
Ava Meyers finished in the bronze medal position with Sparky on a score of 2.26.
“Before we got him, he didn’t have too much experience at the 1.40-, 1.45-meter level, so it’s been very nice to develop this young horse and develop together as a pair,” she said. “And honestly, we hit it off right off the bat. He’s such a funny quirky horse. He has his perks. He’s an amazing jumper. He loves to go, and he loves his job, so it’s truly an amazing partnership between us. I’m thankful to ride him every day.”
Get horse show results here. Follow along with all the news from the Pennsylvania National here. Check out the November issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine for full analysis from the horse show.