Thermal, Calif.—March 8

The R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship has never been a great class for Violet Tatum. Her first two years contesting it she didn’t get a ribbon, so her goal this year was just to make it to the second round.

Tatum did that and much more, winning the class over Taryn McEntire and Grayson Pacelli.

Tatum was quick to give all the credit to her partner for the class, Kruz, whom the judges also selected as the best horse of the competition.

“He’s owned by John Bragg, who has provided me with a lot of opportunities over the years,” said Tatum, 16. “He said he had this really special horse, and I got to do him in a clinic, and then he let me show him and I was obsessed with him, so he let me keep showing him.

“His stride is so big; I can just go slow and everything can just be the same speed,” she continued about the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Graziano—G. Termie). “I never have to move up that much or slow down that much. I can just stay the same and he’s just so brave and consistent. He tries so hard every time I ride him.”

The R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship provides a special challenge for junior riders, who qualify by earning a primary-colored ribbon in a 3’6” or higher equitation class during Desert Circuit. Competitors surrender their cell phones and wave goodbye to their trainers and parents, as they are sequestered from them for the duration of the class. Riders must walk the course on their own and warm up on their own, and they are awarded between -2 and +2 points by a warm-up judge based on how they prepare their mounts for the class.

“It’s a little stressful that you’re by yourself, because it’s just like if you have a question, there’s [no trainer] to ask,” said Tatum. “I kind of like it though. I feel like it is a really good learning moment.”

The first round had plenty of challenges, with several combinations including a bounce, and cavaletti to traverse, which confused a few horses. Tatum rose to the top of that round, then came back last for the second round. After scoring a pair of 92s in that round, she tested last. For the work-off, riders had to jump a shortened course including a hand-galloped fence, a trot jump and two counter-cantered fences. That provided plenty of challenges for Kruz, who is still relatively new to the equitation having started in that division in September.

“I’ve never really practiced [counter-cantering] that much with him,” said Tatum, Pacific Palisades, California. “So the first time I didn’t plan that. He actually just landed [on the counter lead], and I could feel him paying attention to me. So I was like, ‘I think he’ll be OK. It’s a pretty wide corner.’ But then the other one, he landed on the counter lead, but I did a lead change on purpose. I asked him to do that because it was such a harsh angle, I didn’t want to risk falling off of it, so I just walked and picked up the right lead. And then once I got through that part, he is pretty good at trot fences and just allowing up the nine. I’ll get there right there. So I was pretty relieved once I got the counter-countering over.”

In California, Tatum trains with Archie Cox at Brookway Stables and Bragg at Bridgeport Farms, and she’s been commuting to the East Coast every third week to ride with Missy Clark at North Run.

“Over the years I’ve kind of been going maybe one or two weeks of [the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida)] and then maybe go to [Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (Michigan)],” she said. “But this year I’m going to be a lot more committed to showing back east since I leased a horse. I’ve been going to WEF every two weeks, and I’m going to do a lot of other shows with North Run.”

Find full results here.

Check out more from Desert Circuit here and in the April issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. Follow along with the Chronicle on Instagram and Facebook.