When Seth Tousey arrived at the Poplar Place HorseTrials in Hamilton, Ga., he wasn’t even certain that he would ride: his horse, At The Party, came out of his stall slightly lame, and the farrier suspected a stone bruise. But later that day, the Thoroughbred gelding trotted up sound, much to his owner’s relief.

The pair went on to complete Tousey’s first preliminary event, Sept. 25-26, with a win.

Tousey, 14, has only been riding for a few years and eventing for two years, but in the last 10 months he has dedicated himself completely to the sport. Home schooled by his mother Barbara, he is a working student for Beth Perkins in Ruther-fordton, N.C., and spends the week with Perkins and her family.

“Beth has changed everything about my riding,” he said. “The biggest thing that she has done is change my position. She really got me to think about where I was on the horse. I think that I feel more positive about what I’m doing now.”

Of his sixth-placed dressage ride, Tousey said, “I got in there, and he wasn’t really listening. We weren’t communicating very well. I don’t know what was distracting him. I had to keep pushing him and asking him to remember me.”

Things got better in show jumping, however. “He was great. I couldn’t have asked for a better round. It was a cool course, really fun to ride,” said Tousey, who moved up to third with a clean round.

Since Perkins did not travel to this event, Tousey got help from Amy Barrington of Landrum, S.C., who rode Platinum to ninth place in the advanced section. “I’m glad she was there,” he said.

Tousey galloped around right on the optimum cross-country time of five minutes. “He likes to go, and I think that he was a bit surprised that I let him go,” he said. “I had to hold him a little bit at training level, not very much, but this time I let him gallop. He jumped the bigger fences better, and I was very comfortable.”

Barbara Tousey commented, “This weekend meant a great deal to both of us as we have felt that Seth has had one thing after another, as it always is with horses, toward really getting started. Since seriously competing over this year, Seth has grown as a person. He has a handle on life’s situations that I never had at his age. He has a true grasp of reality, of the fact that riding?and life?is a ‘journey’ that is never really finished.’ “

Ernyei Earns Intermediate Win

In the intermediate rider division, victory belonged to adult amateur Dana Ernyei of Martinez, Ga., riding her 14-year-old, Thor-oughbred gelding Zydeco, who she has had since he came off the racetrack at age 5.

Employed by Central Michigan University, Ernyei is an administrator for a Masters degree program for non-traditional students. At 41 years, she did not expect to make it to the intermediate level until she started working with trainer Simon Eades in Aiken, S.C.

“I have been here before riding the prelim course, and I walked the intermediate cross-country this spring, and I thought, ‘no way,’ but Simon has given me the confidence to do it,” she said.

Ernyei’s husband Mark, who recently retired from a 20-year career in the military, accompanied her. “I think that he makes a better groom than a soldier,” she teased, smiling.

“Cross-country was so exciting because when I did my second intermediate in April he trotted a couple of fences with me screeching at him, so Simon has really worked on getting me comfortable going at speed,” said Ernyei. “Today was the first time that we made the time on a preliminary or intermediate course. I hope that I’m learning.”

Open intermediate belonged to Ashley Bailey-Classen from Keller, Texas. Poplar Place was her alternate choice, as she had canceled plans to ride in the American Eventing Championships (N.C.) the previous weekend due to possible tornadoes on the way. As Tropical Storm Ivan dumped rain along the Gulf Coast, Poplar Place stayed clear and sunny.

A biology/pre-med student at Texas Christian University, she flew to Georgia while her mother drove the horses. After driving home, she planned a couple hours’ sleep before her labs on Monday morning.

Riding Ballynoe Rum, an 8-year-old, Irish Sport Horse gelding, she finished on her dressage score of 34.58 to lead the entire way. Aboard Temp-erence Classic in the advanced division, she finished 11th.

“It was his first intermediate, and he kind of ballooned up in the dressage ring but could not have jumped better in stadium or cross-country. He was almost too fast on cross-country; I was like, ‘easy, dude.’ And my advanced horse had one of his best runs ever,” she said.

Holder Rockets To Advanced Title

Becky Holder (nee Douglas) dominated the advanced division, galloping away with first place on Cou-rageous Comet over Greg Schlappi’s challenging cross-country course.

Holder, from Mendota Heights, Minn., and the 8-year-old, 16.2-hand, gray Thoroughbred gelding, led from the start with 24.35 penalties after an outstanding dressage test. They added only 7 penalties in show jumping and jumped double-clear cross-country, to finish on 31.35, nearly 6 points ahead of Johanna Dufort on Northlight in second place.

“His cross-country was flawless,” said Holder excitedly. “He went out and made it feel like a lower level school. His stride is long and balanced, and he thinks a lot of himself so he takes care of himself. He’s really fun to ride through accuracy exercises like corners and skinnies.”

Holder and Courageous Comet, owned by Holder’s husband Tom, also won the Richland Park Horse Trials (Mich.) at the end of August. Last year they finished eighth in the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.), but this year she will skip the fall three-days to save her horse for Rolex Kentucky next spring. At Poplar Place Holder also finished seventh on Highland Hogan.

Dufort, 20, who moved up from 11th place to take home her red ribbon, hadn’t run at advanced since February, having had a punctured lung resulting from a fall off a young horse and then waiting for Northlight to recover from popping a splint. She is taking time off from her studies at Auburn University (Ala.) to work on dressage with trainer Adam Latowska. She had one of only two double- clear show jumping rounds in the advanced division, then moved up on her double-clear cross-country ride.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better horse to move up on,” she said. “Your first one should be honest, and he is. I am lucky.”