Christine Tribble had only bought Promised Land two months before, so she considered showing at the Marshall & Sterling National Indoor Finals as more of an opportunity to get to know him rather than a chance to win a big class.

But that all changed in the jump-off of the $100,000 Marshsall & Sterling League Finals Grand Prix, as they cruised to a clean round more than 2 seconds faster than second-placed Karat and Jonathon Millar. The event con-cluded the show, held Sept. 22-26 at the Centrum Centre in Worcester, Mass.

“The last jump-off I’d ridden him in I’d gone too fast and had two rails, so I was focusing on just jumping the jumps, not going crazy fast. But he has such a huge stride that I ended up leaving out strides where I don’t think anybody else did,” she said.

The win was even more of a pleasant surprise since Tribble had a hectic schedule that weekend. She was in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, Sept. 24, riding Vegas to 10th in the $35,000 Kentucky National CSI-W. She then flew to her home in East Windsor, Conn., on Saturday and showed up in Worcester to show in the grand prix on Sunday. She hadn’t shown in the Centrum’s ring at all.

“I was a little shocked at how small the ring was. You were always turning and looking. It was a big change from the bigger rings I’d been showing in. I had to think fast. But he was great, because every time I asked him to turn, he turned, and every time I asked him to lengthen or shorten, he was right there,” she said.

Tribble bought Promised Land, 10, from Derek and Anita Peterson at the beginning of August. Derek and the bay gelding had a phenomenal record this year, currently leading the USEF grand prix Horse of the Year standings. They placed an impressive seventh in the $200,00 Budweiser American Invitational (Fla.) and won the $100,000 King Shavings HITS Grand Prix (Fla.).

“I think Derek and Anita need to be recognized for bringing that horse along. He wouldn’t be what he is without them. They did a great job getting him to the point where I can just get on him and win,” said Tribble.

Still, when she first got on him, she wasn’t sure about the match. “I tried him at my farm, and he’d never been there, and he was looking around. It was a weird trial because he was bucking and playing so much that I wasn’t 100 percent comfortable on him, but he just jumped so easily that it was a great feeling,” she said.

Tribble had to get used to Promised Land’s unique ways. “He’s his own character. You kind of have to let him be what he wants to be and let him do what he wants to do. He bucks and plays, and you just go along with him,” she said. “But he knows it’s Sunday. I don’t know how he knows, but he has a calendar in his head and he comes out on Sunday different than any other day of the week.”

Tribble was also seventh in the class aboard Laddidor with the fastest four-fault first round. She’s planning to campaign both horses in the indoor shows this fall, concentrating on the World Cup-qualifying classes.

Friends Old And New

Stella Manship knows Elan Coriana, her winner in the high junior/amateur-owner jumper classic, inside and out. Her grandfather has owned the feisty gray mare for 10 years, and after a notable grand prix career with Tim Grubb and Aaron Vale, Coriana became Manship’s four years ago.

They spent a year at the grand prix level and earned many ribbons, but then Manship dropped her back into the amateur-owner ranks. “She was just getting older,” said Manship.

Now 18, Coriana hasn’t slowed down much. “She’s really mean. She’s great once I get on her back. But she’s so mean in the stall, or to work around. And she’s awful to other horses, but it’s kind of cool because I always feel like I’m going into the schooling area with my bodyguard,” Manship said.

Manship and Coriana won consistent ribbons in the high amateur-owner jumpers at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.), and then won a Show Jumping Hall of Fame Classic in May in Kentucky.

“But then she just wasn’t herself,” said Manship. “So, we pulled her shoes and threw her out in a field and didn’t touch her for four months. She never came in, and had no human contact at all. I figured she’d be qualified for indoors because she’d won a bit of money at the beginning of the year.”

When Sept. 1 rolled around, and Manship discovered that Coriana was qualified for the Pennsylvania National and the Washington (D.C.) International, she pulled her out of the field and put her back to work. “I jumped her over maybe three or four little jumps the week before I went to Worcester. So, going to Worcester, I had no idea if she was going to be great or terrible. But she was definitely back to her old self,” she said.

Manship, 23, plans to keep Coriana going with a show schedule limited to a few select shows. She’ll also keep busy with her farm in Milford, N.J., where she has a few boarders and lay-up projects. She also has a 2-year-old colt by Todd Minikus’ successful grand prix stallion Oh Star and out of Coriana through embryo transfer.

Eleanor Bright rode a new horse of her own–Manhattan–to win the adult jumper classic. She also claimed eighth aboard her old friend Presto, with the fastest four-fault jump-off.

“There was an inside turn that you had to do to be competitive. When I went to go on Presto, I wasn’t going to do the inside turn. But [trainer Frank Madden] said, ‘It’s doable, so it’s up to you,’ ” Bright recalled.

“So on Presto, I did it. But there was a panel vertical on flat cups with a tight turn after it. I saw a forward distance to it, but I didn’t want him to get flat. So, I added the stride to it, and had the fence down. So, when I did it with Manhattan, I saw that forward distance to that fence again, and went for it, and it stayed up. It’s all a little bit of luck and having everything come together.”

Bright has been riding Presto for six years, but she just bought Manhattan in November 2003. “Manhattan has a really big stride, and I’m a little bit slower on him because I haven’t learned how to do those tight turns on him that I usually do on Presto,” she said.

Bright, of Dover, Mass., rode as a junior and even showed ponies against Madden. But after taking time off for college and a family, she returned to the show scene in the early ’90s. She showed hunters until she started leasing Presto in 1998.

“I started showing him, and I said to Frank, there’s no way this horse can go back. He was just so amazing. We had a match that I’ve never had with another horse. He was the horse that really put me in the jumper ring, so I bought him,” she said.

Bright, a widow, has a 17-year-old son whom she makes her priority on school vacations and during the summer, so her showing is limited to the Florida circuit and fall shows. She also doesn’t get to ride consistently because her home is a 41³2?hour drive from Madden’s barn in New Jersey.

“For me, I just like to go in and ride my horses as well as I can, and if winning happens to be a part of that, that’s great,” she said.

Equitation Riders Return To Win

Ana Ousouljoglou is in the middle of her freshman year at Franklin & Marshall College (Pa.) and hadn’t been able to ride much this fall, so she wasn’t sure how the HBO Junior Medal Finals would go. Her fears proved to be for naught, as she rode to the top of the class.

For Ousouljoglou, the win wasn’t just a blue ribbon; it was vindication for her ride in the same class last year.

“I had some trouble getting through one of the lines; it wasn’t one of my better performances. So, this year I was really looking to go in and lay down a good round and see what happened,” she said.

Ousouljoglou earned a score of 82 for her first round, which put her third. But a brilliant ride in round 2 vaulted her to the top.

“The opening line was one of the toughest lines. You could either do it in a forward five [strides] or a bending six. I went with the five strides, and in the first round it rode a little long. But in the second round, I found a really great jump in, and that line was probably the best part of my second round,” she said.

Ousouljoglou, who won the Marshall & Sterling Children’s Hunter Finals (Md.) in 2001, started doing the 3’6″ equitation classes in 2002 when she bought Cassio, a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding. Cassio had just been imported and had only shown in the jumper ring, but Ousouljoglou converted him quickly.

Ousouljoglou, 18, rides with Robert Beck and has joined the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association team at Franklin & Marshall. She has qualified for and plans on competing at the USEF Medal Finals (Pa.) and the ASPCA Maclay Finals (N.Y.).

While Ousouljoglou hopes to continue showing as an amateur, Cassio has already been sold, and will go to his new owners after the fall season.

Rebecca Shipps has her own new partner for the equitation classes. She bought Gettysburg in August, and she rode him to the win in the Charles Owen Children’s Medal. “It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I was qualified, so at the last minute I decided to go, so it paid off,” said Shipps.

“The first course wasn’t easy because that ring can be hard to ride around, but it went well. My horse is pretty big, so usually lines are too easy for him, but this time I could open up and flow to the fences instead of having to slow down,” she said.

Shipps, of Wrentham, Mass., came back for the second round on top with a score of 84. She clinched the blue ribbon with another flowing round. “I was glad that I was able to watch people go before me and see what they were doing that was working. I walked into the ring and knew what I had to do,” she said.

Shipps was particularly happy since she didn’t ride her best in the children’s medal last year. “I was so nervous, so when I went back this year, my goal was to make it around and enjoy myself and not stress about it,” she said.

And even though she’s only had Gettysburg for two months, she wasn’t worried. “I had a lot of confidence in the horse. I knew he was going to be great, so it was pretty much up to me,” she said. “He’s so big and his stride is so huge that you never feel like you’re in a rush. You can take your time, and he’s very forgiving if you make a mistake. He’s just a good guy.”

Shipps rides with Dawn Dorrance of Rehobeth, Mass., and hopes to move up tothe 3’6″ equitation next year and compete in the HBO Junior Medal Finals.