USEF SHOW JUMPING TALENT SEARCH EAST 2008

Hi, everyone, wanted to get back to you about the USEF Talent Search competition held on October 4th and 5th at the USET Headquarters in Peapack/Gladstone, NJ. For those of you who may not be familiar with the competition, it is somewhat different than the Medal, Maclay and Washington Equitation finals. The Talent Search competion has four phases; flat, gymnastics, show jumping and a final four phase where the top four riders switch horses, riding each of the four horses that have qualified for that phase. Riders can qualify and participate who are twenty one and under and who have either amateur or professional status with the USEF. Stallions are also eligible to compete.

In early September, just prior to the date when the entries closed for the USEF Talent Search competition, I learned that I was given the opportunity to enter the competition on a beautiful stallion, named Kaiser de la Couer. Kaiser had come to Hunters Moon Farm, East Norwich, NY, to be tried by one of the customers and I was fortunate to be able to show him this past weekend. And before I go on, I would like to extent a sincere thank you to everyone who helped me to secure the ride on such a wonderful horse!

In the flat phase of the competition which took place on Saturday, riders were divided into groups. The, second phase, called the gymnastics phase, was also held on Saturday. Unfortunately, Kaiser was strong in the second phase and we dropped from first place in the first phase to twenty first place after the two phases. With the resolve and determination to learn from my experiences on Saturday, and after some quick changes to the horse's equipment, the show jumping phase on Sunday went well (the judges scored the round tied for third place). After three phases of competition, we placed 6th place overall. I would like to extend a sincere congratulations to the winner, Sophie Benjamin, and to all the other top ten finishers, as well as the all of those who competed.

Catch up with soon for an answer to one of your recent questions.

Talk to you later!
Maria Schaub