EN’s Got Talent is Eventing Nation’s newest series. We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? This series introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].
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Jennifer and Anika on their way to winning the 4-year-old YEH West Coast Championships.
Jennifer Wooten’s story about her newest prospect began with her decision to retire her spectacular mare The Good Witch from upper-level competition. “I’d come to that conclusion at the end of last season that I wanted to retire the Witch,” Jennifer said. “I had intended on buying something that was at least going preliminary. But when the word was getting around last fall that I was thinking about retiring her, I posted something silly on Facebook that my dream horse was 16 hands, grey and a mare.”
Her friend Erin Serafini responded to the Facebook post with a link to a video of Anika, a 4-year-old Holsteiner mare who fit that description. “I thought the mare was cute, but I really hadn’t intended on getting anything that green,” Jennifer said. “Then I kind of forgot about her.” It wasn’t until Ram Tap this past February that Jennifer saw Anika there with Erin, tagging along at the event. “At that point she had been started under saddle and been jumping a bit,” Jennifer said. “I saw her and decided to sit on her just to see what I thought. When I sat on her, there was something that just made me have to have her.”
Jennifer and Anika in a schooling session.
Jennifer ended up purchasing Anika — with generous help from her grandfather and fiancé — on the exact same day that Eventing Nation posted the news of The Good Witch’s retirement. “I was sort of scratching my head and wondering what I was doing,” Jennifer said. “I had really wanted a prelim horse, and here I am buying a horse that is just coming 4. But Anika has a self confidence about her that reminded me a lot of the Witch. I have to be careful and remind myself that she is 4 because she’s so good, but at the same time she is very much a baby.”
Anika ran her first event in June at Shepherd Ranch, where she placed second in the beginner novice division. Jennifer decided to move her up to novice in July at Whidbey Island, but ran into an issue on cross-country when Anika refused to go through the water complex. “She was a little bit naughty about the water,” Jennifer said. “At the beginning I thought she was too careful to go into water, but I think it was more about the pressure and the atmosphere, and by the time I got to the water it was a bit overwhelming for her. We’ve been working through that.”
Jennifer Wooten's Anika
Jennifer’s hard work with Anika paid off. Two months later, Anika won the 4-year-old division in the Young Event Horse West Coast Championships at Twin Rivers, only the fourth event of the mare’s career. “When I walked the course, I thought it was a little challenging,” Jennifer said. “There was a trakehner and a log into water. I thought, ‘She’s going to either quit jumping over the log and get herself high-centered, or jump the log and drop a shoulder on landing and dump me into the water.” But Anika proved Jennifer wrong. “She was so brave and bold,” Jennifer said. “She had no problems and went around the course like a champ.”
Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll talk more about Jennifer’s experience at the Young Event Horse West Coast Championships and what she loves about Anika. “She’s very quick to learn things, so I have to be very patient that I don’t apply too much pressure on her to make her go correctly on the aids,” Jennifer said. “She can be a bit opinionated, which I love; I loved that about the Witch. When you channel that into the right direction, they can be very competitive.”
