Jon Holling has been named to the US Pan American Games squad and now there’s nothing for him to do but lose sleep, obsessively trot his horse, go to the mandatory outing at Morven, and occasionally write for Eventing Nation. Thanks for writing this Jon and thank you for reading.
—-
Samantha Clark photo
From Jon:
Well here I sit looking at two USET patches sitting on my kitchen counter. The reality that I have actually made the “team” hits me in waves at this point. It’s funny to me that I have dreamed of riding for my country for so long, that now that it is so close it almost seems unreal. I am quickly discovering that the final weeks before a team competition are filled with fun things like repeatedly jogging your horse to see if perhaps this time he looks any different than the last six times you jogged him today!
However, once I get over the paranoia, I am finding the whole process to be a lot of fun. So far it has really only been about the fun stuff. I have been able to sit back and appreciate what a wonderful horse I have. I knew that well before he was chosen to be on the Pan Am team, but to have my own feelings validated does make it that much more special. And to have made the team on a horse that I was able to start and produce myself adds something too. Of course I had a lot of help along the way from some of the best horse people in world, but at the end of the day it was Jenn and myself that picked him out and put in the time.
So, now it is all about trying to fine tune our performance. I have been working hard to improve our score in the dressage test. I am pretty sure it was my good friend John who said I was pressing a bit too hard at Richland. That was not something I wanted to hear, but I have to admit he was not the only one to say it. I have spent the last two and half weeks working on all aspects of our performance and I am happy to report that we are making some good progress. While the atmosphere is a bit different at a schooling show than it will be at the games, Will and I did score a 41 this past Saturday at the Florida Horse Park. Interestingly the test felt a little less “special” than Richland, but he was much more steady and consistent and the score reflected that. I think that will be the secret for us to have a great test in Mexico, steady and consistent, he is already special. So now we are getting set for one last trip to Leesburg Virginia to have a training session with Mark and a final run at Morven Park. After that it is back to Ocala to have our final training camp. There is a lot to do before we actually get on the plane in October and God knows there are approximately one million things that can still go wrong between now and then, but in the meantime I am completely enjoying the journey. Now if I could just get that girl who sleeps next to me to stop singing “Oh Canada” while I try to go to sleep!
