Alex Cole and Pure Revenge won the AECs Novice Junior championship
The Beginner Novice and Novice riders are under an incredible amount of pressure here at the AECs show jumping. Becky Holder had a two rail cushion entering the arena yesterday to win the Advanced. Two rails for a leading pair today would plummet them out of the ribbons. This really makes the AECs feel like a true championship for all levels alike and makes even just placing a huge achievement. Like Saturday, Marc Donovan’s show jumping courses were challenging and tested the riders’ ability to ride forward through turns. A pretty good crowd showed up this morning to watch the riders handle the pressure and by all accounts they did a great job.
Heather Morris and Barnabus–our interview follows their ride in the above video
Novice Horse: Heather Morris and Barnabus continued a strong weekend for Texas eventing by winning the Novice Horse division. Heather and Cherye Huber’s Barnabus finished on their dressage score of 24 for the victory. Afterward Heather mentioned the exciting news that Cherye will be taking over the ride on Barnabus soon. The top three places in the division remained unchanged from the dressage with Lauren DeNeve and Cindy One finishing in second and Chimene Evans with Fernhill Sam finishing in third. Kate Chadderton with Fine Art moved up from 8th after the dressage to finish in 4th and Kyle Carter moved up from 9th to finish 5th.
Beginner Novice Horse: We met with Lauren Weil of Georgia right here at the AECs last year after she finished in 2nd with Commit and won with Pippen in the Beginner Novice Horse division. Commit did one spot better this year, taking the win in the Beginner Novice Horse championship. Lauren told me after her round that Commit’s very proud owner, Jennifer Tucker, will be taking over the ride now on her AECs champion. Carrie Meehan finished second and 5th in the division on Up In Flames and Cavalier respectively, and Michelle Donlick was third with Casanova. Thus far, home state Georgians are winning the gold medal race here at the AECs.
Novice Amateur: Logan Elliott and the Connemara pony Cady O’ Daly Michael topped their Beginner Novice win here last year with a Novice Amateur victory on the best score of the weekend for any division on 21.5. “Michael” was bred by Cady O’ Daly farm and jumped double-clear for the victory. Logan explained after her round that she jumped Michael in a fly mask to protect his sensitive eyes. Elisabeth Lee and Free Verse finished in second.
Beginner Novice Amateur: Letha Calvin is your Beginner Novice Amateur champion aboard the 15 year old OTTB Look Cody Look. Letha finished just ahead of Sher Schwartz and Jamocean of Georgia. Hannah Reinke finished in bronze position with Aiden Star.
Letha Calvin and runner-up Sher Schwarts were kind enough to speak with me after the awards ceremony. Apologies for misspeaking when I said Sher was in the Novice Amateur division in the video:
Novice Junior: The Junior Novice riders very well might have jumped the best out of all the novice divisions today. Alex Cole and Pure Revenge finished on their dressage score of 27.5 for the win. Francesca Crichton and Chez Pierre jumped up from 4th after the XC into second place. The jumping rounds proved to be very influential for the overall Novice Junior scoreboard with, for example, Cecelia Bette and Jake VI jumping up into the ribbons to 12th from 26th after the dressage by finishing on their dressage score.
Beginner Novice Junior: The largest division at the AECs, featuring 81 starters to the weekend, was the last to finish at Chattahoochee Hills on Sunday afternoon. Katie McCrory and the 12 year old Quarter Horse My Prince Charming extended their cross-country lead for yet another Georgian victory. Molly Sherman and Bento Box of Maryland finished second, moving up one spot today. I think Katie deserves two trophies for winning an 81 horse division.
A few years ago the AECs were just a championship because the USEA said they were a championship. Now, after three great years of huge attendance and great competition at Chattahoochee Hills, the AECs are clearly a bona fied national championship. The AECs featured a number of winners from last year including Lauren Weil, Logan Elliott, Doug Payne, Heather Morris, and of course Becky and Comet were winners from 2010.
One retirement that I should have mentioned yesterday is that Nate Chambers retired his long time partner Rolling Stone II here at the AECs. Rolling Stone is close to my heart because he and Nate beat the heck out of me for many years at the intermediate level. Rolly and Nate continued on to compete successfully at the advanced level. Nate wrote on his Facebook Friday evening “I wish he could understand me when I talk to him so he could truly know how greatful I am for everything he has done for me. He has been a true friend and partner for my entire eventing career thus far and I will love him dearly for the rest of my life.” We’ll miss you Rolly!
I want to thank Chattahoochee Hills, our host Carl Bouckaert, all of the organizers, the USEA, and everyone else involved with putting on such a spectacular event. Most of all, thanks to the many volunteers who made this weekend possible. We’ll miss Georgia but I can’t wait for Texas next year!
Now, more than ever, go AECs!
