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Victory Sixteen Years in the Making July 06, 2010 By Jennifer Selvig, DVM

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This entry has very little to do with veterinary medicine, but it’s a pretty big deal to me. Spoofin, one of my OTTBs and regular competition partner for the last few years, finally helped me achieve something I haven’t done in my 16 years as a three-day eventer-place first in a horse trials.

Oh, I’ve gotten plenty of ribbons in my 16 years of eventing – but not too many blue ones. Some of my friends had those horses that just always seemed to kick butt no matter where they went. They were always first after dressage, never had any problems during cross-country and went magically clear over every stadium fence. I always had some kind of drama. My horse would pull an “up-periscope” move during our free walk; I’d miscalculate my pace a tad and end up with a handful of time penalties on cross-country; my spooky horse would freak out at the announcer’s stand and pull down a vertical around a turn. I suppose mostly my dressage has never been up to snuff – I’ve never been able to hold my own against the fancy warmbloods or relaxed old packers. My silly little Thoroughbreds have either been too tense, too spooky or just too plain.

But last weekend, at Fox River Valley Pony Club Horse Trials in Barrington, Ill., that all changed. We were first after dressage, kept our lead with a double-clear round in cross-country (no time faults and no jumping faults) and had just one rail down in stadium (grrr) – but it was enough to keep first place. Finally, I got to lead a victory gallop.

My in-laws asked me once what you win at eventing shows – money, prizes, etc. I laughed. “If you place first, you might get a saddle pad,” I said. “Otherwise just a ribbon.” “No money?” they asked. “Hahahahahahahaha,” I answered. “I wish.”  But that little blue ribbon – which cost many hundreds of dollars to obtain between the entry fee, gas and hotel, not to mention all the lessons and training expenses and hock injections and Adequan and Legend – means a lot more than a saddle pad. (For the record, I won a cool set of cross-country boots for my horse.)

Despite never having actually WON a division at a horse trials (lots of seconds through eighths over the years), I’ve been hoping to make the move from training level to preliminary with this horse in the near future. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the sport, eventing has 6 levels to move through. At each level, the dressage is more demanding; the cross-country course is longer, bigger and more technical; and the stadium jumping is higher with more combinations. “Training level,” where we’ve been for the last five competitions, is a moderate level where there are still a fair number of casual competitors. The move to “Preliminary,” however, is a big jump – the divisions are full of serious riders and professionals, and the horses are brave and incredibly fit. After preliminary are “intermediate” and “advanced,” reserved for elite competition. To make the move to preliminary, a horse must complete four training-level events with no cross-country jumping faults. My horse had already accomplished this, but I wanted one more show at that level to solidify our confidence. I guess I got a bit lucky! I figure it is fitting to win the last show at one level before moving up to the next.

Spoofin and I are planning to enter our next show, Catalpa Corner Horse Trials in Iowa at the end of July, at preliminary. We have about a month to prepare. I haven’t run a horse trials at that level in about 12 years, since my old guy Jackson and I were competing. I don’t expect to win it our first time out – but at least now I know we’re capable. It sounds silly for a little blue ribbon to mean that much, but I’ll be hanging on to it for few years, I think.

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