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Juniors at Indoors: A Behind the Scenes look at America’s Top Junior Talent, Part 1

When you hear the words, “Indoor Season,” do you feel a little burst of excitement? Do you feel a little thrill creep up at the thought of watching the best in the nation go head-to-head?

 

                  As Joyride EQ goes through the next month of horse showing at these landmark events, we’ll bring you along for the ride, sharing our triumphs, our thoughts, and a few tips along the way.

 

                  At the time of writing, we are right in the middle of the 31st Annual Capital Challenge Horse Show. We are constantly blown away by the history of horse shows of this caliber. Thirty years of the best of the best walking into this arena.

 

Capital Challenge is a special horse show on our radar because it sets the horses up for the next month of championships that are hosted in a coliseum, transitioning the horses from a summer of outdoor horse showing to indoor horse showing. The benefits of showing up here before heading to Penn National, Washington International Horse Show (held in the same venue), and National Horse Show are immeasurable. Riding inside requires practice so the more times we enter the arena, the better we get at it!  And because Capital Challenge makes a special effort to host premier Equitation classes, we start our Indoor journey with our best equitation horses: Consierge and Diamant Blue PS.


Course Walk time at Capital Challenge PC: Meg Gehron

One of the most important pieces of the puzzle with special horse shows like this is the logistical scheduling. Every little move is scheduled down to the minute. For example, for our horses to arrive at exactly the hour on Thursday morning that we wanted, we left Wednesday afternoon and drove them overnight, avoiding traffic jams and heat! 

 

                  Managing farrier work is another example of scheduling importance that many people don’t consider before an event of this magnitude. We don’t want the horses showing up to a championship at the end of their shoeing cycle with long toes and loose shoes! Nor do we want them done right before they go so they are well settled into their shoes. This takes painstaking scheduling the farrier months before the show to add on days here or take off days there to have them ready to be done within the perfect window of time before the show.

 


Diamant Blue PS jumps a superb round at Capital Challenge. PC: Shawn McMillen

First up, both horses jumped around the 16-Year-Old Equitation Over Fences with Elodie Watrous in the tack. This was an important class for the week, not just as far as classes go, but as a warm-up for the North American Junior Equitation Finals on Sunday for Consierge.

 

111 Junior riders entered the area on Sunday, all hoping to make it into the top 20 to be invited back for a second round. The steadiness of hand displayed by these young riders is impressive. Many adults would wilt in front of that kind of pressure.

 

Elodie and her trainers have strategically put her in high-pressure situations over the years as practice for times just like this and the practice paid off. She guided Consierge to a beautiful round amongst the nation’s brightest stars in the Eq world. (Check out this video to see the team in action behind the scenes).



Elodie prepares to go into the ring with Consierge on Sunday in the North American Jr Eq Finals PC: Meg Gehron

Consierge in the North American Jr Eq Finals. PC: Shawn McMillen

A top finish wasn’t in the cards for us this year. At this level, a beautiful round doesn’t guarantee the ribbon, but this is just the beginning of our journey through Indoors and we’ve got some spectacular horses to show off. Next up, jumper finals with Furious de Louravi. Stay tuned and enJOY the RIDE!

                 

PS – Check Joyride’s Instagram for daily updates while the team is on the road!

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