Yukon equestrians accumulated a mountain of ribbons at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Calgary, Alta., the last three weeks.
Ten Yukon horse-and-rider teams, including eight from the Northern Tempo Equestrian Centre, collected 57 ribbons for top-eight finishes over the three five-day hunter jumper events that ended Sunday.
“I’m thrilled. We had some really good ribbons, we had some really good performances and we had some incredible learning - it’s not all about the ribbons, it’s about the learning,” said Northern Tempo coach Inge Sumanik. “For all of them it was a very invaluable experience. And the opportunity to ride in three consecutive shows really honed their skills and they all moved up in their classes.”
Of the ribbon performances by the Yukon teams, 15 were top-three finishes. Some of the ribbons were won in divisions with as many as 37 horse-and-rider teams.
“Getting an eighth place was a pretty big finish because the classes were huge,” said Sumanik. “Some of the kids are competing in classes with over 30 riders, and competing against riders who have been doing this all summer.”
Katelyn Holway and her horse Absolute Perfection were near perfection last week. Holway became the 0.9 metre jumper champion at the third in the series, the Rocky Mountain Classic III, “which is a pretty big deal,” said Sumanik. “That’s the accumulation of scores over several rides.”
Holway and Absolute won eight ribbons with two first place finishes.
Rider Spencer Sumanik and horse Deno got off to a great start in Rocky Mountain I three weeks ago. Spencer took first in the junior 0.75 jumper medal class, which is based on the performances of both the rider and horse individually.
“That was a pretty big win for him,” said Inge.
Ashley Borgel rode Moonlight Montage to 11 ribbons with third places in training hunter 2’8” and low hunter 3’0” over the three weeks.
Sydney Johnson and Frank jumped to eight ribbons including second in schooling hunter 2’3” class and third in low hunter 2’6”.
Terri Inglis and Hollywood trotted away with six ribbons and a third in junior 0.75 metre jumper medal final.
Jetta Bilsky and Bobby McGee captured four ribbons and took a second in a mini prix 0.75 metre class.
Katrina Fekete and Wilson took three ribbons and a third in the schooling hunter 2’3” class.
Maren Sinclair-Eckert and horse Carmen snagged three ribbons at Rocky Mountain III.
Yukoners Sarah Hougen and Jody Mackenzie-Grieve went down separately for Rocky Mountains II and III.
Mackenzie-Grieve and horse Cote D’Azur won two ribbons in Rocky II, including a second place finish in the jumper stake 1.00 metre.
“It’s a very popular show circuit,” said Inge. “All three weeks were fully sold out, which means there were more than 300 horses there.
“There were five show rings going at once and we had three riders in the show rings.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com