Junior News
On The Way To The Finals by Zazou Hoffman
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Some background: I used to think it sounded vain and egotistical when a young rider said they hoped to go to
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the Olympics and compete. It had been drilled into me by a trainer that that is an unrealistic goal to have. There are
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only four riders on the team and, given the size of the U.S, it would be very unlikely, statistically, to make the Team.
So I have learned to edit out the “O” word and substitute the phrase “compete Internationally” as my goal.
I All that went out the window last fall and winter when I qualified
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for the Big Eq Finals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Syracuse,
New York on top of plans for riding in the Maclay Regional Final
R in Westbrook, Connecticut. It was also my freshman year at Santa
Monica High School and I was enrolled in three Honors classes as
well as Spanish II. My High School has 3,000 students and none of
N them competes in an individual non-team sport on a national level.
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There is no equestrian team and the closest most of them have been
to a horse was the fiberglass replica of Przewalskis horse that we
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saw on our 5th grade field trip to the Museum of Natural History in
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Exposition Park.
Whenever I mention horseback riding, they ask me where I race
my horse. I try to be patient with them, but with my teachers and
administrators, it is critical that they understand and moreover
appreciate the complexity of the sport. If they cannot vicariously live
what I live then they will not allow me to make up the class work and
exams and my grades will plummet.
My strategy is to try to e-mail my teachers before class starts if
possible. In my e-mail I explain what I do and include an article about
the Ronnie Mutch Scholarship that I won in 2005. Then on the first
day of class I stay after and introduce myself and describe the Medal
Finals and try to give an idea of which Fridays I may be missing.
Photo © Pete Bannan-Main Line Life
It is an awkward situation because my
absences necessitate more work on the part of
the teacher. They have to give me assignments
ahead of time, stay in while I make up tests,
etc. Public school teachers have relatively small
salaries and have to deal with difficult students
and parents. Anything I can do to make their
job easier including a Starbucks or Coffee
Bean gift card is most deserved. One rider that
I met had her Mom video her from dawn to
dusk the day of a show so that her teachers
could see how much work and concentration
is involved.
On top of missing a lot of school in the
fall, I was invited to participate in the George
Morris Horse Mastership Sessions in West
Palm Beach or Wellington, Florida the second
week in January, 2007 (the week I came back
from Christmas break-more absences). I
qualified by being the second highest ranked
rider from the Western United States, after
Nick Haness, on the Bates Equitation list.
That’s when I really grew to appreciate that word “Olympic”. My teachers, counselors, and even the principal
had absolutely no idea who George Morris was, nor did they care, but Chef d’Equipe for the U.S. “Olympic” team
…Bingo! The word “Olympic” is magical. It conjures up gold medals, torches, flags waving, and triggers a flood of
patriotic emotions. I try to use the word sparingly, but it certainly made my absences from school more palatable to
the keepers of the High School transcript.
Zazou Hoffman is a fifteen-year-old junior rider from California. In 2005 she won the Ronnie Mutch Working
Student Scholarship, which led to an association with respected East Coast trainers Missy Clark and John
Brennan. In January 2007 Zazou was one of seven elite riders chosen to work with Olympic Chef d’Equipe
George Morris in Wellington, Florida. She has just started the Low Junior Jumpers at WEF.
To contact Zazou, please send an email to califshowbiz@aol.com and include “for Zazou” in the subject line.
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