Expanding Her Resume Jenni explains how she decided to try the mare in the hunter
derbies. “She had a little bruise in her foot and we were wait- ing that out, and she got a little unfit. I decided instead of jumping the 1.10 meter classes, I would do something else that was more fun, or different. I mainly did the derbies. She just thought that was fun,” Jenni says. The USHJA sponsors two levels of hunter derby: National
and International. In both, hunters first jump a classic round, where horses are judged on performance, hunter pace, jump- ing style, quality and substance and movement. Two judging panels, each with two judges, award their scores. The course includes four high option fences, where a horse can earn one bonus point for each fence. The top 12 horses qualify for the handy round, which can include a trot fence and other handy hunter challenges. Here the two judging panels score both brilliance of pace (a faster pace than ordinary, without sacri- ficing performance or style) and handiness. At the National level, fences are 3’ or 3’5” for high options.
The International hunter derby increases the difficulty with fences of 3’6” to 4’, and the options at 4’3” minimum. Again, the higher height options earn one additional bonus point. (See
www.ushja.org for detailed class specifications.) “Early this year I just did hunt-
ers for a little while,” Jenni says. “Then we did a couple of shows with both, but always hunters early in the week, and then the Grand Prix. Later in the summer we concentrated on just Grand Prix again.” In 2016, Jenni rode Venice in
“The harder thing was getting her to understand that when we are in the handy that we
weren’t actually supposed to go really fast — just tidy.”
end as much. Also I change to a softer leather bit that she can pull on more. I don’t ask for the same collection or balance that would be required for the Grand Prix.” “Same with the jumps, I ride with less pace on a longer
step. And with not as much leg off the ground,” she says. Jenni calls Venice a “really good jumper who has a great
Jenni presents Venice in the jog at the International Hunter Derby.
five National and two Interna- tional hunter derbies. She was competing against specialists, who have made derbies their career. “Jenni made the hunter people gnash their teeth, because
she would cruise up after having done pretty much no other hunter classes at the horse show, and with no medication either, and would clock around,” Marnye jokes. (The Hunter Division is governed according to the Therapeutic Substance Provisions as described in the USEF Rule Book, General Rules 410-412. Jumpers in FEI classes compete under FEI rules.) At first, Jenni found that Venice seemed bored with the
heights of the National derby fences. “I did a few small ones, and she was, ‘Why are we jumping this little stuff?’ The bigger ones were definitely more her style. She jumps them quite easily, of course, so that makes it easier to go to the high options.” “She was naturally very brave and quiet,” Jenni adds. In the
warmup, she rides differently than for a Grand Prix round. “I hack her in a longer frame and don’t ask her to carry her front
46 January/February 2017
style.” The slower pace accentuates her beautiful jump, she says, explaining the handy can actually be the most challeng- ing for the mare because she knows how to jump-off. So keeping it slower and smooth has been harder than getting a good jump. “When we concen- trated only on the hunters it got much easier, as she realized what I was asking and seemed to enjoy it.” The challenge for this jumper mare in the handy round was to achieve brilliance without the full-out gallop of a jump-off. “The harder thing was getting her to understand that when we are in the handy that we weren’t actually supposed
to go really fast—just tidy,” Jenni explains. “Turning was not a problem, but she didn’t understand why we weren’t going faster.”
“She just had to figure out rolling back and trotting a
jump,” Marnye explains. “She was a little like, ‘What?’ As soon as she figured that out, she was okay. It wasn’t that she wasn’t willing to do it—she just didn’t understand. ‘Aren’t we going to turn inside and go?’” The $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the
National Sunshine Series was Venice’s biggest derby yet. The prize money attracted 24 entries, including big names on the circuit. Venice scored 89 and 86.5 in the classic round. She took all the high options in both rounds, and placed fourth. She placed above notable hunters, such as Legacy (who’d placed fourth in the 2016 USHJA International Hunter Derby Overall Championship in Lexington, Kentucky) and Undeniable (winner of multiple National and International hunter derbies).
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