Teresa Harcourt: NAJYRC cross-country

Teresa Harcourt’s Area VI, VII and IX scramble team is in first place heading into 2* show jumping, which is underway at the Kentucky Horse Park. She recaps her team’s cross-country day.

From Teresa:

Yesterday was the day that myself as well as many other NAJYRC candidates have been thinking about for a very long time. The day started early with Queen Dayna checking out the course for reference, in order to decide which studs were necessary. When we first arrived in Kentucky, the footing was similar to concrete. Thankfully, our rain dances worked and the skies opened up a few times to actually produce a somewhat muddy situation.

Sarah was first out of the box at 8:09 a.m. She went out with all the advice Dayna had given her and rode accordingly. She produced a double clear round to move up to fifth place. Candy, Sarah’s mare, looked wonderful coming off the course and was still looking for more jumps to conquer. GOOD JOB!

I was the second to go for the Area VI, VII and IX scramble team. Although I might have had an ungodly look of seriousness on my face, I was still very excited to go out of the box on the course I had been dreaming about for a while. I think sometimes people’s seriousness gets mistaken for fear. However, Skip galloped around the course like a champion even though we picked up 10.4 time penalties, which bumped us down to 7^th. I am so extremely happy with Skip and how the course rode though.

The third and fourth members of our scramble team had excellent rides. Lizzie Snow and Coal Creek galloped around like pros to add only 4.4 time penalties to their score. Kendyl Tracy and Ever So Lucky posted another double clear round for our team to secure us the first place spot for the day. It is such a great feeling to have accomplished the amount of things we have in the last few months. Cross-country day was somewhat surreal walking down to the box but it is a memory that will stick with me forever.

The CCI* course tossed up the standings! The course seemed to ask many tough questions that had some horses and riders scratching their heads. Unfortunately, it proved to be a rough day for the CCI* team. However, one thing I would like to say is that all of our girls came back to the barns leading their horses with smiles on their faces. Of course the disappointment is looming overhead but to walk back with their heads held high was a great thing to see. Things don’t always go our way but we live to ride another day.

Today is the final day and I can’t believe it is coming to an end. I told my Sarah (my teammate) earlier that I don’t want this to end. That means that I have to think about school, working, and just overall life situations–not nearly as much fun as living and breathing horses.

Keep Kicking.

Teresa