Tracey Clark had an amazing two weeks at HITS Ocala focused on the Jumpers. Her results were as follows:

HITS Ocala Week 1;
Darco’s Symphony;
Level 3 – 4th
Level 4 – 2nd
Modified Am/Jr Jumper – 6th

Galler;
Level 1 – 1st (Res Champion)
Level 2 – 1st, 1st, 2nd (Champion)
Level 3 – 1st (Res Champion)

HITS Ocala Week 2;
Darco’s Symphony;
Level 4 – 1st (Res Champion)
Low AO Jumper – 7th

Galler;
Level 3 – 1st, 1st (Champion)
Adult Jumper High – 1st (Res Champion)

River Poet;
Adult Eq 36-45yo – 5th, 7th, 3rd, 2nd

We had a great two weeks at HITS Ocala. Special thanks go out to:

• Robin Vinson and Sally Russell for making it all happen;
• The Courtney’s for taking good care of our horses;
• The Mystic Adult riders for your support;
• HITS for making such great brownies!
• And most of all the parents and friends who supported the”kids” during and after their rides;
• and of course April, Geno, Huey and Gunsmoke.

Until Next year….

View all The HITS Ocala Posts

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Harpur Schwartz:

• Champion Modified Children’s Hunter (week 1)
• Champion Novice Equitation (week 2)
• Reserve Champion Maiden Equitation (week 1)

Rebecca Mazzaferro:

• Champion Maiden Equitation (week 2)

Paige Vinson:

• Reserve Champion Pre-Children’s Hunter Pony (week 2 on a borrowed pony!)

Victoria Stevens:

• 3rd Place Level 1 Jumpers (week 2;out of 56!)

Courtney Scarpa

• 8th place Pre-Children’s Hunter Horse (week 1)

Audrey Mazzaferro:

• 1st Place Lead Line (week 1 and 2)

Becca rode in the morning in the Medium Green Pony Hunter Class and Audrey rode in the Grand Prix ring again in Lead Line. I don’t have any results as HITS has not updated the website as of this morning. Becca pinned 6th and 8th over fences and Audrey added another blue ribbon to her collection.

Everyone left by noon to fly North except Robin and the Mazzaferro family who stayed until Monday. Harpur and I had a typical flight home on Southwest. Boarded for our non-stop flight to Hartford, which they announced would now land in Baltimore (but only for a few minutes). We land in Baltimore and were told to change planes – but since Southwest has no boarding passes, they have to check everyone’s photo id before boarding (77 passengers!). Next we are told are departure is delayed by 45 mintues waiting for connecting passengers as this is the last flight to Hartford. An hour later 2 (count them 2) people arrive and we are now ready to leave. The best part is we land in Hartford and head to baggage claim to claim our 1 bag. We wait and wait – no bag. I head over to the Southwest baggage service office to make a lost bag claim -and there is my bag. It came in on an earlier flight says the service manager. Huh? How come the people couldn’t come in on an earlier flight? No answer….we finally arrive home around midnight – lots of snow and ice…wish we were still at HITS!

Becca started the day in Maiden Equitation. She was 1st, 1st, 1st over fences and 2nd in the flat. This meant that she was Champion! Congratulations Becca!

Becca also rode April Showers in the Medium Green Pony Hunters and pinned 6th in the model, 6th in the confirmation and 4th over fences.

Harpur was up next in the Novice Equitation, this was a step up from last weeks Maiden Equitation because the rules state once you earn a blue ribbon in a Maiden Equitation Class you have to move up. So this week she was in Novice Equitation jumping 2’9″. She pinned 1st, 2nd and 3rd over fences and a 4th in the flat. She was pinned the Novice Equitation Champion. Last week she was Reserve Champion in the Maiden Equitation, this week Champion in Novice Equitation – Congratulations Hapur and Huey!

Video of Harpur’s blue ribbon class:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2pYNhVEvh8]

Victoria rode in the very competitive Limit Equitation (3′), she did not pin, but laid down some very nice courses while cantering around in the mud.

We have a chance to watch some of the adults show today including Valerie and Faith being coached by Sally. Faith is the cleanest horse in our barn – see how she shines!

I finally caught Sally in a photo – unfortunately she’s holding an ice pack as she had a nasty bee sting on her arm, but she continued on coaching and riding. Thank you Sally for letting the kids and parents tag along with the Adults for two weeks and thank you for your support and awesome logistics. Our horses and kids were well take care of!

Sunday is our last day in Ocala – Becca is the only one showing, wrapping up her classes in Medium Green Pony Hunter, oh and yes Audrey will go after another blue in the Lead Line class.

Paige finally won her battle with Gunsmoke. Paige was Reserve Champion in Pre-Children’s Hunter Pony. Paige was 1st, 2nd, 2nd over fences and 4th in the flat. Congratulations Paige!

Rebecca Mazaferro rode in the Equitation 11 and under division and received an 8th place over fences and a 5th in the Equitation Flat.

Victoria was showing at the same time as Harpur, so no photos of Victoria (Sorry!), Victoria competed in the Equitation Medals today including the MACLAY. No ribbons but a great experience.

Harpur was the first to ride at 8am in the Modified Children’s Hunter and she pinned a 4th over fences and an 8th in the Under Saddle. At the end of the day she rode in the Equitation 12 – 13 Division in the Main Hunter Ring. This is an awesome ring with two giant trees in the middle of the ring. The courses were the hardest she has ever ridden. No ribbons, but a truly great experience and a fun ride.

The pictures don’t show how beautiful this ring is – I’ll load up a video tomorrow so you can see. Very challenging to the course designer. Kudos to HITS for putting the 12-13 year old riders in this ring.

RIP – This will come as very sad news – but our yellow golf cart monkey perished sometime last week. We’re not sure of the details, but he will be missed.

Today Money #2 arrived and he now occupies a proud place on our golf cart.

Day 10 Slide Show:

We welcome Joanne from the great north county to our Ocala tribe today

Today was a gloomy rainy today – really our first since we arrived last week. Victoria did another Jumper Class and went clean with no faults and placed 3rd in the class! Congratulations Victoria! We’re still waiting to see if she might have pinned.

The other kids, schooled in the morning and spent the afternoon at a butterfly exhibition in Gainsville.

Since I have no exciting videos or photos, I thought I would share a highlight from the weekend – Audrey in the Grand Prix Ring – Lead Line Class……..

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEJvWSoan10]

Tomorrow everyone shows and we hope for clear skies.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dp3cFPvuCw]

Sally and Tracey had a great day yesterday in the Jumper ring. (Sorry No Photos) Sally was 5th in the $500 YJC 7 & 8 Year old Level 7 Jumpers riding Fair Winds in the Grand Prix ring. Tracey riding Galler was 1st (again!) in the Level 3 Jumper riding Galler. There were 85 in her class! Congratulations to Tracey and Sally!

Tonight was a full Lunar Eclipse – we all watched outside as the moon was slowly eaten away and turned red…..

Tomorrow (Thursday) Joanne Dawley arrives to join the party!

Harpur Schwartz Modified Children’s Hunter – 1st Place and Champion, Feb 15, 2008

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9EgZed-S8A]

Courtney Scarpa – Pre-Children’s Hunter Under Saddle Class.

Here are some goofy photos to amuse everyone..