The Competion

The riders alternated on riding four different horses which they had not ridden before. These included Straight Talk, a 16.3 hand bay gelding owned by Jennie Hobs; Mr. Darci, a 9-year-old Warmblood gelding, owned by Samantha Stimell; Antiqua, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, owned by Holland Coffee and Sandra Willekes; and Crescendo, a 9-year-old, 16.2 hand liver chestnut Warmblood gelding, owned by Pine Hollow Stables and on loan by The Wetherill Family.

The riders were allowed to briefly warm-up on their first horse but for all subsequent rides they had to go directly to the 3'6" course in the ring. And while the fences were the same for all four courses, the order in which they were jumped changed each time.

The rounds were scored by five judges using the open numerical system. The four riders who qualified were being judged by Sue Ashe, Wellington, FL; Scott Hofstetter, Ocala, FL; Randy Mullins, Collierville, TN; Phillip Devita, Apopka, FL and Jeff Wirthman, Island Lake, IL.

A Fight to the End

Stewart earned his victory in one of the toughest classes ever. It wasn't until the very last round that Stewart took over the lead. "I was pretty relaxed," explained Stewart. "I had such a great week, that I would have been happy even if I came in fourth."

The class began with Schatt taking the early lead with a score of 90.8 (Stewart - 89.4, Darling - 84, Pletcher - 81.8). In the second round Stewart claimed the high score of 94 but when the scores of all the riders were combined it was still Schatt leading with 184.20 with Stewart close on her heals totaling 183.40 (Darling - 177.7 and Pletcher 172.4). In round three Darling took her turn when she earned the highest score of 92.8, but it was still Schatt leading the way with her cumulative score of 273.2 (Stewart 272.7, Darling 270.5, Pletcher 260.4).

Then the war was on in the final round. Schatt went first and put in such a brilliant round with a score of 95.2 that it appeared her final tally of 368.4 was unbeatable. Darling had another good round but not quite good enough to take over the lead as she scored 92.3 with a final total of 362.8. Even as Stewart entered the arena it seemed all but impossible that he could take over the lead. But in this class surprises never cease and when the scores went up on the screen the crowd gasped - 98 - 98 - 98 - 99 and 99 for a fourth round total of 98.4 and a cumulative total of 371.1. Stewart had taken over the lead by less than three points. The crowd cheered knowing that even with one more rider to go, Stewart had claimed the title. In fact there was no way that Pletcher could have taken over the lead. He totaled 92.8 and earned the lowest overall score of 353.2. But even as the last rider he was smiling. It had been a fun class and Pletcher knew that Stewart had earned his victory.