Pals Tied After Two Phases of USEF Show Jumping Talent Search-East

New Yorker Addison Phillips put in near flawless flatwork in the first of the four-phase USEF Show Jumping Talent Search-East to put her slightly ahead of her barn pal, Maggie McAlary. However, McAlary, of Amherst, NH, surged into the overall lead after the second go, the gymnastics phase of the four-part horsemanship test held Oct. 14-15 at the U.S. Equestrian Team’s training center in Gladstone, NJ.

“I am really confident in my horse. I have had him for going on five years and I have a lot of trust in him,” said the 17-year-old high school junior. “I came up with the best plan for him (in gymnastics). I was going to do six (strides) to the sixth (fence) on a bending line but ended up doing five because I jumped in really well. So I went to Plan B and luckily it worked out.”

Stops Abound at Cloverleaf Ending

Numerous riders in the 71-entry field had stops at that offset vertical as well as the cloverleaf pattern around the four jumping efforts at the end of the course. Since McAlary and Phillips ride together at trainer Andre Dignelli’s Heritage Farm, they walked the course together. “We thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem, because we thought there would be much more room. It was kind of surprising” when the refusals mounted up there, said McAlary.

Judges George Morris and Alison Firestone devised routes “that posed a lot of questions but you could work your horse around them. George had told us he wanted us to ride boldly,” said McAlary who was third at last year’s finals.

Setting Self Apart

She was hoping to better that in next part of the finals, show jumping, which leads to the decisive ride-off. “I want to go in and be aggressive, not to just sitting back and waiting for something bad to happen. I don’t want to play it safe; I want to go in and show them I am really trying to set myself apart.”