October 2015 Newsletter

CHJA Medal Finals Crown Champions

The Colorado Hunter Jumper Association held its annual Medal Finals competition Sept. 16-20 at the National Western Stock Show Events Center in Denver. Nearly 150 riders and horses competed for top honors in nine Medal Finals classes.

One of the most exciting wins had to be that of Rae Valentine in the Columbine Adult Medal. During the previous two years, Rae had fallen just short of qualifying for that particular final so this season she set her sights on accruing the necessary points as early as possible.

"This was the culmination of a three-year goal," she said. "I literally had a team of friends helping me achieve this from January on including my barn mates and trainers."

Rae admits her nerves almost got the better of her and in fact was told by her trainers to take five deep breaths before entering the arena. The tactic paid off. Rae and her mount, Prism earned solid scores on both jumping rounds.

"I will never forget the feeling I had when we did the victory gallop and having my picture taken with my trainers," she added. "I had the time of my life and the icing on the cake was having my sister here from Chicago to see us triumph."

Allison Pelzel has grown up around horses so she knows a thing or two when it comes to riding at the Medal Finals. After all, her mom is her trainer and also was an equitation star.

As the champion in the CHJA Adult Medal, Allison was pleased with how well the two-day event went for her and her horse, Denali. She noted he has come so far in the past year and how proud she was that each round they did was better than the previous one.

"I was very excited to finally have Medal Finals come together for me after so many years of competing both on my horse and in the practicum," Allison said.

Eva Coringrato managed to earn the tri-color in the Ruth Ayres Medal Final for the second year in a row despite a rough show season that involved surgery mid-season.

"This is the first time I have come back to do the same event after winning, so I would say I was both confident and nervous," Eva said. "Everything has to come together in a special way to win a big class. I didn't know if I would get lucky two years in a row."

Eva gave a lot of credit to her horse, Priam. She trusted that he knew the venue and was familiar with the competition format. She noted that while she didn't have the same expectations this year, she still was hoping to win and planned to simply do her best by having solid rounds each day.

Perhaps the most prolific Finals rider was Maddie Minnick, who won both the Dorothy Roberts Medal Final and the Col. R.L. Robertson Medal Final. Other champions include Arden McReynolds in the CHJA Junior Medal, Faith Young in the Columbine Junior Medal, Kamryn Steel in the National Junior Medal and Elizabeth Simpson in the CHJA Pony Medal. Complete results are on the CHJA website.