HITS 6 continues to go well. Today Anne and Cheval Z won the Level 5 Power & Speed class. They were blazing and clear to take the Blue! Carly Rink and her Monte Cristo won the Schooling Hunter u/s! Over fences he placed 7th with Anna Banks. DJ Rink rode well on Wind Chimes in the Schooling Hunters and placed 7th. Morgan and Charmedino were smooth and clear in the High Child Power and Speed. They earned a ribbon. Motto jumped the $25,000 Grand Prix easily today. 1 rail down kept them out of the prize money. He is exciting to watch grow and learn over these bigger courses! Diva was 10th in the Brookledge Speed class yesterday.

HITS Week 6 is starting off well. Tuesday, Morgan and her Charmedino won ribbons in all 3 of their Equitation classes. Their final trip in the Maclay was super and they placed 4th! Today Motto jumped 2 beautiful clear rounds in the Welcome class. He finished up in 5th place.

Hits 5 ended well for us. Friday, Motto jumped an effortless clear round in the $25,000 Grand Prix! In the jump off 1 down gave us 10th place. I'm very pleased with him in his first real Grand Prix. Morgan and Charmedino had some good rounds and ribbons in Equitation and Children's Jumpers. Caitlyn and Bink placed 5th in the High Jr-A/O Speed Friday. Today in the tough, High Classic they had a good round, under the tight time allowed. They also pulled 1 rail, to wind up 10th. We stay in Saugerties for Hits 6!

Congratulations to Mclain and Rothchild for winning the Individual Pan Am Gold Medal in Toronto today! (I won the Individual Gold in 1983). I know he really wanted to win this one. Also, congratulations to Lauren Hough and Ohlala for taking the individual Bronze. They won both of those medals after a jump off round! Robert Ridland must be proud of his U.S. Team this week! Well done!

Congratulations to Team Canada for winning the Pan Am Team Gold Medal! They deserve it and have worked extremely hard for it. They are are an incredible group of riders and horsemen. So special to win it on their home turf in Toronto!!! Well done to Argentina for winning the Silver and USA for winning Bronze!

First of all, congratulations to our U.S. Team of Mclain, Georgina, Lauren and Kent for winning the Team Bronze Medal today in Toronto!!! Good going!

We've had several good days at HITS Saugerties. Today Motto was brilliant in the 1.40m jump off class. He jumped the first round very well. In the jump off, we had the fastest time, with 1 fence down. We ended up in second place! Diva went very well in the 1.40m Speed. She was clear and smooth, finishing up in 8th place. In the Level 4 yesterday, Cheval Z jumped a clean, handy round. He took 7th place. Morgan and Charmedino showed Tuesday in the Equitation classes. They placed 4th in the MS & 8th in the USEF.

Congratulations to the US Eventing Team and Marilyn Little for individual Gold!

The NAYRC Individual competitions were extremely exciting today! The courses asked many questions, had some options and another big open water and tight times. With this Championship format, they had to jump 2 different courses. With the heat all week and the 3 initial rounds many horses were tired. The medal winners truly earned them. In the Juniors, the Gold medalist was Vivian Yowan from Zone 5, the Silver went to Juan Pablo Gaspar Albanez from Mexico and the Bronze medal went to Sophie Simpson from Zone 4.

The Young Riders really fought for it as the class progressed. In the end Lucy Deslauriers from Zone 2 hung onto the best score jumping a final 1 time fault round. She took the Gold, Brittni Raflowitz from Zone 4 took the Silver and the Bronze went to Noel Fauntleroy from Zone 3.

It is such an invaluable experience for these riders. I know they, their horses and trainers learned a great deal. I heard several riders speaking about riding in it again next year! Congratulations to all!

The team competitions were held yesterday. It is so wonderful for our Juniors and Young Riders to experience a true team class. The pressure is quite different. It was always my favorite class, the Nations Cup. There is simply nothing like riding for your country! We saw some nerves, especially for some of the first timers. Also in the team event, you jump the same course twice. That is also a new experience for many of these horses. If you went clear, can you do it again. If you had a fence or more down, can you improve on that score? It is quite different from the regular horse show. Our Zone 2 kids did well, taking home 4th place. They learned a lot and improved over the 2 rounds. Bink jumped really well in the Rolex Stadium. Caitlyn rode well, better and better each round! Congratulations to all of the Zone 2 Junior riders and horses for a great showing. Congratulations to the Junior team Gold Zone 4, the Silver Zones 5/9 and the Bronze Mexican team!

Congratulations to Zone 4 who took home Gold in the Junior Team Jumping Championship. Zones 5/9 took home Silver, Mexico North Bronze. Congrats to all!