When Hillary Dobbs heard the top rail of the last vertical hit the dirt on her jump-off course for the gold medal in the Adequan/USEF Prix des States individual junior jumper championship, she resigned herself to watching Maggie McAlary pick up the win tonight, Oct. 14 at the Pennsylvania National junior weekend.  “It was a tough break—I just couldn’t get him back quite enough,” she said.  “I was totally prepared for silver.  I figured I had the team gold [from her win with Zone 2 in the team competition last night], and the individual silver, and I was thrilled with that.”

Dobbs and Quincy B—first to go of the two to jump off for the gold—posted their four-fault score in 36.69 seconds.  When McAlary cantered to the first few fences on Pedro, it looked as if she was going for the conservative clear round to win.  But Pedro tipped a toe to the vertical at the third fence, and when the thunk sounded of that rail hitting the dirt, McAlary rapidly picked up the pace.  She sped around the rest of the course, but stopped the timers in 36.92 seconds—just a few tenths of a second off the pace.  Dobbs would have the individual gold to add to her collection, while McAlary settled for silver.

“I was in total shock when I heard that her time was slower,” Dobbs said.  She knew Quincy B wasn’t the fastest.  “He has a very big stride and a big lofty jump, so he takes a little bit of time in the air,” she said.  She got Quincy eight months ago from Shelia Burke.  And while the little horse—just 15.3 hands—has a competitive edge in the jumpers, he’s also a quiet, obedient mount.  In fact, she rode the feisty bay gelding to ninth in the USET Show Jumping Talent Search Finals-East (N.J.) the week before.

Another thrilling jump-off decided the bronze—between Julie Welles on Felix des Noues and Kristen Vanderveen on Bradberry.  Vanderveen set the pace on the incredibly rapid Bradberry.  A diminutive chestnut at just 16 hands, Bradberry seems to breathe fire on his way around the ring.  He’s got a definite opinion about liking a fast pace, and Vanderveen does an excellent job of controlling his enthusiasm and keeping him jumping clean.  “He’s a little tough,” she admitted.  “But he’s always taking me to the jumps, and I like that.  He’s really fast, so I decided to go for it.  I wanted a medal.”

Vanderveen posted a clean jump-off round in 32.70 seconds—by far the fastest jump-off time of the night.  Welles made a concerted effort to catch her on Felix des Noues, but the lank bay gelding’s gallop around the ring proved no match for the handy turns Bradberry had spun.  Welles finished clean in 34.14 seconds, and settled for fourth.  She did, however, earn the William Steinkraus style award, selected by the judges for her stylish performance in her clear first round of the Prix des States team competition the night before.  Welles looked to be on her way to another clean round in round 2 last night, but Felix abruptly ran out at a vertical.   Welles turned him on a dime back to the fence, and they finished with no time faults—just the 4 for the stop.  Tonight, in the first round, she had just the front rail of the last oxer to tie Vanderveen for third and force the jump-off.

Vanderveen, 16, was thrilled with the result.  “This is the biggest thing I’ve done!” she said.  Vanderveen, of Elbrun, Ill., had shown pony jumpers at Harrisburg before, but this was her first appearance in the junior jumpers there. 

Conrad Homfeld’s technical course definitely took its toll.  McAlary and Dobbs were the only ones to jump the first round clean, though Vanderveen collected only 1 time fault.  But of more concern was questionable footing at one end of the ring.  The problems started when Hannah Selleck’s horse fell on the tight rollback turn from fence 3 to 4, right in front of the ingate.  His feet just slipped out from him sideways and he went down on his side.  He and Selleck both hopped back to their feet and looked fine.  But then, just a few horses later, Lexy Reed’s horse did the exact same thing in the same place, though she was traveling over the area on her way to the last fence, and not turning sharply.  The ring crew took extra care to rake the area, but a few more horses slipped.  No more fell, however.

“I was a little worried, since the footing took some casualties,” Dobbs said.  “But we had big studs in, and my game plan was to really support him around that turn.”