Twenty one horse/rider combinations saddled up to tackle a tough and technical Grand Prix course at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center’s Winter Series II “A” show, held on Saturday, February 12, 2011  and set up by course designer Michel Vaillancourt.

First on the course was German born rider Christian Rogge aboard Carl Loui TSP, finishing the course with only 1 rail down.  This score would hold the lead through past half of the field, as rider after rider found themselves with multiple faults due to downed rails or refusals.

The triple combination at fence 7 (two verticals with an oxer at 7C) proved to be a challenge, with many riders leaving rails on the ground. Immediately after this difficult combo, Vaillancourt set up a hard right to a narrow vertical at fence 8 that also saw many downed rails.

It was not until teenage rider Jordan Appel and her horse Einstein (13th in the jump order), who managed to put up the first clean round of the evening. It is worthwhile to mention that she also held the distinction of being the youngest rider in the field!

There were several riders who would eventually finish with 4 faults total, including Stephanie Tropia and CR Napoleon, Rogge, and Erin Davis aboard Alamo. They would go on to claim spots 3rd through 5th respectively. The crowd in attendance had to wait until the very last rider to find out whether there would be a jump off. That last rider was Heineking on the irons of his second mount of the night “River of Dreams” owned by Kai Handt. The dapple grey and his rider putting a classic clean round, well within the time allowed, to earn the second and last spot on the jump-off.

So that left only NTEC’s Heineking and his student Appel on the jump-off.  Jordan was the first to go, and put a quick round of 48.084 sec. but had an unfortunate rail at the last fence, and thus would claim second place overall. Heineking, her trainer and competitor was next, and put in his second clean round of the night, stopping the clock at 47.560  to claim the blue ribbon.  Overall, a great evening for North Texas Equestrian Center (NTEC).

Place Prize Horse Rider Trainer Owner
1 $7,500 RIVER OF DREAMS CHRISTIAN HEINEKING CHRISTIAN HEINEKING KAI HANDT
2 $5,500 EINSTEIN JORDAN APPEL CHRISTIAN HEINEKING JORDAN APPEL
3 $3,250 CR NAPOLEON STEPHANIE TROPIA PAOLO TROPIA STEPHANIE TROPIA
4 $2,000 CARL LOUI TSP CHRISTIAN ROGGE CHRISTIAN ROGGE CHRISTIAN ROGGE
5 $1,500 ALAMO ERIN DAVIS ERIN DAVIS OCTOBER HILL HUNTERS & JUMPERS
6 $1,250 NKH BARBOSA CHRISTIAN HEINEKING CHRISTIAN HEINEKING NKH LLC
7 $1,000 PEGGI SUE FRANK OWENS CANDIE OWENS DS HOLDINGS, LLC
8 $750 CICERO 75 EIRIN BRUHEIM ELISABETH BRUHEIM NORDIC LIGHTS FARM, LLC
9 $750 UNO MARTIEN VAN DER HOEVEN MARTIEN VAN DER HOEVEN CINDY MC CAMPBELL-WILKERSON
10 $500 MR. NOBODY MEGAN HAAG CHRISTIAN ROGGE FIVE-H PARTNERS
11 $500 LUCIO 18 FRANK OWENS CANDIE OWENS DS HOLDINGS LLC
12 $500 TWU WUV CARLI KIRSCH MELANY KIRSCH CARLI KIRSCH