Source:  News Release/LEG Up

Two Challenging Medal Finals--Two Ecstatic Winners
Consistency and Style Win
Onondarka and WCE Medal Finals at LA National

After placing second in the 2011 Onondarka Medal Final, Tylor Nowell (Nina Alario, trainer) declared, “I feel really good about placing second, although I would love to win next year.” 2012 was Tylor’s year, and she achieved her dream of leading the victory gallop in the Onondarka Medal Final. “This year in particular, it just means so much because it’s the 50th anniversary,” Tylor commented. “This is my fourth year participating, and it has been really great to be able to track my progress over the past four years and see how far I’ve come.” The victory was even sweeter since Tylor will age out next year and this was her last chance to win the title.

The Onondarka Medal Final, open to riders aged twelve and under, has a prestigious history and past winners have included equestrian greats like Susie Hutchison, Lise Quintero, and Francie Steinwedell. Tylor is already a talented rider and despite being off all summer due to an injury, she and her Askaban came back stronger than ever to win the Nor Cal Junior Medal Final in October. “I had a rough summer and I couldn’t ride, so it was great that I’ve had the trainers and the training to help me get back to where I was before, if not farther ahead,” Tylor reflected.

The pair was the epitome of consistency and style throughout the challenging four-part competition. Tylor scored 84 in the first round and 85 in the second to easily make the top 15. She was just behind Grady Lyman (Krystalle Glosser, trainer), who had a two round average of 86 on Opportunity. After the top 15 competed in the third round, the judges invited the top eight back to work off with Tylor still sitting second.

During the work off, competitors had to hand gallop a fence, counter canter a one stride, halt, back, then drop their irons and ride to the exit at a posting trot. “Going into the work off, I knew my horse and I had both given our best efforts," said Tylor. "I knew I was really going to be happy wherever we ended up.” While Tylor waited for her turn, Kayla Lott (Elvenstar Farms, trainer) had a beautiful work off with a very precise halt. Tylor stepped up to the challenge and executed an excellent work off with precise transitions and a flowing hand gallop jump. “I don’t like hand gallop jumps, so those are always a personal victory for me,” noted Tylor.

Tylor Nowell and Askaban have been together for just over a year Photo: Flying Horse Photography

Several riders had difficulties riding the right distance to one of the coop fences in the work off, including Grady who unfortunately had a large chip at that fence. The mistake dropped her to fourth place and Tylor moved up to first.

Tylor shared the victory with her horse Askaban, which she first rode in this final last year. “I leased him for the final last year and we bought him about a week after that. He’s a superstar and I love him to pieces,” Tylor gushed. In the future, she hopes to qualify for indoors and start competing in the ASPCA Maclay and Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search.

In the West Coast Equestrians Junior-Amateur Medal Final, young talent took center stage again as 14-year-old Alexandra Ladove (Lori De Rosa, trainer) and her Schubert beat out stiff competition. It was a hard fought win for Alexandra, who didn’t have the performance she wanted in last year’s medal final. Alexandra explained, “I got Schubert just a couple of weeks before the final last year and hadn’t figured him out. He has a really big stride, but he’s super elastic so it’s easy to get him back and add a stride. That took me a really long time to get used to, so last year I left out and added strides in the same course and wasn’t consistent.”

This year, consistency was not an issue and was in fact her strong point throughout the final. Judges DiAnn Langer and Patricia Griffith, who also judged the Onondarka Medal Final, immediately homed in on Alexandra’s consistency. “She was the most consistent for sure. Some of the other riders had to climb their way up into the ribbons, but she stayed on top the entire competition. She has beautiful style and her rounds were smooth,” commented DiAnn.

Alexandra Ladove demnstrates smooth consistency throughout the WCE Junior-Amateur Medal Final Photo: Flying Horse Photography

Smooth consistency was difficult to achieve on the two jumper style courses (Richard Jeffery, designer). “With the first two rounds, I wanted to ask different questions," Richard enumerated. "The first round was a lot about numbers and being able to shorten and lengthen. The second course was a lot about riding off your eye. I really wanted to have two contrasting courses to test the riders.”

The first course was designed as a Table II, 2c (Power and Speed) course, with fences 1 through 7 designated as the power part of the course and the rest as the speed portion, with time allowed of 50 seconds. The judges then gave a score and any jumping or time faults were subtracted from the score. In the first round, Alexandra earned 85 and had a clear round just under the time allowed. In order to keep a consistent pace, Alexandra explained, “I basically just tried not to get nervous beforehand. During the course, I’d get going down a line and then in the corner I’d make sure I had a balance point while still keeping enough forward momentum.”

Amateur Adrienne Dixon (Buddy Brown, trainer) also impressed the judges on Anton. Adrienne has competed in the WCE Medal Finals many times before. “Based on past experience, I’ve noticed that the judges prefer effective riding so that was my number one thought going into the first round.” Adrienne rode in beautiful style in addition to being effective, and the judges awarded her an 87, the highest score of the night. Unfortunately, Adrienne did pull a rail which brought the score down to 83.

DiAnn explained, “The class is about being able to ride a jumper round and take efficient tracks and make good turns, but also the rider has to look good and have a good plan.” Patricia added, “It came down to who was the most effective rider yet was still under the time allowed. Rails were counted heavily against them, so riders had to be careful. It was a fine line between being very smooth and having good time.”

The second course of the finals was another jumper style course with a time allowed of 79 seconds. As in the first course, riders had points deducted for rails and time faults. It included a triple combination and several connected bending lines, which forced riders to ride off their eye as Richard intended. Alexandra did exactly that and noted, “I pretty much stuck to my plan in the second course except for the first bending line. It could have been an 8 or a 9 and I decided on the 8 stride in the moment.” Alexandra’s second course scored an 83 after assessing a 4 point penalty for one rail, giving her a two round average of 84. Adrienne was close behind with an average two round score of 81.5. After scoring a 74.5 in the first round, fourteen-year-old Kira Zelman (Elvenstar Farms, trainer) rode a flawless course on Vitoria and scored the highest score of the second round with an 86.

After the second course, the top 15 were brought back for a third round to determine the ribbons over a speed, or jump-off, styled course. The time allowed required riders to ride at jump-off pace. Riders were brought back in reverse order of score with Kira, Adrienne, and Alexandra as the top three.

Kira rode first and executed another beautiful round, which earned her an 83 and the lead at that point. Adrienne was up next. “I have probably shown in this medal final somewhere between eight and ten times, so I was really hoping to bring home the blue ribbon," Adrienne commented. "I wanted to execute my plan the same way I had in the first round and stick to my tracks and ride clean.” Adrienne put herself one step closer to that goal with a score of 82.5 in the third round, putting her ahead of Kira in the overall standings by 0.75.

Despite Adrienne’s best efforts, she could not hold off Alexandra’s remarkable consistency. Alexandra scored another 85 in the third round and succeeded in leading the class from start to finish, ending with a five point lead ahead of Adrienne for the championship. “It means so much to me to win this medal final. I’ve been working so hard and it’s paid off,” Alexandra shared.

Alexandra’s hard work has certainly paid off with a blockbuster weekend at LA National. Not only did she win the WCE Medal Final, but she also won the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search, ASPCA Horsemanship, and Washington International Equitation classes.

Watch for our continued coverage of the LA National Horse Show (Nov 7-11). There’s still much more to read about, including the $32,000 LA National Open Welcome Stake, Equitation Championships, the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby Final, Celebrate Jumpers, and more.

While the top jumpers head to Las Vegas for the conclusion of the inaugural West Coast Indoor Circuit at Las Vegas National, the LA Season Finale (Nov 16-18) will wrap up LEG’s 40th Anniversary show season. The LA Season Finale hosts the LEGIS League Medal Finals – five different classes – as well as the LEGIS League Children’s Pony Hunter Finale.

Discover the latest innovations in equine nutrition and much, much more at SmartPak.com: