The young jumpers took to the International Ring at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) on Friday to compete in their final classes of the 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). Erynn Ballard (CAN) and Easy were victorious in the $20,000 Adequan® Young Jumper Seven-Year-Old Final.
Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) set the course for 52 starters in the $20,000 Adequan® Young Jumper Seven-Year-Old Final, with 13 clear rounds to advance to the jump-off, and five double clear rounds.
“I have ridden Easy in six classes, and she has been clear in every single one,” Ballard stated after her victory. “The first two weeks I showed her, she was fourth in the first class and second in the qualifier. Then this week, I was sixth in the first class and I was like, ‘I think that’s good, because if I was fourth, I was going to end being second again.’ I changed it up, but I was pretty serious about giving it my best shot to win. I saw Laura (Kraut) go and she was fast, so I went as fast as I could, which held up to be incredibly fast.”
Speaking of her track in the jump-off, Ballard detailed, “My plan was to do six strides from one to two, put a little curve in it, and then get me in on the third jump in the jump-off. Then I left out one stride for seven, but that horse is so competitive and so smart. She always knows where she is, and even when I was going so fast, she still knew that her job was to jump the jumps.”
In addition to her winning prize, Easy was presented the Champion Equine Insurance Jumper Style Award for week twelve.
Commenting on Easy’s style, Ballard remarked, “She is pretty flashy. She is a very impressive jumper. When you look at her pictures, she is not centimeters over the jump, she is feet over the jump. I was saying earlier, in the jump-off, even though she is so high, she does it out of stride so she is not wasting time in the air. She puts in an impressive effort over every single fence, but she is still very competitive. She does not waste any time, and she knows that she is supposed to win first place.”
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