New Hope-Solebury senior Caroline Ives, and her horse JohnBug, recently won the USHJA Zone 2 Competition, HOTY (Horse of the Year), a national equestrian competition within the Age 15-17 Hunter Horse 3’ Division.
Twenty-five young riders from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, the largest regional zone for the national competition, earned the chance to compete at the Princeton Show Jumping Facility this fall. Riders earn a spot based on the points they accumulate in a year-long series of shows. Ives participated in 15 total shows to advance to this level of competition.
In Ives’ division, riders must complete eight 3-foot jumps in three rounds. Judges evaluate the horses for performance and showmanship, rather than speed. Their focus is primarily on the horse’s performance, more so than the rider’s. Ives has learned to accept the elements of competition beyond her own control and approaches them with greater confidence as a result. She knows the years of training and coaching of the horse will come through. To her pleasant surprise, they did on competition day. “I told my dad that morning I had a good feeling about it,” said Ives. “My horse JohnBug was perfect. It was like he knew what was going on.”
Ives cites her connection with the horses as her favorite aspect of riding. She felt this connection from the first time she sat on a horse while visiting her aunt in Doylestown at the age of 6. “I started off learning to care for the horse and continued to fall in love with it from there,” said Ives.
Although Ives’ love for riding was innate, navigating competitive horse-riding was not. Ives shared that particularly in the past year, she has faced many challenges through this process. A difficult relationship with a coach led her to switch barns, which meant training herself and working with her parents to make the arrangements to show her horse throughout the year. “It took a lot of self-motivation, but I learned how to recognize and accept when a change is needed,” said Ives. “I admit that knowing how much work I put into this, winning was an awesome feeling. I cried happy tears when I won.”
Up next for the rider, Ives is looking forward to rehabilitating her horse named JuneBug, who was hurt two years ago and hopes to show JuneBug in the future. She is also exploring opportunities to continue her riding at the collegiate level.
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