Jazz received Top Vet Score but not BC (Road to Tevis #90)

About a month ago, I looked up my record on the AERC site. I noticed that it did not include Jazz’s Best Condition at Laurel Mountain. I emailed Dave Nicholson about it. Today I finally heard back. Dave said he must have made a mistake in awarding me the plaque pictured below (and announcing it at ride night!!). Apparently, Jazz was top vet score but not BC. Needless to say, I was not exactly happy.

For one thing, I had announced my win and BC on Facebook… and I had written about it on this blog. You can read about it here: Two surprise wins and one BC. It’s a little bit embarrassing to have announced something as important as BC and not have it appear on the AERC record. For another… well!! I was proud of that Best Condition!

High Vet Score was a small consolation

Dave sent me the scoring for Jazz and the second place horse, Z’ha’dum, who was BC when the results were sent to AERC. You can see the scoring in the table below (Richard Stedman rode Z’ha’dum).

RIDER	RECOVERY	HYDRATION	LESIONS	SOUNDNESS	QUALITY	VET SCORE	Wgt	HVY	DIFF/2	WGT SCR	Time	WIN TIME	TIME DIFFERENCE	DIFF IN MIN	TIME SCORE	OVERALL SCORE
Richard	7	7.5	9	9	10	425	218	218	0	100	6:41	6:41	0:00:00	0	200	725
Jessica	10	8	9	9	10	460	138	218	40	60	6:41	6:41	0:00:00	0	200	720

But honestly… I expected neither the win nor a BC!

As I explained in the blog post about the Laurel Mountain ride, the win was a surprise. I hadn’t ridden “to win,” I did not go that fast, and when I galloped (ok, hand-galloped) towards the finish with Richard, I was just playing. At the finish, I did not know I was ahead, and I thought Richard was riding the LD. I had passed Richard early in the second loop, and I finished that first loop with no one in sight. To this day I am not sure how Richard snuck up on me and ended up riding out for the second loop right after me. I guess I need to pay more attention!

The point is, winning was a pleasant surprise, and so was best condition. The fact that it turned out Jazz was top vet score but not BC should not be a big deal. And yet….

If you look at the numbers above, I lost BC by only five points. And it was because Richard is a lot bigger than I am.

That’s it. I am definitely ordering a Western saddle!

I’ve been wanting to custom -order a Western saddle ever since that very same Laurel Mountain xpride. I rode with Scott Lucas on Day 1, and he has a beautiful custom-made Frecker’s saddle. It doesn’t look like Frecker’s would be able to make me a saddle for a few years, so I’ll probably order a McCall. Just waiting to finalize the sale of my Reactor Panel and then I will order.

I was originally intending to use the saddle primarily for training. Carrying extra weight up my hills is excellent conditioning. And there’s nothing like a good Western saddle for comfort and stability. (I do hate throwing them up on a horse however!) I’ve been using a Circle Y my mom bought years ago. It is an acceptable fit for Jazz, but doesn’t work at all for Fantazia. It’s also not very comfortable for me. I need a smaller twist, and it rubs my knees. Wade models have narrower twists, and I can get a custom-fit to my horses and to endurance…

And then, YES I will ride endurance with it. 30-35 pounds of saddle would have won me that BC!

Can’t wait! But McCall will take 12 months to make me a saddle so I will have to…

Above: Jazz wearing the Circle Y I’ve been using at home on a recent training ride.