By Kim J. Harmon

 

WELLINGTON, Florida – For the past three years, Tim Malone of Newtown has won all kinds of ribbons and medals at some of the top equestrian shows in the area.

But earlier this month he reached a nice pinnacle by winning the blue ribbon (and $3,000 check) in the $10,000 Adult Owner Jumper Classic in the Cosequin© Finale of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.

“My goal was to just do the best I could,” said Tim, 18, who was in his first jumper competition with his Dutch warmblood Juventa. “If I was happy with the way the horse was doing, that’s all that would have mattered.”

But he and his horse were successful … successful enough to beat out some 50 competitors for the blue ribbon in the $10,000 Adult Owner Jumper Classic. The $3,000 he earned there was great and added to the $70 he won by finishing 11th in the Medium Amateur Owner Jumper class and the $80 he won in the $1,500 Low Amateur-Owner Jumper class

Tim has been riding for more than 10 years and currently trains (about two hours a day) with Chris Cawley and Leslie Burr Howard at the Fairfield County Hunt Club in Westport. In that time he has qualified for the Connecticut Junior Hunt Seat Medal and placing third at the 2001 Medal Finals and 10th at the 2002 Medal Finals; qualified for the New England Junior Medal and placing eighth at the 2001 finals and 11th at the 2002 finals; qualified for the National Professional Horseman’s Association (PHA) Medal while winning the Greek Neff Award in 2001 as the top point qualifier; qualified for the USA Equestrian Medal finals and placing in the top 25 in 2002; qualified for the Maclay Regional Finals in 2000 and 2002 while advancing through the 2002 Northeast Regional to the finals at The Washington International Horse Show; and placed 15th at the 2002 United States Equestrian Team (USET) Show Jumping Talent Search Finals.

On his move towards the Winter Equestrian Fesitval, Tim first hooked up with Juventa back in November and that is not a whole lot of time to prepare for something has grueling as the Winter Equestrian Festival.

“(The horse) had been in the barn for other people,” said Tim, “so just getting used to each other and keeping her happy and relaxed was the hardest thing.”

Shortly after getting together, Juventa was shipped with several other horses from the Fairfield Hunt Club to Wellington, Florida (near Palm Beach) to prepare for the competition. And starting in mid-January, Tim began a six-week odyssey that would have him leaving school on Thursday to go home, grab his bags, and hop on a plane to Florida.

“I was usually on my horse by 7 am Friday,” said Tim, “stretching her legs and getting ready to show at noon.”

The Festival would feature different classes each week, with the biggest event coming on Sunday. And by the nature of the competition, Tim would do all that flying and all that preparation just to be in the ring about two minutes a day.

“I got nervous starting out,” he admitted, “but by the time I got into the ring I was relaxed and trying to do my best.”

Tim and Juventa got off to a decent start in the Festival, but around towards the middle there they had a spell where things weren’t going so well. They recovered in time, though, for the big Jumper Classic finish.

In the first round of the $10,000 Adult Owner Jumper Classic, some 50 competitors took to the track and tried to negotiate a clean run over 12 jumps. Those that were perfect qualified for the second round, which had fewer jumpers and a much bigger emphasis on going fast.

“In the first round you really try to play it safe,” said Tim, “and in the second round you go for it.”

Juventa went for it and out-paced 11 other horses for first place. Second place ($2,000) went to Summer Gay and Pamina while third place ($1,000) went to Kelly Maloney and Crazy Charley. The last three positions in the event earned $300 apiece.

With a rousing finish to the winter season (which included, outside of the Festival, several in-the-money placings at other shows), Tim will be looking forward to some local shows and a big show at the Fairfield Hunt Club.

After that, he will start preparing to head out to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he hopes to be participating on the equestrian team (one of the few school that features a varsity-level team).

And, heck, the $3,000 he won down in Florida might help pay for his books that first semester.