Shane Sweetnam, on his way out of the ring. It’s when I got there, so a little too late to capture his jumps, but the season is still ahead of us.
Look at that horse’s mane though. Those tasseled braids are a masterpiece!
As I said several times before, I have never ridden. But the love was always there.
Before my Troy and I discovered Polo, we actually had already gone to see the jumpers here in Wellington, when Wellington International was merely a dip in the ground, with railroad ties for seating. And no spectators.
All the more exciting is it for me to see how the stadium and the events have developed over the decades.
At this time and once again, a good portion of the credit goes to the late Gene Mische, who had a foresight and enough passion to bring the show to fledgling Wellington. Thank God for that.
Even before Wellington, jumpers have played a huge role in my life growing up. Albeit a remote role.
In my family it was a super special treat for the women to watch the Aachen horseshows on TV. Jumpers as well as dressage were on the menu and we loved them all.
My grandmother, my mother and I were religiously planted firmly in front of the screen to be enamored by the grace and skill of the riders.
Those were the times of Alwin and Paul Schockemoehle, Beerbaum, Winkler and many more.
And Josef Neckermann for Dressage. We loved Neckermann since he was from our hometown, and both my mom and I worked for his company for some time.
Sorry – I got carried away a bit, but that’s what passion does.
So today’s jumpers at Wellington International were amazing. Dawn and I were visiting to watch for a while, or better said: admire for a while.
I must admit that I’ll have to get more familiar with the current circuit, as I’ve been separated from the jumping world since it left town last year. Too much going on in my personal life, and my idea of going to visit the summer events fell through too.
BUT – I have enough desire to follow up this year and beyond.
Really, really good to see Mclain Ward again. There is something to be said about name recognition, and in this case it’s nice for a spectator to recognize a star jumper year after year. Like Laura Kraut. Always great to hear her name, and that’s been like that for at least twenty years.
Not that it wouldn’t be nice to watch young talent. Or new talent, shall we say.
Like a proud mama, I found myself looking at some unfamiliar faces and noticing their discipline, hope and heart.
You can’t make a bigger confession of love to celebrate a sport that is so fascinatingly beautiful to watch. And thrilling with its horses and their riders.
As always, from a fan’s perspective.
All photos on this page Copyright © by Ingrid Webster for POLO in Wellington.*
*We are amateur photographers, so feel free to grab any photos you like and share for personal use. Please give proper credit to poloinwellington.com.
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