Articles: Horse News
Jeanne Hobbs Sails Southern River to Championship of Farm Vet Level Five
Jumpers and
Places Third in Grand Prix at HITS Culpeper
Jeanne Hobbs and Southern River in Wellington earlier this year. Photo by
SportFot.
Contact:
Carrie Wirth for Phelps Media Group, Inc.
at (561) 753-3389 or at pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com
Wellington, FL- April 24, 2012 - Jeanne Hobbs found her groove at HITS
Culpeper winning the Farm Vet Level Five Championship with her own mount,
Southern River. In the $40,000 Grand Prix, Hobbs piloted Nielsen B to third
place honors.
The conditions were not ideal, with fifty-degree weather and rain. But Danny
Foster's courses rode well for Hobbs and her two horses and, despite the
cold and rain, they delivered outstanding performances.
"Southern River is 100% Thoroughbred," shared Hobbs about her
twelve-year-old partner. "I've had him since he was about three and a half
years old, and he's a super-fast, careful and brave horse. He won the first
day at Culpeper, and he went in and won the second day as well. That's
him. He's a winner. He enjoys winning. The faster you go, the better he
jumps."
Hobbs, who was a member of the 2008 USEF Developing Riders Nations Cup Tour,
describes her coach, Peter Leone in one word: methodical. She says when the
Olympic Silver Medalist sets a course, he is calculated and precise and
everything has a reason.
"He walks a course and no stone is ever left unturned," she says. "He may
walk the course 15 times and walks every option," said Hobbs. "He lets you
find your style but he is there to help and guide you. He is very serious
when he needs to be but he is also willing to laugh. It was great to have
him there this weekend."
In the Grand Prix, Hobbs said her Nielsen B was all business despite the
weather, and jumped very well. As Hobbs entered the ring for the jump off,
Leone told her, "Stay focused, warm and dry."
Nielsen B. is a 17-year-old Grand Prix horse that Hobbs has owned for six
years. He jumped well in Palm Beach, but the pair would have a rail here or
there. So they went home after Palm Beach and re-grouped and went to
Culpeper in full force.
"The course was 14 jumps," Hobbs described. "The last jump was an option to
jump the water or an oxer. I chose the water. It was a good course. There
were some lines that had to be finessed."
Hobbs explained,"There was a line across the diagonal that was a steady five
to a steady two, a vertical-oxer to a steady five. All the jumps and all the
lines were off of relatively short turns. You had to keep your motor running
as you were going to the next line otherwise you were going to get caught
off guard.
"My horse jumped the course very well. I really let him go in the
jump-off. We had an unlucky rail, but besides that, he jumped phenomenally,"
said Hobbs about Nielson B.
According to Hobbs, Leone's Lionshare Farm has a welcoming, family
feeling. A professional, with her own facility based in Southern Pines, NC,
Hobbs felt right at home the first time she visited.
Peter Leone is an Olympic equestrian, trainer, producer of hunter/jumper
instructional DVDs and author. He owns and operates Lionshare Farm in
Greenwich, CT. His clients successfully compete in the pony, equitation,
hunter and jumper divisions. He is one of three brothers, internationally
known as Team Leone, for their success in the show ring. Leone was a member
of the 1996 Silver Medal United States Olympic Show Jumping Team and winner
of numerous national and international Grand-Prix show jumping
competitions. He is the author of the upcoming book, Peter Leone's Show
Jumping Clinic: Success Strategies for Equestrian Athletes and the producer
of the DVD, Ride the Body: Select Insights of Peter Leone.
For more information about Peter Leone and Lionshare Farm go to:
http://www.lionsharefarm.com
To purchase the DVD, Ride the Body: Select Insights of Peter Leone,
or to pre-order the book, Peter Leone's Show Jumping Clinic: Success
Strategies for Equestrian Athletes go to:
http://www.lionsharefarm.com/index.html
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