Activities

Pennsylvania National Horse Show

by Martin Shibler
9th Grade

God’s beauty is reflected in each of His creatures. But there is something especially attractive when man takes a lower creature than himself and uses it in a beautiful way. Few things surpass the elegance and nobility of horse and rider as they jump with ease and grace over obstacles in a jumping competition. Many of us saw such a thing for our second time at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg. This year it was on Saturday, October 19, and we had all been looking forward to going again.

We arrived earlier this year so we could see the amateur jumpers. As we walked to our seats, we were surprised at how difficult the jumps looked, especially since the event was for the non-professionals. There were about 14 jumps in all, and, being in a small arena, there was not much room for extra steps.

After waiting for the workers to finish setting up the jumps, the riders came out and paced the distances between them. Finally, they started. Horse after horse came out and hurtled over the jumps. If they knocked off a pole or two or took too long to complete the course, they would be given fault points. If they did the whole course without knocking off a single pole, they would be put on a separate list for the final competition.

During this tournament, a couple of accidents happened. One horse, after clearing one of the jumps, hit the ground rather hard. The rider, unprepared for the sudden jolt, was thrown over the horse's head and landed in front of the horse. Everyone gasped in fear of a trampling, but relief came as the faithful horse immediately veered away, leaving his poor rider’s bones intact. Another rider, though, was not so fortunate. When her horse went over one jump, she lost her balance, and as it went over the next one, she was thrown from her horse and broke her leg.

After the finals for the amateur jumpers, the Valley Forge Military Academy Band came out and played a few marches in their 19th century-style uniforms. Then there was a break so the workers would have time to set up for the professional jumpers. During the break, we ate lunch and visited some of the stables. At the stables we came across some carriage horses that were the biggest I have ever seen. They weren't Clydesdales, but you could barely reach their backs with your arm fully extended, and their necks were about three feet thick!

We went back to the arena at 7:30 to see the Budweiser Grand Prix de Penn National, the event of the professional jumpers. Before the contestants started jumping, the Valley Forge Military Band came out again and did a very good job at playing two songs on herald trumpets. Then, the real jumping began. It was pretty much the same course as that of the amateur jumpers, but the jumps looked a bit taller. After the announcer had given the names of each rider and their mounts and where they were from, each rider had forty-five seconds to start the course.

There were twenty-nine competitors in the Grand Prix, and out of all of them, only seven made it to the finals. One of the finalists was the champion of the previous two years and many expected her to win again. Well, toward the end, it looked as if she would be a three-year champion because no one, as of yet, had beat her timing. It was with great excitement, therefore, when a champion of the same event in 1997 started her round. As Beezie Madden and her mount Judgement ran the course, the level of suspense climbed with the clearing of every hurdle. When the judge announced that Madden had beaten the previous champion by 0.59 seconds, the arena erupted.

As we headed back to the Academy that night, some dozed off to sleep after the many events of the long day, but most of us talked excitedly about what had taken place. We had seen what man could do with nature when he aims for perfection. A horse by itself is a beautiful thing, and a man by himself is even better according to the order of creation. When you put the two together, however, and add a desire for beauty and perfection, then you have something that gives greater glory to our Creator.