Competition at the 2019 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) kicked off on Thursday morning with the NHS THIS Adult Medal where Becky Gochman emerged victorious. The Equine Tack & Nutritionals Ring at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center saw a total of eight horse-and-rider combinations contest the course, and all pairings were invited back to test on the flat.
Gochman has owned the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Indoctro x Pastorale) for several years and originally purchased him as a steady equitation mount for her daughters.
“Trumpet was one of my girls’ first equitation horses,” she explained. “He’s just an all-around great guy, and he really loves to do his job.”
After her daughters were moved up to other horses, Gochman decided to take over the ride on the gelding to maintain his fitness as well as work on her own equitation skills to improve her riding.
Becky Gochman and Trumpet. Photo © Sportfot.
“I decided after watching my daughters lesson on him that it would be fun and beneficial to me to compete with him. If my daughters ever need to show him again he will still be in shape, and I really feel it helps as a rider to keep working on perfecting the little things in my equitation,” Gochman said.
“It’s been a real joy; I get to go back to my youth a little bit when I did equitation as a junior,” she added. “I’ve been having such a good time training with Stacia [Madden] and the people at Beacon Hill.”
The second place went to Amy Cooper with Boardwalk, a seven-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Cashmoaker x Juilette. Anne Byers and the eight-year-old Oldenburg mare (Landtinus x Pick Pockets), Elle, rounded out the top three.