Jacksonville, FL – September 21, 2012 – The long-awaited first-ever Southeast Medal Finals got underway today with much fanfare. Organizers Bob Bell from Classic Company and James Lala from James Lala’s Wellington Quarantine have attended to every aspect of the show to make it special and memorable.

A field of 27 talented young riders competed to kick off the show bright and early at 8:00 a.m. in the USEF Pessoa Hunt Seat Medal. The first course of the show was a challenging mix of lines and turns. Starting with a very forward outside line in six strides, the track turned to the left to a single brick oxer near the in gate to a roll back to another brick single oxer. Then, the course took a long gallop and a right turn to a two-stride combination of natural wood verticals to a left turn to another natural vertical followed by a right-hand turn to a white oxer at the far end of the ring and a bending line to the last combination, an oxer to a vertical.

“This new venue is superb,” said Course Designer, Alan Rheinheimer. “It’s huge; there’s a lot of opportunity to set the riders up for the Maclay Regionals. All the courses I’ll give them a little in each course of what I might ask of them on Sunday. The judges and I talked it over and discussed what we’d like to see. It was a good test for them.

Continue reading The Day Belongs to Geoffrey Hesslink at the First Southeast Medal Finals →