Jeanne Hobbs Sails Southern River to Championship of Farm Vet Level Five Jumpers and Places Third in Grand Prix at HITS Culpeper
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.
For more information about Peter Leone and Lionshare Farm go to: http://www.lionsharefarm.com/index.html.
To purchase Peter Leone’s Ride the Body: Select Insights of Peter Leone DVD go to: http://www.lionsharefarm.com/store/page2.html.
To be notified when the book, Peter Leone’s Jumping Clinic: Success Strategies for Equestrian Athletes by Peter Leone and Kimberly S. Jaussi, PhD, will be available, contact: cw@phelpsmediagroup.com.
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