Sunday, August 01, 1999
Jumping Classic debut not easy for young rider
Schmidt misses final jump-off
BY DAVID UCHIYAMA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jamie Schmidt can turn a snack into a lovefest.
The 20-year-old rider fed a carrot to her horse, Mardi Gras, but not before she stroked his cheek and gave him a kiss on the white strip of his muzzle.
“He's my baby, my one and only,” she said, rubbing his ears.
Schmidt competed in her first American Jumping Classic Saturday at Galbreath Field. Todd Minikus won the event atop Playboy, in a time of 37.464 seconds.
“I should have won last year, but I made a big mistake,” Minikus said. “It feels good to win.”
Schmidt, a University of Richmond junior, and Mardi Gras knocked off the first row of the first jump, eliminating them from the final jump-off later in the night.
But horse jumping is a Schmidt family tradition. In fact, Schmidt's mother, Sharon, is at Pebble Beach, Calif., in another competition.
“My mom took me into the barn and put me on a horse before I could even walk,” Jamie Schmidt said.
As a first-timer in one of the nation's premier jumping events, Schmidt was nervous.
“You have the best of the best here,” she said.
Five-time champion Margie Goldstein-Engle and Alison G. Firestone, who competed for the $75,000 purse Saturday, will head to Winnipeg to compete in the Pan Am Games today.
Goldstein-Engle was able to run a clear round and qualify for the jump-off, but Firestone knocked off one rail. Goldstein-Engle finished .4 of a second behind Minikus for second place.
“Nobody is consistently faster, than Margie,” Schmidt said. “She amazes me.”
For Schmidt, combining college and the jumping circuit is difficult during the school year.
She competes in the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida and participates in 18 shows a year.
“It's difficult going to school and flying to Florida every weekend, but it's worth it,” she said.
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