jersey fresh international 2019

Last year my mom's cousins came down for one of my home shows to tailgate and hang out etc, and much fun was had by all. It happened to be our final show of the year, one I felt pretty nervous about but that we ended up winning, go figure haha.

Emily Beshear & Olney Uncle Sam

Anyway, they brought down with them my teenage cousin who started riding in the last year or so and is totally and 100% hooked. Just like most of us at that age, she spends every possible moment at her barn, helping out and soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

Doug Payne & Quantum Leap

And she was super helpful with taking care of Charlie after our cross country run -- coming back to the barn with me and getting him untacked and bathed etc.

Phillip Dutton & Fernhill Singapore

So a few months ago, I hatched up this big great plan to repeat the whole experience, except this time at a bigger show instead of one of my own. Since that part of the family lives up in NJ, I figured Jersey Fresh would be perfect! Unfortunately, at the last moment all the moms pulled out of the plans (I guess they have lives too?) so it ended up being just me and my cousin.

Arden Sildasin & Il Vici

Which, perhaps in retrospect, was for the best haha, since my cousin was totally down to haul ass all over the place and see as much as possible. Which, you may recognize, is my preferred way to experience upper level cross country lol.

Will Coleman & Don Dante

This was actually my first time going to the New Jersey Horse Park, let alone for Jersey Fresh, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. First off, the drive was brutal ugh. Not necessarily terribly long, but that entire stretch of 95 between DC and NYC is just.... Tough, ya know? Lots and Lots and LOTS of traffic. Often aggressive traffic.

Anna Loschiavo & Spartacus Q

And tolls. Dear god, as of this writing, I'm still not brave enough to check my EZ-Pass account to see how much tolls cost for the day. And that's just with a normal 2-axle car. I honestly wouldn't really want to tow a trailer on that stretch of highway anyway, but with how freakin expensive those extra axles are with the tolls** it's basically a hard pass for me at present haha.

(**for the uninitiated: each additional axle costs increasingly more, you don't just double the price by adding two more axles on the trailer...)

Allison Springer & Business Ben

Obvi that all says nothing about the event itself. Which was lovely. The grounds were quite a bit smaller than I expected, especially having been used to sprawling Fair Hill and the Kentucky Horse Park. This meant that the courses were really winding and looping over themselves again and again. So it was kinda hard to figure out where everything was, and which way the horses were going.

Alexandra Knowles & Sound Prospect

Also interesting to me was how the spectators were distributed around the venue. By which I mean: They weren't. Virtually every single spectator was parked at the main water complex, punnily called the "Jersey Shore." There were tons of tailgaters and the place was thronging. Which, ya know, is awesome lol. And there was one other little section of tailgaters in what seemed like kinda a random place on a hillside.

Will Coleman & Off the Record

Otherwise, tho? The course was basically a ghost town. No fucking joke, as soon as you got away from that main water complex there was virtually nobody else to be seen. Except jump judges, photographers, and the occasional handful of other likewise minded wanderers.

Colleen Rutledge & Covert Rights

This to me was really strange. First off, again bc I'm used to courses sorta like Fair Hill or Kentucky, but also even Plantation or Great Meadow, where they sorta run in a loop and spectators can kinda mosey around within that loop, esp in sections where combinations on "opposite" sides of the loop are in close proximity.

So it was bizarre to see everyone concentrated in this one small area, esp considering there were pretty epic combinations to be seen elsewhere.

Daniel Clasing & MW Gangster's Game

Tho I do allow that the water was prettttty cool. The 4* courses actually ran through the water twice, once from each direction. And both sets of combinations had their share of action. Like when literally one of the first things we saw upon arriving at the venue was Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Singapore slamming into the water after leaving a leg at the B element. Poor PDutty, it really wasn't his day with both of his big horses falling...

Erin Risso & Kinard Battina

Anyway, tho, regarding that action of the day? It was intense and awesome. There was something like 133 horses running, compared to the ~40 we saw at Kentucky. Cross country ran literally nonstop from 8am to 4pm, on 4* and 3* courses with both short and long divisions for each. Esp that CCI4*-L division means that Jersey Fresh is one of the biggest shows in the country, esp for qualifications purposes.

Cornelia Dorr & Sir Patico

Considering this is a major year for qualifications for a lot of riders, we saw some pretty big name horses going around. And, naturally, per my habits, I tried to compile as many clips as possible into the video below. Which was no small task since I shot over 50 clips haha.... Definitely way more than even the slew that are represented in this post's pictures.

Alexandra Tett & Hawk's Cay

I tried to get a little tighter with the editing tho so that the video still has that feeling of fast-paced exhilaration, without too much extra haha. Plus, even tho it's kinda a giant pain in the ass to go back and cross check the entries against pinny numbers etc, I did end up adding in everyone's names etc to the video. Mostly bc I tend to think it improves the viewing experience. Ymmv lol.

Lauren Kieffer & DA Duras

Anyway we couldn't have asked for better weather too. Nice sun with temps in the high 60s. Tho toward the end of our time there we were both pretty ready to just find some shade and chill for a bit before heading home. Which, naturally the best place to do that was at the "Jersey Shore" water complex.

Alexandra Knowles & Princess B

Which for the last division of the day, the 3* short (the long had run in the morning before we arrived), was positioned near a different combination that seemed to be highly influential. Mark Phillips designed this course and seemed to be wanting the riders to be bold brave and forward, but still very accurate.

This showed up on the 4* course at an EPIC table downhill to either a corner (for the Long) or an arrow (for the Short). We spent a ton of time watching that particular combination haha (again, with virtually no one else...). And on the 3* course it was another table downhill to this big beefy blunt corner pictured below with Lauren Kieffer. We didn't see a single issue on the 4* line, but the 3* variation claimed a few victims haha.

Michael Pendelton & Steady Eddie

Another interesting thing I noticed was that there wasn't a proper coffin complex. Or at least, not one that we saw. Tho I should say: we definitely didn't see the full course bc again it was kinda hard to find our way around. And unless you could sorta see a horse go in the distance, there were no normal indications of where the big combinations might be bc there were no crowds. Plus a lot of stuff was kinda hidden by random trees or whatever.

Alexandra Baugh & Ballingowan Pizzaz

So maybe there was a coffin and we just missed it? Idk tho bc there wasn't a true coffin at Kentucky either. Course design seems to be kinda trends-driven, from what I can tell. And right now, terrain questions (like mounds -- mounds er'rywhere, yo!) seem super popular whereas some of the more traditional gymnastic-y type combinations are becoming less common.

Lauren Kieffer & Landmarks Monte Carlo

Anyway tho, the stuff we did see was awesome, and I love getting to watch all these amazing riders and their unstoppable horses. My cousin was thrilled with it all too haha. With each passing horse she would be like, "oooh that one is nice!" and then, "ooh that one is nice too!" Until eventually she was kinda like, "wow ok so they're all really nice!" Yup, they sure are lol.

She also liked getting to stop by the vet box and see what the care looks like when the horses come off course, esp compared to how she helped me last year. So she's definitely eager to go to another show like that, tho I think she'd be just as interested in coming to one of my more "normal" humble shows haha. We'll see what happens with the calendars etc.

The only bummer I think was that she was sorta hoping there might be someone doing autographs in the trade fair. But... Actually, the shopping at Jersey Fresh was pretty much limited to a short lane of tents, and definitely no big star sightings. Tho we ran into Dan early on before his ride so she got to meet him and shake his hand. And I gave her the signed photo of Andrea Baxter and Indy 500 that I got from Kentucky, so hopefully that's good enough for now!

epic compilation video here!

Overall, tho, we had a really great day. The venue was super easy to find, parking was a jiff, admissions was only $10 for the day (and could be purchased in advance), and everyone was super friendly. The shopping and food selection didn't look fantastic, tho we had planned ahead and had a backpack full of snacks and water.

It actually looks like a great place to tailgate, tho idk how much a spot at the water would cost (it was packed) and the other place was kinda random and secluded. I would definitely do it with a group tho, or even just go again with a group. But possibly would spend more time studying the course map ahead of time so we knew were stuff was.

Bc.... As you have all figured out by now, spectating at these big events is kiiiiinda my jam lol. It's extremely unlikely that I'll ever ride anywhere close to that level, but damn do I love watching it! Esp on a beautiful day with friends! After this weekend, Jersey Fresh definitely makes my list of events worth visiting ;)