72 SIDELINES MARCH 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 74
e
My Story
Buenos Aires -
My First Nations Cup Experience
By Quentin Judge
It has been my lifelong dream to represent the United States in
an international Nations Cup competition. After years of training
and hard work, that dream fnally came true last year with the
support of my fantastic family at Double H Farm, including my
wife Cayce and her parents Hunter and Jeannie Harrison.
Wearing the prestigious “pinque” coat of the United States
Equestrian Team (USET) and competing alongside fellow frst-
timer Catherine Pasmore and veteran team members Charlie
Jacobs and Alison Robitaille, I traveled to Buenos Aires to
compete in and win my frst Nations Cup last September.
I really pushed to be on the team to be honest. We got an email
from Lizzie Chesson from the USEF saying that they were
possibly going to send a team and we thought it would be a really
good frst experience. They
went off the computer list and
I was one of the top four riders
ranked that applied to go.
I took my horse HH Carotino,
who has been a real soldier for
me. Carotino is a 10-year-old
Holsteiner gelding by Caretino x
Carrado I. We bought him from
Matt and Germaine Edelmann in
New York. His frst season doing
grand prix was in 2011 and he
was Germaine’s frst grand prix
horse. Cayce and I sawhim in the
summerandtriedhimandboughthimjustbeforeourweddinglastyear.
Carotino has really come along a lot in the last year. We threw
a lot at him in one year and he has gotten better and better
throughout the whole process. He has a really good mind and
he is brave and he really tries hard. He is good at going to
a new show, going right into a new ring, jumping well and not
needing a lot of classes to warm up. He kind of just does his job.
Arriving In Argentina
The horses got to Argentina on Sunday before the show to give
them a few days to acclimate and we arrived on Monday. Carotino
had been in Florida for about a week before that, so he was used
to the heat already. We stayed in Buenos Aires, which was great.
We only had one horse each, except for Charlie had two, so it was
a pretty easy, light week. We were at the show a couple of hours
a day and then we could go walk around the city and explore.
In preparation for the Nations Cup we all did a 1.40m warm-up
class the frst day on Wednesday and Carotino jumped really
well. We just cantered around the course and went in to get
a feel for the ring. I decided not to show him until the Nations
Cup then because he went so well and he felt so confdent.
We were supposed to have the Nations Cup on Friday, but it rained
terribly and they had to scratch it, but Guilherme Jorge was doing
the courses and he put the jumps in a great place for the next day.
The showground itself was really beautiful. I had never been
there and only seen pictures; but I was surprised at how nice the
ring and the jumps were. Probably about 75% of the course was
jumps that had been from previous Olympics and they were really
impressive. The ring was a big grass feld that they only use for
that one show a year. The footing was perfect; even when it rained
it was really good.
Cayce Harrison and
Quentin Judge
Quentin and HH Carotino in the Nations Cup in Argentina.
All photos courtesy of Double H Farm