The past two weeks we spent getting ready for last weekend’s tournament. With the tournament starting on Thursday we had to make sure our horses were going to last through the entire weekend. Early last week though Jim was injured, rendering him out for the tournament. Luckily we were able to get the young Englishmen Matt Perry who last summer won all the high goal across the pond with Zacara. With Jim out his string was divided between Loreto and Jake. Needless to say we were mounted to the teeth and eager to keep the tradition going of Team USPA winning the tournament as was the case last year (Zach Grob, Will Tankard and Jorge Estrada).
We rode them the majority of the week before and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the horses got to rest. Thursday morning we were given the chance to rest and prepare for the game. Our first game was against more or less the same team that beat us badly in the first tournament. Needless to say we were out for revenge and got it, winning 10-5. Friday’s game was against a much weaker opponent, we won 11-4. Saturday’s game was against Eduardo Heguy who in the previous tournament won every game by no fewer than six goals. Obviously we had our work cut out for us and I am not going to lie… we were all a bit nervous. Eduardo unfortunately sat down due to a wrist injury. The player that replaced him was very strong but didn’t know the horses and that gave us an advantage. We got off to a fast start leading 7-1 at the half. Not to give up without a fight however the other team turned the tables and came out firing on all cylinders, outscoring us 6-1. We got lucky and got away with and 8-7 victory. Onto the finals!
Our nerves were on fire before the final. As we lost in overtime in the previous tournament, we were happy to have a second chance in the final. We were playing against Horacio Heguy. He was accompanied by three strong players including the club president. All three of the players were experienced and very well mounted. The first chukkar was a bit of a stun for us because we had, in the previous games, started out very strong and leading by 3 or 4. However, against Horacio’s team we could only manage two goals after the first chukkar. By the end of the second chukkar we were winning by two with the score 3-1. As the game continued to rage on we slowly started to drift away and by the 4th chukkar we had attained a four goal lead. Seeing that the game was drifting away from him, Horacio started to push harder and began to put more pressure on us to perform. We spent the last two chukkars on our heels and clinging to our lead. But our defense prevailed and gave us a 7-4 win. We finished our day well by relaxing in the clubhouse and talking to all of the players. We were extremely content to have been able to defend the Team USPA title. Now we are looking forward to the next tournament as well as riding the green horses again. With the time off, the young ones are feeling fresh and have had some time to think about what we taught them before the tournament.