All hail to hunter rider (and jumper) extraordinaire, Victoria Colvin, for becoming the second rider in history to win the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship two years in a row. (Insert round of applause here.)
Aboard the jaw-droppingly beautiful 8-year-old gelding, Private Practice, the winning duo sailed to victory with a 16.5 point lead over their closest competitor and hunter derby veteran/OG, Liza Boyd.
Related: 5 Times Horses And Riders Defied Gravity. Don't Worry - It All Worked Out.
I know it’s a professional riders job to make a hunter course look as easy and seamless as possible, but how do they gallop so effortlessly around the ring clearing four-foot oxers with ease? The world may never know and I sure won’t ever experience that.
Victoria Colvin and Private Practice showing textbook form.
I guess it helps that Private Practice originally strutted his stuff in the jumper ring before transitioning to the hunter ring with Tori in the irons. And a good choice that was! I mean, can a hunter look any more picture-perfect? It’s as if they were taken out of George Morris’ book, Hunter Seat Equitation, where he nit picks every single detail of the horse and rider.
Bravo to Victoria Colvin and Private Practice. George Morris would be proud!
More results from the 2018 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship can be found here.
Feature photo by Sportfot.