USEF Grand Prix Championships
June 15 - 18, 2006
United States Equestrian Federation Grand Prix Championship, Gladstone, New Jersey
Donna and Jazzman qualified for the USEF national Grand Prix championships in only four shows. The Grand Prix at Gladstone was only Jazz's sixth Grand Prix since his return to the ring this year. In spite of the heat, he performed very well, actually getting stronger and stronger each day. His scores were somewhat erratic, with some judges scoring him as high as 67% while others only gave 63% for the same test. With nothing to lose, Donna pulled out all the stops in the freestyle in a final effort to make an impression on ALL the judges. Jazzman rose to the occasion, in spite of the 95 degree heat, piaffing from the halt, doing double canter pirouettes from an extended canter, laying down another double pirouette on the centerline and going directly into 17 one time changes straight at C, doing two tempis on a half circle, directly to one tempis on the diagonal and back to two tempis on another circle. He finished with a passage down the center line, a piaffe pirouette at X, and a passage to halt timed exactly with the end of the music. He made not one technical error. The result: a 73% score and seventh place in the freestyle. Jazzman is now officially BACK!