Downeast Medal Finals

January2024

September 11-14, 2025

Visit our website for more information about Downeast. We welcome all feedback and suggestions: please email Ginger at ginger@downeastmedalfinals.com

Happy New Year!

Message from the President

Happy New Year! We wish everyone the best for 2025!

The winter can be a hard time to stay motivated to practice for the upcoming show season, so I am adding some training articles to the newsletters. Hopefully these articles will give you ideas to try and improve your skills as well as keeping you motivated. The days are getting longer so spring isn’t too far away!

Our divisions will be staying the same this year. The new 2’ Mini Medal, Special Children’s/Adult division and the 2’ Hunter Derby were so well received. The specs for this division are as follows:

Downeast Mini Medal

Open to junior and amateur adult riders, competing on horses or ponies. Riders must not have competed higher than 2’ anywhere. All fence heights shall be 2’. Riders shall be required to perform over a minimum of six fences with at least one change of direction. If a rider wins the medal final, they are no longer eligible to compete in this division. 25% of the contestants, at least 2, may be called back for individual testing. Testing is optional.

Also for those of you with young horses, remember the Young Hunter Futurity class is our way of recognizing horses 4-7 years old that compete in at least one of the derbies on Saturday. It is listed as a class with ribbons as well as cash awards!

If you are thinking of running the classes it is easy to apply, just fill out the form online to reserve your dates. We try to keep shows closer than 1 hour from each other from running on the same dates to help ensure that the classes will fill (occasionally with show management’s permission we will allow shows to run on the same dates). Shows are approved on a first come first reserved so please get your applications in early.

DMF is such a great show, because of so many things…. A great facility, permanent stalls, professional show management, electronic leaderboard, fantastic awards and cash payouts, wonderful exhibitors and trainers. We have no membership fees to help us put on this show. We always are looking for sponsors to help us to present this show to you.

Please contact Ginger (ginger@downeastmedalfinals.com) if you have an interest in becoming a sponsor or an advertiser in the program. Sponsor a class, take out an ad in the program. Every bit of support helps us to bring you the largest, most fun and educational show in Maine every year.

Wishing everyone fantastic rides in 2025!!

-Ginger

If you are a Downeast Medal Finals rider, we would like to feature you! Send your bio and picture to ginger@downeastmedalfinals.com

Take Advantage of Trot Jumps

By John French at Practical Horseman

Are you practicing enough trot jumps? Many people don’t realize just how beneficial they can be. Even if you don’t do them in the show ring—for example, as you do in equitation or Handy Hunter classes—they can be a valuable part of your training program. Trot jumps are excellent for working on a young horse’s balance and timing over small jumps while his canter is still developing. At this stage, with most young horses, it’s easier to regulate the trot stride than the canter stride. By sitting quietly in the approach to the jump, you allow your horse to figure out the takeoff spot on his own. This will help him develop his own “eye” and learn how to adjust his stride without relying entirely on you to control the distances. You can then gradually progress to trotting into one jump and then cantering slowly down a line to another, which will teach your young horse to stay steady and relaxed when jumping from the canter.

For nervous or spooky horses, trotting jumps is a great way to build confidence. It gives them more time to study the fences in the approach. After they figure out how easy it is to pop over small fences from this slower speed, they quickly realize that they don’t have to race at the jumps and push hard off the ground to clear them. The slower and more relaxed they learn to be on takeoff and landing, the better their jumping efforts become.

For horses who tend to rush their approaches, making the trot jump something solid, like a wall or flower box, “holds” the horse off the jump—makes him respect it enough to actually jump it, rather than just step over it. This also allows you to put your leg on your horse and ride him forward to the fence, rather than pulling back on the reins in the approach. The latter causes the horse to either raise his head higher than the desired level, which is slightly above his withers, or curl his neck and tuck in his nose, which destroys his balance and ability to produce a quality takeoff. To get the very best jump out of a horse, I always like his nose to be pointing toward the fence and his neck to soften and even lengthen slightly in the last few strides before the jump.

Practicing trot jumps is equally valuable for riders. It gives you time to focus on staying with your horse’s stride—never getting ahead of or behind it—so that you’re in perfect balance in the air. It’s also excellent patience training: teaching you to wait quietly for the jump to come to you so that his body can rock back on takeoff rather than hunting for a distance, sometimes making a move at the wrong moment and throwing him off balance.

Read the rest of the article here.

2025 Shows with DMF Qualifying Classes

Qualifying for DMF 2025: More to come!

Apr. 26 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

May 4 Coastal Classic, Nobleboro, ME

May 17 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

June 14 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

July 26 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

Aug. 9 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

Sept. 6 Seacoast Show Series, Fremont, NH

Want to see your show listed here? Fill out our Downeast Classes Form to host our classes!

Become a Downeast Medal Finals Sponsor:

All levels accepted and appreciated!

Visit www.downeastmedalfinals.com for more information.

For more information or to become a sponsor, please email Ginger at ginger@downeastmedalfinals.com.

Thank you to Spotted Vision Photography, It's A Horse Life Photography, Hillary Turner, and Riitta Fortier for providing us with many wonderful photographs from the Downeast Medal Finals.