A Totally Awesome Win for Simon Schroeder in $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, Sponsored by Adequan®
One year prior, Teddi Mellencamp’s mount Totally wasn’t even jumping around the .80m, and on Friday of Desert Circuit 2, presented by Adequan®, he took a major win in an international hunter derby.
In the $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, sponsored by Adequan®, Simon Schroeder took the reins aboard Totally, as he did one year before, and proved just how far the 10-year-old Westphalian gelding has come, taking the win.
“Teddi Mellencamp asked me last year during this show if I could ride him and if I could find a way to [make him] have fun again at the shows,” Schroeder said of his task when asked to pilot Totally. “He was a little bit sad. We started here last year. I believed in him the whole time. He was a skeptic and was worried about going to the fences, so I just started with him in the .80m. We trotted over the first fences and then kept cantering, so that’s how we started our career actually.”
Schroeder himself rides quite a few jumpers, but dabbles a bit in the hunters when he knows he has a special one. With a jumper-focused brain – even asking while learning Friday’s derby course at what point the “jump-off” starts – he stuck to his jumper roots to help bring the horse along.
“I treated him more and more like a jumper,” Schroeder explained. “I also included cavaletti in the training, and went over it with him every day with a liverpool. He’s a special horse and I treat him special.”
Even though Schroeder and Mellencamp knew the horse was special, the win still came as a very pleasant surprise and they celebrated accordingly.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Schroeder said of his handy round with Totally. “He was a little bit peeking at the [first jump in the handy round], and he did the trot jump really really good. I was a bit worried he might spook at the vertical-vertical [double combination] but he did it really well, totally straight and smooth. He’s the prettiest jumper.”
His total score of 184 was enough to take the lead at the time, and it held through the rest of the class. Jenny Karazissis, who took an early lead with Dulcie Lou Morris’ Big Shot, held onto second with a score of 181, while Halie Robinson and Tangled Up In Blue, owned by 3P Equine Partners LLC, snagged third as one of the last paris to go. Skylar Wireman earned the Butet U25 bonus for fourth place overall aboard Boston, owned by Alison Stocker.
There are still big things ahead for Totally, according to Schroeder and the whole team behind the horse.
“Teddi and I never stopped believing in him,” Schroeder said. “I gave him my whole trust and my whole heart, and he feels it. I think that’s why he’s on my side and is doing everything for me. Maybe we’ll go do Derby Finals. It’s definitely a long term partnership. Teddi doesn’t want to sell him and he’s like a family pet already.”
It’s a family affair every week at DIHP for the Schroeders, with Karli also taking top ribbons in the class aboard Get Rowdy and Coastal. Their daughter, Lena, cheered from the sidelines and joined in for all the awards photos and celebrations.
“I love it; we love to compete together,” Schroeder said of getting to be at the shows alongside his family. “[Karli and I] fight to the last. But it makes it special. This family, we work so hard and it’s just a fun thing to experience with all of us. It’s just amazing.”
See full results from the $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, sponsored by Adequan®, here.
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