By Ariana Gevov
Staff Writer
Alex Sutton and her horse, Whinny, are a rider and a horse that go to horse shows,
competing in jumping and having fun riding at the barn together. Sutton
Niki MacLeod, “You cannot control a horse to do anything. With the amount of power they
have there is nothing you can force them to do. The horses do it because they want to. It’s
their calling.”
Sutton has been riding horses for four years now for fun and for competition. Being at Palos Verdes Stables where she rides, has helped her move up the
standards tremendously. These standards have the holes where the jump poles are raised. On a normal basis, Sutton and Whinny jump multiple jumps, also known as a course, at the height of three foot nine inches.
“I love that she’s found something she’s so passionate about,” Mother Stephanie Sutton said. “I do worry about safety sometimes, and cringe when she jumps big, but she’s got great ability and always listens to her trainer.”
As a freshmen, Sutton entered the Equidome where she was going to do her course to compete, with her horse Whinny and she goes over the 16-jump course that she memorized. As the buzzer sounds for her to start, they count their strides to the first jump and clear it. Now Sutton and Whinny have to do this 15 more times-without mistake.
“Whinny is a really good horse at shows and likes going fast,” Sutton said. “She has gotten me some really good places when we show.”
Back home at the barn, Sutton, Whinny and her friends prepare for that moment. Their trainer, Erin Isom challenges the girls with what she call her “torture lessons” to build the girls’ strength and focus to keep them prepared. She sets up courses with difficult turns to see how fast they can be.
“Alex is a very focused rider with a keen grasp of where her horse is in relation to her fences,” Isom said. “She works hard and is very self-disciplined. These attributes are ideal for a rider to achieve top level jumping.”
Top level jumping is known at the Olympics and the Grand Prix. In the Olympics, a horse and rider jump the height of five feet three inches, and in the Grand Prix they jump five feet even. It takes a rider years of experience to prepare for this type of level of competition.
“Her attitude will get her a long way,” friend and rider Niki MacLeod said. “Alex’s bond with Whinny makes her put in enough effort to be a good rider.”
Whinny, as an eight-year-old horse has come a very long way since being shipped from the Netherlands. Her power in jumping with Sutton’s help has made her trainer want to rider her in the Mini Grand Prix where she will be doing courses four feet and six inches high. The Mini Grand Prix is a local horseshow for younger riders, and/or trainers.
“For where Alex is as a rider I think that she can achieve so much even though she has been horse back riding for four years,” an on-looking mother, Carol Gevov, said.
Sutton has moved up in the height of jumps very fast while competing in horseshows. In the last horse show, she showed in “Children’s”, which has jumps that go up to three foot nine inches. Sutton has very big dreams for the end of the year.
“By November I would like to be in meter 25’s which goes up to four foot one,” Sutton said.
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