“I thought the course walked quite difficult, and I thought it rode hard enough, also,” Shulman recapped. “It’s a great group of horse and riders here, so I’m not surprised there was such a big jump-off with so many in the class, but I thought Michel did a great job designing the course to try and get the right number for the jump-off. My horses jumped really nicely, and in the first round they were both perfect and jumped beautifully. They’re completely opposite animals, so their plans are really different, but they both jumped great.”

With Villamoura, Shulman explained, her M.O. is to add strides in the lines, but for today’s competitive jump-off, leave-outs were key to their comfortable lead. “Normally, I do the add with her. In the first round, I did five strides in the first four-stride line. I don’t think anyone else did that! I did nine strides to the liverpool, which was really an eight, and then in the jump-off I did eight to the liverpool. Then, I did five strides – normally I would do six on her – so when she does the leave-out, it’s very, very fast. Normally I’m adding a step and it’s still fast, so I think she saved time there, as well as to the second jump, where we were super neat. She’s amazing.”

Shulman revealed that she is saving Villamoura for the CSI 4* competition during Tryon Fall 6, while J. Boston S.E. will continue competing at the CSI 3* level in the meantime. “Villamoura will actually jump the qualifier in the 4* next, in two weeks, and J. Boston [S.E.] will jump the Grand Prix this Saturday.” Shulman concluded, “I’m really grateful to the show organizers for allowing us to show safely, and I just want to thank my whole team for making sure everyone stays safe and follows protocol so we can show.”