Competing at the Hampton Classic is Always Special for Melissa Cohn!

Article and Photos by Diana DeRosa

Competition Day

Ms. Cohn will start by schooling her horses in order to warm them up for when she enters the ring for the actual competition. Right adjacent to the competition arena is another ring where the riders who will soon be competing go to school on the flat and over fences. Ms. Cohn will join the group as she warms her mounts up for the task at hand, making sure their muscles are supple and relaxed and that they are paying attention to her requests. She’ll do this shortly before she is ready to enter the competition arena.

Once the person in charge of the ingate announces her name, she'll enter the ring to face the course with her trainer’s words rolling in her head. As she starts her preliminary circle in preparation for jumping approximately eight fences, all thoughts of work, and family and anything else will leave as Ms. Cohn's focus will be on pace, position and accuracy. She’ll guide her horse smoothly around the corners in order to allow her mount to approach each fence on a straight line.

As she approaches each fence she’ll think about maintaining her own balance and position so that she gives her horse the best opportunity to jump each fence with the style, grace and accuracy that wins ribbons. Each fence is equally important and demands her concentration, a fact that she often duplicates in her strategy for running her own company. After the last fence is jumped she'll sigh with relief and lean over to pat her mount, no matter how good or bad the round was. She understands the importance of praise, whether it be in the business world or the competition arena.