Sometimes less really is more.
One week ago at Thunderbird Show Park, Kendall Bourgeois (USA) and Flinton M recorded their best FEI result of the year when they finished second—by just two tenths of a second!—in the CSI3* JustWorld International Winning Round 1.45m during the Summer Fort Welcome.
This week, they’ve dropped down a division and jumped up a podium place, winning Sunday’s Domino High Voltage Grand Prix 1.40m.
“We have a lot of other horses showing here [this week], and it’s a little hard to be sharp at a high level and also compete in the FEI,” said Bourgeois of her decision not to jog for FEI this week. “He tried really hard and jumped well last week, I thought it’d be nice for [him to have] an easy week.”
The decision paid dividends. Bourgeois and 14-year-old KWPN gelding haven’t finished outside the top five all week. They were fifth in Thursday’s YETI 1.30m Open Jumper and second in Friday’s 1.40m Open Jumper. On Sunday, they climbed one spot higher to take the win in the week’s feature national class.
First to return for Joey Rycroft’s short course, Bourgeois and Flinton M set the standard for the three-horse jump off with a smoothly executed clear. Shauna Cook (CAN) on Glacier ZF and Kyle King (USA) on Kyrina gave chase, but each dropped a rail to finish second and third, respectively.
“I was just trying to be smooth and efficient and clear,” she said of her jump-off strategy. “[The grass] is a little soft out there today. It rained last night pretty hard and [was raining during the class]. So I thought just be clever. I didn’t do any leave outs. I didn’t do anything super risky. I tried to meet all the jumps just nice and it worked out today.”
Flinton M is owned by Bourgeois’s student, Cameron Brown, who showed him in the junior jumpers before heading to college. Bourgeois took over the ride in 2021 and, in the three years since, the pair have jumped up to the 1.60m level. Their bread and butter height is 1.50m, where they jump into the top 10 55% of the time, according to Jumpr Stats.
“He’s awesome. Super simple. His only vice is he’s very obnoxious at feeding time,” smiled Bourgeois.
1. Flinton M / Kendall Bourgeois / USA / Cameron Brown / 0/0 40.68
2. Glacier ZF / Shauna Cook / CAN / Zeidler Farm Canada 2017 Ltd / 0/4 42
3. Kyrina / Kyle King / USA / Greg Tomb / 0/4 42.78
4. Kadorena SFN / Jeffrey Fields / USA / Carolyn Putney / 4 75.81
4. Tulara Zirensky / Katie Laurie / AUS / Carissa McCall / 4 75.81
5. Criterio LS / Kyle King / USA / Katie de Witt / 4 75.83
6. Constanzehof’s toy Story / Jaehee Jeon / KOR / Fairway Farms Ltd / 4 77.32
7. Coeur de Riccerole VG Z / Kennedy Ellingson / CAN / Kennedy Ellingson / 4 78.05
8. Jackpot VDM / Stacey Bacheller / USA / Stacey Bacheller / 4 78.93
9. Unique Star / Kyle King / USA / Ritz Fuente LLC / 4 79.81
10. Bentlis / Megan Garcia / USA / Megan Garcia / 4 79.83
