Inside the Maclay Finals

Don't miss the series finale of Horse Power: Road to the Maclay tonight, March 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the Animal Planet Sporthorse Cup at 9! Both air on Animal Planet.

In the meantime, read the article Reactions to 'Horse Power: Road to the Maclay' on EquiSearch.com. In it, author Nancy Jaffer interviews the featured trainers Frank Madden and Andre Dignelli on what it's like to be on the show. She also explores the viewership stats and the possibility of a sequel!

I woke up at 1:40 this morning (that would be a.m.!) because they have assigned schooling times for the Maclay schooling ours was from 2 to 2:30 a.m. I didn't need an alarm clock. Addie Phillips (who also rides with Andre Dignelli and Heritage) was staying with me and she got me up.

I was pretty exhausted, so my warm-up round on Chagall probably wasn't as good as it could have been; going to the last line I kind of chipped. I was looking for a little more of a confidence-boosting ride. But I still feel okay because I've had a really good finals so far and I think my horse was perfect. He didn't do anything wrong.

But I think I need to go to bed really early tonight and get my rest. I don't feel that nervous. I go 56th in the Maclay tomorrow morning, so I have a good spot. I'm the kind of person who needs to watch other riders.

They had a big deal involving the draw for order of go in the Maclay, where we all sat together, had a sandwich and heard a series of speakers after we found out our starting order.

The draw thing was a little intimidating, because they did it right there in the Oncenter, near the warm-up ring. For the Medal, they pre-draw it and just read it off. This morning, there was suspense waiting between the names as they announced them, and sitting through that was a little intense. George Morris, who is judging the Maclay with Susie Humes, gave us a little talk and told us what they're looking for. The judges emphasize being very traditional and that's a good thing to know when you're going to the ring.

This is my last class as a junior and I'm pretty sad about that. Whenever anyone mentions it to me, I definitely get a little teary-eyed. I love my horses so much and for me, it's hard to part with them.

Posted by Natalie Johnson

Photo caption: Natalie Johnson crosses the street from the arena to the warm-up area with junior jumper Jeremy. Copyright 2005 Nancy Jaffer