by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 27, 2023
How is the U.S. pipeline working to supply top dressage horses for future international competition?
A good barometer could be found during the USEF National Dressage Championships at the Lamplight Equestrian Center over the last seven days, where a wide range of talent–much of it on the rise–was showcased.
Look at our cover story on I-1 champion Christian Simonson and Son of a Lady (or click on this link) to see someone who’s just waiting in the wings to eventually make a senior team.
And in the Markel/USEF Developing Horse Prix St. Georges Dressage National Championship, the title went to Sonnenberg’s Jersey, guided by the best finisher in the 2021 Olympics, Sabine Schut Kery. She is bringing along this 9-year-old Dutch warmblood now that her Games campaigner, Sanceo, is retired.
“It’s a really young, new partnership,” said Sabine, who has only been working with the gelding for three months.
“Just doing this, coming here, speaks volumes. I would rate him a 15 for his character, and rideability, too. He obviously had good training before, and he’s super talented.”
Sabine also had the seven-year-old champion, Sandi Mancini’s Dutch warmblood, Gorgeous Latino.
Sabine Schut Kery and Sonnenberg’s Jersey. (Photo by Leslie Potter/U.S. Equestrian)
“I’m just thrilled with my two stallions, having them come here and do so well. I don’t know what more I could ask,” Sabine said.
Talking about Jersey, she noted, “He’s super fun to ride. I love his gaits, and I look forward to the future.”
And what will that be?
“I want to give him a good break on our beautiful grass pastures, and then see and go to the next step,” she said.
So many riders at the show in Illinois demonstrated potential with their horses that will be realized not too far down the road.
To name just one more, the Adequan®/USEF Young Adult Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship went for the second year in a row to Quinn Iverson with Bille Davidson’s 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Beckham 19.
Brentina, the namesake of the award, was the storied mount of Debbie McDonald, a former U.S. dressage technical advisor. She is the mentor of Olympic medalist Adrienne Lyle, who in turn has coached Christian and Quinn. That’s quite a family tree!
Quinn and Beckham keep improving.
“In the past,” Quinn said, “We’ve had lots of bobbles here and there, and we’re finally starting to smooth it out, and I’m glad that we could show things that we’ve learned since last year.”
In the Neue Schule/USEF Grand Prix Dressage National Championship, it wasn’t quite a sweep for Codi Harrison and her own Katholt’s Bossco, but she wound up with the tricolor anyway.
National Grand Prix champs Codi Harrison and Katholt’s Bossco. (Photo by Leslie Potter /U.S. Equestrian)
After Codi took the Grand Prix and the Special earlier in the week, the Saturday freestyle went to Lehua Custer and Wendy Sasser’s F.J. Ramzes on 76.350 percent, with World Championships veteran Katie Duerhammer and Kylee Lourie’s Paxton taking the runner-up spot in their dance to music on 75.775.
But a mark of 75.675 percent for third place was good enough to boost Codi and Bossco, a 16-year-old Danish warmblood, to the overall honors when added to their previous scores.
“He was great,” said Codi.
“I had a mistake in the twos, but other than that, he was right with me the whole way. The ones felt great. This drop in temperature helped him. He did great in the heat, but it was nice today to just be able to kind of sit back and relax and he took me around.”
Click here for full results
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 24, 2023
Handling both the heat of competition and the heat of broiling temperatures with a feel like triple digits, Christian Simonson took the Neue Schule/USEF Intermediate I championship on Son of a Lady during the Dressage Festival of Champions on Thursday at the Lamplight Equestrian Center.
“I don’t think I’ve ever ridden in such conditions before,” said Christian, who had two horses in the division’s freestyle finale. At 5 p.m., about 40 minutes after the class began, the temperature at the venue outside of Chicago was 95 degrees with 54 percent humidity, which meant it felt like 109 degrees.
Christian left his jacket on the sidelines because of the extreme heat at Lamplight. (Photo by Leslie Potter/USEF)
Christian wore his shadbelly while riding his first mount, Zeaball Diawind, but for his second horse, he dispensed with a coat, as did others in the class of 12.
Dealing with such high temperatures can wreak havoc on concentration.
“I was sending some texts to Adrienne that weren’t coherent,” admitted Christian, referring to his trainer, Adrienne Lyle.
But he was proud of how his horses powered through the test under less-than-optimum conditions.
Christian Simonson and Son of a Lady in the I-1 on Tuesday. (Photo by Leslie Potter/U.S. Equestrian).
“It’s a hard feeling to describe, but it’s one of the coolest feelings ever, when you feel them digging for you and trying and really pushing,” he said.
This was an observation event for the Pan American Games, to be held this autumn in Chile, so short-listed Christian recognized that everything was on the line.
As Christian enjoyed some pizza on a golf cart after the victory ceremony, he reflected, “I really wanted to do well and I knew each day I had to deliver. Where I hoped I’d be is up at the front of the pack.”
And that’s just where he ended up. The 21-year-old Californian took the title with an overall score of 73.269 percent, while reserve champion Nora Batchelder on Nova scored 72.130.
Christian won both the Prix St. Georges and the Intermediate I with Son of a Lady, but was second in the freestyle with 74.015 percent to Charlotte Jorst on Zhaplin Langholt (75.610.) Charlotte finished third overall in the championship.
The tricolor sash around Sonny’s neck was the culmination of a major effort. (Learn more about Christian by clicking on this link.)
“It’s been a year-and-a-half plan with Adrienne to get to this point, it’s taken a lot of support from Team River Grove. It felt a little bit beyond my grasp of making this team and competing against the adults. By doing it, I’ve learned so much and learned so much from Adrienne also about how to go through these events. It’s been such an amazing experience with such special horses.”
Adrienne once won the same title that Christian earned at the championship. He noted he’ll miss Adrienne at the Pan Ams, because they’re a week after she’s scheduled to deliver her baby girl.
“But that’s much more important than any competition,” he was quick to mention.
He thanked his team, including vets, farriers and grooms for “a monumental effort. I feel extremely grateful to be in this position at a young age.”
Click here for the freestyle results. Click here for championship results.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 23, 2023
The U.S. eventing team for this autumn’s Pan American Games in Chile includes a mixture of experience and rising stars.
Named to the squad are Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire; 2022 world championships veteran Liz Halliday and Miks Master C, third at Land Rover Kentucky last spring; Caroline Pamukcu with HSH Blake and
Sharon White and Claus 63. Liz’s direct reserve is Cooley Nutcracker, in case Miks Master C is unable to compete.
Tamie Smith, also a 2022 world championships team member, and Kynan are the traveling reserves.
The U.S. qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics last year with a silver medal at the world championships. So a bit of the pressure is off for the Pan Ams, enabling several combinations to get their first international championship mileage without having to worry about qualifying for Paris.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 22, 2023
Should there be a limit on how many times a horse can compete at each show?
It’s a question that often comes up during the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s Town Hall forums, as it did again on Monday night.
“Each barn, each trainer, each owner is going to have their own standard of how much is too much for their horse, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to at least get a loose idea of what that actually looks like,” observed the moderator, USHJA President Mary Knowlton.
It is impossible to address the issue with a definite number. As one commenter noted, three classes over cross-rails is very different from three classes at 1.45 meters.
But problems can arise when one horse is being shared by several different riders, perhaps as an effort to cut costs.
Mary asked, “Is it okay to do 12 cross-rail classes, six cross-rail classes? Where is the line between horse welfare and being big brother? What is enough? Do we write a rule for that?
As always, the concern is not only safety, but also how horse sports will be perceived, especially in the age of cellphone videos when the public (most of whom likely have no horse knowledge) can record what is happening, which then can spread like wildfire.
“Social license to operate is a real thing, a thing by which our beloved sport could be no more. It’s something we’ve got to face up to,” Mary warned.
As German magazine editor Jan Tonjes, president of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists pointed out in a recent interview in The Horse, “In general we need to communicate better that this welfare of the horse is paramount, is really more than just another sentence,”
An anonymous caller to the town hall asked, “Do people put horses first? Is their welfare number one? Answering that is step one, an important but not easy one to address.”
Lucie McKinney, a judge, pointed out, “One of the issues with horse welfare is bravery.”
Mary agreed, “Silence equals complicity.” She added how wrong it is to “just turn a blind eye to it.”
Lucie gave the example of how she spotted a horse who was competing that wouldn’t pick up the right lead, a sign of being sore. She called the steward over and noted that horse “did not get to show again in my ring.”
Another key topic is the new rule that will make it mandatory for every horse that is schooling or being longed at the showgrounds to wear a number for identification.
Steward Bev Bedard called it, “a rule that is going to be difficult for some people.”
There are many reasons why the rule is needed, but as Bev pointed out, when the question is, “Who is that person lying on the ground and the horse running free dragging a longe line,” the number will hold the answer.
Mary, however, is “fairly certain big barns will send out grooms to longe with random numbers,” and Bev suspects that is true. She’s just hoping “the rule will be respected and people will step up and do what they’re supposed to do.”
It was also suggested that if a groom is longeing a horse and doing something he shouldn’t be doing (such as having a bag on the end of the longe whip), the best thing to do, rather than speaking to the groom, may be to speak to the trainer with a request to address it.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 20, 2023
A U.S.-owned Irish hunter purchased off a video has made history at the Dublin Horse Show.
Dr. Brendan Furlong’s Bloomfield Watergate, the show’s Supreme Young Horse as a 3-year-old in 2022, was named Supreme Hunter Champion this month for what is believed to be the first time in 148 years that the same entry came back as a 4-year-old to win at the show, thus having both Dublin titles on his resume.
“It blew my mind away,” said Brendan, of the victory, then noted yet another distinction.
“The last time a 4-year-old won (Supreme) was 20 years ago.”
Watergate, bred in Ireland by Daphne Tierney and ridden by Jane Bradbury, topped the lightweight hunters before going on to be ridden by all the judges (that’s how they do it over there) and awarded the Supreme title.
“It’s the pinnacle of a show horse’s life. It doesn’t get any better,” said Brendan. The achievement by the horse nicknamed Percy was rewarded with a 10,000 Euro bonus.
The fairy tale began when a friend of Brendan’s sent him a video featuring the bay gelding, saying, “you might like this horse.”
He was right. Brendan, a native of Ireland, called his brother, who still lives in the country and asked him to contact the breeder.
“She’d never sell him,” Brendan’s brother declared. He was wrong.
Brendan called Daphne and she agreed to part with the horse on two conditions–“the price is the price” (ie, no bargaining) and that he could be entered at Dublin in her name. Brendan quickly agreed. The last time he had a horse at the Dublin show was when he was a veterinary student in Ireland and won a lightweight class with a three-year-old he bought as a foal, but that was a long time ago.
Percy is by a thoroughbred, Watermill Swatch, and is the first foal of Ballyconnery Bloomfield, a Holsteiner by Ars Vivendi. Now, about Percy’s registered name: Daphne also has Bloomfield Nixon, so knowing that makes more sense in connection with calling a horse Watergate.
Bloomfield Watergate and Jane Bradbury were spectacular winners at the Dublin Horse Show. (Photo by Siobhan English)
Percy is staying in Ireland for a few months of holiday and later this year will come to the U.S., where Brendan has a farm in Pittstown, N.J., with his wife, Dr. Wendy Leich, who may get a chance “to play with” the horse.
Percy’s future profession is uncertain at this point. Perhaps, to make the most of his ground-covering gallop, he’ll try eventing, but he may have the makings of a hunter derby mount. Of course, it will be some time before that can be determined. But whatever happens, Brendan has no intention of parting with him.
” This horse is so kind, he’s just a lovely fellow. This guy is so special to me right now, I’d probably keep him as a pet. It turned out to be the buy of a lifetime.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 23, 2023
Richard Picken always wanted to help. He was a friend and trainer to many top riders before he died of cancer in August 2022 at the age of 53. He enjoyed coaching young riders and training inexperienced horses as much as he thrived under the pressure of an international championship.
Richard Picken
Remembering all he did and what he stood for, those who loved him have established in his memory the Richard Picken Memorial Grants from the Fund of the same name. The funds will go toward the intensive training of riders 25 years and younger.
Grants of $5,000 will be awarded annually to one candidate competing at the FEI CCI2* level or higher. Applicants must offer two written references, an estimation of their performance strengths and weaknesses with notable focus on show jumping; a video of a recent show jumping round from a licensed USEF competition, a description of the trainer with whom they would work and how they would spend the grant funds.
Click here for an application. The deadline is Oct. 15. The grant announcement will made at the U.S. Eventing Association annual meeting.
For additional information contact USEA CEO Rob Burk.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 17, 2023
The Horse Protection Act, passed in 1970, is in need of a thorough review. It was intended to end soring, a practice that has been all too common with Tennessee Walking Horses and a few other breeds.
A fatal error enabled the industry to police itself by training its own inspectors to examine horses for soring at shows and sales. Is it a surprise that this system has been replete with conflicts of interest?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that from 2018-2020, USDA inspectors found violations at a 403 percent rate higher than industry inspectors, who obviously turned a blind eye to soring.
In response to a 2010 audit report by the USDA Inspector General that called the self-policing scheme a failure and said it should be abolished, the agency pledged to replace industry self-policing with a team of USDA-licensed and trained inspectors and announced final regulations to do so in 2017.
These regulations were withdrawn by a new administration. USDA was sued by the Humane Society of the U.S., arguing that the agency failed to undertake the proper procedures for withdrawing a rule that had been finalized. The federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed, meaning that the USDA must take action to fix its error.
So USDA is again proposing to amend its regulations by eliminating the industry-run enforcement system, and instead is assigning sole responsibility to its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to screen, train and authorize inspectors. The agency also proposes to disallow the use of devices and substances that are integral to soring, and to make other needed reforms. This step would reaffirm the federal government’s commitment to preventing the cruel practice of soring.
Ending horse soring is broadly supported by Congress. The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act would codify key elements of the 2017 HPA rule, including eliminating the failed industry self-policing system and use of devices integral to soring.
The legislation has twice been passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House and has been consistently co-sponsored by a majority of the Senate going back to 2014. Since the USDA itself could accomplish much of what the PAST Act aims to achieve, Congress has also expressed support for upgraded regulations, through appropriations language calling for the swift proposal, finalization and publication of the new final rule.
A new HPA rule is on the horizon with provisions of the 2017 rule included. Specifically, this includes the prohibition of the use of action devices on any Tennessee walking or racking horse, and an end to the industry self-policing system.
HSUS hopes the final rule expands the prohibition on action devices, to include weighted shoes for Tennessee walking and racking horses of all ages and expands the ban on the use of all prohibited devices to include Spotted Saddle Horses, who are also victims of soring.
There is no excuse for this practice. Let’s hope we’ll see the end of it soon.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 18, 2023
A letter to the editor in Great Britain’s Horse & Hound magazine last week caught my eye, because it reflects what I hear from many people in the U.S. They obviously are not alone.
Reader Carolyn Selley of Devon (England, not Pennsylvania) wrote that she has “a nice horse and would love to show him, but though at one time there were plenty of local shows and gymkhanas, these no longer exist–larger shows are the only option.
“They are too expensive for someone like me–there are so many organizations I have to join just to put a foot in the ring, and I am sure there are many others too who just don’t bother. I’m not looking for a qualifier; if I could show my horse without having to join all these organizations, I might give it a go.”
The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association and the U.S. Equestrian Federation have tried to address the issue with their Outreach and Lite shows respectively, and that helps. But can they make up for the disappearance of so many local unrecognized shows, which used to be where riders would enter their first competitions as they took a first step into the world of showing?
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 19, 2023
It was as close to a photo finish as you can get in the finals of the $223,350 Platinum Performance/ USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship.
The overnight leader, John French on Paradigm, finished just 0.25 points ahead of Geoffrey Hesslink on Drumroll to take the $37,719.35 winner’s share.
John French and Paradigm on the way to victory. (Photo courtesy USHJA)
John, who won the first Derby in 2009 on Rumba, showed he hasn’t lost a step with a score of 599.25, his total for Friday’s Classic round and Saturday night’s Handy round in the A section.
John French and Paradigm, Derby champs.
He stayed on the counter-lead from the first fence to the second, figuring he didn’t have enough pace to do a change, and had a small rub, but the judges didn’t hold it against him.
He was scored 97.5, 95.75, 93.25 as the last rider to go in the Handy. His total for the two rounds (Classic and Handy) with the former breeding stallion was 599.25; Geoffrey’s was 599 on a son of prestigious sire Diamant de Semilly.
“I don’t think there has been one this close before,” said John.
“It’s been a long time, I won the first one and I’ve been hoping to do it again and it hasn’t happened. It finally happened tonight. I can relax again.”
John is based in Florida, as is Jimmy Torano, third on Laskano with 586.50. The runner-up entry is from Basking Ridge, N.J.
The Handy round course map
Paradigm, owned by Meredith Lipke, and Meridian Farm’s Drumroll were 1-2 after the Classic round, where Amanda Steege was third on Lafitte de Muze. A “heartbreaking” rail in the Handy dropped Amanda to 26th place.
But she vowed on social media, “We will be back….we are fighters….we will be back in 2024 to battle again.”
The Derby podium: winner John French, center; runner-up Geoffrey Hesslink, left and Jimmy Torano, third.
The course in the 3 1/2-acre stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington was designed by Alan Lohman. He came up with an interesting closed pen, the third obstacle, that was a focal point of the 13 jumping efforts.
Horses jumped in on the long side and took two strides to jump out (some crossed panels in doing so, but made it look smooth.) Once out of the pen, they came back in over a trot jump on the short side, then looped around inside the pen and jumped out on the short side next to the trot jump. After that, it was a good nine strides to a brush oxer.
Derby competition has changed the hunter game across the country, and the finals are a grand finale, with $18 million having been given away since their inception in 2009.
Click here for complete results.
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 17, 2023
After more than 15 hours of hearings over three evenings, Wellington, Florida’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment board after midnight Thursday recommended that the Village Council either deny a plan to remove 96 acres from the Equestrian Preserve or table the matter until a detailed application for an expanded showgrounds on another parcel is submitted and works its way through the process.
The 5-2 decision was made “without prejudice,” which means the matter can be brought before the board again.
The showgrounds plan is in the “pre-application” process, but several Zoning board members wanted more definite information about what the property will offer before taking land from the Equestrian Preserve. The majority of the board, however, is in favor of taking land out of the Preserve if everything on a site plan for the showgrounds as displayed at the meeting is realized. The panel also made a key decision by changing the zoning from Residential to Equestrian Commercial Recreation on 114.65 acres, in the area where the showgrounds would be expanded by 90 acres.
A view of the location of the expanded showgrounds.
John Bowers, the board’s vice chair, said he would agree to remove the land from the Preserve, if in return “we are going to get an expanded, larger showgrounds and more productive space.”
The showgrounds is at the heart of the Village’s equestrian community. While it once was the ultimate venue in the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World,” competition from the World Equestrian Center in Ocala–which was just awarded a qualifier in the FEI League of Nations–and the even newer Terra Nova outside Sarasota has raised the stakes.
“Getting out of the EPA is a very material vote I would not want to take without making sure that all i’s are dotted, all t’s are crossed. I want the maximum benefit of being able to evaluate the application before I make a decision like this,” said Bowers, who spoke more than any other board member during the Wednesday night meeting that drifted into Thursday.
The board had two long meetings last month without reaching a decision.
Citing his lack of equestrian expertise, Bowers added he would want the Equestrian Preserve Committee to offer an opinion on the showgrounds application. The EPC in June unanimously rejected having the land removed from the preserve, and approximately 6,000 Wellington residents have signed a petition against it. The argument is that high-density housing will increase traffic congestion and lead to other landowners demanding zoning changes that could hurt the horse community’s quality of life.
But the Zoning panel is only an advisory body, and it is the Council, which meets next month, that makes the final decision. To remove land from the Equestrian Preserve, four of the five Council members must vote in favor of doing so.
Why did it take three separate sessions for the seven-member Zoning board to come to its conclusion? This is a very complicated situation, involving two geographically separated parcels of land whose fate is connected.
Here’s the short version, if you haven’t been following the hearings that began in June:
For a project called Wellington North, developers who spent $35 million on a golf course applied to build housing nearby on the 96 acres that is part of the Preserve and now the home of Equestrian Village, where the Adequan Global Dressage Festival is staged.
That property also hosts some show jumping classes that are part of the Winter Equestrian Festival, which has its main facility about a mile down Pierson Road.
The developers include Mark Bellisimo of Wellington Equestrian Partners, branded as Wellington Lifestyle Partners, working in conjunction with the Tavistock Group’s Nexus Luxury Collection. Bellisimo made his name in the horse world as the point man for Wellington Equestrian Partners in the 2007 purchase of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center showgrounds, now Wellington International. He is involved with several groups that own large tracts in Wellington.
“Interested parties” were allowed to appear before the Zoning board Wednesday to make their cases against the project, and several warned of litigation involving both parcels if development is allowed. However, Village Counsel Laurie Cohen told board members that shouldn’t influence their vote.
Attorney Jamie Gavigan, representing the Jacobs family that owns Deeridge Farm on Pierson Road near Equestrian Village, said his client is opposed to taking any land out of the EPA. He pointed out that in 2016, Wellington residents by a two-thirds majority, voted to amend the Village charter to say “it shall be a Village priority to preserve and protect the equestrian community.”
Gavigan asked how a driving range and pickleball courts in the proposed North development “preserve and protect an equestrian lifestyle.”
He noted 244 additional residential units the applicant seeks on the property would not be transferred from any other Planned Unit Development in Wellington, and that is not consistent with the Village charter.
Wellington’s equestrian sustainability mantra.
The developers also applied for housing on the second parcel, Wellington South, which is contiguous to the home of WEF at the Wellington International showgrounds. The board approved plans for Wellington South, provided there is an increase in the number of larger lots offered and a decrease in density.
The land to be used in expansion of the showgrounds won’t be offered for purchase to Wellington International or rather, its parent company, Global Equestrian Group, unless the North development project on the Preserve is approved.
As Jane Cleveland, chair of the Village’s Equestrian Preserve Committee put it, the land sale for the showgrounds’ addition is being held “hostage” as the developer’s ace to make sure it gets the approval needed for its project.
Gavigan asked, “How can the Village tie a condition from one owner on one property to a project of another owner on another property? You can consider the South (project) without considering the North.”
Attorney Len Feiwus, representing Equestrian Club Estates, called it a “quid pro quo,” which he said is “not appropriate.”
The Equestrian Preserve Committee in June unanimously voted against removing the 96 acres from the preserve. But the Zoning panel sees a benefit to having an expanded, contiguous showgrounds for dressage, hunters and jumpers, at 180 acres double the size of its current venue.
Michael Stone, president of Wellington International, has testified that the expanded showgrounds would be able to host far more horses than in the current space, and offer an air conditioned hospitality area that would attract more sponsors. The facility would have a stadium and nine additional rings with warm-up areas. Jumpers would show there, while hunters and dressage would share the current showgrounds that would be adjacent.
The new showgrounds would have a real stadium, seating 7,000, as its centerpiece rather than an ordinary arena like the current international ring. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Dressage already has a lease with Equestrian Village for 2024, and seems likely to remain there for 2025. There has been an agreement that no building would happen at Equestrian Village, if development is approved, until dressage has a home at the expanded showgrounds. That facility, if all goes well, could open in 2026. Equestrian Village is no longer up to the standard for a top dressage facility, and there are no plans to improve it.
If the zoning change for Equestrian Village and other preserve property isn’t granted and the 96 acres remains in the preserve, the owner is under no obligation to continue offering a venue for dressage after the lease or leases expire. With the current zoning unchanged, some houses could be built there, and other permitted uses include everything from offices to a veterinary practice, a restaurant and a riding school.
Site plan approval and some other things would be required, but most are administrative procedures that need no public input or council approval.
Kelly Ferraiolo, senior planner for the Village of Wellington, noted the owner of Equestrian Village does not have an obligation to keep a showgrounds at that property. She said people wouldn’t be allowed to ride their horses across the land just because it’s part of the Equestrian Preserve. She explained it is private property and would require permission from the owner before people could ride there.
