By Nancy Jaffer
March 31, 2018
Four Seasons is more than just a horse show to its manager, Mason Garrity, and his wife, Alexandra “A.J.” Garrity, a freelance trainer.
Once part of a series that began in 1972, Four Seasons was the pet project of trainer Gary Kunsman, A.J.’s father, who died in 2010.
The late trainer/rider Gary Kunsman started the Four Seasons horse shows more than 40 years ago. (Boz Swope photo)
“It’s very important to keep my dad’s name and memory alive,” said A.J. of the fixture dedicated to Gary that runs April 12-15 at the Horse Park of New Jersey. She remembers how Gary “was out there from sun-up to sundown” not only managing the Four Seasons show, but also “helping those who were his clients, those who weren’t his clients, having a good time with everybody.”
Those she recalled attending from the old days with their clients were the late Emerson Burr, Heritage Farm and Ralph Caristo.
It’s the first big outdoor show of the season in the state. This year, it also will be notable as the first show to use the park’s newly refurbished grand prix arena for the jumper competitions, featuring the $5,000 Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center Mini-Prix.
The show series originated at Four Seasons Farm in Readington, but as the years passed and after Four Seasons was sold, the dates eventually were taken by other shows and locations. In the early 1990s, the featured spring show went on to be staged at Duncraven in Titusville, the stable where Mason worked for 12 years as the property manager.
He’s not a rider, but he’s very much a part of the horse industry. His life changed when he met A.J. through a mutual friend who used to date his brother.
“If you told me 20 years ago I would be as involved with horses as I am, I would have told you that you were crazy,” chuckled Mason, 36.
He is now in the jump business with Paul Jewell, announces at a variety of shows and is working on his small “r” as a jumper judge. For most of the year, however, his mind is on the Four Seasons show.
“We work 10 months of the year for four days in April,” Mason observed.
“We put everything into it,” he said of the devotion he and his wife have given to Four Seasons, which last year drew nearly 450 horses.
“This is still Gary’s show,” Mason explained. “We’re just running it for him.”
The Gary H. Kunsman Memorial Trophy is presented to the winner of the USHJA Hunter Derby at the Four Seasons Show. Show manager Mason Garrity was on hand for the presentation to trainer Troy Hendricks, Christina Serio and Game Changer. (Conklin Photography)
The show moved to the Horse Park in 2016 to take advantage of more stabling and rings, as well as additional open space where exhibitors could ride and graze their horses. It is invested in pleasing those who participate, so it doesn’t become simply an exercise to get points.
“We’re trying to keep the tradition of good New Jersey horse shows. We want to have people enjoy themselves,” explained Mason. There are pizza parties and brunch—complete with a band featuring acoustic guitar (no loud horse-disturbing music) in the pavilion on the Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Kaitlyn Williams and Casan, winner of the 2017 USHJA Hunter Derby at Four Seasons. (Photo by Conklin Photography)
An upgrade this spring is the April 15 $10,000 U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Hunter Derby presented by Britta Lippert’s Sea Shore Stables, with the prize money more than doubled from the $4,500 offered last year. Other features include the $2,500 USHJA Pony Derby, and a $2,500 hunter classic.
There’s always a charity component. In Gary’s day, it was the Readington Fire Department. A.J. also remembers him running a benefit for the late Jim Geibel, a trainer who was paralyzed in a diving accident. This year, the beneficiary is the Mid-Atlantic Jack Russell Rescue.
Pennsylvania trainer Troy Hendricks is a regular at Four Seasons, bringing between 15 and 20 horses and riders from his Kimber-View Stables to the show.
He likes the “old-time horse show feeling” of Four Seasons, which he calls “a really great opportunity.”
Four Seasons moved to the Horse Park of New Jersey in 2016. (Conklin Photography)
“It’s family-run and up to very current standards, the jumps are beautiful, everything is decorated nicely,” said Troy, who is the USHJA’S Zone 2 (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) vice-chairman.
“They’re always sort of reaching out and seeing what their exhibitors want. They always get quality judges. My customers love going there. It’s not a factory show.”
Entries for the USEF national show close Friday at www.horseshowing.com, but post entries are accepted at an additional fee.
It’s nice to see fixtures that are part of New Jersey’s equestrian history surviving and doing well into the present. The revival after 19 years of the Mars Essex Horse Trials, Monmouth’s success at the U.S Equestrian Team Foundation after it changed counties two years ago and others that continue, such as Garden State and Sussex, mean New Jersey equestrians don’t always have to leave the state if they want to go to some bigger competitions.
