Devoted horsewoman Ann David of Bedminster, N.J., died Saturday at the age of 94.
“She was a fabulous person who loved her horses and her dogs,” said Tierney Sullivan, a former owner of Coach Stop Saddlery in Bedminster, where Ann had shopped for decades.
Ann’s home was Hoopstick Farm, the former residence of Jean and Elliot Haller, where the first Essex Horse Trials was held in 1968. While Ann and her late husband, Edward, were moving from Illinois to New Jersey in 1978, Ann was concerned about finding the right kind of farm for her animals.
Ann’s friend, Catherine Weinstock, recalled that when Ann went to a Realtor in her search, she said, “`What I want is a farm like the Hallers’,” where she used to board while living in New Jersey previously.
“It’s available,” said the Realtor, and Ann jumped at it. When the Essex Horse Trials was revived in 2017 after an 18-year hiatus, Ann donated the Jean and Elliot Haller Perpetual Trophy for Horsemanship to the competition. It is presented to the rider who demonstrates good horsemanship and a superior partnership with their horse during the event.
A board member of the Somerset Bridle Path Association, Ann also had hunted with the Essex Foxhounds. She was a devoted trail rider until the Covid pandemic, and then after a break, doing a little riding until about two years ago, according to Anita Kozak, her farm manager of 14 years, who lives at Hoopstick
“Everything she did was about horses,” said Anita.
“We rode every day; the only days we didn’t go out was if it was raining or snowing.”
Ann was active in the community with her friends in a book club–she was a voracious reader, a movie club and the Juliets, a group of women who went out to eat together, according to her friend, Heather Walker.
“She was smart and wonderful,” Heather remembered.
“She was so positive, so friendly and one of a kind, for sure.”
In a full circle Ann donated the Jean and Elliot Haller Perpetual Trophy for Horsemanship to the Essex Horse Trials, to be presented to the rider who demonstrates good horsemanship and a superior partnership with their horse.