“Consistency.”
According to judge Scott Fitton, that was the key to Taylor Cawley’s hard-won victory in the ASPCA Maclay hunt seat horsemanship championship at the National Horse Show on Sunday.
“We just felt like she stayed right there the same throughout each round all day long. We were very impressed with the way she handled it,” he said.
And it was one very long day, starting at 7:15 a.m. in the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park, and ending nearly 11 hours later with the presentation of the final ribbon.
After the first round, which had 172 starters, Taylor led on 93.5, with Adriana Forte second at 93.125. Taylor, the winner of the Platinum Performance/USEF Talent Search Finals East last month, was the runner-up to Adriana last weekend in the equitation championship at the Washington International Horse Show, where Christian Dominguez was third. Interestingly, they were all in the Maclay’s top group, with Christian reserve champ, Adriana third and last year’s Washington winner—Maddie Tosh—fourth.
But following the flat phase for the top 24, Adriana stood first, Taylor second, Maddie third and Christian fourth.The first round of jumping and the flat phase each counted 50 percent of the score before the first test, which was the second round contested by 24 competitors.
The course for the second round–notice the double, doubles; 5AB followed by 6AB.
Following the second round, in the final test for the top four, which called for a hand gallop to the first fence and a halt for four to six seconds after the last jump, Maddie was standing fourth, Christian third, Adriana second and Taylor first.
It was hard to critique those talented riders, but Christian had a very determined hand-gallop and Adriana’s round was a bit more quiet, so that may have been the difference.
Taylor Cawley and Oki D’Eclipse.
As the winners were announced, Taylor’s trainer, Stacia Madden, held her student’s hand, then gave her a hug as soon as Christian was named as the runner-up, which meant Taylor had won.
Stacia pointed out that Taylor is the only student she has taught who she met when the child was on day old. Taylor’s mother, Molly Ashe Cawley, is one of Stacia’s best friends.
“This feels so special to me,” said Taylor after her victory, citing the history of the class that began in 1933 and has been won by many riders who went on to compete in the Olympics.
Of her mount, Oki D’Eclipse, she said, “I honestly could not ask for a better partner throughout this whole finals season. He’s been amazing. He always comes out ready for the next day.I think it’s really important that you have a special bond with your horse.”
Christian Dominguez and his trainer, Jennifer Hannan; Taylor Cawley and Stacia Madden, Adriana Forte and Andre Dignelli.
Molly Cawley, a grand prix rider, and her husband, Chris, train Taylor along with Stacia and the crew from Beacon Hill. Taylor is the granddaughter of Sue Ashe, a respected judge who is an icon in the industry. Following up on a spectacular 2024 season, Taylor is hoping to go to Europe to ride jumpers next year, but also wants to continue in equitation with Stacia.
The class was judged by two panels of two judges; in addition to Scott they were Cynthia Hankins, Keri Kampsen and Lyman T. Whitehead. Cynthia said that arrangement is less tiring than just having two people judge, and it also lets judges see a rider from both sides of the arena.
“I think it’s really going in a great direction,” she remarked about that approach.
Keri said in collaborating with course designer Bobby Murphy about the layout of the fences, she told him she did not want to see too many related distances.
“I wanted to see the kids have to ride,” she noted, as opposed to just counting strides.
The fences were fantastic. You had to love the vertical flanked by towers of pastel macarons, which had a “bite” taken out of the top cookies. Other obstacles from StrideFull were used in the Paris, Tokyo and Athens Olympics, and included Greek pillars, perfume bottles and an elaborate Japanese house.
Click here for the order of finish in the Maclay
