The Tewksbury Trail Pace in Hunterdon County has been a favorite post-Labor Day destination for recreational riders from New Jersey and beyond since 1996, when it was introduced at Christie Hoffman Park. The well-organized Tewksbury Trail Association fixture usually draws more than 150 participants—making it one of the largest paces, if not the largest, in the state.
Last year, the pace moved to another scenic area of the township, giving participants a chance to ride through the Hill & Dale Preserve North at Hill & Dale Road and Parsonage Lot, as well as the South and Cold Brook Preserves for the benefit of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
This year, however, the pace is taking a bit of breather, giving a break to the dedicated volunteers who put on the event and stay busy year-round clearing the trails. In its place from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sept. 16 will be the Tewksbury Fun Ride over seven miles of marked trails at Christie Hoffman. The route is among the hundreds of miles of trails available to association members.
No one will be timed, as they would be in a traditional pace, and there are no prizes—“everyone’s a winner,” according to the organization’s flyer. Instead, the association promotes it as a chance to ride with friends and learn the trails at the same time. Go out alone or with as many as a group of four. The fee is $25. Entrants don’t have to be Tewksbury Trail Association members to participate, but members and those who join will get a trail map for future rides.
Vanessa Patterson, Beth Durden, Dawn Eastabrooks enjoy the trails in much the same way that participants will during September’s fun ride. (Photo courtesy of Tewksbury Trail Association)
Normally, riders have to be TTA members to use the trails, so the fun ride offers a treat for those who haven’t been on these routes.
Non-riders can take part in a new initiative, the Trail Blazers. Participants go out on foot—armed with clippers and gloves—to help trim the trails under the guidance of TTA veterans.
“Historically, it’s (the trail system) just been for riders,” TTA President Louisa Sargent said about offering hikers a chance to enjoy the countryside as well. They won’t be going out on the fun day, but plans call for groups of up to six individuals taking part in Trail Blazers once a month. There will be no fee as the program proceeds on a trial basis.
Louisa emphasized the organization is not giving up on the pace, but board members are thinking about alternating the pace and the fun ride in coming years. That makes sense in a year like this one, when the TTA and the Tewksbury Historical Society put on the Tewksbury Barn Tour. The barn tour, held every two years, ran last weekend and offered a wonderful selection of farms with many interesting buildings.
“To do both the barn tour and the pace the way we want to do it is a lot to do in three months,” she noted.
For more information, go to the association’s website at https://www.tta-nj.org/ Those who are interested in volunteering or learning more about the association can email tewksburytrail@gmail.com. And circle July 2020 on your calendar; you don’t want to miss the next barn tour.
The Longhorned tick has spread to a seventh New Jersey county. A little more than a month after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) was found at Soldier Hill Golf Course in Bergen County, it also was spotted in Monmouth County and now in Somerset County.
Looks like a pattern here; the tick is probably aiming for all 21 counties in the state..
Previously, the tick was found in Hunterdon, Union, Middlesex and Mercer counties.Some of these findings were a result of a statewide “Tick Blitz,” led by the Rutgers Center for Vector Biology in May and developed primarily by professionals from New Jersey’s county mosquito control programs.
Public parks where the Longhorned tick has been found include Davidson Mill County Pond Park in Middlesex County, as well as the Watchung Reservation, Houdaille Quarry Park and Briant Park in Union County.
Like deer ticks, the nymphs of the Longhorned tick are very small (resembling tiny spiders) and can easily go unnoticed on animals and people. Although specimens identified in New Jersey have not been found to carry pathogens, Longhorned ticks in other countries have been shown to spread diseases. They are known to infest a wide range of species including humans, dogs, cats, and livestock.
“We want to emphasize that it is important that people continue to use normal tick prevention measures for themselves, their pets and livestock,” said Dr. Manoel Tamassia, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture State Veterinarian. “We will work to continue to develop strategies to control the spread of the tick to other areas.”
As part of New Jersey’s investigation, counties have set up drop-off locations for the public to submit ticks they find on themselves, their pets, livestock or on wildlife. Information on these locations and how to submit a tick can be found on the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s website at http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/ah/
A phone line has also been established to leave a message if a tick is found and there is uncertainty about what the next steps are. If you need information about what to do if you find a tick on yourself, your pets or livestock call 1-833-NEWTICK (1-833-639-8425).
Want to support the Horse Park of New Jersey and enjoy yourself at the same time? Compete in the Aug. 5 fun show at the facility in Allentown, where the classes will include a hunter derby, western games, hunt teams, dressage, gambler’s choice and lots more.
All the money raised will go toward supporting the Horse Park. Judges, stewards, scribes, secretaries and jump crews all are donating their time. Prizes are donated as well, and every blue ribbon comes with a prize. Points will be given for the Thoroughbred Incentive Program and the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Association.
A concert featuring the band Kindred Spirit will be held July 20 at Congress Hill Farm, 118 Federal Road, Monroe to benefit Special Strides therapeutic riding.
Admission is $20/person or $100 for a table that seats six. It’s a BYOB, and also a BYOF (bring your own food).Those attending should also bring a beach blanket or chairs for the 7 p.m. event. For tickets, go to www.specialstrides.com and click on “events.” Alternatively, call (732) 446-0945
Lisa Schmidt of Hampton has been approved as the newest member of the U.S. Dressage Federation’s L Program Faculty. Members are responsible for providing instruction to and conducting the USDF L Education Program. Graduation with distinction from the USDF L Education Program is a prerequisite for entrance into the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s judge training programs.
In 1998, Lisa graduated with distinction from the USDF L Education Program and has since worked her way up through the USEF Dressage Judge Training Program to become a licensed USEF ‘S’ Dressage Judge, in 2013. Lisa has also earned her USEF designation for Young Horse and certification for Freestyle.
USDF L Program Committee Chair Lois Yukins stated, “After successful completion of the extensive L Faculty Apprentice Program, we are thrilled for Lisa to join the ranks of the existing USDF L Program Faculty. With her extensive knowledge, and experience in the judges box, the USDF L Program Committee is certain Lisa will be a great addition to the faculty.”
The USDF L Education Program is designed to prepare candidates to enter the USEF “r” Judge Training Program, to qualify individuals to judge schooling shows and to provide greater insight into the evaluative process of dressage judging , as well as to provide continuing education for licensed judges.
When she mounts Diesel, her statuesque black Oldenburg, she swings her right leg over his back, then settles in the saddle and removes the prosthetic. After a quick zip to her specially tailored breeches that fit neatly over the stump of her leg, she’s ready to head out.
The moves are so smooth, you might think she’s been doing them all her life. But it’s only since 2015 that Katie’s leg was amputated above the knee after she was diagnosed with cancer.
“If I lose my leg, I’m going to keep riding,” she had vowed before the decision to amputate was made.
And so she has—over the weekend, the 38-year-old athlete and Diesel competed with nine other horse/rider combinations at Wheatland Farms in Virginia. The invitational event is one of the components to qualify for the short list ,from which will be chosen the U.S. para-equestrian team that goes to the FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.
A lot of people have come together to put Katie in contention for a place on the squad that will meet the world’s best at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in September. Her original goal was to go for it with her horse Royal Dancer. After he sustained a minor injury during the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Florida last winter, things went off track.
“Such is life and horses,” she shrugged. Her life, however, took a sudden turn upward one day during the show while she was having a casual meal with Rowan O’Riley, who sponsors para rider Becca Hart.
Knowing that Katie was only able to tack-walk Royal, Rowan noted she was going to be away for a week and suggested her luncheon companion could keep going by riding her horse, Diesel, and taking lessons with Catherine Haddad Staller, her trainer at that time.
“I had a lovely instant connection with him, but at that point, it was just a week,” said Katie about Diesel, a 15-year-old son of DeNiro.
“I really loved working with Catherine. It was just one of those stars aligning that a few weeks later, Rowan decided to sell Diesel and gave me a call.”
Katie, who fits together beautifully with Diesel, noted, “I’ve been learning so much from him and so much from Catherine. He’s got a kind, willing personality. He knew his program and I was able to be introduced into his program in a way that made him open to it. It wasn’t about a leg being gone. It was about riding and understanding what he needs to do.”
The gelding, who has been in training with Catherine’s assistant, Michelle Brady, is “a kind soul and a sweet horse. He works hard and wants to please—that made the match,” observed Katie, who has a cheery, can-do, bubbly demeanor, one key to her success.
The system used by Catherine, a top international rider based in Tewksbury Township, became just what Katie needed, because it isn’t dependent on the lower leg.
“We train from the seat and weight and a little the turning of the thighs,” said Catherine.
“For Katie, it was the perfect system match. We had an instant mind meld. I teach her like an able-bodied rider. Whenever we need the lower right leg, we substitute the whip if needed, but (even) more, we substitute thought, rather than action.”
Removing the knee rolls from the saddle made a big difference as well.
“The stump appreciated taking it all away,” said Katie, who tends to speak of that appendage in the third person.
“I went from all this stuff to block it in and support it, to just a little Velcro that helps keep it stablilized. It’s the happiest it’s been. I dealt with a lot of pain where the femur would bang into it and bruise internally and get a lot of muscle cramping. The Stubben saddle has been a game-changer for me.”
Katie travels regularly to New Jersey from her Austin, Texas, base, where the dentist manages a practice. Patients are cared for by Katie’s associates, since it is too painful for her to stand in the position that she would need to use while working hands-on.
Her husband, Yancey, who is in the home construction business, has learned a lot about the horse game as he helps his wife. Other pieces of the effort to get to the WEG fell into place because Katie became friendly during the Florida circuit with veterinarians Brendan and Wendy Furlong who coincidentally–just like Catherine’s husband, Dr. Greg Staller–have an equine clinic in Tewksbury.
Katie stayed with the Furlongs in Florida and they extended the invitation to her in New Jersey as well, so she is their guest in Pittstown, a short drive from Tewksbury and Catherine. The backing all around from people who have become part of Katie’s team and others rooting for her has made it work.
In Bedminster, the June Red Tail dressage show made a provision for her to practice her freestyle in a competition atmosphere. The judge marked her at 74.5 percent, which Catherine said, “brought tears to my eyes.”
Katie expressed gratitude to everyone who has become a part of her quest, from Greg Staller and farrier Chris Pinola, who care for Diesel, to Brendan Furlong, who works with Royal Dancer, and beyond that, to others she doesn’t even know.
She mentioned, “The environment of support that has come around me, people cheering for me in other countries through social media and the power of friends and family. You hear stories, `My friend in India is praying for you.’
“It makes a difference and lifts you up and gives you strength you didn’t know you had. It’s probably the most humbling thing I have ever encountered.” she said.
Katie is a long way from where her journey started in a very dark place three years ago, when she was diagnosed with an aggressive type of tumor growing behind her right knee.
“We were fortunate that it didn’t appear to have spread,” she said, but at the same time, “It’s devastating. It’s a blow. You never expect to have that kind of news, especially at 35 years old. It knocks you off your path and you feel pretty lost for quite a bit. It changed the trajectory of everything from my career to my business and family life,” she recalled.
But giving up riding was never even a thought. Katie started riding as a child in Oregon, and became focused on dressage.
“Dressage always has been something I’ve loved; the connection you have with the horses, the detail and just the beauty of it,” said Katie, who had earned a U.S. Dressage Federation silver medal on Debbie Hubbard’s Winterstolz.
After getting in the saddle again following her operation, she began training with Kai Handt, chef d’equipe of the U.S. para team.
“He was able to get me back riding and competing,” she said. Katie rides as para-equestrian Grade V, in which competitors do multiple flying changes, half-passes and other advanced movements. The para scale starts with Grade I, which is walk only.
She finished 2017 at the top of the United States Dressage Federation’s Grade V standings, and also was ranked third on the FEI Para-Dressage Grade V World Rankings List.
With her goals for the WEG and 2020 Paralympics in sight, Katie reflected how she got to this juncture.
“Cancer gave me perspective on doing what I love,” she said. As a teenager, she made the decision to go to college and pursue graduate studies, though at one point, “I really wanted to keep riding and training and push myself to see what I could do as an equestrian,” she remembered.
But Katie never rode at her current level when she had both legs.
If she had not undergone the amputation, riding “would have been what I fit in in the evening and weekends,” she pointed out.
Learning that she needed the amputation, she grasped at the idea of being able to do dressage as a para-equestrian. It was comforting because “it’s a known and something close to my heart.
“This opportunity has been incredible. It’s been a gift to push myself and do this and also has helped me through the cancer and the loss; physical loss, loss of the journey and path you were on. It’s given me kind of a new purpose and a reason to get up and push hard every day and do something that’s hopefully bigger than me.
“If you could make lemonade from lemons of having something happen, this has been pretty incredible,’ said Katie.
“It has not been easy, but there are things that have aligned and you just put it out to the universe.”
The former World Number One show jumper, Kent Farrington, has withdrawn from consideration for the U.S. team that will be competing in September at the FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.
Kent, who was out of action for several months after breaking his leg last winter, felt the form shown since his return by his WEG-designated mount, Gazelle, meant it was not in the best interests of the horse or the team to continue pursuing a spot on the Net Jets squad. Kent is a veteran of the 2014 WEG, where he was part of the bronze medal team, and the 2016 Olympics, where he was on the silver medal team.
As the selection process continues to narrow down the list of candidates (previous dropouts included Lauren Hough and Jessica Springsteen), look closely at the squad that will compete in the next-to-last observation event at Aachen this month. It is composed of Margie Engle, McLain Ward, Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and Devin Ryan of Long Valley. You may be seeing all of them in Tryon. The final observation event is in Dublin, but Aachen could well tell the team tale.
The Garden State Horse Show, once New Jersey’s largest hunter/jumper competition, is moving next year from the Sussex County fairgrounds to the U.S. Equestrian Federation Foundation’s historic Gladstone facility.
Garden State, set to run its 69th edition April 27-May 5, is following the lead of the Monmouth County Horse Show, which left Freehold for the foundation grounds in Somerset County two years ago. The third edition of what is now called Monmouth at the Team is set for Aug. 12-20, but Monmouth has long been billed as the oldest continually running show in the country.
With the move, Monmouth became a boutique one-ring show, rather than a multi-ring affair, in a setting that is a big selling point. People enjoy riding in the same arena (albeit with new state-of-the-art footing) where the likes of show jumping legends including Bill Steinkraus, Frank Chapot and George Morris trained. A Monmouth trademark is the hospitality in a ringside tent, offering a warm welcome, music, and plenty to eat and drink. High-end vendors and a good sponsor experience complete the picture.
One thing Garden State and Monmouth now have in common is their manager, Tucker Ericson, an insurance executive and horse show judge who splits his time between Ocala, Fla., and Far Hills. He also manages the successful Country Heir shows in Kentucky.
“Tucker’s an excellent guy. I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Tim Cleary, 61, who stepped down as Garden State’s manager after this year’s show.
Garden State is run by the alumni of the Junior Essex Troop of Cavalry, which originally was based at its own farm in West Orange. The troop was open to boys between the ages of 10 and 18 who trained in the cavalry tradition. But after the farm was sold following the 1983 show, troop membership declined and finally, the organization for young people could not continue.
Even so, the former troopers were a tight-knit group who kept the show going, first at Chubb Park in Chester, before moving to Sussex in 1987 when Garden State outgrew the Morris County venue.
Recently, however, entry numbers dropped as the needs and desires of exhibitors changed with the times and more shows crowded the calendar.
“We were struggling. This year, we really worked hard to try and make ends meet,” said Tim. The former troopers who did much of that work also are getting older, and while they enjoyed their annual reunion at the show, the amount of effort it required was becoming daunting. Concern arose that Garden State might not continue.
So Tim, who works as an announcer at the Monmouth show, believes the new approach for Garden State is the perfect fit and will insure that the show can go on.
“I think it’s awesome. I couldn’t be more thrilled about the whole thing. It’s the tradition of Troop locking up with the tradition of the Team,” explained Tim, an associate professor of equine studies at Centenary University in Hackettstown.
Tim noted that having only one ring makes it “almost like an indoor.” The show is nine days (the first two days’ offerings are not recognized by the U.S. Equestrian Federation) so it can accommodate the wide range of classes Garden State always presented for all levels in multiple rings, but there also will be some editing to make sure every division presented makes sense.
“Trying to determine what the consumer wants is critical,” said Tucker.
Tim appreciates the way Garden State 2019 is developing.
“We were a horse show trying to be an event, and I kind of look at it now that we’re going to be an event surrounded by a horse show,” said Tim.
Tucker, 49, bought the Monmouth show with his cousin, Michael Dowling, an assistant professor of equine studies at Centenary, where he also is a coach of the intercollegiate riding team. It provides a template for Garden State’s evolution.
“The guys from Junior Essex Troop have worked so hard for so many decades on creating a horse show that became a priority to many in New Jersey and surrounding states. At the same time, the industry has put such an emphasis on footing, hotels, restaurants and a special boutique experience,” Tucker observed.
The Somerset Hills where the foundation is located has many amenities close at hand. For instance, there are four high-end restaurants in the borough of Peapack and Gladstone, along with several smaller dining establishments that are a drive of three or four minutes from the showgrounds.
“What Monmouth at the Team has done has shown horse shows that a show like that can thrive. We certainly love Sussex County, but that (the fairgrounds) is such an overwhelming facility to try and get your arms around. Gladstone enables us to do something that’s achievable on the high end, so we can provide that experience an entire family would enjoy,” Tucker continued.
He views hospitality as “so critical” to enable even those who aren’t riders to have some fun. There are gifts for competitors who win first place in every class and the championships, all part of making “the entire experience something people look forward to and not just another run-of-the-mill horse show. Having the entire show focused on one ring creates an atmosphere where the spectators are really enjoying the sport again. That energy at the USET Foundation is hard to replace,” continued Tucker, who compared the concept to the Devon Horse show, which has a main ring and a smaller, ancillary ring often used for warm-up.
Although sponsors will have the opportunity to be involved with two shows at the same facility, Tucker noted Garden State will be “distinct and separate” from Monmouth at the Team. At the same time, Monmouth will be an experience “that we want to replicate, in some regard. I’m sure Garden State will create some of its own nuances” to keep it distinct and separate. That’s especially true since one show is in the spring and the other is in the summer, which means they won’t become redundant. Meanwhile, Tucker is hoping that Garden State will help bring some new people to Monmouth at the Team, and vice-versa.
Another benefit, from Tucker’s viewpoint, “is that we get to promote the USET Foundation at the same time. So many kids growing up today don’t understand the roots of our sport and the mission of the foundation. Every chance we get to promote that facility and help them raise money for our teams and games around the world, it’s so critical to carrying on a tradition that is a whole exciting offshoot of bringing horses to the team (facility).”
Unlike Monmouth, where the highest rating is B, subject to USEF approval Garden State will continue to be rated AA for hunters during its seven recognized days. As usual, it also will have a show jumping grand prix with a purse of at least $25,000. Monmouth does not have a grand prix.
Tucker is hoping that by the time Monmouth at the Team gets under way, a sponsorship packet and tentative schedule for Garden State will be available so people can get an idea what the show will look like.
“Bringing in the community and sponsors will be critical,” Tucker pointed out.
Monmouth’s offerings are similar to last year, but an extra B-rated day has been added to give people another chance to earn points or ride in a division if they’ve been shut out of it earlier in the show because there were so many entries.
“It’s our way of being able to include everyone,” said Tucker.
News about Garden State’s move comes on the heels of word from the Mars Essex Horse Trials, held in June at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, that plans call for its new advanced division in 2019 to have its dressage and show jumping phases at the foundation, with cross-country remaining at Moorland.
The momentum is impressive since the ball got rolling three years ago with the Gladstone Gathering at the foundation. That cocktail party with a purpose brought together more than 200 supporters of horse sport an d representatives of equestrian organizations.
It was a first step toward greater utilization of the foundation’s facility and increasing equestrian involvement in the Somerset Hills. The Gathering sparked the rebirth of the Essex Horse Trials, formerly presented on foundation property, which hadn’t been held for 19 years until it was reorganized in 2017. The Horse Trials are not an anomaly.
Newer facilities in Skillman, run by Princeton Show Jumping, and in Asbury, Warren County, where The Ridge has a series, also are adding life to the state’s show scene.
“It seems to me that the equestrian community in New Jersey is gaining strength again as far as high-end horse shows and people really trying to identify a strategy and a vision that is going to work,” said Tucker.
“Some of that certainly is because of the economy. It’s a lot easier to succeed in promoting a strong vision when the economy supports it. When the economy does dip again, if you’ve proven yourself as a standout and people are pickier with how they spend their dollars, they are going to go to those standout shows and make sure they are the ones that have legs and longevity. I’m always trying to think of ways to have the horse shows work together and share some synergy, whether it’s a vendor or an award, or ideas.”
As he sees it, “There’s a desire to want to keep people locally. If everyone goes away for the entire summer or stays on circuits longer from the winter, if we don’t give them a reason to come back to New Jersey, then shame on us. They may now have a reason to come back to our community and embrace our show.
“We’re giving trainers and exhibitors a reason to stay in New Jersey now. As long as we continue to do that, it’s going to help the area thrive and make people think twice before they’re willing to spend thousands of dollars to travel away, when they’ve got something special in their backyard.”
Not only is it ready to host an Advanced division (Preliminary was the highest level offered this year and in 2017), it plans to supplement its location at Moorland Farm in Far Hills with a side-trip to the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, where Essex was held until lack of cross-country space at the foundation site led to its termination after the 1998 edition.
The Advanced section would have its dressage and show jumping Thursday and Friday at the Foundation, where the historic arena has top-flight, up-to-date artificial footing. The Advanced entries would return to Moorland Saturday for cross-country, but all the other divisions will do their entire competition at Moorland, where the surface is turf for each segment. That concept would double the length of Essex, which has only been held on the weekend for the past two years.
Guy Torsilieri, an Essex board member and a key player in bringing Essex back to the scene in 2017 after a 19-year absence, noted Essex had permission to do Advanced for 2018, but passed.
“We chose not to do it this year because we’re still growing and working out the kinks as we re-invigorate Essex,” he said.
“We could do the total Advanced package here (at Moorland), but the turf and footing becomes questionable for the show jumping and dressage if we get weather conditions. Turf is the best—until it isn’t; until you get three inches of rain the night before, like we did last year and our dressage fields were flooded.”
The solution this year involved moving dressage away from the boggy area where it was held in 2017, and prime weather meant the show jumping arena was perfect. But the climate doesn’t always cooperate.
Guy and Ralph Jones, who co-chairs Essex with cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell, had discussions with foundation Executive Director Bonnie Jenkins and Jim Wolf, the assistant executive director, about moving two-thirds of the Advanced test to Gladstone.
“The big story is tying in the traditional home of the Essex Horse Trials with its modern home. It’s gone full circle,” said Jim, who is a member of the Essex board.
Putting the historic foundation facility in the picture adds cachet to the event.
“I always say about Gladstone, when you walk into that stable, the walls talk, all those people who have been there, the history, you can’t replicate that anywhere else in the country,” Jim commented.
“I look at those stables and think about the famous horses that have been there that represented this country. For a rider to ride at a horse trials and be able to have their horse in the same stall as some of those horses is an amazing experience.”
This need to schedule Advanced dressage and show jumping at Gladstone raises a question for Guy about when he should put in a permanent ring with synthetic footing at Moorland, site of the Far Hills Race Meeting each October. He isn’t ready to do that yet, so Gladstone offers a perfect solution.
Asked to sum up where he thinks Essex is at the moment, Ralph said “This is all going according to plan.” He was pleased that the weather cooperated over the weekend (unlike what was predicted) and more than 2,500 people came out on the second day, when a car show was among the activities featured.
Putting everything together “really is a balancing act,” observed Ralph.
“You want to hold a very good equestrian competition. On the other hand, you want to make it a show, a country weekend and a family weekend for the community. The people here at Moorland Farm are dedicated to that. Putting on a good show is your best marketing. In the end, it’s really word of mouth that will bring this fixture back to the magic it was, the old Essex. And that’s really our goal, to bring it back.”
Essex is run for the benefit of the Greater Newark Life Camp in Pottersville, where approximately 300 Newark area youth each summer spend time learning about the environment and otherwise stretching their talent and imagination. More than 130 volunteers have enabled Essex to flourish. Without them, Ralph noted, “we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
The Preliminary Essex Division, offering $20,000 in prize money, was held on Saturday (click on this link to read the story), but there was plenty of action on Sunday for the Training, Novice and Beginner novice levels.
Donna White of Newton and her longtime partner, High Stakes (better known as Cowboy), won the Training B division. She has owned the unraced thoroughbred for 10 years. He started out with her trainer, Holly Payne Caravella.
In a story I wrote for Practical Horseman magazine in 2016, Holly recalled how and why she bought Cowboy.
“His owners had started endurance riding him in Arizona,” she told me.
“They sent me a video, set to music. He was trotting and galloping with his head in the air on a straight line toward the camera, so you couldn’t see anything about his stride or way of moving. Then the cowboy riding him got off and tied his shoe—and the horse just stood there. After that, they threw a tarp over him and he was still motionless. I looked at the video and thought, `This horse is a saint.’
Donna seconds that thought.
“He’s a Training Level packer,” said the 51-year-old rider, who works in analytics for a pharmaceutical company.
In the large Training Rider A section, Valito topped a field of 27 for Dawn Eastabrooks of Tewksbury.
The United Airlines flight attendant was cheered by a crew of United employees who had come out to watch her long-held dreams with Valito finally come to fruition.
Her challenges with the horse included one at Essex last year, when he “balked at the water jump” and that was that. This year, she led all the way through, from dressage and cross-country to a clean round in show jumping. She admitted she was shaking as she cleared each stadium fence (“It was a lot of pressure”) and finished on her dressage score of 30.50—oddly, the same score as Donna earned in her division.
Dawn, 50, bought the Hanoverian/thoroughbred cross Canadian sporthorse as a four-year-old and has owned him for nine years. She credited her trainers, Corey Edwards and Meg Kepferle, who spent time with him over the winter, with helping her get to the point where she could win.
“I’ve had my trials and tribulations, but he showed his true potential today,” she said, the thrill of it all written in her smile.
Dawn and Donna enjoyed their victory gallops in the awards ceremony. Hannah Simmons left her horse on the trailer, so she brought along her new dog, Tonks, who proudly wore the fourth-place ribbon she had earned in Training Rider B. The rescued pup had just been adopted Wednesday, but already was a natural for the spotlight. Click on the video to watch.
Several special awards were given out. They included the Jean and Elliot Haller Perpetual Trophy for Horsemanship. The trophy is named in memory of the couple who owned Hoopstick Farm in Bedminster, where Essex started. The award went to John Nunn, the owner of the Bit of Britain tack shop in Pennsylvania, who competed in the Preliminary division.
Sally Ike, a member of the Essex board, chose him for the honor because of his sportsmanship and his contributions to the sport. “He loves the sport. He just has a smile on his face every time you see him. He loves being here. When I think of what he has done with Bit O’ Britain, giving back to the eventing community, it was a no-brainer.”
The Golden Nugget Memorial Trophy, donated by Clarissa Wilmerding, goes to the lowest-scoring member of a Pony Club (low is good in eventing) who has completed all three phases at Essex. It went to Radnor, Pa., Pony Club member Marina Cassou, 13, second in Beginner Novice Rider A on The Dude.
To see a gallery of photos from Essex, click on this link
For results of the Essex Horse Trials, go to this link.
After a brilliant return to the eventing calendar in 2017 following a 19-year absence, the Mars Essex Horse Trials had a hard act to follow for 2018. But today, more big names competing in the Preliminary division and a promise to add the Advanced division next year (more on that tomorrow) demonstrated this beloved fixture isn’t just getting older, it’s getting better.
The new Preliminary Essex section, with $20,000 in prize money, offered a greater challenge cross-country than the Open Preliminary and Preliminary Rider divisions.
“I added the Essex Division to give more excitement to the game,” said cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell, who co-chairs Essex with Ralph Jones.
The concept worked. Buck Davidson was the marquee rider who appeared last year at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, taking first through fourth places in prelim. But this time, there were a lot more recognizable faces, from Ryan Wood, who earned the $8,000 winner’s share of the Preliminary Essex purse, to second-place Michael Walton (he also is known as a show jumper); Buck, of course; Sally Cousins, Madeline Blackman, Courtney Cooper, Sara Kozumplik Murphy and a few more of whom you may have heard.
The cross-country course was inviting, while offering exactly the right amount of questions to make horses and riders really pay attention.
“It was a very strong track. I walked it this morning and thought there were enough questions and terrain and very well-presented jumps,” said Ryan.
“By the end of it, I thought it was going to be a good round if you went clear and under time. It proved it to be just that. There were a couple of rider falls and multiple run-outs and I was lucky enough to be on a very experienced horse, Ruby, who finished on her dressage score of 27. So she led from start to finish,” noted the Australian citizen, who is based at Phillip Dutton’s farm in West Grove Pa.
Nine horses, or less than a third of the 30 who finished the division, got around without time penalties. They found themselves with another challenge when facing Chris Barnard’s show jumping route later in the day in front of a cocktail party held in the Hoopstick Club, named after the Bedminster farm where Roger Haller, his family and friends first staged Essex in 1968.
“It was interesting to see the rails that were coming down,” said Ryan, who was tied for eighth on another mount, Ben Nevis, and 11th aboard Chusinmyconfession.
“I was a victim of a rail on each of my other horses,” noted Ryan, while praising the designer’s ability.
“Jump one looked like the softest jump on the course, a little bit of a rampy oxer, but it came down more than any other jump on the track. I thought the treble (triple) looked tough and it jumped better than any other combination. I was lucky enough to have two practices at it before piloting Ruby around.”
Not everyone was as lucky. Take Cole Horn, who had been standing second on Cooley Sligo after cross country. He dropped three rails to finish 13th.
Ruby, an 8-year-old Oldenburg mare by Royal Prince, is a New Jersey-bred from Summit Sporthorses, Ilona English’s farm in Ringoes. The clever chestnut is a half-sister to Powell, another Summit horse on whom Ryan won the Jersey Fresh International CCI 3-star in 2016.
Watch this video to find out more about Ruby.
Ryan hadn’t been to Essex previously, but he’ll return.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I can’t wait to come back. I will be promoting it to everyone in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Click on this video to see Ryan’s award presentation and his well-deserved victory gallop.
Another first-timer from Pennsylvania, Kaitlin Clasing, won the Open Preliminary division aboard Warren LVS on his dressage score of 29.80. She came from second place with her clean round to pass overnight leader Elizabeth Bortuzzo on Belongs to Teuffer, who dropped three rails.
A professional trainer who is married to another trainer, Daniel Clasing, Kaitlin had hoped each of them could win their division at the same event for the first time. But Daniel’s two rails down iwth Captivate in the Preliminary Essex division dropped him from a tie for fourth to 10th place, so that dream has to live another day. “We keep waiting for that weekend to happen,” Kaitlin said.
She has been working with Warren for the last two years, since he was four. Kaitlin was particularly pleased with his show jumping, since she noted he thought he had worked pretty hard on cross-country.
The Preliminary Rider division went to Juliana Hutchings-Sebring of Fair Hill, Md. It was her second victory in a row with Welbourne, who also won at Plantation Field. She got the Dutch warmblood two years ago in a trade.
He had come to her to be sold, because he was unsuitable for his older rider. But the sellers wanted a quieter mount and found it in her barn’s best lesson horse. Juli wasn’t sure she should give up that patient paragon.
“I was like, `An 8-year-old Dutch warmblood or a 12-year-old school horse I got for free who had arthritis but was a good horse and serviceably sound?’ It was funny, I really debated whether or not to take this horse for free. I’m obviously glad I did.”
She noted, however, “He’s a tricky horse, because he’s very spooky. This was the first event where he didn’t look at anything in cross-country or stadium.”
She was the only rider in her division who made the time on cross-country, moving her up from sixth after dressage, and her flawless stadium round kept her on top.
As a Fair Hill resident, her ambition long has been to ride in the Fair Hill International, and she hopes to compete in the 2-star there in the fall of 2019.
