by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 2, 2017
Logan’s Brook Equine Center is presenting a jumping clinic with Jeff Cook March 11-12 at the U.S.Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone.
Formerly an associate of George Morris, Jeff is among the country’s leading clinicians. Sections will be offered at 2-6, 3 feet and 3-6 and higher. The cost is $400/day for participants, or $20/day for auditors.
To sign up, contact Nancy Jones, 908-581-8158 or jonesie@logansbrook.com or Vicky Sroka 908-304-5762 or srokas1@verizon.net
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 1, 2017
The first case involving new and stronger penalty guidelines for violating U.S. Equestrian Federation Drugs & Medications rules will be the subject of a rehearing, the organization announced today.
The USEF Hearing Committee has granted a request for the rehearing in the case against rider Kelley Farmer and her partner, trainer Larry Glefke, involving the presence of the calming agent GABA in a horse named Unexpected during competition in Kentucky last summer.
While the USEF said its November hearing was held in accordance with the rules as the hearing committee found the two in violation, Farmer and Glefke petitioned USEF for a rehearing, claiming they had not been properly notified of the violation and subsequent hearing.
Farmer had received a 12-month suspension and $12,000 fine, while Glefke got a 24-month suspension and $24,000 fine.
USEF President Murray Kessler stated, “Despite the fact that a fair hearing was conducted with proper notification to the respective parties, as noted by the hearing committee in its ruling, given that this was the first case in which the new board of directors-approved penalty guidelines were utilized, the extremely serious nature of the violations, and the substantial penalties imposed, the federation did not object to a rehearing and, therefore, supports the hearing committee’s decision.”
At the time the penalties were announced during the USEF’s annual meeting in January, attorney Bonnie Navin said her clients told her they had not been notified of the hearing and thus did not attend the session, nor were they represented there by counsel.
Word of the penalties was a hot topic when it came out, serving notice that USEF was determined to step up enforcement.
Kessler noted, “This case is too important in the USEF’s steadfast goal to enforce the Drugs & Medications rules intended to prevent cheating in our sport. There can be no remote shadow of doubt that all of our cases are handled in a transparent manner.”
The hearing committee ruled, however, that any arguments about the scientific basis or analytical methodology underlying the federation’s testing for GABA positives already has been conclusively determined in prior hearings and will not be a subject of the rehearing.
They further ruled that the rehearing shall be concluded in time for new findings and decisions to be issued prior to July 1. Any suspensions levied as a result of the rehearing decision shall begin July 1, which is the commencement date under the original hearing committee decision.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 1, 2017
Want to practice your trail class skills? 7 Springs Farm, 14 Perryville Road, Pittstown, will have a course set up from 10 a.m.-noon on Sunday Feb. 19, and a second session from noon-2 p.m., if more than 15 riders register for the first session. Try opening a gate, crossing an obstacle and opening a mailbox, in addition to barrels, poles, etc. The fee is $15. Call Susan Witte at 908-238-9587 to reserve a spot.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 30, 2017
Former U.S. eventing coach Mark Phillips has been named the new cross-country course designer for May’s Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event at the Horse Park of New Jersey.
Fresh off the very successful work he did at Saturday’s Land Rover Eventing Showcase in Wellington, Fla., Mark is respected around the world for the routes he lays out, which also include the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, Great Britain’s September 4-star.
John Williams, the cross-country designer at Jersey Fresh since the competition debuted 15 years ago, will remain as co-organizer with Jane Cory.
“We made big changes in 2015 and last year,” said the event’s spokesperson, Lisa Mackintosh.
“This is the third year of the plan to bring a new look and feel to the event,” she explained. An important part of it will involve adding more land to the cross-country course, which should satisfy riders who have been concerned about the twisting tracks necessary to work within the confines of the property.
Since Mark is also going to be the cross-country designer for eventing at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, N.C., more riders likely will want to compete at Jersey Fresh to get a taste of what Mark might do at those world championships.
He can be quite inventive. At the Land Rover Showcase, he put a jump in the VIP tent, so riders galloped right by the guests seated at the tables, their mouths agape the first time a horse came down that track.
Mark also will be the designer for an arena eventing competition at the Devon, Pa., horse show, May 28, with both eventers and show jumpers competing over a route that runs through the show’s two rings.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 29, 2017
B.W. Furlong & Associates is holding its 16th annual Horse Health Seminar Feb. 19 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at Beaver Brook Country Club, 25 Country Club Dr., Annandale.
The agenda is wide-ranging, with topics including leptospirosis, colic, embryo transfer, navicular and an “ask the vets” session. Registration is required. The cost is $35 before Feb. 10 and $45 thereafter.
For more information, contact the clinic at 908-439-2821.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 29, 2017
The 2016 debut of Monmouth at the Team won the New Jersey Horse Shows Association’s Show of the Year award this month.
The historic USET Foundation stables made the perfect backdrop for Monmouth at the Team, the NJHSA’s 2016 Show of the Year. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
It took some daring on the part of co-organizers Tucker Ericson and his cousin, Michael Dowling, to move New Jersey’s oldest horse show out of Monmouth County into the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Somerset County, more than an hour away.
But it worked and was hugely successful on both the sporting and social sides.
“We’re excited that it had a great first go,” said Katie Benson, NJHSA president, who runs the Briarwood operation at Black River Farm in Ringoes.
“Briarwood’s Derby Day got beat, but that’s fine,” said Katie, who was elected last month as a director-at-large for the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association.
“Briarwood had the award for a lot of years, but Monmouth is new and exciting,” she commented.
The success of Monmouth at the Team will be reflected in its 2017 show, which is growing to seven days from six and will have three days that are B-rated from the U.S. Equestrian Federation, as opposed to its single C-rated day last year.
It is adding a $5,000 USHJA hunter derby with fences set at 3 feet on one of the recognized days, but also will have an unrecognized derby, with a $10,000 purse. Fences will be set at 2 feet, 2-6 and 3 feet.
The August show turned out to be an end-of-summer attraction in highly competitive Zone 2 (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), drawing a legion of quality horses and riders.
“It’s kind of like, if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere; if you can make it in Zone 2, you can make it anywhere,” Tucker quipped.
Jumpers are featured on the weekend, a draw for sponsors and “local people who maybe don’t know the sport that well,” said Tucker, explaining they can follow that action more easily than they can the hunters.
All of last year’s sponsors are coming back, and they include the banking and car dealership categories, as well as the usual equestrian-related firms.
“They see the benefit in equestrian sports,” said Tucker, who is also active as a judge.
“Everyone stepping up and supporting us is what we need,” he added. “We didn’t cut corners. We put money back into the atmosphere and quality of the event.”
The USET Foundation will be given a utility building through money raised by the show and the efforts of the show’s presenting sponsor, Precise Buildings. The project is already on the drawing board, but needs to go through the municipal approval process before it can be constructed. Tucker said it is hoped that the building can go up after this year’s show.
Once that is completed, a judges/announcer pavilion will be the next project.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 28, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
January 21, 2017
It’s always nice to get a trophy. But it’s even better when the honor comes in memory of a mentor.
Endurance rider Meg Sleeper of Kingwood Township proudly stepped up to accept the Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award at the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Horse of the Year Gala last weekend in Lexington, Ky.
Meg Sleeper and Syrocco Harmony competing in the endurance world championships. (Photo by Pamela Burton)
“It was really a nice surprise. I didn’t expect it at all,” said Meg, a veterinary cardiologist who was coming to the USEF for an endurance meeting at the organization’s convention the day after the gala. The proof was that she needed to change her flight to arrive a day early in order to have a presentation photo taken with the impressive bronze horse trophy. The award is given to the Endurance Rider Ranking List athlete with the most points earned in the competition year.
“It meant so much to me because I knew Maggy,” Meg explained.
Maggy, who died 10 years ago, was a unique character, outspoken and an active participant in the old American Horse Shows Association (a predecessor of USEF) and the U.S. Equestrian Team. In 1992, she represented the United States at the World Endurance Championships in Spain, where she won an individual bronze medal and team silver.
“My first competitive trail ride was 1981, and Maggy was in her prime at that point,” Meg recalled.
“She was always one of the people I looked up to. When I was in vet school, I got to ride one of her horses. All of her horses were named Ramegwa something,” said Meg, who rode Ramegwa Rhodora, a mare that belonged to former world champion Valerie Kanavy.
Ramegwa stood for the names of Maggy’s children, Raymond, Megan and Wayne.
“I admired the fact that not only did Maggy produce really great horses, but wherever those horses went, everyone knew they were from Maggy because of the Ramegwa name,” said Meg.
When Meg started breeding horses, she decided to follow Maggy’s lead and came up with a name that signified her program.
“I picked a word I liked because I didn’t have kids, therefore, all my horses are Syrocco something.”
A perennial world championships competitor, Meg spends half the year working at the University of Florida, where she is involved in research on gene therapy for heart disease. It’s a canine study, but in the future it could be useful for horses and other animals, she said.
Meg, who also took the Price award in 2011, was among several Jerseyans in the spotlight at the dinner. Kaitlin Hofer and her mother, Liz, are regulars at the HOTY Awards, bringing home armfuls of championship ribbons in the Welsh division, but this one was their swan song.
Their Glynhafan Hermione, the USEF’s grand champion Welsh pony, has taken that title six times, in 2008 and from 2012 through 2016. She also has to her credit 15 USEF championships and three reserves, and 16 Welsh national championships and nine reserves as well. She also has been the country’s high-score Welsh section B champion for five years.
What’s the secret of her success? “She likes to win things,” said Liz, who took the Welsh Pleasure Sections A&B Adult to Ride title with Hermione.
Liz and Kaitlin Hofer accepting their USEF Horse of the Year awards in Kentucky. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“We don’t school her when we go to shows. We just warm her up and she goes in the ring cold.”
Kaitlin, a 17-year-old high school senior at Northern Highlands in Allendale, also picked up a USEF championship on Capstone’s Tootsie, a Welsh/quarter horse cross, for Half/Partbred Welsh Pleasure. Now she will be focusing on her hunter, SF Peter Pan, so 14-year-old Hermione will be used primarily for lessons at the Hofers’ Lower Cross Farm in Saddle River. The mare may be shown occasionally by kids in the barn, but they won’t be going after any more Horse of the Year titles. Asked how she thinks other competitors in the Welsh division will react to Hermione’s absence, Liz replied, “They’ll be happy not to see her. I don’t think anyone’s come close to what she’s done.”
Audrey Schulze of Ridgewood also starred in the Welsh division, taking the title in Welsh Pleasure/Section B with Gayfields Talladega Knight, calling him a pony “who likes to work. He likes a good ride.”
The joy of the evening was quite a contrast to last year at the same time, when Audrey and her mother, Anne Marie Snyder, cancelled their trip to Kentucky to collect a reserve championship ribbon after another of their ponies, Magical Masterpiece, came down with Lyme disease and there was a question as to whether she would survive. Luckily, she did, but she can no longer be ridden and is retired at Red Tail Farm in Bedminster.
Seven years ago, Audrey started riding at Saddle Ridge Riding Center after going to camp there, then moved on to Liz Hofer’s farm, where she became involved with Welsh ponies. She now rides with Brian and Jolene Cash at Hidden Acres Farm in West Milford. Anne Marie is always there to watch her lessons.
Audrey Schulze of Ridgewood on Gayfields Talladega Knight. (Photo by Janice Thomson)
“I listened to everything every trainer said, so I would be ready when the time came to buy her something, I wouldn’t be one of those moms who had no clue,” Anne Marie said. In fact, she thought riding looked like so much fun she started taking lessons herself. While Audrey and Anne Marie are at the barn every night, husband Gary Schulze is making dinner, playing his part in the winning team.
Audrey, a 13-year-old eighth grader at the Village School in Waldwick, is moving on to the pony jumper division with Tally. She’ll be getting stiff competition there from Ponies Unlimited of Franklin Lakes, which took the national championship in that section with Angel and reserve with Cartier, as well as third (EZ to Spot) and fourth (Jet Pilot).
Donna Owen, who runs Ponies Unlimited at her home in Ringwood, said her daughter, Devon, only started competing in the pony jumpers nine months ago. A seventh-grader at Macopin Middle School in West Milford, Devon took over the ride on Angel from Gianna Orecchio of Hewitt, who campaigned the 14.1-hand paint/quarter horse mare the first part of the season and started accumulating points toward the HOTY award.
Devon Owen on Ponies Unlimited’s Angel. (Photo by Rachel Bradford)
Devon, who was the hunt seat pleasure national champion last year on Sky’s the Limit, is hoping to make it to the USEF Pony Finals this summer.
Asked about how she likes working with Donna, Devon said, “It’s hard, because she’s my mom, but overall it’s good.” Does she listen to her mother? “Sometimes. It depends on the day,” Devon responded cheerfully. But she and her mother do work together taking care of the 10 ponies on the farm; mom mucks while Devon grooms and rides.
Other Jerseyans who won HOTY championships include Leslie Goryeb of Far Hills, Half/Anglo Arabian Pleasure/Pleasure Driving Open with Nutcracker’s Magdalena; Clara Hayes of Manasquan, Green Pony Hunter/Medium with Arnaby Bodacious, and Annika Bruggeworth of Mays Landing, Three-Gaited Park with Hollywood Heat and Three-Gaited Park Pleasure with Secret Meeting.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 23, 2017
West Milford High School junior Mackenzie Suffy earned high point rider honors at last weekend’s College Preparatory Invitational (CPI) in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The event at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center replicated the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association’s competition format, in which participants do a draw for their mounts. The event also featured a college fair attended by representatives of 35 institutions of higher learning that offer an equestrian program.
Mackenzie’s trainer, Brian Cash of Hidden Acres Farm in West Milford, came to Florida. But with a format that allowed little to no schooling, Mackenzie had to rely on her own ability and instincts. She competed in the advanced division, with two different horses for the flat and jumping phases.
“It was awesome. I’d like to do it again,” said Mackenzie, but as the winner, she is not eligible to compete a second time. Instead, she’ll concentrate on training her 18-hand, 6-year-old Irish import, Meitreo H.
“We bought him off a video and hoped for the best,” she said. Her plan now that he’s gotten some experience is to make the finals of the major equitation championships.
Mackenzie Suffy, the high point rider in the College Preparatory Invitational. (Photo by Andrew Ryback)
The CPI was far from her first major accomplishment, however. She won Marshall & Sterling National Junior Medal Championship last year, and year-end championships in a variety of divisions, as well as being voted the N.J. Horse Shows Association Junior Rider of the Year in 2015.
Mackenzie, who hopes to be a professional, will be spending two months at the HITS shows in Ocala, Fla., this winter under a special program where she goes to school four mornings a week and rides the rest of the time.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 21, 2017
I first heard the distinctive and authoritative voice of announcer Tom Mannos at the Middlesex County Horse Show, back in the days when it was actually held in Middlesex County, at scenic Johnson Park in New Brunswick.
Happily, I had plenty of other chances to listen to his polished, always professional approach at other New Jersey shows, including Hunt Cap in Three Bridges and those being held at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown. Going further afield, I welcomed his familiar sound at the Hampton Classic and Madison Square Garden when the National Horse Show was held there.
Announcer Tom Mannos, honored by the Professional Horsemen’s Association.
Tommy, now 90 and still in stride, was honored this month with the Jimmy Walsh Trophy for the second time in recognition of over 50 years of service to the Long Island Professional Horseman’s Association at their annual banquet. All of his family flew in to see him accept an original bronze sculpted by Marilyn Meiselman.
Tom got introduced to horses when he was nine, spending a summer on his uncle’s Montana ranch. He knew the animals would always be part of his life, and became involved with reining and cutting horses, as well as riding in 20 states, Canada and two Caribbean islands.
He went on to become a radio broadcaster and a television actor, announcer and advertising executive. When he bought a horse for his son, Mark, he entered the equestrian world.
After attending horse shows, he realized they needed better announcing and public address systems. After announcing at a schooling show where he did a play-by-play on a trail class, he received an offer to announced at his first American Horse Shows Association recognized show.
He wound up announcing more than 30 shows a year, and his sound system became TM Sound, with 20 loudspeakers, six amplifiers, two miles of wiring and 42 radios that he took from show to show in a three-quarter ton van.
His announcing career also included horse expos and demonstrations from Michigan, Wisconsin and Kentucky, as well as Dressage at Devon and all the Belmont Park horse fairs. Through the years, his talent has been impressive and his dedication unfailing.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 20, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
January 14, 2017
The U.S. Equestrian Federation has been relaunched enthusiastically at its annual convention, with a “major makeover” geared to bringing “the joy of horse sports” to more people at all levels.
“I cannot and will not accept that this is a sport only for the rich and famous,” said Murray Kessler, who became the 100-year-old federation’s president today, though he’s been busy working hard behind the scenes for months.
New USEF President Murray Kessler presents his predecessor, Chrystine Tauber, with the Sallie Busch Wheeler Trophy for distinguished service to equestrian sport. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
A new $25 “fan membership” for those who don’t want to compete affords access to intriguing educational videos on the website, competitions on the USEF network, discounts on items from tractors to fencing, and $1 million in liability insurance for an extra charge.
Emphasizing “transparency, fairness and integrity,” Murray stated, “cheating and cheaters must be eliminated from the sport.”
That was underlined during the USEF’s annual meeting in Lexington, Ky., over the last five days, when it was announced that a prominent trainer and rider got hefty fines and long suspensions from the hearing committee for violating the organization’s drug rules.
Trainer Larry Glefke and owner/rider Kelley Farmer, implicated in showing a horse that tested positive for GABA, a calming supplement that is against USEF rules, were penalized under strict new guidelines that went into effect Jan. 1. Both had prior violations, a history that led to a two-year suspension and a $24,000 fine for the trainer and a one-year suspension and $12,000 fine for the rider of the horse, which was tested at last July’s Kentucky Summer Show.
A lawyer for the two said they had not been notified that a hearing was scheduled on their case and thus didn’t appear to defend themselves, but the USEF’s legal counsel said the federation had proof they were notified.
As was mentioned more than once during the convention, “horse welfare is job one.” The organization is casting a wider net for the guilty. Anyone who allows a suspended member to profit (perhaps by working with another trainer who gives a portion of the payment to the miscreant) also will be in trouble.
USEF CEO Bill Moroney is hoping everyone will help “police the environment” by keeping their eyes open and reporting violations.
“We have listened to our members. People have wanted our sport to be cleaned up,” he said.
The hunter division has the majority of drug violations. Of the 71 found at federation shows in 2016, 59 percent involved hunters.
The most drug testing is done in Zone 2; New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, “the home of the one-day horse show,” as Steve Schumacher, director of the Drugs & Medications department, put it.
Although the federation must continue to enforce rules–and there’s a lot of work to do there–it has a new brand, U.S. Equestrian, and another mission: “To provide access to and increase participation in equestrian sports at all levels by ensuring fairness, safety and enjoyment.”
That was reflected in the awards, the flip side of the convention where serious business gives way in the evenings to all kinds of honors and a little bit of partying; more champagne, of course, for those who have won something.
Not surprisingly, Olympic individual eventing bronze medalist Phillip Dutton took international honors, earning Equestrian of the Year, while his Rio Games horse, Mighty Nice, won the International Horse of the Year title over Laura Graves’ Olympic team dressage mount, Verdades.
Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice swept major awards at the USEF annual meeting in Kentucky this weekend. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer
Phillip was unable to come and accept his awards because he and his wife, Evie, were at the bedside of his stepdaughter, Lee Lee Jones, who suffered head trauma in a pre-Christmas horse fall. She is in a Delaware hospital, so Phillip sent his horses south without him and is staying home in Pennsylvania to be near Lee Lee.
Annie Jones, one of the owners of Mighty Nice, accepted the trophy with a touching little story. When the horse had just arrived from Ireland, Phillip told her, “This is my horse of a lifetime.”
With the perspective of time, she added, “It’s absolutely true.”
She dedicated the trophy to the late Bruce Duchossois, who originally bought Mighty Nice (known as Happy) for Phillip, and also to Lee Lee who is her granddaughter.
Check back at www.nancyjaffer.com next week to find out which Jerseyans won USEF Horse of the Year awards. It’s a pretty special night in a packed ballroom, with a magnificent array of sparkling trophies as a backdrop. After all, an organization can collect a lot of sterling silver over the course of a century.
