by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 12, 2025
Are you feeling more secure in the saddle because you’re wearing a safety vest?
Many top riders, including Olympic show jumping medalist Laura Kraut and Jimmy Torano, are visible symbols of air vests’ growing popularity beyond the cross-country phase of eventing. More casual riders also are wearing them in a quest to be protected.
Germany’s Sophie Hinners wore a black air vest while competing in Ocala at the Longines League of Nations. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
But exactly how effective are these pieces of equipment?
The FEI (international equestrian federation) has initiated an Equestrian Safety Vest Working Group, aimed at improving safety through scientific research and innovation in protective equipment.
Use of safety vests, including both body protectors and air vests, is gaining traction in a variety of disciplines. But there is concern about the lack of independent data to support their effectiveness in reducing injury.
Led by the USA’s Dr Mark Hart, chair of the FEI Medical Committee, the Working Group will examine the current state of knowledge around thoracic and spinal injuries in equestrian sport, with a focus on understanding how and when these injuries occur, and whether safety vests play a significant role in reducing the severity of injuries.
“While there is growing support for the use of body protectors and air vests in both sport and recreational riding, there is still minimal data to fully understand their effectiveness,” according to Mark.
“We lack critical data on how and what specific injuries occur during falls and how protective equipment performs under real-world conditions. Athletes and others in the community are asking important, constructive questions relating to how air vests perform in real-world settings, how they affect the athlete’s movement, and whether their use might influence the horse’s behavior. These insights are essential and are helping to drive the discussion toward more effective and evidence-based safety solutions.
“This is why the FEI has tasked the Working Group with undertaking a comprehensive review of current safety standards and will include developing improved testing protocols that more accurately reflect the realities athletes face in both training and competition environments.”
The Working Group will operate through two international panels to ensure both scientific rigor and stakeholder engagement. The Scientific Panel brings together a carefully balanced group of international experts from a range of fields, including biomechanical engineering, injury modelling, medicine, safety vest manufacturing, and international standards bodies. There is also diverse expertise in areas of the body most at risk during a fall, such as the head, neck, spine, ribs, and chest. Attention has also been given to ensuring representation across regions and sexes.
The National Federation Advisory Panel is made up of members nominated by their National Federations and approved by the FEI. This group will play a key role in engaging with stakeholders by supporting open communication with the wider equestrian community in their regions. They will also help coordinate additional fundraising for potential research projects, working with National Federations, research foundations, government agencies, and private donors, in accordance with FEI guidelines on external funding.
Part of its mission will involve collaborating with athletes, manufacturers, international standards organizations and other sports with similar injury risks, such as horse racing and motocross.
Eventually, the group will propose modifications or new testing protocols to promote safer vest design and encourage broader adoption of best practices. The Working Group will also make recommendations to the FEI and its member National Federations on how to improve data collection and reporting around instances of injury to better correlate fall mechanisms with injury outcomes.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 11, 2025
Ronnie Beard, Otis Brown Jr. and Fran and Joe Dotoli were recognized for their contributions to the sport by the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame. The two horses inducted with them for 2025 are Lyle and Tindle.
The Hall’s Owner of the Year was plural; John and Stephanie Ingram, while Tom Wright earned the Trainer of the Year title.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 11, 2025
In the five years since the first MARS Maryland 5-Star appeared on the scene at Fair Hill, it has improved what it offers with each edition.
While the Oct. 16-19 eventing fixture continues to attract top horses from the U.S. and overseas, there is even more for families to enjoy this autumn, from pony racing and the Corgi Cup to the hands-on activities in the Kids Corner.. There’s also a local food festival and the beer, wine and spirits festival. The Real Rider Cup founded by Anita Motion, benefiting Thoroughbred aftercare, will be making its debut at the competition.
New Zealand’s Tim Price is a regular at the MARS 5-star.( Photo © 2024 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Tickets are on sale at https://www.maryland5star.us/ for the event presented by Brown Advisory. It’s possible to attend on a budget with prices starting at $18, and general admission free for children 10 and under.
Options include reserved seats, hospitality packages at the main arena and a Saturday-only VIP hospitality offering at the Sawmill Waterfront Club, located along the cross-country course at the MARS Sustainability Bay. Tailgating for the cross-country phase on Saturday of the event will go on sale in July.
Oliver Townend of Britain, Maryland winner in 2024 with Ballaghmor Class. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
The event continues to increase in popularity. Last year, 32,000 people attended the 5-star, an 11 percent increase from 2023 for the production of the Sport & Entertainment Corporation of Maryland.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 10, 2025
Natalie Voss, who served as editor-in-chief of thoroughbred racing’s Paulick Report, is now the U.S Equestrian Federation’s director of corporate communications.
She started with the Paulick Report as an intern in 2009 while completing her equine science degree at the University of Kentucky. A member of the publication’s weekend editorial team in late 2012, she moved to full-time news writing in January 2013. Since then, she has served as features editor and became editor-in-chief five years ago.
The winner of three Eclipse Awards and two Eclipse honorable mentions has a resume that also includes the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s Charles W. Engelhard Award. She is known as an investigative journalist who focuses on horse and human welfare.
Natalie, who enjoys riding her off-the-track thoroughbred named Underscore when she’s away from her computer, said about racing in her farewell piece for the Paulick Report, “I want to be clear: it’s the industry I’ve lost faith in, not the sport.”
But as one who has catalogued racing’s many troubles, she felt moving to USEF seemed an obvious choice.
“The sport horse world has been watching racing’s struggles with its social license to operate these last few years and has been quietly taking notes,” she said in her farewell article.
“I believe they’re committed to building a better future for horses and participants, and I’m looking forward to helping them communicate that to their members and to the public.”
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by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 10, 2025
“When a correction takes too long, you miss a training opportunity.”
“Find a better frame and neck position before asking for a canter depart.”
“Your horse needs to learn to be less dependent on you — self carriage!”
“I never saw the benefit of keeping a horse too long at First Level.”
Those words of dressage wisdom were among many helpful comments delivered by Steffen Peters, the World Cup champion; Olympic, world championships and Pan American Games multi-medalist, in a clinic at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone, N.J.
Eight riders at various stages of training took the opportunity over the weekend for a critique from one of the sport’s greats, and a few dozen auditors showed up to listen as well.
Steffen’s observations in the clinic were always to the point, but delivered with tact and kindness.
Morgen Myrdal admitted that if she hadn’t audited a 2024 clinic given by Steffen in Warwick, N.Y., “I probably would have been too intimidated” to sign up for the one in Gladstone with her sturdy 14-hand Connemara, Irish Gate’s Oberon McDuff (known as Doc).
But after watching how Steffen handled the New York clinic Morgen realized, “He is very understanding. I knew that he could help me; there were a couple of horses that had similar issues” to what she has encountered with Doc.
Steffen offers tips to Morgen Myrdal and Doc. ( Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
She thought as she watched Steffen’s New York clinic, “I’m taking a lot of notes. If I could ride with this guy, that would be even better.” And that’s just how it turned out.
Born in Germany, Steffen rode with trainer Jo Hinneman, then came to the U.S. to work in 1985, establishing himself on the West Coast. The horse that arrived with him was Udon, a talented KWPN gelding his father had bought as a three-year-old. Udon was his mount when he rode in his first Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 as a naturalized citizen on the U.S. team. He would go on to ride in five more Olympics.
These days, Steffen is doing one clinic a month, in Europe and Australia as well as the U.S.
“I enjoy this,” said the Californian about being a clinician, “and it doesn’t always have to be finished Grand Prix horses. We saw here three or four horses that still need to be taught to be properly connected. If I can bring across a little inspiration, I’ve done my job.”
He emphasizes with the riders “the standard of energy and suppleness, that the horse truly moves easily forward from the leg, maintaining this inside the horse, instead of letting the energy go out the front door.”
Rebecca Bowden, a 17-year-old high school student, is a former hunter rider now focusing on dressage with her skewbald (spotted, or as the British say, coloured) 15-year-old RPSI (German) gelding, Sky’s the Limit GSF.
She acknowledged riding in front of Steffen was “a little bit intimidating at first, but I didn’t ride the first day, I just audited. Listening to how he was teaching other people was very reassuring. This is what I could expect and he’s calming to listen to, so I imagined riding would be similar.”
Rebecca Bowden and Sky’s the Limit GSF raised their sights after getting suggestions from Steffen. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
What was the most important thing she learned?
“To have higher expectations for both of us, to think of him (her horse) more as a partner and have more confidence in what we can both do,” Rebecca reported.
Emily Amon drove 90 minutes from South Jersey to audit the clinic. She is riding Second Level on her New Zealand sport horse and explained that she came because, “I want to take every opportunity I can to learn as much as I can, so when I saw this, I jumped on the opportunity to sit and learn. You can learn a lot by watching and listening. It’s super educational.”
The clinic was very well-organized by Lidiya Frumova of Tewksbury, N.J. A rider who is working toward her U.S. Dressage Federation silver medal on horses she has trained, she missed riding in front of Steffen because she is pregnant, though her energy level was high as she made sure everything ran smoothly.
Clinic organizer Lidiya Frumova with Steffen Peters. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
“All of the riders gave me wonderful feedback,” she said.
“They’re extremely happy with the progress they made with just one lesson and a lot of the auditors are asking if we’re going to be having another one of these.
“I’m hoping to get a date from Steffen for next year. We’re hoping also to do others,” she added, mentioning Kim Herslow (Steffen’s teammate at the 2015 Pan American Games) and respected judge Linda Zang.
Steffen, 60, who hasn’t been in a show since the Paris Olympics, told me when we chatted at the lunch break that “I’m 99 percent sure that I want to retire from competing.”
His last Grand Prix horse, Suppenkasper, retired after the 2024 Games.
However, he added quickly, “I’m not quite ready to say I’m 100 percent retired. Not quite yet. There’s that 1 percent of me that still says I’d love to give it one more shot for LA (the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics), since it’s at home.”
But he’s philosophical about what fate might have in store for him.
“Let’s face it: For 20 years, we had a really good run, so many wonderful horses that consistently did really well. We were blessed with a lot of sound horses. We never missed a major competition because of injury or lameness. I take a lot of pride in that.”
Steffen on Suppenkasper at the 2023 FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
He thought a moment and added, “It’s been six Olympics, with a gigantic highlight (team silver) in Tokyo. It’s probably good enough.”
He had two horses with possibilities, but his wife, Shannon, took them over, as Steffen is dealing with neuropathy in his hands and feet.
“We’re optimistic I can make this more manageable, and I don’t think competing would help that,” he explained.
His treatment involves “daily contrast therapy, with hot sauna, and then a three-minute cold plunge in 40-degree water. The pain goes to zero, but unfortunately, it comes back. At least I can interrupt the pain cycle.”
We talked about how U.S. riders are faring on the international scene.
“Looking at America at the moment, let’s be honest, we are in a rebuilding time,” he pointed out. “There are clearly three/four team horses that we can see. On many occasions, the year before the Olympics, we get something together and produced a heck of a team.”
In order to do that, he said, “What we need to look for is again those training camps together, not just two weeks or three weeks, but those two months in Europe, competing together, being there for each other, building that real family feeling we had in Rio (the 2016 Olympics); we had it in Tokyo (2021), we had it on so many occasions.”
Before Paris, he noted, “we didn’t have the option to have too many people together. We were a little bit on different farms before Paris. Everyone knew that needs to change for the future.”
At the Paris Games, he finished fifty-first after his horse “got very nervous, very spooky. He’s seen more electric arenas, like the World Cup in Omaha.”
So Steffen was surprised.Then he pointed out, “They’re animals, it happened and I don’t think that defines his career or my career, it just can happen.
“When people ask me about Paris, what happened in Paris, let’s not sugarcoat that either, that wasn’t good.”
But he doesn’t dwell on it.
“I’ve learned to switch so quickly to all the good times we had. Someone asks me about Paris, I give a very detailed explanation, (then) my mind switches immediately to Tokyo.
“We have choices. We can either question what happened in Paris or we can say those other 20 years before, they were pretty darn good.”
With controversy these days about dressage training methods getting publicity, “it’s a challenging time in the sport,” he observed.
“Maybe it’s not the wrong time for me to take a break.”
Then he smiled and emphasized, “But again, the door is open.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 9, 2025
We told you last month that this was going to happen, when McLain mentioned to me at Devon that Contagious was retiring, adding that it hadn’t been formally announced yet.
Now it has. Here’s what McLain said about his reliable partner:
“With a tremendous amount of pride and gratitude, we would like to announce the retirement of Contagious. Contagious came to us from Reed Kessler who produced him beautifully through his early career. Through the incredible support of Beechwood Stables, Lise and Annabel Revers and Max Amaya, we acquired Contagious in 2018.
“Contagious is horse who has always given his best, and at times more than that. We hoped for him to be a successful Grand Prix horse. In the end he became a championship star, competing successfully at a World Games, two World Cup finals, a Pan Am Games, winning team gold and individual bronze.
McLain and Contagious at Devon.
“His crowning achievement was being a member of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team that brought home a silver medal. Contagious will enjoy his retirement at the beautiful Beechwood Stables in Weston, Mass. Special thanks to all of our team who worked with and cared for him so diligently over the years, especially our home team led by Lee and Erica McKeever, Owen Rogers and Virginie Casterman. Thank you for all the great moments Poussin!
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 7, 2025
Eve Jobs, daughter of the late Apple wizard Steve Jobs, in August will marry British Olympic team gold medal show jumper Harry Charles, according to the NY Post and other outlets.
The bride-to-be is a 26-year-old rider and fashion model whose credits include a cover of Vogue. Her mother, Laurene Powell-Jobs, is one of the world’s wealthiest women. Harry’s father is Peter Charles, a member of Britain’s 2012 gold medal show jumping team. At age 25, Harry is ranked number 32 in the world on the Longines list.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 6, 2025
An icon. An original A pillar of the hunter breeding community. Diana Dodge, owner of the legendary stallion Sir Thomson, has died.
She earned fame with the flashy chestnut named in honor of her grandmother, whose maiden name had been Thomson before she married one of the Dodge brothers who founded the car company.
Diana Dodge
Born in London of American parents, Dodge learned to ride in Windsor Great Park as a child. She graduated from Smith College before embarking on her breeding career. Her Nokomis Farm in Montpelier Station, Va., became famous for producing winning show hunters.
Sir Thomson, who was Best Young Horse at Devon, had been as well-known for earning championships in the ring as he was for his stud duties.
Dodge was totally devoted to her farm and the animals who lived there.
“Horses teach you the important things in life,” she liked to say.
As Nancy Peterson noted on social media, “She was part of the Dodge family tradition of horses: The Dodge name appears in so many different disciplines, including the American Saddlebreds, hunters, as well as horses in the dressage and eventing world. Last year, she attended the Olympics and was in the front row of spectators watching and critiquing every horse and rider, always quoting her mentors from years past.
“Her knowledge of the different disciplines was amazing and her “back to basics” philosophy was ironclad. She was an amazing horsewoman. This is a loss for all of us.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 6, 2025
Things went well for the USA in one discipline in Europe over the weekend, but not so well in another.
At the Hagen, Germany CDI 3-star Friday, the U.S. was 1-2-3 in the Grand Prix Special, with Kevin Kohmann winning the class, just as he did in the Grand Prix on Thursday. His ride, the elegant Dünensee came close to breaking 70 percent with a score of 69.170. The formidable black Hanoverian looked even better than he did in September, when he won the FEI World Cup qualifier during Dressage at Devon.
Kevin Kohmann has an appreciative pat for Dünensee after the Grand Prix Special.
Kasey Perry-Glass, an Olympic team medalist, finished second with 68.681 on Heartbeat WP. Her score was lowered by a jumble of one-time changes on the center line between the pirouettes, for which she got a mark of 4 from every judge.
Jennifer Williams and Joppe K were right behind with 68.021, making quite a comeback from the Grand Prix, where they were fifteenth after problems in their initial passage/piaffe/passage . Further back in the Special in sixth was Benjamin Ebeling on Bellena (65.340) while Marcus Orlob and Jane had a few problems to finish seventh on 65.213. Jane received two marks of three for the final passage/piaffe/passage transition and a number of 4s sprinkled among that movement, her entrance and the line of one-time changes.
In the Grand Prix, Jane — who is known for her sensitivity — reared at the first halt, and ran into trouble at the end of the line of one-time changes. She was fourth in that competition, behind Bellena.
Click here for Grand Prix Special results
At La Baule France, Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix went to Daniel Deusser of Germany on Otello de Goldenblum. Clocked in 37.22 seconds in the eight-horse tiebreaker, he was well ahead of Colombia’s Rene Lopez de Lizarazo on Londina in 38.36.
Had Rene won, it would have been the greatest victory of his career for the 61-year-old South American rider, who has been living in the Lorraine region of France for more than 30 years.
The USA’s McLain Ward on his new star, Imperial HBF, was third with a time of 39.17. Spencer Smith was the next-best American, fifteenth with Cassina.
As McLain noted, “I could have perhaps gained several tenths of a second, but Daniel was too good today. I haven’t been riding Imperial for that long – it was just our third competition together. He’s shown that he is capable of great results, such as at the Nations Cup in Rome with a double clear round. As a result, this podium finish is a great joy, especially here in La Baule at a wonderful competition in front of outstanding crowds”.
The winner knew what he had to do with his stallion to take the top prize of $165,000 Euros ($188,000).
“To be honest,” said Daniel, “I did not watch Rene’s ride-off. I was lucky enough to start the ride-off last. I drew up my plan after having seen Mclain’s round. I knew the right amounts of strides it would take.
“I’m really very happy with my horse because he did exactly what I wanted him to do. It’s a great day for me. Stephan Conter bought this horse three years ago because he was convinced about his potential. He had already won events but never at this level. It’s his first victory in a 5-star grand prix and all the team is very proud of it.”
Click here for grand prix results.
The U.S. Senior Nations Cup winning streak ended Friday when the team didn’t make the cut for the second round. Only eight of 10 nations qualified, and the USA’s 13-penalty score was higher than that accumulated by the countries with 12 penalties that got to round two.
“Today did not go exactly to plan. There were some highlights but there were also some things that were not up to par,” Coach Robert Ridland mused after his squad’s ninth-place finish.
“Of course, we always look to learn from these days and aim to come back with better results next time. We have had a great run of three Nations Cup wins, and today was a day of lessons learned.”
In the first round, the best American score on the course laid out by Olympic designer Gregory Bodo was Lillie Keenan’s single time penalty on Argan de Beliard, Spencer Smith had 8 with Cassina, while Laura Kraut logged two jumping penalties with Dorado and additionally had an expensive time penalty that made her the drop score. McLain Ward and Ilex were going well until they dislodged a rail at the last element of the double on the final line.
McLainn Ward and Ilex at La Baule.
The Cup went to Ireland, which had just won a Cup in Langley, British Columbia last month. The Irish had three clear trips in the second round, which meant anchor rider Cian O’Connor didn’t have to start in that segment. Belgium was second on 4 and Brazil made the podium with 8.
Click here for La Baule Nations Cup results.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 2, 2025
An eventing competition that nearly didn’t happen contradicted the skeptics with a memorable Sunday of sport at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, N.J.
“It was a total success,” declared eventer, trainer and Olympic judge Marilyn Payne, who rode in the first Essex in 1968 and was determined its 2024 edition wouldn’t be the last.
She stepped up to be the organizer, despite fears that the event wouldn’t attract enough competitors to break even. But 124 riders participated during the weekend and loved the experience, despite ground that was a bit squishy here and there due to torrential rain the previous week.
“I think they’ve done an absolutely great job handling the weather,” said Nicholas Hansen, who came from central Pennsylvania to win the Open Preliminary on Mr. Max.
Tailgaters cheered on Open Preliminary winner Nicholas Hansen at the water complex. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I think they did as well as they could have with the ground and as always, they put on a pretty well-run show. I have to say it was really cool to see so many spectators, especially around the water (complex). It was great to see the community came around and supported the show so much.”
Marilyn faced quite a task in her quest to make sure that Essex could run. She correctly figured the way to insure it happened was to downsize from a two-venue, two-day fixture to a one venue, one day event at scenic Moorland Farm in Far Hills,N.J., home of October’s popular Far Hills Race Meeting.
I asked Marilyn’s daughter, competitor Holly Payne Caravella, who was second with Quality time in Open Training, how she reacted when her mother took on the daunting task of making sure Essex survived.
“She’s so good at that stuff. It comes naturally to her,” Holly observed matter-of-factly.
While Marilyn was optimistic about how the event would run, she commented as Essex wrapped up, “It was way better than I thought. It was so exciting to see all the riders come out and have such a fabulous time. The hundreds of spectators enjoyed watching the horses and going to the trade fair. The tailgating was packed and they all were cheering every time a horse went through and the riders just loved it.”
After spending thousands of hours on perpetuating Essex, she committed to doing it all again next year, “as long as all my helpers will do it with me. I have a fantastic team. I could not do it without all the great volunteers I had,” she emphasized.
“It was muddy, but we dealt with it,” Marilyn commented, noting how volunteers moved the show jumps after each division to make sure they were out of the muddy tracks.
To avoid a muddy area originally planned for dressage, that segment was moved to a dry corner of the property across from the train station where the choo-choo whistle caused no problems. (Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
The competitors liked the way the cross-country and stadium jumping tracks, both designed by Morgan Rowsell, worked out on the all-grass terrain.
The busiest rider at Essex, Ryan Wood, said, “They did a great job working with what they had and it was as good as you could have hoped for.”
Ryan won the Open Training division with the Optimist, an Irish import from Cooley farm who will be coming up for sale soon. and was also third in that section with Cooley Versace who is “looking like he will be a top-class horse.”
In the Open Preliminary, he was fourth with KHH Cooely and sixth with Cooley Maestro.
A native of Australia now based in Pennsylvania, Ryan is no stranger to Essex. He took the $20,000 Preliminary title on Ruby in 2018 when Essex (which has had its ups and downs) re-emerged on the scene after not having been contested since 1998.
Ryan Wood with his prizes and a painting of his 2018 Essex winner, Ruby. (Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Ryan came up to New Jersey from competing Saturday in the Maryland Combined Training Association Horse Trials with four horses. He withdrew them from that event before cross-country noting, “It was pretty wet down there,” since the facility was lacking the extra day to dry out that Essex enjoyed.
Asked why he was aboard so many horses, Ryan replied straight-faced, “I was riding for an owner who puts a lot of pressure on me.”
Open Training winner Ryan Wood on The Optimist. (Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
That would be his wife, the former Lillian Heard, who is pregnant. Funnily enough, Nick, the Open Prlim winner, got the ride on the Dutch-bred Mr. Max because his wife, Hanna, also is pregnant.
The horse’s owner, Marsha Nahra, bought the Dutch-bred mount for Hanna, but since March, Nick has been keeping the 8-year-old chestnut gelding going until after the baby arrives. Then Hanna is looking at building toward a 3-star event in the spring.
“I thought the show jumping looked really challenging today, and he made it look effortless,” she said of her once and future mount.
An “A” Pony Clubber, Nick evented through the 3-star level, but hasn’t done any “real eventing” for nine years. He’s better-known as a dressage rider, having won triple gold in that discipline at Young Riders on a horse he got through Lendon Gray, and also did the Under-25 grand prix.
He and his wife have a training and sales business, Roaring Creek Farm, where he handles the dressage side of things and Hanna deals with the jumping.
But as Nick observed, “It’s a nice breath of fresh air to just be able to run and jump and not worry about the dressage work.”
The decision to focus on the lower levels and add the Starter division to the Essex program paid off. Starter was very popular, drawing two sections of riders. Olivia Hickok, who won the A section, wore a shirt to match her horse’s name, Huckleberry. He was adorned with a lightning bolt on one flank and stars on the other.
Olivia Hickok and Huckleberry. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
Although the Somerset Hills Pony Clubber has competed at novice level, Olivia dropped her Morgan/Standardbred cross down to Starter because he is 19 years old.
Olivia, an extremely poised 15-year-old high school sophomore from Tewksbury, N.J., said of her Essex experience, “I love this event. It’s a great local event for family and friends to come out to watch. I love the tailgating part of it, so much support, the shops and everything.”
For the second year in a row, Olivia received the Golden Nugget Memorial Trophy for the Pony Club member under 18 who had the lowest number of penalties. Coincidentally, the trophy is given by her trainer, Clarissa Wilmerding.
The other special award, the Jean and Eliott Haller Perpetual Trophy for Horsemanship, awarded in memory of the Essex founders, went to Adelaide Reist, a Starter competitor who never gave up with Firecracker, a horse who offered a bit of a challenge.
Julia Cutler riding Marilyn’s Rock Me Mama won the Adult Amateur Best Score Award in winning the Beginner Novice B Rider section with 30.3 penalties.
Leeci Rowsell, daughter of course designer Morgan Rowsell and his wife, Virginia, won the Novice B Division with Corstowns Espresso Martini. She got some helpful hints from Alice Tarjan, best known as a dressage competitor. (Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Essex offered a chance for people to get together with others involved with equestrian sport, or just horses in general. The volunteer pool came from that group. At the water complex, Beth Groblewski was a fence judge, something she has been doing since she stopped competing at Essex after the first two years it was held at Moorland.
“I volunteered because I live right up the road,” said Beth, who runs Fox Bend Farm.
“Now that I’m not competing any more, I give back. It takes a lot of volunteers to keep it going,” she said.
Tailgaters were lined up all along the area with a view of the water. Sponsors had tents where they welcomed guests, alongside those from local groups such as the Somerset Hills Pony Club and Tewksbury Trail Association.
Guy Torsiliei, who runs the Far Hills Race Meeting with Ron Kennedy, hosted Fox News star Jesse Watters and his family. Jesse moved from New York to Bernardsville and became part of the Somerset Hills Community. He enjoys skeet shooting at Moorland and is becoming a regular at Essex.
Jesse Watters and daughter Gigi, 3, with Guy Torsilieri in the tailgating area.. Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy
“I haven’t ridden a horse yet, but one of these days I’ll get up there and try not to fall off,” Jesse told me.
Presenting sponsors for Essex were Pure Insurance and Land Rover of Parsippany, a full-service dealer of luxury brands that is expanding its involvement. Other sponsors included Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty, Hunt’s End Farm, Hewitt Home Heating, Purina Animal Nutrition in conjunction with Somerset Grain & Feed and Sergeantsville Grain & Feed, and Corcoran Sawyer Smith real estate.
Dr. Greg Staller’s Running ‘S’ Equine Veterinary Services sponsored the riders’ tent that were also open to horse owners and grooms. Marilyn noted donations of more than $20,000 helped keep the event running, with individual supporters contributing.
Essex gives back beyond the equestrian scene, benefitting the Life Camp in Pottersville, which provides an enriching summer day camp experience for 300 youths daily for six weeks during July and August. Campers between the ages of 6 and 13 come from the greater Newark public school system, as well as from Newark Charter School Programs.
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