by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 14, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
April 6, 2017
It can be argued that the CP National Horse Show’s ASPCA Maclay is the most iconic of the hunt seat equitation championships held over 3-foot 6-inch fences.
Certainly, it’s the oldest. A long run at Madison Square Garden before it started moving around the country still burnishes mention of the class that began in 1933, even though it left that arena for good after 2001.
Hunter Holloway was the winner in 2016 when there was only one Maclay class at the National Horse Show. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
The USEF (formerly AHSA) Medal established in 1937 also is prestigious, but now there’s a Medal this, and a Medal that at a variety of locations. Let’s face it, the word “medal” is pretty generic. But until this week, the Maclay was still the Maclay, and one of a kind.
Then came the announcement that the 2017 National will host a new class, the 3-3 Maclay, with 3-foot, 3-inch fences on the Sunday before the show officially gets under way in the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park.
There are plenty of reasons for having a 3-3 alternative to the 3-6 test for riders who want to show at the National, but aren’t quite up to the rigors of the historic class. We’ve all seen kids who have spent the entire season trying to qualify, only to reach the finals and realize they weren’t ready for the test when they hit the ground or suffer through embarrassing refusals without getting around the course.
However, sharing a name between the two classes is not only confusing, in the view of many, it’s disrespectful. And isn’t it diluting the brand? Maclay winners I talked with were stunned and perturbed that the new class will have the same name as the competition toward which they worked for years, and which was the major accomplishment of their teens—often setting the stage for success in international show jumping or some other professional equestrian career.
“Do not call it the Maclay,” Leslie Burr Howard, the 1972 winner of the class, said about the 3-3 version.
“It’s not the Maclay.”
Noted George Morris (1952), the leading authority on hunter seat equitation (he wrote the book by that name) when he was base at Hunterdon in Pittstown: “I certainly wish they would name it something different, but I can understand that you don’t want to do that, because every person who goes in the 3-3 competition wants to tell everybody he rode in his level of the Maclay. If they called it something else, I’ll bet they wouldn’t have the interest that they would have if they called it the Maclay. It’s very sad.”
George Morris (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Mary Mairs Chapot of Neshanic Station, who won the class in 1960, observed, “It just seems like it takes away from the real thing.
“It seems like they could have given it another name,” added Mary, whose sister, Wendy Mairs (1963), and husband, Frank Chapot (1947), also have their names engraved on the Maclay trophy.
“My initial reaction was a little shock,” said trainer Stacia Klein Madden (1987) of Beacon Hill in Colts Neck. “I got a few email responses, what is this? Did you endorse this? I wish we’d all had a chance to weigh in on this.” She said she was, however, asked to weigh in on the specifications for the class “and I think one of my comments as I weigh in on the specs is that I will weigh in on the name as well.”
Asked about the duplication, CP National Horse Show President Mason Phelps said of the 3-3 class, “If you read the name very carefully, the word ASPCA is not there.”
CP National Horse Show President Mason Phelps. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
When I asked if the name of the 3-3 class could be changed, he responded, “It was a board decision that was discussed for a couple of months, it was batted around a lot and that’s where we ended up. We think it has a lot more punch using the word Maclay in there, versus not. We want to keep it all sort of in the spirit of what we do.”
When I mentioned that a number of people were perturbed by the prospect of two Maclays, he noted, “It got them all talking, didn’t it?”
Meanwhile, he added, “The big class hasn’t changed one little bit.”
The trophy for the 3-3 class, held in honor of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Foundation, will be “slightly different, but similar to what we already have,” Mason said.
He also promised “all the bells and whistles” to make the 3-3- class special.
Geoff Teall, the chairman of the Maclay equitation committee who has just finished writing the first round of the specifications for the 3-3 (they are due out next week), said “there is a whole step from our sport that has been missing and it will allow more people to get involved with much less stress for everyone, starting with the horse, and then the kid and then the parents and the trainers.”
He sees it as an easier introduction to equitation finals and will allow the next level, at 3-6, to more easily become true national championships.
Geoff Teall (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“If everyone stays calm and gives this some thought, we can make everybody happier and spread it around and make life easier and less expensive,” he said.
It likely will also cut down on the numbers for the Maclay. For the first year, no one has to qualify for the 3-3, but in the future, Mason said, they can go in the Maclay regionals and then choose which final they want to participate in. Those who ride in the 3-3 cannot have completed in the 3-6 Maclay, the Washington championship, the USEF Talent Search, the USEF Medal or the Canadian Equestrian Team Medal.
Geoff believes the class will be popular.
“I think you’ll see a lot of people that back down a little bit,” said Geoff, meaning with the alternative of the 3-3 class, they may be more likely to skip the 3-6 if they’re not really ready.
“The fact that it is National Horse Show and is going to be in that ring gives it enough cachet that people will willingly give up” the idea of competing at 3-6 if they’re not really prepared.
“For me, the important piece of it should be the National Horse Show 3-foot-3 Something Medal. I easily could live without the word Maclay,” Geoff said, but he deferred to Mason.
Francie Steinwedell Carvin (1977) observed, “I think it’s watering down the Maclay. I think it’s making the Maclay less important, rather than more important. I don’t understand why they have to call it the Maclay. Call it the National Horse Show Medal.”
The ASPCA Maclay trophy. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Katharine Burdsall Heller (1975) said the Maclay “was our special thing. It doesn’t seem right that they can take that away. I don’t see why they would need to do that.” She thinks the new class would be “popular enough” without the Maclay name.
Winning the Maclay, she commented, “made all the work worthwhile. It should stay its own entity.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 7, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
March 21, 2017
This month’s Live Oak International driving event, which hosted four national championships, brought back memories from the era when the sport of combined driving reached its peak in the U.S.
Chester Weber won the national four-in-hand driving championship for the 14th time at Live Oak International. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
It built to a crescendo in 1993, the year that the World Pair Driving Championships were held in Gladstone. Maybe you were there and recall the impressive array of international competitors who came to New Jersey for an event that drew amazing crowds; 40,000 spectators, including Great Britain’s Prince Philip.
Enthusiasm about combined driving built during the 1980s, when Finn Caspersen supported the sport and started the Gladstone Equestrian Association. Its annual Gladstone Driving Event was a very big deal. The 1993 championship was awarded to the U.S. after the American team won the title meet in Austria two years earlier. Plans to host the World Singles Championships in 2000 had to be cancelled due to the West Nile virus threat, and things began unraveling to some extent for the sport here after that.
There was a small revival leading up to the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Four months before the WEG, 11 four-in-hands–an unheard of number for the U.S. at the advanced level–competed for spots on the WEG team in the Garden State Driving Event at the Horse Park of New Jersey. Having the WEG in the U.S. for the first time was a magnet not only for team regulars, but also for anyone who could put together a group of horses and give it a go.
But since then, the driving ranks in the U.S. have dwindled.
“We are in serious decline,” observed Heather Walker, who ran the GEA and serves on the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Driving Sport Committee.
“There’s a lot of concern about our numbers shrinking,” agreed Lizzy Staller, the USEF’s director of driving.
That’s especially true in New Jersey, where the number of driving participants was reduced by competitors moving south, aging out or dying. The Gladstone event in May is a shadow of its former self, though there is determination to improve it. The Garden State Driving Event has been upgraded to a 2-star and is set for the weekend of Sept. 15. It should draw four-in-hands looking to compete at WEG next year (secretary/manager Wendy Wares said hopes are it will be a selection trial for the WEG and 2018 single horse world championships), though the odds are against a number of four-in-hands even approaching the 2010 turnout.
At the upper levels, U.S. driving ranks are thin for the most part, except in the single ponies and horses. The cost of the sport is a factor, as is the time and effort it takes. Competing in driving with a single animal generally requires help from another person, and more than one equine means more help, as well as extra animals that can fill in when necessary. Equipment also is bulky to transport and pricey; having both a carriage for dressage and cones and a marathon vehicle is a lot to buy and tote around.
Few have the wherewithal to compete in the four-in-hands, since the demands of that division increase exponentially from competing one or two horses. Tucker Johnson, a former national champion who was long a mainstay of the U.S. four-in-hand squad, retired after winning an individual bronze medal in Kentucky seven years ago. His perennial teammates, Chester Weber (individual silver medalist at the 2014 WEG) and Jimmy Fairclough of Newton, are still going, but there are less team candidates to choose from in the ranks of the fours, the glamour division.
Chester took his 14th national championship at Live Oak, held at his family’s farm in Ocala, Fla. While he’s one of the best in the world, having won individual silver at the 2014 WEG, there’s no one currently on the U.S. scene who can give him a real run for his money.
“The sport has been a little bit fragmented with some difficulties with the ADS (American Driving Society),” said Chester. He was referring to the fact that the USEF, of which he is the secretary/treasurer, and ADS parted ways over various issues earlier this year. This month, however, it was announced the two organizations had reached a preliminary agreement that could enable restoration of ADS as the federation’s driving discipline affiliate. Stay tuned for this one.
While USEF CEO Bill Moroney says he’s still learning more about driving, he commented, “We need to somehow to make driving more accessible, combined driving especially, and how to raise awareness of it. Instead of getting caught up in what exists now, look at it from the viewpoint of if you could create it however you wanted to, what would you do to attract people, encourage people, mentor people, make it more accessible, whether it’s financially or time-wise.”
He said what is required is having the interested parties “sit at a table and put in the hard work and figure out where this sport needs to go.”
“Hopefully, we can put the sport together with a cohesive line from the grassroots forward,” Chester commented. “We try to do our fair share at Live Oak and present the sport to a lot of people,” he continued, noting he also gives clinics and tries to help those who are interested in getting involved with driving.
Lizzy Staller called Live Oak–which hosted four national championships this year–the best driving show in the country, but noted other organizers shouldn’t be intimidated by it, thinking they have to meet the same expectations.
An elaborate circus party at Live Oak featured Chester Weber as a ringmaster and his sister, Juliet Reid, as another big top personality. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“What we really need are local shows, where you can spend the weekend and not take eight days off. We need to grow the sport at the local level,” Lizzy said.
“We’re trying to figure out how to come up with funds to help organizers,” she added. “People aren’t giving back to the sport. There’s no other way to support it. You have to give to the (U.S. Equestrian Team) Foundation, or volunteer. You can’t just stand there and say, ‘I made a team. How much money am I getting?’”
Lizzy added, “Our developing driver program is extremely popular. I think that’s because it caters to people at the lower levels who want to move up but just need some help. Hopefully, we’ll be able to expand that program. People need places to compete where they don’t have to travel across the country or down the entire East Coast.”
Heather also noted it’s time to put the fun back into driving. Not everyone who hitches up a horse wants to compete at a high level; recreational aspects have to get their due, because that can help attract new people to the sport.
At the same time, “When you build up that group of people who do it because it’s such fun, then that tends to feed up to the elite level. That’s where we’re not getting the job done. We’re not focusing enough on lower-level drivers and people coming into the sport.”
She also likes the idea of promoting “the joy of horse sports,” which was the motto of the USEF’s annual meeting in January.
But Heather pointed out time is a problem, which wasn’t the case in the 1990s.
“People had a 40-hour work week so they could come home and drive their horses. Now, everybody I know is working 60-, 70-hour weeks.” She added that young people are often playing games on their computers instead of getting involved in horse sports, so an effort needs to be made to change that.
Chester, who puts on the Live Oak show with his sister, Juliet Reid, doesn’t think he’s always a shoo-in for the national title on his home turf.
“I never take any U.S. championship for granted,” he commented.
“In the days when Tucker and I used to fight it out to the 100th of a point, I never took that for granted, and I don’t take these for granted either,” he said pointing out that Misdee Wrigley Miller, who was second at Live Oak, and Allison Stroud, third in the four-entry division and the winner of the cones phase, both have world championship experience and are “doing better every time.”
The national driving champions at Live Oak–Tracy Morgan, single pony; Chester Weber, four-in-hands; Steve Wilson, pair horses and Katie Whaley, pair ponies. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Chester uses the competitions in the U.S. a little like a “test lab” as he develops his horses, but noted that in order to make the top five or better in the world rankings, a driver has to compete in Europe, which involves more expense.
He sees the WEG in Tryon stimulating interest in combined driving, though there is a shorter run-up to it than the Kentucky WEG, because the venue was announced only last year. That doesn’t give people a lot of time to assemble a four-in-hand team if they are so inclined.
Jimmy Fairclough thinks part of the problem in stimulating interest in driving is that, “It’s become such a winter sport,” where everyone has to go to Florida to compete during that season. That’s difficult for people from other parts of the country who work for a living.
“Almost all the Northeast shows are gone or are at low levels,” he commented.
“The rhythm isn’t there.”
Once there were often 65 advanced entries at the big shows, he recalled.
“Now they get 25 or 30 across the board.” The problems are “financial support, number one, and number two, the economy has hurt it,” said Jimmy.
There were just three advanced pair horses at Ocala, where Steve Wilson won with his Lippizans, the perfect candidates for 2017 World Pairs Championship in Lipica, Slovenia, where the state Lippizan stud farm is located.
The pair ponies, where Katie Whaley took the national title, had only three entries as well, though the single pony section, topped by national champion Tracy Morgan, attracted nine starters. That is reflective of the fact it takes much less money and help to drive a single. The single horses had six entries, but their national championship will be contested this fall in Kentucky, so there was no U.S. title for them at Live Oak.
by Nancy Jaffer | Mar 8, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
February 28, 2017
He’s got a list of international contacts that ranges from royalty to captains of industry and star athletes. Jim Wolf, a go-getter who has experience in both administration of equestrian sport and finding sponsorship for it, is going to be turning his fundraising talent to the needs of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.
Jim Wolf, new deputy executive director of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
The organization announced this week that the Lebanon Township resident has been named its deputy executive director. In one sense, it’s a homecoming for Jim, who began working for the USET more than two decades ago, when it was in charge of training, fielding and funding competitors in the international equestrian disciplines.
On the other hand, he never really left the USET’s Gladstone headquarters. After the fledgling U.S. Equestrian Federation took over the team training and fielding responsibilities early in this century, Jim was made its director of sport programs, while the USET became a foundation focused on the fundraising needed to get American athletes on the medal podiums. He has continued to work in an office at the century-old stable that serves as the foundation’s base, where a number of USEF employees also are located.
In 2013, the former eventer started Wolf Sports Group LLC, a sports and entertainment agency dealing with business development and event management, while continuing to be involved in consulting work with the USEF. He also served as a consultant for Equestrian Sport Productions and the Tryon International Equestrian Center, home of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games, as well as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the National Steeplechase Association.
Wolf Sports Group’s sponsorship links have included Rolex, Land Rover, Coca-Cola and many other firms, along with a variety of equestrian-oriented companies.
Noting the importance of the USET foundation’s work in assuring success for America’s international equestrian efforts, Jim explained, “We’re one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t receive sport funding from the government. For years, I led the teams and saw first-hand the need to be able to extend our efforts to be competitive on the international stage.”
It takes a lot of funding to enable U.S. riders to have a gold medal performance, like this one at the 2015 Pan American Games. (Photo by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Although he has spent the last several years involved with organizing events, Jim noted, “This opportunity was one I thought would enable me to continue to make contributions to the sport in a different way. It’s a donor base I’m very familiar with. I have very good connections and I obviously know the sports extremely well and know where the real need is for the funding. I think I’m uniquely positioned to do well in this role.”
Wolf Sports Group will be honoring its contract and working with the USEF until the end of the year, but as Jim noted, “it won’t be taking on any new clients in the at this time, as I need to put all my energy and attention behind the fundraising effort for the USET Foundation.”
Jim knows what it takes to succeed in the arena from the inside-out, as he served as U.S. chef de mission at five Olympic Games, five world championships and four Pan American Games. Before getting the sports program position, Jim was the USEF’s assistant executive director/director of games preparation and athlete programs and prior to that, director of eventing activities.
He is married to Dr. Molly Bliss, a former U.S. eventing team member who competed in the first WEG in 1990. They have a daughter, Josselyn.
“We are very excited to have a person of Jim’s caliber joining the USET Foundation as deputy executive director,” said Bonnie Jenkins, the foundation’s executive director.
The U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“His expertise and depth of knowledge of high performance equestrian sport, his broad range of relationships throughout the country and among the equestrian disciplines, as well as his experience in event management, will directly impact our fundraising efforts and help the foundation continue to grow and expand throughout the country. Jim’s professional experience, combined with his love of our United States equestrian teams, makes him the ideal person to fill this new position.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 7, 2017
By Nancy Jaffer
February 7, 2017
Wellington, Fla.’s designation as “The Winter Equestrian Capital of the World” is no exaggeration.
On Sunday, two $216,000 show jumping grands prix were held at different locations about a mile apart. That’s $432,000 in prize money being given for competitions that each featured multi-national starters and Olympic medal winners.
Todd Minikus was one of the Wellington weekend winners on Babalou. (PHoto by Nancy Jaffer)
Remember the days when $25,000 was a big grand prix purse, and grands prix were special occasions because there were so few of them? It wasn’t that long ago. Who back then could have imagined how the sport would ramp up.
The CP Palm Beach Masters is a new show, only in its second year, but it drew 97 horses for the qualifier for the featured Longines FEI World Cup Jumping competition, which was limited to 40 starters. The Masters is held on the Jacobs’ family Deeridge Farms, a lush 300-acre enclave. It’s a boutique show with only two arenas and a vast VIP tent between them.
The Longines class was the next-to-the-last in the East for riders to get points to qualify for the Cup finals in Omaha next month, so it took on extra importance. The winner turned out to be the league leader in the West, Nayel Nassar, a California-based Egyptian.
Nayel Nassar and Lordan against the backdrop of the VIP tent at the CP Palm Beach Masters. (PHoto by Nancy Jaffer)
As I left the Masters to head to the other grand prix, I passed a polo match in full swing. Only two or three minutes away, I turned onto the grounds of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, where the Winter Equestrian Festival’s Ariat Grand Prix was held.
It was staged on the emerald turf of the derby field, where three riders made the jump-off. Todd Minikus, who didn’t make the tiebreaker at the Masters with Valinski S, hustled to the Ariat to take his chances with Babalou and hit paydirt to win the class.
The day before, the $100,000 Land Rover Eventing Showcase at that venue drew such big names as Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and New Zealand’s two-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Todd. They couldn’t get ahead of Boyd Martin, who won the competition for the third year in a row. Since its inception he has taken the title on three different horses.
Boyd Martin and Welcome Shadow (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
He was aboard Welcome Shadow for his hat trick, prepping for April’s Rolex Kentucky 4-star as he collected a $33,000 paycheck. And to be fair, I should mention that William and Mark were riding borrowed horses.
You’ll see things at competitions in Wellington you won’t see elsewhere. This time, it was a jump in the middle of the VIP tent, the climax of the cross-country course designed by former U.S. eventing coach Mark Phillips.
The action keeps going here. Tomorrow, 3-star dressage gets under way, a day before 5-star dressage takes the stage at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival location where the eventing was held. At AGDF, which is within brisk walking distance of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, this week you could see the members of the USA’s Olympic bronze medal dressage team, dressage development coach Debbie McDonald, Lars Petersen—who is retiring his longtime mount, Marriett on Friday; and plenty of others you’d recognize.
Polo under the palms at the International Polo Club in Wellington. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
PBIEC, which offers 12 weeks of high-level shows in the winter and early spring, attracts many of the biggest names in the sport. Walk by the International Arena, and you’re likely to pass Olympic individual gold medalist Nick Skelton of Great Britain and his partner, U.S. team gold medal Olympian Laura Kraut (second in the Longines qualifier, by the way); Jessica Springsteen, Sergio Alvarez Moya of Spain, McLain Ward, Kent Farrington and a host of other boldface jumper names.
One of the many beautifully landscaped private arenas in Wellington. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
If you haven’t been to Wellington, it’s worth a trip, even if just to see the legions of fabulous farms, one more beautiful than the next. They have spread far beyond Palm Beach Polo, the gated community that was the original magnet for equestrians and those who enjoy being part of the horse scene.
Last week, taking advantage of the fact that no dressage show was scheduled, a benefit dressage “fun” exhibition with riders in costume was held at the heart of Palm Beach Polo.
Jim Koford as Aladdin at Dressage Under the Stars. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
There’s something going on every day of the week in Wellington, with the general exception of Mondays and Tuesdays, when everyone catches their breath before starting another intense week of showing,
On a trip to the supermarket, you’re sure to see plenty of shoppers in boots and breeches; I’ve spotted Georgina Bloomberg and Chris Kappler there, among others. They have to eat too. This is where many top riders have barns, and although they may go elsewhere the rest of the year, a good number of them call Wellington home from November through April.
You have to come at least once. No matter which week you select between January and the end of March, you’ll find plenty to fascinate and entertain you. And there’s nothing like the sunshine when it’s snowing at home.
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 | Dec 20, 2016
By Nancy Jaffer
December 20, 2016
The enterprising artist juggles a lot of ventures, including wildly ambitious sculpting for charity, making carousels out of hobby horses, blogging and bringing together other artists at #equinearthour on Twitter.
There’s a lot more that Shya Beth is planning in terms of long-range projects, but she has time. Did I mention that she is only 15?
Shya Beth with a horse made out of greens. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
The Sussex County teen’s interest in horses and art began when she would ride her Shetland pony in a basket saddle before she could walk, then picked up a paintbrush afterwards to express herself.
Her inclination toward horses and art was inspired by her mother, Mary Beth, a stained glass artist and horsewoman who home-schools her daughter.
“She’s always done something creative. She can see something and turn it into her own and it comes out fresh,” Mary said. Whether it’s charities or promoting other artists, Shya “just wants to help. She takes everything to heart,” her mother observed.
“I’m thrilled she’s doing what she wants to do. I let her have free rein,” added Mary, who helps out when needed, such as driving Shya where she needs to go for her work.
Shya has been involved in a lot of projects, but she hit the headlines two years ago with Fleur, her creation of a jumping horse composed of wood, bamboo, Styrofoam and chicken wire, all covered with hundreds of handmade paper flowers over a frame that is 6 feet, 10 inches tall and eight feet, 10 inches wide.
A year ago, she came up with the idea of making 18 life-size horse sculptures, assembled on wooden frames, covered in denim from donated used blue jeans. She is putting together creations depicting a variety of breeds and disciplines; race horses, jumpers and polo ponies among them. The plan is to have them autographed by top riders and officials, then auction them after an exhibition. The money will go to equine charities—mustangs are a particular interest of Shya’s, as well as the working donkeys in Third World countries
Citing the abuse of horses around the world, she said, “I want to do as much as I can to help our equines.”
And that led to development of thebluejeanhorseprojectdotcom.wordpress.com
Shya notes, “I think using denim to create these sculptures is not only a unique medium, but also a way that everyone–equestrians or not– can feel connected to this project. Nearly everyone wears jeans, whether they are a pair of NYC designer jeans or a farmer’s old Levi’s. Everyone can feel a connection to this project, which will ultimately help more horses.”
A blue jean jumper. (Photo courtesy Shya Beth)
Blue jeans to be used in the project may be dropped off at Beval’s Saddlery in Gladstone, Horsemen’s Outlet in Lebanon and Tractor Supply in Blairstown. They can have rips and tears, but shouldn’t be too ratty, she cautioned.
Shya is creating several films about the sculptures that include the history of the sport and/or breed they represent interviews with the people who sign them.
Her current efforts involve horsehead wreaths made out of cedar and other evergreens she collects with her Halflinger on her Lafayette farm. Sale of the horse wreaths will benefit her Blue Jean project; she also makes Doberman wreaths, with proceeds going to a Doberman rescue. For information about the wreaths, go to mistybrookmeadows@gmail.com. Misty Brook Meadows is also on facebook. They aren’t just for Christmas—they’re nice decorations throughout the winter.
Shya Beth’s horsehead wreaths. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
Every Tuesday and Friday, Shya blogs at www.theflyingshetlands.wordpress.com, which is a showcase for equine art.
Artist Sue Ziegler (www.suezieglerart.com), who has painted champion race horse California Chrome and whose work is displayed at galleries in Versailles, Ky., and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., started following “The Flying Shetlands” more than a year ago. She’s a fan of Shya.
“I was very impressed with the famous guests she interviewed on Equine Art Hour, and enjoyed learning more about the artists that were new to me. What she has accomplished is especially impressive knowing how young she is. After reading her Equine Art Hour interview about the Equus Film Festival, I entered their art contest and one of my works was chosen as a tour stop image for the festival.”
Shya said she was inspired by Sue, since she came to art late and has made quite a mark with her horse portraits.
Sue, in turn, commented on Shya’s energy and ingenuity, noting that participation in an art group to which she belonged had been low until Shya became the administrator.
“She changed the name to “Art of the Horse,” which was brilliant, and gave each day a theme, allowing artists to share their work, works in progress, successes, things they are grateful for. She has single-handedly turned the group into a community that supports each other in a very short period of time.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. She takes time to comment on everyone’s posts. She started a monthly banner contest that had over 100 works of art posted in the first week.
“When she asked me to be on the Equine Art Hour, I had to admit that I wasn’t on Twitter yet. She helped me with that, bringing me out of the dinosaur age, and when there was a free marketing seminar on line, she sent me the links to help me even more,” Sue added.
She called Shya, “A wonderful and creative artist in her own right. She’s an absolute angel and has done so much to enrich other artists’ lives. I am definitely one of them.”
