by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 30, 2023
The lull before the new year offers an opportunity to reflect on special memories of the people and horses we lost in 2023. Let’s recall their accomplishments and raise a toast to them as we head into 2024.
The first person who comes to my mind in that regard is Jimmy Wofford, the eventing Olympic medalist who eventually became more well-known for other achievements.
Jimmy Wofford loved his Labrador retrievers and the opportunity to go fishing. (Photo by Jim Wolf)
He took on an important role in governing horse sport (he was the president of the old American Horse Shows Association), coached a contingent of successful riders, was a brilliant speaker and went on to offer incisive views on things equestrian through his published work. An outdoorsman who became a celebrated author, he was intellectual without being pedantic, and had a wicked sense of humor.
Jimmy died in February after a long illness, something he fought with his trademark determination and bravery.
More medalists left us early in the year. They included Jimmy’s friend and 1972 Munich Olympics eventing silver medal teammate, Kevin Freeman; dressage rider Carol Lavell, most identified with the giant blaze-faced Gifted, the mount she rode to the team bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and Champ Hough, eventing team bronze medalist in the 1952 Helsinki Games, the first Olympics in which civilian equestrians represented the U.S.
From the hunter/jumper world, the losses included Marco Fuste, the FEI’s charismatic jumping director; enthusiastic jumper owner Mike Polaski; hunter trainer/rider Larry Glefke and Karen Golding, who was in a category of her own as an international jumper groom and eagle-eyed steward. Others we will miss include George Spellman, who did everything and was a friend and supporter of everyone at the Devon showgrounds in Pennsylvania, where the late trainer Susan Sisco so often excelled in side-saddle competition.
Karen Golding with Olympic gold medalist Joe Fargis on their induction into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame. ((Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Also among those to whom we said goodbye were jumper owner Diana Firestone, mother of rider Allison Firestone; Ralph “Larry” Roberts, founder of the World Equestrian Centers; USEF judge Phil DeVita Sr. a pioneer of the sport and winner of the USHJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the outspoken Tiffany Teeter, an artist and knowledgeable horsewoman who was a supporter of the Amwell Valley Hounds.
This group also includes hunter legend Peggy Augustus, perhaps best known for her great champion Waiting Home; the 2005 Virginia Horseperson of the year, Meredith McLaughlin, who was involved in governance and had “a keen eye” for a nice equine prospect and Ellie Wood Keith Baxter, winner of the 1936 ASPCA Maclay Finals, who continued riding at age 100 and lived until she was 101. Kavar Kerr, “who lived a life of doing for others” came up with the idea of the American Hunter Jumper Foundation and was a noted horse owner as well as a rider, in addition to being a pillar of the Blowing Rock (N.C.) Horse Show.
Ellie Wood Baxter.
In dressage, those who departed included Elizabeth Madlener, a special trainer, judge and rider, who helped contribute to the popularity of the freestyle; Peggy Thomas, the owner of Debbie McDonald’s Olympic star, Brentina and Ellen DiBella, who focused on western dressage and Morgans. For information about dressage breeder Barbara Hay, see the current obituary in On the Rail section of this website.
Peggy Thomas, center, at the retirement of Brentina with Debbie and Bob McDonald; her daughter, Jane, and husbnd Parry Thomas. (Photo © 2009 by Nancy Jaffer)
In New Jersey, Buddy King, a friend to all and an all-around horseman and Ann David, owner of Hoopstick Farm (the first home of the Essex Horse Trials), have said farewell.
Others who are deserving of special mention include U.S Equestrian Team veterinarian Dr. Stephen Soule; Jeff Petska, chef d’equipe of the medal-winning U.S. reining team; Lars Sederholm, who played a key role in training U.S. eventing individual gold medalist David O’Connor; and JoAnne Postel, who founded the Foxfield program (known for its bareback and bridleless drill team) with her sister, Nancy.
Among those who sadly died in riding accidents, doing what they loved, were veterinarian Dr. Meg (Muggy) Mullin, jumper rider Hannah Serfass #rideforhannah, amateur show jumper Wayne Barr Jr. and eventer Jessie Aikman.
Wayne Barr Jr.
The horses we lost included Shutterfly, 30, ridden to three FEI World Cup show jumping finals titles by Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum; Primmore’s Pride, 30, who clinched first Rolex Grand Slam eventing title for Pippa Funnell; the Best Horse title winner at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Cortes C, 21, Beezie Madden’s Olympic and world championships show jumping medal ride, famous for jumping with his front legs crossed.
Beezie Madden and Cortes C at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France, where won the title of Best Horse. (Photo © 2014 by Nancy Jaffer)
Others are eventing star Mr. Medicott, competed by five people, including Phillip Dutton and Karen O’Connor and Solaguayre California, the mount of eventer Tamie Smith, who had to be euthanized after fracturing a knee in an accident at the Luhmühlen, Germany 5-star event.
It’s a long list, the roster of those to whom we said adieu this year. If it’s missing someone who meant a lot to you, apologies; please take the time to remember them in your own way.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 29, 2023
It’s time to recount the big stories from this website that made an impact in the year just past, in addition to some that weren’t earth-shaking, but are worth remembering nevertheless. If you want more details on any of these items, click the search box on this website’s masthead, or on the “previous columns” icon.
In New Jersey, the biggest story was the revival of the Essex Equestrian Center in West Orange. We ended 2022 with news that it was closing. But 10 months later, trainer Brianne Goutal-Marteau revealed she and her husband, Romain, had bought the venerable facility and would be refurbishing it.
The old Essex Equestrian Center.
The story got a huge reaction, with some people who hadn’t been there in decades rejoicing that an icon of their past wasn’t vanishing after all, while others were simply happy that the site would not be the scene of more housing in the suburban town.
There was no reprieve, however, for the iconic Tempel Lippizans. After 65 years, this wonderful stable and enterprise in Illinois announced it would shut down, as the family that owned it was going in a different direction.
Further afield, word that Aachen in 2026 would be hosting what in effect is a rebirth of the World Equestrian Games was welcome news; no one presents shows better than Aachen does.
We held our breath until the U.S. show jumpers finally qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, doing it in a last-ditch attempt at the Pan American Games in Chile. That was way too close for comfort.
It was announced that the new League of Nations (As I’ve often asked, why name something after an organization that couldn’t stop World War II?) will be making a stop at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, another boost for that amazing new facility.
Tamie Smith became the first American to win the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star event since 2008, taking the title with the intrepid Mai Baum.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum scored a victory for the U.S. at Land Rover Kentucky. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The European championships highlighted the nations to watch at the Paris Olympics. The British were awesome in eventing, with team gold and individual gold and silver to their credit, and they also won team gold in dressage, as well as individual silver and bronze.
No one, though, has bested Germany’s Olympic and World Cup champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB, who took the European freestyle title after finishing first in the Grand Prix and Special.
Sweden finished its triple crown of Olympic and world championships show jumping gold with a team victory in the Europeans, while Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat captured the individual title.
The FEI World Cup finals made its second appearance in Omaha, with vaulting included, along with show jumping and dressage. It was six years since the last U.S. Cup finals (also in Omaha) but it will only be three years until the next, in Fort Worth in 2026.
Lisa Roskens, the woman behind the Longines FEI World Cup finals in Omaha with winner Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, runner-up Harrie Smolders of the Netherlands and Hunter Holloway of the U.S. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The Washington D.C. International Horse Show said goodbye to the puissance, noting it was hard to get entries, but jumping a big wall was still popular on the other side of the Atlantic, most notably at the Dublin, Royal Windsor and London horse shows.
An ongoing saga is the battle over constructing housing on a parcel of Wellington, Florida’s Equestrian Preserve. More than 40 hours of hearings were held on the matter, which is connected to plans for an expanded Wellington International showgrounds on another parcel. This story is continuing into 2024, with thousands of people protesting losing any part of the preserve, as the Village council gets ready to vote on the matter.
Equestrians in trouble included Andreas Helgstrand, whose dressage training center was the subject of a Danish TV undercover documentary on methods that involved rollkur, as well as use of whips and spurs that left marks. Andreas said the facility was cleaning up its act, but he was barred from the Danish equestrian team until at least Jan. 1, 2025, though it could be longer.
Show jumping World Cup champion and 2012 Olympian Rich Fellers was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for sexual abuse of an underage student.
Meanwhile, dressage trainer Michael Barisone was released in November from a psychiatric hospital, more than 18 months after a jury found him not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity in the shooting of a tenant at his New Jersey farm. He hopes to return to competing, but first has to deal with a SafeSport suspension.
Michael Barisone with partner Lara Osborne after his release. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
There was much more that happened in 2023, of course, and you undoubtedly have your own special equestrian memories of the year.
But for many people, one of the most special stories–a tearjerker that was amazing–involved Cody Dorman and Cody’s Wish. We’re talking horse racing here, not this website’s usual fare of non-racing equestrian sport, but it’s worth some reflection.
Cody, a Kentucky resident, had a rare genetic disorder that caused seizures and left him unable to walk or speak; he communicated by using a tablet. In October 2018 Cody went to Godolphin’s Gainsborough Farm to meet a foal, a session arranged by the Keeneland racetrack and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The weanling to whom he got introduced was a son of Curlin who wasn’t afraid of Cody’s wheelchair and laid his head in the boy’s lap. It was an instant connection.
The colt was named Cody’s Wish, and Cody Dorman lived for the young horse. Following the thoroughbred as he grew became Cody’s mission, and he often was at the track when the colt ran. The horse always was drawn to Cody; the two had an unbreakable bond.
Cody Dorman and Cody’s Wish.
At the Breeder’s Cup, where Cody’s Wish scored a narrow victory in the Dirt Mile and survived an inquiry in his last race, Cody Dorman was on hand to bring him luck. His mission accomplished, 17-year-old Cody died on the way home to Kentucky. The timing was such that many spoke of divine intervention. It certainly makes you think…
Cody Dorman is one of the many people in horse sport that we lost this year. We’ll be running a story about some of them on Sunday, so you can toast their memory while ringing in the new year.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 28, 2023
Barbara Hay’s life focused on raising young horses and training young riders.
She died at her Rainbow Ridge Farm in East Amwell, N.J., on Dec. 27, just three days short of her 72d birthday.
Barbara Hay on the farm with her horses. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
A national examiner for the U.S. Pony Club who was the chief horse management judge at many Pony Club rallies, Barbara never lost sight of what was important to her.
Although she was dealing with Lewy Body dementia and Parkinson’s disease, even in her waning days, Barbara “thought she was teaching Pony Club or doing a rating,” and would go out to the barn with her clipboard, said her daughter, professional horsewoman Bridget Hay.
“Horses were everything for her and Pony Club was such a part of her life,” Bridget explained.
Dressage professional Kim Herslow, who also has a farm in Hunterdon County, said, “Barbara was such a local horse hero. She will definitely be remembered by everybody who had horses in our area. Through all the Pony Club and all the time she has put into growing our younger equestrians, everyone knew Barbara.”
Added Kim, a friend for two decades, “She had such a passion for helping people learn and being involved with the horses as much as she could be. Bridget did everything she could to keep her mom in the saddle.”
Not too long ago, Kim recalled, Bridget had her Grand Prix horse on the longe line with her mother aboard. Barbara was “having a blast” doing piaffe and passage. “She kept talking abut it for days afterward.”
Trainer/judge Marilyn Payne said of Barbara, “in the horse world she was such a big name, especially Pony Club, she did so much for Pony Club. She was just fabulous, volunteering all the time and worked tirelessly. She was a very knowledgeable horsewoman.”
Marilyn mentioned Barbara had “a fabulous personality. She was nice to everyone; everyone loved her.”
Scores of people posted on social media after learning Barbara had passed away, many offering tributes about all the woman known fondly as “Baba” had done for the equestrian community.
Ralph Reilly commented, “Barbara was one of the kindest, most giving people I have ever known. Her encouragement and patience with all the Pony Club kids was remarkable. She touched so many young lives, leaving them all for the better. She is a cherished memory for us.”
Lucia Stout Huebner stated, “What a marvelous, beautiful and giving woman Barbara Hay was. Best riding instructor ever. She had a perfect balance of authority and kindness.”
Even before she could walk, Bridget began riding under the direction of her mother and was part of the Amwell Valley Pony Club. Together, the two bred dressage horses that Bridget went on to compete at Grand Prix, starting an impressive pipeline of American-bred horses who could excel in the discipline.
Bridget Hay and her mother, Barbara, cleaning tack during Dressage at Devon in 2016. (Photo © 2016 by Nancy Jaffer)
Early in her career, Barbara worked for breeder Gordon Smith, starting all the babies of his Trakehner stallion, Parliament.
Their breeding project began with Ming, an Oldenburg mare by Weltstern, who Barbara got in trade by riding for Ilona English. Ming became the foundation of the Hays’ program, in which Barbara played a major role.
“Her thing was breaking young horses. She helped me start all the babies here,” said Bridget, noting her biggest challenge came when her mother wasn’t able to work with her anymore after her diagnosis in 2020.
Barbara Hay with Bridget on Faolan at the 2022 USEF Festival of Champions. (Susan J. Stickle Photography)
Barbara’s husband, James, died 11 years ago on Dec. 28. In addition to Bridget, Barbara is survived by her son, Ryan; four grandchildren, Ryder, Audrey, Amelia and Julianna, and her sister, Susan Gaukin.
Visitation is 5-8 p.m, Jan. 2 at the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home in Flemington.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 3 at St. Alphonsus Church in Hopewell, with a reception to follow.
Donations in Barbara Hay’s memory may be made to the U.S. Pony Club (https://www.ponyclub.org)
A celebration of life will be planned at the farm in the spring, with a date to be determined.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 22, 2023
Miss Molly can’t tell the story of how she wound up in two Texas auctions, just a short step from being sent to slaughter. But the scars on the palomino Quarter Horse’s face and legs; the way she bit at people, aiming to wound them, or kicked hard enough to leave more than a mark, spoke for how she had been treated.
A trainer who saw her photo bought Molly out of a kill pen, bringing her to a barn in Hillsborough, New Jersey, as a prospective lesson horse. But from the beginning, it was obvious Molly had big issues.
“Whatever you do, don’t take off her halter,” the shipper who dropped off the horse warned the trainer. And this was a mare advertised by the killl pen as “well-broke, extremely sweet, friendly and gentle.”
However, “It was very clear within a few days that she would never be a lesson horse,” said Christianna (CC) Capra, the co-founder of Spring Reins of Life (SRoL), a therapeutic organization that was based at the Hillsborough stable when Molly arrived. The mare’s tendency to bite and kick looked as if it would spell her doom. The prospect of euthanasia was right around the corner.
“She was not handleable. Anyone who came near her, she would react this way,” said CC.
There was one exception.
Veterans who had been receiving therapy with SRoL walked up to the round pen to see Molly and would pet her on the face.
“She had her ears forward and was like `Hi, how are you?’” CC recalled.
“I saw that out of the corner of my eye,” CC said, wondering at the time, “She hates people. How does she not hate you? There’s something about this horse and veterans.”
Just before SRoL moved to Hunt Cap Farm in Three Bridges six years ago, seven women joined together as Team Molly to pay the mare’s bills and give her a chance.
The trainer who owned Molly agreed to let CC take her, with this admonition: “If she doesn’t work out as a veterans’ horse, you’ve got to let her go.”
SRoL is an EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) Model Program offering equine-assisted psychotherapy for groups of trauma survivors. It uses horses for therapeutic intervention designed to reach veterans, teens, women at risk or others who have a hard time in traditional talk therapy.
Horses are selected for their capacity to work with troubled or suffering individuals. These clients are able to develop personalized coping skills from interacting with horses on the ground (the program does not involve riding.)
Molly with Christiana Capra and her Winnie award. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Dr. Judith Shoemaker, a Pennsylvania veterinarian who specializes in integrative medicine (which includes chiropractic and acupuncture) worked with Molly to overcome her reflexive reaction of biting and striking. Also involved with Molly’s program is Dr. Maria Katsamanis of Hopewell, New Jersey, an author and dressage trainer who has a doctorate in clinical psychology.
Molly soon proved her worth.
“It was really the veterans who opened her up,” said CC.
“She’s highly intelligent. Molly would approach someone in the arena; if they’re really suffering, she would leave the wall and go to them.”
Perhaps the most dramatic example of how Molly connects with veterans involves Stephen Cherry, who was referred to SRoL eight years ago by the Lyons Veterans Administration Hospital.
The 65-year-old retired Air Force veteran had seen Molly at the Hillsborough farm, and asked CC if he could go in the ring with the mare.
He got permission, with the proviso that if Molly showed any adverse reaction, he would be pulled back.
Steve was advised to watch the mare’s eyes and ears; then he walked in slowly, as if he were rehearsing the wedding march. He approached Molly, kneeling in a submissive manner, and finally was able to lean on her shoulder. It was a special moment.
“I felt an instant connection right there,” said Steve.
That moment when veteran Steve Cherry made his first connection with Miss Molly, shortly after she came to New Jersey.
“The thought of being loved was something I could feel in that horse.”
Everyone who saw that breakthrough was so moved they were crying, noted CC.
Now each Tuesday and Friday, Steve visits Molly, so eager to get there that he wakes up at 4 a.m.
“I have a responsibility,” he explained.
Steve feeds and grooms Molly, takes her to the paddock, then handles another important duty: “One thing I love to do with a horse is give them a little kiss,” he confided.
At first, he was worried about approaching her, after finding out from a psychic how she had been mistreated. But he stayed with it.
“And she’s done nothing but respond to me. Miss Molly has brought out the best in me I’ve ever been,” he stated firmly.
“She has gone from being a frightened, uncared-for horse to one that’s willing to accept people. I’ve had days I get down on the ground and lie down and she would lie down, I would crawl towards her, give her a kiss and then I’m lying across her back.”
A glimpse of Steve Cherry sleeping on Miss Molly, as another horse stands watch.
“I have a slight form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) I didn’t want to be around people at all. But now, the people that are involved with the horses — I’m talking to people, I’m working with people, I’m laughing. I’ve actually come out of my shell. I’ve gone from city boy to country boy.”
He owes so much of his progress to Miss Molly.
“It’s wonderful. She understands me. What I’m doing now is just a start, I plan on doing anything in the world I can for this horse, and any other horses after this.”
Sean Glynn, a volunteer at the barn, is another who greets Miss Molly with a kiss.
Volunteer Sean Glynn always gives Miss Molly a special greeting. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“When she’s calm, I feel some type of energy from her. Whether she’s in a good mood or a bad mood, I can feel that vibe.”
He noted, “Just by her actions, It’s sad to say someone probably abused her, hurt her. Now that she’s here, I think she trusts people a lot more.”
Molly has gotten recognition beyond the accolades from those she has helped in the SRoL program.
In 2019, she was named the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs/New Jersey Health Care System’s Therapy Animal of the Year. Her video story, “Miss Molly’s Journey,” won a Winnie award at the 2023 Equus Film & Arts Festival in the category of Horses for Mental Health.
Steve noted, “She seems to feel something in people like us: `Oh, I’m going to come over and stand next to you. Oh, you’ve got some kind of a problem? I kind of understand you’.”
But now Molly has a problem.
She hit her head on a stall door, which exacerbated what is possibly an old concussion, leaving her with what Dr. Shoemaker said may be comparable to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a human. That resulted in a loss of equilibrium when she walks. She has to move on a flat surface; it is difficult for her to step up, but Steve has no problem getting her in and out of the paddock with the incentive of treats.
Meanwhile, Molly is on hiatus from her therapeutic duties. The mare sees the world in a distorted way, due to a visual problem with her depth perception, so it isn’t safe for her to work with clients at this time.
Because SRoL’s mission is to rehabilitate people, that organization cannot spend money on helping a horse. After Team Molly ran its course, Dr. Maria’s Friends of Pegasus foundation has become the avenue for funding that can be used for Molly’s treatment, which includes special food, veterinary care and other therapy.
For a complete rundown on Miss Molly, a look at her award-winning video and how to help by contributing via Venmo and Paypal so she can get the help she needs, click on this LINK
To contribute by check, make it out to Friends for Pegasus (make the memo Miss Molly) and send to Friends for Pegasus at Mythos Farm 128 Lambertville Hopewell Road Hopewell, N.J. 08525.
“Head trauma or soft tissue injury as a result of training or mishandling and injury is not much spoken about,” Dr. Maria noted, but it can happen when “people get harsh with horses” or use poor equipment. Behavioral issues, she said, “can very well be untreated concussive injuries.”
The horse can perceive things in their space very differently than it would if their brain were normal.
“Then people deem it dangerous, or it gets itself into harmful situations,” she commented.
They put on more pressure, thinking it’s a behavioral issue, when actually the horse’s perception is off.
“Molly must have seen very harsh handling,” Dr. Maria believes.
She pointed out that “because we could see the injuries on her face, we could deduce there was some jostling of the brain.”
One way of addressing the situation was “a breathing protocol that we used to reverse her severe hyperventilation and poor breathing behavior,” combined with a visual motor process protocol.
As Molly progresses, said Dr. Maria, “People will see themselves in her eyes. They will cheer her recovery on and therefore, their own.”
Molly definitely makes an impression.
“She is truly an exceptional therapy horse,” said Dr. Shoemaker.
“She has appreciated the care and concern for her. She likes being touched now more than she did, and touch is such an important part of TBI programming. You want to reach as many corners of her brain as possible, and all those corners of her brain are connected to her body.”
A happy Miss Molly after a good roll and a treat. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
The veterinarian said she is hoping that “will open up other places in her brain to help her have a more enriched life. Look at all the people who come through this program that people have written off. Yet with the proper kind of therapy, it’s possible to see miraculous changes.
“She’s in the right place to give it a try. Her job is such she doesn’t have to be cross-country riding sound. She has to be upright, safe and happy.”
For a complete rundown on Miss Molly, a look at her award-winning video and how to help by contributing via Venmo and Paypal so she can get the help she needs, click on this LINK
To contribute by check, make it out to Friends for Pegasus (make the memo Miss Molly) and send to Friends for Pegasus at Mythos Farm 128 Lambertville Hopewell Road Hopewell, N.J. 08525.
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 16, 2023
There’s more to Somerset Grain & Feed than its name implies.
In addition to selling sustenance for horses and other animals, grooming tools, pet toys and various agricultural items, it is also a quaint mini museum on the outskirts of suburban Bernardsville, New Jersey’s, shopping district.
Somerset Grain is very down-home, almost as if it doesn’t belong there. And in less than six months, it won’t.
The business that hearkens back to an earlier era and its country roots is moving 10 miles west to the more rural Long Valley section of Washington Township, Morris County. But it won’t be changing its style or its name.
Tom Milesnick and his son, Jesse, left at the counter of Somerset Grain and Feed. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“That’s who we are,” proprietor Tom Milesnick stated proudly.
“We’re a feed store. That’s our identity.”
The move is the rainbow at the end of an 18-year quest for Tom, who is in business with his 26-year-old son, Jesse. Tom doesn’t own the Bernardsville building and the rent kept rising, so he needed to set up shop elsewhere. The former UPS facility where he’s headed fills the ticket. And while it’s spacious, with room for tractor-trailers and trucks to maneuver more easily than at the Bernardsville site, the location also is appropriate because Long Valley and neighboring Hunterdon County have more farms in this era than northern Somerset County.
“Back in the day, we had all these big estates,” Tom recalled, citing such historic Bernardsville family names as Roebling and Post. Early in the last century, they would mail the store their orders, written in perfect penmanship, for 5,000 pounds of cattle feed or 1,000 pounds of sheep feed, and the business would run it up to them.
As time went on, the farm owners died, the barns got converted to houses, the acreage was carved up “and there’s no more big estates,” sighed Tom, guessing there might be just a “backyard pony or two” left in Bernardsville, where bridle trails once wound through the borough.
In the bigger picture, though, he has always dealt with farm owners in nearby Bedminster and Harding Township, as well as places further afield, such as Oldwick.
“Thank goodness this area’s still equine, and thank goodness for the people who do have the means to preserve what we have,” he said.
Tom congratulated the officials of Washington Township, telling them “You have maintained the integrity of this valley, you’ve let it grow, let new business come in, without compromising it.”
The chickens, horses, pigs and other livestock still have a home there, he pointed out.
Many of those who have been coming to Somerset Grain for years will redirect their GPS settings for the new venue on East Mill Road.
Asked for his opinion of the move, customer Rob Pullam said, “I don’t know if it’s good for Bernardsville, but it’s fine for us. I’m quite excited.”
The Bedminster resident and farm manager added, “Where they’re going is not that far from us, and it’s a different direction. Now we’re going to go somewhere else and see the same people.”
But for others who have dropped in at Somerset Grain on a regular basis for years, it’s the end of an era.
The potbellied stove at the end of one of Somerset Grain’s eclectic aisles will be moving to Long Valley. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“I’m really sorry that they’re going to Long Valley, which is too far for me,” said longtime regular customer Simona Balzer of Bernardsville, who was buying a Christmas present for her daughter’s dog the other day.
“It’s so fun to come here. This store is something. It has so much history,” she noted wistfully.
Somerset Grain, which opened in 1945, is the third feed store on the Bernardsville site. The first one, in the late 1800s, was Bob White and Son. Tom found a pen from that store at a sale and it’s a treasured artifact, marked with the White store’s phone number, 209. That is not an area code; there just weren’t that many phones back then. After Bob White, the store became Barker and Higgins before it was Somerset Grain.
At one time, dating back to the late nineteenth century, grain was milled at the location. Before the advent of tractor-trailers, train cars filled with different grains would come to the store via a siding from the main track. Workers shoveled loose grain from the cars, then sent it up the three-story tower to get ground. The finished product went into 100-pound bags secured with a miller’s knot. The empty rail cars would roll back to the main track and get hooked up to the train again.
Tom pointed out that the feed store “was the gas station of its time.”
It fueled the horses who pulled the wagons and livestock; “everything was powered by the feed store,” he commented.
Well-schooled in the business, Tom is adamant about “the right way to run a feed mill, order six days worth of feed every seven days. You only stayed a little bit ahead of your stock and got new every week. The less time we have the feed,” he explained, “the longer you can keep it.”
A disastrous fire put an end to the milling operation in 1968, as hay and grain fed the blaze for three days. The fire was suspicious, but no one ever determined how it started, and Tom noted that G.F. Hill in Gladstone also burned around the same time.
A photo from a Bernardsville News story about the 1968 fire.
Asked whether he will miss the old store, Tom said, “I’ve been coming here 42 years. I’ve been here more than I’ve been in my own house.”
So there’s nostalgia, but he quickly added, “I’m excited about the future.”
Before coming to Somerset Grain, Tom was working at the Veterans Administration supply depot in south Somerville.
“It was crazy money for a kid,” he noted, but punching a time clock and working in a place surrounded by barbed wire wasn’t for him. When a new employee came to the depot after leaving a job at the feed store in 1981, Tom saw an opportunity. Although he’d been earning $14 an hour, he took a huge cut to $5.75 an hour when he got a job from Pete Mastrobattista, who owned Somerset Grain at that time.
Pete couldn’t believe Tom wanted to give up his secure government job, and neither could Tom’s mother.
He remembered, “My mother cried, she grabbed my arm and said, `You’re not thinking clearly.’ ”
He replied, “I’m being true to my heart. This is what I want to do.”
It turned out to be the right decision.
“I’ve enjoyed every day in this place,” he declared.
Every weekend, “I couldn’t wait to come back here on Monday morning. I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this. It’s been freedom.”
Tom remembers in the early ’80s, he’d get to the store when it was pitch black outside and three or four farmers already were waiting for the doors to open, reading the newspaper with their trucks’ cab lights on. They’d come in as soon as he turned the key, share a pot of coffee and talk about their animals and their crops.
“Those were the good old days,” said Tom.
“Thank goodness I got a chance to see that old guard.”
Tom holds a photo of the old store from the 1940s or early 1950s. You can see the milling tower that would be destroyed in a fire years later rising above the building. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Now his enthusiasm has refreshed, as he’s eager to open a new place and become part of the scene in Long Valley.
“I’m coming in there to make friends with everyone. I want to reach out to the people of that area. I want to know, `What would you like us to bring in?’ ”
Tom plans to devote an aisle to Long Valley products, such as honey, sausage, items from the “home farms.”
“Socks, soap, sauce,” he elaborated.
Prior to the move-in, he’s gutting the interior of the building that was in the Hemmings family for 90 years and once housed a moving company.
“I want it all wood and barn beams,” Tom noted.
“When you walk in there, I want you to think you walked into somebody’s barn. We’re going to have the wood stove, my old signs.”
The ones relating to Bernardsville will stay in the borough, because they are part of its history. But the others undoubtedly will pique the interest of their new audience in Long Valley.
They are an eclectic bunch, those signs and accompanying memorabilia, including the Kennedy/Johnson 1960 presidential campaign poster he rescued from a dumpster, and the one from a poultry feed company advising chickens to, “Lay or Bust.”
Intriguing signs are a trademark of Somerset Grain.
Tom found that in the old portion of his store when he was using a broom handle to break ceiling panels, having considered that area a possible fire hazard.
After he gave the ceiling a good poke, “down came this treasure trove of stuff,” including invoices from the 1900s and sadly, a dead cat who had succumbed to the 1968 fire.
The current store was built in 1947 as an addition to the original structure, where wooden bins used to hold barley, whole oats, bran, cracked corn and grass seed. Tom ripped out the wooden bins and stopped weighing out the merchandise. Instead of 10 pounds of flax, customers had to buy a bag of it. The floor was too weak for the weight of the bags, so it was shored up with metal—coffee cans, license plates, old road department signs, and insulated with hay to keep the heat in. Tom replaced the floor, keeping only a bit of it for the sake of nostalgia.
The front entrance of the store. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Tom grew up with dogs, and seeing to the pheasants and quail his family raised.
“That’s where the responsibility came of taking care of a domestic animal; domestic animals are dependent on us. That rang true with me,” Tom observed.
“People need us. We’re tougher than the mailman or the banks.”
No matter the weather, “we show up and deliver feed, even when you wouldn’t let your dog go out. If you’ve got a 1,200 pound animal that’s hungry, kicking the walls, what are you going to say?”
Rain, snow, sleet, whatever, “We go.”
Tierney Sullivan, who ran Coach Stop saddlery in Bedminster from 1979 to 2015, noted Tom “has stood the test of time. As far as the local horse community goes, he’s kind of like the glue.”
Tierney and Tom would share customers and help each other out; if he needed a green halter, she’d send it along; if she needed Farrier’s Formula, he’d provide it.
“He fed them and I outfitted them,” she said.
Tom, who is 64, at some point down the road will retire and hand the business over to Jesse.
He has another son who is in information technology, but Jesse “likes this kind of work. He and I are exactly alike,” Tom mused.
“He’s a hard-working, good kid.”
Jesse started working at the store when he was in high school, going full-time in 2019. It was always assumed he’d take over the business.
“I never fought it,” he said with a smile.
“It’s always been like a second home to me, because I basically have grown up here. It will be nice to have something we can put money into and improve, something for the long run.”
Jesse is getting some part-time help from his girlfriend, Brianna Graf. Formerly a whipper-in for the Essex Foxhounds, she now has a job on a horse farm and her own MagnaWave business, providing therapy to horses. The two met when she was picking up feed at the store, and they obviously have a lot in common.
Brianna Graf and Jesse Milesnick are working side by side. (Photo © 2023 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
She notes her extensive equine background is a real plus in assisting customers with questions about their horses.
Somerset Grain is all about service, doing the basics and doing them right, without bells and whistles.
“There are certain things that deserve to be kept simple, and this is one of them,” said Tom.
“It gives you good purpose.”
Tom noted the one downside of the move is that “We’re going to lose a handful of my older customers in their 80s that buy their birdseed. Them I’m going to miss; they’re not going to drive 10 more miles to get bird seed. We do have a couple of people with some driving issues and we bring birdseed to their porch. We still will do that. We can’t forget you.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 14, 2023
It was the second day in a row of a 1-2-3 finish for British dressage riders at the London International Horse Show, but this time, it was set to music.
Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep dominated on Thursday in the FEI Dressage World Cup Freestyle as they had in the Grand Prix, with the 10-year-old gelding showing controlled power and mature consistency in his first indoor show.
He was marked at 89.465 percent in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the ExCel (Exhibition Centre London), with a high score of 98.600 for the artistic part of the performance. Her lowest artistic mark was 94 (something almost anyone else could only dream of), which puts a number on why the fans were enraptured by her ride.
She got 10s from four of the five judges for the music and her interpretation of it. Charlotte also received three 10s for choreography, one 10 for harmony and another for her canter pirouette right, as well as degree of difficulty.
Charlotte and Imhotep thrilled the crowd at ExCel with their freestyle.
World Champion Lottie Fry was a comfortable distance behind in second place with 85.040 percent on Everdale, who is Imhotep’s sire and wasn’t the rider’s world championship mount.
She did not score lower than a 9 for choreography, degree of difficulty and music (which included French lyrics). But a 5.5 and two 6.5s for collected walk brought her score down a bit.
Lottie Fry and Everdale.
Her experience in the electric arena was “incredible and like no where else,” said Lottie.
“I think this was one of my favorite tests I have ridden. With this new music, it was amazing to ride, and Everdale was just brilliant tonight.”
Becky Moody rode the 9-year-old Jagerbomb to a total of 83.675 percent in her first international freestyle with her homebred gelding by Dante Weltino OLD.
He was full of pizzaz and couldn’t stop bouncing through the awards ceremony as the third-place winner threw in some extra-curricular piaffing. Like Charlotte, Becky is a product of Carl Hester’s supervision.
Charlotte was thrilled to appear again at one of her favorite shows, nine months after giving birth to Isabella Rose.
“It was so sad to miss last year,” she said of the 2022 edition of the show, “but obviously, I was pregnant so there wasn’t anything I could do. But to be back here this year riding makes me feel so proud to be British. To be able to ride in front of a home crowd, I know many of you can’t get to see us when we go abroad…all the competitors, it’s our dream to ride here and I am absolutely over the moon with this horse. To perform what he has tonight and yesterday, I couldn’t ask any more.”
She added about Imhotep, better known around the barn as Pete, “Even though he was nervous, he was still with me, which is all I can ask for. He is still a young horse and has so much more to give.”
A line of two-tempis that melded seamlessly into one-tempis and passage half-pass added sparkle to the ride, the type of touches that Charlotte executes so well. It will be interesting to see how this partnership progresses toward the 2024 Olympics.
“Paris next year, it couldn’t be more exciting,” said Charlotte, who spoke with pride of the team winning gold earlier this year at the European Championships as she reviewed her marvelous year.
The podium for the FEI Dressage World Cup Freestyle in London was all about Britain.
“Incredibly proud moment,” she said before the prize-giving.
“What an honor it is to be British. I can’t thank Carl enough for everything he’s done for me and put me where I am today,” she continued. Carl also is half owner of Pete with Coral Ingham.
“It’s so emotional to think what I’ve achieved this year. I really didn’t think I’d be riding. It’s been fantastic, it’s been the best year ever.”
Becky agreed with Charlotte about the importance of the London International, which many still call Olympia after its former home.
Jagerbomb gets a pat of appreciation from rider Becky Moody.
“You dream about riding at this show. It is somewhere that we all aspire to compete at.
“I was incredibly nervous in the build-up. Being on the podium with Lottie Fry and Charlotte Dujardin is amazing. They both inspire me on a daily basis. They are incredible role models, and it is incredible being sat next to them. But I do have every intention of beating them in the future,” she promised.
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