The Essex Horse Trials didn’t run in 2020 due to Covid, but the event will be making up for that this summer, adding to the competition at Moorland Farm in Far Hills with tailgating, shopping, a car show and a concert.
The fixture runs July 17-18, with the Music in the Somerset Hills organization kicking things off July 16, as Stephen Sands conducts an all-star Broadway orchestra led by Jonathan Dinklage, the concertmaster for the show “Hamilton.” Call (973) 339-7719 for information.
The Essex Horse Trials has a great site at Moorland Farm, also home of the Far Hills Race Meeting. (Photo © 2019 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“Essex is on the same weekend in July as Fitch’s Corner (New York) used to run,” said Ralph Jones, who co-chairs Essex with cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell.
Essex Horse Trials co-chairs Ralph Jones and Morgan Rowsell. Photo © 2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
As Fitch’s founder, Fernanda Kellogg, explained her event, “My motivation was to create the best quality event for the lower levels, but with the spirit of a top national or international horse trials.” It ran for 25 years through 2018.
The Essex crew hopes to emulate what Fitch’s Corner achieved.
“Fernanda Kellogg did such a great job with that event and the country weekend atmosphere she created, as well as the support for riders with young horses to bring along,” explained Ralph.
Tickets go on sale this week for the multi-faceted fixture at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, which will offer eventing levels from Beginner Novice through Preliminary, with prize money for the first three places in Open Prelim sponsored by Running S Equine veterinary services. Other sponsors are MARS Equestrian, Peapack Gladstone Bank, AIG, Maxons Restoration, Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty and Turpin Realtors.
Essex was a mainstay of equestrian sport in the Somerset Hills for 30 years until it ceased running at the U.S. Equestrian Team headquarters after 1998. It made a comeback at Moorland in 2017, followed by successful editions in 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic put it, like so many other things, on hold. And now Essex is making another comeback.
It’s for a good cause. Proceeds benefit the Greater Newark LifeCamp in Pottersville, which provides an enriching day camp experience for approximately 300 Newark-area youths per day for six weeks during July and August.
General admission for Essex is $10 for adults, with those under 17 complimentary, as is the parking. Those who want to get closer to the action and enjoy a picnic have a choice of locations for tailgating. Each tailgating spot offers four general admission tickets good for both the Saturday and the Sunday. A waterside location is $300; a water view is $150 and a hillside location goes for $50. Get tickets at https://essexhorsetrials.org/tailgate. Private tents are also available by the show jumping arena upon request by emailing Katherine@essexhorsetrials.org.
The car show at the 2019 Essex Horse Trials drew hundreds of vehicles and enthusiasts. (Photo © 2019 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
An added attraction on Saturday is the Peter Chesson Memorial Car Show. Peter, a Gladstone resident who died in April, is best known in the equestrian community as the father of Lizzy Chesson, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s managing director of show jumping, and the former husband of Sharon Chesson, who was one of the USA’s top driving competitors.
For more information about Peter, read the obituary in the box below. It was written by P.J. Chesson for those in the race car world:
Referred to as the ‘Dirty Revolutionary’ by Hot Rod Magazine in 1975, Peter was a self-proclaimed ‘grease monkey’ from the ‘old school’ and a true innovator. Whether it was transcending the international sport of combined driving at the World Championship-level with his wife, Sharon, as well as with Finn Caspersen’s four-in-hand with Bill Long, or holding a national drag racing record for 10-plus years, or building a business, he was constantly pushing the boundaries of life.
A childhood friend of Pete’s, Larry Mongo, shared a story. Peter’s father, “Bump” Chesson, had a couple of Ford dealerships where Pete would hang around. One day, a trailer with a bunch of new cars showed up. There was one car that stood out to Pete. It was a navy blue Mustang, which he took the liberty of unloading straight into the shop, where he proceeded to strip it down and turn it into a drag car, unbeknownst to Bump. When Bump found out about this, weeks later, he was furious and chased Peter around the shop with an exhaust pipe. The story has a good ending. That car, which Pete drove, went on to set a national record in the B stock automatic class with factory Ford support.
Pete loved racing.He started building race cars in his early teens and never stopped. Pete transcended every form of racing he got involved in. From Drag Racing, Dirt Modifieds, Go Karts, Motocross to WoO Sprint Cars. Pete left his mark. He was a very humble man with a great passion for life. When he got involved in something, there was nothing half-hearted about it. It didn’t matter if it was growing his family business, Barker Bus Company; building a hot rod/race car or imparting knowledge to one of his kids, Pete was all in.
Dad would never say it, but he was very successful in life; both in his family life and in business. He was the ultimate protector, provider and patriarch of his family. He was the glue, he was a real life superman. He made everyone feel important by caring and being present in the moment.
He once said, ‘at the core of every challenge is a very simple solution’. This was his North Star and guiding principle throughout his life. Dad was a proud man. He was most proud of his family and his businesses. He was not the best at saying it to the family member in front of him, but he would brag about each one of us any chance he got. We are a very close family and we owe it to Dad. His greatest accomplishment in life, by far, was his family and the bond that we all have. Peter left behind his four children; Lizzy, PJ, James and Tim, along with eight loving grandchildren, with the youngest one due in August. Sharon, Peter’s former wife but still his partner in so many ways, together shared a deep love, contributing to the inseparable Chesson family bond of which Peter was so proud.
