Congratulations to all who participated in the GSEC Autumn Classic last week in Katy. Nearly 500 horses competed at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center Facility, which also hosted the USEF Zone 7 Finals. Last week’s show featured the $5000 USHJA Hunter Classic with a 43 horse field. Pictured below is winner Jazz Hawk on her A/O Hunter, Bluegrass. An exciting Handy Round moved Jazz into first place over Bob Brawley on Diane Dematteo’s Amadeo and third went to Peter Pletcher on Luck.

Wellington, FL-March 6, 2011-The hustle and bustle and prestige of the WEF shows at West Palm Beach made for an exciting winter trip for Irish Day Farm. For the second year in a row, IDF chose the shows as a respite from the winter weather and ended with a successful showing. Katie Lambert Boone was champion in the Performance Working Hunter 3'3" with two wins in the division, then showed Denise Clolery's Celebrate to ribbons in the Pre-Green Hunter and Performance Working Hunter 3'3" divisions and Chrissy Looke's Forecast Sunny to 2nds and 3rds in the WEF Open Hunter 3'3" division. Chrissy also showed Forecast Sunny and her Low Children's Jumper, Roan Ranger.

Jazz Hawk won first and other ribbons on Al Cantaro in the Low A/O and Medium Jumper divisions, then placed well in the A/O Hunter 18-35 division on Bluegrass. Mary Frances Looke received ribbons in the Children's Jumpers on Contendra GZ and the Low Children's Jumper on Polany. Kathy Love rode Silverton S to ribbons in the Masters Jumper and Adult Modified Jumper divisions. Mimi Herbert won 3rds and 4ths on Condesa in the Masters Jumper Division. Olivia Herbert took a break from Dartmouth College and joined the barn to show Schefferkes Solo in the Low and Medium A/O Jumper divisions, and Breeze in the Low A/O Jumper and Adult Modified Jumper divisions.

Written by Whiney Campbell

Lexington, KY-August 8, 2010-The closing day of the Kentucky Summer Classic did not disappoint spectators as competitors returned after a long week of competition to try and claim one last victory. Many of the top Amateur-Owners and Junior Jumpers returned to the Indoor Ring to compete for top prizes in the Classics.

Each division ran over the same course designed by David Ballard. Competitors were pleasantly surprised when they realized it was nearly the same track as the previous nights $50,000 Rood and Riddle Grand Prix, simply lower heights. Obstacles included rollbacks, a skinny vertical, an oxer-vertical double combination, a liverpool fence, and a vertical-vertical-oxer triple combination. Each class was run as a Table 2 a/b format, giving riders a choice of remaining in the ring, or returning at the end of the class to ride their jump off round.
The last class in the Indoor Ring was the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic and out of a class of 35 pairs, only three made it to the jump-off. The first horse and rider combination to go clear in the opening round was Jessica Springsteen and Tinsday VDL, owned by Stone Hill Farm. Springsteen looked to be clean in the jump-off until knocking one rail down in the last combination. The duo stopped the clock with four faults and a time of 28.976 seconds, good enough for third place.

The second rider to qualify for the jump-off was Chelsea Moss and her horse, Dornadoc. Moss unfortunately hit the same rail at Springsteen and crossed the wire in 28.513 seconds with four faults to take second place. The last rider to make it to the jump-off was Olivia Herbert and her 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood, Schefferkes Solo. Herbert took her time around the course and opted for the outside turns but it paid-off when the pair crossed the wire without any faults in 29.614 seconds. Their amazing effort earned them the first place ribbon in the class and overall High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Championship.

“I kind of got lucky, not many horses made it to the jump-off,” smiled Herbert. “Everything else rode really nicely, I thought the liverpool was going to be hard but it went smoothly. The jump-off rode really well and I decided to stay outside on a turn just to be sure and go clean.”

Herbert added, “We were showing Children's four months ago so winning this was such a big accomplishment. I'm going to fly back as much as I can during college to show her and we plan to take her to Florida to show in the winter.”
Today concluded the Kentucky Summer Classic but the series at the Kentucky Horse Park continues next week, August 10-15, with the 2010 USEF National Pony Finals. The following week of competition will be the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, featuring the $50,000 Hagyard CSI-W Lexington Classic held on August 20, 2010.