The Plaid Horse - Jan/Feb 2016 - The Stallion Issue

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 1

America’s Premiere Horse Show Magazine

January/February 2016 • The Stallion Issue

Inside

Ryan Pedigo Breeding for Success in California Pony Lane Farm • Artist Julie Ferris Leslie Steele in Africa • Lauren Davis

2 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 3

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 4

Louise Sullivan & Zico.

The choice of champions.

Ranch, Farm & Equine Contact: Stacey Cinquini Direct/Text: (949) 289-4722 Fax: (949) 429-8097 Email: stacey@cinquiniins.com

Web: www.cinquiniins.com Facebook: Cinquini Insurance Services LLC Twitter & Instagram: @CinquiniIns Lic #0G96286 / 0I72676

5 • THE PLAID HORSE

BRIDGEPORT FARMS

Congratulates Laura Strasburg

SOCIAL HOUR 1st Year Green USEF NATIONAL CHAMPION HORSE OF THE YEAR USHJA Horse of the Year Zone 10 CHAMPION PCHA YEAR END CHAMPION USHJA Hunter Owner Recognition Award RESERVE CHAMPION

THE OAKS FARMS ~ SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA JOHN BRAGG 949.338.7095 PHOTO © MCCOOL PHOTOGRAPHY

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 6

BRIDGEPORT FARMS

Congratulates Gabriella Cinquini

COFFEE TALK Capital Challenge CHAMPION SMALL JUNIOR HUNTERS 15 & UNDER

USHJA Horse of the Year Zone 10 RESERVE CHAMPION

THE OAKS FARMS ~ SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA JOHN BRAGG 949.338.7095 PHOTOS © SHAWN MCMILLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

7 • THE PLAID HORSE

BRIDGEPORT FARMS

Congratulates Pamela Moellenhoff

SERANTINO AA Hunters 36-50 PCHA YEAR END CHAMPION USHJA Horse of the Year Zone 10 RESERVE CHAMPION

THE OAKS FARMS ~ SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA JOHN BRAGG 949.338.7095 PHOTOS © CAPTURED MOMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY

8 • THE PLAID HORSE

RARITY First Year Green & High Performance winner at WEF

LOVE GAME USHJA International Hunter Derby winner at Lexington Spring Encore

HIGH SOCIETY 2015 Young Hunter Classic winner at Middleburg Classic

2015 WINNERS PRODUCED BY EMC INTERNATIONAL

Proudly standing

EMC

Entourage (JET BLUE – PENDLEY MISS PERFECTION)

Our 13.2h homebred Welsh/ Westphalian/English Riding pony.

A true sport pony!

• THANK YOU TO SPONSOR VOLTAIRE DESIGN

Contact Evan Coluccio at 561-307-2263 or emcinternational@aol.com to help you make your dream into real life.

You’re not just buying a horse, you’re buying an individual.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 9

CHRISTINE TRIGGER

Accepting New Clients • Walk-trot Through Pony Hunters

PHOTO © EMILY ALLONGO PHOTOGRAPHY

P eacock R idge F arm trig ge rc hr istine @ g m a i l . c om • 407 - 491 - 3 727

10 • THE PLAID HORSE

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S

F arah R izvi

& Glynhafan Red Kestral

Glynhafan Red Kestral

Large Pony Champion usef pony finals 2015

PHOTO © SHAWN MCMILLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Grand & Large Pony Hunter Champion

Best Child Rider on a Pony

• Washington International Horse Show • Pennsylvania National Horse Show

• Pennsylvania National Horse Show • Washington International Horse Show

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 11

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S Z ayna R izvi

& Swingtown

PHOTO © SHAWN MCMILLEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Medium Pony Hunter Champion

• Washington International Horse Show

• Pennsylvania National Horse Show • Capital Challenge Horse Show

12 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com theplaidhorse.com • • January/February January/February 2016 2016 • • 13 11

14 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 15

16 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 17

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 18

AKA Showstoppers LLC would like to congratulate

SPORTIN AROUND for achieving the National title of USEF Medium Pony Hunter of the Year.

What a great honor. What an awesome pony.

Congratulations to Kierstin Antoniadis & Amelia Ruth – his talented riders this year.

THANK YOU Little Brook Farm, Gary Duffy, Donna Duffy, Kelsey Duffy, Augusta Duffy & to all who have helped make this year possible.

www.akashowstoppers.com • (845)-820-2164 • Montgomery, NY

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 19

Fairy Tale Farms is excited to present some great new partnerships for 2016!

CONGRATULATIONS TO…

Cannon Thomas on the purchase of C. Theodore. Look for this incredible young horse in the Pregreens this year!

Special thanks to Jared DePermentier & Trevor Hawthorne of Timber Hill LLC.

Grace Angelino on the purchase of Confidant.

Good luck in both the Junior Hunter and Equitation rings!

Thanks again to Timber Hill LLC.

Gracie Gore on the lease of Pret-a-Porter.

Good luck in the Short Stirrup division this year! Many thanks to Tom Brennan of Winter Hill Farm and Tracy Brennan of Vineyard Haven Farm.

Nolan Thompson on the purchase of Capicua Z. Good luck in the Junior Hunter and Equitation rings! Thanks go out to Wendy Peralta, Phillip Long, and Margaret Overby of Old Homestead Farm.

And Congratulations to the Lloyd family on their purchase of ”The Lorax”.

BEST OF LUCK to all these new pairs!

FAIRY TALE FARMS • CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA Jaimee Rosenthal • 704-453-4963 • fairytalefarmsclt@gmail.com Showing ~ Training ~ Sales

20 • THE PLAID HORSE

ValleyView Acres est of uck B

L

in the upcoming show season

Sebastian Small Green Pony Hunter Qualified 2016 Pony Finals

Two For The Bunny Medium Regular Pony Hunter 2015 Pony Finals Best Presented Medium Green

Blonde Moment Medium Green Pony Hunter Qualified 2016 Pony Finals

Rumor Has It Zone V Pony Jumpers

Charlie Brown Small Regular Pony Hunter Qualified 2016 Pony Finals

Justameres Little Diamond Medium Regular Pony Hunter

Your go-to source for quality green and regular small, medium, and large ponies.

Amber Bauman • 815-790-2151

valleyview8@yahoo.com • woodstock, illinois photos © andrew ryback photography

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 21

22 • THE PLAID HORSE

Va l l e y V i e w F a r m

Available for the 2016 breeding season:

D ON CarlOS 2010 KWPN STALLION BY INDOCTRO ALSO AVAILABLE FOR SALE • SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY

A BEAUTIFUL HUNTER STALLION WITH EXCEPTIONAL CONFORMATION, GREAT MOVEMENT, FANTASTIC JUMP, AND AN EVEN BETTER TEMPERAMENT!

He is already proving himself in the hunter ring, with many tri-colors and blues at AA rated shows in 2015, his first year of showing. This talented hunter stallion is a true gentleman, sweet and kind with an exceptional disposition. Imported July 2014.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU JENNY KARAZISSIS AND PAUL KEENAN FOR MAKING 2015 SO SUCCESSFUL.

KRISTINA NOVAK

Santa Ynez, CA • (818) 917-5540 • www.kristinanovak.com

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 23

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 24

Lance Williamson Stables TRAINERS LANCE WILLIAMSON • FRANK HERNANDEZ

FULL SERVICE HUNTER/JUMPER EQUESTRIAN FACILITY SPECIALIZING IN BOARDING, TRAINING, LESSONS, AND SHOWING. ALSO OFFERING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO TRAVEL INTERNATIONALLY FOR AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN EQUINE IMPORTS AND SALES.

224.588.6225 • lancewilliamsonstbls28@gmail.com NORTH: 34830 Cemetery Road, Gurnee, IL 60031 • SOUTH: 11895 NW 86th Street. Ocala, FL 34482

North Facility: 35 - 12x12 matted stalls (oversize stalls available)•200x70 heated indoor 225x125 outdoor • full jump course • heated viewing & club room • extensive grass turnout fly system • indoor wash racks • washer & dryer

South Facility: 15 - 12x12 matted stalls 350x125 outdoor•full jump course•3 large grass turnouts•indoor & outdoor wash racks•located at the end of a quiet, secluded cul-de-sac •1 mile from HITS Ocala

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 25

26 • THE PLAID HORSE

Congratulations Briana Sukert

on an incredible year.

A Huge Thank You to Mary Morrison and Everyone at Ivy Gate Farm – Cristin, Jamie, and JJ, as well as a special thanks to Jenny Karazissis.

We are so lucky to have someone as talented as you riding our horses.

Success is definitely a team effort!

Ivy Gate Farm

San Juan Capistrano, California ♦ 949.443.1903 ♦ www.IvyGateFarm.com

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 27

Sani-Care. For Those Who Care. ™

CLEANER STALLS HEALTHIER HORSES SAFE • SUPER ABSORBENT • SIFTABLE The Espoma Company | 1-888-ESPOMA-1 | For more information visit: www.sani-care.com

Connecting the adult amateur equestrian community.

www.streamhorsetv.com AdultAmmyStrong.com

Calendar of Horse Show Live Streams

Team Goddard South OCALA, FLORIDA

HUNTERS • JUMPERS EQUITATION • PONIES 9 Jamie Terhune • 919-215-1551

Accepting Consignments

28 • THE PLAID HORSE

Orion Falarmtes Congratu nd!

Dreamla

THIS MONTH’S FEATURES: 38 RANSOME ROMBAUER'S MINI MANSION 56 LESLIE STEELE IN AFRICA 68 EQUESTRIAN ARTIST JULIE FERRIS 74 IVY GATE FARM LAYERS THE FUNDAMENTALS 80 COVER STORY: RYAN PEDIGO 90 PONY LANE FARM IS BREEDING THEIR FUTURE 94 THE BEST RIBBONS AREN’T ALWAYS BLUE

EDITOR’S NOTE: I am so proud to introduce to you the first ever all glossy edition of The Plaid Horse Magazine!

Beginning with this issue, every Plaid Horse will be all glossy from here on out. The fourteenth year of The Plaid Horse promises to be the best yet with expanded coverage, distribution, online content, and merchandise. Subscribe today at theplaidhorse.com! ◼ PIPER KLEMM, PHD PIPER WITH HER ELIGIBLE GREEN LARGE PONY ICE CREAM PANCAKE AT STONEWALL FARM IN IXONIA, WISCONSIN. PHOTO © ADAM HILL.

CONTACT THE PLAID HORSE:

WRITE Piper Klemm, Ph.D., 14 Mechanic Street, Canton, New York 13617 • CALL: 541-905-0192 • EMAIL: theplaidhorsemag@gmail.com FACEBOOK facebook.com/theplaidhorsemag • TWITTER @PlaidHorseMag • twitter.com/PlaidHorseMag INSTAGRAM @theplaidhorsemag • instagram.com/theplaidhorsemag PINTEREST: pinterest.com/theplaidhorse • GOOGLE + The Plaid Horse Mag TUMBLR: theplaidhorsemag.tumblr.com • ISSUU: issuu.com/theplaidhorsemag

USEF National Horse of the Year Overall Grand Pony Champion USEF Large Pony National Champion APH Grand National Champion Silver Stirrup National Champion • Holiday and Horses Circuit Champion (FL) WCHR Classic Champion (WEF) ESP Spring Circuit Champion (FL) Lake Placid Grand Pony Champion (NY) SFHJA Series Finale Grand Pony Hunter Champion • SFHJA Year End Grand Pony Hunter Champion SFHJA Year End Large Pony Champion ESP Year End Large Pony Hunter Champion LINDA EVANS • KIM FERRO

413-530-9685 • orionpny@aol.com Massachusetts • Wellington, Florida

USEF GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION HORSE OF THE YEAR PONY HUNTER, DREAMLAND, AT THE DEVON HORSE SHOW (PA). DREAMLAND IS OWNED BY LINDA EVANS, WHO BRED HIM AND HAS TRAINED HIM SINCE BIRTH. PHOTO © ORION FARM. ON THE COVER: RYAN PEDIGO WITH A HOMEBRED FOAL AT PEDIGO FARMS, A EUROPEAN STYLE BREEDING FARM OF HANOVERIAN SPORTHORSES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. PHOTO © KATE HOULIHAN PHOTOGRAPHY.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 29

30 • THE PLAID HORSE

1

4 3

Have You Seen Stanley?

5

#TPHStanleySightings

2

1. EQUUS TACK, WILSONVILLE, OR. 2. HITS HORSE SHOWS, THERMAL, CA. 3. VERMONT PONIES, WATERBURY, VT. 4. THE PLAID HORSE, CANTON, NY. 5. SHOWPLACE PRODUCTIONS WINTER SERIES AT LEDGES, ROSCOE, IL. 6. BRIAR FIELD FARM, MOORESVILLE, NC. 7. SUGARBROOK FARM, FLORAL CITY, FL. 8. PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL EQUESTRIAN CENTER, WELLINGTON, FL. 9. OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY, WESTERVILLE, OH. 10. UNITED STATES EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION, LEXINGTON, KY.

9 10 6

7 8

There’s a Grand Champion in all of us.

Show with confidence in our Grand Champion bows. Fashionable, durable and handcrafted in the USA. Available in our Shortie and 5” Tail styles with french barrettes or hair elastics to fit your needs. Check them out and shop now at PonyTailBows.com We have partnered with Equestrian Team Apparel and Awesome Artifacts Inc. for the 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida. Visit our booth on Hunter Hill!

Available in Shorties and 5” Tails

SINCE

1975

HARRISON K-9

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 31

SECURITY SERVICES, LLC

Offering the finest internationally titled European German Shepherds for your family’s protection.

803-649-5936 • www.Harrisonk9.com info@harrisonk9.com • Aiken, South Carolina Free DVD available upon request.

Harrison K-9 has been featured in the following publications: ABC’s Good Morning America • ABC’s Nightline • New York Times Newspaper • Travel Channel Discovery Channel • Robb Report Magazine • Forbes Life Magazine • Fortune Magazine Cigar Aficionado Magazine • Playboy November 2014 • Billionaire 500 Magazine • Haute Living Magazine • Millionaire Magazine • New York Resident Magazine • Desert Living Magazine Style Network • Entertainment Channel • Fox News • CNBC – Secret Lives of the Rich, 2015

IF IT’S NOT A HARRISON K-9, IT’S JUST A DOG.

32 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 33

34 • THE PLAID HORSE

The Plaid Horse Polls 100 Equestrians: Would you rather have…

a Corgi or a Jack Russell Terrier?

68%

32%

PIPER’S

product of the month

“Traveling to horse shows, dirt, sun, and stress don’t help my already dry skin So I started using the Kiehl’s Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing mask to draw out oil and dirt twice a week. Besides feeling fresher, my skin is also soothed by the oatmeal and aloe vera in the formula.”

KIEHL’S RARE EARTH PORE CLEANSING MASQUE, WWW.KIEHLS.COM, $24 FOR 5.0 FL OZ JAR

Would you rather jump a…

◼ Swedish Oxer – 33% ◼ Liverpool – 13% ◼ Standard Oxer – 44% ◼ Vertical – 10%

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 35

1993 16.1h Rhinelander Stallion He passes on his exceptional attitude, beauty and ability See our website for breeding specials

Quick Shine Yearling

High Shine 3 year old

Bright and Shiny 3 year old

He is still sound at the age of 23.

In 2011 & 2012 he was the oldest horse to compete in the USHJA Hunter Derby Finals.

Young horses and in vitro foals available for sale.

Fresh cooled and frozen semen available. www.oldeoaksfarm.com • Vicki@oldeoaksfarm.com • 713-806-7108

Victoria Hunton P.O. Box 97 Thompsons, Texas 77481

36 • THE PLAID HORSE

WHISPERING PALMS FARM • QUALITY YOUNG STOCK AVAILABLE Breeding for sound conformation, excellent substance with true Welsh type, temperament & versatility!

Flying Diamond Gypsy Prince, Section B Welsh Stallion, RPSI, Weser-Ems and CSHA Approved

B’s Lunar Eclipse, Section C Welsh Stallion RPSI, Weser-Ems and CSHA Approved

www.whisperingpalmsfarm.com • Oshawa, Ontario • New Smyrna Beach, Florida (386) 527-1666

37 • THE PLAID HORSE

Land’s End Monarch

(*Carolinas Red Fox x Priestwood Painted Lady by Carolinas Purple Emperor) Chestnut, Section B Welsh, 12.2.

Sire of Devon Best Young Pony winner, Julia, Zone 3 Hunter Pony Breeding 2 year old Champion, Papillion, Multi Champion, Somermist MacCallan to name a few. Monarch get are just starting to enter the performance ring.

They are proving themselves to be beautiful, athletic and great thinking invdividuals.

MONARCH WILL STAND THE 2016 SEASON AT VENTURE STABLES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GIVE US A CALL OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE.

304-870-7277 • www.somermistfarm.com

38 • THE PLAID HORSE

RANSOME ROMBAUER’S MINI MANSION: HOW THIS YOUNG RIDER IS SAVING THE LIVES OF TINY HORSES IN A VERY BIG WAY Halfway through the 2015 Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Final - West, 17-year-old Ransome Rombauer could have been doing a lot of things to prepare for the final two phases of the competition. But instead of resting or studying handy turns on the evening of September 19th, she was on the phone, deep in the familiar process of rescuing a miniature horse from a kill pen in Texas.

BY ERIN GILMORE BELOW LEFT: ROMBAUER WINNING THE 2015 PLATINUM PERFORMANCE/USEF SHOW JUMPING TALENT SEARCH FINALS – WEST. PHOTO © MCCOOL PHOTOGRAPHY. BELOW AND TO THE RIGHT: RANSOME'S RESCUE MINI “FAMILY”: AMANDA, CHOW MEIN, AND RANGER. PHOTO © ERIN GILMORE.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 39

40 • THE PLAID HORSE

Rombauer went on to win the Talent Search Finals-West the next day aboard Alexis Graves’ Lalonde, scoring a 90.0 in Phase III and outriding the top four competitors in a highpressure horse swap in Phase IV. And if she were like most talented riders her age, that would be enough. Riding to ribbons and winning an equitation final takes total dedication, and for Rombauer, who trains with Daniel Ighani with equitation coaching from Karen Healey, capturing the Talent Search Final was a major year end goal.

But the equitation and jumper rings are all but forgotten when Rombauer stands in a pasture in her hometown of Napa, California, surrounded by a small herd of miniature horses sporting fuzzy winter coats. Now that the A-circuit show season is over, Rombauer will have more time to spend with her other eight horses, all who stand under 7 hands tall, at what Rombauer and her mother Laura have named the “Mini Mansion”.

“I’ve always had a soft spot for the sick and ugly,” Rombauer jokes, although there’s nothing ugly or sick about Miu Miu, Ranger, Amanda, Chow Mein or any of Rombauer’s other minis who crowd around her when she opens the gate to their pasture.

BIG PERSONALITIES Rombauer’s soft spot is for all animals, and when she discovered the influx of miniature horses that are abandoned or turn up at Texas kill pens, she couldn’t turn away.

Miu Miu, a grey pinto filly, was Rombauer’s first mini. Considered unsuitable for showing due to front legs that turn out and an underbite, she was neglected in a crowded pen, and was mostly feral when Rombauer found her.

You wouldn’t know it to look at six-year-

old Miu Miu now; she stands quietly while Rombauer drapes a driving harness over her back and attaches a small driving cart with familiar routine. Even during the height of show season, Rombauer works with all of her minis with Parelli-based horsemanship and groundwork. They come to her with big personalities, so big sometimes that, “if they were a big horse and they had these personalities, people wouldn’t want them!”

Rombauer notes.

But when 35-inch Ranger offers to rear on command, that big personality shines.

The 9-year-old liver chestnut gelding came to Rombauer as a package deal. He was a stallion when she found him and Amanda living in a claustrophobic residential backyard with owners who wanted to unload their expensive pets. Amanda had a 6-month-old filly by her side and was in foal again by Ranger.

Soon after Rombauer brought “the family” home, Amanda gave birth to tiny Chow Mein, a filly that weighed just 25 pounds at birth. Now seven months old, Chow Mein is halter trained and can lie down on command.

Rombauer placed Amanda’s filly (Bambi) with trainer Julia Nagler of Kenilworth Stables, where she’s now the mascot of her barn.

Several other junior riders have adopted their own minis since learning of Rombauer’s herd, and through that awareness, Rombauer hopes that even more riders will open their barns to minis that need safe homes.

“A lot of people with show barns or barns at home have the room to give a mini a home, too,” she says. “Having minis has made me a lot more patient. I love being hands-on with them, and managing them on my own. The whole process is more hands-on than the show horses.”

She’s become a de-facto expert about

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 41

the kill pen process and has faced the heartbreaking setting of an auction filled with unwanted horses, a nearly-unbearable scene for most adults, much less a horse-loving teenager. Rombauer notes that kill buyers will often purchase up to 20 horses and then try to sell them back to rescues that will pay more and save them a drive to Mexico. Even some kill buyers would rather not take truckloads of horses to cross-border slaughterhouses.

“It’s hard,” Rombauer admits when asked how she copes with a reality for so many horses that is the polar opposite to the life of her show horses. But each mini she can rescue is a bright spot, and, she hopes, another reason for someone else to follow her lead.

Social media is helping that awareness in spades. Her own social media feeds, and especially the Instagram accounts dedicated to her minis (@the.8.mini.jumps, @tex_the_ rescue) are bringing more and more A-circuit riders to rescue. Questions about her minis and the rescue process pop up nearly every day, and Rombauer answers every single question.

NO TIME TO WAIT

The mini that caught her eye mid-Talent Search Finals was a sad and skinny example of neglect when his photo came up on the Kaufman Kill Pen’s Facebook page. Kaufman Kill Pen is a last stop in Texas for unwanted horses, but it shows mercy by posting photos of the horses approaching their kill buy “deadline” to give them one last chance at being “bailed out” by a sympathetic rescuer.

Rombauer constantly scans the page for minis that have less of a chance than most.

“There were a lot of minis posted that weekend that got bailed out, but Tex was still

42 • THE PLAID HORSE

PHOTO © ERIN GILMORE.

RANSOME HAS TRAINED HER MINIS EVERYTHING FROM DRIVING TO TRICKS.

there,” she says. “He was literally skin and bones and had terrible dental issues. On top of that he was stud and not exactly the best-looking mini and he was tall. I knew he wouldn’t make it.”

And Rombauer knew, horse show day or not, there was no time to wait. In between the final round and ride off of the USEF Final, she arranged quarantine and shipping for Tex. In order to earn the health papers necessary to cross state lines, virtually all horses rescued from kill pens must spend 30-days in quarantine, and after Tex served his time, he was shipped directly to UC Davis to be treated for his dental issues.

A healthier, fatter, and gelded Tex is now groomed with his forelock neatly braided as he adjusts to his new home with Rombauer’s other minis in Napa. He surprised Rombauer with his sweet, gentle personality, and as she talks about him, he reaches his nose up to Rombauer’s hips to search her pockets for treats.

Do they know how lucky they have it, this herd of minis that spend their days next to the leafed rows of a vineyard in the gorgeous Northern California wine country? Rombauer thinks so.

“They just become so good here, so gentle and calm,” she says. “I think they know that they’re ok now.”

As they become comfortable with their new, idyllic setting, their fear goes away and they put their trust in their teenage owner.

Next year, Rombauer she plans to compete with Miu Miu in driving, and wants to show off Ranger in conformation classes. Over the summer, she brought her herd to the Pacific Sporthorse Selection auction and gave a demonstration in driving and in hand jumping.

No matter their size, Rombauer believes that all horses deserve a second chance at life. While she’s got her eye on more big riding goals in 2016, Rombauer’s group of minis are living proof of goals that have already been met. The herd at Mini Mansion is an example of what can happen when a young rider becomes a compassionate horsewoman. ◼

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 43

RANSOME AND HER FIRST MINI MUI MUI OUT FOR A DRIVE.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 44

45 • THE PLAID HORSE

Become part of the VIRGINIA PONY BREEDER’S ASSOCIATION

BABY BLUE Virginia Pony Breeders • Perpetual Trophy and Championship Winner 2015 Pony Finals Owner: Bibby Hill • Rider: Libbie Gordon

BENEFITS ENJOYED BY MEMBERS: Registration Papers for Your Eligible VA-bred Pony Website with Stallion, Breeder, and For-sale Lists Newsletter & Annual Directory • ANNUAL & YEAR-END AWARDS OFFERED: Annual Yearling Futurity – Thousands of Dollars Awarded Breeding and Performance Classes VI-ISA Associate Level & USEF/VHSA Rated Level Awards at VHSA Championship Horse Show Awards at USEF Pony Finals Awards for USEF Pony Hunter National Standings •

Promoting quality ponies – what VPBA is all about.

VIRGINIA PONY BREEDER’S ASSOCIATION

(804) 359-0035 • www.VPBA.com • scr399verizon.net

46 • THE PLAID HORSE

CONGRATULATIONS

to Mandy Porter for winning the 2015 GGT–Footing™ Grand Prix series

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO DALE HARVEY of West Palms Event Management for making this series so successful!

864-804-0011 Cynthia Brewster-Keating, National Account Manager www.ggt-footing.com

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 47

48 • THE PLAID HORSE

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE SHOWPLACE

SPRING SPECTACULAR SERIES at the beautiful

LAMPLIGHT EQUESTRIAN CENTER

USEF Premiere Rated 5 Star Hunter & Jumper Competition

JUNE 7 - 26, 2016

$450,000 in Jumper Prize Money $250,000 in Hunter Prize Money $50,000 Derby Day Experience June 21, 2016 WCHR Member Event For show and contact information visit www.showplaceproductions.com or contact Patrick Boyle @ 847 - 274 - 6834

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 49

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE SHOWPLACE

SUMMER SPECTACULAR SERIES at the beautiful

LEDGES SPORTING HORSES

USEF Premiere Rated 4 Star Hunter & Jumper Competition

JULY 6 - 24, 2016

$300,000 in Jumper Prize Money $150,000 in Hunter Prize Money $30,000 Derby Day Experience July 12, 2016 For show and contact information visit www.showplaceproductions.com or contact Patrick Boyle @ 847 - 274 - 6834

New footing installed in Grand Prix ring and Grand Prix schooling ring New enlarged Grand Prix schooling ring and Hunter ring 3 totally redone

50 • THE PLAID HORSE

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 51

LizaJane

Offered for Lease 14.1 1/2h Welsh cross with proven show record.

Liza is the hack winner, 10+ jumper, honest, auto changes, and she has a slow easy stride.

Liza was Champion or Reserve Champion in the Children’s Hunter Pony division at almost every “A” rated horse show she attended in 2015. Liza was

the 2014 & 2015 Year-End Large Children’s Hunter Pony Champion in Zone 1 and won the 2015 CHJA Children’s Hunter Pony Classic Finals.

Serious inquiries only to Donna Pace at 203-948-8201. www.nautilusfarm.com

HEMLOCK HILL FARM A Family-Owned Business • Established in 1972

Mon-Wed-Thurs-Fri: 8am-6pm Sat: 8am-3pm Closed Tues & Sun

• Hay, Straw, Feed, Shavings, Wood Pellet Bedding.

Horse & Pet Supplies

WINNIE’S SPECIAL: ALL WINTER GLOVES

15% OFF

Regular Price

732.842.5270

260 Phalanx Road Colts Neck, NJ 07722 • Visit us online at www.hemlockhillfarmnj.com

52 • THE PLAID HORSE

BRANDI CYRUS STYLE NATIVE PHOTOS BY TAUSHA DICKINSON

Happy New Year everyone! We’re kicking off 2016 with a lot of great items that can be transitioned right from the barn and into your everyday lifestyle. I know for me, I’m always running straight to the grocery store or out to lunch after my morning rides and it’s nice to wear something that is athletic enough to ride in AND cute enough to wear around our nonhorsey friends!

OUTFIT #1: WHAT I’M WEARING:

Le Fash shirt, $187-215 (lefashny.com) Equine Couture breeches, $62-89 (statelinetack.com) Mango Bay Designs belt, $12-22 (mangobaydesign.com)

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 53

Experience the luxury of fine used French saddles.

WE BUY, SELL, AND CONSIGN • Love Your Saddle Guarantee • Prices 30-60% less than new retail • 617- 710-4106

www.bluesaddles.com

ANTARES • LUC CHILDERIC • HERMES • AMERIGO • TAD

ANTARES • LUC CHILDERIC • HERMES • AMERIGO • TAD

COFFIN • VOLTAIRE • DELGRANGE • CWD • DEVOUCOUX • BUTET •

COFFIN • VOLTAIRE • DELGRANGE • CWD • DEVOUCOUX • BUTET •

This is a great casual riding shirt that is cute enough to be worn out to wherever you have to go after riding. I love the subtle plaid detail on the cuffs and collar. Layering the gray cashmere sweater over creates a polished look, and without it you get a funkier style that shows off the teal panels on the shirt. I kept the blue tone theme and paired this with navy breeches - I always love the contrast of navy and gray together.

The Mango Bay belt I have on is super cute and comes in SO many different fun patterns and colors. I stuck with a quiet and neutral belt for this look to keep this outfit a little more contemporary.

54 • THE PLAID HORSE

BRANDI CYRUS

OUTFIT #2: WHAT I’M WEARING:

Welsh Wear sweater, $60 (welshwear.com) C & C Hardware jewelry, prices vary- each piece is custom

(facebook.com/candchardware) For look two we’ve got another extremely versatile piece with this Welsh Wear sweater. It’s soft and comfortable and I love this jewel tone shade of deep turquoise. It’s a perfect top to layer over a riding shirt or even to wear on it’s own like I do here. This can easily be transitioned from barn wear to street wear, and it comes in several different colors. The jewelry I’m wearing is from a really cool company that makes one of a kind pieces using vintage pieces and genuine stones and leather. These statement pieces make for some really cool equestrian inspired designs!

55 • THE PLAID HORSE

Reserve Champion

Ransome Rombauer

2015 USHJA Emerging Athlete Program National Finals

Champion & High Point Rider IEA National Finals Reserve Champion CPHA Foundation Medal Finals Champion USEF Talent Search Medal Finals – West 8th Place WIHS Equitation Medal Final Reserve Champion USHJA EAP National Finals Reserve Champion USEF Zone 10 Equitation 15-17 Reserve Champion PCHA Equitation 15-17

Your hard work, dedication & true passion for all things equine have paid off.

CONGRATULATIONS WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

PHOTOS © TRICIA BOOKER/USHJA ARCHIVES.

Love, Mom & Dad

56 • THE PLAID HORSE

25 Years Later, No Time Had Passed Twenty-five years ago Julie Calder (nee Taylor) won the New England Junior Medal Final on what was one of the most well-known equitation horses of the time, Catch of the Day or “Tuna.” Winning the New England Medal was the highlight of Calder’s successful junior career.

This year, Calder came all the way from Wyoming, where she now resides, to the New England Finals to compete in the 40th Anniversary Alumni class.

All winners and second place finishers in the New England Junior and Adult Medal Finals since the show’s inception were invited to participate in the class, held on October 15 at Eastern States Exposition (Springfield, Mass.). Forty-two riders competed.

While she hadn’t done an equitation class in years, Calder does three-day eventing. She trains at

Flying W Stables in Wilson when she’s not at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, where she works as Director of Marketing or spending time with her husband and two young daughters. “I was practicing trot jumps and roll back turns all summer,” she said. “My event horse was a very good sport about it.”

Calder rode with Fran and Joe Dotoli as a junior; this time it was their daughter Annie Dotoli training her. Calder and Annie Dotoli showed together as juniors and have remained best friends throughout the years, which made coming to do the class extra special for both of them.

After flying to Boston, Calder had a lesson with Dotoli (who also competed) the day before the class, and then competed on a horse loaned to her by Dotoli and her husband, Aster Pieters. Calder was thrilled to finish sixth in the class. “When I heard my scores I was in total disbelief,” she said.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 57

The horse Annie Dotoli mounted Calder on was Van Zandt, who coincidentally looked very much like Tuna – just a few years older without the dapples. “Van Zandt was such a great horse to ride and I can’t thank Annie and Aster enough for putting me on him,” Calder said.

When she stood at the in-gate ready to go in for her first round, Calder looked down and nearly felt like she was on Tuna again. Other people also found themselves doing a double-take. “I had so many people coming up to me, trainers and people I used to show with, saying, it looked exactly like you and Tuna.”

Participating in the class ended up being very emotional for Calder. “Riding as a junior were some of the best years of my life. Those years in New England made me who I am today,” she said. “I got to see so many old friends – these were the people I grew up with. Then I was on this horse that looked like my eq horse. It felt like no time had passed at all.” ◼

58 • THE PLAID HORSE

Leslie Steele Learns Firsthand What it Means to Step In and Step Up to Do More for Others with Uryadi’s Village

BY ERIN GILMORE • After countless early mornings, demanding rides, and a nearly never ending show season, it’s easy to hang boots up at the end of the year and declare oneself exhausted beyond reason. By late fall, no one feels the need for a vacation more than the dedicated professionals who work so hard week in and week out for a wall of ribbons hanging at the end of a barn.

But there is always more to do. And as Californiabased hunter/jumper trainer Leslie Steele learned this fall, there’s a lot of good that the horse show world can do by looking outside the confines of its own small world, and stepping up.

Steele is one of many equestrians who have thrown their support behind the self-sustaining 501c3 organization called Uryadi’s Village in Ethiopia, Africa.

International grand prix rider and trainer Jennifer Crooks of Sandpoint, Idaho, founded Uryadi’s Village out of a need to reconcile the highly privileged world of equestrian sport she was a part of, with the impoverished, desperate conditions that so many orphans face in underdeveloped countries.

Crooks’ extraordinary family of 14 children (ten of them adopted) includes three children adopted from Ethiopia, and in the process of those adoptions, her eyes were opened to the reality of life there. Knowing that she couldn’t adopt every orphaned Ethiopian child, Crooks looked for a way to make a lasting impact, and Uryadi’s Village was born. At its center is an orphanage that was created to help the surrounding community grow and become self-sustainable through education, sustainable agriculture, and commerce programs.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 59

Uryadi’s Village has another distinction – it is 100% supported by funders within the hunter/jumper community.

Steele had already been involved with Uryadi’s Village for about a year by serving on the Board of Directors and assisting with fundraising, but to dedicate herself even further, she knew that she needed to visit Ethiopia herself.

“It’s a big trip, and Lord knows I’ve been traveling all year long already, and the last thing you want to do at the end of the year is get on a plane and get shots and take malaria pills,” Steele said. “But in order to be a representative of this organization I needed to know for myself how the Village worked, see the children, and really get involved.”

Getting to Uryadi’s Village, which lies in Soddo, Ethiopia, is a seven-hour drive from the closest airport at Addis. The distance is not actually so long, but with rough roads and stopping to navigate around grazing livestock, the drive becomes a journey. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and for Steele, passing past mud huts and small children walking their animals for miles just to graze was the first of many eyeopeners during the week.

Once she arrived at Uryadi’s Village, Steele saw firsthand the kind of work that Crooks has dedicated herself to – and jumped right in.

“We talked about sustainable agriculture, about layering food so that as one plant is cut another one develops. We walked the property at Soddo surveying the land, figuring out where new buildings would go. We met new babies who had come from another orphanage that was shut down,” Steele described about the week. “It was a working vacation and it was nice to get to know really what I was involved in firsthand.

This orphanage is giving people the ability to go to school, have food, clean water and sanitation, the things we just take for granted.”

As Uryadi’s Village grows and becomes a community that can sustain itself (fundraising is part of the plan, but sustainability is the end goal), Steele hopes that more equestrians will step up, and step in to help make the community even stronger.

Countless Ethiopian children deal with the kind of life or death concerns that put ribbon chasing into sharp perspective, and for Steele, a dose of that perspective gave her new energy to carry on.

“Sometimes I’m overwhelmed in my own world, but I came home feeling –like, just wow. I don’t have to worry about flushing the toilet and drinking water.

It was eye opening,” she said. “This can be something that people can be as little or as much involved in as they want. But all of the support is coming from the hunter/jumper community. If you want to be involved, get involved.” ◼

60 • THE PLAID HORSE

From Wellington to the Palm Beaches Allen Hunting, Realtor ahunting@coastalsir.com 561.401.2600

Hillary Oswald, Realtor hoswald@coastalsir.com 561.312.2545

Coastal Sotheby’s International Realty 11601 Kew Gardens Ave., Ste. 101 PBG, FL 33410 Each office is owned and operated independently.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 61

We’re horse people…

and we know what it takes to keep horses happy, safe and sound.

HorseWorks Insurance Specialists, LLC Colchester, Vermont 877-636-8114 (fax) 866-877-0921 DEDICATED TO FINDING YOU THE COVERAGE THAT BEST FITS YOUR NEEDS.

HANCOCK, TRAKEHNER STALLION

horseworksinsurance.com

62 • THE PLAID HORSE

Timeline➜Where did your ~4000 BCE: Horse riding is first documented throughout the world

700 BCE: To increase efficiency in battle, cavalry in the Assyrian army are portrayed with pads held on by a girth and breast straps.

200 CE: 100 BCE: The stirrupThe Roman like leather Army rides straps to into battle place a rider’s on saddles toe in are with solid documented trees. These in India. raise riders up off of the horse’s back, distributing weight and reducing pressure for long rides CARNELIAN SEAL during and in DEPICTING EARLY between wars. STIRRUP, CIRCA

FOUR-HORNED FIRST CENTURY BCE ROMAN SADDLE. PHOTO © MATTHIAS KABEL, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

AD 150, BRITISH MUSEUM. PHOTO COURTESY DAVE PAPE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

302 CE: Paired, traditional stirrups are found in representations from the Jin Dynasty in China.

477 CE: The stirrup is widespread in China and starts to spread to Europe.

Middle Ages: Saddles become stronger and seats deeper to accommodate knights in battle.

THE GREEN KNIGHT PREPARING FOR BATTLE, ILLUSTRATION

BY N. C. WYETH FOR THE BOY'S KING ARTHUR, ILLUSTRATION COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 63

saddle come from?

1700s: As fox hunting increases in popularity, saddles needed to allow for more movement.

François Robinchon de la Guérinière, a French riding master, lowers both the pommel and cantle for more range of motion.

This marked the first division from saddle to English and Western separate saddles.

Early 1900s: Captain Federico Caprilli meets a need for a forward seat position to jump higher fences and gallop faster by placing the flap at an angle

1955: Beval Established and embarks work on the original Gladstone saddle

1975: Dover Saddlery founded

by Jim and David Powers

PORTRAIT OF FRANÇOIS ROBICHON DE LA GUÉRINIÈRE. IMAGE COURTESY CONVERSANO ISABELLA, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

1978: Rick’s Saddle Shop opens in Englishtown, NJ

1998: CWD starts retailing saddles

2015: The Plaid Horse teams up with Wilker’s to make the most fashionable saddle accessoryThe Plaid Horse Baby Pad

64 • THE PLAID HORSE

STRENGTH

D E T E R M I N AT I O N

TA L E N T

Th e s ame s k i lls i t t akes to win at t he show, are the s ame s k i lls i t ta kes to organize a winning show.   

C L A S S I C CO M PA NY A STEP ABOVE. Pensacola Winter Classic January 13-31, 2016 USEF Rated National and Premier USHJA International Hunter Derby Grand Prix each week Gulf Coast Winter Classic February 10 - March 20, 2016 USEF Rated Premier Two USHJA International Hunter Derby classes World Championship Hunter Rider Grand Prix each week

Atlanta Spring Classic March 22 - April 3, 2016 USEF Rated Premier Grand Prix each week Jacksonville Spring Classic April 13-24, 2016 USEF Rated Premier Grand Prix each week Atlanta Summer Classic June 15-26, 2016 USEF Rated Premier USHJA International Hunter Derby World Championship Hunter Rider Grand Prix each week

Charleston Summer Classic July 12-23, 2016 USEF Rated Premier National Hunter Derby Grand Prix each week Atlanta Fall Classic November 9-20, 2016 USEF Rated Premier Zone 4 Finals USHJA International Hunter Derby Grand Prix each week

843-768-5503 • www.classiccompany.com

Horse Shows at their Best

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 65

Showing this winter?

Don't leave your young horses home in the cold!

Send them to Colts & Company in Naples, FL to get the correct start to their show career.

• Specializing in starting

young horses with gentle, commonsense methods, from the first ride to the show ring

• Transforming horses with problems

• Clinics of all levels Colts and Company 420 13h St SW Naples, FL 34117 Linda Coulter: 239-825-7034 Don Coulter: 239-825-7032 Coltsandco@gmail.com Working Student position available

www.coltsandcompany.com

Billy Congo

16.2 hh Black AES Stallion Vechta x Animo x Clover Hill Consistency, talent, soundness • Winner of over £500,000 Gold Medal European Ch. 2013 • 1st CSI5* Donetsk 4th GCT 5* London • 2nd GCT 5* Cannes 2nd GCT 5* Monte Carlo • 5th GCT 5* Abu Dhabi Sire of Billy Onslow (CSI5*), Billy Cool (CSI2*), etc.

It’s Time To Reform The Way Hunters Are Judged

By Jay Duke Times change, sport changes,

and if you are going to stay relevant in today’s fast-paced world of social media, you better make sure that your industry is not just current, but ahead of the curve. It is extremely difficult for even hunter fan extremists to make the argument that their sport is current, has made the necessary changes to build the industry, and engages fans and media. In a previous text* regarding the hunter derbies, I noted there have been some positives. I acknowledged the efforts, and pointed out the shortcomings. Just as the FEI is looking at adjusting the Nations Cup format in order to stay relevant, I believe that it is long overdue that we reform the way hunters are judged.

At this point, 50% of you are agreeing with me, and the other 50% do not. For the latter group, keep reading and let me illustrate my position. Under the current format, a $500,000 Thoroughbred who jumps a 9 out of 10 and has a

(continued on next page)

Cevin Z

16.2 hh Grey AES Stallion Coriall Z x Carthago x Caletto I Consistent producer of very talented horses with exceptional temperaments. Offspring include Billy Lemon (CSI5*), NLF Billy On Show (CSI5*), Billy Balou (CSI5*), Billy Cevelle (CSI5*), Billy Mexico (CSI5*), Valetto JX (CSI5*), Borough Pennyz (Olympics, CCI4*)

Frozen semen also available from Billy Mexico (by Cevin Z). Please see the website for the full stallion roster.

Equine Stallion Services • 352-266-4669 www.emcostallionservices.com • emcostallionservices@yahoo.com

66 • THE PLAID HORSE

and understanding, making each of these scores out of 50 is logical. I’m sure there are a hundred different opinions on if one of these should be more heavily weighted than the other.

I will stick to the 50/50, as I have always advocated that show jumping is a team sport and both horse and rider are equally important. I know that judges have different opinions on which is more important, let’s take that objectivity away and create more consistent scoring. This is beneficial all-around; it also would reduce the criticism of the judging.

Judges have different values for errors, such as a late lead change, a rub, a short distance. Under the technical score, let’s put numbers to the errors.

JENNY KARAZISSIS AND LEGACY SHOW TEXTBOOK HUNTER STYLE IN

Light rub -1 Hard rub -2 Rail -4 Mildly short or long distance -1 Short or long distance -2 Very short or long distance -4 Dangerous distance -8 Leg hang -8 Late lead change -2 Missed lead change -5 Lead swap on approach -2

These are my suggestions for technical scoring, once again I know everyone will have their own opinion and THERMAL SUNSHINE SERIES. PHOTO © GRACE TUTON. potentially there could be more categories, but I feel these near flawless round but lightly taps a jump that comes down will are reasonable numbers and would be happy to see a system finish behind a $5,000 Morgan/Quarter Horse cross that chips close to the one above. in to four fences and adds a step down every line. Before you For the artistic score, this should be based on the quality mention the rail, try this example; a million dollar warmblood of the horse and the ride, and with a maximum score of 50. ridden by Kelley Farmer who jumps a 10 but has a minor slip Ideally the best horse with the least errors will be the winner that a judge mistakenly classifies as a trot step through a turn in of the class. I admittedly am not a hunter judge, but I have wet conditions will lose to a 14.3-hand Anglo-Arab who jumps been involved with the sport at all levels of competition as a a 5, rubs every jump, and leaves out a stride in a line. Yes, these competitor and coach. I believe that this type of reform will are extreme examples; that is the point, but they are also the dramatically change the hunter world for the better. It will way hunters are currently judged. I could mention many more create better riders, make it simpler and less controversial examples, but my point is made; the current parameters for for the judges, and it will make the sport much easier to judging hunter rounds are unacceptable. understand for all and more entertaining to watch.

Here are some ideas on how to fix the issue. The mystery Jay Duke's accomplishments training in the hunter ring include and secrecy of scoring hunters is the problem, so I want see all of that disappear. As I mentioned in the derby blog, announcing training Mindful (Grappa), currently the top High Performance the score is essential. There is NO viable argument for not doing Hunter and Derby Horse in North America, as well as USEF Horse of the Year winners King David and Caymus. As a rider, so, and something the derbies have gotten right. Transparency he is a Canadian Equestrian Team member and has won 12 is the most important key to making the sport watchable and International Grand Prix classes, including a Leading Rider title understandable to viewers.

Right now the quality of the horse, expertise of the ride, and at the Spruce Meadows North American Championships. As a coach, he has brought two riders to medal winning performances the mistakes are all blended into one score. There needs to be an artistic score and a technical score. In the spirit of simplicity at NAYRC. THE $100,000 USHJA INTERNATIONAL HUNTER DERBY AT THE HITS

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 67

Bayridge Show Stables

SHOWING • SALES • TRAINING YOUNGSTOCK • BREEDING

Currently accepting sale candidates, youngsters, and clients.

Holly Stanley • 914-475-7221

www.bayridgefarm.com • bayridgefarm@aol.com Montgomery, NY

68 • THE PLAID HORSE

LEAD ME

Julie Ferris Paints for the Equestrian and Non-Equestrian Alike Twenty years ago, Julie Ferris was just a little girl doodling horses.

“I just never grew out of that phase,” Ferris, 26, laughed.

But these days, she does a little more than doodle. She now runs her own equestrian art business, where she specializes in oil painting. Her business is built on an equal ratio of commission pieces, and her own private collection. In September 2015, she participated in her first solo exhibit which included a body of ten works titled EQ: The Aesthetic Response.

Ferris, who grew up in Atlanta, Ga., but now resides in Savannah, is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where she majored in painting and minored in equine studies. In college, she spent a lot of time studying the horse in art, and came to the conclusion that while horses have been portrayed artistically for thousands of years, they haven’t always appeared in a position that is flattering to them.

“I strive to portray the horse in art in a way that is accurate to the beauty and essence of who they are,” said Ferris. She says that her style naturally tends to gravitate towards a modern and contemporary feel, which she combines with classicism.

Her SCAD professors were influential in helping Ferris develop a specialty for her career.

“SCAD allowed me to pursue painting horses.

They liked that I had a passion,” said Ferris,

who added that teachers in high school discouraged her from equestrian art, telling her that art schools “don’t want to see horses.”

In her time there, she also was a member of their Intercollegiate Horse Show Association team.

Many of the horses she rode while on the team now appear in her paintings.

PORTRAIT OF MOJITO

they might come to a higher respect and appreciation of the horse through my work, and see the horse as art, in art.”

PORTRAIT OF HERO

And while she’s happy to paint your pony, it’s not Ferris’ goal to be a pet portraitist. she wants the work she creates to appeal to art critics, and those educated about fine art.

“Horses are so unique and such multi-faceted animals—my fellow equestrians already understand that,” Ferris said. “But I also would also like to engage the nonequestrian with my work; in hopes

It is important to Ferris to portray each horse in their own unique light; revealing their personalities.

Whether they are elegant, sophisticated, funny or quirky, Ferris said, “I never tire of painting them.” ◼ Meghan Blackburn

STAND FIRM

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 69

70 • THE PLAID HORSE

EQUINE PROPERTIES

Horse farms are our business... our ONLY business!

Are You: Selling your own horse farm?

A realtor looking for more exposure?

Looking to buy a horse property?

Thinking of leasing or renting?

Please check out our “New” website www.EquineProperties.com and see what 60 years of experience in the horse industry can do for you.

www.EquineProperties.com 518-875-6220

Frank Hernandez Brings a Positive Dynamic to Lance Williamson Stables

BY MEGHAN BLACKBURN Whoever said change is hard isn’t riding at Lance Williamson Stables. Because a new assistant trainer started at the farm in December of 2015, and he has the kids and parents raving.

“He is really a top level trainer,” said Lillian Schaff, whose daughter Emma has ridden at Lance Williamson Stables for three years. “The riders and the parents are really happy with him.”

Fellow horse show mom, JoAnne Kelly agrees. “The dynamic at the barn changed immediately for the better.

Frank has a natural ability with children. During lessons, they’re having fun and smiling, but they’re still learning.

He has that IT factor. They’re striving to do well for him.”

Hernandez, 58, has more than 30 years’ experience training hunter, jumper, and equitation athletes—both human and equine. He has spent the last seven years in Tennessee—Rossville, then Memphis, before relocating to LWS in Gurnee, Ill., just north of Chicago. Before Tennessee, where he was the trainer at Heritage Park Equestrian and his own Frank Hernandez Show Stables, Hernandez spent nearly 20 years in New Jersey.

But before New Jersey, Hernandez was riding in Miami, Fla., and that is where he met Lance Williamson, and began to work for him. Even though he eventually went off on his own after five or six years, Hernandez has worked and ridden with Williamson on and off throughout his career.

“I followed his career from when he went to New Jersey, and then ran into him regionally when he went down to Tennessee. Those seven or eight years, I consistently tried to get him to come here. He’s good with kids, an excellent rider, and a great all around manager,” said Williamson. “I knew he’d be a perfect fit for my group of students. And everyone likes him—the parents do, the kids do. And I’ve got some young horses I need help bringing along.”

Hernandez has a reputation for having what it takes to produce quality young riders, and horses. In the nineties, he worked with Louise Serio and Nona Garson to buy and sell hunters. Serio ended up purchasing Later That Night from Hernandez, and in 1994, rode him to

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 71

First Year Green Working Hunter champion at Capital Challenge (Md.), Pennsylvania National, and Washington International. On the flipside, Hernandez bought two horses from Garson—Loyalis and Royal Tea, and under his training, they both went on to be Zone 2 champions in the First Year Greens in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

“It seems to be a forte of mine to make green horses into nice horses for their owners,” Hernandez admitted.

Alongside Frank and Stacia Madden at Beacon FRANK HERNANDEZ TRAINED WISH UPON A STAR TO THE USEF MEDIUM GREEN PONY HUNTER HORSE OF THE YEAR IN 2005.

EMMA KELLY AND COWBOY CELEBRATE TOP RIBBONS IN SMALL PONY HUNTERS AT LAMPLIGHT (ILL.). PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KELLY FAMILY.

Hill, Hernandez helped train young riders for national equitation finals. In Memphis, he helped several students and their mounts advance from pre-children’s all the way through junior hunters in just one season.

“He has a gift that he can get the message across with the right tone. Emma has seen results and progress since day one,” said Lillian. In her daughter’s case, the message has helped her to better both her own riding, and her horse’s performance.

“I’ve had many compliments saying how my position has improved just since Frank has come to the farm,” said Emma, 13. “He helps me with my horse; he’s given me a different perspective of how to shape him.”

Emma Kelly, JoAnne’s daughter, has only been with Lance Williamson Stables since June of 2015, and hopes to start showing in small pony hunters more frequently under Hernandez’s tutelage.

“I think he’s a phenomenal trainer, and I really like him,” Emma Kelly, 10, said. “He will teach your lesson until you succeed with what you’re doing—whether it’s flatting or jumping.”

JoAnne said that just in the short time that Hernandez has been teaching Emma, their whole family decided they’d like to attend more shows than they had the year before. They’re also looking to buy or lease a pony.

“We let Frank guide us now. Frank has goals and timelines for us,” she said. “We’re putting our confidence into Frank and Lance to find us the right pony.”

Lucky for the Kelly’s, Williamson and Hernandez have a successful track record of finding talented ponies. Take Chatterbox, for example. Hernandez bought him from Williamson, and under Hernandez’s training in Memphis, Chatterbox was the USEF small green pony hunter horse of the year in 2011.

“The ponies have sort of been like finding a diamond in the rough,” confessed Hernandez, who also trained Wish Upon A Star, the 2005 USEF medium green pony hunter reserve champion horse of the year. “I would have never thought I could be that great with the ponies, but they’ve proved me wrong!”

This winter, while Williamson and his wife Lisa relocate with a group of students to Ocala, Hernandez will remain in Illinois with the rest of their clients. They’ll attend local schooling and A shows.

“I had seven great years in Tennessee,” Hernandez reflected. “I met very nice people there; beautiful people.

But I was missing something. I realized what I was missing was that East Coast feel. All the activity — it’s a thrill.

Twelve hour days; it’s like nothing. It’s a marvelous feeling.

It was emotional to leave Tennessee, but I know I made the right decision. I’m excited to be here.” ◼

72 • THE PLAID HORSE

The Plaid Horse Congratulates All USEF Horses of the Year!

Large Green Pony Hunter: Park Avenue Jordan Cobb and Park Avenue started on top of the Large Green Pony division and held it throughout the year with numerous championships throughout the year including all 4 weeks of GSWEC Winter Series, both weeks of Pin Oak Charity, Tyler 4, Brownland Spring, Germantown Charity, Brownland Summer, Texas Rose Classic, Southwest Fall, Britannia Farm Fall, Zone 7 Finals, and Final Chase. The pair also earned the Reserve Grand Green honors. Cobb recalled, “When I first got Parker he was shortly off the boat from Germany, and we were trying to decide whether to show him as a 2014 green or wait a year. If he was “special” we would hold him back a year, and every time he walks into the ring he gives me no doubt that he is the special pony we were after. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this once in a lifetime pony and could not be more proud of what he has done so far.”

Photo: Intern Abby Albrecht Small Junior Hunter, 16-17: Broadway Morgan Ward and Broadway claim Horse of The Year for the Small Older Junior hunters with an almost unbeatable year. After only knowing one another for a short time, they rose to the top of the standings with numerous accolades such as: circuit champion HITS Ocala, top placings at Devon, winner of the WCHR 3’6” junior challenge, as well as reserve at Harrisburg. “When I first got him he was always champion and reserve every time out. I started him the third or fourth week of Ocala and still ended up circuit champion. We have a bond. We both trust each other so much it's impressive…Getting horse of the year means a lot to me. For my last junior year with my own horse, it's a big accomplishment.”

Photo: Intern Dominique Gonzalez Amateur Owner 3'3" 36 & Over: MTM Do Right Didi Mackenzie and MTM Do Right earned the A/O 3’3” 36 & Over honors. The pair started off the year with championships at HITS Thermal and a circuit championship at the Texas High Performance Series. They went on to earn championships at Country Heir and Kentucky Spring. The pair also rode to ribbons at Kentucky Summer, Bluegrass, Kentucky National, and Capital Challenge. They finished the year with double championship at Zone 7 Finals and Final Chase. Photo: Intern Jordan Cobb

High Amateur-Owner Jumpers: Qurint Hayley Waters kept it consistent with Qurint to claim the High Amateur-Owner Champion. Since the start of the 2015 year Hayley has put her best foot forward at HITS Ocala taking several first places. At the Tryon Spring Horse Show she claimed first place in the U25 Grand Prix. One of her more recent successes was taking home the win in the Vetera XP Vaccines $250,000 Junior/AmateurOwner Jumper Prix at HITS-on-the-Hudson. “She had an amazing year and she's a really special horse. I think we have a great partnership, and I am so fortunate to ride her. My biggest win this year was the $250,000 class at HITS in Saugerties, New York. It meant a lot to me because it was the class we had been preparing for all year and everything fell into place for Qurint and I that week.”

Photo: Intern Dominique Gonzalez High Performance Working Hunter

By Money Won & By Increment Chart: Mindful As rider Kelley Farmer will put it, “He’s a winner, and he proves it every time we walk in the ring.” Another Horse of the Year honor in the High Performance (money won and increment) section is one of many accolades for the Kensel LLC's Mindful. Last year he earned the national High Performance and Derby Horse of the Year. Mindful started off the year with numerous championships at WEF before moving on to be champion at Kentucky Spring. The pair then headed to Devon where they earned the championship, and Kelley remarked, “He is a very deserving horse. Being champion at Devon for two years in a row was very significant.” The pair also earned the championship at Pennsylvania National for the second year in a row after claiming the reserve championship at Capital Challenge.

The pair also picked up the reserve championship at Washington International and The National Horse Show. Mindful jumped to over $140,000 dollars this year with the help of an unmatched USHJA International Hunter Derby record. Mindful earned the top honors in nine out of 17 derbies this year and placed in six others, among them being the finals. Farmer said, “We were second at derby finals, it was a nice class and good that we were second. He is a great horse and I'm very grateful for everything.” Photo: Intern Olivia Schrager

By Interns Jordan Cobb, Mackenzie Shuman, Irene Elise Powlick, Dominique Gonzalez, Emma Dubinsky and Olivia Schrager

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 73

74 • THE PLAID HORSE

both United States Hunter Jumper Association Zone 10 and the Pacific Coast Horse Show Association (17 and under) standings with horses Zapateada and Nonchalant, respectively. She also sits number 4 in the nation in her division with Zapateada and 14th with “Louie.”

Morrison has taught Briana, 14, since she started riding. “With Mary’s guidance and positive

horses,” said Morrison. “And they go completely differently. It’s been really exciting to be successful with two different types of horses. It helps them to become strong all around riders.

“The true test of any program or rider is the consistency. That’s what you strive for – at different venues and in different environments,” she continued. “She’s consistent on both horses, and I believe that goes back to layering the fundamentals.”

Briana, who both Morrison and Stephanie say is very focused, both in riding and scholastic life,

by Meghan Blackburn is thrilled with how her riding has developed.

“It’s very important to me to training, Briana was able to master “The success I’ve had feels be able to specialize for each client the short stirrup division within surreal. It has definitely been a team and their goals. You want to try to the first year of her riding and has effort. Zapa, Louie, and I try our meet everyone on their own playing continued to move up a level or field,” said Morrison, of San Juan two every year from then on. Mary best, and Mary and the whole Ivy Gate Team do their best for training Capistrano, California. comes up with new lessons every The basis of Morrison’s week to make sure that all the riders and keeping the horses in tip-top program is built on a process she are capable of performing skills that shape. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings,” Briana said. calls “layering.” To her, that means they will need in the future,” said Although Morrison believes teaching through a certain lesson or Stephanie Sukert, Briana’s mother. level until the student has mastered While Briana has been working wholeheartedly in the efficacy of it; then moving on to new exercises with her mare “Zapa” for two years, her team’s program, she noted that it always helps to have riders with or up to a new division. she just got Nonchalant this June.

“I work on a lot of fundamentals The two quickly meshed, and racked supportive families, such as the Sukerts. and try to teach things in a up tricolor honors at many of the “I’ve been blessed to work sequential manner. I really try to shows they attended, including a put my riders in situations that are championship in junior hunter 3'3", with them,” she said. “I don’t have the chance to do my job if I don’t appropriate for their skill levels and 13 & under at Capital Challenge have someone who is interested in will build their confidence,” she said. (MD). Jenny Karazissis has also doing their job. The whole family A highlight for the Ivy Gate showed the gelding, and helped understands the importance of work Farm team this year was Briana coached Briana the last few years, ethic, which breeds success.

Sukert’s success in the 3'3" junior which Morrison says has given “And the most important thing hunters. Although this was her Briana important added perspective. to me is to have long term success first season showing at the height, “Briana has been working a lot with my riders.” ◼ Sukert ended it first and second in with the differences between the Mary Morrison’s Ivy Gate Farm enjoyed a successful 2015 season, with students winning in the local and USEFrated divisions. Morrison, who has been training students for 35 years, keeps her program relatively small – currently about 25 students; as such, she refers to Ivy Gate as a boutique farm.

Layering The Fundamentals Helps Ivy Gate Farm Produce Consistent Riders

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 75

PHOTOS: TOP CENTER © JOHN ZAMBRANO, TOP RIGHT & BELOW © MCCOOL PHOTOGRAPHY.

76 • THE PLAID HORSE

MANDY PORTER

JOIE GATLIN

TRISTAR

JH SPORTHORSES

SPORT HORSE LIFESTYLE

BLACK STAR EQUESTRIAN CUSTOM SOLEA SCRIMS, PADS, CROPS...ETC. CAROLINE EVENTING DENMARK

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 77

78 • THE PLAID HORSE 1.

3.

2.

4.

6.

6.

5.

Showplace Productions Ledges Winter Series Ledges Sporting Horses & Show Grounds, Roscoe, IL, December 2015. 1. Laura and Savannah Reist. 2. Riley Malina. 3. Britta Stoeckel.

4. Emma Gahagan. 5. Olivia Galley. 6. Colby Hassfurther. PHOTOS © ANDREW RYBACK PHOTOGRAPHY.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 79

Land’s End Adagio 13.1hh

Barkmeadow Black Gold 12.2hh

Smoke Tree Shameful Thief 14hh

Quicksilver Farm OFFERING STALLION SERVICE, FANCY SHOW PONY PROSPECTS, TRAINING AND LESSONS Melinda Zalesky • 440-487-7746 quicksilverponies@gmail.com

Charleston, SC www.quicksilverponies.com

W W W. B OW S TOT H E S H OW S . C O M

OFFERING CUSTOM BUCKLES

facebook Bows-to-the-Shows etsy Bows to the Shows instagram @bowstotheshows

A HIDDEN LUCKY CLOVER IN ALL OF OUR BOWS!

80 • THE PLAID HORSE

Ryan Pedigo is Breeding European Quality Hunters in California Article by Meghan Blackburn Photography by Kate Houlihan

Ryan Pedigo can’t wait to get in the ring in 2016. He’s put in a lot of hard work this past year—relocating to Riverside, Calif., and setting a foundation for his threefold business, which is comprised of training and showing hunters, Pedigo Farm’s Riding School, and his breeding division, Ryan Pedigo Hanoverians.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 81

“I have buckled down and launched this program this past year.

In 2016, I’ll be on the road more. I want to show everybody this is what I’ve been working on. It’s happening. It’s exciting,” said Pedigo, who will debut four of his homebreds in the show ring this season.

But Ryan Pedigo Hanoverians really started as the result of an accomplished showing and training career which led Pedigo to a gelding named Wolfe WF (Wellesley— Mathilda). After extensive searching in the U.S. and Europe for a horse for his client Cindy Busby in 2008, Pedigo stumbled across a video of a horse in a field in Canada that gave him a great feeling.

“He was super-duper green; not doing lead changes. But I called Cindy and said, “Let’s book a ticket; I found our horse,’” recalled Pedigo. “From the beginning, the horse was a superstar.”

Wolfe WF cleaned up in the 3'3" Performance Working Hunter and amateur divisions in Zone 10 and PCHA, and was ranked nationally in the top 10. Pedigo knew he was on to something. So he and Busby went back and bought Wolfe’s full sister, Waltzing Mathilda WF. “When I had the privilege of finding Wolfe WF, it was really clear to me want I wanted.”

Since that fateful day more than seven years ago, Pedigo has been scrupulous about building a breeding business that offers a barn full of wellbred horses that are “consistent.” He believes his program is what many people would equate to the quality found when going horse shopping in Europe; except you don’t have to go from barn to barn to barn looking at one or two horses.

“I can pull 10 horses out, and they are all consistent. They’re perfectly put together like little supermodels,” he laughed. “These horses are fabulous. I know I feel like I’m biased because I bred them, but they really are!”

His breeding division now includes four approved Hanoverian stallions—Wellesley PF (World Cup IV—Esplanade/Eichendorff), Sam Steele PF (Sherlock Holmes—SPS Eskalade by Eklatant), Merlin PF (Matcho X—SPS Eskalade by Eklatant), and Federalist (For Pleasure—SPS Eskalade by Eklatant) and a broodmare band of 14.

He’s able to consistently produce quality, he says, because he’s in control. “I have the old Hanoverian blood; the classic blood. I’ve been able to control it. I literally have bought everything from that breeding; Wolfe and Mathilda—I own all of their siblings, their mother (the Elite mare Mathilda), and bought her three sisters. They are in my broodmare band.”

The mares boast bloodlines from the likes of Barsoi, Woermann, Akzent I, Weltmeyer, Feiner Stern, Trapper, Matcho X, and World Cup IV. Starting with well-bred mares was critical in building Pedigo’s breeding program.

WOLFE WF WAS NOT ONLY A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL HUNTER THAT RYAN PEDIGO TRAINED TO MANY PERFORMANCE HUNTER WINS ACROSS THE WESTERN US, BUT HE WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR RYAN PEDIGO HANOVERIANS. PHOTO © CAPTURED MOMENT PHOTOGRAPHY.

For the last 18 months, while juggling training and teaching, Pedigo has focused on building this breeding empire, and he is proud of it. Through the years, he has created four generations, and the hours of research he’s done have given him the wisdom to carefully put together combinations in which the stallions complement each mare differently.

“It’s all about the mares,” Pedigo said. “I live by this rule in breeding. My broodmare band is the key component in producing

82 • THE PLAID HORSE

the ultimate performance horse—with consistency, movement, conformation, and ridability.”

However, he will evaluate an outside mare for breeding to his stallions. He likes to work with potential breeding clients to establish their goal, during which they discuss the mare’s strengths and weaknesses. If he feels that their goal cannot be met by their own mare, Pedigo offers surrogate mares to do custom breeding using one of his mares’ embryos; in addition to outside in vitro sales by one of his stallions.

“But I am selective,” he said. “These horses are a piece of me. I am careful where they go, and who they are with. This is my brand. Every horse, foal and or embryo sold is a reflection of my program, and breeding responsibly, and for excellence is a must.”

As Pedigo will tell you, horses are in his DNA. Growing up on a farm, he was involved in the dayto-day activities, and showed curiosity early on for breeding. As an astute 10-year-old boy, he foaled his first mare. His professional career—during which he has trained and showed many successful hunters to notable wins, spanned 18 years with Ron Kennedy in Chino Hills, Calif., before Kennedy decided to retire and sell the farm.

This led Pedigo to where he is now in Riverside, based on a large farm that he gratefully leases from Allison Reynolds. Even though it’s

a bit out of Orange County, Pedigo says he chose this property for his horses’ wellbeing. All of his clients happily followed him.

“This is the only place that has open area and pastures for turnouts, and I see how happy they are,” he said. The young horses enjoy a lot of time outside, but so do the show horses. In addition to the ample paddock space, the farm boasts three custom barns, a pond, and a derby field.

Last October he hosted an American Hanoverian Society inspection at his farm. He presented seven mares, as well as foals. “I had the Top Scoring Hanoverian mare Winona PF,” Pedigo noted proudly.

“The Champion Filly Wisteria PF, Yearling Futurity Champion Filly Wendeleen PF, all by Wellesley PF.” Pedigo has had a vision since day one. “My goal is to produce superstar, beautiful moving, jumping, amateur-friendly horses. These are horses that make your job easier. And they are easy on themselves.”

So while he’s really enthusiastic about 2016, he feels the long term future is also bright.

“My love is seeing these horses succeed,” Pedigo said. “I know there will come a day, and I will be at a horse show, and I will see my horses in the ring. I will see other people riding them and winning on them. That day will not be that far away.” ◼

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 83

CAPTURED MOMENT PHOTOGRAPHY.

84 • THE PLAID HORSE

Zebra stallion - Savanna Private Reserve, South Africa.

info@andrewryback.com • www.andrewryback.com • (224) 318-5445

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 85 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Stallions of the Las Vegas National Horse Show, Nevada, November 18-22, 2015.

1. Everado Hegewisch Diaz Infante rides the 11 year old stallion Caspar at the Las Vegas National Horse Show. 2. Top American stallion, Flexible, still jumps at the spry age of 19. 3. Peter Lutz rode Robin de Ponthual to the win in the $100,000 Grand Prix of Las Vegas. 4. Margie Engle and her top ride and stallion, Royce, jump in the $30,000 Welcome Speed Classic. 5. Zanzibar jumps in the $30,000 Speed class to qualify for the feature event. PHOTOS © IRENE POWLICK.

86 • THE PLAID HORSE

BLENHEIM

EQUISPORTS

the place to be in 2016 SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO • DEL MAR • LAS VEGAS SHOWPARK.COM APP

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 87

Rated Jan. 15, 16, & 17 “A” Jan. 23 IEA Feb. 12, 13, & 14 “A” Mar. 5 & 6 IEA Regionals

For more information call:

(845) 564-6658 GARDNERTOWN FARM

Mar. 18, 19, & 20 “A”

Schooling

EST. 1979

822 Gardnertown Farm Rd. Newburgh, New York 12550 Two indoor arenas, lessons, and indoor arena polo

Jan. 9 WHVPHA Feb. 20 for the Hunter Derby

VISIT US AT:

www.gardnertownfarm.com

Morganville, NJ 07751 •732-591-9600 www.BayMarFarms.com

2016 Rated Regional II Shows: All USEF, M&S, NJPHA, NJHSA, NAL January 16 • February 14 • March 12 March 13 • March 25 • April 10

2016 Schooling Shows: All M&S, NJPHA, NJHSA January 24 • February 28 March 19 • April 3

Hunters • Jumpers • Equitation

88 • THE PLAID HORSE

THE PLAID HORSE: Piper Klemm PhD LLC (Publisher of The Plaid Horse) is not responsible for obtaining permission to use any photographs for either advertising or non-advertising use. All responsibility and liability regarding copyright and any other issue as to right of use shall be the submitters. Be sure you have the right to use the photograph(s) before you submit them for publication.

When a photograph is submitted to use for publication, the submission of such photography is a warranty by the submitter to us that the submitter has the legal right to have such photograph and that the submitter will hold Piper Klemm PhD LLC harmless as to all costs incurred by Piper Klemm PhD LLC, including defense costs such as counsel fees, which Piper Klemm PhD LLC incurs as a result of publishing such photographs. Piper Klemm PhD LLC reserves the right to refuse anything which we deem unsuitable for our publication. We assume no liability for errors or omissions of advertisers copy and/or photos.

Piper Klemm PhD LLC will not be responsible for any typographical, production, or ad copy errors, including inaccurate information provided by advertisers. Piper Klemm PhD LLC (Publisher of The Plaid Horse) ©2015 Piper Klemm PhD LLC.



Answer Key: 1. Red flag removed. 2. Logo removed from girth. 3. 2015 removed from Andrew Ryback logo. 4. Crop removed. 5. Ring removed from bottom of girth. 6. Star removed from horses face. 7. Figure 8 noseband removed. 8. Steeple removed from church. 9. Saddle removed from CWD logo.

10. Maroon stripe removed from bottom pole on jump.

PhotoPlay: Andrew Ryback Photography

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 89

Spot the differences between Anika Pirkle's winning rounds at Showplace Productions Spring Spectacular at the Lamplight Equestrian Center (Wayne, IL). Can you find at least ten differences?

90 • THE PLAID HORSE

Pony Lane Farm Is Breeding Their Future Story & Photos by Irene Elise Powlick

EARLY APPLAUSE AND MADELINE THATCHER SHARE A QUIET MOMENT WHILE WAITING FOR THEIR BLUE RIBBON IN THE AMATEUR-OWNER HUNTERS 3'3".

BELOW: MICHAEL KNIGHT SETS UP TO DO WORK ON THE LONG LINE WITH

Any seasoned show competitor will be familiar with the name Pony Lane Farm. From Madeline and Kelsey Thatcher rising through the junior divisions to the success of Charlie Jayne with Chill RZ and Athena, the name is synonymous with success in the show ring.

It began with matriarch Maura Thatcher, who has been involved in the horse industry for decades. While riding in the amateur-owner hunters, she raised her two daughters to be as horse loving and involved as she, and as time passed, Pony Lane Farm has expanded from a show barn to become a training and breeding farm for top sport horses.

Originally founded in South Jordan, Utah, Pony Lane Farm now calls Bluffdale, Utah home. Maura has patiently built up the string of horses for her daughters, updated facilities, and partnered with top professionals to produce a program she is proud of.

The breeding division has really picked up within the last five years. With more than a dozen horses five or under, there’s a lot of young blood in the herd. The growing facility houses a vet tech and farrier, in addition to Maura’s home, and Dr. Wade Simper, the veterinarian used, always has access, especially during foaling season. At the farm, Michael Knight trains and supervises the upbringing of the young horses. He has been working for the Thatchers for five years, and his duties continue to grow with each year. The babies all grow up together, but they each have their own training program, evident in the varying training programs within horses of the same age.

JULIETTE (DULF VAN DEM BISSCHOP--NICOLETTE), AN IMPORTANT PART OF TRAINING FOR PONY LANE FARM HORSES.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 91 LEFT: JASPER (EMERALD--A MILLION REASONS) ENJOYS A DAY OFF IN HIS RUN ON A SNOWY UTAH DAY IN DECEMBER; JULIETTE WORKS ON THE LONG LINE, OVERSEEN BY MAURA THATCHER; AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SHOW CAREER WITH BOTH THATCHER GIRLS, FRANKLY MY DEAR, TOP PONY HUNTER, ENJOYS RETIREMENT AT PONY LANE FARM.

When horses are bought for Pony Lane, Maura always looks for a good pedigree, especially in a mare. Mares are usually able to have a second job. When a mare is performing well, Maura will often give her a couple of years off to breed, and in return, she gets a high quality foal. “It is great to breed these high quality mares. I look forward to seeing where they can go in this sport, and hopefully with my girls.”

Pony Lane Farm owns horses with the Jaynes and the Towells for both of the Thatcher girls, and they also have stallions in the performance ring with each. Maura breeds her mares mostly to her own stallions. Right now the farm stands Klotaire du Moulin (Voltaire—Qualite de Lisle), Dulf Van Dem Bisschop (Heartbreaker—Secret Love Wonderland), and 2012 U.S. Olympic Show Jumping Team alternate Chill RZ (Chellano Z—Nina R). However, she has also bred to stallions such as Emerald, Flexible, and Chaqui Z. And while the breeding is important, the horses’ health and wellbeing comes before everything else. Mares are turned out every day, and, depending on their weight, are also exercised by using equine treadmill. During foaling season, they are all equipped with a foal monitor, which alerts everyone when a mare’s water breaks and contractions start, and the mare’s stalls are also equipped with cameras to monitor regularly during foaling time.

As her experience with different mares has grown, Maura is often able to predict when a mare will drop her foal. Additionally, all of the mares bred are approved to their respective breed registrations, and all foals are registered to either the North American Studbook for Selle Francais or the North American Belgian Warmblood Studbook.

Along with the breeding, the Utah location also houses the Pony Lane Farm rehabilitation program. When a Pony Lane horse is injured, it is shipped back to Utah, and enjoys a relaxing rehab program under the watchful eyes of Maura, Dr. Simper, and Knight. To restore the health of the competition horses, Theraplate technology, an equine treadmill, and a cold water spa are all essential to the recovery. Maura offers rehabilitation programs to outside horses, and also opens her facility and equipment to those who would prefer to trailer in, by appointment. With the use of a good training program and the right technology, performance horses can be back on top, and can go back to showing on the circuit.

With success in many different equine ventures, Pony Lane Farm looks forward to the development of their foals coming from their program to continue it. “My goal has been to produce the highest quality performance horse, and to, eventually, see my daughters ride and be successful with them,” Maura said. And when asked, she couldn’t come up with, really, any competition highlights, instead, insisting the journey and the horses she gets to work with have always been the highlight. “It has been amazing to watch these horses. To be able to retire [Grand Prix mare] Athena at the top of her game, instead of the bottom, that has been so fun and important.” ◼ Pony Lane Farm offers sales of all ages and experience, limited boarding at their Utah location, rehabilitation services, and breeding to their stallions. For more information on Pony Lane Farm visit their website at ponylanefarm.com or call (801) 597-6936.

92 • THE PLAID HORSE

STONEWALL FARM

Congratulates

Emy Lucibello on the lease of Stonewall Eleanor

Olivia Galley on the lease of Captain Underpants

Ava Lucibello on the lease of Stonewall Nimbus

Emma Hechtman on the lease of Sir Dragon

Emily Elek • 920-889-0028 S T O N E WA LLP O N IE S@YA H O O.C O M • I XO N I A , W I SC O N SIN PHOTOS © JILL HECHTMAN & ANDREW RYBACK PHOTOGRAPHY.

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 93

• AVAILABLE FOR BREEDING •

Hillcrest’s Top Hat 1999 Gray Welsh Stallion, 12.1 h GAYFIELD’S VIDA BLUE X HELIKON HALO

4th USEF Pony Hunter Sires 2015 Sire of Model, U/S and O/F Ribbon Winners at USEF Pony Finals STUD FEE: $1000 LFG

Top That (by Hillcrest’s Top Hat) USEF Horse of the Year National Reserve Champion Large Green Pony Hunter • AVAILABLE FOR SALE •

@ S T O N E WA LLP O N IE S

SERVING THE HUNTER/JUMPER WORLD SINCE 1951 ~ 775-267-4861 • (fax) 775-267-4573

www.jimmyssaddlery.com

94 • THE PLAID HORSE

The Best Ribbons Aren’t Always Blue

By Lauren Davis • I finished seventh in my adult medal (aka "Cougar Medal") this year in our Greater San Diego Hunter Jumper Association Championship Show.

Of course I’d wanted to win or at least come home with a tri-color. I spent a great deal of time visualizing my perfect round and putting any negative thoughts out of my mind leading up to my class. I put myself through some serious medal prep boot camp prior to the show and for once, I finally felt competitive for my final.

PHOTO © RICK OSTEEN.

LEFT: ATTICUS AND I AT DVG SHOW STABLES IN SAN DIEGO. ABOVE: GREATER SAN DIEGO HUNTER JUMPER ASSOCIATION ADULT MEDAL FINALS 2015 IN DEL MAR, CA.

The second I had a stop in the first round of my medal final, I was crushed. I saw my dream of a tri-color ribbon disappear. No matter how much you prepare, and despite your positive mindset, the ride does not always play out like you envision.

Despite my career in the heart of the industry, as a sales manager for EquiFit, Inc., I cannot afford my own packing slave of a horse nor do I always have the time put in all the hours of riding I’d like, since I travel roughly nine months out of the year. I am blessed to work beside the best of the best in this crazy sport that so many of us are infected with. If I can’t ride every day (or week), at least I can watch and learn from industry professionals while I am in the field. As

an adult amateur working to support my riding habit, I have found it is inevitable to succumb to the pressure I put on myself at times.

How much am I spending on horse shows? Can I afford this? Will my industry peers take me seriously on a professional level if I’m not winning? (I mean it’s 2’6” for goodness sake!)

Regrouping after my refusal, I heard words passed on to my trainer from a professional before her. “We are not curing cancer.

We are jumping horses over colored poles and fake flowers.” My perspective changed and I for once was able to focus and just RIDE. I made it to the second round and I rode my horse knowing I wasn't going to place in the top, but knowing I needed to prove to myself and my horse that we could interpret the test set before us.

Yes, we had rail, but for the first time in my life I was most proud of myself for moving past disappointment and my own ego. I rode for my horse and that was worth more than any ribbon I could have taken home. To be honest, all the ribbons I display at home represent a special moment in my riding career despite their color. I love this sport for the humility, courage, and work ethic it teaches.

Thank you to my dear friend and trainer Alixe Del Valle GarciaFalso for helping me overcome the voice in my head, and enabling me to finally ride the horse beneath me. Most of all thank you Atticus for being such a great teacher, partner, therapist, and treat vacuum.

There’s always 2016!

Lauren Davis, struggling adult amateur and incurable horse addict, Carlsbad, Calif.

WE SHARE YOUR COMMITMENT TO

theplaidhorse.com • January/February 2016 • 95

EXCELLENCE

Come experience the nation’s largest climate-controlled, indoor arena and discover a haven for mind, body and horse.

On-site Cabins | Aveda Salon and Spa | Full-Menu Grille and Café Business Center Climate-Controlled Indoor Arenas with Premier Footing and LED Lighting | Heated Stalls Golf Cart Rental | Kids’ Area | RV Hookups | Enclosed Heated Walkways

96 • THE PLAID HORSE

RAINBOW EQUUS