HARRISBURG, PA – OCTOBER 13, 2009 – As the 2009 show season drew to a close, 237 of the Nation’s top equitation riders gathered in Harrisburg, for the Pennsylvania National Horse Show where the riders competed in the Pessoa / USEF Hunt Seat Medal Final. The competition took place over two rounds on a challenging set of courses by designer Steve Stephens.
Ashland Farms had worked throughout the season to prepare Jennifer Waxman for the challenge of competing for the Nation’s top equitation prize and the pair of riders came through, posting n outstanding performance.
Waxman qualified for the second round of competition and earned a top ten finish. Waxman, aboard “Falcon” finished just out of the top four in fifth position.
Waxman rounded out the Pennsylvania National Horse Show with a championship and high points finish in the 16-17 year old large junior division, riding “Vida Blue”.
Ashland Farms will make the journey north to Syracuse for the final leg of the 2009 show season, before returning back to Wellington, Florida to begin training for the 2010 WEF circuit.
UPPER MARLBORO, MD – SEPT 26, 2009 – Caroline Spogli made her debut in the equitation weekend count when she won the 13/14 Year Old Equitation championship, sponsored by Erin Duffy, Laurie Derosa, Newmarket, and Tammy Provost.
Spogli, who is from Rancho Santa Fe, CA, is 14 years old and trains with Ken and Emily Smith of Ashland Farms. She rode Superfly to two first places, one over fences and one under saddle.
Spogli initially purchased Superfly as a junior jumper, but thanks to his smooth gait and hunter-like demeanor, he became a great equitation horse for her. “He goes perfect for the water jump too. I think he’s fabulous,” she said.
Spogli attends boarding school in Virginia, which limits her time in the saddle. She was very happy with her win today. “I’m just ecstatic,” she said. “I’ve never won in indoors or anything, so I’m just so happy.”
LEXINGTON, KY – AUGUST 10, 2009 – This past weekend at the 2009 USEF National Pony Finals in Lexington, Rachel Blackman rode her large pony “Keep Dreamin” to a sixth place finish in the over fences round to secure a ninth place ranking overall in the large pony hunter division. The top ten finish was an outstanding culmination to a busy show season for Ms. Blackman, who rides under the tutelage of Ken Smith, Emily Smith and Melissa Murphy of Ashland Farms based out of Wellington, Florida.
Lexington, KY – July 29, 2009
Excerpts from “Kentucky Summer Horse Show Wrap-Up”
The Kentucky Summer Horse Show was held the week of July 22-26, 2009, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Wednesday in the Stonelea ring, Ken Smith and Triton bested the field of six to win the first over fences class of the First Year Green Working Hunters. Triton is owned by Don Stewart of Ocala, FL. Bob Crandall won the second over fences class in the First Year Green Working Hunters aboard Ascot, owned by Robin Hummel- Johnson of Sewickley, PA.
Caroline Spogli and Cachet bested a field of 14 in the Large Junior 15 & Under Hunter division. The pair won both over fences classes and the under saddle. Cachet is owned by Spogli and Cavallo Farms LLC of San Diego, CA. Spogli and Cachet also won the Open Working Hunter class that ran throughout the junior classes.
In the Large Junior 15 & Under Hunter division, Caroline Spogli and Cachet captured the blue ribbon in the over fences class and the Grand Championship for the division. Cachet is owned by Spogli and Cavallo Farms LLC of San Diego, CA. Casady continued his winning ways in the handy hunter class and jogged for first place with Fitzroy Crossing, owned by Don Stewart.
Spogli was very happy with Cachet’s progress. She exclaimed, “I’m just so excited to have her. I just got her in April, and I just started showing her. This is only my second show with her.” The young rider has shown at the Kentucky Horse Park before and enjoys the venue. She stated, “I did the [Kentucky] spring horse show, and then I went to California and showed. Now I’m down here for a few weeks.”
The Small Junior 16 & 17 Hunter division championship went to Jessica Springsteen, who captured a win over fences on Sublime, owned by Stone Hill Farm of Colts Neck, NJ. Jennifer Waxman and Ruby, owned by Holly Labry of Memphis, TN, won the handy hunter class, which was good enough to earn them the reserve championship.
Lexington, KY – July 26, 2009 – It was a fight to the finish in the Young Rider division. Everyone came out fighting for the Gold, and although the horses had already jumped four rounds, they came out looking fresh and ready to jump.
Jennifer Waxman and Venturo wrapped up their weekend with a big win to take home the Individual Gold medal. The pair, from Zone 5, jumped flawlessly all week and did so again today to wrap it up on a final score of 7.36.
“I was a little worried coming into today because he’s already jumped four rounds,” Waxman said after finishing her courses. Getting over the water has been hard all week. After he went clear this morning, he had tried so hard, I couldn’t let him down in the second round. He just tried so hard all week.”
Although Venturo and Waxman have been together for a year-and-a-half, their success only came recently when something “clicked” at Devon.
“He’s come a long way,” she said. “He did a lot of flat work, but we still weren’t able to post clear rounds. But something clicked at Devon. It was like he started to understand what I wanted. I think any he made were because he was just trying to please me.”
The Silver medal went to Lucy Davis and True Love from Zone 10. The pair has been successful all week and, despite the fact that he was starting to tire, True Love was able to jump solidly for Davis to keep her in second place with a score of 10.3.
“I was a little nervous today,” Davis said after her ride. “We were all so close in points, so I was just trying to go clear. My horse felt great, a little tired, but I couldn’t have asked for more from him.”
Jennifer Waxman (Center) After Winning Gold
True Love is 13 years old, and Davis said that he has taught her so much since she started riding him.
“He has the biggest heart and tries so hard,” she said. “He truly enjoys going out and jumping. He has a little more experience, so it’s been him helping me rather than me helping him.”
Finally, taking home the Bronze Medal was Joelle Froese and Condor from British Columbia. Condor jumped well all week and consistently moved up the ranks. The pair only had one rail down today to bring their total score to 17.11.
“I tried not to think of the scores too much,” Froese said. “I just tried to jump every fence one at a time. I wasn’t sure how he was going to do because he’s done so much jumping this week, but he was great.”
Froese said that Condor loves to jump and that they have been lucky enough to be successful coming up the levels together.
All the medalists agree that they had a great time this year and gained so much from the experience.
“It was really exciting,” said Waxman. “As far as an experience, Young Riders is so important. To go under pressure, to go under the lights, it’s just so important for us to do that. The advantage that the professionals have is experience and now we have it too.”
Lexington, KY – July 24, 2009 – The Junior Hunter divisions began early this morning at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show in the Stonelea ring. Two classes were held over fences, and the horses also competed under saddle. These divisions will finish up tomorrow with an over fences class, a handy hunter class, and the awarding of the division championships. The Kentucky Summer Horse Show will continue at the Kentucky Horse Park until Sunday, July 26, 2009.
This morning Shawn Cassidy and Secret Weapon prevailed for both wins over fences in the Small Junior 15 & Under Hunter division. Megan Clark of Indianapolis, IN, who rode her own horse Right On, won the under saddle class of the Small Junior 15 & Under Hunters.
Caroline Spogli and Cachet bested a field of 14 in the Large Junior 15 & Under Hunter division. The pair won both over fences classes and the under saddle. Cachet is owned by Spogli and Cavallo Farms LLC of San Diego, CA. Spogli and Cachet also won the Open Working Hunter class that ran throughout the junior classes.
Kelsey Thatcher and her mount Gianni brought home blues in the first Large Junior 16-17 Hunter over fences class and the under saddle. Thatcher triumphed for the win with Francesca in the second Large Junior 16-17 Hunter over fences class. Both horses are owned by Pony Lane Farm of Bluffdale, UT.
To end the day for the juniors, Stone Hill Farm’s Sublime, with Jessica Springsteen in the irons, won both Small Junior 16-17 Hunter over fences classes and the under saddle. Stone Hill Farm is located in Colts Neck, NJ.
Springsteen was pleased with Sublime and stated, “He felt really great. He hasn’t shown in a couple weeks, and he was perfect.” She enjoyed how the courses rode today. “It was nice showing hunters in such nice footing; we don’t get to do that very often,” she laughed. “And he did really well over all of the jumps. This was my first time showing here at the park and it’s beautiful. ”
The Kentucky Summer Horse Show continues tomorrow, and Junior Hunter division championships will be presented in the Stonelea Ring. The Amateur-Owner and Pony Hunter divisions will begin tomorrow and finish up on Sunday.
LAS VEGAS, NV., Apr 19-The 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup came to a close today after four days of competition in which the World’s top show jumpers and riders competed in front of over 58,000 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Canada had two rider and horse combinations qualify for the event including Rockwood Ontario’s Keean White and Perth Ontario’s Ian Miller. White led all Canadian riders going into the World Cup and was coming off his first Canadian Championship at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and an extended winter show season at WEF in Wellington, Florida.
White was riding a nine year old Zangersheide mare Celena Z, who was recently purchased in the spring of 2009 by a team headed by Angelstone Farms and the Ashland Group of Wellington, Florida.
In Thursday’s Jumping Final I, White and Celena Z had a clear round going into the final two jumps but ended up with a time penalty of eight seconds on two knockdowns after making an aggressive turn to the second last jump.
White came back much stronger in Friday’s Jumping Final II and posted a clear round over a huge course more suited to Celena Z’s jumping style. White finished up in 12th position and qualified for Sundays Jumping Final III.
On Sunday, Celena Z put in a near perfect performance over the grueling Final III course, designed to truly test the determination and skill of both horse and rider. Celena Z energized the crowd with her athletism before clipping the final rail of the course.
As most show jumpers begin to realize their full potential in their early to mid teens, Celena Z is on track to continue to develop her abilities and progress towards White’s goal of earning a position on Canada’s team at the 2012 Olympics in London.
White is looking forward to returning home to Rockwood and Angelstone Farms after spending the last four months competing on the Florida show jumping circuit. They will continue to train before departing for Spruce Meadows in Calgary for the start of the Canadian Grand Prix season.
WELLINGTON, Fla., Jan. 16–Ken Smith kicked off the opening day of the CN Winter Equestrian Festival with wins in two Regular Working Hunter classes aboard seven-year-old gray gelding Cento at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center Wednesday.
The seven-year-old, owned by Angel/Ashland Farms of Wellington, took the blue ahead of Tiffany Cornacchio on Hypnotiq in the one class and Amy Momrow and Rolling Hills Contessa in the other class.
“It has been a great show so far,” Smith joked, being a winner on the first day of 12 weeks of competition.
The classes were in the Grand Hunter Ring which has had new footing installed in the past month, along with several other competition arenas.
$500 Regular Working Hunter
1. Cento Ken Smith Ashland Farms
2. Hypnotiq Tiffany Cornacchio Jessica Leto
3. Rolling Hillss Contessa Amy Momrow Rolling Hills Farm
4. Federal Hill Tracy Scheriff Tracy Scheriff
5. Premier Ken Smith Amy Rosenthal
6. Castleguard Tommy Serio Adrea Foster
$500 Regular Working Hunter
1. Cento Ken Smith Ashland Farms
2. Rolling Hillss Contessa Amy Momrow Rolling Hills Farm
3. Premier Ken Smith Amy Rosenthal
4. Federal Hill Tracy Scheriff Tracy Scheriff
5. Castleguard Tommy Serio Adrea Foster
6. Hypnotiq Tiffany Cornacchio Jessica Leto
Bridgehampton, NY-August 31, 2008-Jennifer Waxman, 16, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, won Sunday’s $25,000 Calvin Klein Show Jumping Derby at the Hampton Classic Horse Show. Waxman won aboard Outline in a timed jump-off against five other riders, swooping over the final course in 34.385 seconds. They were followed by Addison Phillips of New York City on Teirra (36.051) in second place and Hungarian Henri Kovaks, who is based in Middleburg, Va., finishing third with G-5 (36.291). All three went double-clear.
One of the nation’s premier show jumping competitions, the Hampton Classic concludes Sunday, August 31. The Classic hosts hunter/jumper competition for riders ranging from the youngest competitors in Leadline and Short Stirrup classes all the way up to Olympic veterans in the $200,000 FTI Grand Prix. Show entries include two Olympic riders who flew in directly from the Olympic show jumping competition in Hong Kong: McLain Ward, a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team, and individual gold medalist Eric Lamaze of Canada.
Waxman had a remarkable week at the Hampton Classic and showed the field of 30 competitors in the Calvin Klein Show Jumping Derby how it’s done. She piloted Outline, who has a long, ground-covering stride, handily over the six obstacles in the Jumping Derby jump-off. Waxman positioned the horse perfectly on the approach to the Wolffer Estate oxer, which came off a hairpin turn from a vertical, and then kicked on to a tricky combination. That series of fences was the undoing of several of her competitors, some of whom had a refusal or rails down.
While Waxman darted off for two more rides in another class immediately after her win, her trainer, Emily Smith of Wellington, Fla., explained her win. “Jen really followed the plan,” she said. “The horse has a big stride, and she stuck to riding him exactly the way we planned.”
Smith, who has been training Waxman for eight years, said they were “very pleased with this year’s progress.” Aboard Falcon, Waxman won both the Hunter Phase and the Grand Championship of the WIHS International Equitation competition at this year’s Hampton Classic.
