SFHJA Medal Finals for Riders 12 & Under 

San Fernando Hunter Jumper Association 2010 Medal Finals

EQUINE INSURANCE/SFHJA Challenge Medal Finals

The first SFHJA 2010 Medal Finals competition was held at the Flintridge Autumn Classic. The Equine Insurance Challenge Medal, generously sponsored by Donna Chopp and Joe Parker of Equine Insurance, is meant to be a helpful transition from the “B” shows to “A”. Seventeen junior and amateur riders hope to conquer the challenges presented by course designer, Michael Roy Curtis and set at 3’3”. For the first time the competition was held over two days with the first round on Friday. Stacey Bacheller took the early lead, but Achlyn Matheus was only .5 points behind the leader. Christina Haney stood third. Consistency was key. The top three held on with Ashlyn moving up to take the championship and trips for two, to Mexico for both her and her trainer, Staphanie Haney. Stacey picked up trips to San Diego for herself and trainer, Jeni Brown. In addition to the trips, Equine Insurance gives embroidered coolers to the top three and saddle pads for the top 20. In addition there are year-end awards for points.

Class 401.2 – SVHJA Equine Insurance Challenge Medal Finals – 17 entries
1 326 Ashlyn Matheus
2 309 Stacey Bacheller
3 321 Christina Haney
4 331 Devon Manze
5 305 Lorri Quiett
6 334 Molly Wylie
7 380 Sydney Hlavacek
8 362 Brooke Mansker
9 344 Zoey Pacyna
10 308 Susan Krieg

SFHJA riders competed at the Camelot Classic Horse Show in Santa Barbara at the Earl Warren Show Grounds, Oct. 14 – 17, hoping to win one of the five other San Fernando Hunter/ Jumper Association, Medal Finals Championships. SFHJA Medal Finalsfor Riders 12 and Under, Far West Farms’ student Nina Vogel bested a field of 19 finalists to grab the 12 and Under Championship to take home the SFHJA perpetual created by Raizy Goffman, a bronze keepsake trophy, Missing Link Equine Supplement and a cooler for her horse, which was donated by DaMoors Feed and Tack. Early in the horse show yea r, Vogel was riding an inexperienced horse and didn’t log a lot of hours in the show ring. Just 2 months ago, she got a new horse with a proven track record in the tough equitation division, Dutch Star, and there has been no stopping her. Vogel rode the course which Lisa Winn, a Far West Farms trainer, described as an appropriately challenging course exactly to plan with her characteristic soft, calm demeanor and took it all home. Earlier in the month, Vogel won another medal final, making the SFHJA her second big win since moving up to an experienced horse.

Kayla Lott trained by Elvenstar’s, Kay Altheuser, nabbed DaMoor’s cooler and the Reserve Championship 12 and under slot, partnered with her horse Kif Kif d’elle. She also won a Valencia Sport Saddlery gift certificate for her trainer and a supply of Sound Hoof Dressing for her horse. Lott has 2 solid years of showing her 12 year old Selle Francais, and she knows him really well. Mike Nielsen designed a course that was pretty straightforward with some choices that had to be made, and Lott walked the course with her trainer and made a plan. Though her horse is a small horse, he has a big stride so Lott knew she could go for the dramatic solutions to the questions that the course designer asked. Lott remained cool under the stress of competition and rode true to her plan and left the arena with her Jedlicka’s leather halter and an armload of goodies.

Class 901 – SFHJA 12-under Medal Final – 19 entries
1 806 Nina Vogel
2 755 Kayla Lott
3 758 Katherine Schwartz
4 745 Erin Murphy
5 730 Madison Hancock
6 827 Cayley Boyd
7 774 Claire Follmer
8 861 Mimi Cocquyt
9 796 Morgan Dickerson
10 757 Elizabeth Anastasi

SFHJA Championship Medal Final for Riders 13 and Over: Twice Rose D’Anthes has been a bridesmaid at the medal final, winning reserve champion 2 years ago on a borrowed horse and reserve again last year on her own horse, Touch of Luck. The medal finals show is the only show D’Anthes has been to all year long. She had 1 chance to qualify and that was on Thursday, the 14th, and she won the last qualifying class before the big competition on the 15th. Built long and lean she has an advantage in the flat phase, but D’Anthes didn’t slack off on her flat work before the show. Her trainer, Alanna Snowden, stresses the flat work and their diligence paid off when she earned a very high score. D’Anthes went into the work-off on top, rode a challenging work-off course boldly and accurately to earn the SFHJA Medal Championship for riders 13 and over.

Sophia Skaaden, a student of Lisa Winn at Far west Farm took Reserve Championship honors. Skaaden rode Discreet, a horse she has leased just since summer, and rode in 2 small shows before making her debut performance in a big show with braiding and all the hoopla and pressures of the finals. Coming from a dressage background helped Skaaden earn a very strong flat score. Winn didn’t want the complexities of the course to make Skaaden nervous or to intimidate her so she was careful not to overanalyze and told Sophia to take the simpler choices and just feel good about her performance. With the DaMoor’s cooler and the leather halter sponsored by Jedlicka’s Saddlery and the armloads of awards that she and her trainer carried out of the ring, Skaaden had to feel good about her performance.

Class 902 – SFHJA 13-over Medal Final – 6 entries
1 798 Rose D’ Anthes
2 811 Sophia Skaaden
3 785 Patricia Forman
4 793 Amanda Wojciechowski
5 715 Clea Lerner
6 792 Allison Wojciechowski

SFHJA Futures Medal Final: Elizabeth Anastasi had a roll back turn off a corner to a three stride line and another rollback to a narrow fence that her horse had peeked at in the warm-up on her mind when she rode into the ring to contest
the 1st round of the SFHJA Futures Medal Championship. But she nailed the course and didn’t give the other riders a chance to topple her out of that top spot. Her 2nd course was just as accurate and she didn’t falter in her work-off. Anastasi’s consistency won her the Championship in the Looker Family sponsored Futures Medal Class. Her Elvenstar trainer, Kay Altheuser, helped her carry out her Zodiac Perpetual trophy, DaMoors cooler, Sound Hoof Dressing and Missing Link Feed Supplement. Altheuser, as trainer of the champion received a Valencia Saddlery gift certificate and an Equine Massage for the horse of her choice. Malakai, Anastasi’s 12 year old Thoroughbred/Warmblood cross that she’s owned for 1 year, just might be the recipient of that equine massage sponsored by Rider’s Edge.

The medium pony, Goodnight Kiss, was leased by 12 year old Eliza Foster early in October to compete at this horse show to try the pony out to see if it was a good fit for her. Foster qualified for the finals on a sale pony and her own small pony at the local Santa Barbara County Riding Club horse shows. Corinne Bevis, Foster’s trainer, said that Foster was nervous leading up to the final, but when they got to the show grounds, the pony was so good that she started to feel better. Foster and Goodnight Kiss laid down 2 solid rounds, but Foster didn’t have time to get nervous about being called back to the work-off because she had to go to another arena to ride in the Equine Insurance sponsored Zone 10 Children’s Pony Hunter Finals. She won it and while she was being paged to return to the medal finals work-off, she had to stay for the Championship presentations there. Bevis hurried her over to the ring, taught her the fence numbers for the work-off, and in she went to grab th Reserve Championship title for the SFHJA Futures Medal Finals and leather halter from Jedlicka’s in her 1st medal finals ever.

905 – SFHJA Futures Medal Final – 16 entries
1 757 Elizabeth Anastasi
2 821 Eliza Foster
3 785 Patricia Forman
4 778 Mikey Rosberg
5 774 Claire Follmer
6 726 Ellen Hollstien
7 792 Allison Wojciechowski
8 748 Yu-shein Ni
9 784 Anna Steely
10 717 Samantha Stutz

SFHJA Medal Championship for Riders 17 and Under
Last year, Sierra Gonzalez had a tough horse to ride and then this year, she had a shoulder problem that plagued her, causing off and on lay-ups. Rainbow Canyon trainer, Kim Tasker, said she has been pushing hard to get into this medal final. A couple of months ago, Gonzalez leased Unfinished Business and clicked with him, winning an equitation championship on him her very first show out. At the finals, Gonzalez merited a really strong flat score, and in her jumping round smoothly took the riskier options and made it into the work-off tied for 4th. She had been consistent throughout but in the tests mandated in the work-off, a hand gallop fence, short roll-back to a weird looking fence and a counter canter around a 90 degree turn, Gonzalez was brilliant and catapulted herself into the SFHJA Medal Championship for riders 17 and under. The bronze and perpetual trophy went home with her while Tasker has a Valencia saddler gift certificate and a massage for a horse of her choice from Rider’s Edge. Riding Manolo,a 14 year old Holsteiner gelding who has shown all over the country in all three rings, the hunter, jumper and equitation , Ashley Fritzler earned a really high score on her flat phase and answered all the questions the course designer put to a strong field of 25 contestants. Fritzler was called back in 2nd place for the work-off. According to her trainer, Alanna Snowden, the judges created a pattern that was calculated to separate good, better, best and leave no stone unturned. Snowden said Fritzler and Manolo were so beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes. Fritzler’s ride nailed the Reserve Championship Medal for riders 17 and under for her and helped her celebrate her 1 year anniversary of owning Manolo whom she got on the Sunday of the 2009 Camelot Classic. Though she’s only done 6 shows with Manolo this year, this important win brings her closer to her goal of moving up into the 3’6” division. Her Jedlicka’s leather halter, the Sound Hoof Dressing and the Missing Link supplement, mementos of her win, will all be put to good use.

Class 903 – SFHJA 17-under Medal Final – 25 entries
1 825 Sierrah Gonzalez
2 797 Ashley Fritzler
3 754 Kira Zelman
4 750 Mckenna Skelton
5 832 Bella Hadid
6 733 Clara Plestis
7 834 Kayla Savard
8 725 Emily Yslas
9 828 Hadley Boyd
10 702 Hanna Stabler

SFHJA Medal Championship for Riders 18 and Over
Trainer, Jeni Brown of Shadowbrook Stables, has been helping Cheryl Child on her horse Luka since just this summer. Brown credits Julie Connor-Daniel who found Luka for Child and brought the horse along laying a good solid foundation for the pair. Brown had been working on adjustability, keeping the correct shape through corners, lengthenings and shortenings in preparation for the finals. When Child and Brown walked the medal final’s course, they planned for the difficult parts such as fences set tight off of a corner. Throughout, Child needed an organized stride and she found a groove and laid down a good trip. She was called into the work-off in 2nd place. It was a tough work-off, requiring the riders to jump out of a tight turn, counter canter a 90 degree corner and ride through a bending line then gallop a fence followed by a downward transition to the trot. Child handled the work-off so well she bumped herself up into the Championship position for the 18 and over Medal which was sponsored by Glenroy’s Equestrian Gifts.

A busy schedule as a small animal vet makes it hard for Christina Haney to ride as much as she’d like, but she ekes out a two times a week riding time at Rainbow Canyon Ranch with Kim Tasker. During most of the year, Haney has been showing her horse Fendi in the hunter ring, but the last three months she has been pursuing the equitation division to qualify for medals. Since Fendi was a jumper in Europe, it was a pretty easy switch for him to get the tighter turns, the shorter approaches, the optional bending lines and the different types of fences seen in the equitation ring. Haney earned a high flat score in the 1st phase of the competition, and she put in a very pretty jumping round, but a rail down behind cost her 4 points. She qualified for the work off which presented the same questions as had to be answered in the 17 and under medal. Haney kept the pressure from flustering her . She laid down a solid work-off round, capturing the Reserve Championship award in the 18 and over Championship Medal sponsored by Glenroy’s Equestrian Gifts.

Class 904 – SFHJA 18-over Medal Final – 16 entries
1 700 Cheryl Child
2 852 Christina Haney
3 838 Elizabeth Storm McGovern
4 704 Suzanne Voss
5 823 Sydney Hlavacek
6 773 Val Funfar
7 771 Wendy Ackerman
8 777 Brooke Mansker
9 705 Kappy Appleby
10 703 Lorri Quiett

 

Reference: San Fernando Hunter Jumper Association