But with the help of true friends and a special horse, over the next year and a half Edgar found his way back to health, to the sport he loved, and to the front of the victory gallop.

Finding Derby Blue

The lead-up to this year’s Lexington National Horse Show (Virginia), held the first week in August, was a bit of a roller coaster for Edgar and Black Rock, the horse he credits for his return to showing. The month before they left HITS Culpeper (Virginia) with a performance hunter reserve championship and a fourth-placed ribbon in the USHJA National Hunter Derby, but then Black Rock ripped off two shoes in succession and ended up a bit sore.

As a WCHR show, Lexington was an important stop for “Blue” and the young professional, but Edgar didn’t want to chance Lisa Rossi’s 10-year-old Oldenburg (Diatendro—Citina) if he wasn’t ready to roll.

“The foot needed to heal, and you can’t rush feet or make the feet grow any faster,” Edgar said. “So I told him, I said, ‘Blue, you’re not going to go to the horse show if you’re not feeling good.’ I kid you not, I went out the next day, and the horse was 100 percent.”

After some back and forth about whether to compete at Lexington, Edgar, Rossi and trainer Rachel Kennedy decided to enter Blue in a single class. That decision paid off when Blue and Edgar jumped to the top of the USHJA National Hunter Derby with marks of 90 and 92—a first derby win for horse and rider alike.

“His riding comes from the heart,” Rossi said. “He just rides the horse that he’s on and connects with them. He’s got the technical skills and know-how to ride all kinds of different horses, but it comes from feel first. He’s very aware of the horses, their surroundings, their psyche and [creates] a real partnership with them.”

Working His Way To Opportunities

Edgar grew up in Virginia, catching the horse bug as a third-grader, and when his parents didn’t have the funds to match his burgeoning talent, he got to work. Throughout his teenage years, when he wasn’t in the barn, he sold dog treats, assisted horse show photographers and worked polishing belts and bracelets for the Kenyan Collection to help pay his bills.

“I still have a binder that has my pony’s Coggins in it, and all my membership papers, back when it all had to be printed out,” he recalled. “I had my checkbook, and I would go to the office by myself with my little binder, and I would pay my bills, and I would pay the braider. I remember I used to find horse shows that were all where the pony hunters only went one day, so then I could trailer and not have to get a stall.”

Edgar rode medium pony Damingo with trainer Carol Eichner, and one day Lisa Rossi’s daughter, Anna, saw a video of the two online.

“She was like, ‘Hey, I have this great large pony. He’s just coming back; he needs a rider. You’re a really good rider,’ ” recalled Edgar. “I was finishing up the year, and I was aging out of mediums, so I needed a pony, and they needed a rider. When Anna reached out to me, we were on the phone for two hours.”

Anna, Lisa and Edgar became fast friends, and through the Rossis’ pony, One More Time, Edgar met Kennedy. The partnership with the Rossis also enabled him to go to USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) for the first time, where they introduced him to trainer Bill Schaub. A year later at that same show, Schaub to invite Edgar to be his working student and travel to Wellington, Florida, for the Winter Equestrian Festival. When he got back to the hotel he screamed in excitement, before starting the process of convincing his mother that he had to switch to online school, and that he had the maturity to go to Florida by himself.

Edgar started catch riding for the likes of Schaub and Ken and Emily Smith, sometimes straightforward mounts, but often ones who came with some baggage and required all Edgar’s horsemanship.

“I was living my dreams, and it was just crazy, because I was—as a kid and as a junior—always such a rule follower, and I was very much the kid that people really wanted their children around, and the kid that the younger generation looked up to,” he said.

A Difficult Transition

As his college years approached, Edgar couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d missed out on the biggest goal of his junior years: winning a national equitation final. He had earned good ribbons at major shows, like ASPCA Maclay Regionals and Devon, but a big win was always just out of his grasp.

“I had a good run in the equitation and I did well, but I would always get to the major finals, and I would kind of crack a little bit, I would get really nervous,” he said. “I would have little mistakes.”

Aging out of the juniors, he reluctantly set aside his ambitions to go pro immediately and followed his trainers’ advice to head to college instead. Sue Ashe helped connect him with the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia), where he earned a scholarship.

It was a hard change. On the ride to school with his mom, Edgar broke down.

“I was just so scared because it was the unknown; it was change,” said Edgar. “And I never did well with change. Going to college was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. But I’m not going to sit here and say that it was easy-peasy lemon breezy. I had to really push myself and get out of my comfort zone.”

At college he found a different horse community—and new opportunities to achieve the equitation goals that had eluded him.

“I thought when my junior years were over, that when I didn’t when I didn’t win a final, I thought my career was over,” he said. “SCAD gave me the opportunity to do a national final, and I didn’t have to own a horse.”

In his sophomore year Edgar, who majored in equestrian studies, won the IHSA Cacchione Cup, fulfilling his dream of winning an equitation final. After riding on a cloud for a week or so, Edgar’s feeling of accomplishment waned, and he felt himself wondering what was next. Without an immediate goal, he felt rudderless, and what had started as occasional partying morphed into full-fledged drug and alcohol abuse. By 2019, Edgar said, “things were bad.”

“I was a boy who once cared more about horses and being the best role model I could be more than anything,” he said. “And then slowly but surely, I only cared about finishing the day as quickly as possible so I was able to escape reality with substances, and the one thing that mattered to me most, which was horses, even that couldn’t save me from the powerful control that substances had over my life.”

In hindsight Edgar could see that his drug and alcohol abuse affected his relationships, schoolwork, and the trust that people had in him. He blames no one but himself for getting to that position, and said his perfectionism and the pressure he put on himself as a junior contributed to his difficulties.

“I think the biggest thing that was really hard for me was that, even going through hard times and struggling, I could still show up and find eight jumps,” he said. “The horses felt for me, and they tried for me, because they knew I was struggling. So I don’t think I was ever as successful as I could have been, but even my version of not being as successful was still successful, right? That’s what was a hard struggle for me, because I validated my behavior by being like, ‘Well, I’m still showing up on time. I’m still doing well. So why is it a problem?’ In reality, I may have been showing up and finding eight jumps, but all other aspects of my life were falling apart.”

Edgar stopped paying bills on time and racked up debt and parking tickets. He got arrested, and his relationships with family and friends went downhill sharply. His romantic relationships were a mess.

He got sober for the first time in 2021 and stayed clean for a while, but it didn’t stick.

“I stayed sober for nine months,” he recalled. “Then I told myself, ‘Everyone gets in trouble at least once; I’m young.’ I came up with all these excuses and validated them and started drinking again. I got in trouble again so fast; as soon as I started drinking again, it was back to the races.”

In an effort to give sobriety a fair shot, Edgar decided to quit riding and get away from the people, places and things he associated with his addictions. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he started working at a coffee shop. He was making progress, but he still wasn’t sober, until a friend invited him on a group trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, that he swore would change Edgar’s life. Edgar was doubtful.

“Everyone just welcomed me with open arms and literally pulled me in and helped me and hugged me,” he said. “I had this moment where I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for.’

“These people were happy. They were hardworking, normal people that were sober,” he continued. “They had something that I wanted, so I decided on that trip, ‘I’m going to do everything that they tell me to do, and I’m going to throw myself into this world.’ When I talked to my friend who told me it was going to change my life, I was like, ‘It kills me to say it, but you were a hundred percent right.’ ”

‘We Are So Back’

When newly sober Edgar wanted to get back in the saddle after four months away, he wanted to be mindful about how he did it, and he wanted to work with people he knew would support him. He called his longtime friend Lisa, who kept her horses with Kennedy, who Edgar knew was also in his corner. Lisa immediately thought of Blue.

“We had started him and then finances got a little tight, and he’d been on the back burner,” Lisa said. “He needed a professional to get started, and [Kennedy] travels so much, so it was hard to get a groove going. I love Adam, and always have, and he was in the neighborhood. I was daydreaming with Anna one day and said, ‘He would ride Blue so well.’ ”

In the sensitive gelding Edgar found a kindred spirit, and he empathized with the gelding’s perfectionist nature.

“I often say to people that horses find us when we need them most, and that we find horses when they need us most,” Edgar said. “And that’s precisely what happened: He was trying to find his place, and I was trying to find my place, and we found each other.”

Edgar knew it was a special connection from the first ride, but he tried to convince himself not to fall for the gelding. He took his return to the saddle slowly, commuting from D.C. to Kennedy’s ESP Farm in Brookeville, Maryland, a few days each week to ride, gradually building up his time at the barn. For their first show together, in November 2024, they went to Swan Lake (Pennsylvania) and won a class.

“I laid down this round that was just really good, and I remember Anna Rossi was standing at the in-gate, and I just hear her go, ‘We are so back,’ ” Edgar recalled. “And it was amazing, because here’s this horse that couldn’t really find his way, and here’s this rider that was trying to find his way. And then we found each other, and then we got to step back into the show ring, and it was successful. And we’ve really been able to grow together, one step at a time.”

Edgar saw a big difference in both himself and Blue as they bonded.

“In the barn, he didn’t really have his person yet, so he was a little dull,” he said. “And as we started forming our partnership, I think I got happier. My friends in D.C. would be like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re so much nicer now that you’re riding horses again.’ And the guys in the barn would say, ‘This horse is so much happier.’ ”

With support from Lisa, Kennedy and others, Edgar eventually quit his job as a barista and went back to riding full time, commuting to The Plains, Virginia, to work at Jonelle Mullen’s TuDane Farm, while still driving to ESP Farm in Maryland ride Blue.  

“He’s just a good guy; he’s honest and hardworking with a big heart,” Lisa said. “He’s just a caring human being who’s never hurt another person or been mean to a horse. He tries his best with everyone and everything he does. He’s really funny and at the same time very serious when he’s working with the horses. He and Rachel have a long history together, and they trust each other. Having her on the ground with him riding Blue has been a magical combination.”

These days Edgar is riding and working for Kennedy at ESP Farm and aiming Blue toward the Capital Challenge Horse Show (Maryland).

“I just feel like he saved me,” Edgar said. “He saved me because I was at a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to do this. I was thinking about going back to school and looking into different avenues, and maybe I just want to be an amateur, and maybe I want to look at a different career and then, you know, he just popped into my life.

“What makes it even more special to me is that Lisa owns him … so to be able to go back and do this with them makes it that much more special, because [the Rossis are] family to me, and they have stood by me through everything I’ve been through, and they’ve been there through it all,” he continued. “They’ve gotten to see me turn my life around, to get happy again, and get right again, and to be able to give back to them is just really special to me.”

Since becoming sober 16 months ago, Edgar eased into horse show life, and he’s learned to lean on people who support his sobriety within and outside the horse show world.

“To go in the ring and feel an animal rise to the occasion for you and want it just as much as you want it, and try for you, is better than anything that alcohol or drugs could have ever given me,” he said. “That is what makes it all worth it, that feeling of having a 1,500-pound animal that can’t talk go in the ring and perform for you. That’s the magic beauty of it.”

The post From Darkness To Derby Winner: Adam Edgar’s Journey Back To The Ring With Black Rock appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“I just always went in for practice—no pressure, no expectation, no nothing—and he always delivered,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Havens, just because it’s a big class, you cannot ride him more. You cannot try to get a rub [in warm-up]—don’t do any of that stuff. Just ride him the way you’ve always ridden him.’ So that was a little bit hard for me. I had to keep telling myself, ‘Easy, easy.’ ”

As they walked into the ring, “CB” certainly took notice of the bigger atmosphere. His head came up, and he eyed his surroundings, so Schatt took her time before picking up the canter, making a bigger courtesy circle than she normally would for a class of this caliber, but her primary goal was giving him a good experience.

“The first probably four jumps, I felt like I kind of needed to hold his hand a little bit and just be a little bit not as brilliant as sometimes you would want for a class like that,” she said. “But I think his jumping style was covered up a lot, and by the in-and-out to the last two lines, he was just in the groove then, and I could let go of his head a little bit and just kind of get to the jump and let him explode over the jump.”

Schatt was first in the class and had to wait for remainder of the competitors to go to see whether their scores could hold up. Initially she figured they’d get pushed down the leaderboard given the quality of horses in the field, but one by one they failed to catch her, and her hopes soared. By the end of the 15-horse class, Schatt was thrilled to find herself atop the final standings.

“That class, on that day, at that time of the month or the year, suited that type of horse perfectly,” she said.

Schatt first purchased CB last September off a video with the idea that he could be an equitation horse. Though he had a beautiful jump, he didn’t have the daisy-cutter movement of the complete package for a junior or amateur hunter.

“He’s just like a big puppy dog,” she said. “He’s really, really tall, so he’s always got to put his head down for you to pet him or whatever, and he’s always more than willing for you to pet him and feed him treats. For the most part, he’s quiet and he’s super, super willing, like he didn’t even think twice about going in there and doing exactly what I told him to do.”

Watch their winning round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.TV:

Since he was still green, and it’s so expensive to keep horses in her winter base in Wellington, Florida, Schatt decided to send him to fellow hunter rider Tim Maddrix in Ocala, Florida, to get his initial show miles. When it was time to head back north to Lexington, Kentucky, Schatt took him back and later sold part-ownership to Caroline Oliver with the idea of making him Oliver’s equitation horse. Schatt showed him sparingly, but she found that judges were often scoring him in the 90s.

Nonetheless, at the beginning of last week, CB wasn’t her intended mount for the classic. Initially she thought she’d ride Julia McNerney’s Cascartini, who she’s ridden in USHJA international hunter derbies and on whom she’d qualified for the ClipMyHorse.TV Hunter Classic earlier in the year.

Though Schatt competes in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival over the winter, she made a pair of trips up to HITS Ocala in order to qualify for the classic to support her friend, HITS Chief Customer Officer Joe Norick, who asked if she’d consider participating. HITS hosts six qualifiers across the Ocala and Saugerties series, and riders must place first through third in one of those classes to qualify for the classic, where they are limited to one horse.

On her first trip to Ocala, Schatt entered three of her green hunters, but the conditions weren’t favorable for their education level, with the class taking place in the early evening on a rainy, windy day. While they went well, mistakes kept them out of podium placings. On her second trip north, she tacked up the reliable Cascartini with the goal of putting in a solid round. They finished third, cementing Schatt’s spot in the final.

“It was a little bit more nerve-wracking to know if you wanted to go for that big money [in the final], you had to make this happen,” she said. “And like I said, we spend our winters in Wellington, so it’s a lot to ask the clients to go up there to qualify for the class.”

But “Marty” made the trips to Ocala worth it, and Schatt’s team arrived in Saugerties planning to enter him in the classic.

CB had come to Saugerties primarily to go in equitation classes with Oliver, who is a working student for Schatt. But when the 7-year-old Oldenburg (Chacoon Blue—Coquista PS, Balou Du Reventon) won a 3’3″ performance hunter class with Schatt, they started considering entering him instead. After Marty took second in the $40,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, which was intended to be his warm-up, they all sat down to make a plan, ultimately deciding McNerney’s horse had done enough for the week, and that the classic could be a good experience for CB.

Schatt thinks CB’s relative inexperience benefited him in the ClipMyHorse.TV Hunter Classic. The one-round class featured more classic hunter fences, and she felt that, while more experienced horses might not find the jumps interesting, CB still did and would maintain his expressive jump.

“I think you need a fresh horse that hadn’t been everywhere, seen everything, to think OK it’s another round, but you need one brave enough and solid enough to go in there and deliver,” she said.

The post Last-Minute Horse Swap Pays Off For Schatt In Saugerties appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

In February 2024, Eva Crowley was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Type B, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Over the next seven months, she did 12 rounds of chemotherapy every other week at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina.

While undergoing treatments, Crowley made a bucket list with three major goals on it: to show at the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) with her junior hunter Please Watch Me; to qualify and show him at the Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships; and to qualify and show at USEF Pony Finals for her final junior year. 

“When you have an experience like this, it’s more of ‘while I’m able to do this, I should do this,’ ” said Crowley, now 18. “I’ve always had these goals in mind, but I wanted to make them a reality.”

Although she was encouraged by her doctors to stop riding during treatment, Crowley had other ideas and gained strength from Please Watch Me. She even scheduled shows between her rounds of chemotherapy.

“ ‘Pac-Man’ is what got me through all of that,” she said of the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Parabol—Final Watch) owned by Julianna D’Alto. “He’s the best horse and the safest horse. I knew he would take care of me.”

In November 2024, Crowley and Pac-Man qualified for this year’s USEF Junior Hunter National Championships—East at the Jump for Charity show in Raleigh, North Carolina. With that item on her bucket listed teed up to accomplish, Crowley then set her sights on competing at WEC—Ocala. She set up and organized every aspect of the trip from her home in Durham, North Carolina, right down to booking the rental car. In January 2025, she showed Pac-Man in the 3’3” large junior hunters and a USHJA National Derby during Winter Spectacular IV at WEC—Ocala. 

In the process, she got an unexpected and deeply appreciated surprise.

Crowley has spent many of her junior years riding and working at Pleasant Hill Farm with trainers Cammie Fielding and Meaghan Kearns in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Unbeknownst to Crowley, Fielding had written a letter nominating Crowley for the Hannah M. Serfass Scholarship. Although Crowley didn’t win the scholarship, Serfass’ mom, Janine Serfass, reached out directly to Fielding and offered to give Crowley the Hannah Serfass WEC—Ocala Grant instead, which helped cover the cost of her show fees and expenses. 

“The Serfass family is so kind and generous for giving back to this sport in the way that they have chosen to,” Crowley said. “I was honored to receive that.”

In June, to finish that other item on her list, Crowley packed up her bags and headed to junior hunter finals at the Kentucky Horse Park to compete in the 3’3” large junior hunter, 16-17, division. She and Pac-Man placed 20^th  of 94 competitors in the classic round, while an unfortunate rail in the handy kept them out of the overall ribbons. 

“Pac-Man was phenomenal there,” Crowley said. “When I first started leasing him [three years ago], he was only supposed to be my children’s hunter. But we’ve been working hard with him, and he’s more than capable of doing this job too.”

With two out of her three bucket list goals completed, Crowley turned her sights to attending her last USEF Pony Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park in August. It would also be her final horse show before she headed off to Sweet Briar College (Virginia) for her freshman year. Although Crowley did qualify a large pony for the division, she learned two weeks prior to the competition that he would be unable to attend. 

“My entries were already submitted, and my accommodations were already booked,” Crowley said. “I really wanted to make this happen, so I decided it was time to try and find a catch ride.” 

She posted on every Facebook page related to Pony Finals she could find and called as many people as she could think of. “There were so many people who shared my posts, commented, offered me their ponies,” she said. “I’m so grateful to all of them.”

Trainer Greg Crolick of Greg Crolick Show Stables had the perfect large pony for Crowley: So Dreamy, a 9-year-old German Riding Pony (Diamond Touch—Mascarpone) owned by El Manto LLC. 

“ ‘Dreamy’ was so lovely,” Crowley said. “Greg and his barn were amazing. He gave me lessons in the days leading up to showing, and he definitely did not have to do that.”  Dreamy and Crowley ended up 27^thout of 150 ponies in the model and had a respectable trip in the over fences class.

Then, when Crowley discovered that there was a horsemanship test that she could take while she was at Pony Finals, she jumped at the chance. The teen has a decade of hands-on experience caring for her horses. The Emerson Burr Horsemanship Grant, which was created in memory of the late Emerson Burr to encourage and promote proper horsemanship in young riders, felt like a perfect fit for her. Grant winners are selected by taking a two-part exam that begins with a 20-question, multiple-choice test followed by a hands-on test for the top four scoring junior riders in each age group. 

“There were some pretty challenging questions [on the written test],” Crowley said, “but I’ve hung around the barn so much as a kid that I’ve seen many of the things they asked about on the test. I’m someone who has grown up doing all the care on their horse—we don’t have full care at my barn.” 

Several of the topics chosen for the test questions included plants that horses are allergic to, types of horseshoes, and what tools are used to perform a dental exam on a horse. 

Although Crowley received what she thought was an average score on the written exam, she was invited back for further hands-on testing two days later. Crowley was asked to demonstrate how to properly put tendon boots on, when to use a standing wrap, and how to properly fit a saddle and bridle. Her last task was to lead a pony in a straight line. 

Later that evening, Crowley learned that she was the winner in her 15-17 age group and received a $500 grant to be used for continuing education. 

“I was shocked. They must have liked my answers for the hands-on portion,” she said. “I think it’s phenomenal that USEF is still supporting tests like these. In an age where it seems that there are so many kids who show up and hop on their tacked-up pony or horse right before they show, it’s nice to see that horsemanship is still being encouraged.”

Not only did Crowley win the Emerson Burr Grant, but she also won the $1,500 Taylor Madison Orlowski First Timer Grant—another one Fielding nominated her for—earlier in the week at Pony Finals. The winner of the grant, which helps toward the expense of showing at Pony Finals, is chosen based on their strong horsemanship and sportsmanship skills. 

“I couldn’t believe that I had been chosen for a marvelous opportunity like that,” Crowley said. “I feel so lucky to have so many people and families supporting me for my last junior year. I feel very fortunate.”

Fielding is proud of Crowley for chasing after her dreams. 

“Eva’s parents were wonderful about making this all happen for her,” Fielding said. “Eva had the courage to push for these goals, and she pushed me out of my comfort zone to do these new shows and championships with her,” added Fielding, who attended her first Junior Hunter Finals thanks to Crowley. “I will be adding several of these to our students’ calendar and goals in the future.”

Now that Crowley has completed her bucket list and is off to college, Pac-Man is still enjoying life at Pleasant Hill Farm with a new rider for the time being. 

“I made the decision to leave him there while I went to school, and although I really miss him, I think it was the right choice for him,” Crowley said. “He goes outside in a huge field with seven other horses; he loves his friends. … I didn’t have it in me to take him away from all of that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

More than a year later, Crowley’s cancer has continued to remain in remission. 

“With this type of cancer—if you’re in remission for a year, it’s extremely unlikely that it will come back,” she said. “So that’s huge news, and I’m glad to have that behind me.”

The post Eva Crowley: From Chemotherapy To Emerson Burr Grant Winner  appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Metzger wasn’t sure how to respond. Should she tell them what they were expecting, that she had a physical injury or was feeling ill? Or should she tell them the truth, that her mental health had deteriorated to the point where she didn’t feel confident riding the promising green hunters she had been preparing for the event, and that though she wanted to be at the championship, she wanted to watch from the ground?

“We spend our entire year gearing up towards these moments,” she said. “We buy horses with [USHJA Hunter Championship Week] in mind. I do a lot of buying horses in Europe, sourcing them and producing them, and I go over there to find derby horses, to find horses that are nice enough to do green incentive. It’s literally what I do.”

All that aside, Metzger knew she couldn’t do either of her two horses justice, and she watched their rounds from the in-gate as Jacob Pope and Nicolas Pongracz took over the rides in Lexington, Kentucky. It was difficult for Metzger, knowing that while the roots of her depression and anxiety transcended pressures of the elite horse world, her drive to be successful in the industry exacerbated her problems.

“You’re balancing so many emotions at once,” said Metzger who works alongside Laurie Jueneman at Snowfield Farm Inc. in Parker, Colorado. “You’re dealing with horses. You’re dealing with owners. You’re dealing with [business] partners. You’re dealing with yourself. You’re balancing so many people’s expectations at the same time, and I think that that’s an added element of what we do.”

And when Metzger finally got the courage to be candid about her struggles, she received a wave of support from the community beyond what she had expected.

Finding Her Happy Place

After aging out of her junior years, Metzger worked for Sue Lightner for seven years. Like many young professionals, she worked hard and was dedicated to the horses, eager to gain knowledge and experience and take advantage of opportunities to work with extraordinary horsemen.

“I did the whole work 14- to 16-hour days, and ride 12 to 15 horses a day, and teach lessons, and manage the barn [thing],” she said. “I mean, people make everybody believe that that is part of how you become successful in this industry, right? That you only become successful by completely sacrificing yourself for the sake of the sport. And I feel like that’s just what is expected of people to be good at this, and I would never take it back. I mean, I gained an immense amount of experience and opportunities. I really believe that Sue is who shaped me as a rider and a professional, and everything that she taught me is what has allowed me to do what I do today. But I really, at that job, put every feeling—emotion, exhaustion—I put it to the side, and I made myself grind.”

She did a stint barn managing and riding for Havens Schatt, an experience she described as “invaluable,” before heading to Northern California to work as a rider. She worked for a couple different barns but never quite found her niche. She was looking for something more stable, and she interviewed with Jueneman to manage the Interscholastic Equestrian Association team and the lesson program. That morphed into her current position as a rider and integral part of the show team at Snowfield Farm.

“I really came into a situation with her where I can combine everything that I’ve learned from everybody that I worked for prior to this, and I feel like Laurie and I have such an amazing situation here together in terms of our clientele and our horses and our goals,” said Metzger.

For Metzger, despite feeling at home at Snowfield and surrounded by people she liked, the anxiety and depression still crept back in. In the past when she felt those feelings, she could chalk it up, at least in part, to needing a change of scenery, or wanting to experience a different part of the industry. This time she felt stable in her life, but not in her brain.

“I love my job,” she said. “I bought a house in August. I love the people that I work with. I don’t want anything to change. So how do I get through this without changing my circumstances and my surroundings?

“That has led to a bigger understanding for me, that mental health is real in our industry,” she continued. “How do you find your way through mental health struggles within your happy place? I’m in my happy place, but I’m not happy. How do you navigate that?”

Pouring Gasoline On A Fire

At the start of 2025, Metzger was struggling, but she was managing. Then in April, her father, Robert Metzger, died. She described that like “pouring gasoline on the fire” of her depression. She was also devastated when two special horses in the barn got hurt.

“I’ve had some other things happen in my life, and then my dad died and it was like—kaboom—and all the sudden the grief and struggle with processing the loss of my father amplified all the other challenges I was having,” she said.

Things continued slipping downhill this summer. Toward the end of a six-week circuit with 30 horses at the Colorado Horse Park’s summer series, she went to her father’s memorial. She showed Wednesday and Thursday, flew to San Francisco that night for a Friday memorial, and after the memorial she tried a horse for a client and flew back, fully intending on showing the next day.

But she couldn’t get out of bed. The Snowfield staff and clients were very compassionate, and she forced herself to go to the show on Sunday to help from the ground.

“That was probably when I was like, ‘OK, I’m having a hard time,’ ” she said.

Making An Impact

The Snowfield team brought a smaller group of horses to the Traverse City, Michigan, and Lexington, Kentucky, circuits after that, which Marisa thought would help. But instead she found herself with more time to ruminate. It came to a head when she had a panic attack while showing a horse. It wasn’t her first panic attack—she’d had a few since several horses she was on tripped badly in a series of bizarre incidents, bringing her mortality into focus in her mind—but this one came at a bad time.

“That was when I was like, ‘OK, I have to take a step back.’ So we made the conscious decision to have Nick Pongracz ride [Holiday, owned Jennifer Edgell, Jueneman and Metzner] in Kentucky, because I didn’t feel like I could give that customer and that horse what it needed from me.

“People in their kindness were like, ‘You’re going to do such a good job. The horses jump beautifully for you. They know you,’ ” she added. “They were trying to help, but it only made me feel like there were more people relying on me.”

Even riding Kessina, the horse she owns with Jueneman, felt impossible. There were no owners she had to impress, and Jueneman was very supportive, but that didn’t make it easier. It took a little longer for her to make the decision, but in the end she told Jueneman she couldn’t show him in the USHJA 3’/3’3” Green Incentive Championship, and they arranged for Pope to take over the ride.

“[I told Jueneman], ‘Let me break down where I’m struggling. I really believe in this horse so immensely, and I can’t imagine letting her down. I can’t imagine letting myself down. I can’t imagine letting you down. I feel like I’m setting myself up to fail,’ ” she said.

At first Marisa came up with excuses why she wasn’t riding.

“Those things were true, but everybody just assumes that when you say that you mean you have the flu, right? You broke a bone, or you got hurt, or whatever. It’s a lot easier for people to understand when you need to take a step back when there’s a physical ailment,” she said.

That’s when Marisa decided to come clean about her struggles with her mental health and how that prompted her to take a break by making a vulnerable post on Facebook.

The post reads in part:

“Many people asked me why I didn’t ride this week… as some of you know, I’ve had a challenging year. Losing my father was hard. Over the last several months, I’ve struggled with my confidence, my anxiety and managing depression. I’m so fortunate to have people around me who have supported me as I’ve tried to navigate all of this. In the few weeks leading up to this horse show, I realized that I needed to take a step back and give myself some time to heal… This sport is hard. It’s 24 hours a day, managing so many people emotions, expectations and financial commitment. And we love it. But it can also be incredibly difficult. Wanting something more for someone else than you even want it for yourself. Grinding yourself to your limit constantly to give everything to everyone that they desire. It was not an easy decision to make to watch from the sidelines. We also are always driving forward towards success, and weeks like these are what we spend our entire year aiming towards. We choose horses with these championships in mind. But mental health is real… it’s as real as breaking a bone… and taking the time to heal is IMPORTANT. And I know that taking this time now will lead to a longer and healthier career down the road. Sharing this is not easy for me either, but I really hope that someone else will read this and feel understood. That what they are feeling is real. And has the strength to remember it’s just one day, one show, and there will be another one. Remember to take care of you. There’s only one.”

The response was immediate. Marisa was flooded with private messages and texts of people offering support, empathizing with her and sharing their own struggles.

“I’m really amazed by the response to the post. I definitely have had thoughts to myself like, ‘I wish more professionals would talk about this, professional to professional, because I would love to know how other people handle it, how they deal with their own nerves and anxiety, and balancing the clients and their expectations,’ ” she said. “But people don’t really want to talk about it.”

Marisa also received many messages from parents of juniors and amateurs. That was when she realized this was something that she and others in the horse world need to talk about more.

Finding Help

Marisa has been working with sports psychologists for the past four years.

“I’ve worked with four different people,” she said. “You have to find the right person for you. There are different approaches to sport psychology, and if someone isn’t working for you, or you don’t feel like it’s hitting on the root of your challenge, look for someone else. I did not do that at first. I was like, ‘I’m the problem. They’re good at their job.’

“I’ve also recognized and I’ve learned the value of medicine, and that some of this is chemical, and it’s bigger than you,” she continued. “You want to feel better, but you can’t. There are people in the world who do not deal with anxiety and depression, and they don’t understand not because they don’t want to—there can be really sympathetic people out there—but they don’t get it because they don’t experience it. And there’s definitely a stigma around it. There’s also an opinion within our industry that you have to learn how to be strong. You can’t have emotion. I agree that you can’t be emotional in riding, but you can have emotion.”

Marissa also works with a regular psychologist and has leaned into some more progressive treatments like stellate ganglion block injections.

“They block the nerve cluster in the base of your neck, to help reduce fight or flight reflexes,” she said of the treatment.

Despite her talk therapy, anti-anxiety medications and medical interventions, her symptoms persisted, prompting her break. Getting treatment is a huge time and financial commitment—she pays for most treatments out of pocket—but Marisa is willing to do whatever it takes to feel better.

Marisa pointed to the epidemic of horsemen who don’t care for their physical or their mental health, some of whom turn to drugs or alcohol or other unhealthy practices to cope.

“I grew up a bit still in that period of time when tears were not acceptable, and if you weren’t physically hurt, you’re not hurt at all,” she said. “And you know, I saw a meme on the internet the other day in reference to Tori Colvin and what she did at derby finals [riding her top horse to the win after taking a tough fall]. The meme said, ‘Hospital or [get back on the] horse.’ I was like ‘No, no.’ What Tori did was super human, but truthfully that is even more of an example of mental fortitude. She had such immense clarity of mind that she could mentally be strong enough to do that.  When I saw that [meme] I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Let’s get over the Dark Ages.’ ”

For the time being she’s cut her work schedule back to three days a week in an attempt to address her mental health—a luxury she knows the overwhelming majority of people in the horse world don’t have. She’s focusing on things that bring her joy, both within and outside the horse world, like working with young horses, cooking and home improvement projects. She feels blessed that she loves her job and has a supportive business partner in Jueneman, and that she’s independently financially secure.

Marisa is optimistic about seeing change in the horse industry around issues of mental health. She pointed to Equestrians for Mental Health Awareness, a California group that seeks to make a positive impact around equestrians and mental health challenges, as an example of a group helping those in the sport.

“There are people who are in our industry that are barn managers, braiders, assistants, grooms, who aren’t in the ring, and so people are like, ‘You don’t need sports psychology.’ But you need a different kind of support, but you also need support or somebody who understands our industry and the demands of our industry, because if you go talk to some regular doctor on Zoom, a lot of them don’t understand where you’re coming from,” she said.

“I had to hit almost a breaking point [to take a break],” she added. “You don’t want to have to get to the end of your rope before you take a deep breath and figure out what needs to change. And a lot of people’s ‘end of their rope’ looks different.”

The post Breaking The Silence: Marisa Metzger Brings Mental Health To The Forefront Of Equestrian Sport appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Born in 1952 in Camargo, Ohio, Bold Minstrel was by Thoroughbred stallion Bold And Bad out of Wallise Simpson, who was the result of a test breeding of an unknown mare to a young Royal Minstrel. William “Billy” Haggard III purchased Bold Minstrel as a 5-year-old.

While Haggard never had any formal training, he competed at the highest levels of sport. From steeplechasing to show hunters to eventing, Haggard proved himself over and over again as one of the top riders of his time.

William Haggard and Bold Minstrel.

Topping out at 16.3 hands, the stunning gray was such an easy keeper that he was affectionately called “Fatty.” Bold Minstrel’s career actually began in the hunter ring, and his stunning looks and lovely jump garnered him dozens of ribbons in the conformation divisions across the country, including a reserve championship at the National Horse Show (New York). Eventually, though, Haggard switched his focus to eventing.

In 1959, Haggard and Bold Minstrel tackled the Pan American Games in Chicago, Illinois, and helped the U.S. team win the silver medal in addition to placing ninth individually. Four years later, they were sixth individually in São Paulo, Brazil, and clinched the team gold. Between those two Games, Haggard still campaigned Bold Minstrel in the hunter ring.

William Haggard and Bold Minstrel showing in the hunters at Devon. The pair competed successfully in the hunters in addition to eventing. Jimmy Ellis Photo

While it seemed like the pair would be a shoo-in for the Olympic Games in Tokyo the following year, the selectors did not include them on the team. However, when J. Michael Plumb’s mount, Markham, had to be euthanized on the flight over, Haggard loaned Bold Minstrel to the veteran rider.

“Michael Plumb, as can be imagined, was at a tremendous disadvantage having to compete in the Olympic Games after only riding the horse for two weeks before hand,” wrote teammate Michael Page in the Nov. 20, 1964, edition of The Chronicle of the Horse. “However, from the excellent dressage ride on the first day, to the ‘must’ clear round to protect the medal on the last day over a trappy jumping course, Plumb and Bold Minstrel never once shook the confidence placed in them.”

Michael Plumb and Bold Minstrel in the show jumping at the 1964 Olympic Games.

Since Bold Minstrel was only 12 after his first Olympic Games, where he helped the team earn silver, Haggard decided to continue to campaign him. However, as the horse had already reached the highest levels of two sports, he loaned him to Bill Steinkraus.

Steinkraus rode the gray gelding in numerous international show jumping events between 1964 and Bold Minstrel’s retirement in 1970. They won more than a dozen major competitions, including the Grand Prix of Cologne (Germany). In 1967, they also set two puissance records at the fall indoor shows, jumping 7’3” at the National Horse Show.

Bill Steinkraus and Bold Minstrel.

“It takes something special to make me wear a white tie and tails to a horse show, but the old Garden was special,” wrote Jimmy Wofford in the April 2008 issue of Practical Horseman. “I was willing to dress up like the Phantom of the Opera to watch quality show jumping. It was even more special when Bill Steinkraus came out of the corner next to me on his way to a 6-foot 7-inch puissance wall. With his uncanny eye for a distance, Bill saw a steady seven strides to a deep distance. This is just what you want when you are about to jump a big puissance wall. Unfortunately, Fatty saw a going six, grabbed the bit and opened up his stride. The book will tell you that you can’t jump that big a fence from that big a stride, but Fatty left it standing, much to Bill’s relief.”

Bill Steinkaus rode Bold Minstrel in the 1967 Pan American Games in show jumping, where the gelding won yet another team silver medal. They also set several puissance records in that same year. Budd Photo

Bold Minstrel competed in his third Pan American Games in show jumping in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that same year and, again, earned the team silver. That medal solidified Bold Minstrel’s epic career, making him the only horse to have medals in three Pan American Games and one Olympic Games in two disciplines.

Bold Minstrel continued to compete well into his late teens and eventually retired in 1970 at 18 years old. That year, he won three times at Lucerne (Switzerland) and won the Democrat Challenge Trophy at his old stomping grounds, the National Horse Show. After he retired from competition, Haggard took him home to his farm and foxhunted him.

Bill Steinkraus showing Bold Minstrel. 

“This gray horse gets my vote as the greatest horse of the 20th century,” wrote Dennis Glaccum in the Dec. 24, 1999, issue of the Chronicle, where Bold Minstrel was named one of the most influential horses of the century. “He stands heads and tails above any other horse I have observed in my lifetime.”

In 2011, COTH writer Coree Reuter embarked on a quest into the attic at the Chronicle’s office. While it’s occasionally a journey that requires a head lamp, GPS unit and dust mask, nearly 75 years of the equine industry is documented in the old issues and photographs that live above the offices, and Coree was determined to unearth the great stories of the past. Inspired by the saying: “History was written on the back of a horse,” she hoped to demystify the legends, find new ones and honor the horses who have changed the scope of everyday life. This article was originally published Feb. 2, 2011.

The post Throwback Thursday: Bold Minstrel Was The Horse Of The 20th Century appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“He has always tried to do the right thing,” Rose said of the 11-year-old Zangersheide (Chellano Alpha Z—Ula-La Sparkle Loma, Celano). “He has never once said, ‘Oh, I don’t really feel like that today,’ or, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do that.’ He always has his ears forward and [says], ‘What do you want me to do?’ ”

Gail Ellis of West Coast Equine Partners LLC owns “Cavaletto,” who competes in the high performance hunters and USHJA International Hunter Derby series with Nick Haness.

“He loves Nick and trusts Nick with his soul,” said Rose. “I mean, you can see [it] when they’re together. It’s so hand in glove; there’s never an argument. He comes through the turn, looks at the jump and says, ‘OK Nick, what do you want me to do?’ ”

That trust is a big part of what has made Cavaletto one of the most successful horses on the derby circuit. He won five international derbies in a row on his way to placing seventh in the Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship held Aug. 15-16. He also topped the $100,000 WCHR/USHJA West Coast Hunter Spectacular (California) this winter and finished 11^th at the 2024 Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship (Kentucky).

Both Rose and her assistant Gabby Gavalas emphasized what a great charge he is.

“He’s not hard to get to the ring, and he’s really easy just to handle,” Gavalas said. “Everything’s good about him.”

We sat down with Rose and Gavalas to hear more about what Cavaletto is like when the tack comes off.

• Rose said his personality has blossomed over his time in the barn. “At first he stood in the back of his stall when we got him,” she said. “He didn’t want to come talk to you. Not in a bad way, but he was just like ‘No, I’m good.’ Now he’s really happy and more social.”

• When Cavaletto came to the barn, he came with a trick: smiling on cue. He’ll happily do his trick for treats—and he’s not picky about those.

“He likes everything,” Gavalas said. “Carrots, bananas—with the peel off—and apples, he loves them.”

• Rose describes Cavaletto as one of the easiest horses to have in the barn.

“He’s easy on the crossties and easy for the boys to clip,” she said. “He’s not particular about eating; he just does everything right.

“He doesn’t fight, doesn’t kick, doesn’t act up, doesn’t pull back, never gives the [grooms] any trouble,” she added. “He’s just a nice horse.”

• The only thing that’s not perfect about Cavaletto, says Rose, is his feet. The team relies on farrier Tyler Talbert to keep his hooves, which require special TLC, in tip-top shape.

• Cavaletto loves his therapies and a relaxed routine. He gets treated with the Bemer blanket and occasionally gets MagnaWave at horse shows.

“He mostly happy hacks,” Rose said. “We just have to keep his body fit. He gets turned out regularly. For him it’s nothing stressful. He’s a very easy horse.”

• Cavaletto isn’t a typical gray. “I don’t think he’s a filthy one, and we’re very lucky he’s not inundated with melanoma. I think at this age, if he’s not showing it coming out now, knock on wood, we should be good.”

• Rose prefers having Cavaletto to be ridden rather than longed on horse show mornings to stretch his legs, so Gavalas throws a leg over when Haness can’t.

“You don’t have to [do a lot],” Gavalas said. “He’s so great to take on trail rides and stuff because he’s not spooky, he doesn’t look at anything. He has a great time being out on the track over there [at the horse show] or over where that grass field is. Just changing it up so it’s not always just riding [in the ring.]”

• At home his routine is similar.

“He doesn’t jump that much, because he so knows his job, and he doesn’t canter a lot either, because trotting is a much better gait to work on fitness and everything,” said Rose. “So he just stays good in his body and muscled up, and that’s all he needs to do.

“If you notice, he’s a little bit chubby,” said Rose. “Not fat, but I like them well-covered. To jump the size jumps he does he couldn’t really be conformation chubby. I think he looks great right now, and he has lots of muscle. I just want him to be pretty fit.”

• Cavaletto doesn’t have one dedicated groom. Christian, Gaspar and Javier Navarro, brothers who work for Rose, all take turns with him.

“They love the horses so much,” Rose said. “I don’t have to say, ‘Oh, go handwalk that one.’ I’ll be driving the golf cart, and I’ll see them out grazing one or handwalking one because they want to.

“They’re wonderful people,” she added.

• If he were a human, Rose said Cavaletto would be a gentleman.

“He’s very mannerly,” she said. “He’d be well spoken, well-educated and have the best manners ever.”

The post Behind The Stall Door With: Cavaletto Loma Z appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Tori Colvin’s Saturday night didn’t start out very auspiciously. While warming up her first horse for the handy round of the Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, she took a tumble. She withdrew that horse, Southern Night, and whether she would ride Dicoblue PS, with whom she led the class after Friday’s classic round, was questionable for a while.

But the young professional showed just how gritty she could be by not only rallying to ride while injured, but by doing it in style to win her fourth derby finals.

“It was a bit of a fluke accident in the schooling ring, and I fell off, but everything is all right,” she said. “It was a little painful at first, but it’s OK now.”

Colvin is only the second rider to win the championship four times—Hunt Tosh was the first—but she’s the only one to have accomplished the feat on four different horses.

“I think it’s also quite incredible that [Tosh] did it four times, and now we can be teammates in that department,” she said. “But all the horses I have shown in this are amazing. And Dicoblue was especially special tonight; he did a lot of the work.”

“[He] took me around beautifully, and he’s an incredible horse,” she said. “I give it all to him.”

While Colvin and the 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Diarado’s Boy—Chactine, Chacco-Blue) had a comfortable 5-point lead after Friday’s classic round, Jennifer Hannan put the pressure on them with best score of the night (303) aboard Cellestino—a round that gave Hannan the top spot with just Colvin left to go. So Colvin did what she’s been known to do since she was a teenager: She raised the bar.

“Every time he walks in the ring, he wants to win, and he has rarely ever put a foot wrong,” she said of “Blue.” “I think the worst thing is maybe a rub. He’s a very talented horse and wants to only do good.”

Using advice from trainer Tom Wright on the track to take, Colvin piloted Blue to the top-scoring handy round of the night with a 309. Added to her classic score (299), her winning total of 608 gave her an 11-point winning margin over Hannan. As her scores were announced, the crowd gave her an extra loud cheer of recognition for her accomplishment under adversity.

Course designers Meghan Rawlins and Ken Krome set quite the track for the 39 pairs qualified for Saturday night’s handy round. The course included a bounce, a pair of logs set as an option (in addition to the height-option fences) and the “Churchill Downs pen,” which required riders to negotiate three elements, but in any direction they chose. While most riders negotiated part of the obstacle as an in-and-out, a couple of riders chose to slice the fences and jump them individually in a figure-eight pattern.

“It was difficult. I felt like I was back to my equitation days,” Colvin said. “There was a lot of unique options that you could have, which was super fun, and everybody could kind of take their own route. Evan Coluccio—I don’t know if anybody else did it—but he did that slice for the in-and-out, which I thought was very unique. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to do that, but … [there were] a lot of options.”

For Hannan, who finished second on Cellestino—a horse that just started doing the international derbies this year—it was about picking the right option for the 10-year-old warmblood by Cornet Obolensky.

“I was lucky to go towards the end and be able to watch some other people’s tracks and what worked best,” Hannan said. “And certainly the goal of tonight was to do what was best for my horse and myself, so I think that worked out well.”

Though Cellestino is new to this kind of atmosphere, Hannan said he has matured across the season and was ready to go Saturday.

“When he felt ready, I tried a national derby, and then went out on the grass,” she said. “And every big event, he’s just walked right in. He walked right into Devon [Pennsylvania] and was excellent. He was second at Upperville [Virginia]. So it’s been a really nice sort of trajectory for him to lead up to here, for sure. This is his biggest class, and he’s never gone under lights, so I was really proud of him.”

In third place was two-time winner John French, who reunited with his old friend Milagro for derby finals. Though he has a long history with the 10-year-old warmblood of unrecorded breeding, “Johnny” had been on lease in California, so the last time French showed the gelding was at Devon in 2024. He wasn’t sure what to expect when they reunited, and he could certainly tell that Johnny had been focusing on his junior hunter job rather than the derbies when he first got back on him. But they rode in two high performance classes this week and won both.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, because he hadn’t been doing these kind of classes or jumping these kind of jumps for a while, but I knew he was good at night, and he really proved that it didn’t take long to get back in the swing of things,” he said.

French has decades of experience in top hunter classes and has ridden in international jumper classes, but even he was surprised by the course’s tests. Seeing how the track rode for others and then getting on course himself forced French to alter his plans for the Churchill Downs question.

“I had thought that I could jump the straw bales [at 8], and then go directly to that green jump [which was the middle section of the Churchill Downs question],” said French. “And then when I was on the course, I was like, ‘What were you thinking? You’re never going to be able to do that!’ So at the last minute, I was like, ‘All right, think of something else.’ So I just did what Evan did in slicing the jumps. And I thought, at least that looked, you know, a little bit handy. I’m not sure I could have done the other turn, so it worked out.”

Coming in fourth and taking the win in the Section B championship for Tier II riders was Michael Britt-Leon and Catch Touch This HS. Britt-Leon was celebrating his one-year anniversary with the 10-year-old Holsteiner (Cassall—Canturana), but it was only his second derby with him, as “Hammer’s” main job is in the amateur-owner hunter ring with Mark Dorfman. They sat 10^th after the classic round, so he knew he had some ground to make up to win Tier II and have a good finish in the overall championship.

“I was on top of Tier II with [my other horse] Prime Time, and then Brady [Mitchell] went in and one-upped me and did a great job on his horse, so I knew I had to bring it, because I really wanted to at least win that,” said Britt-Leon, who also finished sixth on Prime Time. “[I’m] ecstatic that I did; so proud of the horses and grateful to Mark and excited to be here.”

Results

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

The post Colvin Shows Her Grit For Fourth Derby Finals Win appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Just how good is Tori Colvin? One only needed to watch her classic round today with Dicoblue PS in the Platinum Performance USHJA international Hunter Derby Championship. From the moment she picked up the canter to when she landed off the final fence, she kept a nice loop in the reins, gently guiding the gelding around.

Colvin knew it was a good round, and she broke out into a wide smile after the final fence. When the scores came in from judges Scott Williamson, Mike Rosser, Jeanne Marie Dunford-Miller, Tammy Provost, Abby Blankenship and Lynn Forgione, it was clear they felt the same, awarding her base scores of 96, 95 and 96. When the four high option bonus points were added in, it gave her a total of 299 for a definitive lead going into Saturday night’s handy class.

“I know him really well,” she said of the 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Diarado’s Boy—Chactine, Chacco-Blue). “He’s a super sweet animal, and he always loves to go in and compete. He never really—knock on wood—puts a foot wrong. He just wants to do well. He’s a trier.”

Meghan Rawlins and Ken Krome set a big course today of 13 jumps ranging from 3’6″ to 4’5″, and while “Blue” jumped Colvin loose in the tack over the last, she was thrilled with how he tackled what was dubbed “a marathon of a course.”

“It was quite long,” she said of the course. “But every jump he jumped higher, which is a little unusual, but he felt great. He didn’t feel like he really got tired, so that was great. The course rode beautiful.”

Colvin has been riding Blue for two years now, so she’s gotten to know him really well. But he was for sale earlier this year, so she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep the ride for derby finals. Then John and Stephanie Ingram (who owned her first derby champion Cuba) purchased Blue, and they had her keep the ride—however things are a bit different, as he’s now based with their trainer Tom Wright. Colvin and Blue reunited earlier this week for the Platinum Performance USHJA 3’6″/3’9″ Green Hunter Incentive Championship, where they were second.

“I wasn’t able to show him for a short period of time, a couple weeks,” so it was nice to be able to get back on him and show him in a bigger venue once [before today],” she said. “I was a little nervous. I don’t usually get nervous, but in the first round of the incentive I was a little nervous—I’m not sure why—but it got my nerves out, so that was good.”

Colvin admitted she wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Saturday’s handy round, which takes place in the evening. If she has a good night, she will have won the championship four times with four different horses.

“I did a handy round in Ocala [Florida] at night, and he seemed to handle that quite well,” he said. “He’s a little newer; that was his first night class, this would be his second. Knock on wood he’s great.”

Jennifer Hannan sits five points behind on Colvin on a 294 on a derby finals newcomer Cellestino. The 10-year-old warmblood by Cornet Obolensky was brought up by Lauren Patterson and amateur Amy McGee before Stephanie Bulger purchased him last fall and gave Hannan the ride.

“He’s great,” she said. “He was a jumper, and I think he turns really well, and so he’s looking for the jumps. It’ll be our first night class, so we’ll see what the course presents.

“I was honestly really happy with my round,” she added. “I think I was able to gallop the whole round from start to finish, and that was my goal. And everything really came out of stride, so I’m pretty pleased.”

Sitting in third on a 290.75 is Amanda Steege on Laffitte De Muze. The pair won the classic round last year.

“He felt amazing,” she said of the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Darco—Everlychin De La Pomme). “I actually think this is one of the best rounds of his career, and there’s not one thing I would’ve changed.”

The pair lost the class last year after “Lafitte” spooked at the raucous applause as he landed from the last jump, so she asked the crowd to be more patient with their cheering Saturday, but said she was looking forward to the evening class.

“There was pressure today,” she said. “I feel like now I’m fine; I’ll be relaxed tomorrow. … I’m really looking forward to it. Lafitte is excellent in the handy. I think this class, historically, has a lot of changes during tomorrow night’s event. It’s not normal that our horses just walk in for a night class and do the handy, so I’m really excited that I’m doing that on a horse that has a lot of experience.”

The handy round will start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The Tier II riders who qualified for the Section B handy will go first, and then it will go straight into the Section A handy for the overall championship. A minimum of 20 riders will compete in the Section A handy.

Watch Colvin’s winning rounds, courtesy of USHJA:

Results

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

The post Colvin Sets Herself Up For Fourth Derby Finals Win appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“People definitely notice him. They either love it or hate it. It’s a funny color,” said rider Jennifer Bliss. “I like a little bit of an interesting color myself.”

But he’s more than colorful; “Mikado” also has proven he’s got plenty of jump. Tania Mackee bred the 8-year-old stallion, registered with the Anglo European Studbook (GFS Lord Of The Dance—Charisma, Camaro), in England. He comes from a long line of colorful horses, including his palomino sire and buckskin overo dam. Erika Sergent and Danny Michan of Sergent Stables LLC imported him as a 3-year-old, and three years ago Michan started showing him in the jumpers but soon found Mikado wasn’t interested in going fast. In 2023, he started showing in the hunters with Isabella De Sousa before spending most of last year in the breeding shed.

Mikado showed a couple times during the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida) with Brianne Goutal-Marteau, and in May, Sergent and Michan approached Bliss about developing him more as a hunter with the goal of eventually doing the derbies.

“He’s super brave. He’s a thousand percent brave, and he has a nice stride and nice scope, and I really think he can do it,” Bliss said. “He just has to get some more mileage.”

The green incentive championships is only Bliss’ fourth show with Mikado. She originally had no plans to bring him to Kentucky, but when he was so consistent showing in the national hunter derbies this summer at the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) she changed her mind.

“He’s light on experience, but he’s really brave and capable,” she said. “He’s really fun to ride. He just has to kind of learn the game a little. The jumps are easy for him; he was a little distracted at the end of the ring [in the Rolex Arena].

“He’s a little bit of a sleeper,” she added. “In the beginning, I was like, ‘This horse can do no wrong. He’s such an angel. He’s so perfect,’ and then he bucks me off one day. I was like, ‘I better not take that for granted. I better pay a little bit of attention here.’ But he’s a good boy. He’s great.“

Bliss doesn’t have a lot of experience with stallions, but she said Mikado is very laid back. Though he goes to get collected regularly, he’s not reactive to mares. She said it is a new challenge figuring out his ideal ride and preparation.

“Having not had a ton of experience with stallions, it seems like a little bit of an extra challenge getting their minds and bodies both in sync at the same time,” she said. “Calm and focused in his mind but not too fatigued in his body.”

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

The post In A World Of Bays, GFS Mikado Steals The Spotlight appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Green Incentive Format: Like last year, the Green Hunter Incentive Championships will join the International Hunter Derby Championship in the Rolex Arena. The 3’6”/3’9” Green Hunter Incentive Championship will be held over one day, while the 3’/3’3” competition will be over three days. There is no jog; instead, riders must trot a circle on a loose rein after their round to demonstrate soundness.

As with the past two years, the top 10 horses in the first round of the 3’/3’3” championship Wednesday will receive a bye to Friday’s Tier I championship round, meaning they can choose not to show Thursday in the second round. The top 10 horses in Thursday’s second round of competition, excluding those who qualified the day before, will also receive a berth to the Tier I championship round. Additionally, the 10 horses with the highest combined scores in the first two rounds who are not already qualified will advance to the Tier I championship round.

Among Green Hunter Incentive Tier II riders (those ranked 46^th-100th on the money won list for 2024) and Tier III riders (those ranked 101th and below on the money won list for 2024), the 10 best combined scores, outside of those who already qualified in one of the first two rounds, will also be invited to jump the championship course. (Tier I riders can be found here). All Tier II/III riders, regardless of whether they qualified for the championship round or the Tier II/III round, will be judged and placed in the Tier II/III championship. Any Tier II/III riders who qualify for the Tier I championship round will be eligible for prizes in both championships. Scores from the first rounds don’t carry over; all horses will start with a clean slate.

The 3’6”/3’9” competitors just have one preliminary round on Tuesday. The top 30 horses from that round will advance to the Tier I championship round. Additionally, 10 horses ridden by Tier II/III riders who are not already qualified for the Tier I championship round will compete over the same course for their own awards.

There’s no jog for the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship either, and horses are required to trot a circle on a loose rein at the end of each round. The class will once again be held in the Rolex Arena. The championship comprises two rounds, starting with the classic round on Friday and finishing with the handy round on Saturday evening, with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m.

Derby Format: All entries will complete the classic round, then things get a little tricky. Riders are grouped into two tiers based on the amount of derby money they won in the 2024 competition year. A Tier I rider is any rider standing 40^th or higher based on the rider money won rankings. Everyone else is a Tier II rider.

A minimum of the top 20 horses from the classic hunter round, regardless of tier, will return for the Tier I handy round. They are competing for 80% of the prize money and the championship title. The top 20 horses ridden by a Tier II rider will advance to the handy as part of the Tier II handy and are eligible to receive prize money from both Tier I and Tier II. Horses who don’t qualify for the handy round can participate in the Derby Challenge round, which will take place before the handy on Saturday.

Scott Williamson, Mike Rosser, Jeanne Marie Dunford-Miller, Tammy Provost, Abby Blankenship and Lynn Forgione will judge all championships.

The Schedule (all times Eastern Time):

Tuesday, Aug. 12:

8:15 a.m. 3’6”/3’9” Green Hunter Incentive first round (for all 3’6”/3’9” championship horses)

1 p.m. 3’6”/3’9” Green Hunter Incentive Tier II round (for an additional 10 horses ridden by Tier II/III riders not already competing in the Tier I championship round)

3’6”/3’9” Championship Tier I round (for the top 30 horses from the first round)

Wednesday, Aug. 13:

8 a.m. 3’/3’3” Green Hunter Incentive first round (for all 3’/3’3” championship horses)

Thursday, Aug. 14:

8 a.m. 3/3’3” Green Hunter Incentive second round (the top 10 horses from the first round may elect not to compete)

Friday Aug. 15:

8 a.m. 3’/3’3” Green Hunter Incentive Tier II round (for an additional 10 horses ridden by Tier II/III riders not already competing in the championship Tier I round)

3’/3’3” Green Hunter Incentive Championship Tier I round (for the top 10 horses from the first round, second round and cumulative scores)

12:45 p.m. International Hunter Derby Championship Classic Round

Saturday Aug. 16:

12 p.m. International Hunter Derby Challenge Round

6 p.m. Opening Ceremonies

6:30 p.m. International Hunter Derby Handy Round (Tier II handy will go first and have only Tier II riders; Tier I handy will follow and consists of all qualified riders)

How To Watch: The action will be streaming on watchushja.org and ClipMyHorse.TV.

How You Can Follow Along: The Chronicle will be on-site bringing you gorgeous photos and lots of stories. Be sure to follow along at www.coth.com, Facebook and Instagram @chronofhorse.

Useful links and information:
• Entries for the 2025 Platinum Performance USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championships
• Entries for the 2025 Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship
• Results
• Specifications for the 2025 Platinum Performance USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championships
• Specifications for the 2025 Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship

The post What You Need To Know: 2025 USHJA Hunter Championship Week appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.