Armani and Madeline Schaefer (Shawn McMillen Photography)
“I’ve always had terrible luck at this show. I couldn’t get myself together here,” Madeline Schaefer of Westminster, MD. At the young age of 12 she has been able to change her bad luck at Capital Challenge in a big way. The talented rider rode Armani to the lion's share of awards Saturday on two ponies.
Piloting Armani, her nine-year-old Welsh Pony gelding by Bronheulog Roya, she won the Small Pony Hunter Championship, sponsored by Spring Mill Farm/Jenny Yandell. They placed first, first, and second over fences and were sixth under saddle. The reserve champion was Love Me Tender, ridden by Mimi Gochman for David Gochman. They won an over fences class and were second under saddle.
The Harper Taskier Wright Memorial Trophy, given in memory of Harper by her loving parents Michael and Alexandra Borissoff Wright, friends, and family whose lives she touched, was given to Schaefer for winning the Small Pony Hunter championship.
Armani and Schaefer won the Grand Pony Hunter Championship, sponsored by Lochmoor Stables/Mindy and Greg Darst, and were awarded the VanderMoore Designs Trophy, donated by VanderMoore Designs. Schaefer was named the Best Pony Rider, an award sponsored by Archibald Cox and Brookway Stables. They were presented with the Kitty Borisoff Memorial Trophy donated by her many friends.
The EMO Trip of the Show for Pony Hunters went to Mimi Gochman on Love Me Tender for their score of 90.
Schaefer believes that her luck changed this year due to the hard work she has put in here. “I had a lot of rides this year – four rides – so I got a lot of practice. I got the miles in the saddle in the ring,” she remarked.
Her partner Armani, she said, has “an amazing rhythm.” She added, “He likes to play a little, but we’ll put up with it if he goes like that every day. I showed him here last year when he was a green, and he’s improved a lot. The way you ride him now is a lot easier. He’s a lot more adjustable.”
In addition to the Small championship, Schaefer won the Medium Pony Hunter championship, sponsored by Flagship & Jeff & Kelley Gogul, with Sports Cast, an eight-year-old German Riding Pony gelding by Munser II owned by Gary Schaefer. They won two over fences classes. Mimi Gochman picked up her second reserve championship with True Love. They were first and second over fences.
Schaefer started riding Sports Cast just over a year ago and said that his ride was more like a bigger horse than a pony. “He has a big stride and his canter is similar to some of my sister’s horses,” she explained.
The Large Pony Hunter championship went to 12-year-old Daisy Farish of Versailles, KY, on Beau Rivage, a 17-year-old Holsteiner/Welsh gelding by Magical. They won two over fences classes and placed second and third in the remaining jumping classes. Barbara Ann Merryman rode Storyteller for Samantha Kasowitz to the reserve championship after they placed first, first, and second over fences.
Farish has been paired with Beau Rivage for two years, and they competed at Capital Challenge last year. “He’s really fun because he has a great rhythm and when you get to the jump in the right spot, he just fires over it,” she said.
Farish is a Capital Challenge veteran already. “I was either six or seven when I showed in the children’s ponies. It is one of my favorite shows because it isn’t all spread out. You can see everyone go and everyone comes here. It’s really competitive because at indoors there are only a certain amount who can be there. Here there are a lot more, so there is a lot more competition.”
Farish was awarded the Stewart Warner Cup for pony riders, given in memory of Laurie Gilbert Stewart & Mary Warner Brown by Donald E. Stewart, Jr. and Louise W. Serio. It is awarded to up-and-coming junior riders, who, in the opinion of the panel of judges, exhibit the best hunter style and show potential as a young hunter rider.
The Children’s Hunter Pony championship went to Beaucatcher, ridden by eight-year-old Sienna Pilla of Ridgefield, CT. Pilla and Beaucatcher, a 17-year-old Welsh Pony Cross gelding owned by Abigail Blankenship, won an over fences class and the under saddle. Alyx Goldstein and Summerland were the reserve champions after they placed first and fourth over fences and were fifth under saddle.
Pilla has ridden Beaucatcher since January and started out in the Short Stirrup division, but when a show they attended didn't have the division, they moved up to the Children's Hunter Pony classes. With a Grand Champion Hunter title secured there, they never looked back. Advice from her trainer, Lainie Wimberly, has helped get her to this point. She recalled, “I try to keep my hands up and go forward. It helps me get a good distance at the jump – not too tight and not too big.”
Pilla said that she has attended Capital Challenge before to watch her older sister Sophia compete, but this was her first time showing. When she returns to school on Monday, she said, “I’ll tell everyone that I got champion, and I’m really excited about it.”
Wimberly noted, “I think she’s really talented and once she got past the fear of going forward her natural talent and abilities have come out. She has a natural eye and good feel. I was really impressed with the way she rode. I have high hopes for her. She comes from a really great riding family. She’s following in her sister’s footsteps.”