Sandy Ferrell was named the Der Dau Leading Hunter Rider during week one
Among those top riders and trainers were Jennifer Bauersachs and Sandy Ferrell, each of whom earned the title of Leading Hunter Rider, with Ferrell taking the honor during week one and Bauersachs claiming the title during week two.
"The team of Geoff [Teall], Louise [Serio], Jennifer [Burger] and so many other people that are involved have done such an incredible job. Every year, it just gets better and better," Ferrell said. "Everyone involved in putting together the horse show should know how appreciative all the exhibitors, the riders and trainers are for all of the hard work that they put into these shows."
Ferrell continued, "It's the ambience of being at Devon without all of the pressure of the actual Devon Horse Show. We don't get to appreciate the facility itself as much during Devon because there are just so many people, and it's so busy. It's a very beautiful venue, and it's a beautiful town, so it's nice to be able to really enjoy it."
Ferrell claimed the week one Der Dau Leading Hunter Rider title after earning multiple championships, including in the Conformation Hunters riding Bryan Baldwin and Meralex Farm's As Promised, in the Thoroughbred Hunters aboard Early Note, owned by Richard Blue, and in the Pre-Green Hunters on Stephanie Bulger's Carrica.
Ferrell also earned an Independence Day victory in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby aboard Shadowplay, owned by Perry Peterson.
"The derby was really a lot of fun. It was a beautiful class and a great crowd with it being the Fourth of July," Ferrell said. "The weather was perfect, and everything was just right on cue."
For Bauersachs, her Leading Hunter Rider title during week two came following success aboard mounts such as Casimir, with whom she earned the Second Year Green/High Performance Hunter division championship, and Overjoyed, whom she rode to the First Year Green Hunter reserve championship.
"It's so nice being at a show run by people who still show. They really get what it's like back in the trenches trying to get things done, and they do an excellent job," Bauersachs said. "Geoff [Teall] did an amazing job of making sure that everyone was accommodated and that everything was run smoothly. The jumps were amazing. Skip Bailey did a fantastic job there, and all of the jumps were just beautiful. The courses were nice. The staff was nice. I just really have a good time there."
In addition to her division success, Bauersachs claimed big wins aboard For Love in both the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby and the $10,000 Brandywine Young Working Hunter Stake.
"I'm so proud of her just in general," Bauersachs said of her own Warmblood mare, For Love. "Certain horses you just feel connected with. She'll do anything for me, and I trust her; it's a fun feeling to have. Doing special classes like the derby, I know I can take chances with her. She's a young horse, but she's really brave and scopey and confident in herself."
As a young horse, For Love was also eligible to compete in the $10,000 Brandywine Young Working Hunter Stake, designed to give young, green horses a spotlight feature class.
"As someone who's been involved with the politics of trying to get young hunters more seen and get them special classes it was really nice to a) have a class that we could do that and to b) have a horse to do that with," Bauersachs said. "It was very well done."
Other trainers seeing great success throughout the two weeks of horse shows at the Brandywine Valley Summer Series included Brian Feigus, Troy Hendricks and Shane George.
Feigus, of Colts Neck, New Jersey, was named the Der Dau Leading Hunter Trainer during week one.
"The past couple weeks we've had a few children's hunters, younger and older, a bunch of equitation horses, one child/adult jumper and a children's hunter pony, and all of them have done exceptionally well here. It's the Devon atmosphere, and they all seem to really like it here," Feigus said.
"It's one of my favorite horse shows," Feigus continued. "It's run very smoothly. It's very exhibitor friendly. Truly, that's the most important thing to me - that you feel like you're wanted to come to the show. They make you feel like you belong."
Hendricks, who trains out of nearby Kimber-View Stables in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, brought 17 horses to Brandywine throughout the two weeks and expressed views very similar to Feigus.
"We had everything from junior hunters to jumpers to equitation to pre-adults to ponies. I got to see the show across the board," Hendricks said. They do a fantastic job with this horse show. The jumps were beautiful; they were so conscientious of the schedule, and another one of my favorite little things is that they make the ribbon and award presentations really special at this horse show. That's something that you don't get all of the time at shows these days."
While Brandywine is a short drive for Hendricks, Shane George and his wife, Chris, had a much further trip to the horse show, coming all the way from Texas.
"This was our first year, and it was very well run," Chris said. "We had a great time; it's been worth the trip from Texas."
In the Junior Hunter divisions, one of the top finishers during week two was Sophia Calamari. She rode to the Junior Hunter 3'3" Hunter Grand Championship aboard her own Celebrate who she just acquired earlier in the year.
"This is only my fifth show with him, and he's been champion at all five. He's just such a wonderful horse. I'm so glad to have him," Calamari said. "This is my first time here, and I really like it. I love that they score every round, and I love riding in the Dixon Oval. It's a very relaxed, nice show."
The entire Brandywine Valley Summer Series team expressed appreciation to the staff, exhibitors, sponsors and everyone who made the 2015 shows such a success.
Competition manager Geoff Teall concluded, "I still can't believe how nice the horse shows were. I can't believe how many people wanted to do it. There's so much I can't believe about it. It just was really fun to all work together, exhibitors, managers sponsors, everyone, to all work together to make a really nice horse show, and it really works because of that."
While Sunday marked the conclusion of the Brandywine Valley Summer Series premier-rated horse shows, Brandywine hosts the prestigious 2015 East Coast U.S. Junior Hunter Finals beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning.
For more information on the Brandywine Valley Summer Series, please visit www.brandywinevalleysummerseries.com.