Good Times and Ailish Cunniffe. (Shawn McMillen Photography)
The pair earned the championship and the grand prize in the Small Junior Hunter 15 & Under division after placing first, first and second over fences and second under saddle. Victoria Colvin was reserve champion in the division aboard Dr. Betsee Parker’s Ovation, placing first and second over fences and winning under saddle.?
Cunniffe trains with her mom and dad, Bonnie and Frank Cunniffe, as well as Missy Clark and John Brennan in the equitation. She has owned Good Times, a ten-year-old Warmblood gelding, for two years.
“He is basically my pet; he is very sweet and very lazy,” Cunniffe described. “I love how I can just loop the reins with him. He is so much fun to ride.”?
Cunniffe showed at WIHS once before in the ponies and has been to the show many times with her parents, but this was her first time showing here in a couple of years and her first championship. ?
“It is really exciting,” she smiled. “I am really proud of him and it is so much fun. It was my first time showing him here and the first time he has ever been here. He was great, and he loved it. He was no different in here than anywhere else. He is not too complicated; he is pretty straightforward.”?
Commenting on the show, Cunniffe noted, “It is fun how it is in the middle of the city. It is cool how you can just walk outside and the hotel is just a couple of blocks away and everything is nearby.”?
Continuing the morning’s competition, the Small Junior Hunter 16-17 division awarded championship and reserve honors to Hasbrouck Donovan, of Gainesville, FL. Donovan was champion with Stephanie Keen’s Lyle, placing , first and third over fences. Donovan rode Don Stewart’s Confidential to the reserve championship after winning the under saddle and placing second and third over fences.?
Along with the division tricolors, Hasbrouck Donovan earned the prestigious DiVecchia Perpetual Trophy as Best Child Rider on a Horse. The award was sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Crown; the trophy donated by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick DiVecchia. This was Donovan’s second time winning the award, also taking the title in 2009.?
Donovan spoke about each of her mounts, including champion Lyle, a 19-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding with a long and prestigious resume.?
“I was a little nervous just because he is so awesome and it was just his first show in a while, but he went in there and he knew what he was doing,” Donovan stated. “We did the Hamptons together and I showed him a little bit during HITS because he didn’t have any points and we had to qualify. He was awesome all summer. He was reserve in the Hamptons and he was so awesome at Harrisburg.”?
“I was excited here,” she said. “He knows he is at indoors and he is super smart. He has been here plenty of times.”?
The Best Child Rider presentation for Hasbrouck Donovan. (Shawn McMillen Photography)
“You just have to stay smooth and kind of push him around a little bit,” Donovan said of the ride. “He is almost like a baby; if you just pet him and tell him he’s a good boy then he’s perfect. He is so much fun. He is so scopey that it is just effortless for him.”?
A championship with Lyle, reserve championship with Confidential, and a reserve championship with her horse Wagner secured the Best Child Rider title for Donovan this week.?
She also spoke about Wagner. “I ride him in the equitation and the hunters,” Donovan said. “We just started doing him in the hunters this year and he has adapted to it so well. I have done him in the derbies a lot; he is awesome at that. He has done really well and turned out to be much better at the hunters than we thought.”?
Commenting on her second Best Child Rider title, Donovan smiled, “It means a lot just because it is my last junior year, so it is nice to go out doing really well.”??
“This is one of my favorite horse shows,” she added. “It is really fun. I like the atmosphere and being in the city.”??
Donovan will finish out her last junior year and plans on attending Auburn University in January and will ride on the school’s intercollegiate equestrian team.
The Large Junior Hunter 16-17, sponsored by Chansonette Farm, awarded championship honors to Mahala Rummell’s Charade and Ashley Foster, of Brookeville, MD. The pair was awarded The Chance Step Perpetual Trophy, donated by Brooke Carmichael McMurray- Fowler and Pam Carmichael Keenan, after placing first, second and second over fences. Hasbrouck Donovan guided Wagner to the reserve tricolor with first and fourth place ribbons over fences and second under saddle.
Dr. Betsee Parker’s Inclusive and Victoria Colvin, of Loxahatchee, FL, earned the championship in the Large Junior Hunter 15 & Under division with a clean sweep of blue ribbons over fences. Happenstance and Bergen Sanderford, of Santa Rosa Beach, FL, earned the reserve honors after winning the under saddle and placing second and third over fences. ?
Inclusive and Colvin were also presented with The Lyrik Challenge Trophy, donated by Ashley and Courtney Kennedy, for the best Junior Hunter Stake Round with a high score of 88.Sanderford earned the Georgetown Trophy as the high-score junior hunter owner-rider with a score of 87 in the first class over fences.
In addition to Junior Hunter championships, WIHS hosted the hunter phase of the WIHS Equitation Classic this morning with an early lead for Michael Hughes, of Morriston, FL. Hughes rode Oban, owned by Missy Clark and North Run, to the high score of 89.83 out of 40 competitors. Elizabeth Benson, of Whitehouse Station, NJ, sits close in second with an 89.33 riding San Remo VDL. Jacob Pope, of Owings Mills, MD, is in the third position with a score of 88 aboard Madeline Turner’s Uno. Rounding out the top ten hunter scores are Meg O’Mara, Hasbrouck Donovan, Kristen Lutz, Victoria Colvin, Shawn Casady, Megan MacPherson, and Gabrielle Bausano.?
The WIHS Equitation Classic will continue tomorrow with all riders returning for the jumper phase. The hunter and jumper scores will then be averaged out to determine the top ten riders who will participate in the final work-off. The riders change horses by determination of a random draw by lot and then compete over the jumper course for final scores.?
The Washington International Horse Show continues Saturday with the opening classes for the pony hunters, followed by the $5,000 Senator’s Cup Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, sponsored by North Star, and the $10,000 Ambassador’s Cup SJHOF High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, sponsored by Oasis Petroleum. The jumper phase for the WIHS Equitation Finals will close out the afternoon session. ?
The evening session begins at 7 p.m. with the WIHS Equitation Finals work-off with the top 10 riders, terrier races and an amazing demonstration from Australian horsemanship master Guy McLean. The $100,000 President's Cup Grand Prix, a FEI World Cup qualifier presented by Events DC, will conclude the night.?
More from Friday at the Washington International Horse Show
Olivier Philippaerts and Chicago VH Moleneind Clear Seven Feet in $25,000 Puissance Victory
Open Jumpers Go For Speed
Final Results: WIHS Equitation Finals Hunter Phase
Placing /Back Number/Rider/Hometown/Score
1 800 Michael Hughes MORRISTON FL 89.833
Scores : 88.50, 92.00, 89.00
2 793 Elizabeth Benson WHITEHOUSE STATION NJ 89.333
Scores : 90.00, 90.00, 88.00
3 818 Jacob Pope OWINGS MILLS MD 88.000
Scores : 89.00, 87.50, 87.50
4 809 Meg O'Mara RUMSON NJ 87.833
Scores : 84.50, 89.00, 90.00
5 814 Hasbrouck Donovan GAINESVILLE FL 87.333
Scores : 89.00, 87.00, 86.00
6 827 Kristen Lutz PURCHASE NY 86.166
Scores : 87.00, 86.50, 85.00
7 819 Victoria Colvin LOXAHATCHEE FL 86.000
Scores : 87.00, 84.00, 87.00
8 813 Shawn Casady HARRIMAN TN 85.750
Scores : 86.50, 85.50, 85.25
9 791 Megan Mac Pherson NIWOT CO 85.250
Scores : 85.50, 84.75, 85.50
10 790 Gabrielle Bausano NEW YORK NY 85.000
Scores : 88.00, 86.00, 81.00?