David Oliynyk and Generous swept the first day of the Performance Working Hunters (Phelps Media Group)
The morning began with the Performance Working Hunters as the first division to be seen in the Main Hunter Ring. In the end, David Oliynyk emerged victorious aboard both of his mounts, garnering two wins in the over fences and a second under saddle aboard Generous, in addition to two second place ribbons over fences with Cascor's Splendor.
Generous and Oliynyk's consistency was evident as the pair took the win in both over fences classes. The handy round challenged the horse and rider pairs with inside turn options and a trot jump, all of which Generous executed effortlessly. They also picked up a second in the under saddle. Not far behind was Oliynyk's other mount, Cascor's Splendor, owned by Maria Moalli of Groton, CT. The pair claimed two second place awards for their solid efforts in the over fences.
"Generous is a horse that I've show now for five years, so it's nice to go in on him because I know him very well and he's done very well for me," commented Oliynyk. "Historically, he has done very well at this show with the derbies that they have over the weekend, so we are hopefully getting him prepared for that, and we will see if we can get a good result. For the first day, it is a little cold out, a little breezy-I thought he behaved very well. He can sometimes wake up a bit under these conditions and be a bit playful, and I thought he stayed very quiet today. He takes a very quiet position. He's a big horse so when he wants to he can kind of pull you around. In preparing him you have to try to get through that so when he gets in the ring he is not too strong."
Oliynyk was also pleased with his second mount's performance, "Cascor's Splendor is just starting to figure out how to do everything, and I'm very happy with the way he's come along. He just started doing the derbies over the past year. I am hopefully preparing him for the weekend to do the derby here. His owner also shows him in the Adult Hunters. He's great at that, and she has a fun time."
As a native to the area, Oliynyk grew up competing at Fieldstone since they started holding horse shows. "We've been coming for a very long time," he explained. "I am very happy with the new improvements to the facility. I have been able to see it from the very beginning, and they are working very hard to make it a quality show facility. Hopefully that will start to attract more competitors."
Oliynyk and his clients will be returning to Fieldstone in August for two weeks to compete in the Summer Showcase.
Rounding out the hunter divisions for the day were the Pre-Green Hunters. Picture Me, owned by Jennifer O'Donnell of Somerville, MA, and Thomas Hern earned top honors in the first over fences class. They followed it up with a third place award for their second trip. Taking the blue in the second over fences class was Chiquita and Kristen Bumpus. Chiquita is owned by Louisa Kania of Peterborough, NH.
"Chiquita is a 9-year-old Dutch mare," explained Bumpus. "She does not have a whole lot of showing experience. She showed a couple years ago, but then she had an injury last year that we really took our time with. We wanted to have a good solid horse at the end of it all. We waited a year, and then started showing this year in Florida. She was pretty rusty in Florida but she felt back to normal by the last week or so. Today she felt like her old normal self. She gets a little nervous if you get too rough, so she likes you to sit very still, really not move your hands very much. All of your adjustments have to be really subtle or she overreacts because she's pretty sensitive."
Bumpus continued, "I thought Chiquita was very good in the second trip. It is very windy, so she was a little shifty and worrying about everything blowing around, but I thought she held her brain together pretty well and she jumped beautifully. I actually think she is easier to ride when she is a little fresh. I thought she handled it really nicely. She is so much fun to jump, and she has such a beautiful canter and canter rhythm. She is really easy to see where you are."