Shows
My First PonyVic RussellVick Russell is a third-generation equestrian trainer, still active with horses in his 70s. He owns Ly-Nard Hills Farm in Columbus, NC where he specializes in sale horses and training hunters and jumpers.
He has six children; four of whom are competitive equestrians. Vick has more than 60 years of experience riding and training horses, and continues to compete. He is the author of Vick Russell Competition System: The concise and in-touch reality of competition riding.
Unlike other equestrians, Vick didn't start with a pony, he started out with a horse. But all riders start somehere...2023-11-2919 minMy First PonyKristen VanderveenKristen Vanderveen runs Bull Run Jumpers, a training and sales stable in Wellington, FL. She began managing the stables at age 18. Riding her current mount, Bull Run's Risen, since 2018 has led to a run of successes including winning the show jumping competition in 2021 at the Traverse City Tournament of Champions and claiming the Horse & Style Magazine Style of Riding Award. (The award celebrates a rider who stands out as respectful, dignified, and courteous.) In 2021 she received the Martha Jolicoeur Leading Lady Rider Award at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, FL. Kristen is known for riding fast and...2023-07-1911 minMy First PonyDaniel GeitnerA lifelong equestrian, Daniel Geitner has moved up from ponies to horses to owning his own stable with his wife, Cathy, in Aiken, SC. Riding and competing is a family affair. Their daughter, Lilly rides and is following in her parent's footsteps with wins of her own.
The results page on the stable's website shows a slew of recent wins for Daniel including a recent set of wins for the whole family.
May 10, 2023 - April was a successful month, with Cathy taking home the Leading Open Rider award at the Aiken Horse Show in the...2023-07-1913 minMy First PonyJennifer BauersachsJennifer Bauersachs owns and operates Spring Hill Farm in Frenchtown, New Jersey with her husband, Rolf, where they focus on young horses and train high-level, winning, hunters and jumpers. Spring Hill Farm has become known for producing champions and grand champions in the professional, amateur, and junior hunter divisions at shows such as the Washington International Horse Show, Penn National, Hampton Classic, Old Salem Farm, and the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair.
Jen has had many successes in the ring including the Capitol Challenge 2021 riding Blink, owned by Lee Kellogg Sadrian.
At the 2022 Winter...2023-07-1919 minMy First PonyHavens SchattHavens Schatt is a top hunter rider and trainer who enjoyed a very successful junior career, then trained under top trainer Tom Wright for nine years before starting her own business with her husband Fred Commissaire. Together they own Milestone farm in Lexington, KY. Schatt has consistently won championships at all of the top horse shows including the Devon Horse Show and Indoors as well as many hunter derby wins. She is the two-time winner of the World Equestrian Center (WEC) Hunter Derby 3'6” – 3'9” and in 2019 won the first $5000 USHJA Hunter Derby at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show. Her ca...2023-07-1917 minMy First PonyVictoria ColvinVictoria "Tori" Colvin is an accomplished rider and trainer who now has her own company; VICTORIA COLVIN, LLC, which she began in Wellington, FL after a successful junior career. Colvin was one of the winningest young riders in history. Colvin offers clients the opportunity to train with an acclaimed show rider/trainer and compete in AA horse shows across North America during the spring and fall, as well as compete in Wellington at the world-famous Winter Equestrian Festival during the winter season. Colvin also provides services for finding, developing, and selling quality young show horses.
Colvin had...2023-07-1922 minMy First PonyAmanda SteegeAmanda Steege and her Belgian Warmblood, Lafitte De Muze recently won the $20,000 Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club 3'6”-3'9” Hunter Derby.
Steege is known for her success in the hunter ring and has won championships and accolades in that discipline. She has participated in the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, the Devon Horse Show, and the Winter Equestrian Festival. She was fresh out of college when she established her Ashmeadow Farm. She splits her year between Ocala, Florida, and Califon, New Jersey, where she rents Pinnacle Farm. A lifetime of success with horses and now as a...2023-07-1918 minMy First PonyMcLain WardMcLain Ward has represented the USA at five Olympic Games, three World Championships, many World Cup Finals, and three Pan American Games. He gives full credit to all the horses who made it possible.
Ward was riding a Belgian Warmblood Mare named Sapphire at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic games and won team gold.
Sapphire retired May 14, 2012 at the Devon Horse Show; the night Ward won the $100,000 Wells Fargo Grand Prix of Devon. She was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ward again rode for the U...2023-07-1904 minMy First PonyLauren BalcombLauren was born in Sydney and have been based in Duffy's Forest, on the Northern Beaches of NSW. Her family also owns a farm, known as Lamondale, which is located in Wilberforce. This is where they breed their quality performance horses for dressage, showjumping and eventing.2023-07-1912 minMy First PonyDanny RobertshawLegendary hunter rider and trainer Danny Robertshaw is a United States Equestrian Federation “R” licensed judge and serves as a committee member for both US Equestrian and the United States Hunter Jumper Association. While he was competing, Danny became the first rider to earn championships in the Regular Working Hunters at Devon, the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, the Washington International Horse Show, the National Horse Show, and the Royal Winter Fair in a single season. He also earned championships at Devon, Harrisburg, Washington, and/or the National Horse Show with such hunters as Lestat, Parody, Silent Runner, and numerous othe...2023-07-1924 minMy First PonyMimi GochmanMimi Gochman is still a young equestrian and has already won numerous awards and accolades in the industry and is highly regarded for her abilities as a rider. She earned the Individual Bronze in 2022 at the FEI Youth Equestrian Games and the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation's 2022 Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy when she was 17. And earned the gold medal in the $25,000 Young Rider Individual Final at the 2021 Gotham North FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships placing Gochman in an elite group of riders who represented the U.S. on an international level.
She has achieved significant success i...2023-07-1909 minMy First PonySharn WordleySharn represented New Zealand at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and went on to compete at the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018.
Sharn Wordley is a top ranked international grand prix show jumper, originally from New Zealand
Lexington, Kentucky, USA – May 22, 2021 – As the penultimate day of the Kentucky Spring Classic drew to a close, a total of 55 international athletes took to the Rolex Arena with their respective mounts to contend for the top prize in the highly-anticipated $137,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix CSI 3*, sponsored by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. Just six athletes navigated clear efforts to qual...2023-07-1910 minMy First PonyScott StewartScott Stewart recently earned his 14th Leading Hunter Rider Award and Grand Champion Professional Hunter at the 2021 National Horse Show. Other notable achievements include, 2015 USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals Champion, and seven consecutive wins (2007- 2014) at the Washington International Horse Show (WCHR). Stewart is also the winner of numerous Grand Hunter Championships at top horse shows like Devon, Capital Challenge, and Indoors plus multiple wins in the USHJA National Hunter Derby Series. Scott Stewart's has enjoyed a long and successful career in the equestrian world, and he will always remember his first pony that got him started.
2023-07-1909 minMy First PonySavannah UngerThe equestrian life is a family affair for Savannah Unger. Her mother, Monique Kent, is her trainer. Her grandfather, Donald Kent, attends all her shows. Even her brother, Austin, helps out. They travel together and show together as a family, and they own and operate Savannah Show Stables, LLC in Ocala, Florida.
Savannah credits her family with her success. Recent wins include the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix Victory at HITS Ocala for a second time.
2023-07-1917 minMy First PonyJack TowellHe's known as one of the most successful trainers and developers of young riding talent in the country. Jack Towell began his career as a hunter/jumper trainer at the age of 17 and has earned numerous accomplishments as the trainer of more than 75 champions and reserve champions at the Devon Horse Show (Pennsylvania), Capital Challenge (Maryland), and the East Coast fall indoor shows, including the Pennsylvania National, the Washington (D.C.) International and the National horse shows.
He's the only trainer to be named the Pennsylvania National Horse Show Leading Junior Hunter Trainer four times, four-time trainer...2023-07-1926 minMy First PonyLiza Towell BoydLiza Towell Boyd is one of the country's top equestrian riders and trainers. She has won more than 25 USHJA International and National Hunter Derbies and rode her current horse, Brunello to victory in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships.
In the USHJA World Championship Hunter Rider program, Liza's is the only rider to have won the WCHR Pony, Junior, and Professional titles. She also won the WCHR Professional Finals again in 2017 and 2018.
As a Junior, Liza was a three-time winner of the Overall World Champion Hunter Rider and placed second...2023-07-1917 minMy First PonyHunt ToshHunt Tosh is a winner on any horse he rides, but each mount is special. Tosh won the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship in 2021 and 2022 riding Cannon Creek, the Wheeler family's 2011 Holsteiner gelding. Tosh also won the 2021 Pennsylvania National Horse Show Grand Hunter Championship with Cannon Creek and took home the title of 2021 Leading Hunter Rider.
He became a business owner in his late teens when he started buying and selling horses. About 15 years ago, he started to work with Betsee Parker and the Wheeler family to develop and ride and show horses they owned. 2023-07-1918 minMy First PonyWill SimpsonWill Simpson rode to gold in 2008 as part of the United States show jumping team at the summer Olympics in Beijing. Over his career, he has been a five-time World Cup finalist, the winner of over 75 Grand Prixs, and held the World Wall Record for ten years. He currently holds the North American High Jump Record. He began riding at age 11 and can credit many horses for his career success, but it was his first pony that starts the fond memories flowing when he thinks back to how it all started.
2023-07-1921 minMy First PonyDon StewartDon Stewart, the former top hunter rider known for his namesake stables and sales barn, spent decades as an accomplished equestrian with a long list of distinguished honors. He scored multiple championship wins as a rider and a coach at all the major horse shows including the Washington International, Devon, the Pennsylvania National and the National Horse Show.
Don served as chairman of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Junior Hunter Task Force, and was behind many rule changes like introducing a mandatory handy hunter class.
His wins include the 1969 Virginia Hunter-Seat Equitation Championship, American...2023-07-1912 minMy First PonyAaron VailTop equestrian Aaron Vale is one of the greatest Grand Prix riders in the USA. From his 275 wins, he holds records for most Grand Prix wins in a year and the most money won in a year. Aaron has also had the opportunity to represent the USET on European Tours and in Nations Cups, and placed in the World Cup Finals.
In other disciplines, Aaron has earned Reserve Champion at all three of our Nations Equitation finals, the Maclay, Medal and USET. He was named Best Child Rider at Washington and The Pennsylvania National. And he's been...2023-07-1923 min