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Area riders win in state and out
(by Candy Lawrence - August 13, 2008)
Jennifer Waxman and Red Panda were presented the 2008 East Coast United States Equestrian Federation National Junior Hunter Grand Champion award at Horse Shows in the Sun at Saugerties, N.Y. She was joined in the winners’ circle by Christina Schlusemeyer (from left), USEF’s Lauren Fahey and her trainer Emily Smith, who used to work out of the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club with her husband, Ken Smith.
Area riders win in state and out
BY CANDY LAWRENCE
Less than a week before her 17th birthday, Chagrin Falls' equestrienne Jennifer Waxman was crowned with Overall Grand Championship at the 2008 East Coast United States Equestrian Federation Junior Hunter Championship Finals last week Horse Shows In The Sun at Saugerties, N.Y.
Aboard John Ingram's Red Panda, the pair collected an overall score of 87.63 in the Small Junior Hunter 16 and 17 Division. Riders from around the country competed in the finals.
"Jen rose to the occasion," said trainer Emily Smith. "It was a new venue for Red Panda and that horse put its entire heart into it."
"I started riding him a few months ago," said Waxman, who was the youngest rider in the Cleveland Grand Prix in Moreland Hills. "It has really worked out well. The courses were really hard for the finals. But I thought that was good because it divided the people competing easily.
"It was really exciting to ride in the finals especially because it was kind of a last-minute decision. We just decided to go. He needed points and that was a good way to get them. I was showing in Kentucky, also, so we shipped Red Panda and a few other horses to New York. It was a last-minute thing. "
"I thought the course was pretty difficult," she said. "It was out in the Grand Prix ring which made it harder. The jumps were pretty scary and both horses hadn't been there before. That always adds an extra dimension to the ride, an extra difficulty."
"I really just started riding Red Panda so this is so exciting. We just clicked together. He is a really awesome horse. He won a bunch with Louise Serio, who is a very respected hunter rider, and she's won all the big shows and has Derbydown Farm.
"He's been around for awhile and was very accomplished before I got him. I'm lucky to have him and I'm lucky to have my trainer, too. Me and my trainer are real competitive."
Waxman has been riding for the last seven years with Ken and Emily Smith, who have owned and operated a training business in Wellington, Fla., for 10 1/2 years. Both trainers used to work for Howard Lewis in Gates Mills at the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club before launching Ashland Farms in 1993.
"It was very competitive," the Smiths said. "I thought it was wonderful. Everyone here was very accommodating and friendly. It was a job well done by everyone involved."
"This year's competition not only had an increased number of riders, but also had high caliber riders," said Marion Maybank, USEF's director of Hunter divisions and coordinator for the national junior finals. "Jerry Dougherty's fantastic courses were flowing and really gave the kids a chance to be sharp and demonstrate to the judges the skills that got them here to this point. "
The annual competition is designed to encourage and promote the basic training and development of Junior Hunters. Divided into four sections, the finals feature competition for Small Juniors 15 and under, Large Juniors 15 and under, Small Juniors 16 and 17 and Large Juniors 16 and 17.
"My trainers, Ken and Emily Smith, are amazing," said Jennifer, who enjoys hosting her mentors at her home when they are in Cleveland during horse shows. "I also want to give special thanks to John Ingram. And it was Tom Wright, who originally approached me and asked me to ride Red Panda. It's a privilege and I'm so grateful for that. Winning this title was certainly a team effort. I couldn't have done it alone. "
The pair preceded their victory at the Junior Hunter Finals in New York by locking up a championship in the Small Junior Hunter 16 and 17 division during the first leg of the four month-long Kentucky Summer Series Horse Shows held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Waxman also piloted Brad Wolf's Rio Renoir to win the Large Junior Hunter 16 and 17 division championship. She was second in the International Hunter Derby aboard Falcon, her prime equitation horse, missing the top tier by a single point.
Second to last to compete, International Hunter Derby winner's Aaron Vale and Second City shaved just a hair off the score. To beat Waxman, he was well aware that he had to be excruciatingly handy and head for all the optional extra large 4-foot fences. His choices paid off with a score of 178, moving him to the lead.
Riding last with Falcon, Waxman's round was well done, but a rough trot jump and the decision not to take more difficult routes left the pair with a score of 172. The combined score was 354, one point away from Vale's 355.
"I like to put Falcon in the derbies because it keeps him fresh. Equitation can sometimes get boring," said Waxman, adding in the spirit of sportswomanship that it was quite alright for Vale to take a beam of the heady spotlight that seems to follow her rounds.
The following week at the Kentucky Summer Classic, the second leg of the Kentucky Horse Show Series, she also piloted Zoom to win the Small Junior Hunter 16 and 17 championship.
It must have left a lingering sweet zing when Waxman and Venturo bested this year's Cleveland Grand Prix winner, Margie Engle and Hidden Creek's Pamina L, in the Kentucky Summer Horse Show's $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic held during the Kentucky Summer Classic, the second jewel in the four-week series of shows. Against 34 riders, Waxman and Venturo placed ninth in the grand-prix caliber event, one tier ahead of Engle and her mount.
Russell resident Megan Udelson pocketed a Reserve during the first leg of the Kentucky Summer Series and a championship during the second leg of the Series, riding Udelson Show Stable's All the Best, an 8-year-old Hanoverian gelding in the Second Year Green Working Hunter division.
It was an especially meaningful win. Udelson and her family have been dealing with their own agonies. Four weeks ago, Udelson's 35-year-old sister, Shani White, died suddenly.
"I wanted to do this for her," Udelson, 33, said. "My sister was always very supportive of my riding and I felt like this win was for her. The victory was really special to me for that reason. No one expected that this would happen to my sister. She just stopped breathing.
"She had severe asthma and went to the emergency room and she just stopped breathing. We were very close. She lived in Chagrin Falls with her two 4-year-old twins. It's been very tough on us all but I felt like she was riding with me this week. It made the grief just a little easier to carry."
Udelson bought All the Best as a 5-year-old importing him from Europe.
"I brought him along for the last three years and now he's achieved a very high level as a show hunter and is winning nationally all over the country," said Udelson, who operates out of Scenic Run Equestrian Center in Russell.
"He has a great disposition. He's very good to work around and has become a real pet to me. He's a very kind, comforting animal and part of what makes him such a good competitor is that he's extremely careful so when he jumps the fences, he jumps in great form. He's a very good, athletic jumper and a very careful horse, a beautiful mover and a talented jumper. In the barn he's kind of like a big dog. He blows bubbles in his water bucket and does things to make us laugh again."
"My niece, Rachel Udelson, also competed on him at the Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic in the Large Junior Hunter division and he did extremely well and was second in a big class. That was the first time someone other than a professional competed on him.
"It's a long process training these young animals and it's very rewarding after a couple of years to really see them achieve their potential. That's when you know they're ready to go to someone new. That's part of the reason I put Rachel on him, to showcase him being ridden by someone other than a professional. "
During the Chagrin Valley Farms A-Rated Horse Show, Hallie Berson, of Moreland Hills, left the competition in her wake while riding Golden Chance, a 9-year-old, 13.2 hand Dutch pony. The pair won the Small-Medium Pony Hunter championship, the Reserve Championship in Green Pony Hunters, the USEF Pony Medal and the $500 Pony Hunter Classic.
Berson, 13, was thrilled, especially winning the Pony Classic, but the reality of the monetary portion of the victory was a bit illusional, or at least a life lesson in the economics of horse showing.
"I was really excited," said Berson, who trains at Chagrin Valley Farms with Carrie Gleeson and hopes to pursue a career as a trainer.
"But after it was all over and we paid the show bill, I only ended up with $2 to buy carrots. But he was happy. My pony is just amazing. I love him. He has been so perfect. I've done a couple of classics before. They are always really fun and this one was pretty easy. I felt like my pony just took me for a ride. He has a huge step and I usually have to hold him a little bit. It was lots of fun to win. There were some pretty competitive ponies in there."
"Charlie (Golden Chance) has a great personality," said Berson, who attends Brady Middle School in the Orange School District, and enjoys playing volleyball and basketball. "He's so beautiful and so kind. He doesn't like getting dirty either. It means so much to me that my family supports us. Charlie just loves me and I love him. People tell me they can just tell to look at us. "
"Hallie got involved in this when she was only 3 years old," her father, Craig Berson, said. "Grandpa, me and my daughter went to the county fair and I spent $2 on one of those pony rides where they go in a circle over and over again. It was the best $2 that I ever spent. She fell in love with that pony. And wouldn't you know we had to follow that damn thing to every county fair in the area till I finally gave in and got her one of her own.
"She won zone five last year on Catmandu. She should be leading in the zone this year, also. She just loves this. It's something we can really enjoy together. It really is a bonding experience, something more fathers should do. We've been doing it for about eight years now. It's great. "
"My daughter will be 14 in November and these are the best years of our lives," Berson said. "I took a class on how to live your life, plan it and get to the next level. The most important thing I learned was about living right now, in this moment. Why wait till you get old and retire to do what you want to do?
"You should make the time for it now. One of the things I'd like to do with my daughter is establish some land somewhere and do a dog, cat, cow, horse and goat rescue. Animals, especially horses, really teach children and their parents about relationships. Their worth is invaluable for that alone."
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