Editor’s note: Once again, a big thank you to guest blogger and Chestnut Hill rider, Madison Bradshaw for this terrific post on this year’s Menlo Charity Horse Show.
This year’s Menlo was an incredible show for Chestnut Hill. We only brought four horses but all of them rose to the occasion. The country club was transformed into a beautiful show facility including the lovely Chestnut Hill skinny fence that made it’s debut on the Grand Prix Field. The shopping was supposedly fantastic, although I am no judge since Gwen and I stayed far away from it. The best part however, had to have been the buffet in the VIP tent. We would sit and wait for it to open and pile our plates so full that it would work as breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The showing itself went well too; Wednesday my mare, Ithaca (Moofy), did the Ride and Drive class. The past two years the segway had proved disastrous but this year it was the horse section that caused problems. Ithaca had a slip rolling back to the combination but jumped great and finished eighth. Gwen had the highlight of the day winning the Children’s 14-17 with a flawless performance that garnered a score of 87 and winning the under saddle.
Thursday Gwen was fifth in the Children’s Hunters with Olympic, Gillett and Illux won the older Adult Amateur class with an 84, and Ithaca won the Low Junior Jumpers. It was also our assistant trainer John Wohr’s birthday, so we had to celebrate with cake!
On Friday, Ithaca was second, Olympic was fifth, Horace was sixth, and Illux was second and sixth. But we were still just warming up.
On Saturday, Ithaca did not show but still wound up Reserve Champion in the Low Junior Jumpers. Illux was seventh in the first round and won the second round to end up Champion. Pyper and Pepe, looking fabulous, won the Lead Line! To finish the day, Gwen and Olympic were third in the Children’s Hunters, won the USHJA Zone 10 Children’s Hunter Championship, and ended up Champion in the Children’s Hunters 14-17 and high point Children’s Hunter Champion!
Sunday was the icing on the cake when Ithaca finished sixth in the classic, Olympic finished fifth in his Children’s Hunter classic, but it was Illux who brought home the blue in the Adult Amateur classic with an incredible first round receiving scores of 87, 89, and 89. It was an incredible show and our horses performed brilliantly thanks to our fantastic training staff!
Editor’s note: Please go to our Facebook page (Chestnut Hill LLC) and check out all the photos from Menlo, and be sure to “like” us if you haven’t already.