Brooke Schafer kindly sent us an event write-up from Holly Hill Horse Trials in Benton, Louisiana. You may remember Brooke and her horse Mighty Military from a story she wrote for EN back in February. We always appreciate updates, and especially included with event reports! Many thanks to Brooke for writing, and thank you for reading. Send your stories to [email protected]!
From Brooke:
Julie Norman & Double O'Seven, owned by Pat Willcox, competing in Open Prelim at Holly Hill.
For the last four years I have looked forward to the third weekend in April and the last weekend in October as those two special weekends host the incredible Holly Hill Horse Trials. This weekend Bob and Tracy Hewlett’s Holly Hill Farm in Benton, Louisiana opened up its gates once again for the Spring Horse Trials. There were over 300 entries with more than 275 competitors coming out of the start box. The farm boasted beautiful new facilities for the competitors as well as new footing in the Stadium Jumping arena and added jumps to the cross country course. With a chilly start it turned out to be a beautiful weekend.
Local Benton riders Sydney Conley-Elliott and Julie Norman had great rides on client-owned horses and also promoted their own businesses through fundraising events. Sydney Conley-Elliott recently sold her Advanced gelding Pancho Villa to Boyd Martin of Windurra and is looking to create a new syndication while Julie Norman is actively working to compete at Rolex 2014 with her self-owned gelding Consensus (winner of the inaugural Texas Rose Horse Trials Advanced division in Tyler TX last month).
On a personal note, I accomplished my goal of competing my horse Mighty Military (previously featured in the story “From Race Tracks to Galloping Lanes” http://eventingnation.com/home/from-race-tracks-to-galloping-lanes.html ) in our first Training division and while we didn’t come home with a blue ribbon on the dash of the truck, we did leave a lasting impression on our audience as “Ghost” performed some naughty airs above the ground moves in Dressage. We’ll have to work on that.
It was also a bittersweet weekend for me as it is the last time I will compete at Holly Hill Farm before moving back to Lexington Kentucky this coming weekend. I will miss my Holly Hill family greatly and want to encourage anyone who has never visitied this great farm to stop in for a visit or bring a horse to school. The level or riding and horsemanship at Holly Hill is second to none and the local riders are sure to put Louisiana on the eventing map.
Kelsey Regan & Revelation (self-owned, local rider, horse was foaled and raised at Holly Hill, competing in Intermediate)
Julie Norman & Landmark's Double Clear, owned by Barbara McQuiller.
