Photo by Amy Dragoo Photography.
The Radnor Hunt Horse Trials takes place each year in mid-October and has roots dating back to the 1960s when a group of intrepid riders founded a horse trials at the Maryland farm of Joanna Glass, District Commissioner of the Middletown Pony Club.
The group included Glass, Lana DuPont Wright, the first woman to compete in Olympic three-day eventing and member of the silver medal winning team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, and Kathleen Crompton, Master of Foxhounds for the Vicmead Hunt. Glass later returned to her hometown of Malvern and in 1972, Glass and Sheila Hundt helped the Radnor Hunt Pony Club host its first horse trials, and event that would grow into the prestigious Radnor Hunt International Three-Day Event.
Over the years, the Radnor Hunt International Three-Day Event hosted the Junior and Young Rider Championships, and Intermediate Championships, in addition to international one- and two-star levels and national Preliminary, Intermediate, and Advanced divisions. This tradition continued until 2006, the last year that Radnor offered international divisions.
After it became untenable to hose international divisions, a group, spearheaded by the iconic Marilyn Taylor, got together to pivot the International Three-Day Event to the Radnor Hunt Horse Trials of today, which started by hosting Training and Novice levels, added Modified in 2022.
With times changing, the Radnor Hunt Horse Trial is looking to appeal to the local and lower level riders, and this year is adding Beginner Novice and Starter levels. The facilities are nestled in the beautiful rolling countryside just north of Philadelphia, with excellent cross-county obstacles, a variety of well-maintained dressage, show jumping, and warm-up rings.
