Jay Z Stands Tall At HITS Ocala Winter Festival

A big heart and husky build combined with long legs and an ample step are just a few of the qualities Ashley Ann McGehee finds appealing—in a horse that is. During the HITS Ocala Winter Festival, Feb. 21-25, Ocala, Fla., McGehee and her 17.3-hand Hanoverian, Jay Z, towered above the competition, winning the large junior, 15 and under, championship.

“He’s gynormous!” said McGehee. “When we measured him, the stick stopped at 17.3, and he was still taller than that!”

Despite his mammoth build, Jay Z rides like a pony and keeps a nice steady rhythm around the course, allowing the 14-year-old McGehee plenty of time to get her eye on the next jump.

“He’s the biggest pony—so easy and fun to ride. He goes in a rubber snaffle and doesn’t change around the course as long as I maintain a rhythm. I have such a ball riding him, I could ride him all day,” she said.
McGehee first rode Jay Z at the Jacksonville National (Fla.), where she took home ribbons in the large juniors, but this was the first time she saw a tricolor ribbon hanging from Jay Z’s bridle.

In addition to showing in the large juniors, McGehee shuffles between rings, riding her sister’s Bold Venture in the small juniors, her equitation mount, San Marcos (on whom she was second in the ASPCA Maclay and third in the USET), and trainer Don Stewart Jr.’s That’s Hot in the children’s jumpers.

“They’re all a blast to ride, but I think Jay is the most fun,” said McGehee. “But, the jumper teaches me the most—like how to control my body.”

Body control is just one thing that McGehee works on during her 6:30 a.m. lessons with Stewart. “He sets up really hard, technical courses. But nothing’s bigger than 3' so that we can work on our riding and position,” McGehee said.

“Ashley Ann is a very good student with a wonderful disposition and good sense of humor. She always has a smile on her face when she’s around me. We work nicely together, and she doesn’t mind getting up early [for lessons]. She’s just a sponge for knowledge,” said Stewart, whose horse, Likewise, was also champion in the amateur-owner, 18-35, with daughter Erin Stewart.

Although McGehee’s trained with Stewart almost her whole life, while at home she rides at Five Fillies Farm, Jacksonville, Fla., a barn her mother, Terri McGehee, started four years ago.

Like Mother Like Daughter
An avid horse enthusiast herself, Alexandra Carlton’s mother, Bernadette Keyes, opened Cedar Brook Farm, Madison, Conn., for their growing collection of horses and ponies.

Following a successful pony career, Carlton moved up to the three-foot division during the HITS Ocala circuit and claimed the children’s, 14 and under, championship with her new horse, Chanel #5, whom she affectionately calls “Lily.”

“She was part of my Christmas present,” said Carlton, 12. “I got her Dec. 16, and so this was only our third horse show at three feet.”

Carlton was making the transition from pony to horse, and trainer Brianna Davis had just the horse in mind. She’d seen Lily showing at HITS Saugerties (N.Y.) over the summer and liked her slow and honest way of going, but didn’t have a customer in mind at the time. After Keyes and Carlton started looking for a first horse, Davis took them to see Lily.