Anne Lang

The outbreak of wildfires in various areas all across Texas has put horse owners on high alert. With high winds rolling in as a result of Tropical Storm Lee, the fires began cropping up on Sept. 4. So far, the hardest-hit area has been Bastrop County, east of Austin, where as of Tuesday, more than 30,000 acres had burned and at least 600 homes had been lost.

As Peter Pletcher entered the ring on Valobra in the first round of the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Texas Shoot-Out on April 29, he thought everything was in place to ensure a smooth trip aboard the
6-year-old Oldenburg gelding.

But before the pair even picked up a canter, “Ike” started to vigorously toss his head.

Maybe it was because Anna Schierholz donned the socks she’s worn annually since her team last won the hunter seat title three years ago. Perhaps it was because Maggie McAlary methodically gave her wristwatch to her mother to hold each time she entered the ring. Or possibly it was due to the team’s hearty pre-finals dinner that included fried chicken, meatballs and macaroni and cheese.

Living up to her reputation as a rider with nerves of steel (not to mention innate talent), 17-year-old Hayley Barnhill nabbed the most lucrative prize at the Spring Gathering Horse Show, April 9 in Katy, Texas. Best known for her wins last fall in the Pessoa/USEF Medal and the ASPCA Maclay finals, this time Barnhill took home the trophy in the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby aboard Alliy Moyer’s 9-year-old warmblood gelding, Safari.

On Feb. 11 in Katy, Texas, Courtney Calcagnini demonstrated a creative twist on the term “triple play.” In the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Great Southwest Winter Series II, she won the overall derby as well as the classic and handy rounds.

The creative part? She did it on three different horses.

On the final day of any horse show, the scene is sadly familiar: As the tack room drapes come down and the last horses are loaded onto vans, colorful tangles of unwanted show ribbons are tossed in the aisles or thrown in trash bins.

During weeks of competition at the major winter show circuits, on-site classrooms help young riders keep up with schoolwork.

At the beginning of each December, Reed Kessler of Armonk, N.Y., says goodbye to her classmates and teachers and heads to Florida to show for four months. When she returns in early April, Kessler said she’s far enough ahead in her studies that she can “pretty much coast for a month or so.”

And they’ve contributed to the formation of a close-knit community of Alaskan horsemen.

The roots of Eaton Equestrian Centre in Anchorage, Alaska, reach back to 1969, when Julie Eaton left her native Buffalo, N.Y., and moved to Alaska with her husband.

Already a talented artist, Eaton developed a new passion in 1975, when she began riding.

By 1980, Eaton was a single parent of two daughters—Dana, 7, and Britta, 10—looking for ways to supplement her earnings. That’s when the concept of a riding school took hold.

Rising above the challenges of merciless winters, abnormal daylight hours and geographical isolation, Alaska’s hunter/jumper scene is thriving and competitive—with more similarities to the Lower 48 than one might expect.

Trainer Jenny Rousey-Dick, who spent a decade of her life in balmy California, illustrated a prevailing rationale for choosing to reside and work in Alaska’s hunter/jumper world.

By now, 16-year-old Alicia Hall is used to causing a lot of raised eyebrows - both inside and outside of Alaska - for eschewing a trainer in order to ride on her own.  The situation might not garner any attention if Hall wasn't a major player on the Alaska hunter/jumper circuit and an accomplished competitor at some premier shows in the Lower 48.  But the junior rider is both of those things.