Amanda Teague couldn’t figure out why she’d been called back into the ring after winning the open training division at Queeny Park Horse Trials.

She’d already collected her ribbon, and her team had been announced as the winners of the training division of the The Chronicle of the Horse/USEA Central Adult Team Challenge, and yet she was the only rider being summoned back into the ring.

As it turns out, Teague had not only won several blue ribbons at the Sept. 29-Oct. 1 St. Louis, Mo., event, but was also presented the Who I Am Makes A Difference award, a sportsmanship award given to an adult rider at each of the three annual Adult Team Challenges. The recipient of the award, which will be sponsored by the riding clothes company Kerrits next year, epitomizes a competitor or volunteer who encompasses a positive and helpful attitude and encourages and supports his or her fellow riders.

“I would rather have won this special award than anything else,” said an emotional Teague.

Four anonymous and unbiased “judges” picked Teague by a landslide. The 49-year-old from Defiance, Mo., recently got back into riding after being kicked by a horse two years ago. She suffered fractured ribs and a lacerated liver among several other injuries, which kept her from riding for nearly six months.

“She’s a really great person; the fact that she came back and won everything was fantastic. I’m thrilled to death for her. She’s one of the nicest ladies I know,” said Amanda Bray, Teague’s long-time friend and teammate on the winning training team, Training Wheels.

Teague, aboard her 8-year-old Arab-Trakehner Princess Grayce, led the event from start to finish, winning on her dressage score of 30.5. The gray mare cruised around the challenging cross-country course with a double clear, and Teague admitted that even though she herself was nervous, her mare just said, “point me at it!” and took care of her the whole way around.

“I’m the passive one. I usually let her do whatever she wants; she’d be upset if I tried to dictate,” said Teague of her opinionated mare.

The pair proved themselves at the American Eventing Championships (N.C.) in September by beating out 62 other competitors for the 12th-placed spot in the competitive open novice division, after driving 13 hours to attend the event. The graphic artist, who recently moved “Grayce” up to training, plans to give her mare a break this fall and relocate from her Full Circle Farm to Hickory, N.C., in November.

Teague’s teammates were thrilled to be on a team with her before she moved out of their area. “I pulled my mare out of a field in August, just so I could be on a team with my friends,” said Bray, who competed her Riverman granddaughter on a novice team, as well as being a member of the winning training team, on her off-the-track Thorough-bred gelding, Why. “It was one last hurrah before she abandoned us!” said Bray.

Crystal Woodard, another member of the Training Wheels, shared her fond memories of her eventing friend. “Mandy’s a friend I made while eventing years ago. She always keeps her brain and never gives herself enough credit. I’d duct tape her in my house to keep her from moving to North Carolina, and only let her out to ride if I could,” said Woodard with a laugh.

Woodard, 30, competed Clifton Billy, a New Zealand Thoroughbred who’s competed through preliminary, on the training team, though the gelding was lucky to even be alive.

“He had EPM two years ago along with several bouts of colic,” said Woodard.

Beth Hussey-Fairfax, the gelding’s owner, sustained an injury, and Woodard has since taken over the ride.

No Pressure
Gadget des Brumes and Maria Brazil performed at the top of their game, adding their preliminary individual and team wins to a long list of events they’ve dominated this season. The Selle Fran�ais-Thoroughbred won the preliminary divisions at Hidden Hollow (Ill.) and Mill Creek Pony Club (Mo.), gained a second place at Hunter Run (Mich.), and placed sixth at the Maui Jim CIC* (Ill.). The pair also won the open training division at the AEC last year.

Brazil, 50, who’s currently leading the U.S. Eventing Association master amateur rider standings, expressed her concern with the sloping terrain of the show jumping course, which John Williams designed.

“I felt like it was hard to go forward. I hit the lines at half a distance, but I’d just give him the reins and let him bail me out. He knows his job; I just tried to help him balance,” said the anesthesiologist from St. Louis.

Brazil’s only been riding since she graduated from medical school and proudly said she bought her first horse with her first paycheck.

Brazil trains with Karen O’Connor, who events one of Brazil’s horses, Lottery Ticket, at the intermediate level. “I’m hoping to move Gadget des Brumes up to intermediate, but he had some time off after an injury, so we’re just working on getting him strong enough,” said Brazil.

Jennifer Strauss, another member of the preliminary team, also trains with another well-known eventer, Phillip Dutton. “There was no pressure here!” said Strauss, 25, of being on the lone preliminary team.

Strauss and her 9-year-old gelding, Another Fable, made the move up to intermediate but decided to drop back down to preliminary in order to build up more experience. “This course was a morale-boost. He really needed to rebuild his confidence, and mine as well,” said Strauss, who flew around the demanding cross-country course with mere time penalties.

Besides a brief time at the intermediate level, Strauss and her Thoroughbred-Selle Fran�ais-Dutch Warmblood by E’Sops Fable have had a successful season in the preliminary divisions, winning at Penny Oaks (Ind.) and Champagne Run At The Park (Ky.).

Strauss, a Wisconsin native, obtained Another Fable from her aunt, the gelding’s breeder, five years ago.

The gelding’s performance, which led them to second place, pleased Strauss. “My goal was to have a confident ride and know that we’re back in sync again. Once he gets more experience in cross-country, he’ll be better. Even though I’d like to move up to advanced some day, we’re both learning along the way,” said Strauss.

Christina DeMauro, the third member of the preliminary team, hardly has time to keep her gelding, Jack Be Nimble, fit.

The 23-year-old senior from William Woods University (Mo.) rides on her college’s dressage and jumper teams, spends her time studying for her accounting exams, and also works at a bank full time. DeMauro, a Lake St. Louis native, said that when she does get free time, she enjoys skiing, both on the water and in the snow.

The 14-year-old, gray gelding galloped extra hard to achieve his double clear on cross-country, which resulted in her fifth-placed finish. “He can get kind of hot, but he’s getting much calmer. I tried to keep him slower because of the footing, but at the same time we really had to push to get the time,” said DeMauro.

St. Louis’ need for rain became obvious as clouds of dust followed the horses’ heels while they galloped across the rock-hard sloping fields.

DeMauro and her gelding couldn’t keep their momentum going as they came into show jumping on the final day, and they incurred faults for a refusal and a dropped rail. “The jumps were maxed out, and the grass was a little wet. He normally doesn’t hit rails, but I made the turn too tight to the triple bar, and he just ate up the distance,” said DeMauro.

The pair pulled it together this summer to place second in two events at the preliminary level, Heritage Park (Kan.) and Hill N Hound (Ill.).

Wicked Women Rock Novice
While changing careers from cattle roping to eventing may seem like a big move for some horses, it wasn’t difficult for Cindy Newen-house’s Mr. Free Indeed as the two were members of the winning novice team, The North Missouri Wicked Women.

“Snickers,” the 15-year-old, Appaloosa gelding, and Newenhouse have been partners for three years, and the two only began eventing last year.

“This is our first novice event, and even though we were 16th after dressage, we went clean on cross-country and stadium,” said Newenhouse, 35, of Garden City, Mo.

Both the show jumping and cross-country courses challenged Newenhouse. “The ground was really hard, and the cross-country course was definitely the most difficult one I’ve ever done. And show jumping was pretty hard because we were on a hill and had lots of tight turns. Plus, Snickers doesn’t really like the pretty jumps,” said Newenhouse, who works in a corporate job for Sprint. She recently purchased a 40-acre farm and looks forward to enjoying her new property.

Ellen Aisenbrey, another Wicked Woman, and her 17-year-old, off-the-track Thorough-bred Lady Gale have been together for more than 12 years.

“We had been going training a few times, but then she developed navicular, and we dropped her back to novice,” said Aisenbrey, 54. The family law attorney credited her farrier Ed Rearden for saving the dark bay mare from many soundness problems, as she hasn’t had any recurring lameness issues in a long time.

The pair foxhunts regularly with Mission Valley Hunt (Kan.), along with their usual schedule of horse trials. Lady Gale clinched fourth-placed ribbons at Heritage Park (Kan.) and Briar Fox Farm (Kan.) this summer.

Cindy Writesman, another member of the novice team, which topped five other teams, rode her 6-year-old Hanoverian-Thoroughbred mare Delia to finish first individually, completing on their dressage score of 30.5.

“She’s so fierce when she’s competing; she’s such a little machine,” said Writesman, 50, of the bay mare she’s owned for two years.

Queeny Park, based near bustling St. Louis, recently underwent a complete overhaul of their cross-country course. Williams built the intermediate course, and John Wells designed the lower level courses.

“John Williams and John Wells did a whole new track for us. They used the far north field, which has a better galloping hill and plenty of terrain,” said Kim Graber, the Queeny Park Equestrian Events vice president.

The park plays host to many Area IV championships, along with several annual events. “We’d like people to see that it’s a course with a lot of caliber. Construction-wise, it’s top quality. It’s sort of Missouri’s best-kept secret, and we’d like for it not to be a secret anymore,” said Graber.

Emily Daily