Jill Henselwood traveled more than 16 hours to Lexington, Ky., from her home in Oxford Mills, Ont., Canada for the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, held Aug. 18-22. And the trip paid off as she guided Callisto to the top check in the featured $30,000 Rood & Riddle Kentucky Grand Prix.

Callisto and Henselwood made a dramatic claim to the win, going last in the eight-horse jump-off. Aaron Vale had posted a blazing clear in 48.58 seconds as the first to go, and no one had been able to beat it. Harold Chopping and Rabaila posted the fastest time of the day in 46.66 seconds, but a heartbreaking rail at the last oxer kept them from the top spot.

Henselwood stepped on the gas from moment she picked up the gallop. “I beat him [Vale] on the way to the first jump, right from the beginning. And then I think I did one stride less to the second jump. But I think I really got him with my speed coming through the start timers. That was my plan, to not have to be faster in the end. I wanted to be faster in the beginning,” said Henselwood.

Henselwood shaved more than a second off Vale’s time over Pierre Jolicoeur’s galloping jump-off track that looped around the ring. “She’s got Thoroughbred speed with warmblood power and scope,” said Henselwood of Callisto, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare by the Thoroughbred stallion Julio Mariner.

Henselwood has had Callisto for two years, and started her at the grand prix level in the spring of 2003. “Until now, it was a little difficult to get her turned, and she’d jump way up high over the fences, more of a slow power jump. She was just a little bit green to capitalize on the speed she had on the flat, but it’s coming,” she said.

Callisto competed at the summer shows at Spruce Meadows (Alta.) last year, and then Henselwood took her to Europe in the fall. They showed in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France before returning home just before Christmas. Henselwood said that the European mileage helped Callisto develop, and she began to put that education to work on the HITS Desert Circuit (Calif.) this year.

“Even at Christmas time, her rideability still wasn’t that great. Then at Indio, it started to get easier and better. She won a World Cup-qualifier out there, but it was more by the fact that it was so difficult. The jumps were so big, she kind of out-jumped the field, not out-ran the field,” Henselwood said.

But this summer Callisto has been a star. “This horse has been on a streak in the grand prix classes since July. She came back from Spruce Meadows, and I did her in my hometown grand prix, which is Ottawa, and she was double clean and third. Then, I went to Palgrave, Ont., and she was double clean and second. Then I went to HITS Saugerties, N.Y., and she was the only double clean and the winner two weeks ago [in the $75,000 King Shavings Grand Prix on Aug. 8],” said Henselwood.

Henselwood believes that Callisto’s improvement is a sign of big things to come. “She has Olympic scope. She’s got all the power I’ve ever ridden, and the most scope I’ve ever had,” she said.

A Bittersweet Victory

While Henselwood is looking to the future, Rachel Tulipan began closing a chapter in her life at the Bluegrass Festival. She rode Victoria to the large junior hunter, 16-17, championship in their last show together.

“This was a good way to end, for sure,” said Tulipan. “But it’s hard. I’ve gotten very attached to her. She’s a typical chestnut mare, but we get along great.”

Tulipan leased Victoria for two years, and then bought her in March. She will sell the 12-year-old Westphalian mare now, however, since she’s bound for college, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., where she plans to study toward the long-term goal of veterinary school.

“She’s been my only horse for three years, and she means a lot to me,” said Tulipan. “I feel like after three years we’ve gotten to know each other so well.”

Tulipan, Nashville, Tenn., rides with Otis Brown Jr., Carrie Dahmer and Haley Delemirovich and shows mainly in the Midwest, at Brownland (Tenn.), Chagrin Falls (Ohio) and Kentucky.

Tulipan has shown in the equitation classes and dabbled in the jumpers on one of Brown’s horses, but Victoria has been her main focus.

“When I first got her, she was kind of quirky. She’d get really nervous before the jog and do silly stuff. But once she got to know all of us and trust us, she settled right in,” she said.

Isabella Luhrs didn’t have the luxury of knowing her junior hunter champion that well, but it didn’t stop her from guiding Anastasia B to the large junior, 15 and under, championship. Luhrs rode the bay mare for owner Jamie Barge, since Barge is in college on the West Coast. She also claimed the small junior, 15 and under, reserve title on her own Chinook.

“I’ve had a very good week. It’s been nice, since showing can be frustrating at times. But it’s also so rewarding,” said Luhrs. She also won the ASPCA Maclay and the Pessoa/USEF Medal on her equitation horse.

Luhrs, 16, grew up riding and showing locally and also dabbled in dressage and eventing. But two years ago, she began training with Louise Serio and took her career to a new level, showing on the A-rated circuit. “She’s taken me so far and taught me so much,” Luhrs said of Serio. “I’ve been very lucky.”

And she appreciated the opportunity to show Anastasia B, a 9-year-old warmblood by Aristos B. “She’s a really powerful jumper, and so much fun to ride. You can trust her. No matter where you get her to the fence, she can jump great,” she said.

Serio didn’t just train Luhrs to victory; she took her own accolades, earning the conformation hunter championship on Hearsay, and the regular working hunter tricolor on Gray Slipper.

Serio rides both horses for amateur rider Bridget Hallman. While Gray Slipper has been in the barn for a while, Hearsay is a new addition. Hallman bought him last year from Emil Spadone as a green 4-year-old. Hearsay showed lightly in the pre-green division last year and began campaigning as a first year horse this year.

“He’s very brave and mellow. Nothing bothers him,” said Serio. “He’s been very easy to bring along, and he’s so athletic.”

Gray Slipper is more of a veteran. “The four-foot is just easy for him, and he does it beautifully. He’s just gotten so he’s confident at that height, and it’s a lot of fun to show him,” Serio said.

 Friends Old And New

Wendy Lewis wasn’t necessarily looking for the horse of a lifetime when trainer Jeff Gogul went shopping in Europe for her five years ago. But she got one–Forget Paris–and they’ve been consistent winners ever since. And they earned the Bluegrass Festival’s adult amateur hunter, 36-39, championship.

“I actually bought him as a practice horse,” said Lewis. “But he turned out to be the best mover, and the best jumper, and he’s grown up into the perfect horse. He was so ugly when he first came over. He was small and scrawny, with a mane down to the bottom of his neck. But he’s all grown up now, and really matured.”

Gogul competed “Pierre” in the professional divisions, but Lewis also started showing him right away too. They’ve been the 3’3″ adult amateur hunter circuit champions for three consecutive years at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.). “I know I have the winner. I just have to sit there and not make a mistake,” said Lewis.

Lewis, Willoughby Hills, Ohio, rode as a junior, but then took 17 years off to concentrate on her career at her family’s printing business. In 1999, she took the reins back up. “I was helping with a charity event for the local therapeutic riding program, and I was watching them ride and knew I needed to ride again,” she said.

Abby Converse hasn’t stopped riding since the conclusion of her junior years, but she just started in the hunter ring again after a 10-year stint in the jumpers. With the catch ride T-Note, she claimed the adult amateur, 18-35, championship and won the NAL/WIHS adult amateur hunter classic.

T-Note, a 10-year-old Thor-oughbred mare, competed successfully in the professional divisions and the junior hunters, but when she was put up for sale last fall, Converse got the ride. “She’s a lot of fun. She just goes to the jumps, and as long as I don’t get in her way, we usually do pretty well. We can be our own worst enemy for sure, though,” she said. “She’s such a true show horse. She just walks in the ring, takes a deep breath, and jumps around.”

Converse, Dallas, Texas, hopes to show T-Note at the Capital Challenge (Md.) in October. “It’s been fun doing the hunters again; I do enjoy it. It’s the first time I’ve qualified a hunter for such a big show, so I’m excited for that,” she said.

Sloane Coles rode a few catch rides of her own to tricolors. She guided Kitty Barker’s Carita to the small junior, 15 and under, championship and then rode Jack Boles’ Loxley to the junior jumper championship.

Coles got the ride on Carita in the spring, when Barker took the former jumper in on trade. Coles started Carita, an 8-year-old, in the children’s hunters in Florida, then moved up to the junior divisions in April. And she learned from helping Carita make the transition to the hunters.

“When we first started with her, she didn’t jump as round. I learned how to use little exercises and gymnastics to help her jump round,” said Coles. “And she’s an amazing jumper. She jumps so high and just walks down the lines. She’s come such a long way.”

Coles, Middleburg, Va., has also seen improvement in Loxley. “When I first started showing him [in Florida], he was a little green and wiggly, but he always tries so hard. He’s got so much scope and is so careful, and now he’s easier to ride. Yesterday in the jump-off, I came to one vertical on such a steep angle, almost sideways, and he tried so hard for me and jumped it clean,” Coles said.

Showing at the Bluegrass Festival was more of a challenge for Coles because she’d just returned from a three-week family vacation in New Zealand. “I didn’t ride at all down there! I kept asking my parents if we could go for a trail ride or something, but they said no. It was a great trip; the scenery was amazing. It was tough getting back into showing right away, though,” she said.