Scott Stewart expands on his winning streak with multiple championships in Virginia.

It had already been a good day for Scott Stewart at the Middleburg Classic, held Sept. 16-20. Aboard K&S Show Services’ elegant chestnut Garfield, he won the well-attended first year green division championship and was grand champion green hunter.

But when he entered the ring on Declaration for the regular conformation division, he sensed his week was about to get even better.

His intuition was correct, and despite the gloomy, muddy conditions, Declaration jumped around the big ring at Morven Park Equestrian Center in Leesburg, Va., like a seasoned competitor, even though he’s only in his second full year of showing.

“The first round he tried really hard and didn’t touch a jump,” Stewart said. “He was great, just really amazing. He really jumped well.”

Stewart and Declaration, a 7-year-old Westphalian (Collin-L—Lancy) gelding, swept all of the classes in their division for the regular conformation tricolor and earned The Chronicle of the Horse Trophy for grand champion hunter.

Stewart is no stranger to the title, having won it in 2008 and 2002. Declaration is also becoming accustomed to seeing tricolors—he won the regular conformation championship at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) in August.

Despite his imposing size, 17.1 hands, and relative newness to the show ring, Stewart said Declaration isn’t an intimidating or tricky horse.

“He actually rides really made up,” Stewart said. “He’s not really quirky or green, and he’s very quiet. He’s sort of like a big pony. You have to wake him up at the in-gate.”

Declaration’s owner Glen Senk, Philadelphia, Pa., eventually plans to take over the ride on the bay gelding, but first the horse will compete in the green conformation classes at the Capital Challenge (Md.) and Washington International (D.C.). Stewart said he often does the regular division, too, because he jumps better over the bigger fences.

“He sort of alternates back and forth,” Stewart said. “Since he is a first year horse, we don’t want to over face him, but if he’s feeling relaxed we’ll do the big classes.”

Although he has a busy schedule of showing, training and teaching, Stewart, Flemington, N.J., keeps the Middleburg Classic on his horse show calendar almost every year.

“I’ve always liked coming to that area,” he said. “I think it’s a nice horse show, and I like that it’s a charity event [for Food & Friends]. It’s always been good competition, and this year was no exception. There were a lot of tough riders there for the hunters with Sandy Ferrell, Louise Serio and Kelley Farmer and everybody.”

Amateur Triumphs In Classic

For a few tense minutes, it appeared junior Adele Norton and Peregrine, last year’s $10,000 Middleburg Hunter Classic winners, were poised for a repeat performance. Norton and Peregrine put in a nearly flawless second round at the 3’6″ height and waited near the in-gate to see how they would fare.

It looked as though it would be enough until the last rider in the class, Jane Gaston on her own Second City, turned in a lovely, bold trip at the 3’3″ height and nabbed the top placing and the high-point amateur award.

It was an especially sweet win for Gaston, The Plains, Va., as it was her first horse show with the bay mare.

“I’ve been thrilled with her,” Gaston said. “It’s only her second horse show ever, so for her to step up and do this was really great. I think the first round was more huntery and more restrained, but in the second I let her go a little more and it paid off.”

Trainer Larry Glefke, Keswick, Va., sold Gaston the mare in early August and had nothing but positive things to say about her trips.

“She walked out there and she was a professional show horse,” Glefke said. “She has perfect style, and she’s the most precise horse in the air I’ve ever seen.”

Farmer, Keswick, Va., showed Second City earlier in the week and took ribbons in the pre-green division, but it was with Gaston that the 7-year-old warmblood shined.

“She just got better and better, and she was really confident,” Gaston said. “I thought she was really solid and felt like a much older horse.

“She’s perfect to ride,” Gaston added. “She goes in a rubber snaffle with no martingale. She gets down to the jumps easy, and you just turn her loose and she backs herself off. Anybody could ride her.”

Farmer plans to show the mare in the first year green division at Capital Challenge, and then she’ll head to Florida for the winter where Farmer and Gaston will compete her. Gaston is also excited about her other new partner, Listen, a gray gelding who won the low amateur-owner hunter division championship at Middleburg.

“He’s just going to be phenomenal,” Gaston said. “I feel very lucky.”

Best Friends Show Off Their Partnership

Sometimes Chris Wynne doesn’t know how Black Mail and student Elizabeth Roberts do it.

“There will be times when Elizabeth is going for a jump, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is going to be horrible.’ And I’ll be thinking that maybe she should circle, but he [Black Mail] leaves the ground for her in the right spot and makes her look like a superstar,” Wynne said. “She’ll say, ‘He knew what I was doing. We had it.’ They just have a very good relationship. It’s great to watch.”

That solid relationship paid off at the Middleburg Classic with five blue ribbons in the small junior, 16-17, division and the championship tricolor.

“It was our first show back from a break,” Roberts, 17, said. “He was a little fresh the first day but still really good. He’s always really good.”

Black Mail, a 12-year-old Hanoverian by For Pleasure and owned by Roberts, Chesapeake, Va., has been a member of the family since 2007. The pair has been a force to be reckoned with ever since, earning championship ribbons at Lexington (Va.), the Constitution Classic (Va.), Winston National (Va.), Old Dominion (Va.) and more in this season alone.

Though Wynne said Roberts and Black Mail are talented competitors on their own, they really shine when showing together, and that connection has been their ticket to the top.

“She’s been very successful the whole time,” Wynne, Virginia Beach, Va., said. “The best thing, the neatest thing, is that they seem to be best friends. The horse goes for her like he’s never gone for anyone else. He does things for her I know he wouldn’t do for anyone else.”

Roberts and Black Mail qualified for the fall indoor shows this year, and after those competitions they’ll prepare to move into the amateur divisions. Roberts, a high school junior, has started looking at colleges and said Black Mail will likely go with her wherever she chooses.

When he’s not competing, Black Mail lives in Roberts’ backyard so she has more time to ride during the school year. They trailer to Wynne’s for lessons once a week and spend the rest of their time solidifying the bond that’s made them so successful together.

“He’s like a dog,” Roberts said. “We let him do whatever he wants at home. He’s really cocky because he gets away with anything, but he’s not obnoxious. I think he’s perfect.”