Young rider Ralph Holstein continued to prove he’s one to watch by winning the advanced division at the Richland Park Horse Trials in Richland, Mich., held Aug. 26-28.

Riding Arctic Dancer in his fourth advanced competition, Holstein moved up into position to win after picking up just 13.2 time penalties on cross-country, tied with Ian Roberts and Napalm for the fastest round of the day.

“I felt really confident going out,” said Holstein. “All the distances were measured perfectly and everything was set on good lines. Once you made your decisions about the option you were going to take, you could be pretty confident that it was going to ride correctly.”

The advanced division was offered for the first time last year, and this year Richland Park was included in the Adequan U.S. Eventing Association’s Gold Cup Series.

Holstein, of Hinckley, Ohio, got a taste of fame last fall when he was tied for the lead after cross-country at the Radnor Hunt CCI** (Pa.). He then lowered three fences in show jumping and dropped to fifth.

“My coach, Jeff Taylor, and I have been working intensely on show jumping since then, improving my riding and my show jumping skills,” said Holstein.

They had 3 time penalties in the show jumping at Richland Park, but the rails stayed up, leaving him in first by more than 8 points (50.1) over Penny Rowland and Windswept.

Holstein, 20, took a break from college last spring to focus on riding and hasn’t quite found his way back. “I really do want a fallback if horses don’t work out,” he said. “I just feel that at this particular moment the opportunity that I have with the horses right now might not be there four years from now. I’m trying to figure out how to do schoolwork part time.”

Arctic Dancer is one of the main reasons for Holstein to focus on eventing. The 9-year-old Thoroughbred is at the top of his game and has formed a strong partnership with Holstein.

“He’s the most pleasant horse I’ve ever had,” said Holstein. “I’ve never seen him with his ears pinned back. He’s eager to please and doesn’t have an ornery bone in his body. It holds true on the ground and under saddle. He gives you 100 percent all the time.”

Holstein bought “Petey” from Taylor when he was 5 and has been bringing him up the levels since then.

A Surprising Turn Of Events

Alyson Schwartz left the showgrounds thinking she’d placed second in the Area VIII Preliminary Championship with The Mighty Quinn, but a little-known rule changed that.

Lani Gilliam and Lord Alfred won the division, but they won the title last year, and the rules state that a horse and rider combination may not win an Area VIII championship at the same level more than once in three years.

“I heard it through the grapevine that I’d won,” said Schwartz. “Honestly I didn’t know that rule either.

“Quincy,” a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse, belongs to Feather Kapovich, but she had a bad fall this spring while schooling and broke her arm.

“I’ve been working with him to get him more confident so she can get back on him again and they’ll do well together,” explained Schwartz, 31. “He’s very bold, but he doesn’t like to jump out of stride.”

A pharmacist from Bardstown, Ky., Schwartz mostly rides for fun. She does teach lessons occasionally but hasn’t been able to compete much in the last year because her horses had lameness issues.

“I was going intermediate and advanced in the ’90s, but then I graduated and had some bad luck,” said Schwartz. “I used to think it was tough to go to college and ride, and then I got a real job and realized that college and riding was really pretty easy.”

She was very surprised to be in the lead after dressage (36.0). “It was one of the worst dressage tests I thought I’d ever had on him,” Schwartz admitted. “Usually he’s very relaxed, but he was tense. It had started raining and there were people flipping up umbrellas. Then a generator fired up as I went to do my second medium trot.

They started off slowly on cross-country because Schwartz was concerned about the slippery going. “I didn’t want him to back off because he was slipping,” she said. “But he was jumping great and wasn’t slipping so I kicked him on, though I did have some time faults.”

Her time faults dropped her to sixth place, but a clear show jumping round moved her up into second.

“Show jumping is his weakness, and that’s where he wants to chip, so I was a little nervous,” Schwartz said. Quincy had to stretch at the triple, but it was an otherwise perfect round and one of only two clean in the division.

Because Gilliam actually won the division, she’ll get to keep the ribbons and show awards, and Schwartz will receive the Area VIII cooler and prizes.

But she won’t have the ride on Quincy for-ever. “I’m trying to find another horse,” said Schwartz. “I got married two years ago, and I think I might want to have kids one day. It’s been about 10 years since I first rode at Rolex, and I really want to find an advanced horse to do it one more time before I have a family.”

Making Dressage Count

Emily Beshear of Orange, Va., decided to make horses her business after a stellar young rider career, but she too has had difficulty finding the horse to take her back to the top. She’s hoping that Woodburn, her intermediate winner (45.1), will be that horse.

“He was purchased by the Sweelys of Acorn Hill Farm for me to have a horse that had some mileage, so I could get back to the upper levels,” explained Beshear, 28.

A 9-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred, “Bernie” competed through the two-star level with Liz Milliken.

Beshear’s relationship with Acorn Hill Farm started a year and a half ago when the Sweelys asked her to introduce one of their Irish Sport Horse stallions, Carrig View, to eventing.

“I started riding him and they were pleased with the direction he was going, so I was asked to choose a couple of young horses to bring along as well,” said Beshear. “Now we’ve got a couple young ones that have gone on to intermediate, and one of them is headed to Radnor. Carrig just ran his first intermediate at the Kentucky Classic.”

Bernie easily won the dressage in his third intermediate outing with Beshear. Their score of 26.7 put them almost 9 points ahead of second place. “The biggest thing with him is just getting him relaxed and confident in the ring,” said Beshear. “He tries so hard that he almost psyches himself out.

“The cross-country course definitely opened my eyes when I walked it,” she continued. “There were quite a number of tough combinations, and I’m still getting to know him, so I didn’t go out with any intention of being very fast or worrying about being competitive. But the course rode fantastic. Everything that I thought was a little bit tricky, he jumped brilliantly.”

After riding it once, Beshear was able to go out with more confidence on her second horse, Three Wishes II, and came in 20 seconds faster. “I just felt that much more confident that I could get the job done and continue riding forward,” she said.

And Beshear’s 18.4 time penalties with Bernie weren’t enough to knock her out of first place, and a clean show jumping round clinched it for her. Three Wishes had moved up to second after cross-country, but rails moved her down to 10th.

“He’s a little green in show jumping,” she said with a laugh. “We’re still working on atmosphere, and that’s one of the reasons I went to that event. The events in Area II this time of year are one-days with show jumping before cross-country. I specifically went up there so I would have to deal with the pressure of show jumping last in that environment.”