Months of planning and strategizing came to an end at the Western Adult Team Challenge, sponsored by The Chronicle of the Horse, at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

Teams such as “Western Slope Divas” went all out with matching T-shirts, tiaras and flamboyant tack stall d飯r. “The Fab Four” went so far as to secure corporate sponsorship. The festive atmosphere continued with a competitor party including gift baskets and spa weekends coupled with karaoke and a cash bar.

Lynn Klisavage of Mile Hi Stables in Parker, Colo., found herself on winning training and novice teams with her pair of grays and earned an individual second place in both divisions. Her novice horse, Gotta Lotta Art, was a catch ride owned by Jan D’Alessandro.
In the training division, Klisavage rode her lovely Holsteiner cross mare, Gonvena.

Leading from the get-go, the training team of The Four Angels, originally comprised of Klisavage, Laura Jones, and Sue King, was to include Sean Worrall and was to be called Sean’s Angels. When Worrall decided to catch ride Karen Paul’s Accolades in the intermediate division he became ineligible to compete on a training team. The Angels then secured a fourth team member in Kate Gillespie and her mount Renegade Reno.

“I got the call last Tuesday from Lynn asking me to be on her team,” said Gillespie, a native of South Africa who now lives in Ft. Lupton, Colo. Before moving to the United States in 1999, Gillespie evented and com-peted in show jumping derbies near Capetown. She purchased Reno, her 6-year-old, Danish gelding by Rambo out of a Thoroughbred mare, two years ago.

“I saw an ad in Practical Horseman that read: ‘Horse bucks, rears, kicks.’ I said to myself, ‘Sounds like my next event horse!’ ” said Gillespie who runs Black Diamond Eventing out of K2 Ranch in Ft. Lupton.

Gillespie and Reno earned a 32.5 in dressage and after a clean and fast cross-country, they lowered a rail in show jumping to finish fifth.

Jones, a student of Klisavage’s, was the anchor of the team, maintaining her lead going into show jumping. “Being on the team adds a little pressure, but at the same time you’re cheering for each other,” said Jones, whose double-clear round secured her the individual as well as the team win.

“Castille is my horse of a lifetime,” said Jones, of the 13-year-old, Holsteiner gelding she purchased as a yearling from Betty McElvain in New Mexico.

Jones competed the gelding in the amateur-owner hunters before Klisavage turned her on to eventing. “I started taking lessons from Lynn and I did an event, and she said, ‘OK, you are ready for novice now and then training.’ For her to take us on, me and my old hunter and my old jumper, and turn us into successful eventers–she is amazing.”

The fourth “angel,” King, has been steadily campaigning her 7-year-old Thoroughbred, Dr. Loizeaux, who she found at the Arapahoe (Colo.) racetrack.

“You can’t create bravery in an event horse and this horse has it. I know he has that innate quality if only I can cultivate it!” she said. A refusal on cross-country added 20 points to their dressage score of 34. “It was totally my fault, but as long as I ride well he does great.”

They finished on a positive note with a clear show jumping round.

The Fab Four Overtakes Novice

In the novice team challenge, Klisavage led her team to the win, finishing once again in second place overall. Her team called “The Fab Four” consisted of Andria Allen, Cynthia Hunter and Jane Worrall.

The competition was tough with “The Western Slope Divas” leading after dressage by .5 penalty points ahead of The Fab Four and 3 points ahead of “The Wild Game.” The pressure was on when those scores remained the same going into show jumping. Bad luck struck when a Diva was injured in warm-up and had to withdraw. This moved the Fab Four into first place going into show jumping, still only 3 points ahead of second place.

Worrall thought being on the team created some extra pressure. “I put enough pressure on myself to do well,” said Worrall of Elbert, Colo. “Then I worried about doing well for the team too!”

Obviously the pressure was not too much to bear as Worrall and her 12-year-old Thoroughbred Solo Flight finished on their dressage score of 35.5. They also took home the fourth-placed ribbon in the individual competition. “I was really pleased with him this weekend,” said Worrall.

“Being on the team was so cool because it isn’t all about you,” said Allen, who competes her 5-year-old, Oldenburg gelding Confabulate, by Contucci, out of a Thoroughbred mare bred by Sue Rowden in Middleburg, Va. Allen purchased him two years ago.

“I have been truly blessed this season,” said Allen, who after adding 4 penalty points to her dressage score finished in sixth place overall with a score of 36.5. “I have such wonderful support from my husband and trainers, and I’ve had some really good karma this season.”
Allen enlists the help of Glenda Needles for dressage and Cynthia Moore for jumping. They each work out of Pheasant Ridge in Gunbarrel, Colo., where Allen boards “Milo.”

Allen, along with Hunter, had returned from a trip in September to the American Eventing Championships (N.C.), where Allen finished second and Hunter finished 27th out of 54 in the open novice. Hunter, an equine photographer whose clientele includes Featherlite Trailers, secured a photo sponsorship from the company for the trip, which carried over to the ATC.

“It’s so rare to see sponsorship at the lower levels,” said Hunter, who competes her 10-year-old, gray Thoroughbred, Wavos. She found him as a 3-year-old at the Arapahoe racetrack.

A graduate B Pony Clubber, Hunter grew up riding with her mother Ginevra Hunter, an avid foxhunter and equestrian who was the MFH for the Los Altos (Calif.) and Mill Creek (Ill.) hunts. Hunter worked as a staff photographer for Steamboat Springs Ski Resort but currently resides in Loveland, Colo., where she works as an advertising photographer. She and Wavos added only 1 time penalty point to their dressage score of 35.5, finishing in fifth place for The Fab Four.

“Last fall Wavos had double hock surgery,” said Hunter. “I was told he’d have a 60 percent chance of recovery. I rehabilitated him through the winter, and there were days when it was so dark and cold and windy that I rode with his dressage saddle right over his winter blanket. But according to CSU his hocks are back to 100 percent, and I am just amazed.”

Both Hunter and Allen look forward to moving their horses up to training in the spring.

The Antiques Never Stop Dreaming
The preliminary team of Gayle Udall, John Kelly, Don Gerlach and Rosemary Strong, otherwise known as “The Antiques,” held onto an early lead to win the title.

“We figured out our combined ages are more than our combined dressage scores,” explained Udall, an architect from Boulder Colo., who credits Kelly with coming up with the name for their team.

Udall won the team and the individual honors. Five years ago, she and G.S. Taylor, her 13-year-old Thoroughbred, suffered a fall while schooling. The pair struggled through years of refusals and eliminations.

“I spent more time drug through the dirt than with any horse I have owned,” said Udall. “I just couldn’t accept the fact that he was afraid because he had already done a one- and two-star. I just couldn’t give it up and sell him because well, I love him, but I just knew he had the capability to do it.”

Evidently, the bad spell is over for Udall and “Taylor.” Their dressage score of 34.5 tied them for the individual lead after dressage with Martha McDowell and Black Diamond II. They added only 5.4 cross-country time penalties, which pushed them to the front of the pack but only .10 points ahead of teammate Rosemary Strong. Each of the “Antiques” went double clear, with Udall extracting a round of applause as she wrapped her arms around Taylor’s neck.

“They really deserve this win,” said Reed Ayers, a friend of Udall’s.

Although Strong fought hard for the individual win, she and her 10-year-old, Irish gelding Irish Flight came out with second place individually. She was the last member to join the team because she had been contemplating a move up to intermediate.

“I went and schooled the intermediate, and it scared me to death!” said Strong, a veterinarian from Aspen, Colo. “I decided after that I would stick with prelim and really wanted to be on a team. And I like the team aspect. Most of us are pretty competitive, and I think the team dilutes the competitiveness. You really want others to do well.”

The male “Antiques,” Don Gerlach and John Kelly, finished fourth and fifth individually. Kelly, who like Udall has suffered setbacks and challenges, was thrilled with the outcome of their performance.

“We’ve had a spotty year. We either do really well or we have problems,” said Kelly, of Breckinridge, Colo.

Kelly and his 13-year-old Hanoverian-Thoroughbred cross Fringe Benefit, who he purchased in 2000 from Lisa Fuller of Hume, Va., earned a score of 42 in dressage. “You know, 8:23 is very early for me to ride dressage,” said Kelly with a laugh. “He wanted to run and jump so our test was kind of in stop-and-go mode.”

The pair made up for their lack of finesse in dressage by adding only 3.2 cross-country time penalties, then dropping three rails in show jumping. “In show jumping I put in six instead of seven between the oxer and the one-stride so we pulled both rails,” said Kelly. “I try to learn from my mistakes. That is the challenge of eventing, though, surely I’m not the first to say it–to get it right on all three phases.”

Gerlach, 51, of Gilette, Wyo., and his amazing, 7-year-old Appaloosa gelding Hale Bopp, were the fourth “Antiques.” The pair earned a 48.5 in dressage and though he contested his refusal on cross-country, added 20 penalties but no time to his dressage score. A double clear show jumping round gave Gerlach and “Baby” a final score of 68.5.

A former farrier who now owns his own business and helps to organize the Powder Basin Horse Trials (Idaho), Gerlach began eventing only six years ago.

“I love being 50!” he exclaimed. “I always tell young riders to never give up on their dreams–it can happen later in life.”