June 10—Mill Spring, N.C.

Seeing Kelley Farmer’s name at the top of the scoreboard after a hunter derby? Totally normal. 

Seeing Farmer’s name listed as winning co-owner instead of rider? Slightly less so.

But Farmer got to play the role of owner tonight when Erica Quinn, who works as a rider for Farmer and Larry Glefke at their Lane Change Farm, piloted Need I Say—a horse Farmer co-owns with Danielle Elizabeth Brown Swanston—into victory at the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Tryon International Equestrian Center. 

The chestnut gelding returned for the handy round ranked fifth out of the 21 classic round starters. And his handiness? The whole Lane Change Farm crew knew it was his secret weapon. 

“He’s an amazing animal. I can’t say enough nice things about that horse,” said Quinn. “The first round I bobbled going into the two-stride, which I was mad at myself about. But I feel like I can do anything on him, so when I turn, I know he’s there. It doesn’t matter if the jump is one or two or three strides [after the turn], he’s there. He gives you such a nice feeling in the air.” 

He earned perfect 10s for handiness from both judging panels in the second round, which, combined with his scores of 88 and 89 for that second round, plus 4 points from each judge for taking all the high options, and the 164 total he earned in the classic round, gave him a final score of 369.

Erica Quinn on Need I Say. Photo by Lisa Slade.

Quinn then watched her boss—sitting first and second after the first round on Point Given and Baltimore, respectively—have minor issues with both horses. In the end, Farmer slotted into second with Glefke’s Point Given (368) and third with Jane Gaston’s Baltimore (359). 

“I thought Point Being jumped beautifully in the first round,” said Farmer. “He was lovely. I thought he went great. Baltimore was a good boy. I made a little mistake. 

“Point Being, he still gets a little green at night,” she continued. “He tries so hard and is such a careful horse, and he’s an overachiever, and that’s a little bit him. It’s what I love about him—that intensity—but that intensity is sometimes what makes him a little nervous. He tries so hard to do right that sometimes he gets overachieve-y.”

Kelley Farmer and Point Being. Photo by Lisa Slade.

The track, set by Andres Christiansen, caused plenty of issues—mainly rails with a few stops—in the first round, with riders who’d had rails in the classic qualifying for the handy. A few horses who returned for the handy, which took place after dark, seemed unnerved by the change in atmosphere, but not Need I Say.

“He didn’t care about a thing. He’s such a steady Eddie,” said Quinn. “He can do anything. He’s a very, very handy horse.” 

Farmer found Need I Say, an 8-year-old warmblood by Stakkato, in Germany. He started doing the derbies last December, and he’s already won two before this one—both in Florida with Farmer in the irons. It was a last-minute decision for Quinn to ride him in this Tryon class. She also competed him in one Tryon derby recently.  

“I was supposed to stay and show in the $30,000 [USHJA International Hunter Derby] in Kentucky tomorrow night,” said Quinn. “Kelley was like, ‘Why don’t you come down to Tryon and do the $50,000?’ And I’m sure happy I did. It worked out. Kelley is very nice to let me ride this horse.”

“I wanted her to be able to ride a horse with no tricks and capable of competing with mine,” added Farmer. “She’s paid her dues and earned the chance, and she deserved a real horse to do it on. She’s learned how to do it. He’s a really, really good horse, and I wanted her to have something capable of jumping all the high options—being on a horse who could win.” 

Unless he’s sold first, Quinn will aim for the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship in Kentucky with Need I Say. 

You can watch a full archive of the live stream of the class here. 

See full results on the Tryon website, or check out more photos from the class.