The Spurs of the Moment (Rosemary Strong/Irish Endeavor, Susan MacQuiddy/Oliver VII, Gillian Webster/
UBet, Anne Ladd/Quazar II) took top honors in the preliminary division of The Chronicle of the Horse/USEA Western Adult Team Challenge at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, Colo., Oct. 3-5.

Strong moved up from fourth place after dressage to win the open preliminary division on her dressage score of 41.3, ensuring her team’s victory.

Strong, a small animal veterinarian from Aspen, Colo., took credit for organizing the team effort. “I was the one who put the team together and would do it again in a heartbeat,” said Strong. “It was nice to put a team together that you don’t know and meet some great people who event at your level. It is often such an individual sport even though everyone is so nice and ready to help.”

Strong was excited to win and to jump double clear in show jumping on the 13-year-old Irish Sport horse gelding she imported in 2000. “I do wish the cross-country was more challenging with more difficult questions and options so riders could have choices, but it would cost them time,” she said. “That always causes riders to think and teaches them to use their brain as needed in all life choices.”

Ladd and Quazar not only competed in the ATC but also in the Area IX Preliminary Championship as well. With three of the 10 riders experiencing elimination on cross-country, Ladd moved up from seventh place after dressage to third overall.

“This was a great event for us,” said Ladd. She and “Darcy,” her 11-year-old English Thoroughbred, have been partners for five years. “We had a decent dressage and a solid cross-country and great show jumping!”

Also contributing to the winning team effort, Webster and UBet finished sixth in the preliminary championship.

“This was only our third prelim,” said Webster, who has owned her 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood-Thoroughbred mare for almost three years. “We qualified at training for the [American Eventing Championships] as well as Area Championships, but I decided to go for the move up instead. I am so glad I did.”

MacQuiddy began the event in first place after dressage with a score of 35 but experienced some bad luck cross-country, resulting in elimination.

Mountain Cowgirls Round Up Training Win
Four teams contested the training ATC with the aptly named Mountain Cowgirls finishing first. The Cowgirls and their cowponies consisted of Mary Jane Hosch and Winston XI, Wendy Webb and The Explorer, Cynthia Moore-West and Irish Flight and Chelsea Davis and Kenya.

Three members of the training team completed in the ribbons, but Davis and Kenya experienced trouble cross-country and retired on course.

Hosch and Winston tested their skills in the open training division, finishing third after a double-clear trip around the cross-country course.

Webb and Moore-West competed in the training championships, with Webb and The Explorer moving up from 11th after dressage to finish seventh.

Moore-West and Strong’s 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Irish Flight, began the competition with a few challenges, earning a score of 40.5 in dressage.

“I forgot my dressage test twice,” said Moore-West of Sedalia, Colo., a real estate broker and mother of three. “I had a geriatric moment with that, but the cross-country went great. In stadium, we pulled rails with the back legs, which means I must have been sitting too deep in the saddle, but I was pleased that we got through the water on cross-country since he’s been looking at it all summer.”

Moore-West and Irish Flight completed with a score of 48.5 to finish eighth.

“This is my first time competing on a team,” said Moore-West. “Mostly because in the past I was always over-qualified, but since my upper level horse passed away I have had to start all over again. The cost
of an experienced upper level event horse is beyond my means. So I was thrilled to put this team together and really enjoyed the friendship and the support from the teammates. I highly recommend it to all adults.”

Kibbles And Bits Wins Novice
Competition was tough in the novice division with eight teams vying for the ATC title. Despite being spread out among three different divisions, the team called Kibbles And Bits, consisting of Wendy Fryke and Katanga, Gail Deal and O’Win Fletcher, Nicole Ackerman and Knight’s Tale and Lynn Klisavage and Helicon Corvette came out on top with all four riders earning top-10 placings.

Ackerman anchored the team by earning a 29 in dressage and finishing on that score. She and the 6-year-old Knight’s Tale, a Thoroughbred-Clydesdale, owned by Annette Reals, took home the blue ribbon in open novice, division 2.

“This was basically a catch ride for me,” said Ackerman. “We just pulled him out of the pasture after about a year off from competing and brought him here.

He is really exceptional for being such a young horse.”

Deal and her 7-year-old, 17.2-hand, Percheron-Quarter Horse finished in fourth place in open novice, division 1.

Klisavage, a veteran of the ATC experience, was seventh in open novice, division 2.

“Lynn has competed on a team in the ATC before, and we all take lessons from her, so she was the one who put our team together,” said Ackerman.

Competing in the novice championships in addition to her ATC team, Fryke, of Parker, Colo., and her 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding Katanga took eighth place individually.

Heather Messner