She and seven other regional winners will lead the charge to the Maclay Finals.
After two second-placed fin-ishes in Region 3 the last two years, Tatiana Dzavik, of Toronto, Ont., got a little extra help from trainer Missy Clark and took the top spot  over 78 competitors in the Region 1 Maclay, held Sept. 30 at the Grand Fall Classic in Westbrook, Conn. They warmed up that weekend by also winning the PHA National Championship.
 
“The past two years I’ve been second at regionals, and Maclay finals didn’t work out that well, so maybe this will change the outcome!” she said.

Though now a working student at Clark’s North Run, Dzavik still trains with Bobby Braswell of Quiet Hill and counts him as a huge influence.

“Missy and Bobby decided to co-train me last year during indoors, and it’s been unbelievable. Bobby is definitely one of my idols in the horse world and one of the nicest people out there. Missy’s one of the best in the business, with the best horses, best training,” she explained. “Bobby taught me so much, and Missy has added to it everywhere.”

Dzavik is leasing Clark’s Truffle, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood, through the end of the year. “When she first started riding him, I warned her that you have to keep track of him,” said Clark. “It’s never the jumps with him; it’s everything else around the ring. You have to pay attention to every stride. You can’t loop the reins too much or Truffle might take a U-turn.”

Though she admits he has his moments, Dzavik has found Truffle to be an excellent match and said he was perfect on course at regionals. “It started off with a bit of a tricky line that went to another line with a long gallop to a bounce. A lot of people struggled with the bounce,” she said.

“The last jump was a long gallop to a single oxer, and I think what separated my course from everybody else’s was that I picked up the gallop around the corner, just took a shot and hand-galloped the last fence—it was extravagant!”

She was called back first going into the flat and stayed there without having to test. “Her position is close to flawless. Everything is in place and tight,” said Clark.

Clark also coached Michael Hughes, son of Irish-born professional Eamon Hughes of Allendale, N.Y., in the class. While finishing 10th in such a competitive region would be an accomplishment for any rider, it was particularly impressive for Hughes, whose class rank equaled his show age.

“He is the most talented child I’ve ever, ever, ever seen in my career, bar none,” said Clark. “I predict he’s going to be a real force in the industry.”

Shining On A Tough Course
Sara Green of Sherborn, Mass., another Quiet Hill student, took home the Region 3 Maclay title that had eluded Dzavik the past two years.

Riding her 15-year-old warmblood, Why Not Jack, Green improved upon her sixth place from last year to beat 54 competitors at the North Florida Hunter Jumper Association show held Sept. 8 at the Clay County Agricultural Center in Green Cove Springs, Fla.

“I was shocked when I was called back on top and that I actually stayed on top!” said Green, who shows as 15. “I thought the course was really hard. There were so many turns and bending lines. After you were done, it felt a lot worse than it was.”

She thought her approach to the middle portion of the course helped catch the judges’ eyes.

“Out of the short corner, there was a big Swedish oxer to a galloping five [strides] on a diagonal, back to a choking five [strides] on the other diagonal to another big Swedish oxer. Everyone was messing that up,” she explained.

“I cut the corners so I was already angled toward the next vertical, and luckily my horse has a really big stride, so I went to get the five early so I could whoa for the next five, and he came right back.”

Hanna Botney’s lease of Jack Towell’s Eventual, a horse from Region 3’s Don Stewart Stables, helped her win the Region 5 Maclay at the St. Louis National Charity (Mo.) on Sept. 15. Botney, 17, of St. Louis, was very grateful for the last-minute loan, with the gelding arriving four days before the class.

“He’s amazing. He’s really light and does just about anything you ask,” she said. “My goal was to win, since this is my last junior year, but I came out saying whether I win or get third, it doesn’t matter because it was one of my best rounds ever, so that’s fine with me.”

Botney, who trains with Susan Baginski of Baskin Farm, placed second in her region last year and said her trainer of eight years knows just how to get the best out of her.

“She knows me so well, it’s kind of scary! Reverse psychology works on me for some reason. She’ll say, ‘Here’s an inside turn, but you don’t have to do it.’ And I’ll say, ‘I can do that!’ Then I’ll go do it, come out of the ring, and she’ll say, ‘I knew you could do it all along.’  It works every time!” admitted Botney.

The high school senior has a lot on her plate right now with indoors approaching, as she also plays field hockey—a fall sport—something she plans to continue pursuing in college next year. “I actually had a game Saturday morning, then I had to go get ready for regionals,” she said.

The win came as a reward for her daily juggling act of sports and school. “When they were announcing the results and it got to just me and another girl, I was freaking out!” she said. “I started crying when they announced my name. It was a dream come true.”

Sending A Region 8 RSVP
Tina Di Landri and her just-7-year-old Holsteiner gelding, RSVP, ensured their return to the ASPCA Maclay National Championships this year, which will be held at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament (N.Y.), Oct. 31-Nov. 4, with a victory in the Region 8 qualifier.

The pair placed second in last year’s regional competition before placing 10th in the finals, just months after Di Landri, show age 15, decided she wanted to take her riding to the next level.

Her previous trainer, Becky Warner, of Morning Shadows Farm in Di Landri’s primary residence of Scottsdale, Ariz., suggested she turn to trainer Karen Healey a little more than a year ago.

“It’s probably the best move I’ve made; it’s been amazing,” said Di Landri, who now rides out of La Jolla, Calif. “It’s been a journey, and we’ve had our ups and downs. I definitely was on a down for three weeks before Maclay regionals.”

After a relentless summer of showing every weekend, sometimes six or seven horses a show, she was feeling a little burned out. “I took two weeks off. I stayed in school for once and just did kid things,” she said. “I came back to regionals, and it was like a whole new world.”

The rejuvenated Di Landri topped 34 entries in the West Regional, held Sept. 15 at the Oaks Blenheim Fall Tournament in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., without the need for a call-back.

“Going into it, I was definitely nervous because I wanted to do well,” she said. “It was one of those courses you were either on it or you weren’t, and we had a good day.”

The 17.2-hand RSVP, who she found with Warner two years ago at the Maclay Finals, has proven to be a fantastic partner. “He thinks he’s small. If I go in his stall, he’ll try to lay down in my lap,” she said. “We’ve been working on getting him stronger. He’s a lazy horse, so you have to create your rhythm; it doesn’t automatically come.”

Jennifer Waxman, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was another top performer in last year’s Maclay finals, placing third in her first outing after qualifying fifth from Region 4.

Like Di Landri, she shows as 15, and will be returning to Syracuse on her partner of two years, Falcon, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, after earning the Midwest title at the Kentucky National, held Sept. 29 in Lexington.

“[After last year] I wanted to be consistent and was just hoping I wouldn’t do something silly that I would regret,” said Waxman, who’s already amassed an illustrious resume as a pony rider.

“I really enjoy the equitation. At the end of last year we really started to get it and he was awesome at all the finals. I’m starting to get more into the jumpers and I really think it helps with that.”

She and trainers Ken and Emily Smith of Ashland Farm decided on a fairly conservative approach to the
course, which offered a few options to riders.

Flatting with the last of three groups, Waxman and three others were held in the ring for a test that included a trot jump, followed by a counter-canter rollback turn to an oxer, and ending with a halt after the final fence.

“All the riders before me were having trouble holding the counter lead—they’d land on it but lose it. That’s something I practice with him all the time, and he’s actually very good about it,” she explained. “Falcon really is in it with you. He’s not bad at the little shows, but he definitely rises to the occasion for big ones.”

O.J. Berkes also shored up his Region 7 victory with a well-executed counter canter at the Northwest Autumn Finals, held Sept. 15 in Monroe, Wash. Riding Jessi Kempin’s 17-year-old Hanoverian, Corvester, the 17-year-old from Seattle tried to perform his test “functionally and elegantly” to set himself apart.

“I loved the course,” he said. “You had to ride very tactfully to be able to do it well. It was a real test of riding skill, rather than just beauty on course.”

After going to Syracuse as a spectator two years ago, Berkes has been working with his trainer, Shelly Kerron of Legacy Hunters and Jumpers, with riding there as “somewhat of a goal.”

Rather than hauling Corvester across the country, they’re currently figuring out a horse to lease for the final. “I’m used to catch riding a little bit; it’s alright with me. The more horses you ride, the more experience you get and skills you gain,” he said.

“He really loves the horses. After each round, when he came out of the gate he threw his arms around the horse,” said Kerron. “He has a very relaxed manner, which in the past has been a little too relaxed! We’ve been working on tightening him up. He’s a natural athlete.”

Though winning Maclay regionals was a huge accomplishment, Berkes is no stranger to national com-
petition, also manifesting his athleticism as a member of his high school’s Ultimate Frisbee team.

Passing The Torch
Boasting a fantastic junior career with a litany of honors, including two top-10 finishes in the Maclay Finals, Maria Schaub, of Holmdel, N.J., has already started to enjoy a mentoring role with the younger riders she’s gotten to know as a working student at Beacon Hill. She ensured she’s going out on top, however, with the Region 2 Maclay title, earned at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, N.Y., on Sept. 9.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have ridden so many different equitation horses, with so much experience I was so fortunate to have gotten. I feel very privileged that’s the sort of junior career I’ve had. I’m not so much sad [it’s ending], as appreciative. I’m excited—there’s a lot ahead of me!”

In her seventh equitation year, Schaub enjoys seeing the younger kids coming up the ranks. “It just makes you smile. It’s nice to be able to give them a heads-up, to be someone to calm them down and help them have fun,” she said.

Schaub was enjoying the ride on Jimmy Toon’s 7-year-old mare, iToon, who she’s been leasing since the beginning of the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.).

“She’s only been shown about a year and already had a baby, so she was a bit green to the show ring, but she’s a trier,” she said. “It’s such a great thing to ride a horse who wants to be there and do it with you.”

Going towards the end of the 64-person order, Schaub only tried to watch the other Beacon Hill riders before her trip. “I don’t like to watch too many people go—it’s too much for me,” she said. “I can’t do that, or else I over-think.”

She went into the flat phase second to Kim McCormack. Her work under saddle impressed the judges enough to move her into the lead without further testing.

Having graduated high school this year, Schaub is taking a year off to work for Beacon Hill before pursuing a business degree, with an equine studies minor, at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Booking A Return Trip
Alisha Davis, 18, is currently enrolled in her freshman year at the University of Denver (Colo.), majoring in physics and math, and she applied her analytical nature to winning the Region 6 Maclay on Sept. 15 at the High Prairie Fall Classic in Parker, Colo.

Riding with Cindy Cruciotti of Serenity Farm since December, Davis, of Littleton, Colo., found a kindred spirit.

“She’s a perfectionist like I am. I’ve always wanted to work with her,” she said. “She focuses on perfecting equitation’s form versus function, and we really meshed together.

“I went to New York last year, and I loved it and wanted to go back for my last junior year,” she continued. “I love equitation, how you can keep working to perfect your round.”

Scoring an 87 for her first round didn’t leave Davis a whole lot of room for improvement at regionals, but it did put her in the lead going into the flat.

The judges’ test for her and Lindsay Sceats, last year’s winner, included a trot fence, long hand-gallop to the end of a snake fence, and a halt.

“I think I had a more solid hand-gallop, but everything else was neck and neck,” she said. “I really just wanted to qualify and was focused more on practicing for nationals. I had a rail at the last jump at nationals last year, but it was a really good experience that I really en-joyed, and it got me hooked.”

Prada, her 10-year-old, 17.1-hand, black Hanoverian, seems to enjoy equitation as much as her owner. “She enjoys the technicality of it, the turns. If we take her on a simple course, she gets unenthusiastic,” explained Davis. “I love that mare!

“[The win] was the best feeling. My trainer, my parents, the grooms were all so excited. It was so emotional—it took me a few days to realize what had happened,” she said. “I’m trying not to let it affect my mindset, but I think it’s a good base, to realize that all the work we’ve done this winter has paid off.”

Stacey Reap