Texas riders top the novice division in Kentucky.

Forget that Lexington, Ky., is a 20-hour drive from Rebecca Rickly’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas—she was determined to compete at the Kentucky Horse Park for the first time in the novice division of The Chronicle Of The Horse/ USEA Central Adult Team Challenge, Aug. 28-30.

Rickly, a professor at Texas Tech University, easily convinced fellow Area V adult rider Julia Denton of Dallas, Texas, to join her on a journey northeast, but finding two other equally committed competitors proved a bit more trying.

Donna Hamilton, also from Lubbock, Texas, would have jumped at the chance had her horse not been recovering from surgery. But Rickly gladly lent her comrade her former eventing mount, 13-year-old Paycheck. Hamilton and Paycheck clicked immediately and proved a force to be reckoned with as she saddled him up for just the fourth time for the event. Nicole Davison, Grapevine, Texas, rounded out the “Eventing Wenches” as the fourth team member.

Everything might be bigger in Texas, but size didn’t matter as Davison and her 14.2-hand Butterscotch Bliss (named after an ice cream flavor) helped solidify a team win over four other local novice teams with double-clear show jumping and cross-country rounds. The team experience proved to be a fun one for Davison after spending nearly 20 years showing hunters and jumpers.

“Competing needs to be fun,” she said. “And this was a refreshing change.”

On the other end of the size spectrum, 17.2-hand Win/Win Situation helped owner Julia Denton earn the nickname “the real wench” after topping the individual novice charts with a personal best score of 23.2.

Denton credits her and “Winston’s” par-ticipation in area dressage shows for their exceptional score. “In dressage, as soon as the bell rings you can feel him puff up; it’s time to show. He makes it easy and a lot of fun,” she said.

Rickly finished a respectable eighth overall with My Shamrock Paddy, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse she purchased in June. “He’s incredible. Just don’t get between him and his food,” she said as she walked well out of sight to eat a peppermint.

The team solicited 1998 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** winner Nick Larkin for guidance and advice, and his support paid off as he celebrated both their win and his birthday on the same day. The Wenches won’t soon forget their shared victory.

“I’m just excited we all got to ride at the horse park together,” said Rickly. “I had a ball!”

 A Media Event

Former Area VIII adult rider coordinator Becky Carson was assigned the formidable task of organizing all 11 area teams (the most ever) and deciding upon names based around a common theme.

“I thought, ‘It’s sponsored by The Chronicle of the Horse, why don’t we use team names affiliated with the magazine?’ ” said Carson. “So I opened up the front cover and starting pulling things from the magazine.”

Naturally, the last team to assemble—the sole preliminary team—was dubbed the “Late News Writers.” But without the added pressure of competing for the top slot, team members Alexander Hauptmann, Helen Rutter, Beth Weisberger, and Marty Whitehouse just relished the experience under the tutelage of Diana Rich.

“It’s a so much better experience than if you’re by yourself,” noted Hauptmann. “We were much more prepared. What a difference it makes in your confidence.”

Hauptmann rode his stunning 8-year-old Oldenburg, Tri-Seine, to fifth overall in the division. “Dressage is my weakness,” he admitted. “[Tri-Seine] can do wonderful dressage, but I just don’t have a feel for it. I’m too mechanical.”

Fortunately, the pair laid down clear rounds in show jumping and cross-country and stayed within the time allowed, Hauptmann’s personal goal.

Rutter, Athens, Ohio, was the team member Hauptmann knew best going into the ATC. She moved up to the preliminary ranks this year aboard her mount, Pushthelight, an 8-year-old, off-the-track Thoroughbred, and they earned their best preliminary score to date.

“We had a great run today,” she said. “And I really liked the team experience, going out and warming up together, competing one after another.”

Whitehouse slid into fourth place overall with her veteran mount of eight years, Final Score. The pair has completed 40 preliminary events together and was a solid addition to the team. She even made some new friends along the way.

“Being on a team is a lot of fun, and the camaraderie is great,” said the Pony Club and young rider program graduate. “You never forget the people you’re on a team with. I had never shown with Helen and Alex before, and that was great.”

Whitehouse was previously acquainted with Weisberger, however, who took time out of her hectic day job as a small animal veterinarian and owner of two veterinary practices, to compete her homebred R. Hocus Pocus.

Group Effort

Jamie Bales fell in love with horses not as most young girls do but at the age of 40. Four years later, the Indiana neurologist is eventing at the training level in winning style.

“It’s challenging, but you find the time for something that you love,” she said.

Bales, aboard her trusty 13-year-old mount, Overture, was joined on the Area VIII Staff Writers team by Leah Snowden, Jody Cattell and Whitehouse. The team took a leap of faith in Snowden, an equine therapist and Thoroughbred owner and breeder, as this was her first training level event with her young partner, Ivy League.

“It was a really challenging course for a move-up, but he stepped up to the plate,” said Snowden, pleasantly surprised with her and “Harvard’s” clear rounds and eighth-placed finish.

Cattell effortlessly guided her Inky Shadows to a fifth-placed ribbon along with the team blue. The 9-year-old Thoroughbred has just come into his own the past few years after suffering a paddock accident.

Cattell not only enjoyed her ride but also the camaraderie. “I haven’t been able to event much this year, so it was nice to have all my friends here. Eventing is hard because you don’t get to watch your closest friends compete very often, but with a team you can keep together,” she said.

Whitehouse picked up her second Chronicle of the Horse saddle pad of the weekend aboard Two Point Conversion, her flashy paint Quarter Horse “project” who just completed his first event a year ago. The 22-year-old Lexington native juggled four rides over the weekend on four different teams, along with attending classes at the University of Kentucky on Friday.

“I was organized enough that I could handle it,” she said. “But I was so tired I couldn’t go to the adult rider party and wasn’t able to meet everyone until the last day. It was nice to be part of the group though.”

Stars In The Making

It was a weekend of firsts for Jyl LaVera—and we’re not just talking about the blue ribbon she walked away with after her team, the Area VIII Art Directors, topped the beginner novice division. This was her first event riding her 6-year-old Thoroughbred, Top Hat.

“He surprised me. We were first after dressage and ended up sixth,” she said. “I’ve only been riding him for eight weeks. My goal was just to stay on!”

Teammates Ashley Hartsough, Jennifer Joyce and Whitney Morris were equally thrilled with their experiences. Morris completed just her second event aboard Regal Miss, and Hartsough enjoyed her best-ever show jumping round with her off-the-track Thoroughbred, Modest Mouse.

“Mouse is a super sport model; he can land and turn on a dime,” she said. “And he loves cross-country. It was a really great course out there today, long and galloping. He just ate it up.”

Hartsough stables and trains with fellow Art Director Joyce, who coincidently is a graphic and Web designer in “real life.” Joyce rode her 7-year-old Terpsichore in only their third event together. She discovered “Terpie,” an unproven Thoroughbred-Hanoverian from Montana, five months ago while videotaping sale horses for a friend.

“I had to have her,” said Joyce, impressed by the mare’s level-headedness, scope, and movement. “She had done some dressage and some trail riding but had never shown. It’s all starting to come together now, although she gets bored with stadium jumping.”

The event marked Joyce’s first ATC since the early ’90s. “It was a lot of fun, especially being stabled next to everybody on the team,” she said. “I will definitely do it again.”