“Tide” as we all know him by has settled in nicely with his new owner Melissa Reed and their trainer Laura Heymann. We are very happy that they are doing well and everyone at his new barn loves him as much as we did here! (he has a fan club:) Congrats on your recent successful outing!
Elizabeth Coviello Moore and Melissa Johnson’s lovely Hanoverian gelding won the Open PSG Championships at the NCDCTA year end show held at the Carolina Horse Park in early Nov. 2024. This was only “Volto’s” 3rd time competing at that level, and Melissa has the ride on him much of the time. She hopes to earn some good scores at fourth level this season.
He also made his debut at Int-1 where he scored just over 60%. Elizabeth feels that they have plenty of room to improve so she is looking forward to this season with him.
Elizabeth’s own OTTB Obi-1 soared around his Training level stadium round, giving her a great feeling to start the season. She got him a little deep to the last fence on course, a large yellow and white square oxer and he still kept the rails up! She is hoping to get him out at the Training level for some other recognized events this spring. Last season he completed one recognized and one unrecognized. But she’s been working hard to improve his dressage so was pleased with his effort there, even though he thought the water canal next to Ring 2 might eat him for a few movements:)
This season we were very fortunate to have two students and their horses qualify to compete at the American eventing championships at the Kentucky horse Park. Alison Eyth and her horse “Bella Chloe” finished on her dressage score and placed 12th in her division. Claire Nestor and her horse “French Connexion” aka Jaxon, had a lovely dressage test which had them tied for 6th, and a clear cross country go, but sadly had two rails and show jumping so finished out of the ribbons this time, but both pairs learned a lot, and I know that they will have even more future success. Our team was supported by Dee Albertson and Claire’s mom Natalie Scheier.
Are you superstitious?
I used to be superstitious because when you are competing and things don’t go as planned one tends to look to the ” nearest thing ” to blame, (like your number), or not using a particular piece of equipment or clothing, but more than ten years ago I made a decision not to draw any conclusions based on things like that. The only remaining “superstition” I have is not to use a new piece of equipment or attire at a competition for the first time. I always wear or use something new at least once before using it at a show. But this is based on the fact that it is better to leave nothing to chance, and has paid off several times.
Do you enjoy your job?
Yes, I really do even though it involves long hours and can be exhausting. The character of each horse interests me and I have always sought to try to find what brings out the best in each of them, focus on their positive qualities and they almost always reward that! I also enjoy seeing my students improve their understanding and skills. The best thing is when I get to see them be able to go out on their own and be successful. That is really cool!
Outstanding teamwork from our group at this year’s WHES Championships show. We all had so much fun and everyone had some positive developments!
Big congrats to Jadyn Lee and Apollo for winning their Starter HT division and Claire Nestor and her horse Jaxon for earning 5th out of 37 in a very competitive BN championships! Alex Anderson and her pony had one run out at the Storm drain fence but fairly flew around the rest of her GAG course and had a great stadium round. HUGE improvement from last summer when she was barely trotting around the course:) Pony jumpers looks to be in their future!
Obi and I had double clears on xc (we got exactly the optimum time, clear sj, and his most relaxed dressage test at the horse park yet to finish 12th out of 22 in the Novice Championship, and Alison Eyth and Chloe finished right behind us after having a “cheap rail” in her otherwise very smooth SJ round. She looks to be finishing up her season as HOY in NCDCTA in the Novice AA division though! Group pic is Lft-rt.
Elizabeth/Obi, Alison/Chloe, Claire/Jaxon, Jadyn/Apollo, and Alex/Wishbone. Special thanks go out to the supportive parents who were there: Claire’s mom Natalie Scheier, Alex’s dad Dr. Chad Anderson, and her mom Erica Anderson, Jadyn’s mom Kristin Lee, and Alex and Jadyn’s brothers who were also on hand and very helpful!! Big thanks also go to the outstanding organizers Mark Donovan and team and Sarah Thomas and her mom Margaret Crevar, all the great sponsors and volunteers!
#warhorseeventseries #carolinahorsepark #ottbeventer #teamandersonrealty #andersonchiropractic #newforestpony and our sponsors: #ezium #customsaddlery #mandmtackshop
Lft to Rt above: Amber Zaratsian, Rio Landa, Elizabeth Moore, Alison Eyth and Queen Chloe. This year’s show was quite blustery and we all got a bit windburned and wore multiple layers all weekend. Huge congrats to my students Rio Landa for winning both the championships at Training and First level AA divisions and Alison Eyth for being the Reserve Champ in the 2nd level AA division on her recently purchased from Blake Atherton “Queen Chlo Chlo” ! Rio also got the coolest big purple ribbon ever and lovely gift basket for winning the Radka Heiniman Memorial award for a dedicated AA rider, (please see gallery pic and other details below:) This award is sponsored by Donna Kelly Dressage to honor one of her former students who lost her battle with cancer recently but according to everyone who knew her fought hard and always had a good attitude. Thank you very much Donna and Radka!
Pics
Our weekend began with a few challenges with this being Rio’s horse’s (5 yr. Hannoverian gelding Dushay HFF aka D.J. at the barn) first trip to the horse park, (and Rio’s first recognized show with him), he was a little “up” and needed a quick ride prep from E on Fri before she got on. Rio said he was leaping around after an hour of lunging and resembled something other than the horse she knows, so she was not sure she even wanted to compete. Luckily we were all able to convince her to ride and they did not put a foot wrong after that!
Then Amber’s horse Jetta (14 yr. Fresian Qtr. cross mare) unexpectedly stumbled during the canter work of her Championship T-1 test, which unseated Amber, and although they were both fine, it still disqualified them from the championships. Luckily, they had a much better test during their 1st-1 ride later that day and scored a 67% which earned her a third in that class, and they were also able to better some movements in that same test on Sunday.
Elizabeth and Melissa Johnson’s horse Belissimo Volto (coming 10 yr. Hannoverian gelding) made their 4th level debut Sat. earning a 60.132 with an error in 4th 2, and a 63.462 in 4th 1. Volto was absolutely terrific and I am fortunate to have such a lovely horse to train. Sunday he warmed up very nicely but apparently I (Elizabeth) now need to admit I need a reader on occasion though, (especially in 4th 2 apparently) and that I also need to triple check the arena I am riding in, as I made some unnecessary mistakes which led to our being disqualified from the 4th level championships and made me annoyed with myself since we had earned a 70% in the same test at a schooling show 2 weeks before that! Thank you very much to our wonderful sponsors Custom Saddlery, Ezium, and Cartilast LLC, without which we could not do this amazing sport. All four of the horses we brought to the show go in Custom saddles and two use the Ezium supplement which has made a big difference in them both.
This was VHF’s first trip to an “away” show during the pandemic year of 2020 and it was slightly nerve-wracking not knowing what to expect, but Elizabeth was very fortunate to have two nice horses to compete at the CBLM finals which were held in Williamston, NC at the Senator Bob Martin Agricultural Arena.
Melissa Johnson’s “Bellissimo Volto” who contested the 3rd Level division B, and “Flurry’s Jetta” who contested the Training Level division B, finished up as Reserve Champion and tied for Reserve champion respectively in their divisions.
Also attending were Charlotte Holt and her horse “London” who won their 1st level test 2 class on Thursday and then finished 4th in their First level finals Division A class on Sunday, and Alison Eyth and Blake Atherton’s beautiful mare “Queen Chloe Chloe” who finished 10th in the same 1st Level finals division A but also gave Alison a 2nd place and an additional good score towards her Bronze medal at 2nd level.
I am happy to report that VHF will be attending the CBLM finals this year with the following four horse and rider combinations: Alison Eyth and Blake Atherton’s “Queen Chloe Chloe” in the 1st level division A, Charlotte Holt and her own “London” also in 1st level division A, Elizabeth Moore and Melissa Johnson’s “Belissimo Volto” in 3rd level division B, and Elizabeth Moore and Amber Zaratsian’s “Flurry’s Jetta” in the Training level division B.
Additionally “Belissimo Volto” also qualified for the 2nd level division A CBLM finals with his owner Melissa Johnson pictured here with a 64+%. Charlotte Holt and “London” won both their classes on Sat (70+% in 1st-2) in Charlotte’s first time showing in a recognized show at First level which also earned her her first scores towards her Bronze medal, and “Flurry’s Jetta” also qualified for the Region 1 finals during the Labor of Love show with Elizabeth. Congrats to all!
Victory Hill Farm 