Success Stories

After more than 35 years of training, Elizabeth is gathering stories and pics to put here from many of her past as well as current students and of horses she either sold or had in training at some point. She will adding more soon. Feel free to contact her if you would like to be included!

To the CBLM’s and beyond

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!

“London” wins her 2nd in a row .75 m jumper class at Triangle farms C show and ”Chloe” and “Lucy” also put in solid jumper rounds.

“London” owned by Charlotte Holt took a blue for the second time at the Triangle Farms C show in July with her owner Charlotte Holt in the .75m jumper division. The pair also won a class at the June show at the same height so Charlotte was pleased since it was really hot weather and she felt like she steadily improved. (Lucy and Sarah pictured above, video of Charlotte and Alison below).

“Queen Chloe Chloe” aka Chloe also contested the same division and cantered around easily with with her Lessor Alison Eyth. Chloe is owned by Blake Atherton. Alison was happy too although they had a few time penalties, so we have been working on increasing her RPMs recently at home!

“I Love Lucy” aka Lucy had solid rounds in the puddle jumper division with her Lessor Sarah Sievers. Owner Deirdre Albertson had also planned to compete her in the .75 m division but she stepped on a clip in her last round so will have to wait til next time. Still they were both super happy with her.

“London” wins at her first two shows with new owner Charlotte Holt

The lovely Holsteiner mare “London” who was recently purchased by Charlotte Holt from Erica Anderson recently won two classes in the Green Hunter division at the Finally Farms Hunter/Jumper show and then followed that up with a win at Training Level at the Rise and Shine Dressage show in Southern Pines! Congrats to Charlotte on her great riding and to London on having a dedicated new owner!

Ludmilla Harvey and Ladylike win their division at Warhorse

Ludmilla Harvey and Ladylike won a division of the GAG at the Warhorse Eventing series at the Carolina Horse Park under the tutelage of Karen MaHaffey. Ludmilla bought Ladylike from Elizabeth two years ago and lives in Sanford where Karen’s barn is based. Karen has done a super job getting these two to become a solid team as exemplified by this result and this fun video of the two of them kicking butt through a gymnastic line! Ladylike is also now available for half lease at VHF through October of this year. (2018)

 

Fran Castle and “Florence”

Fran Castle came to Elizabeth and Victory Hill in May of 2016. Fran had been riding in the hunter and jumper world for 20+ years and with the retirement of her adult amateur hunter horse”Rudy”, she wanted to make the change to dressage. So the search began to find Fran a suitable horse and at the end of May in Aiken, SC at Justine Wilson’s Breezy Hill South Farm they found Florence (Flo) who was imported from the Netherlands in February 2016 and then made her way to Breezy Hill South. Her sire, KPWN Special D, stands at Justine’s farm and he is sired by Metall. Flo’s dam is by Gribaldi and so she has excellent breeding lineage. Fran and Flo’s goals over the coming years are to obtain a solid foundation and then move up the levels and show off her sweet and smart mare’s true potential. Elizabeth showed Flo at 1st level in 2016 and qualified for the Regional 1 finals in the Open division. Update: Fran has retired from the corporate world and moved closer to Southern Pines where she plans to do consulting work. She currently keeps Flo at Susie Weidman’s Encore Sporthorse in Sanford. We wish them future success!

Diane Doub and “Prestige”

 

In the fall of 2012 Diane Doub contacted Elizabeth to help her find her next dressage mount. Her goal was to earn her USDF Bronze Medal and to have a safe a fun mount to learn on and enjoy a partnership with. We found “Prestige” who was in training with “S” judge Tami Batts in Greensboro shortly thereafter and bought him to the farm at the end of October that year. Though Diane had schooled on her previous horse in Canada through 2nd level, she had not had the opportunity to compete him very much, as he turned out to be larger than expected at 18 hds. and so Diane made the difficult decision to sell him. Diane and Prestige have been well-suited to one another with them slowly gaining confidence at the shows together and earning her scores at 1st and 2nd level. They are planning to continue showing at 3rd level and beyond and Diane now keeps “Tige” closer to home at Judy McCoy’s Farm. We wish them a bright future together!

 

 

Alison Coyle

At age 10 Alison got her first pony, “Stormy Weather.” Though she started out doing hunt seat, she soon decided to come ride with Elizabeth at V.H.F. And switch her focus first to eventing and then to primarily dressage.

Alison earned her USDF bronze medal on Stormy at the age of 14, competed in both Region One and BLM championships, and qualified for the National Dressage Seat Equitation Championships by winning the Reserve championship in Region One. She then went on to finish 8th in the country at the National finals, and was also the highest scoring competitor in the FEI Pony test at the Lendon Gray youth dressage festival in 2007, with Stormy winning the Seldom Scene trophy.

In late 2008 Elizabeth found Alison a new mount, “Bariton,” with whom she could be competitive in the FEI Junior division. In 2009 she represented the Bronze medal winning FEI Junior Region 1 team at the North American Junior Young Rider Championships, and also  finished eleventh in the nation at the Festival of Champions in Gladstone, in that same division.

After graduating from high school in 2010 she took a year off from school to train with USEF Pan American Gold medal team member, Cesar Parra at Performance Farms (based in NJ and FLA). She then returned home to attend NCSU in 2011 and earned her USDF silver medal on Bariton before selling him to Barbara Jacobs. She is a recent graduate of NCSU where she was the captain of the dressage team. Congrats Alison!