By Allison Armstrong Rehnborg (photos by Ryan Rehnborg)
Middle Tennessee Pony Club (MTPC) held its 61st annual Horse Trials at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee October 12 and 13. The MTPC Horse Trials are the oldest Horse Trials in the country, and have been held at Percy Warner Park since their inception. Both the Pony Club and the Trials were founded in 1953 by Margaret Lindsley Warden, an equine journalist and one of Nashville’s leading citizens. MTPC also holds the distinction of being the oldest Pony Club in the country.
The MTPC Horse Trials consist of three events: dressage, cross-country jumping, and stadium jumping. Riders competed in dressage and cross-country jumping on Saturday, October 12, and progressed to stadium jumping on Sunday, October 13. According to the event’s organizer, J.J. Johnson of Nashville, Tennessee, approximately 170 entries rode at five levels of competition over the weekend.
“We start [horses and riders] at preliminary level, training level, novice level, beginner novice, and starter,” Johnson said. “There are two levels above prelim, advanced and intermediate, which we don’t offer.”
Johnson, who has a long history with the MTPC and the Trials, has worked as the event organizer for the past 27 years, and served as the Pony Club’s district commissioner in the 1980s. The Horse Trials attracted riders from many Mid-south Region Pony Clubs, as well as non-Pony Club riders from around the area.
“This event is one of 360 events [like this] in the country, and it’s recognized by the United States Eventing Association (USEA),” Johnson explained. “Riders come to enter these events for several reasons. Some riders come to measure how they have improved their horse and their riding. Some have goals of moving up a level [of competition], or staying at a level, and some have goals of becoming an Olympian.”
Like any eventing competition, the Trials demand proficiency in all three phases, but there’s no doubt that the cross-country jumping is the marked favorite of many riders. Eventers and their horses gallop across a course of turf and dirt, splash in and out of shallow ponds, charge up and down embankments, and soar over enormous logs and hedges – all with the hands of a clock recording their time. For these riders and their mounts, heart, endurance, and speed were the keys to success.
Even die-hard cross-country jumping fans, like Olivia Webb of Franklin, Tennessee, admit that dressage is “a necessity.”
[Dressage] is like working a puzzle,” Webb said. “You have to put each piece of their body together to work together. My horse hates dressage more than anything else in the world, but when you do actually get him to do dressage, it’s really rewarding.”
Webb, who came to the Trials with her family and her trainer, Lauren Romanelli of Southern Promise Farm, has been riding for six years. She competed at the trials with Double Jeopardy, or “Murphy,” a 22-year-old bay Irish Sport Horse that she leases from Anna Moreland, another local three-day eventer.
“I’ve been with this horse for two years,” Webb said as she held Murphy’s reins after her turn in the dressage ring. “He is difficult sometimes, but even when he’s difficult, he’s teaching you a lot of perseverance. After a long time, he’ll finally give you something, and it’ll make you feel that much better because you’ve worked so hard for it.”
Webb got her start in Pony Club and now rides as a member of USEA. She and Murphy placed seventh in the Junior Novice Rider A level at the end of the weekend.
“Murphy lives for cross-country,” Webb said, smiling. “I love going fast, of course, and he is so great to do it on because he’s really game for it. When you’re done, you know you did a really difficult course, and you feel really accomplished with your horse.”
A sense of accomplishment with a special horse is a familiar feeling for Laura Mungioli, a trainer at Walnut Trace Farm in Nashville. Mungioli competed in the Open Training division on Cased in Gold, a 12-year-old gray Hanoverian mare owned by Grace Johnson. The mare’s journey to the Trials was fraught with difficulties, ranging from an abscess near her heart to issues with ulcers and melanomas.
When Mungioli was first introduced to Cased in Gold, she was told that the mare had an aversion to water and didn’t care for dressage, so her prospects as an event horse seemed pretty slim.
“I started working with her initially about two years ago,” Mungioli said. “I’d been asked to take her down to Florida to sell her as a hunter-jumper. I left her down in Florida, and she ended up with a virus that developed a softball-sized abscess next to her heart. When they put the ultrasound up to it, you could see her heart beating behind the bubble.” In order to avoid accidentally rupturing the abscess, the mare spent several months on antibiotics and stall rest until the abscess finally dissolved.
But then her caretakers soon discovered another problem. “They found that she had pretty bad melanomas,” Mungioli said. “One on her neck and another on her tail – typical places for gray horses. They thought it was pretty advanced, so we tried to donate her to someone near University of Tennessee, where they were doing a trial on a melanoma vaccine. They were having pretty good luck with it, but while she was out there, she lost so much weight so fast that they thought the cancer had spread. She came back, and we scoped her and found really bad ulcers.”
After being turned out into a field for several months to recover, Cased in Gold slowly began to put on muscle and weight, when she attracted the attention of one of Mungioli’s students, who put her back to work.
“She looked sound and happy and working, so my student did a little jumper derby with her,” Mungioli said. “We put cross-country and stadium jumps together, and I watched my student take her around a 3-foot course. I was like, ‘Holy cow! This horse is a beast on cross country!’ And I wondered if I could get her into water.”
Under Mungioli’s tutelage, Cased in Gold slowly began to acclimate to jumping in and out of water, and suddenly, her future seemed full of possibilities.
“Jumping is not a problem, dressage is not a problem, and the height of the fences is not a problem,” Mungioli said with a laugh. “She turns heads everywhere she goes, and I’ve never been on a horse that’s grabbed so much attention.”
Mungioli has been riding for eighteen years and competing as an eventer for almost as long, so the adrenaline rush from performing cross-country jumping, stadium jumping, and dressage in only two or three days is old hat. But for Cased in Gold, the weekend represented her first competitive experience at the Open Training level, and only her second time ever to compete in eventing. The mare’s lack of experience didn’t stop them from placing, though: the duo placed third out of sixteen starts in the Open Training division.
“That’s fantastic,” Mungioli said. “I’m really, really pleased with her, especially because eight months ago, we thought she was going to die. To go from that to this, in less than a year? It’s really cool.”
Officials for the Trials included the President of the Ground Jury, Karen Winn of Kentucky; dressage judges Mindy Friesen of Georgia and Joni Abney of Tennessee; technical delegate Gammon Castellvi-Nichols of Virginia; chief fence judge Eleanor M. Parkes; and announcers Giles Rowsell and Sharon Anthony. The event teemed with dozens of volunteers, who served as runners, scribes, starters, timers, score collectors, and coordinators.
Winner of the Open Preliminary division, and the Junior/Young Rider Open Preliminary division, was Middle Tennessee Pony Club member Cathryn Green riding Coin Toss III.
Winner of the Open Training division, and Training Horse division, with an amazing score or 29.1 penalty points was Any Wise on Bonne Chance. Training Rider division winner was Allison Porter on Nordic Cross. Rachel Finlin on Skipping Stones won top honors in the Junior Training Rider division.
In the Open Novice division, Stillwater Pony Club member Conor Rollins was the winner on Brother Thomas with just his dressage score of 28.0 – not time or jumping penalties! Novice Horse division winner was Lauren Lambert on Rockin Rod. Novice Rider division winner was Olivia Wortham on Hytailit Grant. Junior Novice Rider division A was won by Walnut Creek Pony Club member Erica Cherry on Southern Comfort with just her dressage score of 28.0. Junior Novice Rider B division winner was Huntsville Pony Club member Fleming Troup on Crimson, with an amazing score of 27.5!
For more information on the MTPC or the 2013 Horse Trials final score sheets, visit http://mtn-ponyclub.org/.
Middle Tennessee Pony Club (MTPC) held its 61st annual Horse Trials at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee October 12 and 13. The MTPC Horse Trials are the oldest Horse Trials in the country, and have been held at Percy Warner Park since their inception. Both the Pony Club and the Trials were founded in 1953 by Margaret Lindsley Warden, an equine journalist and one of Nashville’s leading citizens. MTPC also holds the distinction of being the oldest Pony Club in the country.
The MTPC Horse Trials consist of three events: dressage, cross-country jumping, and stadium jumping. Riders competed in dressage and cross-country jumping on Saturday, October 12, and progressed to stadium jumping on Sunday, October 13. According to the event’s organizer, J.J. Johnson of Nashville, Tennessee, approximately 170 entries rode at five levels of competition over the weekend.
“We start [horses and riders] at preliminary level, training level, novice level, beginner novice, and starter,” Johnson said. “There are two levels above prelim, advanced and intermediate, which we don’t offer.”
Johnson, who has a long history with the MTPC and the Trials, has worked as the event organizer for the past 27 years, and served as the Pony Club’s district commissioner in the 1980s. The Horse Trials attracted riders from many Mid-south Region Pony Clubs, as well as non-Pony Club riders from around the area.
“This event is one of 360 events [like this] in the country, and it’s recognized by the United States Eventing Association (USEA),” Johnson explained. “Riders come to enter these events for several reasons. Some riders come to measure how they have improved their horse and their riding. Some have goals of moving up a level [of competition], or staying at a level, and some have goals of becoming an Olympian.”
Like any eventing competition, the Trials demand proficiency in all three phases, but there’s no doubt that the cross-country jumping is the marked favorite of many riders. Eventers and their horses gallop across a course of turf and dirt, splash in and out of shallow ponds, charge up and down embankments, and soar over enormous logs and hedges – all with the hands of a clock recording their time. For these riders and their mounts, heart, endurance, and speed were the keys to success.
Even die-hard cross-country jumping fans, like Olivia Webb of Franklin, Tennessee, admit that dressage is “a necessity.”
[Dressage] is like working a puzzle,” Webb said. “You have to put each piece of their body together to work together. My horse hates dressage more than anything else in the world, but when you do actually get him to do dressage, it’s really rewarding.”
Webb, who came to the Trials with her family and her trainer, Lauren Romanelli of Southern Promise Farm, has been riding for six years. She competed at the trials with Double Jeopardy, or “Murphy,” a 22-year-old bay Irish Sport Horse that she leases from Anna Moreland, another local three-day eventer.
“I’ve been with this horse for two years,” Webb said as she held Murphy’s reins after her turn in the dressage ring. “He is difficult sometimes, but even when he’s difficult, he’s teaching you a lot of perseverance. After a long time, he’ll finally give you something, and it’ll make you feel that much better because you’ve worked so hard for it.”
Webb got her start in Pony Club and now rides as a member of USEA. She and Murphy placed seventh in the Junior Novice Rider A level at the end of the weekend.
“Murphy lives for cross-country,” Webb said, smiling. “I love going fast, of course, and he is so great to do it on because he’s really game for it. When you’re done, you know you did a really difficult course, and you feel really accomplished with your horse.”
A sense of accomplishment with a special horse is a familiar feeling for Laura Mungioli, a trainer at Walnut Trace Farm in Nashville. Mungioli competed in the Open Training division on Cased in Gold, a 12-year-old gray Hanoverian mare owned by Grace Johnson. The mare’s journey to the Trials was fraught with difficulties, ranging from an abscess near her heart to issues with ulcers and melanomas.
When Mungioli was first introduced to Cased in Gold, she was told that the mare had an aversion to water and didn’t care for dressage, so her prospects as an event horse seemed pretty slim.
“I started working with her initially about two years ago,” Mungioli said. “I’d been asked to take her down to Florida to sell her as a hunter-jumper. I left her down in Florida, and she ended up with a virus that developed a softball-sized abscess next to her heart. When they put the ultrasound up to it, you could see her heart beating behind the bubble.” In order to avoid accidentally rupturing the abscess, the mare spent several months on antibiotics and stall rest until the abscess finally dissolved.
But then her caretakers soon discovered another problem. “They found that she had pretty bad melanomas,” Mungioli said. “One on her neck and another on her tail – typical places for gray horses. They thought it was pretty advanced, so we tried to donate her to someone near University of Tennessee, where they were doing a trial on a melanoma vaccine. They were having pretty good luck with it, but while she was out there, she lost so much weight so fast that they thought the cancer had spread. She came back, and we scoped her and found really bad ulcers.”
After being turned out into a field for several months to recover, Cased in Gold slowly began to put on muscle and weight, when she attracted the attention of one of Mungioli’s students, who put her back to work.
“She looked sound and happy and working, so my student did a little jumper derby with her,” Mungioli said. “We put cross-country and stadium jumps together, and I watched my student take her around a 3-foot course. I was like, ‘Holy cow! This horse is a beast on cross country!’ And I wondered if I could get her into water.”
Under Mungioli’s tutelage, Cased in Gold slowly began to acclimate to jumping in and out of water, and suddenly, her future seemed full of possibilities.
“Jumping is not a problem, dressage is not a problem, and the height of the fences is not a problem,” Mungioli said with a laugh. “She turns heads everywhere she goes, and I’ve never been on a horse that’s grabbed so much attention.”
Mungioli has been riding for eighteen years and competing as an eventer for almost as long, so the adrenaline rush from performing cross-country jumping, stadium jumping, and dressage in only two or three days is old hat. But for Cased in Gold, the weekend represented her first competitive experience at the Open Training level, and only her second time ever to compete in eventing. The mare’s lack of experience didn’t stop them from placing, though: the duo placed third out of sixteen starts in the Open Training division.
“That’s fantastic,” Mungioli said. “I’m really, really pleased with her, especially because eight months ago, we thought she was going to die. To go from that to this, in less than a year? It’s really cool.”
Officials for the Trials included the President of the Ground Jury, Karen Winn of Kentucky; dressage judges Mindy Friesen of Georgia and Joni Abney of Tennessee; technical delegate Gammon Castellvi-Nichols of Virginia; chief fence judge Eleanor M. Parkes; and announcers Giles Rowsell and Sharon Anthony. The event teemed with dozens of volunteers, who served as runners, scribes, starters, timers, score collectors, and coordinators.
Winner of the Open Preliminary division, and the Junior/Young Rider Open Preliminary division, was Middle Tennessee Pony Club member Cathryn Green riding Coin Toss III.
Winner of the Open Training division, and Training Horse division, with an amazing score or 29.1 penalty points was Any Wise on Bonne Chance. Training Rider division winner was Allison Porter on Nordic Cross. Rachel Finlin on Skipping Stones won top honors in the Junior Training Rider division.
In the Open Novice division, Stillwater Pony Club member Conor Rollins was the winner on Brother Thomas with just his dressage score of 28.0 – not time or jumping penalties! Novice Horse division winner was Lauren Lambert on Rockin Rod. Novice Rider division winner was Olivia Wortham on Hytailit Grant. Junior Novice Rider division A was won by Walnut Creek Pony Club member Erica Cherry on Southern Comfort with just her dressage score of 28.0. Junior Novice Rider B division winner was Huntsville Pony Club member Fleming Troup on Crimson, with an amazing score of 27.5!
For more information on the MTPC or the 2013 Horse Trials final score sheets, visit http://mtn-ponyclub.org/.
