The iconic Menlo Charity Horse Show is known for making memories and Wednesday night’s Windy Hill Larry Mayfield 1.20m Horse & Hound Jumper Class was no exception.
Laura Gerst of Windy Hill, Larry Mayfield’s daughter and close family members selected Menlo Charity Horse Show to host an annual event in his memory. Larry had been an exhibitor at MCHS since the early days, so making the decision to honor his memory was an easy one for the family, due to Larry’s love for this iconic show. In fact three generations of this equestrian family have consistently participated in and attended MCHS; Larry himself, his daughter Laura and granddaughter Natalie.
“Menlo was one of my dad’s favorite horse shows, our family thought it was the perfect place to do something special,” Laura shared.
“We have always come here, I have been attending for at least 20 years, lots of our family attend and all of our clients come and they sponsor classes too.”
The Horse & Hound class is a show jumping relay race in which the fasted time for course completion wins the day. A team of four, consisting of a horse and rider plus a hound (dog) and handler complete a course of jumps; first the horse and rider jump seven jumps on course, they then quickly dismount and race to touch the hand of the hound handler who then races off with their hound to finish the course over a set of smaller dog sized jumps. Each team in turn complete the course with penalty points for a knock down or refusal, the fastest time wins.
“The idea was all Maja’s,” explained Laura. “I was in Sweden, my parents lived in Sweden,” continued Maja. “I was watching the Stockholm Horse Show on TV and it was the Horse & Hound Class; oh my gosh, I thought, someone needs to do this class at a horse show, it was so funny, with one rider even picking up the dog to carry it over the jumps. The crowd loved it.”
A new tradition was born, and this class in its present format has been running now for four years and Windy Hill have been Sponsoring for five years.
Thirteen teams raced around the course this year; the winners being Robert Blanchette and Hello Kitty supported by Aren Ozkar and hound Landen. Kristin Hardin and Elle with Mimi Cocquyt and Aslan tried to beat their time, however it was not to be and that forth win did not come to fruition.
“Our strategy was to go fast as possible.,” said Robert. “Last year I came in second to Kirstin (Harden), this year I we were going for the win.”
Robert was riding a new horse to his barn, Hello Kitty a Dutch Warmblood mare, owned by Shannon Stevens who will be competing in the jumpers with her daughter Courtney Pacheco at Menlo as well. The Blanchette Equestrian team agreed that this win was a great to start to MCHS 2016 an event that they all adore, and for Hello Kitty a horse they waited patiently for 5 years to become available to own.
“This is an event not just a horse show, in a beautiful setting, it’s great for the Kids to ride on the grass fields. It certainly adds some pressure, riding in front of the VIP tent and all the family and friends that attend it really is a super opportunity to experience pressure in the show ring, the prizes are fantastic, and the parties after are fun to attend.,” Robert explained.
Aren Ozkar who ran on course with Landon a borrowed canine partner enjoyed the class greatly. Aren is visiting from Victoria, Canada as a working student with Robert said, “This show is fantastic, I am really enjoying this super event, nothing like it anywhere else.”