Spokane Sport Horse Farm's Second Annual Spring event which was held from May 12-14, 2017 was very honored to host Washington residents Mary Sawyer and her longtime companion Broker's Joker, a 28-year-old black/white Paint gelding by The Stockbroker and out of Regal Rose Gold. The pair rode in the Intro division with and scored a 32.9 in dressage for seventh place, had a clear cross-country round and just an unfortunate senior moment in show jumping resulting in their first ever technical elimination. While we value all of our 200+ competitors Mary and her partner obtained a very unique status at this event. Their combined age is 100 so they therefore completed a CENTURY RIDE!
Mary and Joker score a 32.9. Cyra Carlson Photo.
Mary began riding Joker as a 3-year-old. He did some 'B' system dressage and did his first cross-country schooling at Caber Farm. They competed in USEA recognized events in 2001 with one year at Beginner Novice and three years at Novice. When Joker was 16 he developed some lameness and retired from jumping. He was a lovely sound trail horse after recovering from his lameness. He happily came out of retirement to help Mary fulfill her dream of a century ride.
Mary and Joker through the water complex. Full Stride Photography Photo.
Joker, Mary's trusted sidekick of years, doesn't look a day over 15! He was more than happy to gallop cross-country and was making easy work of a Chris Barnard designed show jump course jumping exactly where pointed – oops a senior moment! While they would have probably finished this century ride on their dressage score it wasn't meant to be.
SSHF owner Christel Carlson presented Mary with a farm logo show pad, specially designed for the event stained glass jumping horse the division winners receive, new stock tie donated by Sponsor Chubby Cov and Cindy Covington and a large championship blue ribbon as our first century ride. Cyra Carlson Photo.
Mary and Joker planned to ride in their Century Club dressage ride June 10 in Wenatchee Washington, sporting a new pad and stock tie given by Spokane Sport Horse Farm.
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.