News

It’s been so long since I’ve posted, I have to get back in gear. My husband, Don, and I just added a son to our family! Born on December 28th, Finneas Arvo came into the world. Our daughter, Veronica, is getting used to Finn and we are all settling into life as a family of four. Here’s a picture:

We had great weather for a local show just down the road from us. It was a good day for Clairvaux riders. Anna Kunz rode Doc to Champion in the Student Equitation and the Low Hunter in her first outing with Clairvaux. Tricia Goode was Reserve Champion in the Working Hunter with Waly Benz, while Shannon deWit was Reserve Champion in the Children’s/Adult Hunter with Basking by the Bay. Ashley Schneider rode Caramel Topping to fourth and fifth in the Pre-Short Stirrup Equitation. Sarah Rexroad rode Shannon deWit’s The Princess in the Low Hunters and did a great job. Congratulations!

Great show for Clairvaux Riders. Sydney Hess won the WIHS Pony Equitation (her second show doing 3′ with her pony, Close Kin). Madison Busey was Reserve Champion in the Large Children’s Pony Hunter (with Sydney Hess winning an over fences class, too). Emma Hess earned seconds and thirds in the Small/Medium Children’s Pony Hunter.

Kate Murphy won the Level 0 Jumper class on Friday and Eliza Caprio placed eighth. Kate and her horse, Charisma earned good ribbons in the Younger Children’s Hunter division, during the weekend. Congratulations!

Congratulations to all our riders who showed in the VHSA Medal Finals earlier this month. Six Clairvaux riders qualified in four different events. It made for an exciting week! Here’s a brief recap:

Kate Murphy placed second in the VHSA Championship on the Flat. Elizabeth Parent placed third in the VHSA Pony Medal Final, while Emma Hess placed sixth in the same class. Ali Anderson placed 10th in the VHSA Children’s Medal Final and Glendon Mohan placed 13th in the VHSA Hunter Seat Medal Final (she also placed ninth in the Horsemanship Final).

Congratulations to our first-time qualifiers: Emma Hess, Eliza Caprio, Kate Murphy, and Glendon Mohan (first time at 3′6″).

In other events, Sydney Hess rode for the first time at the 3′ height with her pony, Close Kin, and placed second in the USEF Pony Medal! She also won a Novice Equitation Over Fences class.

Elizabeth Parent won the VHC Pony Equitation Derby and the VHSA Pony Medal qualifier and was champion in the Schooling Pony Hunter division with Rock Star (Shadow).

Ali Anderson placed third in the Taylor Harris Medal and fourth in the Children’s Equitation on the Flat, 15-17.

Eliza Caprio placed well in the Younger Children’s Hunter division with her Calamity Jane and finished in fifth place in the Classic!

Glendon Mohan placed third overall in the WIHS Equitation, which includes a hunter and a jumper phase and earned some nice ribbons in the Large Older Junior Hunters.

Emma Hess was champion in the Fletcher Hunter division with Blackberry Storm.

Kate Murphy won the Children’s Equitation on the Flat, 14 and under and jumped clear in the .95m jumper class.

What a fun-filled week! Congratulations!

Congratulations to Eliza Caprio on qualifying for the VHSA Children’s Medal Finals! She just began competing in earnest at the 3′ height last month, so this is quite a big accomplishment! Congrats also to Julia Reinhart, who rode Doc to Reserve Champion honors in the Pleasure Horse division, and who competed at 2′6″ for the first time and rode great! She earned several good ribbons in the Schooling Hunter division. Great job you two!

It’s been finished for about a month now, but I’m finally getting around to updating the blog about the indoor and outdoor arenas. They are awesome. Thanks to Attwood Equestrian Surfaces, we now have luxurious footing in the indoor (German GeoTextile, which is made up of felt and thread fibers mixed with white sand), and a new base in the outdoor. Don has installed telephone poles for our new outdoor arena lighting, which should be complete in August. Don also just returned from Vermont, where he picked up our new water truck! So many great improvements, we are excited to be able to offer these great upgrades to our clients! Here are some photos below:

The completed indoor arena. It's amazing!

The new base for the outdoor, with new baseboards.

Our new water truck. No siren, but the flashing lights work!

With last week’s announcement of the point cut-offs for the VHSA Medal Finals, Clairvaux has a bunch of riders qualified. Here’s the run down:

VHSA Hunter Seat Medal:
Glendon Mohan

VHSA Equitation on the Flat:
Ali Anderson
Morgan Busey
Glendon Mohan
Kate Murphy

VHSA Children’s Medal:
Ali Anderson
Morgan Busey
Kate Murphy

VHSA Pony Medal:
Emma Hess
Elizabeth Parent

Good luck to everyone heading to Lexington, Virginia next month!!!

We were so lucky to have such fabulous weather last weekend at Culpeper. Kaela Harvey and Cosmopolitan had a fantastic weekend! Champion in both the Younger Children’s Hunter and the Modified Junior/Amateur Hunter, and fourth in the Classic. Kaela rode great and Cosmo was a good boy!
Ali Anderson rode Zenith to fourth in the Gittings Horsemanship Medal and eighth in the Culpeper Equitation Classic. They also placed in the Older Children’s Hunters. Eliza Caprio rode her Calamity Jane to some nice ribbons in the Younger Children’s Hunters and Eliza placed fourth in the VHSA Children’s Medal.
Elizabeth Parent and Rock Star won a Small Pony Hunter over fences class and earned some other nice placings over the weekend. Glendon Mohan placed fourth in the VHSA Hunter Seat Medal, qualifying for the Final next month in Lexington. She rode her Ayrton to first place in the Level 0 jumper class and placed well in both the Adequan Hunters and the Large Junior Hunters. Kate Murphy earned nice ribbons in the Younger Children’s Hunters and the Modified Junior/Amateur Hunters. Kate also placed fifth in the VHSA Equitation on the Flat and sixth in the MHSA Equitation on Horses. Great job, everyone!!

Congratulations to Glendon Mohan, Eliza Caprio and Kate Murphy! Glendon and Ayrton won the hack again in the Large Junior Hunters. They also placed well over fences against some of the top Junior Hunters in the country. Glendon also placed fifth in the ASPCA Maclay and eighth in the Culpeper Equitation Classic. Eliza Caprio and Calamity Jane earned a third place ribbon over fences in the huge Schooling Hunter division and went on to earn a fourth over fences in the Younger Children’s Hunters. Kate Murphy and Charisma won a Level 0 Jumper class and placed well in the Younger Children’s Hunters and the Modified Junior/Amateur Hunters. Kate also placed third in the VHSA Equitation on the Flat and fifth in the Gittings. Congratulations!

What a great week! Madison Busey and Figaro were Reserve Champion in the Large Children’s Pony Hunters, and Sydney Hess and Close Kin placed 2nd and 5th over fences in the same division. Emma Hess placed second over fences in the Medium Children’s Pony Hunter. Kate Murphy and Charisma placed third, fifth and sixth in the Younger Children’s Hunters, while Morgan Busey and Rust Never Sleeps placed 4th and 6th over fences in the Older Children’s Hunters. Elizabeth Parent and Rock Star won an over fences class in the Small Pony Hunters and earned two thirds and a fourth over fences, as well. Glendon Mohan won the Large Junior Hunter Under Saddle and earned some nice ribbons over fences. Congratulations!

Madison Busey with her swag from Warrenton Pony Show

Morgan Busey and Bromont after their successful Children's Hunter rounds