Tag Archives: International Friesian Show Horse Association World and Grand National

Champion Driver Suzy Stafford and Sjaantje Take Home National Championship Title at the 2011 International Friesian Show Horse Association World & Grand National

Suzy Stafford and Sjaantje took the National Championship in the Friesian Carriage Driving Open class at the IFSHA World and Grand National. (Photo courtesy of Rick Osteen)

Lexington, VA (October 17, 2011) – Decorated driver Suzy Stafford hasn’t let her success at the 2011 World Pony Driving Championships in Lipica slow her down.  Recently returned from Slovenia where she drove the half-Arabian mare Miss Josephine to an Individual Bronze Medal, Stafford hasn’t been back in the United States for a month before earning another championship title.  She drove Sjaantje, a 6-year-old Friesian mare, to the National Championship in the Friesian Carriage Pleasure Driving Open division at the International Friesian Show Horse Association (IFSHA) World and Grand National.  The mare’s owner, Gail AuMiller of Dreams Come True Farm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, drove Sjaantje to top honors in the Amateur Carriage Pleasure Driving division and the pair also took the Reinsmanship Championship.

The IFSHA World and Grand National took place October 5-9, 2011 in Lexington, Virginia.  The IFSHA is dedicated to the promotion, showing, and exhibition of the Friesian horse and its derivatives, and the Championships featured a wide range of disciplines.  This year’s carriage driving classes were the largest driving classes to date at the Friesian National Championships, and Sjaantje, also known as “SJ”, proved her mettle by earning top placement while showing against some of the top members of her breed.

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