Tag Archives: Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show

Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair Wrap-Up

Zionsville, IN – August 14, 2012 – The 2012 Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair at beautiful Wild Air Farms in Zionsville, IN celebrated its 35th anniversary as one of the top hunter/jumper shows in the U.S.  The popular, festive show is located on a spectacular backdrop nestled amid Indiana hills and woods. Perfect weather drew in a large audience from the Indianapolis area for the final exciting day of show jumping on Sunday.

Veteran course designer and judge, Phil DeVita, produced a challenging course for the competitors for the highlight of Traders Point, the $60,000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Throughout the week, DeVita’s courses had been twisting and winding with few related distances that stressed that the rider carve the turns and get in straight, while staying within a tight maximum time.

Eight went clean in the first round: Lillie Ross and Allison Ross’s Pako, Wilhelm Genn and Palim Palim, owned by Nancy Gooding, Aaron Vale and Amen Corner Farm’s Palm Sunday, Emily Short and Grande Finale, Lisa Goldman and her own Morocco, Nick Novak and his Springfield Tennessee, Taylor Land and Jay Land’s Nepal and finally 17-year-old Claudia Billups and her Quick N Easy.

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Kelley Farmer and Taken Sweep Two Rounds to Win USHJA International Hunter Derby

Kelley Farmer and Taken win both rounds to take the USHJA International Hunter Derby

Zionsville, IN – Aug. 11, 2012 – Kelley Farmer and Taken stole the show on the Grand Prix Field at the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show held on the grounds of Wild Air Farms. Not only is Taken a pro when it comes to the Derby, he took his owner, Jessica Stitt of Elburn, IL, to the championship win in the Amateur 3’3″ class in Traverse City, MI, just one week ago.

“He’s the coolest thing I’ve ever owned,” Stitt said with a big grin. “He loves his job and he loves his life. He’s the sweetest horse in the barn, but he knows when it’s time to work. He is the most self-assured and wonderful horse.”

Farmer piloted the 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood imported from Holland to a win in the first round while taking two higher options to earn points. The course, designed by Phil DeVita, started with a birch bark oxer with a right turn over a wagon wheel vertical, then up a ramp to a vertical at the top of the course with a high/low option to earn more points. After a left turn and a cross on the diagonal was an oxer to oxer stone wall combination with two strides in between. After a right turn, a solid wood snake fence with a high/low option was followed by a trek up a small bank with a pillar vertical. After a dogleg, a sawn-log oxer offered another high/low option and then a cross on the diagonal to a gray stone pillar oxer was followed by a gallop to an oxer with plank walls and birch standards for another high/low option.

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Vale Edges Out Welles for the Win in the $30,000 Russell Fortune Memorial Grand Prix at Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show

Andrew Welles and Tornado

Zionsville, IN – August 10, 2012 – The 2012 Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair continued on Friday with cooler weather and a momentary, passing shower. The horses were feeling fresh and ready for competition at Wild Air Farms in Zionsville, IN.

Exhibitors and guests enjoyed the annual Paws to Applause dog show mid-day and exciting show jumping action in the jumper arena and the Russell Fortune Arena all day long. The coveted $30,000 Mr. and Mrs. Russell Fortune Jr. Memorial Grand Prix, held at 5:00 p.m. was the highlight of the day and filled the tents around the grass arena with cheering crowds.

“We’ve got a pretty good field tonight, we have faces – plenty of folks who are ready,” said course designer, Phil DeVita. “The course this afternoon is along the same theme that we’ve been doing all week.”

“I’m kind of a serpentine guy,” continued DeVita. “I don’t do a lot of technical straight-line distances. I tend to keep turning you and bending you and making you steer and make you stay in control.

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Vale Is Victorious in Phase Two of the Zone 5 Open Jumper Championship at Traders Point

Aaron Vale and Wodka L. Photos by Carrie Wirth

Zionsville, IN – August 9, 2012 – Much-needed rain came to the Zionsville, IN, area on Thursday and added a few puddles and a few delays but did not detract from the festivities and competition at the 2012 Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair at picturesque Wild Air Farms in Zionsville, IN. Guests and exhibitors enjoyed live music on the grounds wafting from the annual Charity Garden Party.

Course designer, Phil DeVita, built a technical track in the Russell Fortune Grand Prix Arena adding more combinations and tricky turns, presenting the rider and horse teams with interesting questions to answer and determining whether they could deliver fast times and clear rounds.

The course for Phase Two of the Zone 5 Open Jumper Championship got underway on the far end of the arena with a single oxer on the diagonal headed toward home. The track took an immediate right turn around to the far end of the ring to a single vertical then an immediate right turn to an oxer-to-vertical combination and a long bending gallop to a single oxer, then left bending line to a vertical, landing very close to the rail across from the jumper tower. The course turned to the left and continued on the diagonal to a vertical-vertical combination and a left bending line to an oxer. Next was a turn to the right to a liverpool, a rollback to the right to an oxer and a bending line to a vertical-oxer combination. A left past the in-gate led to the final fence, an oxer.

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Equitation Competition Heats Up a Steamy Day at Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show

Haley Zimmerman and Zider zestfully capture the blue

Zionsville, IN – August 9, 2012 – Equitation took center stage Thursday in the Main Hunter Arena at the Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show held at Wild Air Farms in Zionsville, IN. After a series of thunderstorms dumped much-needed rain Wednesday night, the hunter classes were postponed until Friday but there was still plenty of action with the Pessoa USEF Hunter Seat Medal, the ASPCA Maclay Horsemanship class and the Taylor Harris Insurance Services (THIS) National Children’s Medal.

Haley Zimmerman, 13, aboard her own 9-year-old Swedish Warmblood, Zider (barn name “Zac”), snagged the hotly contested Pessoa USEF Hunter Seat Medal. “It was one of those courses where things come kind of fast,” she said. “It kind of had weird turns, but that, for me, is pretty OK. I mean, the course was great for him. He’s adjustable with a nice big jump. He just kind of goes with whatever I want to do.” Zimmerman and Zac have been a dynamic duo for a year and she bought him to get started on jumpers. “He’s great,” she smiled. “He likes to cuddle and he’s a dream horse.”

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Kelley Farmer Brings Home Bundles of Ribbons in Day One of the Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show

Kelley Farmer and On Q

Zionsville, IN – August 7, 2012 – Kelley Farmer showed a strong start aboard On Q opening day of the Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show Tuesday, Aug. 7. She placed in the blue ribbons riding the 6-year-old stallion owned by CH Farm in Delano, MN, in the First Year Green Working Hunter, First Year Green Handy Hunter and won a red in the Green Working Hunter Under Saddle Class.

“The stallion was great. We think he is going to be very special,” she bubbled. “We’re very excited about him.”

The day was warm and cloud-free as the riders mounted up surrounded by the green, rolling hills of Wild Air Farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Johnson. Striped tents dotted the landscape and spectators and riders alike enjoyed the gleaming horses and blue skies.

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Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show Provides Jumper Highlights August 7-12

Zionsville, IN – July 18, 2012 – The Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show (TPHCHS) brings the most desirable featured competitions to the forefront of their weeklong show. TPHCHS will offer top classes for riders of all experience levels from August 7-12, 2012, including several prestigious championships and Grand Prix opportunities. The jumper highlights are a chance for riders from across the nation to showcase their talented mounts against some of the best.

The long anticipated $30,000 Mr. & Mrs. Russell Fortune, Jr. Memorial Grand Prix will take place Friday, August 10, 2012 at 5 pm. The event is open to all horses, and the height will be set at 1.50 meters, testing riders and horses alike in preparation for the $60,000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis to be held Sunday, August 12 at 2 pm.

TPHCHS will also offer the USHJA Zone 5 Open Jumper Championship which will consist of the two phases including the $2,000 1.40m Time First Round Phase I and the $3,000 1.40m Time First Round Phase II. The show will offer numerous Open Jumper classes, including the 1.20m Open Jumpers, 1.30m Open Jumpers, and the esteemed $1,000 1.35m Open Jumpers.

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Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair Chairperson Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson’s Lifelong Enthusiasm for Brilliant Hunters

Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson

Wellington, FL – March 5, 2012 – Showing at Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show (TPHCHS) means you are a guest of Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson on her beautiful 250-acre property. She is overjoyed to have the company of like minds. After all, she’s spent her life owning and showing some the most famous hunters in the history of the sport.

According to Mrs. Johnson, “I was a sophomore in high school. My brother had a very nice thoroughbred mare that he was hunting with the Traders Point Hunt.  But, she didn’t like men, so he eventually gave her to me. She was a beautiful Barred Umber mare called Jeanette Umber. I rode her in the hunt when I seventeen years old and I showed her at the Devon Horse Show that year.”

In the late 1940s and early 1950s at Devon, the hunter course was a big outside course with a bank and a water jump. It was basically a cross-country course.

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Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show and Country Fair a Destination for High-End Hospitality

Photo by Tim Vaughn

Wellington, FL – February 24, 2012 – Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show (TPHCHS) is a summer destination event. Located on the beautiful 250-acre grounds of Wild Air Farms in Zionsville, IN, the show offers top prize money with two Grand Prix events and a USHJA International Hunter Derby. Exhibitors at TPHCHS enjoy fun family activities and events while participating in a competitive, high-quality show. This year’s TPHCHS is scheduled for August 7-12, 2012.

“We are in the country, which is a great way for people to just escape. The horses love it here, the footing is great and things run smoothly. It is a great place to show,” shared Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, Chairperson of TPHCHS.

Exhibitors are greeted with morning treats, afternoon tea and carrots for the horses. Riders are encouraged to enjoy the many trails that wind around Lake Elizabeth and Indian Lake on the property. In addition, there is an exhibitors’ luncheon, a ladies luncheon, an exhibitors’ cocktail party, kids’ day and a fun dog show.

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