Sandy Gregory’s champion first year green hunter also carries her to an amateur-owner tricolor in South Carolina.

Receiving two tricolors at the Charleston Summer Classic I was just a “formality” for Sandy Gregory’s 8-year-old Westphalian gelding. The flashy chestnut has been making it clear all year that he’s one of a kind.

“I tried other horses, but it was really obvious that ‘Fred’ was going to be the best match,” said Gregory.

Formality earned his tricolors in the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over, division with Gregory and in the first year greens with trainer Terry Brown during the show, held July 8-12 on Johns Island, S.C.

Brown found Formality for Gregory in May of 2008. They’d only just embarked on the search for a competitive amateur-owner prospect for Gregory when they met the 17-hand European import, the first horse they tried.

Knowing that she was taking a big risk, Gregory decided not to purchase him right away. She’d already scheduled a shopping trip to Kentucky and wanted to explore all of her options.

Fortunately, Fred was still on the market when she returned, and he moved to his new home, Brown’s Showcase Limited in Canton, Ga. Brown started showing the 7-year-old in the pre-green division, and Gregory jumped right into the adult amateurs.

“We kept him [in the lower divisions] for six months so that we could get used to him and work on some things before moving him up to the 3’6″, but he was great from the get-go,” explained Gregory.

Formality stepped into his role as a 3’6″ horse with ease, winning numerous championships in both divisions.

“He’s been super. I don’t know where to start! This has been such a special year,” said Gregory. “He’s a very straightforward horse,” added Brown. “He’s talented, he’s a good jumper, and he’s a good mover. He likes to do his 15 minutes and go out for a nice graze. He’s figured out how to be a good show horse, and we’re delighted with him.”

Currently, Fred is the second-ranked first year green horse in the U.S. Equestrian Federation national standings. He unexpectedly qualified for the Devon Horse Show (Pa.) this year, but Brown and Gregory hadn’t planned on going and found it too difficult to organize a last-minute trip. He’ll show at the East Coast fall indoor shows, and Devon is a definite goal for next year.

“It’s always been a dream of Sandy’s to go to indoors,” said Brown. “This will be her first trip and on such a nice horse.”

Although Gregory is a seasoned and experienced horsewoman, Formality is the first top-class hunter she’s owned. She grew up riding in several different disciplines in New Jersey.

“I was an A Pony Clubber, I foxhunted, and I rode with a local trainer until I was 18,” said Gregory. “I even galloped race horses as a summer job.”

She didn’t begin showing on the A-rated circuit until she became an amateur, when she began riding with Carol Thompson. Gregory took 10 years off from riding to attend medical school and begin her career as a radiation oncologist. She returned to riding as a means to cope with the stress of her job.

“I work with cancer patients every day, and the riding is a really good way to balance my lifestyle,” she said. “I love going to the horse shows and competing; I love the people, the lifestyle, being outdoors and traveling.”

The only doctor at her clinic, Gregory sometimes finds it difficult to get away from work. “Sandy works very hard, but she’s very dedicated about riding,” said Brown.

“I’m a very structured person,” added Gregory. “I bring my bag with me so I can ride on the way home from work. Terry is highly organized, and she’s very good at helping a working rider to make it all fit in.”

New Talent

Although she’s only been showing in the rated divisions since the beginning of this year, 10-year-old Bergen Sanderford dominated the competition at Charleston. The pony rider from New Orleans, La., took both the champion and reserve titles in the small pony hunter division with her ponies First Edition and Jerry Lee, respectively. She also earned the medium pony reserve tricolor aboard her third mount, Up Till Dawn. In recognition of her success, she received the best child rider on a pony award.

Sanderford has been showing since she was 6, but she just stepped up to contest the pony divisions with her trio of leased ponies. She’s had Katherine Dinan’s 13-year-old Welsh mare, First Edition, the longest. The pony traveled to trainer Brad Spragg’s barn in Atlanta, Ga., hot off a big win in the small pony hunter stakes class at the Washington International (D.C.) with Reid Patton in the irons.

Sanderford and her new mount showed twice in the short stirrup division last fall before taking the winter off from showing. The young rider worked hard so that she would be ready for the small pony division in the spring.

“This is really her first year in the small ponies,” said Spragg, who has been working with Sanderford for two years.

She earned good ribbons in her first foray into the smalls, taking home a blue and a red ribbon from the Atlanta Spring Challenge (Ga.) in May. The pair then went straight to Devon where Sanderford took home the pony sportsmanship award.

At Charleston, Sanderford was hot on her own tail in the smalls with her newest mount, Peter Pletcher’s Jerry Lee. She won the handy and conformation classes with Jerry Lee, but it wasn’t enough to edge First Edition for the championship. Though the chestnut had to settle for reserve beside his barnmate, he and Sanderford have struck up a good rapport in a short amount of time.

“This was my first horse show with Jerry Lee,” said Sanderford with a smile.

Sanderford only rides her ponies at shows. She lives seven hours from Spragg’s farm, where all three of her show ponies reside.

“I’ve had one pony for about two years to ride at home, for practice,” she explained.

Still, her ability to quickly strike up a relationship with her ponies has been an asset in the show ring. She began showing Mountain Home Stable’s Up Till Dawn in the medium pony division just one month before Charleston and has already found success with the Welsh cross.

“This was my second horse show with him,” said Sanderford. The pair consistently placed in the ribbons and won the handy class to claim the reserve championship.

Sanderford intends to capitalize on her recent successes with her ponies. She’s excited to attend her first USEF Pony Finals on Aug. 5-9 in Lexington, Ky., where she’ll ride Up Till Dawn and one of her small ponies.

Sarah’s Stars

While Sanderford is just beginning to experience the taste of success, for the champion in the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35, division, winning is a familiar dish. Like her pony rider counterpart, however, 19-year-old Sarah Ward is also in a transitional year.

“I just turned 19 last week,” said Ward. “I’m having a lot of fun in the amateurs. It’s a little bit more relaxed than the juniors, and there isn’t as much pressure.”

Ward rode four mounts at Charleston, ranging from the amateur-owner hunters to the high adult jumpers.

“We had a great show in Charleston,” said Ward with a smile. “My horses are perfect!”

The star of the week was Isaac, her 8-year-old gelding, with whom she earned the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35, championships.

“I got Isaac almost two years ago,” Ward said fondly. “He’s really cool, and he’s gotten very easy. He’s a lot of fun to ride; he still thinks he’s a stallion, and he’s a little bratty. I think that makes him better, because he has that little spark.”

The imported warmblood is allergic to “everything” according to Ward, but this doesn’t stop him from performing his best. When she bought him, he had only contested the pre-green divisions, but he had no problem stepping up to compete in the first year green and amateur-owner divisions.

“He’s got a great pace, and he’s always really game about everything,” Ward said.

The division was competitive, with 10 entries, including Ward with another mount, Voltaire, whom she also rides in hunter derbies and equitation classes.

“The courses were really nice,” said Ward. “Everything went great, and it was a good division.”

Ward also found success in the jumper ring with Ludwig Storgaard, also known as “Louie,” placing first and third in their 1.15-meter classes. She and Louie usually compete in the high amateur-owner jumper division, but the division didn’t fill, so she took him in the high adults instead. Ward has been contesting the jumper divisions for four years, but after several falls she lost some of her confidence.

“The lower class was really nice just to get back into the swing of the jumpers,” said Ward. “Sometimes I get myself a little nervous in the jumper ring, so it was nice to have those classes to go around and build my confidence back up.”

Ward credited Louie for their success. “He’s really game for anything, so if I make a mistake he’s always willing to fix it and try again,” she said. “He’s a great horse for me, and he tries so hard.

“Louie’s been taking such good care of me,” she explained. “We just moved up to the high amateur-owners, and we already won a classic, but I’m still going to take my time.”

Ward will also be showing on the University of South Carolina’s varsity equestrian team starting this September. She took a year off from school to ride with her trainer, Jack Towell, and plans to keep showing her own horses with him as much as she can during the school year.

Riding with the Towells at Finally Farm has required dedication, because Ward’s family lives in Florida and Towells are based in Camden, S.C. Ward’s show horses stay at Finally Farm with the exception of Voltaire, who resides at her family’s farm in Conyers, Ga., along with her retired horses. She travels between Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

A Return To The Beach

This year’s horse show marked a return to the past for Bob Bell’s Classic Company Ltd. Bell started the company to manage the Charleston Summer Classic in 1992, when it was held at the Seabrook Plantation show grounds.

“They had a big stable there where you could ride out on the beach, and they set up tents,” said long-time competitor Terry Brown. “It was quite fun because you finished early and went to the beach. Nothing beats having your horse on vacation.”

After eight years at that location, however, the show outgrew the facility, and Bell was forced to relocate to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. The show remained there for seven years before moving to the Georgia International Horse Park in Atlanta in 2008, where it remained for one year before returning to Charleston.

The Mullet Hall Equestrian Center on Johns Island, just a stone’s throw from the resort islands of Kiawah and Seabrook, has proved an ideal location for the show. Bell was involved in the design of the center, which is on 738 acres, lobbying for its creation in the South Carolina state legislature. Mullet Hall is owned and run by Charleston County but was initially funded by the state of South Carolina.

Bell considers the Charleston Summer Classic, with a two-week stint, a boutique horse show. He doesn’t intend to let the number of exhibitors rise above approximately 400 in an effort to keep the charm of a small show.

“We’ve been having piña colada parties under the hospitality tent,” Bell said grinning. “We had a party at one of the local exhibitor’s homes last week, and we had donuts in the morning that we took around and delivered. The classes aren’t big, and the riders got done early so they could go to the beach and enjoy Charleston, one of the top 10 destinations in the country.”

“We were delighted with the facility,” said Brown, who was new to Mullet Hall and had been itching to return to Charleston for some time. “I kept teasing [Bell], asking him when we were going to get to show at the beach again. And last November he said we were going to come back to Charleston. The rings are a great size, the footing is really, really nice, and all of our horses performed very well. We will be back again next year.”