Tuesday morning MeredithNewman’’s horse, Family Guy (Buddy), showed in the 3ft Green Hunter’s with Codi. Buddy was great and won a 5th and a 4th over fences. Jason rode Mane Top’s Theodore in the Green’s and won a 4th over fences! Theo was the best he’s ever been so we were all thrilled with his performance. Jason also showed Soiree (Bernie) for Codi in the Green’s and the Low Hunters. She is getting better and better each show and ended up getting a 6th on the flat against some fancy horses. Bernie showed at 3ft for her first time in the Low’s and did great. We couldn’t be happier with the progression of our green horses. Thanks again to Jason for all the great advice and awesome rides.

Megan McMahon showed buddy in the Special Children’s with a rough start but she stepped up her game and ended up with a 4th over fences in the Open Hunter’s out of 20 horses! She went on to win a 2nd in the Jr. Eq on the flat, 14 and under, as well as a 4th in the RC Medal. Her medal trip was AWESOME and we couldn’t have been happier with Megan’s riding.

Megan also rode Miss Charlotte in the Medium Pony Hunter’s and did a GREAT job showing off this fancy pony. She was 4th and 5th over fences and 3rd on the flat. Charlotte is getting more and more competitive with every show.  Rick Krason rode their horse, Mega’s Black Gold, owned by Mountain View Equine Hospital, in the Pleasure Hunter’s. Rick and BG looked great in the show ring and are well on their way to kicking some major butt at the shows!

Mane Top also coached a good friend and past student of ours, Tina Trum, for Jason Berry, since he could not be at the show on Wednesday. Tina and her horse Lion Heart ended up 5th over fences in the Open Division out of a large group and was also 5th in the 15-17 Equitation on the Flat. Way to go Tina!

The show was fun and everyone rode so well. Congratulations to all who participated. We look forward to having another successful show at Randolph College on June. 10th.

To see more pictures of Lindy click here! - Thanks to our wonderful friend, boarder, and rider, Amy Amerell!

More pictures of Lindy and Laura! - Thanks to the Ackerson family!

Lindy’s mother, Laura, was imported by Bob Crandall for Jan Seweall so she could use her to compete in the Adult hunters. Laura also showed successfully in the USEF Working Hunter Divisions. After an injury in the field Laura could no longer perform at those heights. Jan’s good friend Cindy Wilkes, owner of On T he Bit Farm, bred Laura to her famous Hunter/Jumper stallion, Paparazzo. Check this guy out…

See more pictures at OnTheBitFarm.com

Paparazzo
1995 Bay 16.3 Elite Hanoverian
Pablo – Debütant – Raffael

Paparazzo was a winner at the 2003 C.S.I. International Grand Prix jumping competition in the Youngster Grand Prix Tour (7 & 8 year-olds) in Germany. He also has 10 other career wins in national competition (4 to 5 feet). Paparazzo has fabulous hunter movement, “picture perfect” jumping style and an exceptional disposition.

After the last foal was born Cindy bred Laura back to Paparazzo. Jan decided it was time to find a new show horse and made the tough decision to sell Laura and the Paparazzo baby inside her. Luckily enough Kristen saw Laura’s ad in the Chronicle of the Horse magazine and we couldn’t believe we had found her. After talking to Jan we all knew we were going to figure out how to get this horse to Mane Top. Jan loved the idea of Laura being our breakthrough broodmare, giving us the chance to establish our breeding program and having a life long home. We wouldn’t have Laura or Lindy if Kristen’s uncle Jay hadn’t expressed interest in being a part of this breeding adventure. Jay and his entire family loved the idea and helped Mane Top’s dream of owning Laura come true.

We will have plenty more pictures to share soon. Come by and visit our new addition! We are looking forward to Lindy’s future at Mane Top Stables…

We had multiple trailers parked out in the field, our judge, Alisa Berry, under her scary blue tent, sat on top of the hill overlooking our awesome courses, thanks Kristen! All of Mane Top’s horses and ponies were perfectly behaved and the show ran as smoothly as possible. We had entries in almost every class/division, the food was awesome, thanks Lambert’s, and thanks to Yvonne McMahon we had milkshakes as a special treat!

We had pony rides, hay rides, a raffle of various items thanks to Harris Tire, Accutemp, The Animal Hospital of Lynchburg, and Y-Nots by Linda Melton, and we can’t forget our fabulous EASTER EGG HUNT! Kristen’s Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were in town to visit their mare, Laura, who is in foal with Mane Top’s baby by Paparazzo, due in July :) Thanks to them, all of the 400 eggs we stuffed with CANDY and MONEY were hidden all around the farm.

The hunt was a successs with big kids and little kids searching around the farm, everyone had a blast. What a success! Thanks to all who supported Mane Top’s Fun Festival!

We hope those of you who trailered in will join us for our future shows!

WE WILL POST OUR NEXT SHOW DATES ON OUR CALENDAR SOON

Codi showed Bon Jovi (JJ) and Better Than Red (Beryl) in the Green Hunter’s. JJ ended up 2nd and 5th in the over fences and Beryl was 4th and 6th over the jumps and 5thin the flat. They both are well on their way to being the champions that they are!

Megan McMahon picked up a sweet catch ride on Beryl for the Equitation on the Flat (14 and under) and Special Children’s Hunter’s. She did a FABULOUS job on a horse she had never ridden and had some impressive riding moments. We look forward to Megan having more opportunities to ride and show Beryl.

Maggie Kelleher had a wonderful day on her horse Sox. She was 2nd in the Equitation on the Flat (15-17) and was WON her first over fences class in the Children’s Hunter’s!!! She was 6thin the second jumping class and 4th in the flat.

Overall we enjoyed our horse show an all ran smoothly. Now on to the next! Mane Top will be covering BOTH Sweet Briar College Horse Show AND BridgewaterCollege Horse Show this weekend, 3/27 and 3/28. Look for us there and be sure to say hello!

Thanks to all the parents for their support and contributions at the show!

From the moment that all our wonderful Mane Top families joined us at the show we had a blast. We brought Mane Top’s Silver Slippers, Mane Top’s Dixie Charm, Miss Charlotte, Remington Steele, and Hershey Kiss.

Tons of pictures were taken of all our beautiful ponies and riders so check them out at csyoung.smugmug.com.

Jenny Melton rode Mane Top’s Dixie Charm in the Hopeful Hunters with

Dixie and Jenny

some real finesse. She did an awesome job showing off our beautiful pony just as we hoped for:)  Great job Jenny!

Grace Gardner showed Mane Top’s Silver Slippers in the Intermediate Hunter division doing a fabulous job for her first big horse show.  She even ended up with some high ribbons and was 3rd in the Intermediate Derby! Rock on Grace!

Grace with Slippers and her trainer

For the Medium Pony Hunters Megan McMahon was supposed to be preparing Hershey Kiss for the SWVHJA Pony Medal Finals that Sat. evening. Unfortunately our poor perfect Hershey was not feeling well and we decided to scratch him from the show, leaving Megan with no pony… Jenny was gracious enough to let Megan take over the ride on Dixie for the Hunter Division as well as the Medal Finals. It turned out to be a FANTASTIC match. Megan looked wonderful on the beautiful bay pony and Dixie was so on her game and ready to win. They showed in the Hunter division with only minor mistakes holding them out of the ribbons. Megan went on to show Dixie in Finals that evening. With the pressure on, Megan schooled Dixie like a MILLION BUCKS! It seemed too good to be true as they walked up to the in-gate for their turn in the ring. Although their round may not have been the most smooth or most perfect ride of Megan’s life, they still went out there and performed. For their first time as a team we were EXTREMELY proud of both pony and rider. Megan is one of the hardest working and most focused riders Mane Top has the priviledge of calling their own and we couldn’t be more excited for the future rides and wins we will have together.

Charlotte, Jordan, and their trainer Kristen

Miss Charlotte with rider Jordan Josefczyk were also very pleasing in the Medium Pony Hunters. This green 5 year old pony proved to be one of the most fancy competing. She had a perfect jumping style over every fence and with the help of her fabulous rider she pulled out a 5th place ribbon over fences and got a 2nd on the flat proving everyone better watch out for this one next year! Thanks Jordan for your great riding and patience with the ponies.

Remy and his girls

The whole Krason family, including Remy’s other rider, Reilly Krason, made for a great cheering section from the stands of the Coliseum. Not only did Mackenzie have the best rides of her horse showing career, but her pony wasn’t too shabby either:) They ended up withsome GREAT ribbons against some of the most competitive ponies around. GREAT JOB!

In the Leadline class

Slippers and Mackenzie Parks with their Champion ribbon

and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome of this perfect pairing. Slippers WON all 3 over fences classes making them Champion of the Large Pony Hunters as well as GRAND CHAMPION PONY HUNTER of the horse show! Mackenzie also took home the award for best Child Rider on a Pony and after an EXCELLENT ride, they also won Pony Medal Finals! WOW, does it get any better than that?

You can see a few more shots on our flickr account so check them out! We also awarded the Best Turned out pair, Jenny Melton and Dixie Charm, with a $100 Gift Certificate for Dover Saddlery, generously donated by our judge for the day and good friend of Mane Top, Ms. Jana DiCarlo. Lets not forget to congratulate the high point winners of our Summer/Fall Fun Show Series who received trophies for their efforts!

We went on to compete the following weekend Oct. 24th and 25th at the Fall Festival held at Randolph College Riding Center. Both trainers were stoked to show off the fancy ponies we love so much at their old stomping grounds.

The show was held in the outdoor arena which we were all VERY excited about. If you have not been to the riding center you should check out the facility at least online at http://wildcats.randolphcollege.edu/riding/ (if you look close enough, the riders in the picture at the top of the page are from left to right: Betsy Christianson, Codi Lambert, and Kristen Ackerson).

It was POURING during the Pony Equitation. Megan rode her pants off on Miss Charlotte (whom she was put on at the last minute after her awesome pony Hershey Kiss decided he couldn’t stand a little cut getting rubbed under his saddle pad, poor baby), Jenny made Mane Top VERY proud riding our Dixie Charm through the mud and getting some great ribbons, and Burke rode Mojo for their debut and made her trainers very happy. She showed off how slow and quiet and fancy that pony really is. Everyone has a few things to work on for finesse but watch out SWVHJA Finals here we come!

All three pony riders, Mackenzie and Reilly Krason, and Megan, were fabulous riders at the show! Remy kicked some major pony butt in the Short Stirrup with Reilly and the Small Medium Pony Hunters with Mackenzie.

Lass and Connor proved to be show off’s as well with Connor and Tara Cook winning the stakes class and Lass winning a jumper class and coming in 4th in the X-Country Derby as well!

Way to go everyone! Now we need to get pumped up for our own Mane Top Fun Horse Show this weekend!

We brought a trailer load of ponies and started the day off with Reilly and Remy competing in the Beginner Equitation division where she WON her first walk/trot class! Tina rode Charlotte in the Hopeful Hunters and had many BIG improvements jumping around. We hope to sell that fancy pony for Ms. Lauren Lenfest in the near future but will hate to see her sweet face go! Grace and Slippers looked beautiful as always in the Intermediate Hunters where she was second and third over fences! Mackenzie and Remy had the most FABULOUS hunter course A in the small pony hunters and got a second in course B in a very competitive class. Megan and Hershey (together as a new pair to watch out for) ended up WINNING the SWVHJA Pony Medal! And with a change of heart, Megan Trum let her sister Tina show her fabulous pony, Connor, in the Large Pony Hunters and had some very impressive catch rides! Great job to all and we look forward to our next show, House Mountain, at the Virginia Horse Center on October 10th and 11th.

Also coming up is our series ending Fun Show on October 17th where we will be giving out high point awards and announcing the big news for our Winter Show Series where we will be offering CASH prizes and great door prizes with the support of sponsors from the area and some high class judges as well!