AMHA Cecil Brown Sportsmanship Award: Stacy Hennessy
Monday, February 10, 2020
Stacy Hennessy was born into an equine world which became a part of Stacy’s vocabulary from an early age. Beginning with leadline at Devon, then launching her lifetime with horses in the New Jersey Hunter/Jumper world.
She was introduced to Morgans at the age of eight and grew up part of the famed Mid-Atlantic Bridle Vale Farm team. Early accolades include winning the AMHA Hunter-Seat-On-The-Flat and AMHA Hunter-Seat-Over-Fences Gold Medal Finals in the same year and being only the second rider on a Morgan to ribbon in the Good Hands Finals at Madison Square Garden.
In the early part of her career Stacy worked for Lynn and Kathleen Peeples, Sandy and Calvin Sessink, George Knight, and Gerry Rushton to build her knowledge base; eventually, calling Rushton Stables home. Stacy has shown the likes of CCR’s Outrajus Corajus GCH and GLB Belle Of The Ball GCH to world titles, but seeing all of her students and their peers enjoy their relationship with the Morgan horse motivated Stacy to ensure the sustainability of her region’s shows.
Determined to reinvigorate showing in her region, Stacy jumped into an organizational role at Morgan Medallion Regional. She prepared welcome buckets, a raffle with a Freedman saddle and Dale Becker suit as prizes. She cleaned the jumps and center ring gazebo, as well as hauling equipment for the show.
Stacy attended a California government hearing committee meeting, but eventually learned the traditional Earl Warren show grounds in Santa Barbara would be unavailable. When they were turned down Stacy helped move the show to the fabulous Las Vegas venue South Point, with highly successful results. Members of this show committee and exhibitors join AMHA in recognizing the hard-working woman, trainer, instructor, exhibitor, and friend, Stacy Hennessy with the Cecil Brown Memorial Sportsmanship Award.
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