ASHAV Convention
Thursday, April 5, 2007

by Katherine Hansil

LEXINGTON, Va. - The 2007 ASHAV Convention was held in Lexington, Va., March 16-18, 2007, in combination with the UPHA Chapter 18 Spring Riding Clinic. Beginning Friday afternoon the clinic lessons began at the Virginia Horse Center in the Bent Tree Barn with Helen and Jimmy Robertson of Infinity Stables instructing. In the evening the convention kicked off with a yummy dessert party. Saturday morning was filled with more lessons offered for the clinic followed by a pizza luncheon.

Smith Lilly was on hand with a futurity demonstration demonstrating how to prepare a yearling for the show ring. Back at the hotel a sports psychology clinic was held with Rocky Rochlin. She received a Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology with a specialization in sport psychology from John F. Kennedy University in 1991. Since 1992 she has been in private practice working as a sport psychology consultant, specializing in the mental training of equestrian athletes.

The evening began with a social followed by dinner. Afterwards the awards ceremony was held for the Hall Of Fame and Service Awards. The ASHAV Benefit Auction was next on the agenda with great items. The juniors gathered across the hall dancing away to great tunes. On Sunday the annual business meeting was held followed by the award brunch where the High Point awards, Junior Judging awards and Adult and Junior Sportsmanship awards were given.

ASHAV Hall Of Fame

(Editor’s note: The following was read by Katherine Hansil.)

Some people believe in fate and I believe that fate had something to do with why a young girl was so drawn to horses. Tonight the ASHAV Board has chosen to honor someone who has loved horses all her life. It might not have begun with Saddlebreds but that is where it led her. She was born in the rolling bluegrass of Kentucky in Louisville maybe that is where her love of horses began.

When she was three, her Canadian family moved to the small town of Chatham, Va. It was at this young age she met and immediately connected with her neighbor, Paul “Papa” Shelton, owner of Shelton Saddlery, and his right-hand man, James Womack. And once again it seemed fate had a hand in this honor as “Papa” Shelton was inducted into this ASHAV Hall Of Fame in 1997. Shelton believed that this young girl’s first word was probably ‘horse’ and he knew, as we have learned, that her whole life revolves around horses.

Shelton basically adopted this young girl, giving her the foundation that led her to where she is today. Under Shelton’s guidance and expertise she began breaking young colts and working horses, each horse teaching her something new. She was drawn to the show ring as popular Saturday night shows were taking place all over the county.

I am not sure about this fact, but I believe the first horse she owned was named Spice. He was an ambling horse and what I do remember are the pictures of her in this beautiful navy brocade riding coat. Wow, how far we have come!

She bought her first American Saddlebred, named Sherry Blue, around 1970. She had just recently married and moved to Charleston, S.C., and had a daughter. She did not let all these changes deter her from her love of horses, as she set up a barn where people could board and ride in an old airport hanger. In 1973, life took another turn with the sudden death of her husband and she, her daughter, her Irish Setters and her horses picked up and moved “home” to Chatham.

She was, of course, drawn back to Shelton where she kept and worked her horses and some of his. Shortly after this she purchased an elegant three-gaited horse, Colonel Bolero, who she kept with North Carolina trainer Ivan Tester. She eventually made the decision to bring him back to Virginia to train and show herself. While at Shelton’s she taught her daughter to ride. She put her daughter in the show ring at the age of four aboard her beloved Sherry Blue and she has been showing ever since.

In 1977, she remarried to a wonderful man who is a gentleman farmer at heart. In 1978, they purchased a few acres outside Chatham where they began their small business; building a two-stall barn with a turnout and opening up a lesson program. Again, it seems fate had a hand in their decisions as this house and land was once part of a farm owned by a retired U.S. Army Cavalry colonel.

In 1979, their son was born. He was not immediately drawn to the horses like she and her daughter were. It took time for him to find his role in the horse world but as we all know he found his place and now owns his own successful stable in the Midwest with wins at Lexington, Louisville, Midwest and Kansas City already on his resume.

Over the years in Chatham they would continue to purchase the land around them and adding onto the wooden barn they built. The lesson program continued to grow, leading to a training program as families bought horses for their children to show, creating the operation it is today.

Not satisfied with just owning and operating her own stable, she also ran the riding program and cavalry operation for Hargrave Military Academy. While at Hargrave, several of the cadets were drawn to the American Saddlebred and went onto the show ring under her direction. In 1997, she regretfully retired from Hargrave. She was already onto another quest as she opened her stable doors to Chatham Hall, a local girls college preparatory school.

During the mid-1990s the decision was made to build a state-of-the-art facility and this time they did not do it themselves. The new stable has two barns with over 20 stalls, a 70’ X 200’ arena, wash pits, organized tack rooms, lounge, apartment and office. Eventually her husband would add a small boarding barn, hay barn and broodmare barn on the almost 50 acres they own.

She added another direction to her operation as she and a few clients began breeding the well-bred stock of broodmares on the farm, raising many beautiful and talented young stars. In 2006, one of the young stars, Romance In New York by I’m A New Yorker and out of her mare Chiribon, was sold to Royal Scot in July in went onto win a world’s championship title in the Open Three-Gaited Park Mare in a class with over 20 entries.

Over the years many children have passed through the aisleways of this great place. Some parents would even say that she raised their children and instilled in their children her work ethic. She never leaves anything unattended and cannot remember the last time she went on a real vacation. Knowing her the way I do, this is true! She has a knack for making sure the right rider goes with the right horse and encouraging the magical connection that a horse can bring to a person’s life, young or old. She believes there is something for everybody in horses.

She has put many successful teams together like Heath O’Brien and Bessie Flanigan, Michael Buckles and King’s Symbol, Tom Gresh and The Way We Were, CH In The Sunset and Tafton Coleman, CH Carrie Blue and Shaye Coleman (the Coleman girls would go onto to show CH Herculean, The Snap Shot, Red Oak’s Robin and many others), Alice Cromer and Omega’s Wing’s Fleet Heir, Jesse Lynch and CH Harlem’s Moon Shadow, Josh Lynch and Rarely In Town, Jordan Amos and Filthy Rich, Caitlin Amos and Filthy Rich, Carrie Rinkle-Keatts and Pepperdine, Amy Merricks and Attaché’s Spirit Commander, Lynellen Gregory and CH Velvet Daybreak, Kathie Constable and Talk About Attitude, Allison Womack and Rock The Night, Pam Allen and She’s Stupendous and other riders like Miriam Hoskins, Olga Ramsey, Courtney Williamson, Alexandra Rapadas, Emma Thompson, Emma and Rachel Sanchez, Elizabeth Wall, Rebecca Williams, Jamie Neal, Martha Long and others who have shown an assortment of horses.

She also put her daughter in the ring over the years with many stars like Oman’s Brighten Up, World Class, King’s Delivery, Pay Dirt, Make It Magic and Any Given Sunday. Her son successfully campaigned Will’s Willy (who is an institution himself, putting many of the riders in the ring for the first time). Robert also showed Star Promise, Attaché’s Spirit Commander and Midnight Curfew. From the lesson program her students over the years have successfully shown in the academy division that she would not be able to do without the assistance from Miriam Hoskins. We cannot leave out that now the third generation of her family, her granddaughter, entered the show ring in the academy program in 2005 and continues to follow in her grandmother and mother’s footsteps with the love of horses.

Tonight it is my great privilege to be a part in presenting to you the ASHAV 2007 Hall Of Fame inductee, my mother, Margaret Gardiner.

ASHAV Service Award

“To be helpful or beneficial; the act of giving assistance to another; ready to serve or cooperate,” - all dictionary definitions for the word “service” and descriptions of the characteristics the recipient of this award embodies.

Our ASHAV Service Award is presented each year to a member who has worked in a variety of ways to improve our association. The dedication and willingness of this individual to work above and beyond the normal “call of duty” makes this year’s winner deserving of this award.

Danny Troutman grew up in a family of blacksmiths and has been riding since he was five years old, moving from amateur shows as a youth to a professional horse trainer as an adult. He is a member and former chairman of UPHA Chapter 18, and that organization’s Horseman of the Year in 1989. Danny’s professional status in the horse industry and his wise, no nonsense counsel have made him an invaluable board member and officer to ASHAV during his 22 years of continuous service. He was recognized in 2003 with his induction into the ASHAV Hall of Fame, and we gratefully recognize him tonight as he steps down as Director at Large for a well deserved rest. I wish him well, confident that if we need him he will always be willing to help.

For the hours of effort, the dedication and determination, the positive attitude and the deeply held belief that ASHAV and the people in it are the finest, it gives me the greatest pleasure to present this year’s Service Award to Danny Troutman!

ASHAV Service Award

The second ASHAV Service Award is being presented to members who have done extraordinary things for our association. Their dedication and willingness to work makes them worthy of this award. She has her masters in education and is a high school English teacher at Northside High School in Roanoke. She was bitten by the “horse bug” at an early age, but didn’t start taking riding lessons until she was 15. She will tell you that she has had three wonderful horses these past nine years, each having a personality that has touched her heart in a very special way.

Heather Dudley has generously given her time to serve ASHAV in any way that was needed. When the Youth Scholarship program was started she volunteered to be the chairperson. The committee developed the criteria for the scholarship and has done a great job in selecting each year’s candidates.

You know the saying…behind every good man is a great woman. Behind this good woman is a great man. I would like to also recognize her husband of four years, Michael Dudley. Michael is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor of science in biology, and is currently in graduate school working on his masters in education to teach secondary school biology. Although he does not have the same passion for horses that Heather does, he supports her endeavors in every way. Michael is always willing to help out, whether as a ribbon escort or gate attendant at the horse show, or our computer expert at the convention! Last year when we wanted to make the convention presentations more visual, Heather and Michael used PowerPoint to produce wonderful results. Their technical knowledge has made these presentations more interesting and entertaining and moved us into the 21^st century.

It is always a pleasure to work with both of them.

For their hours of effort and tireless dedication, it is an honor to jointly present ASHAV’s second Service Award to Heather and Michael Dudley.

ASHAV Youth Sportsmanship Award

The ASHAV Youth Sportsmanship Award is designed to recognize a junior member of ASHAV who embodies the qualities of a sportsman at all times. To be considered for the award, the youth should exhibit fairness, courtesy and consideration for their fellow horsemen. The winner of this award is not necessarily a world champion rider, but should possess a world champion attitude.

This year’s award goes to a young lady who embodies all of these qualities. Although she tried many activities, cheerleading, skiing and dancing, it was when she sat on a horse at the age of eight that she found what she wanted to learn how to do the most…riding! Within a matter of weeks she was taking lessons at Meadow Wood Stables from Lesley Amrhein-Cox. On her 12^th birthday, she was presented with Cowboy, the man who still remains her first love. She started riding in the Virginia Winter Tournaments and small shows and it wasn’t long before she took over the reins on Bosco, her first “show” horse, who taught her how to show. In 2005, she moved to an even greater challenge, the junior exhibitor five-gaited division on her new horse Scotty. She also showed Curly Day, for Lesley, in the junior country pleasure division. In August of 2006, she rode into the ring at Louisville, fulfilling her dream of riding on the green shavings. She truly felt it was an honor just to be in the world championship ring.

Katie is an 11th grade student at Northside High School. She has participated in the NHS National Honor Society for the past three years and currently volunteers for CHIPS, a free health clinic for children. She is also serving in an internship with Dr. Tanya Hatchet through the Roanoke County Gifted program. Next year, Katie’s senior year, she will be attending Northside for half of her schedule and begin attending Roanoke College part-time. After college, she is looking forward to pursuing a career as a large animal surgeon.

This year’s recipient has a very positive attitude about showing. Katie is always a good sport regardless of where she places in competition and always has words of encouragement and a “good luck” or “great job” for her fellow riders.

It is an honor to present this year’s Youth Sportsmanship Award to Katie Scott.

ASHAV Adult Sportsmanship Award

The Adult Sportsmanship Award is designed to recognize an individual who embodies the qualities of a sportsman at all times. To be considered for the award, they should exhibit fairness, courtesy and consideration for their fellow horsemen. The winner of this award is not necessarily a world champion rider or driver, but must possess a world champion attitude. This year’s recipient certainly embodies all of these qualities.

Her love of horses and riding started at the age of eight, when she received her first pony, Dixie Belle. The pony was only green broke and bucked her off just about every day she rode her. She went through so many hard hats that her parents bought her a football helmet to ride in. Eventually, they became a great team and started showing in the Saddle Seat division at local shows. In 1975, the duo won the State Championship in the small pleasure pony division. Soon after her big win she started feeding horses in the morning for other people so they wouldn’t have to feed before work. This feeding job led to working horses after school and breaking colts on the side. Her earnings helped to support her new horse, My Copper Lady. The new pair went on to win the State 4-H Pleasure Horse Division Championship in 1978. Her next mount was a walk-trot named Jaunty King’s Lady, which she showed until it was time to go to college in 1980.

Our award recipient attended Mary-Washington College, receiving a bachelor of science in biology and pre-med. It was then on to the MCV School of Dentistry, receiving her DDS in 1989. Her love for horses did not get buried under all of the schoolbooks, as it wasn’t long before her four legged friends were back in her life. After receiving her DDS, she purchased a horse named Judy Brown and began training with Bill Heizer. In the late ‘90s, Bill found her a new horse, Heirrelevant. Presently, this sportswoman is with John Champagne Stables and the proud owner of I’m Simply Divine, and a weanling named Testamonial, as well as a Quarter Horse named Annie Oakley, that she and her daughter, Gracie, ride on their farm.

She says riding and her love of horses has taught her that discipline, dedication, hard work and the importance of family and good friends assist you in achieving your dreams.

She will be the first to tell you that it’s not about the ribbons, but the whole experience. When she is showing, her smile says it all, regardless of her place in competition. It is about having fun and the love of the horse. She will be the first to congratulate you, and is always a gracious winner. She is an excellent role model for young and adult riders alike and a true ambassador to the sport of showing.

It is a great privilege to present ASHAV’s Adult Sportsmanship Award to Kelly Vernon.

ASHAV 2006 HIGH POINT FINAL STANDINGS

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