Yeager Rises up to Claim Washington Equitation Final a Longtime Partnership with Her Own Copperfield 39 Helps Her Capture Her Biggest Victory to Date
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YOUNG ENTRY Yeager Rises Up To Claim Washington Equitation Final A longtime partnership with her own Copperfield 39 helps her capture her biggest victory to date. BY KIERAN PAULSEN AND TORI REPOLE A strong bond with Copperfield 39 helped Elli Yeager win the Lindsay Maxwell Charitable Fund WIHS Equitation Final at the Washington International. EMILY STAKEM PHOTO 66 The Chronicle of the Horse he lights dimmed in the went on a pony ride at a local fair. Capital One Arena as the top When her father tried to take her out LINDSAY MAXWELL three riders in the Lindsay of the saddle at the end of the ride, Elli CHARITABLE FUND Maxwell Charitable Fund screamed in protest. WIHS EQUITATION TWIHS Equitation Final walked in “He knew he had to let me ride, even FINAL under a spotlight. Only the judges at that young age,” Elli said. Washington, D.C. —Oct. 27 knew who would take the coveted She started taking lessons at a RIDER HOMETOWN 1. Elli Yeager Westlake Village, blue. Brian Moggre, Coco Fath and Elli western barn near her home but Calif. Yeager lined up and waited. Moggre switched to English once she had the 2. Coco Fath Fairfield, Conn. was called first, in third place, and basics down. Her debut in the show 3. Brian Moggre Flower Mound, Texas then Fath and Yeager—who both ring came in leadline classes, and she’s 4. Emma Kurtz Hudson, Ohio 5. Alexandra Worthington Las Vegas, Nev. train with Stacia Madden of Beacon been chasing blues ever since, first 6. Madison Goetzmann Skaneateles, N.Y. Hill Show Stables in Colts Neck, New under the instruction of Karen Healey 7. McKayla Langmeier East Granby, Conn. Jersey—held their breath. and then under Madden. Elli spent the 8. Grady Lyman San Diego, Calif. 9. Ava Stearns Chilmark, Mass. More than 2,500 miles away, at Oaks last 1 ½ years living with her father 10. Sam Walker Nobleton, Ont., CAN Christian School in Yeager’s home- in New York City, where they moved 40 riders competed. town of Westlake Village, California, to be closer to Madden and the show Yeager’s friends gathered around circuit on the East Coast. a small screen at their lunch table But New York wasn’t the right fit and crossed their fingers. The arena for Elli. She was attending online erupted in cheers when Yeager was school to accommodate her training He always has his game face on. He’s left standing alone, and in the dark- schedule and missed seeing her never let me down, and he’s been the ened stands her father, Lou Yeager, friends and classmates, so she moved best horse I could ask for.” rejoiced. back to California a few weeks before Elli and Copper won a section of the Elli topped the class aboard her the Washington International Horse ASPCA Maclay at the Devon Horse longtime partner, Copperfield 39. It Show got underway on Oct. 23-28 in Show (Pennsylvania) and claimed was her first overall win in a major downtown Washington, District of the R.W. “Ronnie” Mutch Equitation equitation final, and at 16 years old it Columbia. Championship there, as well as came sooner than she’d anticipated. “I wanted a separation between contesting all the big equitation finals “I didn’t think this was ever going horses and real life,” Elli said. She’s this fall. to happen,” said Elli. “I’m so grateful considering a career in science, and “[Elli] always had a tremendous that it happened here, at my favorite she’s particularly interested in human amount of feel and an excellent rela- horse show, with my favorite horse. anatomy. tionship with her horse,” Madden It’s better than I could have asked for. But she’s also a serious equestrian, said. “We’ve just been working on He’s been super all week. Even when and when she set the goal of riding really trying to tidy up the focus. She’s we got here he felt spot on, and that’s and winning at the Winter Equestrian so tall and has gone through a lot of given me a lot of confidence through Festival (Florida) Healey insisted growth spurts, so we’ve worked a lot the week. He was perfect. I couldn’t Madden was the best person to get her on her strength and style. She was have asked for more.” there. really on her game as soon as we got to Elli led after the hunter phase, “I was always really into showing; I the horse show. She had momentum dropped to fourth after the jumper got my first pony at 4 or 5,” Elli said. from the first round and just kept it phase, and swapped mounts with “My dad would take me [to the barn] going into the ride-off. She makes a Fath for the work-off. They’d switched every day, and it was just fun for me. real effort to keep up with riding and once before, in a lesson in Florida, and It still is. I was intimidated by Stacia at school, so I was glad to see her riding Madden was ready with advice for first, but now we’re really close. She’s hasn’t suffered from incorporating how to ride each horse. like a mom figure.” school in again.” “I was so thrilled she was able to Copper, a 12-year-old Holsteiner Elli was quick to attribute her ride Class Action,” Madden said. “He’s (Crawford—Pedeka), has also become accomplishments to Copper, who has a top horse and a very similar ride to part of the family, as Elli was only 10 even done double-duty teaching Lou ‘Copper.’ ” when she started riding the chestnut to ride. (Elli says her dad’s not half bad Elli impressed judges Brian gelding. on a horse.) Lenehan, Anne Kursinski, Mike “Over the years I’ve grown about 10 “He’s just awesome. I couldn’t have Rosser and Steve Wall with a smooth, inches,” joked Elli, who is now 5'10". done any of this without him,” Elli tidy round for a final score of 279.25, a “I would grow like two inches, get said. “Before I get on before a class I single point above Fath. used to that, then grow another two always kiss a bracelet I wear for my Elli started training with Madden inches, and it was just hard to keep friend Shelby Drazen, who passed three years ago. She first expressed relearning my balance and everything. away four years ago, and I kiss interest in horses when she was 2 and But [Copper’s] always been the same. Copper. That seems to work!” November 19 - December 3, 2018 • coth.com 67 YOUNG ENTRY AUTOMOTIVE/TRAVEL • ACCESSORIES • VINYL DECALS Downey Takes On The City Tessa Downey went back and forth from in-gate to ring, struggling to IT’S A LIFESTYLE hold the growing pile of awards as her name lit up the big screen. GREAT GIFTS FOR THE ANIMAL LOVER IN YOUR LIFE Not only did she win the medium pony championship aboard Anisette, COVERS TO BREED but she also claimed the grand pony PROTECT SPECIFIC hunter tricolor, the medium pony YOUR CAR DECALS hunter stake victory, and the Best Child Rider on a Pony award. “We came here just hoping to jog in COLLARS DOGS every class, and that was [also] our goal at [the Pennsylvania National LEASHES EQUESTRIAN Horse Show]; we just wanted to be consistent,” said Downey, 13, Houston. & MORE & MORE Of the seven classes Downey and the 12-year-old Welsh Pony cross mare (Cusop Jovial—Northwind Katrina) contested in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, they won all but two. “Then we go [to Washington], and this happens,” she continued. “We’re over the moon.” Anisette saw victory as an oppor- tunity to munch away on the nearby floral arrangements during each WWW.FOWLDOG.LIFE presentation, and she gladly modeled 68 The Chronicle of the Horse Tessa Downey and Anisette collected a slew of tricolors at the Washington International Learning From The Best Horse Show, including the medium pony hunter championship, grand pony hunter championship and the liza Kimball has loved animals since she was small. She grew up with Best Child Rider on a Pony the constant companionship of dogs, cats and fish. When she was 10 her award. KIERAN PAULSEN PHOTO Emother suggested she try riding, so she started taking lessons at First Blue LLC in Bridgehampton, New York. Four years later she made her debut on the A circuit, and two years after that she rode Available Ohio to victory in the $10,000 as Downey’s family took a gallery WIHS Children’s Jumper Championship at the Washington International Horse of photos with the various coolers, Show. boxes of cupcakes and awards. Kimball, 16, hails from New York City. She started focusing on jumpers two “She’s spunky, and she doesn’t have years ago, shortly before she began training with Ken and Emily Smith of the best manners,” said Downey. “She Ashland Farms in Lexington, Kentucky, and Wellington, Florida. This year was wants to be the best. You don’t have her first time competing at Washington, so she brought an experienced partner to tell her. We got her in November to build her confidence. of last year. We were friends with the Available Ohio knows his way around the Capital One Arena. The 16-year- owners while Caroline Signorino was old Selle Français gelding (Flipper D’Elle—Urenice De Baugy) won the $10,000 leasing her, and the owners [told us] WIHS Children’s Jumper Championship last year under Carly Hoft, who now how great she was and how she’d be leases him out, and Kimball’s had the ride since May.