Team Knollwood just returned from a wonderful week in St. Paul, Minnesota, showing at the FASH (Friends of the American Saddlebred Horse) horse show. With its friendly show committee, beautiful old coliseum and nice stabling, it's a favorite show of ours.

Horses and riders all performed beautifully, the weather cooperated, and it was a wonderful way to celebrate Mother's Day for all our Knollwood moms.  Here are the highlights of the week!

Equitation Excellence

 Scott and Carol and all at Knollwood are known for their passion for equitation, and FASH was a wonderful display of everyone's efforts over the winter.  All those extra lunge lessons, our clinic with Erin, and the hours spent in the saddle really paid off for our seven equitation riders last weekend.

Lora and Sophie were unanimous winners of both the USEF Medal qualifier and of the equitation championship. Madison won the Good Hands qualifier unanimously on a borrowed horse, and finished 6th in the equitation championship. 13 year old Finn finished reserve to Madison in the Good Hands qualifier and 4th in the UPHA Challenge Cup qualifier and in the Medal.  She absolutely looked like she belonged with the 'big girls!'

Amanda rode Alex while Pixie in continuing her equitation education with Scott, won the UPHA Pleasure Challenge Cup qualifier.  It was the first blue ribbon in equitation for the big expressive gelding.

Fresh out of the academy division, 11 year old Hanna held her own in deep competition, while she and Tucker are coming together as a strong team.

Haley.  Just Haley.  She showed equitation rookie Felix to unanimous wins in the UPHA Challenge Cup qualifier and in the 14-17 Pleasure Equitation Age Group.   Felix's inexperience showed in the championship, and Haley handled it beautifully with a great display of horsemanship.

In  her junior exhibitor days, Sarah wasn't interested in the equitation division.  She campaigned her beautiful Park mare Fergie to great success last season, and has decided to try the adult equitation world this year.  At their second show, Sarah and Fergie are a force to be reckoned with. In their newest adventure, they won the Adult Challenge Cup and Medal qualifiers as well as their age group. 

Ainsley and Millie

Ainsley and Millie (Ashlyn's Only Charm) have had a crazy schedule.  They couldn't make it to the Royal last November, and had to miss Spring Fling while Ainsley was competing for the US at the Young Riders event in Georgia.

They made up for it at FASH, with a second place finish in the 5 Gaited Junior Exhibitor qualifier, and they came back to unanimously win the championship on Sunday.

Leila Is In The Building

Leila (Brookhill's Passion Punch) seems to have enjoyed her quiet 2016 season while her owner Kerry was out on maternity leave.  This big athletic mare made quite a splash at FASH with Scott winning the Open Park Class before Kerry took over.  Kerry was the unanimous winner of both the Amateur Park qualifier and the Park Jackpot class.

Hard Riding Girls Rock The Pleasure Division

Pleasure classes at FASH were deep, deep, deep.  Our group of hard riding ladies did us proud in the great competition.

Finn and Frankie won both their qualifier and championship in the Show Pleasure Division for riders 13 and under.

Gabby and Jerry made the move to the older age group, and didn't miss a beat.  They won the Show Pleasure class for riders 14-17, and were reserve champs for riders 17 and under.

Allison had the chance to show legendary CH Freaky Links while his owner Abby was finishing up her first year of college.  These two racked their way to victory in the adult 5 Gaited Show Pleasure qualifier, and finished reserve in a great championship class.

Frannie had the opportunity to show Pistol in the hunt division, too, winning some good ribbons in a different discipline.

Bella came in from Pennsylvania to show Maddie in the Open English Pleasure division and continued her education over the weekend.

Finally, we love the versatility that our assortment of lesson horses teaches as riders come up through our lesson program.  That benefit showed up this weekend when Sarah had the chance to show Sadie (Just As Unique) instead of Alex who was furthering his equitation skills at the show.  At just her second show out of the academy division, Sarah and Sadie learned a lot about each other, and even finished with a Reserve Championship in the Open English Pleasure division.

Last season, Parker showed Diesel to great success, and she showed Sadie at Spring Fling in April.  At FASH, Parker rose to the occasion when she got to show Smith (Bells A Poppin) in the country pleasure division.  Parker and Smith won their qualifier, and finished second in their championship.  It was quite a debut for the new pair!

Congratulations to everyone on their wonderful performances in Minnesota, and great thanks to everyone who worked so hard to keep 20+ horses looking fabulous every time they entered the ring.

 We're looking forward to Madison Classic Memorial Day weekend, and hope to see you there!