Team Knollwood enjoyed a wonderful summer weekend of horse showing at State Fair Park last weekend.  The ASAW Summerfun show is one of our favorites, and we have some great stories to share!

 

Teamwork

Over the course of the weekend, we had 28 horses at the show.  Some of the young horses went home after their performances, the academy horses came in and went home, and the show schedule was action packed.

The show string added some extra staff with Sarah and Parker pitching in, and the academy crew was fortunate to have quite an accomplished pit crew.  Haley, Madison, Ainsley, Hanna, and Abbie met us in the aisle at 6:00 am to prep ten academy horses. These champion junior exhibitors served as grooms, personal assistants, and mentors to our future stars.  We couldn't have done it without them, and we are so grateful.

 

Hard Riding Kids?

They Become Accomplished  Amateurs.

We often talk about our Junior Exhibitor riders, and our academy kids.  This weekend was a fabulous example of what a strong riding foundation leads to after 'kids' age out of the youth ranks.

Kerry Richter, our second generation Honkamp, started showing in the academy division, and had great success in the Junior Exhibitor ranks, showing in multiple divisions.  She now owns and shows the beautiful, athletic, and sometimes strong willed  Park mare Brookhill's Passion Punch.  They've been favorites from Kentucky to Wisconsin,  and won both her classes this weekend.

Allison Schuh was a standout equitation rider as a Junior Exhibitor and has enjoyed great success with the athletic CH I'm Royalty Too.  They've made it all the way to the World's Championships, and they were in great form last weekend, winning the amateur 5 gaited stake.

Abby Kastenholz enjoyed a storied academy career before she moved into the show horse world with her first 5 gaited horse, Here to Win.  She then moved up to the legendary Freaky Links, and they've been perennial champs around the country. Hard riding Abby is home after her first year of college, riding as well as ever.

Jen Fox enjoyed her first show in a suit last weekend, debuting Heist in the Open English Pleasure division.  The pair looked every bit the part in a big qualifier, and rode to a reserve championship in the stake.  They looked fabulous, and boy, that girl can ride!

 

Standout Students

Each year, ASAW awards three college scholarships to high school seniors. Rewarding a young member's commitment to leadership, scholarship, and community service, we're proud to say that two Knockouts received the awards this year.

Sarah finished her show schedule at Summerfun, showing Alex, AKA Perilous to some really nice ribbons.  She's heading to Buffalo to study at Canisius University in the fall.

Jess had the opportunity to show Sharky, AKA Deker's All American in the academy division, and earned good ribbons on her borrowed horse. (More about that later.)

Jess is heading to the University of Wisconsin this fall.

 

Friends To The Rescue

Due to some unusual circumstances, we found ourselves short one horse for the highly competitive academy division.Our friends at Lance Hayes Stables in Neenah came to the rescue with one of their lesson horse stars for us to use.

Very tall Jess was matched with very tall Sharky for the show.  After a lesson at the show on Wednesday, this pair made a compelling team, riding to good ribbons and even making the workout in the championship.

Great thanks to Lance and Sammy for their generosity!

 

Equitation Excellence

Team Knollwood showed up for the Pleasure Equitation in numbers.  From 11 year old Hanna to 17 year old Madison, these five riders showed the result of hard work and dedication in their Sunday championship.  Judge Cater had a difficult chore ranking the riders in a closely matched final.

This is their last show before hitting the green shavings at Louisville, and it looks like these riders are peaking at the perfect time for the World's Championship Horse Show.

 

Our Bright Future

The academy performance was a whopper, with over 150 entries.  Team Knollwood was ready with 15 riders ranging in age from 7 to 17, and from beginning show riders to our very experienced academy stars.

The walk trot and canter division was a showcase of horsemanship in numbers, with a split championship to prove it.  All of our experienced riders showed well, and learned some great lessons along the way,  Maria piloted our up and coming academy horse Joey through his first pattern after making the championship cut, Jordan and Panic lived through a lost shoe, while Emma and Cashew got better with each ride and winning one of the championship splits.

 

Our walk and trot riders even wowed us. 

The 10 and under riders rose to the occasion in the big arena and rode beyond their years.  When Klem, Heist, and Baxter thought they'd show off their cantering skills in the walk and trot division, Maiya, Richie, and Mia did their best to stop the enthusiasm.  

Juliet won her first class away from home with Hooper after a great ride, taking him off the rail and looking super confident.  This 7 year old even made the workout in the 10 and under championship!  

Mikayla turned in some strong rides on steady Eddie as well.

 

What's Next?

 

This weekend brings the Knollwood Summer Show!  Please join us for a weekend of showcasing our academy riders.  The Knockouts are running their concession stand, they're offering gift baskets, and are raising money for Saddlebred Rescue. For only $5, you can pick a song to be played during a class, and the $$ goes to help Saddlebreds in need.

 

See you at the barn!

 

 

 

Summer horse show season is in full swing, and Team Knollwood is right in the thick of it!

Last weekend, we enjoyed the Oshkosh Charity Horse Show, one of our favorites.  The grounds are beautiful, show management is fabulous, and hospitality is top notch.

Oh, and it was quite a horse show!

 

 

 

 

Amanda and Pixie

Amanda has been working hard at home, getting to know her new horse Pixie.  Scott has been preparing this beautiful four year old, showing her lightly in Equitation Prospect classes along the way.  So at Oshkosh, Scott decided it was time for Amanda and Pixie to make their debut in their age group qualifier.  

They had a wonderful first class together, and we're looking forward to seeing this team come together as the season progresses.  Amanda was fortunate to show Sadie in her other equitation classes, finishing second in the Good Hands and Saddle and Bridle Medallion qualifiers.

 

 

 

 Hanna and Tucker

 

Fresh off a successful walk and trot academy season last year, Hanna has moved to the big time with Tucker, officially known as WC Fine By Me.  This team really came together at Oshkosh, winning their Challenge Cup, Good Hands, and Medallion qualifiers.  They're now qualified for their fall finals and are looking forward to showing at Summerfun!

 

BIG Academy Classes

The big arena at Oshkosh hosted some of the largest, most talented academy classes we've seen yet this year.  The walk, trot, and canter championship had 11 riders, while the walk and trot finale hosted 15 contenders.

 The workout for the walk trot and canter championship was a pocket pattern.  Usually only prepared for riders in suits, these academy stars welcomed the challenge of coming up with a pattern that would show their abilities off well with the horse they were showing at Oshkosh.

 

After a workout of six riders, Emma and Cashew were champions with Zada and Sadie a close reserve.

The big walk and trot championship finished with six riders performing a UPHA serpentine for their pattern.  Team Knollwood placed five of their riders in the workout group, and Richie earned the champion title showing Heist.  

 

We are so proud of all of our 14 academy riders who made the trip to Oshkosh with us.  We had riders of all different levels of experience, and they all rode to their personal bests!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a quick trip home from Oshkosh, Scott left again with a few horses for the Lexington Junior League Horse Show.  It's the last year this classic show is being held at the Red Mile Harness Track before it moves to indoor facilities at the Kentucky Horse Park for 2018, and this year's edition is really big.

The show hosts the adult equitation finals each year, and Team Knollwood has two riders competing this year.  Sarah and Fergie will be showing in both the USEF Adult Medal Final on Wednesday night, and the UPHA Adult Challenge Cup Final on Friday afternoon while Frannie and Butters will be in the Challenge Cup Final.

 

The show is also hosting the first ever Triple Crown Challenge, in which all the winners of equitation's Triple Crown were invited to compete in a class together.  Team Knollwood has had two Triple Crown winners with Sarah in 2001 and Nick in 2010, and they're both coming to Lexington to join the event.

It's a fundraiser for the ASHA's marketing efforts, and if you'd like to support the benefit, you can click here to support Sarah, or here to support Nick.

 

 

 

Lora and Finn are also showing in Lexington, and have had some great early success, with Lora winning her Challenge Cup qualifier on Wednesday after Finn won her pleasure equitation qualifier on Tuesday.  We wish them both good luck in their championships later in the week.

 

 

What's Next?

While Lexington finishes up, Carol, Lin, and Carlos will be at home prepping horses and riders this weekend, and the academy and 'B' horses will be off to Gurnee for the IASPHA Summer show.

The following weekend, we'll be at State Fair Park for another favorite, ASAW Summerfun. We'll be there with plenty of horses and riders, and hope you'll join us.

The academy performance on Saturday morning at 9 am promises to be another good one.  The Knockouts are hosting a meeting in the stands just after the performance which offers a  great chance to watch the show, and then join up with fellow Knockouts to put the finishing touches on their next event.... 

 

Knollwood Summer Show

It's coming up fast!  We're looking forward to a fun weekend of horse showing at home on July 22 and 23. Please stay tuned as we'll be posting gift basket info and concession stand sign ups.

We still have limited openings in our prep camp the week before the Knollwood show.  Please talk to your instructor if you'd like to enjoy a week of camp designed for riders competing in our summer show!

 

 

Thanks for joining us for Knollwood Summer, 2017.

See you at the barn!

 

We're all in a little trouble here,

because barn cat extraordinaire Dean has demanded equal time for his feline view of Knollwood summer 2017.

Read on to experience his unique viewpoint...

Hi everyone, Dean here.

I have officially appointed myself the king of the Knollwood barn cats.

 My qualifications? I'm smart, I'm well fed, and I have a terrific sense of humor.  

Plus, I've put in enough time  to know how things work around here.

 

 

Let's get one thing straight.

 My name comes from the man who owns the game farm where I was born.  I was a sickly kitten, and Nancy asked if she could bring me to Knollwood to become one of the entitled barn cats, and human Dean let me go with her.

 My pneumonia was treated, and then I bit into an electrical cord, and I've never been the same since. The rest is history.

 

 

 

 I love summer.

 

The screen doors are open, so I get to wander wherever I'd like, whenever I like.  When there are too many kids around to mess with, I like to hide in the lilac bushes outside.  When it's really hot and there are too many kids around, I like to nap under cars and enjoy the cool shade.

I (mostly) love all the campers and kids who come for lessons.  I especially love sitting on the counter and bopping little ones on the tops of their heads while they're not looking.  When they turn around to look, I make sure I'm already looking at the ceiling so they don't think I did it.

I love outside chores in the summer.  I even hitch rides on the hay cart while deliveries are being made to paddocks. 

 

 

In the summer, the pastures have CATNIP!  OK, I may have planted the patches myself, but I sure do enjoy when the nice instructors harvest my crop as a fresh treat.  Give me a little catnip, and I can amuse a bunch of riding instructors for hours!

 

I love private lesson time in the little outdoor ring.  I get to catch up on my sun tanning, and the instructors are nice enough to build me a cabana so I can get out of the sun as well.  I must stay youthful looking, and the sun will age me prematurely!

 

I also enjoy sitting on the top of the fence watching the school horses go by.  Dudley and I have a special relationship, so he often stops to visit during his outdoor lessons.

 

I get to spend lots of play time with my friends, Nubby and Gomez.  Nubby has an eating disorder, and Go Go Gomez is about 23 years old, and is blind and deaf. In this posse, I'm most certainly the party animal.

When Gomez (pictured above in his preppy sweater) wants something, he just yells until one of the humans figures out what he wants.  Don't think you'll be able to hear him?  You will.  Trust me, they hear him in Oconomowoc when he feels he's missing something.

Don't even mention my half brother, Hunter.  Every family has 'one of those' members, and he's mine.  If you hear us growling at each other, just walk away...

 

 

One of my favorite things about the summer is the Knollwood academy show coming up on July 22-23. I'm in charge of assigning back numbers, so if you haven't already signed up, please do so soon. I have to get my cat naps in, you know.

 

While the horse show is going on in the barn and the arena, you'll be able to find me in the horse show office, making sure no one messes with my brilliant back number assignments. I also serve as the security guard for Jodi's bling and tie selections.

 

Please come watch the show on July 22-23.  You'll see the priceless Knollwood lesson horses and their hard working students.  The Knollwood Knockouts run a great concession stand, too!

The show starts at 1:00 pm on Sunday the 22nd for the walk trot and canter performance.  The walk and trot riders are the stars at the 12 noon performance on Sunday, July 22.

And me? You know where I'll be!

 

 

 

 

Well, after a week of adventures across the Midwest, everyone is present and accounted for at Knollwood.  

Where should we start?

 How about the beginning ...

 

Scott started transporting show horses to the 76th annual Midwest Charity Horse Show last Friday. The show is the first 'big' show of the season where southern barns meet midwestern competitors for the first time.  Team Knollwood had 2 loads of horses traveling to the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, so Scott returned home and left again at 6AM on Saturday with the final load of competitors.

 

Let's back up a little here ... On Thursday, Scott transported 9 horses to Highland Ridge Stable where they'd stay while our major show barn project was under way during the horse show.  More about that later ...

 

So, at 7AM on Saturday, Gary and his crew arrived and started taking up the old asphalt aisleways in the show barn.  The miracle workers had the asphalt up and gravel down by mid afternoon.  We actually had to kick them out of the barn at 5:30 so we could use the arena for a special event.

Did we mention that we built a gazebo on the same day? After Gary and company were kicked out of the show barn, they helped the builders in the big outdoor ring put the finishing touched on the new structure in 'patternland.'

 

 

And the 'special event?' It was Haley's 16th birthday party!  She and our other equitation riders traveling to Midwest were pretty much Knollwood residents during the week, prepping for the big show. They were ready for some horse fun that didn't involve precision, so the games were fairly entertaining.  Everyone stayed on, Finn learned how much Sundance likes to play games, Ainsley was a force to be reckoned with even on Pony Frank, and birthday girl Haley was a power blocker on Picasso, especially when she could stop him.  Oh, and we have to work on some rule changes for 'hat snatch.'

Gary and company returned on Sunday,  so the aisle would be ready for concrete pouring on Monday.  With organized precision, he scheduled trucks around our camp schedule so our first sessions of TIny Tot and Academy Pattern Camps could go off without a hitch.

 

They had the concrete completely poured by 1:00, and pretty much finished by 3. With Coleen and Amanda pitching in to finish, they had the aisle in tip top shape, ready for horses to return to their stalls by Friday.

 

And our two camps?  We had a ball!

 

Tiny Tot campers worked in the little outdoor ring while our advanced riders enjoyed the space of the big outdoor arena, known to all as simply 'Patternland.'

These 8 were immersed in the horse show mindset with patterns galore and railwork taught with the assistance of the one and only Forest. Of course, they also found time for lots of fun. modifying rules of games, attempting to keep leg wraps from tangling in the laundry, and being the first ever people to nap on the new cool concrete aisles.

 

 

Meanwhile at Midwest, the show started Tuesday in the newly constructed arena.  With the old coliseum needing renovations, this year's show was held in the modified make up ring, and many think it was actually cooler than the old traditional building, even in the Springfield heat.

The Knollwood riders proved once again that hard work does really pay.

Our performance riders riders had some great rides, tried some new things, and earned some nice ribbons in deep classes.

Ainsley and Millie had a blast in some great classes. The junior exhibitor 5 gaited division in the 14-17 age group is stacked with big time show horses, and Team Ainsley were rockstars.  

After some great performances in the show pleasure division this season, Gabby and Jerry tried the junior exhibitor park division at Midwest, and had a blast in some incredibly deep classes.

Parker and Smith continue to come together as a team, and earned some nice ribbons in big classes.

 

All three generations of Honkamps enjoyed Midwest 2017.  

Susan used to time in Springfield to get some lessons in on Rudy,  She and Carol are getting him ready to show, and welcomed  the chance for lessons in a show setting.

Susan's daughter Kerri showed her breathtaking Park mare Leila to a reserve championship in the Open Park championship after Scott qualified her earlier in the show.

 

Susan's niece Payton is enjoying a successful season with Rosewood's Homecoming Dance, AKA Robert.  Last year's equitation mount for Haley is making a name for himself in the show pleasure division with Payton.  They won their limit rider class, and earned a third place ribbon the in championship with a first place vote.

 

 

Our equitation riders did us proud. Again.

 Lora and Sophie were on fire, winning the Saddle Seat Equitation Championship as well as the Good Hands qualifier.

Finn pretty much ruled the 13 and under division, winning the Pleasure Equitation championship for riders 13 and under, the UPHA Pleasure Challenge Cup, and the Saddle and Bridle Pleasure Equitation Medallion.

After successfully showing Pistol in the hunt division, Frannie decided to try adult equitation, and won the grown up Challenge Cup class.  Sarah and Fergie were 5th.

 

 

Madison was the winner of the Pleasure Equitation Championship for riders 14-17 with Haley 4th and Matthew 6th.  She was also reserve in her age group.

Haley was reserve in the Good Hands qualifier, and Matthew won the UPHA Challenge Cup for riders 14-17.

 

We'll all enjoy a relatively quiet week at home,with no major construction projects planned.  

Camps are in full swing this week, with 13 riders enjoying a session of 'classic' Knollwood summer 2017.  Next week, we're hosting another sold out week of Tiny Tot camp as well an another week of traditional  summer riding school.  We still have a few spots open, so contact us at www.KnollwoodFarmLTD.com for details.

Show horses are off to Oshkosh early next week for one of our favorite shows, the Oshkosh Charity Horse Show.   Academy horses will follow later in the week for a lively performance Saturday morning at 9.

We're looking forward to a fun filled show, and hope you can join us!

 

 

We're loving Knollwood Summer 2017, and hope you'll join us for all the adventures!

 

With the arrival of summer weather, construction season is beginning at Knollwood!

Don't be surprised to see some heavy equipment around the show barn starting on Saturday.  Project number one is replacing the old asphalt aisles in the show barn with shiny new concrete ones.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends at Winsome Farm and Highland Ridge Stables, show horses not traveling to Midwest Charity Horse Show will be spending some time away from home during the construction project.  Carlos will be a busy trainer, traveling to work his horses while the work is going on.

 

 

In addition to the major renovation of the show barn, we expect to complete work on the gazebo in the big outdoor arena in time for summer riding school.  It's well on its way, and is looking great!

Thanks in advance for your patience while we work to improve the place so many call home away from home.