HOUSTON, Texas – Lia Chafee, a senior majoring in international communications and media at Texas A&M University, won the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show’s 2nd Annual Collegiate Charity Invitational equestrian event, sponsored by Superior Energy Services, on March 24th at Great Southwest Equestrian Center, 2501 South Mason Road, Katy, Texas. Chafee was one of eight competitors. Taking second place was Holly Eisbernd, a senior from Granada Hills, Calif., majoring in sociology at California Fresno State.
Four of the top 12 2012 Pin Oak Collegiate Invitational teams –Texas A&M, SMU, Baylor, and California Fresno State – which were selected for the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (to be held next month in Waco, Texas) were represented at Pin Oak. For more information and competitor bios, see pages 116-117 in the 2012 Pin Oak Charity Horse Show Program at www.pinoak.org and www.varsityequestrian.com.
Lia Chaffee of LSU takes 1st Place in the 2nd Annual Pin Oak Charity Collegiate Invitational. Great athletes from strong equestrian programs. Photo by Shawn McMillen
More about the collegiate invitational event
The Dragon, a jumper owned by Rita Herzog of Memorial Park Hunters, was named Best Horse of the competition. Other horses in the event included Dare to Imagine (owner/trainer Kim Cox of Tally Ho Farm), and horses from Woodhill Farm and Kings Bridge Farm.
The Pin Oak Champion Collegiate Rider was determined by a head to head format in which the riders compete over fences on the same horse. The riders only had a few minutes to warm up on a randomly drawn horse before competing. Horse owners and trainers generously donated the use of their horses for this event, which judged the riders’ form and ability rather than that of the horse.
Teams included Baylor University (Kara Fergusson, a senior from Hillsboro, Ore.), Delaware State University (Alyssa Berfield, a junior from Fredericksburg, Va. who ranked seventh), California Fresno State University (Elsbernd, who ranked second), Louisiana State University (Gabrielle LeBoeuf, a sophomore from Prairieville, La., who ranked sixth), Rice University (Dana Gross, a senior from Houston,, who ranked eighth), South Dakota State University (Jordan Goodall from Centennial, Colo., who ranked fourth), Southern Methodist University (Emma Roberts, a freshman from Houston, who ranked fifth), and Texas A&M University (Chafee, the champion).
Emily Gardener from SMU was the champion for the 2011 Pin Oak Collegiate Invitational event.
Tracy Fenney Wins Sunday Grand Prix
MTM Centano ridden by Tracy Fenney from the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, Texas, won the Looke Family $30,000 Grand Prix, presented by Energy XXI, on Sunday at the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show.
Centano gets some love from the crowd. Photo ©Alan McMillan.
The top six competitors of the 25 who entered the Grand Prix are listed as follows:
- MTM Centano, ridden by Tracy Fenney of Flower Mound, Texas, and owned by MTM Farm of Flower Mound;
2. Triomff, ridden by Holly Shepherd of Grand Bay, Ala., and owned by Sarah Patterson from Omaha, Neb.;
3. MTM Genau, ridden by Tracy Fenney of Flower Mound, Texas, and owned by MTM Farm of Flower Mound;
4. L’Etoile, ridden by Wilhelm Genn of Lebanon, Ohio, and owned by The L’Etoile Group LLC of Lebanon;
5. Cicero 75, ridden by Erin Bruheim of Houston, Texas, and owned by Nordic Lights Farm LLC of Houston; and,
6. River of Dreams, ridden by Christian Heineking of Dallas and owned by Caroline Jahr of Dallas.
The Pin Oak Charity Horse Show opened March 21 and runs through April 1 at Great Southwest Equestrian Center located at 2501 South Mason Road in Katy, Texas. The show, which started in 1945 and is one of the leading horse shows in the nation, has raised more than $5 million for children’s charities. Most events are free and open to the public. See www.pinoak.org for more information.
