30 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
ones.”
Scouting for quality young hunters is a full-time job in itself,
but Jennifer happily devotes much of her time to searching for
her next hunter star. Fellow trainer Jimmy Toon has been an
invaluable source for her, not only for new horses, but also as a
professional mentor.
“Poker Face actually came from Jimmy,” said Jennifer. “Poker
Face started a nice working relationship between us, which has
been fun. Jimmy has been really generous with his time and his
knowledge. As an older professional, he’s really been a mentor
figure to me, which has been incredibly valuable.”
Loving The Hunters
While she’s enjoyed great success on
the derby field with Poker Face, Jennifer
acquired him when derbies were still in
their infancy. As the division has gained
in popularity and prestige, many riders
find themselves circling back to their
hunter roots, but Jennifer never left hers
behind.
“I’ve always loved the hunters,”
Jennifer recalled. “When I was a junior,
I did a ton of catch riding, and that was
always on junior hunters and ponies. I just
always loved the finesse of the hunters.
With the derbies now, you have a bit of a
hybrid between the hunters and jumpers;
you have the increased challenge of the
bigger jumps and more technical tracks.
You have to be smooth, but also have a
real partnership with your horse.”
In yet another 2014 milestone,
Jennifer headed to the USHJA
International
Hunter
Derby
Championships in Lexington, Kentucky,
for the first time with Poker Face, where
she also took on the USHJA Pre-Green
Incentive Program Championships with
Cooperstown and Sugarman.
Vermont Summer Festival
Her final preparations for the Derby
Championships took place at the
Vermont Summer Festival in East
Dorset, Vermont, where she took home
first and third places in the $5,000
NEHJA National Hunter Derby with
Poker Face and Sugarman, respectively,
in addition to championship titles with
all three of her horses during the hotly
contested WCHR week. During the sixth
and final week of the Vermont Summer
Festival, Jennifer and Sugarman topped
the $15,000 NEHJA Derby, presented
by Land Rover, sending them off to
Kentucky on a high note.
Although national hunter derbies have
courses set at a lower height than their
international counterparts, Jennifer still
felt that the Vermont Summer Festival
was the perfect launching pad for her
trip to Lexington thanks to creative derby
courses and top competition.
“For a horse like Poker Face, because
he’s so careful and tries so hard, it’s
actually beneficial for us to jump a little bit smaller jumps so he’s
feeling super confident,” Jennifer explained. “Vermont is such a
fun show. Billy Glass and the Ammermans do such a good job of
running it. The rings and jumps are lovely, the setting is beautiful,
and geographically, it’s not too far from us.”
The drive from South Salem, New York, where Jennifer’s Harris
Hill Farm is based, to East Dorset is considerably shorter than
her trip to Kentucky, but Jennifer is eager to see where this next
challenge takes her. After spending the last year laser-focused
on her own career, she has even opened herself up to the idea of
taking on a few clients to bring to the top with her.
Regardless of what the future holds for Jennifer, it’s clear that
she doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon.
Jennifer and Sugarman contest the $5,000 NEHJA Hunter Derby at the Vermont Summer
Festival in East Dorset, Vermont.
Photo by David Mullinix Photography
Jennifer and Poker Face capped off the 2014 Vermont Summer Festival by winning the
$15,000 NEHJA Hunter Derby, presented by Land Rover Experience.
Photo by David Mullinix Photography
