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Articles: Press Release
Caitie Hope and Lyle Triumph for Third Consecutive Championship Indoors at Washington Intern
ational Horse Show
Photo: Caitie Hope and Lyle, champions of the Small Junior
16-17 Hunter division at the Washington International Horse Show. Photo (C) 2008
Rebecca Walton.
Contact:
Jenny Ross of
Phelps Media Group, Inc.
at (561) 753-3389 or at pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com
Washington, D.C.
- October 28, 2008 - Caitie Hope's winning streak continued this past week at
the prestigious Washington International Horse Show in Washington,
D.C. Sixteen-year-old Hope of Barrington, IL, earned
her third consecutive championship in the Small Junior 16-17 Hunter division
with her incredible mount
Lyle. Lyle, owned by
Stephanie Keen and trained by Don Stewart, recently captured top tricolors at
the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg,
PA, and the Capital Challenge
Horse Show in Upper Marlboro, MD. Hope trains with Diane Carney at Telluride
Farm.
The talented young rider competes
in the hunter, jumper, and equitation divisions, and this year her partnership
with Lyle resulted in unprecedented success in the Small Junior Hunters. In
addition to winning the HITS Ocala Circuit Championship and the Tampa
Equestrian Festival Circuit Championship, the pair won numerous championships
at shows across the country.
Diane Carney enthused, "Caitie, her mom, and I were
reflecting on this year because you love to win a class, you love to be
champion, and you love to be circuit champion. Caitie has done that over and
over this year, and that's hard to do!"
"We had a little different experience at Washington<
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than we did at Capital Challenge and Harrisburg,"
she continued. "At both of those shows, Caitie won the first two classes of the
division, and she needed to make the third class count. In Washington, she went in and pinned third in
the first round. Then she moved up and got second in the handy hunter class and
came back and won the stake. In the stake, the course was bold, with beautiful
fences. Lyle jumped beautifully, as always, and Caitie had a flowing round with
a great gallop. She hit the right rhythm when she came in the ring and kept it
all the way around."
"The situation was kin to Devon,"
Carney added. "At Devon, she was third,
second, and first. Those are the kinds of rounds that you love to see. I just
tell her to go ride and 'do what you do.' I teach her a hard lesson and get her
loose. Preparation is harder at Washington than
at Harrisburg
and Capital Challenge, but she got in the zone and had an incredible show.
She's shown Lyle in front of so many different judges this year, and every one
of them has had the same opinion."
Hope also competed in the Junior Jumper division with her
horse La Paz and
earned fourth place. She will show next in New York at the Syracuse Invitational
Sporthorse Tournament, which features the 125th National Horse Show.
Lyle, who will not compete in Syracuse, has
completed his 2008 show season and will return to Keen's house in Florida to relax and turn-out
for a well-deserved rest.
"It's been such an incredible year, thanks to Don Stewart
and Stephanie Keen," concluded Carney. "Riding Lyle was a great opportunity
that presented itself, and Caitie certainly made the best out of it. He has
given her the opportunity to move forward with her riding career and trust what
she's always hoped was true: that she's a natural winner. She's got the right
temperament, and she loves Lyle as an animal and also as a competitor. She has also
benefited tremendously from the International Hunter Derbies. Having to ride in
those classes with the necessary leg, seat, and hand has really helped her for
these indoor shows."
Carney is based out of Hampshire, IL, at her hunter/jumper
show stable, Telluride Farm. She has been both an active participant and
influential trainer in the hunter and jumper community for many years. Her
contributions to the industry extend to the many clinics that she teaches every
year, in addition to those that she hosts annually for U.S. Show Jumping Chef
d'Equipe George H. Morris and top hunter/jumper trainer Don Stewart Jr. Photograph may be used
only in relation to this PMG press release.
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