Washington, D.C – Emily Williams name surprises no one when heard over the loud speaker these days. This was the case yesterday, on the first day on the International Horse Show. Emily emerged victorious, but not on her usual winning partner, Strapless, but on Erin Stewert’s, Hilton.

“I was disappointed with Strapless, but Hilton was great. He is such a straightforward horse,” claimed Emily. “ It’s so hard here, because even when your horse feels quiet, you just never know, because of the lack of room for schooling,” she explained. Strapless (owned by Clara Lindner) obviously tricked her talented rider, taking a slight aversion to the first day indoors under the bright lights, but Hilton was flawless, earning not just one but two blue ribbons in the Regular Conformation Hunters.

Professional Rider Ken Berkley shared William’s earlier sentiments regarding the difficulty posed for many competitors by the indoor ring. “I think it was the brightness that got everyone,” Berkley speculated, “and the sheer color of the ring.”

Berkley rides Susie Scally’s Rio Bravo’s , whose brave manner must have set him apart from the pack to attain second and fifth place honors in the Regular Working Hunters. Cozmopolitan and Russell Frey obviously had no problem with the conditions, emerging victorious in both over fences classes.

All of the judges agreed that the first day went well, although commented that they were looking forward to today, when the horses will undoubtedly be more prepared.

“The first round was a bit shaky because there were a lot of jumps in the ring, and the horses needed to have some time to adjust. By the second round, they figured it out,” commented Matt Collins.

“Sandy Farell on Estrella, and Winn Alden on Keep the Faith were very strong today,” chimed in Williamson. These two horses swapped the first and second positions in the two First Year Greens over fences classes. “We are not going to say who we favor, but it is definitive that there are two or three horses after the first days competition that are predominant,” explained Carleton Brooks.

“We had some great rounds today, but we also had a lot of horses who needed to acclimate to the situation,” Williamson explained. When asked what they were most excited to judge during the course of the show, Brooks and Collins stated that they were “Regular Hunter guys,” and liked horses to simply be “shown the way they were meant to be shown.”

All three judges agreed that the upcoming Equitation class was to be judged according to this mantra:

“Equitation is still just part of a horse show, and the horses should be shown as horses, the way horses like to go,” the men explained. “If you can actually ride a horse, then it means that you can ride a hunter well and you can ride a jumper well,” the men explained. This, foreshadowing the judging of the Equitation class upcoming this weekend, could be useful advice.

Everyone seems to be looking forward to the rest of the week, while expressing happiness that the first day of competition is out of the way. Today (Wednesday) will see the completion of the Regular Working Hunter Division, the Regular Conformation Hunter division, the Green Conformation Hunter division, both the First Years and the Second Years, as well as the pinning of the Grand Hunter Champion and the Leading Hunter Rider. Stick around for the evening session, where the exciting Children’s Jumper Championships and Adult Jumper Championships will be showcased, as well as an Amateur Owner Jumper class.