Lexington, KY – January 22, 2016 – The 133rd annual CP National Horse Show, scheduled for the Kentucky Horse Park on November 1-6, 2016, today announced the judges for the highly competitive rated Hunter divisions and for the prestigious ASPCA Maclay Horsemanship Championships.
The ASPCA Maclay championship will span two days over the weekend. On Saturday, all of the qualified junior riders will have the opportunity to compete in the over fences phase, as they set their sights on the most prestigious title of their young careers. On Sunday, a select group will be invited back for the flat phase, where they will test their skills under saddle. Once the flat phase is complete, the group of riders will be narrowed down even further for another over fences test. Once that phase is complete, the judges may have a small group of riders return for final testing, or they will announce the new ASPCA Alfred. B Maclay Horsemanship Champion.
Judging the Maclay Finals will be Rachel Kennedy of Brookville, MD and Diane Carney of Antioch, Illinois.
Rachel Kennedy
Rachel began riding at the age of three outside of Philadelphia at Jack Trainor’s Here and There Farm. Following a successful junior career, as a professional, she rode to seven AHSA Horse of the Year titles along with numerous state titles. In 1995, Kennedy moved to Maryland and started her own business ESP Farm. She has trained and shown numerous hunters and jumpers to championships and Grand Prix wins on the on the USEF “AA” Circuit at shows such as the Winter Equestrian Festival, NAJYRC, Capital Challenge, Devon, Ocala, Washington International, Upperville, Vermont Summer Festival, and Fairfield.
A USEF Licensed Hunter and Equitation judge since 1995. Kennedy judges a number of horse shows each year and has officiated at such shows as the Winter Equestrian Festival, Kentucky Horse Shows, Hampton Classic, The Legacy Cup, Indio, Del Mar, Menlo, Pebble Beach, Fairfield and Saratoga. She has also officiated at the USEF Pony Finals, USEF Junior Hunter Finals and the USHJA Hunterdon Cup Equitation Finals. In 2015 Kennedy judged the West Coast CET Finals.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the MHSA and PHSA, and is currently a member of the USHJA Zone III Jumper Committee.
Diane Carney
Diane has been both an active participant and one of the most influential and hardest working trainers 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 George H. Morris. In 2008, she was voted ‘Horse Person of the Year’ by the Illinois Hunter Jumper Association, and she is on the Board of Directors of the USHJA and Vice Chairperson of the Zone 5 USHJA Hunter Committee.
In the Rated Hunter divisions, two veteran horsewomen with years and years of training and judging experience will be marking the cards. Former Californian Linda Hough and former Long Islander Susan Humes, now both from Wellington, Florida, have agreed to judge at this year’s CP National Horse Show.
Susan Humes
Susan, an experienced trainer and horsewoman, has a longstanding history with the National Horse Show Association of America, Ltd. Humes’ background encompasses years of successful riding and training at Madison Square Garden, as well as an impressive family history with the show that dates back to its origin in 1883. Humes’ great great uncle, William K. Vanderbilt, was one of the founding fathers of the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.
Humes has been an “R” rated judge since the late ’70s. Since that time, Humes has judged at such prestigious horse shows as Lake Placid, the Hampton Classic, Devon Horse Show, Upperville Horse Show, Washington International, the Winter Equestrian Festival, and the AHSA/USEF Pony Finals. Humes has also judged four national equitation finals- the Pony Medal Finals, the AHSA/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final, the ASPCA Maclay, and the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Classic. Humes judged the final ASPCA class held at Madison Square Garden (with Ralph Caristo) in 2001. She also scored the Maclay with George Morris is 2005.
Linda Hough
Linda owns and operates Sutton Place Farm and has trained and ridden many hunter champions, including Sutton Place, Showdown, Emmett Kelly, On Deck, Modest Man, Rave Review and 1990 Chronicle of the Horse Horse of the Year Bavaria. In 1990, she was named the California Horsewoman of the Year. In 2004, Linda was recognized with an American Hunter Jumper Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award; she was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame in 2005. Linda lives in Wellington, Florida.
With over $755,000 in prize money offered, this year’s show has been designated a CSI-W 4* show by the FEI. The International Open Jumpers will compete for over a half a million dollars in prize money, while the top rated hunter sections have a total purse of $195,000. Meanwhile, $100,000 in total is offered to the Amateur-Owner and U 25 Jumper sections.
The CP National Horse Show, for the fourth year in a row, received a top ranking from NARG, the North American Riders Group and was again named the Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse Show of the Year in back to back to back years.
The CP National Horse Show is one of only seven key events that will comprise the East Coast division of the all-new Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League. Competition in the new North American League is already winding down across seven East and seven West Coast venues in three countries: the United States, Mexico and Canada. The 14 events that hosted legs of the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping™ North American League were selected after a rigorous screening process from a long list of 25 applicants.
For more information on the CP National Horse Show, please visit the website at: http://www.nhs.org/