Cassandra Adams of Murrieta thrills the Del Mar Arena crowd in the Friesian Chariot Four-in-hand Saturday night. Earlier, she rode her Valour to a World Championship in the Fantasy Costime class (below).
DEL MAR – For the first time since 2004, the International Friesian Show Horse Association held its World Championship and Grand National Championship Show in California, as the Del Mar Arena came to life for the five-day spectacle Oct. 13-17.
The IFSHA event attracted 112 of the nation’s top Friesians, filling classes with 577 entries in a variety of demanding and crowd-pleasing performances.
A special Saturday night benefit performance blending championship classes with demonstrations to an historic theme of the wartime roles of horses. Rick Roberts’ Warrior Foundation, formed by San Diego radio personality and horseman Rick Roberts to raise awareness and funds for injured soldiers returning home with wartime injuries, received more than $20,000 in charity from the evening, said show organizers.
“This show is one of the very best IFSHA has organized since its inception,” said show secretary Nancy Nathanson, who served that role in the first IFSHA Grand National in the City of Industry in 2004 and, except for 2005, each year since.
“The quality of the horses was excellent and the competition fierce. It was exciting to see so many quality horses competing.”
Standout performances were turned in by Sjoerd, owned by Xena Vimercati, who won both the Shakespeare Farm Friesian High Point Perpetual Trophy as the overall high-point purebred Friesian horse of the show, as well as the new award, the Jeff Wonnell Memorial Versatility Award.
Beau, trained and shown by Lauren LaVine, won the Leoness Sport Horses Part Bred Friesian High Point Perpetual Trophy as the overall high-point Part Bred Friesian of the show. Beau also won a new award, the Jeff Wonnell Memorial Versatility Award.
Cassandra Adams’s Aramis won several National and World Grand Championships and Reserves, as did Majestic and others owned by Janna Goldman.
Nathanson added that IFSHA has finalized plans to take the show east next year to the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Va., from Oct. 5-9.
“People on the East Coast who were unable to attend this year’s event are already in the planning stages for 2011,” she said. “It should prove to be a wonderful show also.”
More results: See website: http://bit.ly/011AIFSHA
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