Welcome!
• Home • FAQs
• Site Map
Weather
• Contacts
Free Service Appreciation
Choose Pondside Web Productions for your hosting and web design needs!

Megan Palmer and Askari Win $2,500 NAL Adult Classic;

Beth Bidgood Picks Up Amateur-Owner Championship

June 24, 2007

Wayne, IL --- On the final day of competition in the Wachovia Showplace Spring Spectacular II, Lake Bluff native Megan Palmer found victory with her veteran partner Askari in the $2,500 North American League (NAL) Adult Hunter Classic, sponsored by Runaway Farm and and The Carroll Family.

Palmer has been showing at the Lamplight facility for 12 years, and she has owned Askari for 8 years. With scores of 80.5 and 80 in the Classic, their total of 160.5 put the seasoned pair in the lead.

“He was originally my equitation horse, and then I got a really nice equitation horse my last junior year – my parents leased me Rocky II – so he was kind of my back-up. Then, I did him in the Junior Jumpers, and then my mom rode him in the Novice Adult Hunters, so he's done every division at the horse show you can think of,” Palmer explained.

She continued, “He's 16 years old, and he gets really mad if he doesn't get to go! To ride, he's really straightforward, pretty simple. You get a rhythm, and he knows his job. He's really adjustable, he was an equitation horse and a jumper, too. Today, he was just really goofy: You could tell that he knew, going into the second round, that he was important and wanted to win.”

In the 36 & Over Amateur-Owner Hunters, Beth Bidgood took home tricolor honors with her own Nottingham. Bidgood and “Toby” earned first, second and third place ribbons over fences, in addition to a fourth place in the under saddle, for the win.

“I've had him for a little over four years. He had been in our barn before that with another owner, and they decided to sell him. I'd always loved him,” Bidgood described. “He's one of the first horses I've had that was made, so it was really nice to be able to go right straight to the Amateur ring. He's been great! I think I've had more success with him that I've had with anybody. It's been a joy to have one that can go in and you know what he's going to do in the ring.”

The Westfield, IN, resident was also successful with North Shore, another horse she competes in the same division. “I just started my younger horse – this is the third time I've shown him - and I had a few disasters and then finally won the last class. This is the first class I've won on him. Tammy (Provost) had done (North Shore) in Florida all year, so I'm just starting to do him in the Amateurs. It's really fun to have two chances and two horses to do it on,” Bidgood concluded.

Haylie Jayne, a local resident of Elgin, IL, capped off her very successful weekend by winning the championship in the 18-36 Amateur-Owner Hunter division with Caped Crusader.

In the 36-50 Adult Amateur Hunter division, Donna Struve took both the championship and reserve championship with her horses Tapestry and Dublin Bay, respectively. Struve has been competing at Lamplight for more than 20 years and described the facility as having improved dramatically since the beginning. She is based in Bristol, WI, and competes extensively in the Midwest and around the country.

“It's changed hugely. It's gone from being very simple and rather bare. There were no trees for shade and nothing was finished, but it's turned into a beautiful, beautiful show facility that compares with anywhere in the country. I think it's spectacular – it really showcases our business and the whole horse show world. We love it here,” Struve said.

As for her success with Tapesty, or “Dora,” she noted that this will be their last year of competition together, as the chestnut mare will be a broodmare in the future. “She's real sweet, real gentle, and she's always been a great mare for me,” Struve said. “She does a great job. She's really good. She's a little strong, but she's very easy and she takes care of me. If I make a mistake, she helps me through it and makes sure I don't get in trouble.”

To June 2007 News Articles Index | To Canada Equine ...On-Line Home