WASHINGTON, D.C.--Cannon Creek, ridden by Hunt Tosh, was the Grand Hunter Champion, while Scott Stewart won two championships and two reserves to be the Leading Hunter Rider on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Washington International Horse Show.
Cannon Creek was the High Performance Working Hunter, getting enough points with three firsts and a third to be named Grand Champion,.
Stewart of Flemington, N.J., was champion on Colter in Green Hunter, 3'9".and on Styles in Green Conformation, and he was reserve champion on California Love in High Performance Conformation and on Cerulean Blue in Green Hunter, 3'6".
Kenzie Smith was champion and reserve in the $10,000 Children’s Hunter Championship on Mirage and Sundown, respectively, and Reilly Canard on Carry On won the $10,000 Adult Hunter Championship.
Tosh of Milton, Ga., on Cannon Creek has won International Hunter Derby National Championships three times as well as many championships at major shows, but this is Cannon Creek's first grand championship at Washington.
Cannon Creek won the Protocol Trophy as high point horse in the High Performance Hunter division at the Devon Horse Show, Pennsylvania National Horse Show, and Washington.
“I'VE BEEN lucky to have great horses in my career, and it's been fun winning all we have, but every day there is that next class you want to win,” said Tosh. “To be grand champion here is special and especially with this horse because he deserves it. He keeps doing it and keeps giving, so that's the great thing about him. He was spectacular.
“We don't have to show him that much, so we can pick and choose where we show him each year and tweak his schedule a bit,” said Tosh. “It's been four years with him, and he's such a special horse.”
“It’s so nice to have a horse like him that's so scopey so whatever they build you're comfortable to jump,” he remarked.
Horses are a family affair for the Tosh family, with daughter Maddie, a successful junior rider, helping in the business.
She prepared Hunt’s horses while he taught students on this past Sunday in Harrisburg.
“I actually just told Maddie I was going to retire from preparing horses now,” he said. “Maddie for sure gets full credit for this championship because she did all the training this week, and I was able just to swoop in here on Monday, get on, and he was ready to go."
“It’s been a fun 18 years,” he said. “She set her goals so high and what she's really accomplished and has done in her career and as a friend and rider and horse person, it's unbelievable. She's truly a business partner now with me. She was just down there at the gate telling everyone who was going to be champion of each division, divisions we didn't even have horses in, she had everyone's points added up. There's no one that loves the sport more than she does and to be able to do it with her, I couldn't ask for anything else."
Kenzie Smith of Shoreham, N.Y., on Mirage was Children’s Hunter Champion.
“This is my first Washington on a horse because I’ve only done ponies here, so I’m really happy with how it went,” said Smith. “I wasn’t really worried today except for the last jump because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a swap or a rail or chip at the last and mess it up!”
Smith scored 87 in the class’s first round and 86 in the second to win on Mirage, while she scored 85.50 on Sundown to also place second.
“I started riding Sundown in the spring, and I was confident with him because our show at Harrisburg went really well,” she said. “I only started riding Mirage about a week before Capital Challenge Horse Show, and this is only our third show together. They are both such nice horses and so sweet; I couldn’t be happier than I am with today.
MJ Maestas of Houston, Texas on Highmark was third with scores of 85 and 83.
Smith’s barn mate Reilly Canard of Philomont, Vt., on Carry On won the $10,000 Adult Amateur Hunter Championship, Carry On with scores of 86 and 86.50.
“I just started showing him at the end of March, so I’ve only been riding him for a few months,” said Canard, “but he’s really great and he makes me feel so confident in the ring. He’s a partner that you know will always have your back and knows his job; it’s just a matter of staying out of his way and letting him do that well.”