Riga Meadows trials attracted more than 100 riders

SALISBURY — More than100 horse-and-rider teams took part in the Riga Meadow Horse Trials on Sunday.

Despite intense storms on Friday and Saturday, the morning of July 18 unfolded with beautiful weather.

Fernanda Kellogg, who will host her own horse trials this coming weekend at Fitch’s Corner in Millbrook, found time to compete, and placed in the ribbons with clear rounds in stadium and cross-country.

Mariko Williams piloted Take to the Chase, around the stadium course after the horse’s registered rider, Roberta Carleton, parted ways with her first mount at the cross-country ditch.

Carleton, manager and trainer at Weatogue Stables in Salisbury, said she was enormously proud of Williams for riding a horse she had never jumped before.

Carleton also thanked the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service for their great care.

Despite her fall, she thought the day was wonderful. “They always do such a good job there,� she said afterward.

Jackie Merwin, co-owner of Riga Meadow Equestrian Center, said the grounds survived, just barely, the drenching downpour and wild winds that tore through Salisbury on Saturday evening.

“We had completely finished setting up all the courses and they had been approved by the judges, when the storm came through and knocked down all the stadium jumps and dropped branches on the cross-country course.�

It took three hours of repairs and cleanup to restore order.

The next area horse trials will be July 24 and 25 at Fitch’s Corner in Millbrook, followed by the Millbrook Horse Trials at Coole Park Farm in Amenia on Aug. 5,6,7 and 8.

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