Wellington, Fla. – Feb. 20, 2020 – The end of Week Six at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) may have marked the end of the World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Week, but hunter competition is still in full force during Week Seven. The Green 3’9” Hunter division saw two days of jumping and under saddle competition culminating in the Green 3’9” Hunter Stake. Elizabeth Towell Boyd and Who’s It were crowned the division champions thanks to a series of consistent performances, and Victoria Colvin and Gabriel earned the reserve champion honors.
Towell Boyd aboard Who’s It secured their championship with superb rides throughout the entire division. The pair came out on top in all three of Wednesday’s classes, scoring an 81 in the over fences, an 85 in the handy round, and earning the blue ribbon in the under saddle. On Thursday, the duo took home another first-place finish in the Stake.
Who’s It, a 9-year-old owned by Bridget Hallman, began his performance career as a jumper. It was Todd Minikus, a grand prix level show jumper, who recognized the bay as a strong potential for the hunter world and sold him to Hallman for that purpose. Since 2019, Towell Boyd and Hallman have worked to introduce Who’s It to hunters, an effort that has proven largely successful.
Colvin and Gabriel, owned by JT Farm, assured their reserve champion spot with scores of 86 and 84 in Thursday’s over fences classes. Just days ago, Colvin earned her sixth $100,000 WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular win aboard another mount, Private Practice.
Hunter competition will continue at WEF on Friday morning in the Grand Hunter Arena at 7:45 a.m. with the 3’6” division.
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Elizabeth Towell Boyd – Green 3’9” Hunter Champion
On Who’s It:
“Who’s It is nine years old. Actually, Todd Minikus found him and was doing jumpers and some of the bigger classes. Todd planned to sell him and then realized that he was a hunter; he’s such a good mover. We saw him in Tryon and I sent Bridget a video and she was immediately like, ‘I have to have that horse!’ It’s nice because he has experience as a jumper. You don’t ever have to worry about him looking at the jumps. He’s overqualified. Even for 3’9”, he has scope, which is what I wanted for Bridgete. When you’re doing the amateurs, you always want overqualified. You want your clients to know they can jump something bigger than what you are jumping. He’s super in the handy classes. He’s got a great personality. Bridgete has done a really good job with him, and he’s come into his own this year. Last year was his first year as a hunter so we had to hunter-ize him a bit, but he blossomed and he just keeps getting better and better.”
On competing at WEF:
“It’s great that every day there are different course designers so you get a lot of variety. For both the riders and the horses, you grow here. The horses leave here with a lot of experience, and as for the riders, it keeps us sharp. Also, obviously you can’t beat the weather.”