Aiken equestrians compete in Florida 2/23/2009 12:51 AM
By BEN BAUGH Staff writer
OCALA, FLA. -- A number of Aiken residents have been competing and enjoying success this winter at HITS Ocala at the HITS Post Time Farm, including DFG Stable's Daniel Geitner and Hollow Creek Farm's Angel Karolyi.
"So far it's been going great," said Geitner. "We've had real nice weather the last couple of weeks. It's been nice, big jumps, and a lot of competition for the hunters and the jumpers. The horses have been jumping well, we've sold a horse and the students have been doing well."
Geitner had Janet Peterson's 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding Artur 28 and Kyle Register's 10-year-old bay gelding Trading Places with him in Ocala, Fla.
"They've both been doing well. Artur has been third in both of the last two Friday Grand Prixs," said Geitner. "Trading Places had a cheap four faults last week in the Friday Grand Prix. Hopefully, we'll have a little luck this week. This is our last week here, and then we go home to the March Madness Horse Shows."
Josh Dolan, also representing the Palmetto State, is riding with Andrea King's Hollow Creek Farm.
"It's been a great experience," said Dolan. "Overall, there are good horses, it's good money and great people. I did all the high junior amateurs, and than I did the 7- and 8-year-old Young Jumpers on both my horses. I'm going to do this horse in the $25,000 Grand Prix on Thursday (Feb. 19) and then again Sunday (Feb. 22) in the $50,000 High Amateur class.
Dolan bought his horse Skylands Con Chino Z sight unseen off the Internet from the Czech Republic.
"I bought him as a 3-year-old, and had him shipped over, I had seen a video of him," said Dolan. "I started and broke him myself."
The tandem won the 2006 YJC Five Year Old Round 1 Level at the Hampton Classic Horse Show.
Angel Karolyi and Ron Krise's Sun God, whom he placed second on in the $100,000 President's Cup Grand Prix CSI-W at the 2008 Washington International Horse Show, are gearing up for international competition.
"We're really excited about going to Wellington, and to be part of the Venezuelan team," said Karolyi. "We're still figuring out the team, but I think we have a good idea who will be on the team. I'm going to show a couple of times this week up here. I think I'm going to show Sun God up here and get him ready for next week. Hopefully, we'll do well representing Venezuela."
Notice about comments:
AikenStandard.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. AikenStandard.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not AikenStandard.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
