Liza Boyd Wins Her First WCHR Professional Finals

Haleigh Landrigan Tops the ARIAT Adult Medal Finals

Photo: Shawn McMillen Photography

WCHR Pro Finals Winner Liza Boyd. Photo: Shawn McMillen Photography

For Immediate Release

Upper Marlboro, MD – October 4, 2013 – Professional riders gain points all year in order to be the top six in the country and qualify for the WCHR Professional Finals, sponsored by the John R. Ingram Fund, at the Capital Challenge Horse Show. This year, the top six were Liza Boyd, Kelley Farmer, John French, Peter Pletcher, Amanda Steege, and Scott Stewart, and it was Liza Boyd who finished the competition with top honors. In the afternoon session, Haleigh Landrigan was awarded as the winner of the ARIAT National Adult Medal Finals sponsored by ARIAT International. The Capital Challenge Horse Show, held at the Prince George's Equestrian Center, will run through Sunday, October 6.

This year's WCHR Professional Finals had a change in format. It was shortened to three rounds, with riders switching on two donated horses for the first two rounds, then bringing a horse of their own for the third and final handy round. 

In the first round, Boyd rode Crack On to a score of 88.33 and was sitting in third place. She had the high score in round two of 91.33 on Corduroy, but still sat in third place behind Scott Stewart and John French.

The third handy round, which included a trot jump, bounce, and hand gallop, was what made such a huge difference for her. Riding Quatrain, a horse her family's Finally Farm owns with Janet Peterson, she laid down a fantastic round. She was rewarded by the judges with equal scores of 95 across the board from the three judges' positions, giving her a total of 274.66. However, she would have to wait and see what French and Stewart would do.

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