Upper Marlboro, MD – The Capital Challenge Horse Show will welcome the country’s top hunter horses and riders for the year-end finale of the World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Program, to be held on September 28 – October 4, 2020, at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. 

Due to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic, adjustments have been made to the WCHR Program’s qualification requirements at Capital Challenge Horse Show and regional and national standings protocols for 2020 only. 
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As in the past, WCHR members – including Professionals, Developing Professionals, Amateur Owners, Adult Amateurs, Juniors, Children’s, and Pony riders – will continue to qualify for national and regional awards by earning points at member events held throughout the country. The top nationally and regionally ranked riders in each category will qualify and come together to compete in year-end challenge classes, which are held annually at Capital Challenge. ​

Upper Marlboro, MD – March 17, 2020 – Capital Challenge Horse Show (CCHS) and Ryegate Show Services announce that effective immediately and with the guidance of US Equestrian (USEF), qualifying for Taylor Harris Insurance Services (THIS) National Children’s Medal and Ariat National Adult Medal classes is suspended for any horse shows held in the next 30 days.   

From the USEF press release dated March 13, 2020:

"Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, all USEF owned events, selection trials, training camps, clinics, and activities will be suspended for the next 30 days. Additionally, USEF strongly recommends that competition organizers suspend all USEF licensed competitions across the country for the next 30 days. For those competitions that do run, there will be no accumulation of points, scores, money won, qualifications, or rankings toward any USEF awards programs, USEF owned event, or selection to a U.S. team during this 30-day time period. This includes USEF National Championships."
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact Annette Longenecker at annettel@ryegate.com.          

For Coronavirvus Disease Resources, please visit the USEF Resource Center page.
The THIS National Children's Medal is a series of equitation classes held throughout the year in which junior riders collect points in order to qualify for the year-end finals. The THIS National Children's Medal was created in 1994 in order to give young riders the opportunity to gain equitation experience at the 3' height.    

Since its inception in 1995, the Ariat National Adult Medal has given adult riders the opportunity to compete in a competitive equitation class over fences 3' in height. The classes are held at select shows across the country and riders collect points to qualify for the Finals. Approximately the top 30 riders on the qualifying list are invited to compete at the Finals.

​Upper Marlboro, MD – Emily Williams rode Beach Boy to the Overall Grand Junior Hunter Championship on Sunday, October 6, to conclude the 2019 Capital Challenge Horse Show at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD.
 
Williams, 17, of Newhall, CA, and the 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding claimed two wins over fences and a second place under saddle in the Small Junior Hunter 3’6”, 16-17 division to first claim the division championship before ultimately being named the High Point Junior Hunter, 16-17, sponsored by Somerset Farm, and clinching the Overall Grand Champion Junior Working Hunter title, sponsored by Shadow Ridge. For the top honor, Williams received the Spontaneous Perpetual Trophy, donated by the Listrani Family, as well as being named the recipient of the Best Junior Rider Award, sponsored by Karen Healey.
 
“It feels so amazing,” said Williams. “I’m so, so honored, and I’m just so happy. I thought [Beach Boy] was super consistent and jumped super well in every round.”
 
While Williams and Beach Boy may have claimed the highest Junior Hunter award, contesting the hunters was not actually Williams’ primary goal for her second visit to the Capital Challenge Horse Show. 

Upper Marlboro, MD – Shiloh Roseboom, 12, of Corona, CA, has competed at the Capital Challenge Horse Show for the last four years, but Saturday, October 5, marked a major highlight of the young rider’s visits to the 10-day show held annually at Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD.
 
Aboard Heavenly Patch of Blue, Roseboom claimed the Small Pony Hunter championship before ultimately being awarded the Grand Pony Hunter championship title and the Best Pony Rider Award, sponsored by Archie Cox and Brookway Stables.
 
“It’s special because I've never really won anything big quite like this,” said Roseboom, who rides with Christa Endicott. “Last year, the best I got was fifth, so this year something really actually happened!”
 
Roseboom has had Heavenly Patch of Blue for five years, and her long-time relationship with the 13-year-old Welsh Pony, owned by Enchantment Farms LLC, has made “Annie” a partner that Roseboom really trusts in the show ring – including when it comes to executing difficult maneuvers.

​Upper Marlboro, MD – Tori Colvin added another line to her resume as professional hunter competition at the Capital Challenge Horse Show concluded on Friday, October 4, with the highlight $10,000 World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Professional Finals.
 
Seven of the top professional hunter riders in the country went head to head at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center, with Colvin, of Wellington, FL, claiming the title for the first time.
 
“This class has meant a lot to me,” Colvin, 22, said. “I’ve been watching it since I was riding in the juniors, and I’ve seen Scott Stewart win it a lot, so to be able to be someone who won it is amazing.”
 
This was Colvin’s third appearance in the class, and she joined Liza Boyd, John French, Jeff Gogul, Cassandra Kahle, Amanda Steege, and Stewart in the line-up.
 
Colvin qualified for the WCHR Professional Finals by placing second in the WCHR National Professional year-end standings by virtue of points earned at WCHR-designated shows throughout the year. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the horses that got me here,” she said. Many of Colvin’s mounts in the professional divisions are horses owned by the Ingram family of Nashville, TN.

 Upper Marlboro, MD – Lindsey Roberts of Kingwood, TX, riding Snippet, and Martha Ingram of Nashville, TN, aboard Fonteyn, claimed the 3'6" and 3'3" Grand Amateur-Owner Hunter Championship titles on Thursday, October 3, at the Capital Challenge Horse Show.
 
Sharing the Adult Amateur Hunter Grand Championship honors at the show, which continues through Sunday, October 6, at the Prince George’s County Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD, were Ellen Toon on Playmaker and Vivian Yowan on Calou. 
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Roberts was a bit taken aback with her Amateur-Owner Hunter 3'6" Grand Championship title, sponsored by Finally Farm, which came after she had claimed the Amateur-Owner 3'6", 18-35 championship title, sponsored by The Hallman Family and MerryLegs South LLC.
 
“This feels like a dream, it truly does,” Roberts said. She and Snippet won all three over-fences classes in the division and took third place in the under saddle for her tricolor honors. “We’ve had a phenomenal year, but to be able to come back east to the Capital Challenge Horse Show and show against the best of the best and have it go so well, it makes it that much more sweet.”