Summer Heats Up at Canterbury Stables!

Even with temperatures in the low 30’s at Batavia Showtime May 14-17, Sydney Turczyn of Norwich, NY fired up Canterbury’s Irish Pub (a nine year-old Welsh mix also known around the barn as “Ronan”) to win the Syracuse Professional Horsemen’s Association (PHA) Pony Medal class.  Sydney and “Ronan” also competed in the Regular Large pony division and placed second in the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Medal class.

The two were up against some of the very best pony/rider combinations New York has to offer, including her friend from Canterbury, Hayden Nolan of Lebanon, NY.  Hayden rode Canterbury’s Captain Madison (an eleven year-old Connemara pony called “Madison” in the barn) to finish the week as Reserve Champion in the Children’s Large Pony Hunter division.

The two are pictured here flanking their trainer Kimberley Asher of Cazenovia, NY (Hayden is mounted on Madison and Sydney is holding Ronan).

Team Canterbury also celebrated a well-deserved reserve champion win in the Pre-Adult division for Valerie Basilio of Canastota, NY aboard Ruby Tuesday (a flashy Thoroughbred called “Ruby” at home).  Given the setting of the Showtime Group’s show was the in-field of Batavia Downs, some of Ruby’s Thoroughbred friends were ready to return to the races!  Val ignored the steady winds and found every jump like a true champion.

The week before Batavia, two young ladies from Cazenovia helped Canterbury claim two additional summer championships at Bridle Path Manor’s show at the NY State Fairgrounds: Allison “Ally” Muller and Alex Crawford.  With a permanent smile on her face, Ally piloted Canterbury’s Liz-Beth-Arden (an eight year-old Welsh pony known as “Lizzy”) around the ring in the coliseum to win the Beginner Hunter division.  Alex has been training with Kimberley since Canterbury opened and put in a few perfect rounds on a Thoroughbred named Lyran to take home the championship in the Special Hunter division.

The Bridle Path show also provided a terrific opportunity for Canterbury Stables to debut  a few new sale horses from the stable in Cazenovia.  Eddie, Hildalgo, Chip, Olive and Alvin all welcomed the chance to visit the coliseum and enjoyed seeing so many horses from across the state (stop by canterburystablesny.com to meet these new arrivals for yourself).

This August, Ronan will get another chance to visit with the ponies he met at Pony Finals in Lexington, KY last year.  He and his friend Sydney qualified for the USEF Pony Medal Finals earlier in the year during the Syracuse Chapter PHA shows at Lehman Farms in Pittsford, NY.

Sydney has been training very hard with Kimberley for two to three years now.  She is really looking forward to showing Canterbury’s Irish Pub this summer as they perfect their partnership in time for August in Lexington.  According to Sydney, “Ronan and Kimberley have been there before and I’m just going to enjoy a really fun summer showing with Hayden and all of my friends at Canterbury before finals.”

Thanks to the Asher family, Sydney and several other lucky participants will be able to further hone their skills in a clinic with three-time Olympic medalist Joe Fargis!  The clinic is at Canterbury Stables, September 26 & 27 and will feature three 90-minute sessions per day, for up to five riders in each session.  A benefit for the Megan Louise Furth Fund, fees are $250 per session and $25.00 per day to audit.  Please call 315-655-5577, ext. #1 for more information.

Photo Credit: group shot of Team Canterbury taken at Bridle Path’s show by Patti Muller of Cazenovia, NY.

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