Arrive Magazine - July/August, 2009

same competitive experience that other riders have.

“There are a lot of moving parts to the Hampton Classic,” says Shanette Barth Cohen, the event’s executive director.

But in the end it’s all about the horses,
over 1,400 super-athletes. Watching
them navigate the jumps is to observe
total concentration: their eyes and
ears working together, an occasional
snort in response to whispered
urging by their rider. A breath-
holding moment—will the horse
make it over or not?—and the
release of tension when the animal
lands safely on the other side. Then
the pattern repeats on the approach to
the next fence. The animals are under
double pressure: It’s not just a matter of
clearing every jump; they also are com-
peting against the clock.

“I think the horses love this,” says Cohen. “It’s what they were born for.”

Rein Date

There are hundreds of horse shows throughout the year in the United States. In the Northeast Corridor, they include the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, and the Washington, D. C., International Horse Show—both in October. The Syracuse Sporthorse Invitational featuring the National Horse Show takes place in Syracuse, N. Y., in November.

But from its simple beginnings in the early 20th century, and despite some stops and restarts to accommodate history in the form of two world wars and one depression, the Hampton Classic has always drawn top-notch horses and riders.

You’ll see three types of competition at the Classic: equitation, hunting and jumping. In equitation classes, the rider is judged on his or her ability to put the horse through its paces. In the hunter classes, the horse itself comes under the judge’s scrutiny.

“It’s sort of like a beauty contest,” says Mandy Topping, who runs Swan Creek Farms in Bridgehampton with her husband, Jagger. The Toppings train horses and riders and compete themselves. “How the horse looks taking the jumps is important,” she says.