For Immediate Release

Mary Hilton for Starting Gate Communications

MEDIA CONTACT: (802) 362-9023

Julie Welles Wins USEF Talent Search and WIHS Hunter Phase at Vermont Summer Festival

East Dorset, VT — July 21, 2005 – Julie Welles, 17, of West Simsbury, Connecticut, had quite a morning at the Manchester Classic Horse Show in East Dorset, Vermont, today, claiming victories in two major classes. Welles riding Otter, owned by North Run Stables and Missy Clark, won the USEF Talent Search, topping a field of 25 horses, and then aboard the same horse, Welles went on to win the WIHS (Washington International Horse Show) Hunter Phase, besting a field of 35 entries. Judge Walter “Jimmy” Lee officiated for both classes. In other featured competition today, Jacqueline Lubrano riding Armani for owner Horizon Hill Farm claimed the USEF Hunter Seat Medal, outperforming a field of 31 horses; and in the Grand Prix ring, Robin Swinderman riding her own Lord Byron Z won the Open NAL Speed III as the fastest of six riders who rode fault-free in a field of 10 entries. The Manchester Classic Horse Show is the second week of the Vermont Summer Festival, which features hunter/jumper competition Wednesday through Sunday, every week through August 14th at the Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, Vermont.

Today’s two blue-ribbon winner, Julie Welles, has trained with Missy Clark for the past three years, but began riding at age three and started her show career as a nine-year-old. Welles also currently trains with Linda Langmeier at the Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, where she will be a senior this Fall. Otter, the horse Welles rode for both wins today, is a 12-year-old bay warmblood gelding.

In the USEF Talent Search class, Welles was at ease on a mount she knows well. “I just went in like it was a normal class. I felt comfortable on Otter because I showed him a lot last year,” Welles said. “He has such a big stride and the course allowed him to use his big stride to our advantage.”

Welles described the USEF Talent Search course, designed by Dave Ballard, as, “very interesting. The lines were very forward. You had to have a very forward pace and adjust when you needed to.”

The USEF Talent Search is an equitation class, in which the rider is judged rather than the horse, and Welles noted that her consistent pace was the key factor in her winning ride today. “I felt like I had the same pace throughout the course,” Welles said. “It all flowed really nicely together.”

For more information on the Vermont Summer Festival, please call (802) 496-9667 or (802) 362-9023 or email.

“Julie Welles and Otter" Photo credit: David Mullinix Photography Photos may be used free of charge in relation to the above press release. Photo also available in high resolution, please e-mail: jward@startinggate.ca Please advise of links to web postings.

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