FAMILY SHOWCASE THE
EXTENDED FAMILY,
Equestrian Idols
My by Robin Wyman, Columbia, Maryland Robin with Rich Fellers
No matter the time of day or night I would set the alarm and settle into my favorite chair. I still spend exorbitant hours searching out and watching any show jumping event I can find on cable television and with the help of my parents, I have over 100 VHS’s of show jumping. From the very first time I saw Rich
R
ich Fellers first caught my attention on ESPN cable TV in the early 90's.
ride, he was on the USET Team with Michael Matz (my former favorite) for the Pan Am Games, in Argentina, I liked the way he sat on a horse. I have been following his career ever since in magazines and on cable; especially the Spruce Meadows events. I finally met Rich in person at
the 2000 Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) where I also met the owner of his top horses, Harry Chapman. Going on to the Spruce
Meadows Masters Shows in 2002 & 2003, I got to meet Rich’s charming wife, Shelly, and Harry’s wife, Mollie, for the first time. Understanding the heart of a fan, Rich gave me his 14 ribbons from the show, including 5 blues and 1 red that hang in my Library Room. I also met the Feller children, Chris, then eleven years old, and Savannah, almost nine then. I was now a lifetime committed fan of the whole entourage. In 2003, they included me as a
guest on the trip to the American Invitational, all of us together for a terrific time. The same year I was jump crew for three days at the George Morris clinic at their Whip N' Spur Oregon farm owned by the Chapman’s. In 2010 I went to Palm Beach in Wellington for the WEG trials and decided I would take a vacation and spend a week at the 2011 HITS Thermal Desert Circuit. As you can see, I consider myself,
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Rich Fellers and the Chapman’s biggest east coast fan! Thermal, 2011, was my first time
flying to California for a HITS horse show. My #1 reason to go: Rich Fellers showing the Chapman’s horses in World Cup qualifiers. I was so impressed with what I saw at the Thermal facility, I loved the Desert Horse Park's layout with palm trees everywhere and snow covered mountains in the background! The desert sun sent me to vendor
row to buy a hat/visor from the show. Judi Klein, from FarmVet, made me a deal, if I wear the FarmVet logo visor, she would give it to me for free. Told her I would be most happy to do that since I knew Cavalor (on back of visor) was one of Rich Fellers sponsors. I ran into Artie Hawkins in the
office on Friday morning while I was getting a schedule. I was surprised to see my old friend there! It had been
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