30 Years Fair Hill International October 18-21 • Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area • Elkton


of From the fi rst Fair Hill International win by


Karen Lende (now O’Connor) to last year’s victory by Canadian Selena O’Hanlon, FHI has hosted fi erce and top-notch international competition. T e team working behind the scenes at FHI each year brings together high quality competition as well as a great spectator experience complete with demonstrations, vendors and food! T is year’s spe- cial anniversary year celebrates 30 years of FHI at the Fair Hill Nat- ural Resources Management Area in Elkton, October 18-21.


Why Fair Hill


When the Chesterland Horse Trials was los- ing its home at the Davidson farm near Union- ville, PA, organizers started searching the sur- rounding areas for somewhere to move the area’s biggest fall event. Chesterland’s organizer John Ryan pointed out that many didn’t want the event to leave Pennsylvania, but Fair Hill looked like the best location for an event of that scale. It had varied terrain and enough room for all three phases in a fairly centralized location. T e State of Maryland purchased the land now known as the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management from the expansive William du- Pont, Jr., estate in 1974. T e preserve spreads out across 5,633 acres. T e fi rst FHI in 1989 used up much more space than the current ver- sion as the early events still used the long for- mat of eventing with roads and tracks. Cross- country day started and ended near the fair grounds and used the steeplechase course, Saw Mill fi elds and many of the areas used for the


current cross-country courses. For that fi rst event, Ryan reached out to course designer Michael Tucker of Great Britain about coming out to Maryland to check out the location, and the rest is history. Ryan, Trish Gilbert and a few others from the fi rst FHI team


Fair Hill Memories


Just a few of FHI’s First Family: Fran Loftus, Sally Ike and Judy Thayer


met Tucker at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. When Tucker got a look at Fair Hill, “he loved it,” Ryan stated. Fran Loftus, also part of that fi rst FHI team, said of Tucker, “he really got us going and was able to help keep us going.” According to Ryan, it is the cross- country course that makes FHI Fair Hill. “T is course is unique compared to what is happening at other venues in the states,” he said. “T e use of the natural terrain is what makes Fair Hill special. It is a true cross-country course.” Tucker told T e Equiery in a 2013


interview, “T is really is the most exciting piece of cross-country that I’ve even been able to design on.” At the time of FHI’s 25th an- niversary, Tucker, who passed away in January of this year, reminisced, continued...


by Katherine O. Rizzo, Equiery Editor Learning to ride at Waredaca in Laytonsville, I was ex- posed to the sport of eventing at an early age. With up- per level riders competing from our home barn, “Fair Hill” were words I heard often. It was the event that everyone was working towards each year, and few actually made it. As I learned to jump my fi rst logs and cross-country fences, Fair Hill was always there in the background, this event with mystical qualities to work towards. My fi rst Fair Hill experience was in 2003. Like many others, it was as a volunteer. But that year wasn’t just any FHI CCI3*, it was the Pan American Games and I was part of a team of six judging the Chesapeake Water complex. Six judges for one complex! I should also note, this was my fi rst time jump judging… ever. Talk about jumping in head fi rst! Luckily, our team leader was Mary Sue Mood, cross-country fence judge extraordinaire and she assured me it would all work out. It did, and I was hooked. I remember Phillip Dutton walk- ing the course pushing his kids in a stroller. T ere was the entire Brazilian team that hung out with us in their green team jackets cheering on riders from all countries. T ere were crowds lining the gallop lanes and the atmosphere was electric. T e staff and organizers at FHI embraced me and all the other volunteers into their family and never let go. Fair Hill had lived up to everything I had heard about it. Fast-forward a few years later and while sitting in a pro- duction meeting at T e Equiery in 2005, we were asked who wanted to go cover FHI that year. I am fairly certain my hand shot up like a rocket. Not only was I getting to cover this magical event as press, I was going to stay with Louisa Emer- ick, combined driver, foxhunter, photographer and Fair Hill historian, for the week at her home right there in Fair Hill. I learned so much that fi rst year as press, such as how to navigate the pressroom, where best to stack Equiery maga- zines, how to maximize the cross-country day experience and most importantly… why you should always pack three seasons worth of clothing for FHI! I was in a t-shirt one day and purchased gloves, hat and scarf from the vendor village by the time the weekend was over. T en there was the year of mud... or maybe that was a few years! What about the time it snowed during show jumping? Since then, I’ve experienced FHI as a volunteer, photog-


rapher, spectator, groom, reporter, and tailgate party hostess. T rough it all, FHI continues to have that mystical aspect of my youth. Although I haven’t been able to compete in the CCI, I’ve ridden at the horse trials, trail ridden through the grounds, and always make sure to spend at least one evening running through the back trails while covering the event each year. Although technically, covering this event for T e Equiery is work, FHI has become my yearly escape. A chance to visit with friends, watch world-class competition and just im- merse myself once again in the Fair Hill experience. With the four/fi ve star looming in the near future, my


Show jumping for the fi rst Fair Hill International was placed at the Fair Grounds and held in a grass arena. Pictured is show jump steward Richard Lamb at the 1989 FHI.


www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580


anniversary wish for FHI is this… no matter how big you get and no matter how much international attention you achieve, remember what makes FHI “Fair Hill” is its people. T e people behind the scenes who strive for just one thing… to put on a world-class event without anyone knowing they are even there. T ank you, for 30 years and more.


OCTOBER 2018 | THE EQUIERY | 31


Katherine O. Rizzo


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