We would like to congratulate Jeannie and Charlie on being the Intermediate Champions in the Masters Amateur Junior Hunter Under Saddle and fourth overall at the APHA World Show. Also her trainer, Brooke Dixon was the Intermediate Champions in the Junior Hunter Under Saddle and 11th Overall!
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Jeannie Lipphard of Millersville, Maryland is looking forward to showing at her first ever APHA World Show. The 48 Year-Old is competing on her horse, CDF New York NY (aka Charlie Brown), in the Masters Amateur Junior Hunter Under Saddle.
In 2009, Jeannie decided to get back into horses and remembered a great APHA trainer, Marty Dixon of Dixon Show Stables in Delaware, that was within driving distance, so she opted to start showing paints. Marty, along with his daughter, Brooke Dixon, ride and train several top horses in the paint industry.
“I am super excited and blessed to be showing at my first APHA World Show!” says Lipphard, who owns a travel and cruise agency in Maryland.
According to Lipphard, a lady named, Kerry Sparks, had bought him from his breeder as an injured yearling – he got in a fight with a fence and the fence clearly won! The breeder was considering putting him down but Kerry opted to take him and put the time into his injuries which took daily maintenance. He essentially tore his right hind from hock to fetlock and Kerry worked on him for a year until he healed. Kerry had started a new job and, sadly, she had to sell him but she wanted him to go to a good home. In fact, she was selective on who bought him and what trainer would eventually get him.
“He wasn’t expensive and was green broke as a three year-old but the video sure showed a great trotter. Brooke along with another amateur in our barn, Betsy Leager, and I drove down to North Carolina last July to look at him,” Jean recalls. “It was 98 in the shade and well over a 100 heat index. He was a little smaller and a little greener with a few more scars from that fence than we had hoped, but Brooke and I saw something in him – we weren’t sure at the time but I guess our guts told us to go for it!”
Lipphard continues, “I remember standing in the heat with Brooke trying to make a decision and we both looked at each other at the same time and said, ‘Let’s go for it!’ At least, I had something to take to the shows to ride/school and we showed him twice last fall before giving him the winter off to grow and mature. He grew two inches over the winter and really filled out nicely.”
The Dixons started showing him in late April of this year and after he won the Jr. Hunter Under Saddle at both Culpeper and the Zone 7 shows under several judges with some of the top horses in the country–they knew Jeannie had a great one. Their “project” horse has grown into a true hunt seater! In fact, as of the end of September, he was third on the APHA Honor Roll for Jr. Hunter Under Saddle with very limited showing.
“Marty and Brooke have done a super job with him and I am so proud!” Jeannie says. “I think Charlie’s story truly exemplifies that there are diamonds in the rough out there – it’s not all about buying the most expensive or the best bred horse – it’s sometimes just simply getting lucky and going with your gut,” says, Jean, who is also a Two-time World and Reserve World Champion PtHA. “Charlie was essentially almost put down as a yearling but the hard work and perseverance of several people in his life from his breeder, to Kerry, and now to the Dixons and me clearly solidify that hard work, gut instinct, and great trainers can really shine up that rough diamond!”
Charlie even has his own Facebook page! Check it out by clicking here. Also, Click here to view their ad in the World Show issue of GoMag!
