Horse description
Montego Bay, Lifetime Achievement Award 2022:
Tego has been a competing member of CHJA, as well as CHSA/NEHC/USEF, since 2005. While most riders at the higher level have different horses throughout their riding career, throughout my junior years, Tego was my one and only. He took me from the Children’s Equitation all the way up through the Big Equitation and Junior Hunters— competing at many major finals and earning a myriad of Year End Awards and Championships along the way. He played both Hunter and Equitation horse because I was not able to own or lease a separate horse for the equitation. He competed at National Junior Hunter Finals numerous time and earned 8th overall out of many very quality horses.
Aside from his endless accolades in the show ring which helped me make the connections I still use today as the owner and head trainer at Quiet Rein Farm, Tego also taught me how to be a horsewoman. Like most great horses, he requires the proper level of care and preparation before competing. I learned to wake up at 4am to get him on the trailer, lunge, ride in the ring before the show started, bathe, etc. all on my own. The only thing I didn’t do myself was braid him. When I was a kid, he did not receive pro rides, despite being mine at just 5 years old when he barely had both lead changes and he was very entertained by jump filler. Tego taught me the meaning of hard work, because to have a good show day there was quite a bit of time and effort put in.
Like most athletic horses, Tego is often playful. He has been known for saving his riders to a ridiculously bad distance, but letting them know just how he felt about it through a lead change or on the back side of a jump. There was no convincing that horse to stop at a bad distance, but he certainly would tell you to get a grip on your decision making skills and stay out of his way when he saves you. In this way he was the perfect teacher. He keeps you safe, but humble, even in his older age.
Tego has an amazing ability to gauge what expectations are reasonable to have for each rider. As he ages, his job requirements become less and therefore he has more novice type riders on him. He is more accepting of errors from these riders and is willing to help those still learning. Tego is adaptable in that even now if we put an advanced rider on him, he expects so much more and tells them to do better when they need to be told that. We joke “Tego is teaching the lesson now” when he takes advantage of rider error to tell a rider, “Hey, time to listen to the lady saying the same thing on repeat in the middle, here is why!”.
Tego’s hunter style over the fences is one for the books— and is what caused Geoff Teall to select him from the Netherlands. He was actually nicknamed “Hunter” in Europe because they knew he was destined to be one. Brought in by Avon Valley Show Stables, he was quickly purchased by me under the tutelage of Michele Goodrich and Well-A-Way Farm. Tego has had mainstays of Connecticut horse showing like trainers David Wilbur, Cara Chapel, Shachine Belle, Brooke Farr and Amy Kriwitsky at the ingate throughout his career with various different riders. He has competed at CHJA and CHSA Finals, to earn ribbons many times, and has also had numerous year end awards in the hunters and equitation for both organizations countless
times. He is adored by all, despite his sometimes inconvenient freshness and high affinity for prep to be his “best self” in the ring. This is a horse that has been leased to do a variety of jobs and can show up anywhere and be recognized for all the unique quirks and traits that make him “Tego”. The confidence he has given riders in the area is unmatched by many.
To top it all off, Tego has taught me, and many others after me, the importance of caring for your horse properly afterwards on good days and even on bad. In typical top athlete fashion, Tego requires plenty of poultice, hoof packing, wrapping, liniment, you name it, in order to stay comfortable and happy. There have been many times where he has been out with injury or required extra attention and it is for this reason I know as much as I do when it comes to the care and keeping of my clients’ show horses.
I have Tego to thank for so much. We joke at Quiet Rein that it is Tego’s barn, because there wouldn’t have ever been a QRF without him. He has changed the trajectory of my whole life since that day in 2005 when I tried him, and him receiving this award would honor him and show the immense gratitude so many equestrians in CT, including myself, feel towards him.
Tego has been a competing member of CHJA, as well as CHSA/NEHC/USEF, since 2005. While most riders at the higher level have different horses throughout their riding career, throughout my junior years, Tego was my one and only. He took me from the Children’s Equitation all the way up through the Big Equitation and Junior Hunters— competing at many major finals and earning a myriad of Year End Awards and Championships along the way. He played both Hunter and Equitation horse because I was not able to own or lease a separate horse for the equitation. He competed at National Junior Hunter Finals numerous time and earned 8th overall out of many very quality horses.
Aside from his endless accolades in the show ring which helped me make the connections I still use today as the owner and head trainer at Quiet Rein Farm, Tego also taught me how to be a horsewoman. Like most great horses, he requires the proper level of care and preparation before competing. I learned to wake up at 4am to get him on the trailer, lunge, ride in the ring before the show started, bathe, etc. all on my own. The only thing I didn’t do myself was braid him. When I was a kid, he did not receive pro rides, despite being mine at just 5 years old when he barely had both lead changes and he was very entertained by jump filler. Tego taught me the meaning of hard work, because to have a good show day there was quite a bit of time and effort put in.
Like most athletic horses, Tego is often playful. He has been known for saving his riders to a ridiculously bad distance, but letting them know just how he felt about it through a lead change or on the back side of a jump. There was no convincing that horse to stop at a bad distance, but he certainly would tell you to get a grip on your decision making skills and stay out of his way when he saves you. In this way he was the perfect teacher. He keeps you safe, but humble, even in his older age.
Tego has an amazing ability to gauge what expectations are reasonable to have for each rider. As he ages, his job requirements become less and therefore he has more novice type riders on him. He is more accepting of errors from these riders and is willing to help those still learning. Tego is adaptable in that even now if we put an advanced rider on him, he expects so much more and tells them to do better when they need to be told that. We joke “Tego is teaching the lesson now” when he takes advantage of rider error to tell a rider, “Hey, time to listen to the lady saying the same thing on repeat in the middle, here is why!”.
Tego’s hunter style over the fences is one for the books— and is what caused Geoff Teall to select him from the Netherlands. He was actually nicknamed “Hunter” in Europe because they knew he was destined to be one. Brought in by Avon Valley Show Stables, he was quickly purchased by me under the tutelage of Michele Goodrich and Well-A-Way Farm. Tego has had mainstays of Connecticut horse showing like trainers David Wilbur, Cara Chapel, Shachine Belle, Brooke Farr and Amy Kriwitsky at the ingate throughout his career with various different riders. He has competed at CHJA and CHSA Finals, to earn ribbons many times, and has also had numerous year end awards in the hunters and equitation for both organizations countless
times. He is adored by all, despite his sometimes inconvenient freshness and high affinity for prep to be his “best self” in the ring. This is a horse that has been leased to do a variety of jobs and can show up anywhere and be recognized for all the unique quirks and traits that make him “Tego”. The confidence he has given riders in the area is unmatched by many.
To top it all off, Tego has taught me, and many others after me, the importance of caring for your horse properly afterwards on good days and even on bad. In typical top athlete fashion, Tego requires plenty of poultice, hoof packing, wrapping, liniment, you name it, in order to stay comfortable and happy. There have been many times where he has been out with injury or required extra attention and it is for this reason I know as much as I do when it comes to the care and keeping of my clients’ show horses.
I have Tego to thank for so much. We joke at Quiet Rein that it is Tego’s barn, because there wouldn’t have ever been a QRF without him. He has changed the trajectory of my whole life since that day in 2005 when I tried him, and him receiving this award would honor him and show the immense gratitude so many equestrians in CT, including myself, feel towards him.