Jennifer
S. Williams' Biography
As
far back as she can remember, Jennifer always loved horses.
One of her earliest memories was of kissing the soft muzzle
of a foal that was born on her parents' farm, when she was
only five years old. When she was six, her parents announced
that they had a surprise for her in the front pasture. She
ran into the pasture to meet her "surprise", Bernie,
a half-Arabian gelding who would be her companion for the
next 7 years. Jennifer and Bernie competed in 4-H shows
under the instruction of Terrie Hook. "Terrie was a
great trainer", says Jennifer of the instructor that
taught her the foundation of her riding. And Jennifer also
has fond memories of Bernie, except to note that while Bernie
was fantastic schooling at home, he tended to either be
lame or to buck at shows. "We always got white ribbons
at shows", says Jennifer. (In 4-H any child/horse combination
that demonstrates proficiency is awarded a blue ribbon--sometimes
everyone in a class will get blues, a child/horse combination
that is adequate is awarded a red ribbon and the white ribbons
are handed out to child/horse combinations that need serious
improvement.)
When Jennifer was 12, her parents bought
her a fancy-moving Anglo-Arab mare named Miss Scarlett.
Scarlett's talents caused Jennifer to focus her efforts
on dressage and she soon joined Pony Club and competed very
successfully. By the time Jennifer was 17, Scarlett was
doing 4th level dressage.
Jennifer began working at Summervale Farm
in 1997 when she was hired to help take on some of the extra
horses for sale at the farm. This was during a transitional
phase where the head trainer Michael Etherly had just accepted
a very exciting new position at another farm. This left
Lisa Dussome as trainer and Jennifer as her assistant. About
a year later, Jennifer began training with Gwen Blake, a
silver medalist at the Pan American Games. Gwen was instrumental
in Jennifer’s early progression. She was very encouraging
and gave Jennifer the opportunity to ride more of the”upper
level” horses. She also provided the horse used at
the North American Young Rider Championships in Parker,
Colorado in 2000. “Ainsley’s Goodfellow was
a very lovely Dutch gelding. The pair was ranked number
one with an average of 70% entering into the competition
and finishing eighth individually.
It was Charlene Summers that had the most
developing hand with Jennifer. She had produced some amazing
horses and had the faith and confidence in Jennifer to entrust
her with their training. Jennifer and Charlene quickly developed
a very close family type relationship and have since been
very good friends as well as business partners.
In 1999 Summervale Farm's great stallion,
Wishes and Dreams was sold to a wonderful Northwest woman
who continued to breed and promote WD for the next four
years. Lisa Dussome went with him to his new home and successfully
competed at many of the Northwest shows. This left the position
of trainer vacant, and Jennifer only 19 years old. Says
Charlene (owner of Summervale Farm), "I always have
had faith that Jennifer has the natural talent, ability,
and drive to some day take her to the top, and I wanted
her riding my best horses." So Jennifer began riding
Charlene's Grand Prix mare, Phirst Solo as well as other
quality horses. Soon she began riding a green colt named
Wistar.
Jennifer continued to train with Gwen Blake
full time until 2001 and still continued to get instruction
through 2003. In 2003 she began to compete at the I-2 and
Grand Prix level. She continued to clinic with Dutch Young
Rider coach Barbara Koot, Walter Zettl, and German Federation
Coach Christian Garweg through 2004 and she worked regularly
with the late German instructor Dietrich von Hopffgarten
though 2005. Jennifer has made several trips to Germany
to improve her education and skills. She also began traveling
down to compete in the California circuit in 2003 to hone
her competitive edge and try to push herself fundamentally.
During this time she was fortunate to get some fantastic
help from Debbie McDonald along with Conrad Schumacher whenever
they were in town.
Early 2005 Jennifer began working with Jurgen Hoffmann of
German Dressage down in San Diego, CA. The goal was to qualify
for the Festival of Champions and make it to Gladstone,
NJ for the small tour on Wistar and the Grand Prix with
Phirst Solo, which she did. After three qualifiers Jennifer,
Solo and Wistar qualified second in the GP and ninth on
the I-1 list. Then Solo and Wistar were shipped via Fed
Ex back east (Jennifer flew as their caretaker) where they
finished ninth in the GP and fifth in the I-1 after three
days of fierce competition. Jennifer said of the event,
“This was an amazing year for me to come with these
two fantastic horses. They worked incredibly hard for me
and they teach me something new every day. I can say that
I feel extremely motivated to work on what I can do better
for next year and to continue to learn from my successes
and mistakes."
After
Gladstone Jennifer and Charlene decided to retire the beautiful
Solo from High Performance competition. Now at seventeen
years old she needed a lighter work schedule but was still
feeling healthy, sound, and fit and wanted to keep working.
So a wonderful woman named Paula Helm was deemed the perfect
fit and continues to work and compete Solo today at the
Prix St. George and Intermediare one level. In fact in her
first outing at Prix St. George she earned her silver medal
under Jennifer’s tutelage.
In
2006 Jennifer and Wistar’s goal was to go down to
California and qualify for the newly developed Brentina
Cup. This was a program for the top eight horse/rider combinations
that were age 26 and under and competing at the I-2 level.
Again they trained with Jurgen Hoffmann and also received
instruction from Klaus Balkenhaul at all of the USET training
sessions. They flew back to Gladstone, NJ for the Festival
of Champions and successfully finished fourth. About Wistar
Jennifer says, “I am truly honored to have gotten
the chance to ride the horse of my lifetime at such a young
age. I will probably never have a horse as special as he
is. Charlene is an incredible breeder!”
In
2008 Jennifer continued to work closely with Janet Foy and
also was given the opportunity to work with Steffen Peters
in California. In February, Wistar and Jennifer headed down
south where they stayed until the beginning of May. This
was Wistar's first Grand Prix season and much was accomplished.
He had some really outstanding performances. At the final
CDI in LA Wistar finished 5th in the Grand Prix with a score
from Linda Zang of a 66%.
Jennifer
was also able to compete the lovely Lusitano Stallion Quarteto
Do Top this 08 season. In their first competition in front
of 3,000 spectators at the Del Mar National horse shows
FEI $1,000 Freestyle the pair won Reserve Champion after
only 3 weeks of being together.
2009 marks the nine year anniversary for
Wistar and Jennifer and there partnership together. She
began riding Wistar as a coming four year old in 2000 and
their very first test together was in April of 2001 and
it was a 72% at First Level Test 4. It is great to watch
the progression each year. Check out the Show
results page to see how they have grown
together. Jennifer met Wistar when he was a yearling and
has been with him ever since. He is her buddy and partner
in the ring. The 2009 season provided Wistar with some much
needed confidence and strength. They were able to really
develop a more solid and confirmed Grand Prix test finishing
the year out with a championship in the Grand Prix at the
2009 Oregon Championships and the Great American Region
6 Championships.
Warado is another talented Stallion that
is growing up with Jennifer at the reins. Also in 2009 he
was debuted at third and fourth level and is very much a
mount for Jennifer's future and is one to watch. She hopes
to work him up the FEI levels towards the Grand Prix ring
as well and it will be a wonderful journey to watch as they
grow together. Jennifer is trying to focus on improving
her skills and hopes to utilize the time she has on these
phenomenal horses. She is working diligently with Olympian
and now Aachen and FEI Rolex World Cup Winner Steffen Peters
as often as time and money will allow.
Watch for Jennifer, Wistar and Warado as
they compete between California competitions and also within
Washington and Oregon state. For Wistar, this is a year
to get the pair strong so that they may shoot for Gladstone
and possibly the World Equestrian Games for 2010 which will
be held in Kentucky.
Her
plans for the future? "To represent the United States
in International competition. My ultimate goal would be
to ride in the "Olympic Games" and I plan to spend
my life working very hard towards achieving that dream"
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Jennifer Schrader-Williams' Blog
