Olympian Margie Engle and Young Rider Michael Hughes Win Arenus Performance and Conditioning Awards at HITS-on-the-Hudson Summer Shows

Veteran show jumper Margie Engle, who has competed in the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games and is considered one of the most successful show jumpers of all times, and Michael Hughes, an up-and-coming young show jumper, both captured the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award during the HITS-on-the Hudson Summer Show series. The Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award is sponsored by Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses including the ASSURE^®, STEADFAST^®, EQUILITE^™, SORE NO-MORE^®, ALEIRA^® ,RELEIRA^® product families.

While Engle has been in the spotlight for years and Hughes is only 14-years-old, the two had a great deal in common during the fifth and sixth week of the Hits-on-the-Hudson show. Engle won the Arenus award during the fifth week for her outstanding performances on both Indigo and Hidden Creek’s Pamina L. During the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, Engle placed first on Indigo, owned by Gladewinds Farm, and second on Hidden Creek’s Pamina L, owned by Hidden Creek Farm.

“It was great to win the Performance and Conditioning Award, and I think it is great that Arenus sponsors it,” Engle said.

Hughes, whose family owns Drumnacross Farm in New York, was also thrilled to win the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award. “Michael was ecstatic over the win,” said Eamonn Hughes, Michael’s father and trainer. “We have a barn with over 30 horses and we use many of the Arenus products.”

Hughes, who was recently part of the Bronze Medal winning team at Young Riders, earned the Performance and Conditioning Award for his numerous ribbons in the Junior Jumper Divisions with Deseree, Twister and Shockwave.

Both Engle and Hughes were presented with a prize basket filled with an assortment of Arenus products, including ASSURE, STEADFAST, EQUILITE, ALEIRA, RELEIRA and SORE NO-MORE products. Throughout the HITS show circuits, which includes HITS Thermal, HITS Ocala and HITS Saugerties Horse Shows, Arenus presents an Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award to a horse, barn or trainer based on their horse’s exceptional performance and level of conditioning. A team of independent judges chooses the winner.

In addition to sponsoring the performance and conditioning award at the HITS Summer Shows, Arenus also hosted Arenus Focus week while in Saugerties. Arenus provided the show participants with a fun-filled special exhibitor party at Puttin’ Plus in which everyone was invited to an evening of mini-golf, go carts, laser and water gun tag and batting cages.

Stepping Stone Farm and The Ridge Win Arenus Tack Room Competitions During HITS-on-the-Hudson Summer Shows

Thanks to beautiful and award-winning tack room displays, Stepping Stone Farm and The Ridge won the Arenus Tack Room Competition during week five and six of the HITS-on-the-Hudson Saugerties Summer Shows. The tack room competition award is sponsored by Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, featuring the ASSURE^®, STEADFAST^®, EQUILITE^™, SORE NO-MORE^®, ALEIRA^® and RELEIRA^® product families, and the winner takes home a prize bag filled with Arenus’s products.

Sandy Kelly of Stepping Stone Farm, located in East Greenbush, New York, and trainers Monty Kelly and Amy Momrow, were thrilled to win the Arenus Tack Room award. One of their customers built the Stepping Stone deck area at the HITS show grounds as a present for Sandy, which proved to be a winning attribute at the show. Stepping Stone Farm is known for creating attractive stabling environments, as they also won a tack room award during the Winter Equestrian Festival this past winter.

“I think it is great that Arenus sponsors the Tack Room Competition,” Momrow said. “Anytime you have a sponsorship it really gets the products out there and connects the barns and trainers directly with the products. We really appreciate that and also the fact that we won.”

Olympic show jumper Nona Garson’s farm, The Ridge, with locations in New Jersey and Wellington, Florida, also took home an award for their nicely decorated stabling area at the HITS-on-the-Hudson shows. Kaileigh Keller, of Midlothian, Virginia, rides with Garson at The Ridge and was excited to accept the winning tote from Arenus, which was filled with a variety of items from their many product families including Arenus’s SORE NO-MORE liniment.

In addition to sponsoring the tack room competition, Arenus also hosted Arenus Focus week during the HITS show. Arenus provided the show participants with a fun-filled special exhibitor party at Puttin’ Plus in which everyone was invited to an evening of mini-golf, go carts, laser and water gun tag and batting cages.

“In addition to sponsoring the weekly Tack Room Competition, Arenus put together a promotion where exhibitors could turn in an information form at Beval. Everyone who turned one in got a promotional item from Beval,” said Lisa Engel, Account Executive, Corporate Sponsorship for HITS. “Melissa Bennington, who works for Arenus, is really great and competitors get really excited when they see her coming in the Arenus golf cart.”

Throughout the HITS show circuits, which includes HITS Thermal, HITS Ocala and HITS Saugerties Horse Shows, Arenus presents an Arenus Tack Room Competition Award to one winner stabled on the show grounds. Tack and stabling areas are judged on aesthetics and suitability. The tack room winner is selected by an Arenus representative and the winner receives a prize basket from Arenus containing products from its ASSURE, STEADFAST, EQUILITE, SORE NO-MORE, ALEIRA and RELEIRA product families.

New England Farm and Newbury Farm Win Arenus Tack Room Awards at the June HITS-on-the-Hudson Summer Shows

Two new farms took home top honors for their beautiful tack room displays at the Hits-on-the-Hudson Saugerties Summer Shows-the New England Farm in Bedford Hills, New York, and the Newbury Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts. The tack room competition award is sponsored by Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, featuring the ASSURE^®, STEADFAST^®, EQUILITE^™ and SORE NO-MORE^® product families, and the winner takes home a prize bag filled with ARENUS^® products.

The Newbury Farm, managed by Jean Sheptoff, won the tack room competition during the second week of Hits-on-the-Hudson, while the New England Farm, owned by Cynthia Williams, won during Hits-on-the-Hudson III. Both farms were thrilled with their wins and said their tack rooms at the show grounds serve as a “home away from home” for their clients and staff.

Williams said New England’s tack room set up at the show grounds includes wicker chairs and wooden tack trunks on dark wood chips. “The tack room at the show is a home base where everyone gathers, eats and relaxes. It makes the horse show more comfortable and enjoyable,” Williams said, adding that she was already a fan of SORE NO-MORE^®. “I have been using the SORE NO-MORE^® products for a long time on my horses with great results. I look forward to trying the other products in the prize bag.”

Williams added, “I would like to thank my grooms for their hard work and for keeping our horses looking great. I would also like to thank Arenus for recognizing the extra effort.”

Newbury Farm boasts a beautiful tack room at their facility in Massachusetts, where trainer Cory Hardy, and barn manager Sheptoff, specialize in equitation training, boarding and selling hunters and jumpers. Their tack room at the HITS show ground also featured an award-winning look that not only keeps their clients comfortable, but found favor with the Arenus representative.

HITS, Inc. produces high-quality, international-level hunter/jumper horse shows. Based in upstate New York in the village of Saugerties, HITS has been producing shows since 1982 and is now a nationwide company with world-class circuits in California, Florida, Arizona, New York and Virginia. In 2010, HITS will take the industry to new heights when it hosts the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix in Saugerties on September 12. 

Grand Prix riders Jeffery Welles and Christine McCrea have spent years dominating the winner’s circle in shows all around the world, and they both added another win to their resumes during the June Hits-on-the-Hudson summer show series in Saugerties, New York. Welles and McCrea each won the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award from award sponsor Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses that manufactures and distributes the ASSURE^®, STEADFAST^®, EQUILITE^™ and SORE NO-MORE^® product families.

 Welles, of Triton Venture Farm in Brewster, New York, has been competing on the Grand Prix circuit for over 23 years. During the Hits-on-the-Hudson shows, Welles has continued to win big with Armani, placing second in the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix aboard the Dutch Warmblood gelding he owns with Abigail Wexner. In April, Welles and Armani won the $200,000 Gene Misch American Invitational in Tampa, Florida.

“Since Armani is getting older we have to do a lot to keep him fit. He goes out twice a day four times a week and the second time is usually to go on a trail ride or just a light hack,” Welles said, adding that he gets help from all of his staff with keeping Armani and their other horses in peak condition. “Gareth Gair, my barn manager, my vets and farriers – all of these people make it possible to compete and ride and keep all the horses fit, going well and looking good. It is a team effort to get a horse into the show ring and I really enjoy the times that I get to jump Armani in the ring.”

Welles was thrilled that his barn won the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award during the third week of Hits-on-the-Hudson, and said his barn uses SORE NO-MORE on all of the horses. “I want to thank all of my staff for helping us win this, they are all great with Armani and our other horses,” Welles said.

McCrea, of Windsor Show Stables in East Windsor, Connecticut, won the Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award during the second week of Hits-on-the-Hudson. McCrea has also been in the winner’s circle during the summer show series, including placing second in the $125,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix aboard Romantovich Take One, owned by Candy Tribble and Windsor Show Stables.

Both Welles and McCrea were presented with a prize basket filled with an assortment of Arenus products, including ASSURE, STEADFAST, EQUILITE and SORE NO-MORE products. Throughout the HITS show circuits, which includes HITS Thermal, HITS Ocala and HITS Saugerties Horse Shows, Arenus presents an Arenus Performance and Conditioning Award to a horse, barn or trainer based on their horse’s exceptional performance and level of conditioning. The winner is chosen by a team of independent judges.

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