Hunter Jumper Show leaps into competition

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Robyn Schmidt, horse trainer and hunter jumper competitor from McGregor, competes in Low Hunters and Pre Green at the Hunter Jumper Christmas Show at the HOT Coliseum in Waco. Schmidt poses with Big Easy, who is a Trakener and Holstein mix, and is the horse of her trainee, Tassie Munroe, of Waco. Photo by Mindy Poehl

Dec. 15, 2005 - Over 400 competitors, poshly dressed in their English riding attire, accumulated at the Heart O' Texas Fair and Rodeo Complex in Waco, Dec. 7-10 to compete at the Hunter Jumper Christmas Show. 

The show has been held for over 40 years in San Antonio. This is the first year that the show has been held in Waco. Director of the show, Robert Barton of San Antonio, hopes to set up the ground work this year, for years to come.

"This is a building block for next year," said Barton. "I want to do the show for charity and I want to fill up the Coliseum."

Barton has been into horses since he was little, "showing or training horses on some capacity," he said. "But I started this show from the bottom up."

Saturday, Dec. 10 was predicted to be an exciting night, Barton said. Riders competed in a high jump, and whoever completed the highest jump received $15,000.

Robyn Schmidt, a 34-year-old competitor and trainer from McGregor, was competing and training girls who competed at the show.

Schmidt has been riding horses since birth and her mother was a horse trainer and breeder. In fact, she competed in her first competition when she was only two years old.

"Right now I train animals and children. My youngest kid is seven and my oldest is in her 20's," Schmidt said.

At the Hunter and Jumper Christmas Show, Schmidt competed in the low hunters, an open division where professionals are judged on style, and pre-green, in which the horses shown are 1 to 2 years old.

Schmidt and her trainees travel to competitions in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma and this summer they traveled to Missouri and Maryland for two weeks.

"I really enjoy competing, myself," said Schmidt, who began training others at age 18. "I like teaching the kids and I like watching them be successful."

Two weeks ago, a Thanksgiving Hunter Jumper Show was held in Waco, and Robyn and her team of competitors took home many awards. They won reserve champion in low hunters, modified non-pro champion, champion in children's pony, reserve in limit hunter - 14 and over, champion in walk-trot and reserve in walk-trot.

Schmidt only trains seven riders, but she says she deals "with quality, not quantity. Plus, I do everything myself. I don't have any hands around to help me."

Schmidt says the best horses to train for hunter jumper shows are Quarter Horses, Welsh Ponies, warm bloods and Thoroughbreds. She trains horses by patience and repetition.

"You have to teach the horse to go the way you want them to go," Schmidt said. "Every person does things a different way. So does a horse."

Schmidt and her team won a lot of national championships in 2004, and they are making a comeback, again, this year.

At the nationals, Schmidt's team of Tassie Munroe, Carolyn Reamer, Alison Farrell and Emily Reeder won Horse of the Year in Welsh Pony Hunter U.S. Equestrian Federation, Welsh Pony Cob Society of America Pony Hunter Champion, National Equitation-Rider Champion, Pony National Half-Welsh Hunter Champion, Reserve Champion English Pleasure, and Reserve Champion High Point Rider 13 and under.