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!”
Then
in 2007 Jennifer was competing two of Summervale Farm's
top stallions. HS Wistar and HS Warado. She traveled down
to California to ride Wistar in the Developing riders program
which was to be taught by the wonderful Debbie McDonald.
While
down there Jennifer met Krissy Harrison (2003 Pan American
Team Gold Medalist) and kept the horses at her barn where
they worked together daily with Wistar. Jennifer continued
to haul over to Debbie's barn for weekly instruction as
well.
She
also continued to clinic with Janet Foy and Conrad Schumacher
in the hopes of making Wistar as prepared as possible for
the coming Grand Prix year.
In
2008 Jennifer continued to get instruction from 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. Watch for them
in the future as they continue to progress and work to reach
their goals. Jennifer was also was able to compete the lovely
Lusitano Stallion Quarteto Do Top this season. In their
first competition in front of 3,000 spectators at the Del
Mar National horse show's FEI $1,000 Freestyle the pair
won Reserve Champion.
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 that."
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