Whitney Goulart on Convent 8 Wins USEF Hunter Seat Medal

Whitney Goulart and Convent 8” - Photo © David Mullinix Photography

Whitney Goulart, 17, of Mendham, New Jersey, topped a field of 23 to claim victory in the USEF Hunter Seat Medal, riding Convent 8 for owner Winsor Farm Sales, Inc.  Convent 8 is stabled at Quiet Hill Farm with Christine Schlusemeyer, who has been Goulart’s trainer since last fall. “He’s 18-hands but he’s really comfortable to ride for all sorts of people because he’s very short coupled,” said Schlusemeyer of the winning mount. “He’s a beautiful white.  His nickname is ‘Pegasus’ because he looks like the USEF horse on their logo.” Pegasus was imported last year from Europe where he was competing in the Grand Prix classes. In the U.S., Pegasus has traveled to West Palm Beach and also competed at Devon with Evan Coluccio aboard. Goulart had ridden Pegasus once in Florida, but not in competition.  Leading up to her win, today Goulart and Convent 8 competed in the USET Talent Search where they placed 8th, then the WIHS (Washington International Horse Show) Hunter Phase where they were 5th, and then the USEF Medal class for the big win.

All 23 riders rode the first round of the Medal class, but only four were called back to test.  In the test, riders were instructed to gallop fence 3, trot fence 4, canter a rollback to fence 5, walk and then counter-canter fence 1, and finish by sitting the trot back to the line-up.  To her advantage, Goulart went last of the four.  “I could see what people were doing and what they could improve on. I got to pick exactly where I wanted to get the trot and the hand gallop,” Goulart explained. “I knew I had to really be on it because Nikko Ritter (who placed second) went before me and he really got a great hand-gallop. I had to be able to get that to beat him. I stayed positive and Pegasus was awesome. He was right there for me,” Goulart said.  “I’m an analytical person. I can do very specific short things like that. It’s very precise and I’m very disciplined. I love to test. If I can get into the test, that’s my favorite part.”

The USEF Medal is judged on the rider, but Goulart believes it was the consistency Pegasus displayed all day that clinched the win from Judge Mark Rosser, who officiated at all three of the pair’s classes.  “Each round that I did today, I got to know Pegasus a little better. I got to know exactly what I needed to do to make him perform perfectly,” Goulart said, and added, “He’s a great horse, so you don’t have to do all that much!”

The USEF Hunter Seat Medal class was a qualifier for the Medal Finals that will be held at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg this fall.  Goulart, who resides in USEF Zone 2 (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) is well on her way to the 60 points she needs to qualify, having added 20 points today to her already accumulated 16 – all earned on different horses.  Goulart was especially thrilled about her win with Pegasus.  “I’ve done a lot of different horses – some green, some really good.  It was my first day to ride Pegasus, he was great, and it was a lot of fun. It was exciting!” she said.  Goulart has been riding most of her life, and started competing in lead-line at Devon at age four.  She shares the love of equestrian sport with her mother and three sisters who all ride, as well as her uncle, Mark Watring, the 2003 Individual Pan Am Gold Medalist who competed in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games for Puerto Rico.  “It’s kind of in the family,” Goulart acknowledged.