Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9506220054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Don Stewart is at or near the top of his game as a trainer and rider of hunter horses. He knows he has to be extra sharp to fend off his numerous challengers these days.
And who might the most threatening of these be?
``Havens Schott, Jimmy Toranao, Elizabeth Solter, Russell Frey ... ,'' he said.
Followers of this elegant competitive class, which has been on display all week at the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, will recognize immediately a common thread among the aforementioned riders.
``They're all former students of mine,'' Stewart said. ``And they're some of my best competitors.''
While Stewart does not point this out, it may be added here that those riders are splendidly taught. Proof that Stewart knows what he's doing is substantial and readily available.
Stewart is the only person who has been selected the leading hunter rider of the year by the magazine Chronicle of the Horse twice (1986 and 1993). He was the leading hunter rider at the National Horse Show in 1993. He was the leading hunter rider at the prestigious Devon Horse Show in 1992.
More recently, Don Stewart Stables has been cleaning up at the Salem Civic Center and through the first three days of the show, was the winningest stable in the class. Stewart's top assistant, Scott Hofstetter, won the second-year hunter division, and Stewart's riders won the small and large Junior Hunter divisions. Another Stewart student, Avery Dimmig, won the American Horse Show medal for equitation.
Stewart was reserve champion (runner-up) thrice this week and the eldest of his three children, 11-year-old Erin (who is trained by her father's associate, Bibby Farmer), won the Medium Pony Hunter championship in addition to earning two seconds and a third.
``She's had a great week,'' Don Stewart said of his daughter.
The other two young Stewarts, 6-year-old Don III, and 11/2-year-old Whitney, haven't saddled up competitively yet, Whitney for obvious reasons and Don III because the sport hasn't quite captured his fancy.
``It's so expensive, we discourage it anyway,'' Stewart said.
His wife, Nancy, stays home at the farm in Ocala, Fla., (Stewart trains 30 to 40 horses there) to look after the baby and maintain order during her husband's frequent trips to shows.
``He's the best trainer in the country,'' said fellow trainer and dealer Andrea King of Rembert, S.C., who has sold many a horse to Stewart. ``He's probably the smartest trainer on the circuit. His attention to detail is what's special.
``He's a beautiful rider, too, and so is Scott. They're very good teachers. Their pupils win all over the country.''
Stewart is evasive about his age, but he will let on that he has been at his present location at Ocala for the past 10 years. He's about to move the operation to another barn near Ocala, Bent Tree Farm.
Stewart got his start when he was attending North Carolina State University. He has been on his own ever since, opening a barn in Raleigh, N.C., then moving to Ocala where life was, in his words, ``more lucrative.''
Never has he worked for anybody but himself.
Stewart has been bringing horses here since the show's inception in 1972.
``I'm an original,'' he said.
The hospitality, the conviviality and the air conditioning in the indoor arena have kept him coming back, he said.
That and the competition, especially from his former pupils.
``They're all very nice,'' he said. ``They probably feel sorry for me.''
by CNB