Harrisburg, Pa. – October 16, 2024 – If anyone was looking for Nick Haness on Tuesday, October 15, in the winner’s circle at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA, was the most likely spot to find him. Haness made frequent trips there throughout the day as he ultimately piloted Modern Man to the Grand Hunter Championship – among numerous other accolades.
On their way to taking home the horse show’s greatest hunter honors, Haness and the 8-year-old Warmblood gelding, owned by Lynn Olson, first earned two wins and a second place over fences, as well as a win under saddle, to claim the Green Conformation Hunter Championship, sponsored by Goshen Hill/Caroline Moran.
Next, it was the Green Hunter Grand Championship that saw them returning to the ring to accept a tricolor, and then ultimately, the Grand Hunter Championship, sponsored by Copper Fox LLC/Kendall Meijer.
“I got a phone call earlier this year about this horse,” explained Haness, who hails from Temecula, CA. “I knew the horse a few years ago when he was a really young horse, and Shelley [Campf] and her program had developed him beautifully. I’ve watched Shelley win on this horse throughout our circuits in Thermal and on the West Coast. She wasn’t going to be making the journey back East this year herself. So, she had asked if I would be interested in riding him at the Incentive Finals in Kentucky earlier this year and the summer. Then, depending on how that went, we would keep going through indoors and that was sort of our game plan.”
After the Green Hunter Incentive Championship went well, Modern Man stayed on the East Coast for Haness to ride, and the horse has continued to impress.
“His jump is so extravagant,” said Haness. “He’s not a horse I have to ever worry about getting a rub in the schooling ring. He just always wants to jump carefully, correctly. He has grown up a lot. He was green at times, but whenever it was important this year, like in Kentucky, at Capital Challenge and in here, he always found a way to rise to the top.”
Haness continued, “This is just really totally unexpected, but I’m pleasantly surprised to be here as the champions and the grand champions at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.”
