Team #510 Karen Fitt and Just Chance
Team #510: Karen Fitt and Just Chance
Ages: 75 & 26
Combined Age: 101
I had been looking forward to 2021 as that was when I turned 75 and my mare Letka would be 25. Perfect timing for our Century Club ride! But then disaster struck. In late March, Letka sustained a severe tear of her superficial digital flexor tendon, and my hopes of doing a Century Club ride ended.
However, two months later, a fellow boarder at Silverwood Farm, Sandi Spellman, approached me and said she would be honored if I would use her 26-year-old horse, Just Chance, for my Century Club ride. I was overwhelmed by her generosity. As she said, “I know he’s not Letka, but at least he’s also a chestnut.”
Just Chance is a Thoroughbred gelding. His Jockey Club registration shows his name as “Sho Me Mo” by Southern Squire out of Regal Knockout. He raced for three years at Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Illinois, with 15 starts and three first-place finishes. Sandi met Just Chance when he was 18. His name had been changed to Second Chance by that time, and he was being used as a school horse for dressage at a local barn. She bought him when he was 21 for $50 and changed his name to Just Chance. He’s been moving up the levels in dressage ever since. He’s a very willing, trustworthy horse and tries very hard at whatever is asked of him.
I’ve always loved horses. I took riding lessons in grade school, joined a mounted Girl Scout drill team in junior high, and my grandfather bought me a horse when I was in high school – a 3-year-old Saddlebred mare. The horse was sold when I went away to college, so no more riding until I was in my late 40s and started taking weekly riding classes. But dressage had my attention. I was fascinated by how beautiful it looked and the close communication required between horse and rider. So I entered the dressage world by first share boarding, then co-owning a horse, and then finally buying Letka, a chestnut Hanoverian mare, when she was 5 years old.
My long-time trainer, Susan Gerstenberger, helped me compete over many years. However, she had retired by the time I was ready for my Century Club ride. I hadn’t ridden a horse for four months because of Letka’s injury and, given Sandi’s competition schedule, I had only two weeks to prepare for my ride. One of the trainers at Silverwood, Sarah Veras, came to my rescue to help me adapt to a new horse in record time. I so appreciate her squeezing me into her busy schedule.
It was so gratifying to be able to compete the day of my Century Club ride. It will likely be my last dressage competition given my horse’s condition. But I will always be grateful for the kindness, support, and encouragement of the people at Silverwood Farm who made it all possible.
Karen and Just Chance completed Training Level, Test 3, on August 1, 2021, to join the Century Club.
Susan Gertenberger, Former Trainer, Sandi Spellman, Owner of Just Chance, Lisa Froelig, Owner of Silverwood Farm, and Sarah Veras, Current Trainer
