Amateur Rider Melissa Mohr Wins The Arion Challenge and a Custom Arion Saddle at Aspen Farms Horse Trials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aspen Farms, Yelm, WA
September 18, 2023

Aspen Farms and Arion Sellier are thrilled to announce that Amateur rider Melissa Mohr has won The Arion Challenge at Aspen Farms Horse Trials in Yelm, WA. The prize for this achievement is a brand new custom Arion dressage or jump saddle of her choosing.

Arion Sellier creates authentic French saddles dedicated to the performance and freedom of the horse and rider. Arion’s mission is to provide top customer service and the ability to create the most customizable saddles on the market. This year, they offered The Arion Challenge to support and encourage Amateur eventing riders in the Pacific Northwest. To win The Arion Challenge, the same horse and rider combination had to win their Amateur/Rider division at the June Aspen Farms Horse Trials on June 16-18 as well as win at the September Aspen Farms Horse Trials on September 15-17.

Melissa and her mare Ferrani won their Beginner Novice Rider division at the June Aspen Farms Horse Trials on their dressage score of 22.4. This weekend they qualified for and competed in the USEA Area VII Beginner Novice Rider Championship division, earning a 24.4 dressage score, and moving up at the last moment from second to first thanks to their double clear show jumping round on Sunday.

Melissa was surprised and excited to hear the announcement over the loudspeaker that she had not only won the Championship, but had won The Arion Challenge and a new custom saddle.

“It’s so nice for Arion to sponsor this, especially at the Beginner Novice and Amateur level,” said Melissa. “The fact that they put in effort to support us, as well as the big riders, is really incredible. I’m in shock! My husband jokes that there’s no ‘Return on Investment’ ever on my horse, but for once she has won something that is very nice! I’m super excited–I’ve heard amazing things about the Arion saddles.”

Stacy von Marenholtz represented Arion at Aspen Farms Horse Trials and joined in on the USEA Area VII Beginner Novice Rider Championship division prize-giving ceremony to congratulate Melissa on her big win. All weekend Stacy greeted competitors and visitors in the Arion HST booth discussing saddle design and fit and helping riders choose the right Arion products for their horses.

“Sylvain Houry, founder and president of Arion HST, and I started working together back in the day at Aspen Farms. Aspen Farms has been really special to both of us–I think of it as our home show. We’re very proud to be a main sponsor of Aspen Farms Horse Trials and to give back to the eventing community. I really feel like this is my community, and we’re happy to be an integral part of it.”

Stacy will work closely with Melissa to order her custom Arion saddle for Ferrani.

“I’m so excited for this,” said Melissa. “I can’t wait to be able to ride in my new Arion saddle next season!”

You can learn more about Arion and their range of saddles and others products at www.arion-hst.com. Let your horse feel the difference with Arion.

Competition photos provided by Cortney Drake Photography.