Sarah Berkowitz grew up in Media, PA and has been riding on the "A" circuit for the past twenty years. As a young junior, Sarah acquired multiple year-end awards with two of her ponies, Famous Moment and Mr. Bojangles. As an older junior, Sarah competed in the hunters, jumpers and equitation, and leased a young horse, Apollo, whom she brought along to become a competitive A circuit 3'6" horse. A Middlebury College graduate (’05) with a Bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish, Sarah was avid on the equestrian team, showing in the Open Division and qualifying for the prestigious Cacchione Cup Championship. While in Vermont, Sarah rode and worked for Peggy Ward, of Cobble Hill Farm, and Kate Selby, ARIA (American Riding Instructor's Association) 2002 Instructor of the Year, of The Equestry.  In addition to Sarah's involvement on the college equestrian team, she was a four-time letter winner and All-American in Track and Field, and played field hockey. Post graduation, Sarah attended the Wharton School of Business at UPenn for a year in order to gain insight into the business world.  She continues to update her style by riding with renowned horsemen such as Greg Best, Louise Serio, Mark Jungherr, Josee Stedding, Pixie Denver, and the National Young Horse Dressage Coach, Scott Hassler. Sarah travels to compete on the East Coast, from Vermont to Florida, but also includes a several local rated shows in her show schedule.  Sarah purchased Invitation Only when he was three, and the pair have become competitive in the "A" Hunter Divisions, earning top ribbons from HITS on the Hudson to Ocala. They are currently in the top three in Zone 2 in the Second Year Green Working  Hunter (3'9"') and are qualified for the Devon Horse Show and Indoors. Sarah trained/showed Invitation Only and Mozart, a KWPN gelding owned by Melissa Gallagher, to a 7th and 12th place finish, respectively in the National Year-End Standings for the Marshall & Sterling League in the 3'5" Adequan Open Hunters, thus qualifying both horses for the National Finals. Invitation Only was 8th O/F and 8th U/S. She started and rode "Carrera GH", owned by Grand Hannover Farm in Davenport, IA to a third place finish in the Three Year Old Filly Materiale at Dressage at Devon, with a score of 80.0%. Her 7 y/o Belgian horse, "Dagano Van't Langbos" is showing huge successes in the jumper arena, recently winning his first Mini Prix.  Sarah rides and shows the hunter horses at Top Venture, both her customers' horses and her own...afterall, she has 10! In her free time, Sarah enjoys spending time with her family and her dogs, Dolce and Banana, her Nigerian Dwarf goat, Theodore Ruxpin, going to the beach, sports and reading.  

Donal Egan was born and raised in County Limerick, Ireland, where his exposure to horses began at an early age on the family farm. Donal has worked with the top Irish show jumping champions, and while in Holland and Germany, he trained numerous sale horses in the Grand Prix arena, and also started numerous young performance horses for the sport. While in Europe, Donal rode and worked for the late Paul Darragh, a two-time Olympian and world champion. Since coming to the United States in 1996, Donal has worked with hunters, jumpers, ponies, and equitation horses, and was the Assistant Trainer at Kevin Babington Showjumpers for two years www.kevinbabington.com. Donal imported and showed Nina and Sue Leopold's "Touch Cruise" to top ribbons in Vermont and Ocala 2009 in the Six-Year-Old YJC. The Irish duo also qualified for the Young Jumper Championships at the Hampton Classic in 2008. "Persuasion", owned by Denise Higgins of Dryden, MI, won the Hanoverian free jumping competition in 2008, with Donal as the trainer. For many years, Donal has traveled to horse shows from Vermont to Florida, where he and his students have earned many successes in the Adult Amateur and Amateur Owner Divisions, Child/Adult Jumpers, and the Mini Prix and Grand Prix rings. His training philosophy mingles classical Europeon riding with the principles of natural horsemanship. This unique approach results in horses that are not only well-schooled on the flat as well as over fences, but also have developed the capacity to learn and focus on their human partners. Donal still maintains a business in New York, and goes to Long Island twice a week to ride and teach. In addition, he travels several times a year to Chicago to give clinics, and also finds time to host several clinics throughout the show year. While Donal rides and shows most of the jumpers at Top Venture, he has been known to occassional dabble in the hunters (but not without Sarah yelling at him ringside...)