Spectators at Fitch's Corners Horse Trials in Milbrook.

The Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials is held every year at the farm of Fernanda and Kirk Henckels in Millbrook, New York. This is not just a horse competition. It is a weekend of many activities. This is the real “horsey set,” people whose love of the equestrian life is right up there with family, birthdays and special holidays. When they’re together, away from the stables and the horses, they love to talk about it. Ad infinitum (not to be confused with ad nauseum). It’s a wonderful kind of obsession for many and it often begins in childhood, which means it often remains throughout one’s life. The first horse on course commences on Saturday morning with 250 horses performing dressage, cross country jumping and show jumping. It is a triathlon for horse and rider. On Saturday night, riders and friends gather under canvas for the Blue Jean Ball themed as a barnyard hoedown with a live performance, this year by the Eric Hill Band and DJ Joe Cool. Other weekend activities include a Dog Agility demonstration with 15 dogs performing their skills and tricks.  Where there are horses they are very often dogs. And cats too, but of course the felines aren’t into sports activities.

There is also the Collector Car Exhibition and Parade with cars ranging from a 1971 Cadillac ambulance to several Rolls Royce and two Ferraris. The Spectator Lunch this year brought out 250 of Millbrook's country set — ladies wore in hats unless inconvenient.  The luncheon's guest chef was Bill Telepan of Telepan here in the city.  It was voted best new restaurant in '06.  Fernanda Kellogg presented the Fitch's Corner Award to authors and horse lovers Margaret and Michael Korda. Michael's next book, “Ike, the Story of Eisenhower,” published by Simon & Schuster will be in bookstores later this month. Among those attending the luncheon were CeCe Cord and her dog Tiger, Nancy Stahl, one of the Masters of the Millbrook Hounds, jeweler Mish of Mish New York, Lorna and Larry Graev, Willem de Vogel, Barbara and Donald Tober and Miss Fernanda Gilligan. The luncheon was sponsored by Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate. It was an old fashioned summer weekend with families, friends, dogs and horses all on the private farm open to the public to support the Millbrook Rescue Squad.  The Good Life, it’s called.

Mrs. Laurence Levin, Alex Levin, Whitney Blodgett, and Helen Moore

Mish Tworkowski with Lorna and Larry Graev

Cynthia Cogswell, Nancy Stahl, and Jacqueline Stahl

Lizz de Villegas, Fernanda Gilligan, Ryan Jones, Jaimie Ginsberg, and Georgina Schaeffer

Mary Vance and Peter Duggin with Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels

Dorsey Waxter with David and Jane Parshall

Jane Ellenberg, BZ Schwartz, and Carol and Gary Beller

Michel Jean, Daniele Boldini, Jupp Kerckerinck, and Amb. Joao Salgueiro

Susan Krysiewicz

CeCe Cord

Cindy Tripp and Patricia Jean

A view from the back

Margaret and Michael Korda with Fernanda Kellogg

Susan Krysiewicz and Aubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell

Tim and Sessie King

Bill and Elliott Doyle

Molly Schaeffer with Morti and Penelope Hall

Chris Spitzmiller and Matthew Mackay

Roger Erickson, Nina Reeves, and Kevin Smith

Donna Verrilli, Fernanda Kellogg, and Dick Verrilli

Elliott Clarke and Marta Nottebohm

Sarah Mann and Louisa Lindgren

Ligon de Vogel and Willem de Vogel

Anne Gilles

Natasha Blodgett

Julie Bucklin in a chicken hat

Doug Luke and his daughter

Michael Korda and Barbara Tober

The ribbon holder

Making new friends

Bill Cunningham

Peter Morrell

Harris Obesity Prevention Effort (HOPE), based at the New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan held a benefit last Friday at the home of Traie and Doug Teitelbaum in Water Mill. They raised over $650,000. Co-chaired by HOPE founders J. Ira and Nicki Harris, the benefit -- the first for HOPE -- was held to raise awareness and support for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.  Hallelujah! I don’t need to go into the problem of obesity because we all know about it. We’re fat. We’re not bad, we’re fat. The population didn’t used to be fat only a generation ago. Overweight, way-overweight at times, okay, but not obese. Sometimes, but rarely. Very often it begins in the beginning – by which I mean it begins in childhood. And feeding. I think about this everyday while I watch the nannies and the mothers in my neighborhood pushing strollers of kids feeding themselves something. Junkfood it used to be called. Traie and Doug Teitelbaum Those who are afflicted have terrible battles with it. It dominates their lives, takes away from their braintime. I had a friend who had been obese all her life. She was a very bright, witty, talented woman who had a very successful professional life, a not-so-successful (but nevertheless) life in her companionships like so many of us; and a weight problem that eventually led to diabetes. She committed suicide when she was 54 because she was losing her eyesight and going to have to have her legs amputated. She was single, mentally vigorouks and didn’t want to spend the rest of her life as the ward of the state. We were very close friends. I think of her often. Sometimes when I’m reminded of her because of something I’m reading or seeing, I think how she really didn’t have a chance.

Dr. George Fielding and Khaliah Ali

Ken Langone and Robert Hochberg

HOPE is about that chance. The party: décor by DeJuan Stroud who transformed the voluminous tent into a tropical retreat.  Don McLean rocked the house and the high-profile guests stayed until the singer treated them to an “American Pie” encore. J. Ira Harris, Doug Teitelbaum, Dr. George Fielding, and Khaliah Ali all spoke movingly about how gastric lap band surgery changed their lives.  Dr. Harold Koplewicz, Senior Vice President and Vice Dean for External Affairs for NYU Medical Center spoke about the importance of saving our children’s generation – the first generation in American history whose average life span will be shorter than their parents’ because of obesity. The event included cocktails and dinner, and honored Khaliah Ali, daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, and co-author of the recent book Fighting Weight, published in May 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers. Don McClean HOPE at NYU, established in 2005 by the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Foundation, aims at reversing the serious and preventable public heath problem of childhood obesity by developing preventive and treatment solutions for at-risk overweight youth and their families. Childhood obesity has been described by experts as a global epidemic, and, according to a recent report on MSNBC, almost 50 percent of children in North America will be overweight by 2010. “I struggled with my own weight for many years,” said Mr. Harris. “This benefit is going to help us raise money for our goal: that no child should suffer the great burden of being overweight.” In addition to the Teitelbaums and the Harrises, the other members of the HOPE Summer Benefit Committee are: Matthew Bank, Michael A. Graves, Agnes Gund, Jonathan and Jennifer Harris, Jackie Harris Hochberg, Robert J. Hochberg, Jeffrey Lichtenberg, and Steven Shapiro. Major sponsors for the event include The Allergan Foundation, which is committed to supporting initiatives that focus on health and human services and that have a positive and lasting impact in the community.  With the support and involvement of private and corporate philanthropy, HOPE at NYU will use science to develop real and practical solutions to our nation’s childhood obesity crisis.  Through these efforts, HOPE at NYU will help ensure that this generation and future generations of American children will grow up to be healthy, happy, and productive adults.

C/DrHaroldKoplewiczJackieHarris Hochberg, and J. Ira Harris

Mark Strausman with Brooke and Daniel Neidich

Nicki and J. Ira Harris with Dr. Laurie Miller Brotman

Steve Teitelbaum and Robert Grant

Photographs by Mary Hilliard (Fitch's); ©PatrickMcMullan.com (Hope).

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