Van Ness, 49, will ride Califax — a gray Holsteiner — on Friday and Saturday in the Low Adult Amateur Jumper Over 40 competition. She said her goal is just to have a good time.

“To be in the ribbons would be super rewarding,” Van Ness said.

Van Ness, who worked as a school nurse in Keene where she raised three kids, said she has been working with Califax for about two and half years now. Last year, she did the Saratoga Horse show schooling and competed in five to six competitions.

But Van Ness won’t be the only one competing this week as more than 200 riders will take on the Lake Placid Horse Shows, which began on Tuesday at the North Elba Show Grounds. The event is the first of two horse show competitions the venue will hold this year.

The Lake Placid Horse Show will continue through Sunday, July 2, and it will be followed by the I Love New York Horse Show on July 4-9.

The two shows will be highlighted by a $100,000 Grand Prix; both events last year were won by Laura Chapot, who is not currently listed as a returner to the event.

While Chapot might not return, Alex Matz — the winner of both the Lake Placid Grand Prix and I Love New York Grand Prix in 2021 — is slated to compete this week. Matz is also the son of 1992 Lake Placid Grand Prix champion and Show Jumping Hall of Famer Michael Matz.

The horse shows will offer more than 100 classes of competition each week for riders at all levels. The competition starts at 8 a.m. each day and ends around 5 p.m.

Last year, the Lake Placid Horse Show featured around 800 horses and about 1,240 stalls. This year, however, there will be around 1,350 stalls and around 950 horses, according to Lake Placid Horse Show Association director Lori Martin.

Martin said there is currently a drop-off in numbers from the Lake Placid Horse Show to the I Love New York Show, but historically the numbers are usually a bit down in the second week.

“Once people get here and are happy, we encourage them to stay for the second week. Some people may only want their horses to compete for one week,” Martin said. “Other people may go to other shows. We do have a little bit of a change over from week to week.”

The two-week-long event will bring back some of its side shows including the Doggie Costume Contest, which will return on Saturday, July 10 during the I Love New York Horse Show.

“Anyone who brings a dog in their costume gets free admission,” Martin said. “We always look forward to that.”

During the Lake Placid Horse Show, there will be a brand new event this year called the Horseless Horse Show on Saturday, July 1 at the Vendor Field.

“What it is, is they set up the jumps and humans are the horses,” Martin said. “Humans jump over the jump and there are prizes and stuff like that.”

Admission to the Lake Placid Horse Shows is $6 on weekdays and $10 on weekends. Children under the age of 12 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Tickets will be available at the entrance gate.

There will not be grandstand seating during the horse shows, but there will be shading tents, according to Martin.

“We don’t mind if people want to bring their own chairs. That’s perfectly fine,” she said. “When people call us on the phone we say that they are more than welcome to bring their own chairs if they want. We have plenty of food vendors on the ground.”

For more information, visit lakeplacidhorseshows.org.