Thursday, September 26, 2024 — Burbank, California. Show day one of the Great American Insurance Group / USDF Region 7 Dressage Championships and the 57th Annual California Dressage Society State Championship Show began, appropriately, with welcome classes, plus part one of the two-part CDS Futurity for 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old horses, and a few Great American/USDF freestyles. The long weekend is off to a great start.
Welcome Riders!
It wasn’t just the welcome classes that gave exhibitors a wonderful warm-up for the rest of the show to come. Mother Nature’s weather was warm but not hot, show management and volunteers could not do enough to help exhibitors, CDS Directors and USDF officials pitched in anywhere someone was needed, and judges used their expertise for good by holding exhibitors to the high standards expected of a championship show but tempered with helpfully constructive remarks. All in all, this “day one” was indeed a warm welcome.
Willy Arts (far right) took home two wins in the CDS Futurity classes on Thursday: in the 4-yearolds with DG Bar Ranch!s 17 hand chestnut stallion Pharaoh DG, and in the 5-year-olds with the Dynasty Dressage Group!s 17 hand chestnut stallion Oscar HF. Here he relaxes afterward with his barn family and friends.
CDS Futurity
Designed to encourage young horses in dressage, the CDS Futurity has been a bucket-list goal for riders, breeders, and trainers for many years. Day one set the stage with the first of two tests for each age group. The 4-year olds rode Training Level Test 3; 5-year-olds performed First Level Tests 2; and the 6-year-olds demonstrated Second Level Test 1.
Willy Arts took home two wins: in the 4-year-olds with DG Bar Ranch’s 17 hand chestnut stallion Pharaoh DG, and in the 5-year-olds with the Dynasty Dressage Group’s 17 hand chestnut stallion Oscar HF.
As a long time supporter and frequent winner of futurity classes, there seemed no better time to ask Willy about his perspective on preparing young horses for the CDS Futurity program.
“You want to bring out the best in each horse,” he said. “I call it horse development rather than horse training. You start where the horse is at. Not all young horses are ready for it. If your horse is not ready, you don’t do it. Every horse is an individual and you need to work with it as an individual. It takes time — it’s not instant.”
Asking him what is the most fulfilling part of this journey with horses, Willy listed every part of working with them, from breeding to training to showing to sales. He laughed when he realized that for him the best part is ALL the parts.
“I’m privileged to do what I do with horses. I was privileged to grow up with them, then to end up at DG Bar. This work is my passion.”
Dedication is another quality that is readily apparent in the futurity arena. All that work takes dedication, and the winner of the 6-year-olds today reflects consistent dedication. Christian Hartung rode Christiane Noelting’s 17 hand chestnut stallion Velantis N to the blue ribbon.
What IS it with chestnut stallions this year? Watch this space for more from the futurity classes tomorrow when the results of their second tests will be combined with today’s results and the overall winners will be announced.
Freestyle Music in the Air
Music for the Great American/USDF freestyles in the covered Buchalter Arena filled the air, and competitors proved that you don’t have to wait for the FEI levels to show a strong, artistic, and entertaining freestyle. Musical rides from first through fourth levels caused spectator toe tapping and some truly off-key singing to occur.
From Santa Fe, New Mexico’s Michele Morseth riding her 7-year-old,17 hand bay Hanoverian gelding, Floyd Patterson, to victory in the Great American/USDF First Level Adult/Amateur Freestyle Regional Championship to trainer Tracey Hill piloting her own 8-year-old, 16.3 hand dark bay Oldenberg mare, Lunavella, to win the Great American/USDF Fourth Level Open- Jr/YR Freestyle Regional Championship, diversity danced to music. In just the first level freestyle, a Hanoverian, a Lipizzan, and an Arabian competed head-to-head … and you can add Welsh Cob, KWPN, Swedish Warmblood, Andalusian, and Oldenberg to the list of horses competing in freestyle classes across the levels.
Pleasanton trainer Tracey Hill piloted her own 8-year-old, 16.3 hand dark bay Oldenberg mare, Lunavella, to win the Great American/USDF Fourth Level Open-Jr/YR Freestyle Regional Championship on Thursday. "We love disco music,” she said, and it showed in their performance.
Numerous stories populated this diverse group, and one that stood out is Great American/USDF Fourth Level Open-Jr/YR Freestyle Regional Champions Tracey Hill and Lunavella. Tracey has had Luna since she was an embryo, the happy result of breeding a mare Tracey owned to the stallion Gaspard by the renowned Ravel.
Tracey and Luna traveled eight and a half hours south from their Pleasanton base at La Jolla Equestrian Center with only Tracey’s dog Elanor for company. “It’s a bit of a treat,” Tracey remarked, “to be all by myself with my horse and my dog.“
Her treat paid off, as they disco-danced their way to champion. “We enter to a funny song off ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, but the rest is all disco, which I love. The walk is ‘Disco Lady’, the trot is Donna Summer’s ‘Bad Girls’, and the canter is Earth, Wind, and Fire's “Shining Star’”.
It was upbeat and fun, just the ticket for the start of this year’s championship show. Stay tuned for further updates each evening.
