Former Eventer with Incredible Comeback Story Leads Lineup of Saturday Champions at US Dressage Finals

Sarah Pyne scored an emotional win on Saturday, November 1, at the 2025 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, which runs October 30 to November 2, 2025, at World Equestrian Center (WEC) in Wilmington, OH.

The residential architect’s former eventer Dirhon C “tried to die” three years ago and has since been rerouted to a dressage career, which he has taken to with aplomb. The duo won the Fourth Level Adult Amateur (AA) Freestyle Championship with 72.9% to a Johnny Cash compilation, and Pyne punched the air on her lap of honor.

“On Christmas morning we found him panting with a temperature of 107.3 degrees,” explained Pyne of the now 13-year-old Holsteiner. “We called all the vets and ruined everyone's holiday; we threw everything at him. For about six weeks we couldn’t lead him out of the stall because he would try to collapse. He had EHV-5 [equine herpes virus] and, as a result, he doesn’t have very good lung capacity now, so after six years of eventing together, we switched sports.”

Initially, the only goal was to see if she could achieve her USDF Bronze Medal on the Diarado son. Since then, Pyne — who trains with Susanne Hamilton — has achieved her Silver Medal with distinction on the willing gelding and excelled at freestyles, with music from Ruth Hogan-Poulsen. She and her wife have also just relocated from New York to Maryland.

“I can’t stop smiling the entire time I ride freestyles,” said Pyne through happy tears. “Every time we set a goal, he meets it, and we have to get creative and come up with another one. I’m just excited he’s alive. He gets nebulized and we still jump a little to keep his brain happy and mix it up, but at this point, he gets to do what he wants to do.”

Riders On a Roll
Both Emily O’Neill and Katrina Heilbroner came hot off Second Level Regional Championship wins in their respective regions and repeated the feat at Finals.

Heilbroner rode Odanse GS, her own six-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare to the top of the leaderboard with 72.842% in the Second Level AA Freestyle. The private chef edited her Adele and Madonna music together herself. Heilbroner, who trains with Jannike Gray and Heather Mason, won the AA Training Level Championship in 2024 on the Franklin x Vivaldi mare.

O’Neill captured both the blue ribbon in the Second Level Open Freestyle and fifth place on Lory Eighme’s 13hh Dartmoor pony stallion, Fiddlemaker’s Line Drive. Her winning ride came on Johanna Walters’ six-year-old MW Empire, with 75.798%. She has ridden the Escamillo x San Amour gelding since finding him as a just-backed three-year-old at his breeder Jen Vanover’s Maplewood Warmbloods.

“The test felt great, and I knew he could do it,” said the Elverson, PA-based rider, who also runs marathons. “To have it all come together in the right moment was really cool. It can be stressful, but I love riding freestyles,” said O’Neill, who was one of the dozens of combinations her trainer Heather Mason has a hand in helping at the 2025 Finals.

“Empire came to Finals as a four-year-old at training level, and he’s really grown up since then,” added O’Neill, who rode to music from Imagine Dragons made by Terri Gallo. “He’s done really well with this freestyle all year. The floaty music suits him and brings out his special gaits.” 

More Wins For Morin-Graham and Mason
Christina Morin-Graham brought her winning show tally to five on Saturday when she headed up both the AA Grand Prix Freestyle and the Intermediate I Freestyle on her talented mares.

In the Grand Prix, she topped the class riding her 16-year-old Damon Hill daughter DSP Dauphin to 72.633% and slotted into the reserve spot on her other horse, the 15-year-old Mondlicht, by Sarkozy x Ravallo, with 71.192%.

Morin-Graham maintained her unbeaten 2025 Finals record on her 12-year-old mare, Ici De La Vigne, with 70.3% in the Intermediate I. The daughter of Jazz will have the chance to make it a hattrick when she contests the AA Prix St. Georges Championship on Sunday. 

Heather Mason logged two more wins bringing her Finals titles total to four. She lay down an unassailable ride as the first to go in the Intermediate I Open Freestyle Championship on Manuskript SCF. The eight-year-old Jazz gelding scored 73.325%.

Soon after, she climbed aboard the 17.2hh four-year-old Rock It P — the youngest horse in the class — and bagged the First Level Open Championship with 73.194%.

A Little Sports Car
Going back to basics has worked wonders for Lucy Tidd’s Third Level AA champion, Kayla. The spicy 10-year-old mare by Ferdeaux performed a 68.958% test, which proved the best of the 24 starters in the four-hour class.

“She’s really hot and gets anxious, so with my trainer Jeremy Steinberg we spent the last year going back to work on the basics and she’s been so good at this show,” said the Maryland-based rider who has owned Kayla for six years after finding her in the Netherlands. “She’s a lot of fun, like a little sports car. I’m super happy with the effort she put in. Hopefully now we'll be able to start progressing again.

“She’s the toughest horse I’ve had; she really makes me think and try to be creative, so it makes this result that much more special. She’s a beautiful little thing with lots of opinions — she’s all mare,” added the small animal vet who keeps her horses at home and does a lot of her riding at dawn. “It’s a lot of early starts, but we get some beautiful sunrises.”

Tidd has experience at grand prix level and believes Kayla has what it takes to reach the level: “She has the talent, if I can get her mind to stick with me. Jeremy said she was put here to teach me patience, and we are both trying really hard to learn it.”

Finals Debutante Shines
The new partnership of Katie Cumberford and the 10-year-old Danish mare Schnell’s Alley Cat is going from strength to strength, culminating in a win in the Fourth Level Open Championship. The mare, who is by the Ampere son Antobello, scored 70.972% on her Finals debut despite a big crash during her test.

“We had a mistake in our extended counter when a table fell over, so she swapped leads,” explained Cumberford. “But even with that she’s just so good and handled the atmosphere well.

“I bought her through Caroline Roffman in Wellington, Florida, in April and she’s my absolute dream horse,” enthused Cumberford, who also trains with Emily Miles over summers in Kansas City, Missouri. “I knew from the first second I rode her that she was meant to be mine. She is the same horse at home as at shows; the exact same ride, no matter where we’re at.”

Competition continued on Saturday, November 1, and a further media release covering the remaining day classes and the evening’s gala session will follow. The full digital show program is available here. Follow the action via the USDF Facebook page, USDF Instagram page, and the US Dressage Finals website, plus live online streaming from the Sanctuary Arena on USEF Network with expert commentary from Kathy Connelly. 

Check out the latest coverage of the 2025 Finals, including behind-the-scenes photos and daily releases here. Live results and start times can be found here.

Along with presenting sponsor Adequan®, the US Dressage Finals is supported by SmartEquine, LeMieux, and Platinum Performance. Contributing sponsors include Premier Equestrian, Sterling Thompson Equine, and Uvex.