German Influence Runs Deep at Two USDF Regional Championship Shows

Two 2024 Great American Insurance Group (GAIG)/United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Regional Championship shows took place October 3-6, covering Region 6 and Region 9. In both cases, the German influence was strong, with German-born and German-trained competitors notching up a big haul of Regional ribbons. The Regional competitions were direct qualifiers for the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, which will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, on November 7-10, 2024.

Despite feeling under the weather, German-born international grand prix rider Nadine Schwartsman made the eight-hour drive from her base at Les Bois Dressage in Eagle, ID, to the Region 6 Championships at DevonWood Equestrian Centre, in Sherwood, OR, and came away with a truckload of ribbons. She commanded three open championship sashes and six reserve champion titles, and her students and clients bolstered the haul with superb performances.

“I’ve been experiencing some health issues with my heart, so I wasn’t able to ride every championship class I qualified for,” explained Schwartsman. “I’ve had to lighten up my schedule a bit and take a step back, so all the titles meant that much more. It’s been a rough couple of months, and I’m not 100%, but the horses picked up the slack.” 

In the Intermediate I Freestyle, Schwartsman finished first and second, heading up the class on Empire HW with 72.125%. The 10-year-old gelding by Escolar x Rhodiamant is a full brother to the prolific breeding stallion Escamillo, although his purchase six years ago was initially kept secret from Schwartsman by owner Tracy Cook.

“Tracy bought him sight unseen off a tiny video and didn’t tell me as she knew I wouldn’t approve because I like to go to Europe and try them,” said Schwartsman. “But since the day he arrived, he’s been wonderful, and she takes him trail riding. With him, if you do everything by the book, he develops himself. It’s not usually a linear process, but he’s hit every milestone just how the textbook says.”

Schwartsman’s grand prix horse Royal Flash R is a relatively new ride. The 13-year-old by Riccio x Donnerschlag was imported from Germany less than a year ago. In Region 6, he was champion of the Grand Prix Freestyle with 70.5%, as well as reserve in the straight class at the level and in the Intermediate II.

“He’s a dream horse who has helped me to my first CDI Grand Prix win,” enthused Schwartsman, who trains with fellow German-born U.S. rider Sabine Schut-Kery. “Royal Flash is really special because he also works great for his owner, Kelli Hajjar, at home, too. The Freestyle was amazing to ride because it was 8 a.m. on Sunday and all foggy. I was doing an extended canter into the fog to his Katy Perry music, and it was so surreal I had tears in my eyes. He was so brave.”

Schwartsman rounded out her trio of wins with a 69.625% ride in the Third Level Championship on her amateur client Lauri Nielson’s Fürstenball son, Kyoto Van De Nethe DK who is “very talented and has nerves of steel.” He was also reserve champion in the Freestyle at the level. Schwartsman found the horse a few months earlier on a buying trip to Wellington, FL, where she also found the sports pony Bijsterhof’s Valencio for her petite client Jill Haunold, a former endurance rider. Haunold claimed the Adult Amateur Training Level title with 67.6%.

“Jill has only been doing dressage for a year, and she started riding with me on her endurance Arabian, who did not enjoy it,” said Schwartsman. “So she bought this fancy little pony who really loves dressage, and he’s trained through fourth level. I think she’ll be able to get her medals on him and train him up through the FEI levels.”

Kelli Hajjar attended the show not just as an owner but also as a competitor. She picked up two reserve champion placings, at AA Prix St. Georges and Intermediate I, on her own 14-year-old San Amour gelding, Sun Gold 2. This is just her second season competing. Her daughter Emery, a junior rider, topped the First Level Freestyle championship on Sailor Boden’s 27-year-old pony Blitzwane with 68.929% to a Mary Poppins medley. 

Teenager Hannah Muckler closed out the team’s successful weekend, leading the Junior/Young Rider Third Level Championship on Rencoroso VII. Heather Isbell’s 16-year-old Andalusian gelding by Elegante De Nadales racked up 69.937% to win by 5.4 percentage points. Muckler, who is 18, has been riding with Schwartsman since she was 13.

Sonnenberg Mares Are On Form
Michele Bondy was another rider to land a Region 6 triple, topping every single class she entered. On Sonnenburg’s Juliette d’Rosa, she was a double champion, leading both the Open Prix St. Georges and Intermediate I classes with scores over 71%. With Sonnenberg’s Nala d’Rosa, she clinched the Second Level Championship with 70.119%. Both mares were bred by Sonnenberg Farm, located just 10 minutes from DevonWood.

“Juliette is the Queen,” said Bondy of the 10-year-old elite mare by Ampere x Farrington. “I started her as a three-year-old, and she’s the first horse I’ve trained from the beginning to FEI. She’s a superstar who is a dream to ride and is super soft and supple. She’s basically trained herself, and we are hoping she will go grand prix in the future — which would be my first time at the level.”

Juliette d’Rosa has four embryo transfer offspring on the ground, including two 2024 foals by Le Formidable. Nala d’Rosa (by UB40 x Ampere) is another product of the stud’s successful mare-line: her dam is a full sister to Juliette d’Rosa. 

“That line is really special to me because I’ve ridden all of them,” added Bondy, who has worked for the stud’s founders, Dan and Gina Ruediger, for over a decade and usually rides 12 horses a day. “Nala is an easy girl — she’s even better at shows than at home, and she won the Training Level Regional Championship last year. The horses are getting better and better as the generations go down, and they’re obviously trainable. It’s very bright for the future of U.S. dressage.”

Region 9: A triple for Calao
Christine Calao brought three of her own horses and one for a client to the Region 9 Championships at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, TX. She came away with an armful of wins, leading the Open Fourth Level on Rena Davis’ mare Sternentaenzerin and following up with Prix St Georges victory on Charlotte CR and Intermediate I glory with Freshman SHS. Two of the horses are home-bred, and the third, who is blind in one eye, Calao bought as a yearling.

In the Prix St. Georges, Calao captured the title with 68.897% on her own eight-year-old home-bred Charmeur mare Charlotte CR, who she describes as “a hot, sensitive red-head.” She occupied three of the four top slots in the class, finishing as Reserve Champion on another eight-year-old, Freshman SHS, by Fürstenball. She finished fourth on Faith CR, also by Fürstenball. In the Intermediate I championship, Freshman SHS leapfrogged his stablemates to the title with a 68.162% performance, sealing a stellar show for Calao.

“I was really happy with my crew,” said Calao, who bought Freshman knowing he had a detached retina but liked his sire. “Freshman used to be a sales horse, but I decided to keep him because he was so nice. He hit his comfort zone when we started showing last year. My coach, Lesley Morris, says he’s a machine. He is honest and uncomplicated with no grump or overreaction. He’s off the sales list now.” 

Calao is the owner and head trainer at Cadence Ranch in Hutto, TX, where she breeds a couple of foals each year. The USDF gold medalist debuted all three of her horses at Intermediate I level for the first time just a month before Regionals. She attributes much of her success to years spent training intensively in Germany.

“Charlotte is the most spectacular of mine,” she continued. “She’s fancy with a lot of chrome and very extravagant with an active hindleg. She’s sensitive though, so we’re working on the balance between using her power but not getting tense. In the Prix St. Georges, she was absolutely on the money, and we had a blast. All three of mine are schooling the grand prix movements — they all have the one-times and the piaffe/passage already. It’s really exciting.”

Calao’s horse Dean Martin CR finished reserve champion with Adult Amateur rider Lauren Vega at Prix St. Georges level. The 16-year-old by Don Frederico x Weltmeyer netted 64.853%. Bailey West rode the American Dutch Harness Horse Reece BRB to the title with 65.809%.

Rich Pickings for John Mason
John Mason claimed three of the GAIG titles on offer. Just as they did at the Region 9 Championships in 2023, he and Victoria Reeder’s Splendido came out triumphant, this time in the Open Second Level class with 70.893%. The five-year-old by Secret x For Romance is also the current Adequan®/USDF Training Level Horse of The Year. Mason clinched the reserve champion’s title in the class with a 66.667% ride on Virginia Swanson’s Mei-Fleure, a seven-year-old jumping-bred Dutch gelding by Chapeau TN. 

Mason rode Mary Hardberger’s Zarina to the top spot in the Open First Level test. The six-year-old chestnut mare by Zick Zack scored 72.22%, almost two percentage points clear of the reserve champion. His third champion sash was awarded to Angelyn Gunn’s nine-year-old For My Heart, by Finest. The pair won the Intermediate I Freestyle with 68.788%. 

The final fixtures of the 2024 GAIG/USDF Regional Championships take place October 10-13, with the Region 1 Championships in Lexington, VA, and the Region 4 Championships in Lake Saint Louis, MO.

The 2024 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® is a national, head-to-head competition that showcases competitors in Adult Amateur and Open divisions. Classes run at Training Level through Grand Prix, plus freestyle to music divisions and sections for Junior/Young Riders at Training Level through Intermediate I Level. There is more than $125,000 in prize money up for grabs over the four days. Learn more at www.usdf.org/usdressagefinals/index.asp.