Graham Lands a Triple Amid Jam-Packed Weekend of USDF Regional Championship Action

The second of five weekends of the 2024 United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Regional Championship show season heralded Great American Insurance Group (GAIG)/USDF Regional competitions in Region 3, Region 5, and Region 8. Dozens of combinations, from hundreds of riders competing across the three shows, qualified through to the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, which will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, on November 7-10, 2024.

Region 8: DSP Dauphin Delights at Grand Prix
Adult Amateur (AA) Christina Graham, who works full-time in private equity, took a long break from riding and only returned to the saddle seven years ago after having two children and juggling an intense career. At the Region 8 show at HITS Hudson Valley on September 19-22, she claimed three Championship sashes. Since retaking the reins, Graham has gone from First Level to Grand Prix, with that momentous journey underscored by the fact that she now has four horses working at Grand Prix level and admits she is “addicted.”

At HITS Hudson Valley, she rode 12 tests, taking two titles on DSP Dauphin, a 15-year-old mare by Damon Hill. They secured the Grand Prix with 69.022% and the Freestyle with 71.075%. In both Grands Prix tests, Graham filled three of the top four spots. Graham bought DSP Dauphin as a confirmed grand prix horse from German rider Franziska Stieglmaier in 2023. She has some conformation challenges and, unusually, carries Anglo-Arab blood on the dam-line.

“A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have been a strong enough rider because Dauphin’s a big mare,” said Graham, who played on the varsity polo team at the University of Virginia. “She’s croup high and sway backed, and you really have to engage the hind end and get her to lift her shoulders, but once you light that fire, her piaffe/passage feels like riding the surge of a wave; it’s an amazing feeling.”

Graham added a third Regional Championship title to her burgeoning haul by heading up the Prix St. Georges on Ici De La Vigne, an 11-year-old mare she described as “a hot little ticket.” She bought the Jazz x Negro daughter online from Belgium without trying her and initially hit some roadblocks in training.

“When I first got Ici, she would rear a lot, and she was lacking confidence,” recalled Graham, who spends summers in Martha’s Vineyard and the rest of the year in Pennsylvania. “It kept me up at night because I wanted it to work so badly because I loved everything about her and didn’t want to give up.

“She’s a fabulous mover in all three gaits and has a lovely, uphill way of going. Now I’m trying to bring out her brilliance, but it’s hard to maintain the softness while you turn up the power. We’ve been building a great partnership, and I pushed for a little more in the test, and she gave it,” added Graham, who credited much of her Regionals success to her barn manager extraordinaire Laura Murphy. “Some of my other tests did not go to plan, so it’s important to celebrate the highs, because in dressage there are always lows.”

Private chef and former captain of the Brown Equestrian team Katrina Heilbroner was a double winner on her own Dutch-bred five-year-old Odanse GS (by Franklin x Vivaldi). Their top score of 73.6% netted them the Training Level AA Championship from 33 starters, sitting more than two percentage points clear of the reserve champion, Jennifer Barrett. The following day, Heilbroner topped the podium again, this time taking the First Level AA Freestyle, with 71.972% — the only score north of 70%. She and Odanse also finished third in the First Level AA class. 

“I imported ‘Daisy’ last year with less than a month under saddle, and she has been so much fun to develop under the guidance of my wonderful trainer, Jannike Gray,” said Heilbroner, who took a break from dressage after her first horse passed away unexpectedly but is now back with a bang and talented horsepower. 

Emily Donaldson rode six horses in 14 Open tests over four days, scooping blue ribbons in three of them, all on six-year-old horses. Her top mark — the highest straight score of the show — of 75.238% came thanks to a stand-out performance on the Sewickley Partnership LLC’s Supersonic. The gelding by Secret was 3.5 percentage points above the reserve champion in the Second Level Open class. He is the current First Level Finals defending champion.

Donaldson will have a chance to defend her First Level title, this time on Holly Morey’s Vitalis x Hotline gelding Vitalis MR, who claimed the Regional Champion title at the level with 72.639%. At Third Level, it was Lynn Eastburn’s Herzbeben’s turn to help Donaldson secure another sash. The son of Don Royal clocked up 70% to rubber-stamp a memorable week for his rider.

Heather Mason, a well-known face at Finals for many years, ensured her return to the Kentucky Horse Park by winning four Regional titles with Manuskript SCF and New Beginnings. The seven-year-old Jazz son Manuskript SCF topped the Fourth Level straight and Freestyle Open classes and then went on to claim the Open Prix St. Georges with 71.176%. Mason also finished third in the class aboard her other horse, New Beginnings, who picked up a sash of his own in the Intermediate I Open Championship, with 71%. 

Mason retired her long-time Grand Prix partner RTF Lincoln from top sport last year, but he is now finding his feet with a new rider. AA Alexandra Krossen, who trains with Mason, piloted the 19-year-old gelding to top honors in the Intermediate I Freestyle with 72.412%. Krossen picked up the Fourth Level Championship on another of Mason’s horses, Nicene, before securing the Third Level Freestyle with 71.762% on her own Looker SCF, who is also no stranger to Finals as he is the reigning First and Second Level Freestyle Champion.  

Region 3: Age Is No Barrier for Evergreen Fiti AL
A 20-year-old horse showed no signs of slowing down at the Region 3 Championships, held at World Equestrian Center – Ocala, FL, on September 18-22. AA competitor Amina Bursese rode the 15.2-hand PRE breeding stallion Fiti AL, by Jondo, to a Grand Prix double, topping both classes with scores over 67%.

“He’s actually getting better with age as he has always been very spicy, and now that he’s older, he’s letting me be the driver and not so much the passenger,” explained Bursese, who is based with her husband, Diego Gonzalez, in Jupiter, FL, and has brought Fiti up the levels over the past 11 years from First Level while they learned the dressage ropes together.

“Fiti is very fun because he has so much energy, but he’s never unsafe,” she continued. “That’s what makes him such a good grand prix horse; he is not fazed by any environment, and he could do the test five times in a day.”

Bursese runs the operations for the couple’s two businesses, one of which is a tequila manufacturer. A picture of Fiti features on the artwork of the brand’s añejo bottle because he is the team’s oldest horse. They have also recently branched out into breeding, with the oldest crop of foals almost ready to be started under saddle.  

“These Spanish horses are so amazing,” enthused Bursese, who trains with Lisa Wilcox as well as her husband. “They’re so sensitive and forgiving and easy to learn on. They teach you really fast what you should and shouldn’t do. The freestyle is my favorite thing to do. I use music from Cirque du Soleil, which really suits him. He knows when the music comes on that it’s time to party.”

Bonnie Canter was a triple winner with her talented pair of horses. On the five-year-old 15.2-hand Vitalis son Vitalissohn, Canter was unbeaten, picking up both the First Level and Second Level Championship titles with high scores. Their top score of 74.048% in the Second Level class set them atop the pile of 19 starters, while 71.25% at First Level claimed them a second ticket to Finals in an enormous class of 46, which ran all day. Canter’s 7:38 a.m. ride time meant she had a long and anxious wait for the final result.  

Her eight-year-old Vilancio gelding Vitali — who also stands at 15.2-hands — delivered Canter’s third win with 71.612% in the Intermediate Freestyle and a third place at the level in the straight class.

Another combination who could not be caught was Brie Seltser and her own six-year-old American-bred Friesian, Grietinus Fan Hoptille. The eye-catching pair danced to a duo of freestyle championship victories, taking the First Level sash on 73.306% and the Second Level with 71.461%. Seltser is the owner and head trainer at SilverStride Equestrian in Ocala, FL, and she has a particular affinity with the Friesian breed. 

Anna Marek and Fayvel were unstoppable at Grand Prix Open level, stamping their authority on the straight class with 73.587%, and upped the ante to top the Freestyle with 78.212%. Cynthia Davila’s 14-year-old gelding by Zizi Top is back from a busy travel season, finishing eighth in the World Cup® Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April and competing in Germany during the summer.

Marek rode her own Lareau DE to the top of a hot Prix St. Georges Open Championship, posting 72.868% on the eight-year-old gelding by Rousseau. It was a huge class, with 33 combinations going down centerline.  

Region 5: Fine Chocolate’s Smooth Triple of Victories
Missy Gilliland rode four horses at the Region 5 Championships at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, CO, on September 19-22. The standout star was Jennifer Brinkman Ayers’ imported youngster Fine Chocolate (by Feinrich x Quattro B), who won all three championship classes he contested with scores over 70%. The pair’s top score of 75.042% delivered them the First Level Freestyle Open crown to add to the five-year-old’s double of wins at Second Level.

“He’s a good sport; he likes his job and listens well,” said Gilliland, who trains with Heather Blitz. “We found a new level of self-carriage and power, which I was able to tap into in the show ring. He’s starting to get a lot more powerful and more mature than his five years. The more powerful he gets, the more focused and on the aids he gets. I have more horse, not less, so I am looking forward to the future with him.”

Fine Chocolate — barn name Hershey — has Willy Wonka music for his freestyles to continue the candy theme. He lives with Gilliland during the winter season in Scottsdale, AZ, and spends summers at his owner’s farm in the mountains, where he enjoys trail riding in the cooler climate.

“They have a wonderful schedule there. It’s 20 degrees cooler, they train at altitude, and on the trail rides, they see elk, so going to horse shows isn’t such a big deal,” continued Gilliland, who added another championship win on Diane Corieri’s Witraz Sir Robin in the Open Intermediate I. “It was a wonderful weekend, and I’m filled with gratitude because there’s nothing more fun than showing good horses.”

Gilliland was also reserve champion at Fourth Level on Susan Dyer’s LC Candelon De Landeros in a class won by fellow Scottsdale resident Taylor Lindsten. On Kendall Brookhart’s home-bred eight-year-old Danity, by Danciano, Lindsten was a double champion at Fourth Level, with two plus-71% scores.

Lindsten, who runs Taylor Made Sport Horses, partnered with Susan Skripac’s charismatic stallion Wallace G to head up the Open Grand Prix Freestyle with 68.85%. The 10-year-old pinto is a Georgian Grande stallion, being half Friesian and half Saddlebred. The pair are the current Intermediate I Open Finals champions.

A seven-hour round trip from “the middle of nowhere” in the mountains was made worth it for Anita Williams, winner of the Open Grand Prix on Ducarlos, a horse she was gifted and that she has brought up through the levels herself after his former owner was forced to give up horses. The 16-year-old gelding by Spielberg x Jazz netted 69.837% to top the division.

“I’ve never had a horse like this,” said Williams, who has trained several to grand prix level. “He’s so spectacular and never says no. This is his third year at grand prix. He’s spicy, and trying to handwalk him is like flying a kite, but he knows what he’s there for once I’m in the saddle and in the arena. It’s still like riding a keg of dynamite, but as long as I’m there for him every second, he is good. I’m so lucky to have this horse; he’s willing and enthusiastic, and it was a wonderful show.

“I’d love to do some CDI shows before either of us is too old,” continued Williams, who rides without a trainer and uses mirrors, videos, and a large dollop of self-criticism to keep improving her riding. “I’m 66, but I feel 36, and I really want to keep going for him. Going to some CDIs this winter would be wonderful.”

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.