The 2024 USDF Regional Championship Season Kicks Off With an Amateur Taking High Point Champion

The first weekend of the 2024 Regional Championships season, held across a total of nine designated United States Dressage Federation (USDF) regions, opened with the Great American Insurance Group (GAIG)/USDF Regional Dressage Championships Region 2 show at the Kentucky Horse Park on September 12-15, 2024. Two five-year-olds put in spectacular performances, while one Adult Amateur said goodbye to the division in style. The US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® will be held at the same venue, Kentucky Horse Park, on November 7-10, 2024.

The weekend’s highest score, of 77.5%, was awarded to Erin Miller on her own five-year-old, Ocean, in the First Level Adult Amateur (AA) championship. The pair came out on top in a massive class of 54 starters, with both judges choosing them as their winners, and one giving the ride an 80%. It was a similar picture in the Training Level AA class, which they won on 75.8% in a field of 45 combinations.

“He’s phenomenal,” enthused Miller, who is a program manager in psychiatry and works in research for the University of Michigan. “He’s like a giant puppy. He’d never been to the Kentucky Horse Park, but he’s easygoing and wasn’t bothered by the atmosphere. We did our warm-up ride on Thursday, and I scratched on Friday to save him for the weekend. It paid off because he had lots of energy and presence. He was right there with me, and it was a lot of fun.”

Miller found the son of Daily Diamond in July 2023 on a buying trip to Europe with her friend and trainer Vanessa Voltman.

“I had lost a horse to a freak accident when he broke his leg in the field,” explained Miller. “I’m actually an eventer who loves dressage, and I went looking for an event horse who could also do dressage, but I couldn’t find one.

“In The Netherlands I sat on a bunch of horses, and Ocean was the right fit for me. I needed a horse that wasn’t too sharp because I can be a bit ‘type A.’ I felt right at home, and I love him,” added Miller, who will be making her Finals debut on the rangy dark bay with four white socks. 

Bradley Rounds Out Her AA Career in Style

Amy Bradley enjoyed a string of wins, picking up five Regional titles on her talented troop of horses. On the nine-year-old home-bred Fellowship CCW, who is the current Fourth Level Freestyle AA Finals champion, Bradley scooped blue ribbons at Prix St. Georges and Intermediate I level. The gelding was an embryo transfer foal by Follow Me out of Bradley’s sport mare, Scholastica.

“Festival of Champions wasn’t a highlight show for us this year, so it was nice for ‘Freddie’ to come back and do so well,” she said. “He got really respectable scores — 69.19% and 70% — including from two international judges, so I was delighted.”

Bradley dominated the AA Grand Prix classes, finishing first and second in both the straight class and the freestyle. Quileute CCW, another home-bred, led the Grand Prix with 67.228%. The 14-year-old son of Quaterback was just edged out in the freestyle, which Bradley won with 70.96% on the 13-year-old Tokayer (by Tokio x Sir Donnerhall), which she bought at auction in Germany as a four-year-old. Quileute CCW finished just 0.074 percentage points behind on 70.88%.

“Quileute’s freestyle is more difficult, but I just got new music as I was planning on doing the night classes at the 2025 Global Dressage Festival, but it is from Imagine Dragons, which has a lot more bass and drums than the old freestyle,” said Bradley. “He got a little excited, so we had a few bobbles, but it gave me good feedback on a show environment. You can practice and practice at home, but it’s never the same. It was fun to flip-flop the wins on the two horses.”

An exuberant buck did not prevent the seven-year-old I Spy (by Asgard’s Ibiza x Foundation) from racking up the top score in the Fourth Level AA championship test. His 70.694% was the only one above the magic 70% mark out of 19 competitors. Bradley bought him from Germany as a foal from a video after being attracted to his unusual markings.

“I thought he looked like cute and had presence, plus he had these strange white markings, and I figured that if it didn’t work out, someone would buy him for those. But it worked out well, and he’s game for anything,” she noted. “He spooked and swapped leads in the medium canter, so it wasn’t mistake-free, but he tries so hard. He has such good basic quality that it makes up for his sassiness. If you’re going to have a horse for the grand prix, you need that spark.”

Having long been one of the most prolific competitors on the adult amateur circuit, this was Bradley’s final championship show before she turns professional.

“I’m going through a divorce, so since mid-July I’ve been based with my friend Kathy Priest in Kentucky,” she explained. “The horses are loving the turnout in big paddocks, and it’s just 30 minutes from the show. I’m going back to Florida at the end of September, and I’m going to start my own business. I’m a judge, so I’ll do more of that, and give clinics. I’d like to focus on amateurs because I’ve been one, and the division has helped me so much. I’m looking forward to this next chapter.”

Opportunity Knocks for Burson

Brittany Burson rode two horses to four championship titles, with the five-year-old Opportunity Knocks delivering three Open wins for the Illinois-based 32-year-old. The gelding by Spielberg x Negro dominated at First Level, winning the straight class with 73.19% and the freestyle with 75.76%. They topped off the show by taking the Training Level championship with 74.7%.  

“He was such a rockstar,” enthused Burson, who has ridden Opportunity Knocks since April 2023. “His owner Patricia Joy is a long-time client, and she had lost a horse to colic surgery and was looking for another. Katie Hoog had come across him in Holland, and we bought him from a video.”

Burson and Opportunity Knocks spent the winter in Florida benefitting from training with Scott Hassler before embarking on the 2024 competition season — the youngster’s first ever. At home in Illinois, the playful gelding enjoys spending time in the field with a large group of horses “having a good time.” 

“He’s been a super guy for Pat to ride and great for me, too. He handled the atmosphere at Regionals really well; he was focused and stayed very rideable. He was with me, and I could push him. He has such a wonderful temperament,” added Burson. “Pat was floored that he won three classes because she just bought a horse for herself.” 

Burson’s success was amplified by a winning ride in the Open Prix St. Georges with over 70% on Linda Phifer’s eight-year-old Dutch gelding Leonardo Z, by Glamourdale. They also finished third in the Fourth Level championship class with more than 71%.

“I’m just starting to figure him out,” said Burson. “He’s green at these levels, and we only had two shows in August to qualify, so for him to come out with clean tests was lovely. I’ve been riding him for two-and-a-half years, and in that time, I’ve taken him up from Training Level. I was thrilled to feel the power that I hadn’t even really tapped into yet in the tests. He’s really cool.”

For the second consecutive year, Heather McCarthy won Saturday’s Grand Prix Freestyle riding Au Revoir, Sandi Chohany’s 13-year-old Ampere gelding. They scored 71.75%. In the Open Grand Prix, Ali Potasky was victorious with 71.685% on Inxs, an 11-year-old by Everdale whom Potasky owns with Kathy Priest. 

The 2024 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® — to be held November 7-10 in Lexington, KY — 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.