United States Eventing Association

Future and Young Event Horse Winner Finishes Second in First Three-Star Performance

Getting a spot on the podium at a CIC*** is no small feat, but victory is made even sweeter when it's your first crack at the level.

Nilson Moreira da Silva (BRA) piloted Muggle, a ten-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Obediah x Isn’t She Nice) owned by the Phoenix Syndicate LLC, to a second place finish at both horse and rider's inaugural three-star performance at the CHC International in Fairburn, Ga. The pair has been partnered for about a year after Muggle's owner and former rider Melissa Stubenberg and her friend Laura VanderVliet decided over drinks one evening that the horse might be Moreira da Silva's type of ride.

“This horse impresses me every day. Everything I ask of him, he’s there. I’m really happy right now,” Moreira da Silva said. "He's a really special horse for me."

Muggle, or "Prince" as he is called in the barn, is no stranger to winning, however. The chestnut gelding, bred by Judy Jefferis of Laurel Hill Farm, was the first ever USEA Future Event Horse Champion as a three-year-old. With Stubenberg, he won the 5-Year-Old division at the Serra Valley Farms YEH in 2009, and was fourth in the East Coast Championships for Five-Year-Olds with Ryan Wood in the irons.

"Really the YEH and FEH classes were just a way to give him outings," recalls Stubenberg. "I also did lots of schooling shows, clinics and just off the farm excursions. Prince was the type of young horse that I had to get off the farm basically weekly. He always scored very high for his gallop in the YEH classes; he has a hell of a gallop, especially for a warmblood/Thoroughbred cross. In the FEH classes it was commented on his good movement. He is a very balanced, big and uphill mover. He also has a high energy and drive which was very notable at the championships for the FEH classes."

Stubenberg is just as excited as Moreira da Silva about Muggle's performance at the CHC International. "The CIC*** at Chattahoochee Hills was both his first Advanced run as well as Nilson’s. Our hope is that he will be ready for the CCI*** at Fair Hill this fall…and given how easily he handled the cross-country [last weekend], it looks pretty good."

Check out one of Stubenberg's blogs from 2008 about riding Prince as a youngster with Jimmy Wofford.