United States Eventing Association

The eventing champions of tomorrow gathered to show their potential in conformation, dressage, and jumping in their own Championship divisions on both sides of the country this year. The East Coast Spalding Labs/USEA Young Event Horse Championships ran in conjunction with the prestigious fall Fair Hill CCI3* Championship event, in Elkton, Maryland, while the West Coast youngsters strutted their stuff at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event in Temecula, California.

Nearly fifty qualifying four- and five-year-old horses took part in the finales of the 2009 nationwide talent search series. But only four commendable young athletes would be crowned champions—two four-year-olds, and two five-year-olds.

Accolades In The East
Accolade, a Swedish Warmblood/Thoroughbred stallion owned by Kim Keeton and Hope Thomas, found himself draped with the tricolor ribbon after scoring big in the jumping phase during the East Coast Championship competition. Earning a 43.70 percent out of a possible 50 percent for their fluent and bold trip across the country, the pair’s total score of 84.65 percent topped both of the Young Event Horse divisions
that weekend. Keeton is a full-time equine vet from Watkinsville, Georgia, and bred “Bear” herself. “I was a vet student actually,” she said, “and he was my first frozen semen experiment. He was born in my lap.”

With proven bloodlines, including the strong dressage and jumping performance of a warmblood and the speed and agility of a Thoroughbred, Keeton knew from day one Bear would be a powerful eventing prospect. He is out of an off-the-track Thoroughbred, Her Elegancy, and by Amiral, a dressage stallion ridden by Kyra Kyrklund at the 1996 Olympic Games.

“They mixed quite well,” Keeton explained. “He had what she didn’t and she had what he didn’t, and for once it all came together.”

Of a possible 35 percent in the dressage phase, Bear produced a 29.82 percent; once again the highest score of both divisions in the East Coast Championships. For his conformation, he earned an 11.13 percent out of a possible 15 percent.

“He’s only been under tack for six or eight months now and I’m a complete amateur so this has kind of been my gig from the beginning,” Keeton explained. “The [Young Event Horse] program has been good for him to develop. He did Beginner Novice this summer and this just kind of made sense as the next step.”

She plans to keep him going, “take it slow, let him develop, and let him grow up and be a big horse,” she assured. “He’s on the right track.”

For co-owner Hope Thomas, this significant victory meant more than just ribbons, trophies, prizes, and bragging rights. “This has been the worst week of my life up until now because I had to put my dog down before I came here,” Thomas said fighting back tears. “But this is awesome, I’m just tickled! It’s been from one extreme to the other for me.”

Though the morning of the jumping phase felt like a frosty December day rather than mid-October, the wind and rain didn’t seem to phase most of the youngsters and the footing held up well.

“The courses were very honest and straight forward,” Keeton said. “I think if you get out there, put your leg on, and ride forward, the horses develop confidence as they go along, and that’s what the [Young Event Horse] program is designed for.”

Keeton and Thomas originally intended to keep Bear a stallion and this victory further bears witness to his stellar bloodlines and potential. And though he may be bold on course, for a stallion, “he’s very good around the barn,” said Keeton, “and has covered a couple mares.”

In the Five-Year-Old division, Matt Flynn and BreakThrough graduated atop the class with a combined score of 84.65 percent.

Flynn found BreakThrough doing the young horse show jumping classes in Ireland. He was bred there by Paul Dillon came to the United States this April and started eventing in May.

“I think the Young Horse program here is a great program to showcase these young horses and he’s a great horse to support the program,” Flynn said. “He had done the four-year-old show jumping classes in Ireland and it’s been interesting for me to see how he does here.”

A Dutch Warmblood gelding by Heart Breaker (DWB) and out of Cabata (DWB), jumping is in his blood and clearly his strongest suit. Flynn commented that the five-year-old division’s championship course was certainly up to par and gave his horse a chance to showcase his talent.

“We all got to see how the horses reacted to more substantial questions,” Flynn said.

Fisher Shows The Best of the West
Two weeks later, the best of the west vied for championship honors at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. In the four-year-old division, the champion was clear; Artesian, a 16.3-hand Dutch Warmblood owned and shown by Robyn Fisher, dominated the class, winning with a score of 87.00 percent, the highest score for this year’s Championships.

But Fisher didn’t stop there. In the five-year-old division, she rode Rose Sullivan’s Claire de Lune SE (Contender— L’Vienna Z), a striking grey Holsteiner stallion who stands 16.2-hands and jumps the moon. Fisher and “Weebee” won the class with a score of 83.9 percent.

“Claire de Lune actually came to me in August of 2008 and he was originally supposed to be doing the four- and five-year-olds for show jumping, but Rose and I both decided it would be good to get him out and get a good start with all three disciplines,” said Fisher. “He’s just been phenomenal. Every show out he just gets better and better.”

Weebee's brilliant jumper bloodlines seem to give him the advantage every time on cross-country. This time, he scored a 44.25 percent out of 50. “He’s sensational,” Fisher said. “You can feel his knees come up, his neck bascule and his hind end swings up. I never have to worry about ‘finding’ a distance with this horse.”

His conformation also wowed judges, earning the best score of the bunch with a 12 percent of 15. “His dressage is his weakest point right now,” Fisher mentioned, “because he’s built so much like a jumper. We’re working on the walk and the trot. He’s got the canter down.”

The contestants performed their dressage tests in a standard sized ring at Galway, which proved to be a real test for many of the youngsters. “It was a long test for the young horses,” Fisher commented. Weebee scored a 27.65 percent out of 35, but during his test the next day in the Training Horse division, “he gave me one of the best tests he put on all year,” Fisher said. They finished in second place in that division on their dressage score of 34.2.

Artesian (Judgement—Shannondoah) seems to have it all right now. He dominated the Four-Year-Old Championship division throughout with an 11.55 percent in conformation, 30.45 percent in dressage, and 45.00 percent in jumping. Much like Weebee, jumping is in Artesian’s blood and, apparently, so is dressage.

“He was such a fancy mover from the start,” Fisher said. “Now we’re just working on getting him to carry himself in correct form. He has a very powerful hind end and is happy to go around in a big trot all the time, but we’re teaching him how to rebound that power with transitions. Being a warmblood, he’s got few more years before he’s fully developed. We just want to keep on the right path and take it slow. He’s already a natural athlete.”

Fisher bought the gelding in November of 2008 year from Willy Arts at DG Bar Ranch. “I kind of got him by default, because he was supposed to be Willy’s next big breeding stallion but he was a cryptorchid,” she explained. The pair also won the Novice Horse division on their dressage score of 29.5—their third win for the year—which capped off an almost perfect record for 2009, excepting a third place finish at Rebecca Farm in July, where Artesian won the Four-Year-Old YEH division and Claire De Lune won the Five-Year-Old division.

“What can I say? They’re both really good boys,” Robyn said proudly. “They’ve got their heads on straight.”