United States Eventing Association

The Leading Horses of FEH: Part One

Three years after the creation of the USEA Young Event Horse Program (YEH), the USEA Future Event Horse Program (FEH) was born in 2007. Sharing similar goals as YEH, the FEH program evaluates the potential of yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds to become successful upper level event horses. Since the start of FEH, there have been countless horses to graduate from the program, but more importantly, there are several horses that have fulfilled the program’s mission.

There have been several FEH graduate horses who competed in the program from 2007 to 2013 that went on to reach the upper levels of eventing including Killiney Hill, Royal Tribute, Early Review C, Qui Luma, Fashionably Late, Irish Blend, Dutch Times, and Esccord RGS.

A graduate of both the FEH and YEH program is Devon Tresan’s 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, Killiney Hill (Pallas Digion x Fancy Candi), who first started her eventing career as a 3-year-old in the FEH. She placed within the top five at the 2009 USEA FEH 3-year-old Championship. After both FEH and YEH, Killiney Hill had a very competitive eventing career and competed up to the Intermediate level with rider Sophie David. She competed at the Preliminary/CCI2* level with three different riders: David, Zara Flores-Kinney, and Devon Tresan. Killiney Hill’s last event was in 2019 where she and Tresan finished seventh in the Preliminary Rider division at the Pine Top Thanksgiving Horse Trials.

Royal Tribute (Royal Prince x Firstar), a 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Cynthia Corso and ridden by Doug Payne, was also a 2009 FEH graduate who went on to compete up to the Intermediate level. Royal Tribute started his winning streak as a 3-year-old by winning the 2009 USEA FEH 3-year-old Championship. Two years later, he won the 2011 USEA YEH East Coast 5-year-old Championship with an impressive score of 91.01. His winning didn’t stop there as he finished in the top three over 20 times including 14 wins. He also jumped clear on cross-country at every event he completed. His last event was in 2013 at the Plantation Field Horse Trials where he jumped clear on cross-country in the Intermediate division with Payne.

The 11-year-old Hanoverian mare Early Review C (Earl x Lois Lane), owned and bred by Laurie Cameron, was a yearling when she first earned a championship title. Early Review C (formerly known as Early Review CBF) won the FEH Yearling Championship in 2010. In 2013, she competed in the YEH East Coast 4-year-old Championship, and in 2014 she finished fourth in the YEH East Coast 5-year-old Championship. After graduating from FEH and YEH, Lillian Heard competed her up to the Preliminary/CCI2* level. In 2014, Sydney Solomon acquired the ride and in 2016, the pair made their Intermediate level debut. Three years later in 2019, they stepped up to the Advanced level. Since 2016, Solomon and Early Review C have collected top placings at the Intermediate/CCI3* and Advanced/CCI4* level, including a seventh-place finish in the CCI4*-L at the 2019 Ocala Jockey Club International and an 11th place finish in the Advanced division at the Horse Park of New Jersey in June 2020.

The 12-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare Qui Luma (Quite Easy x Uma Corwin), also owned and bred by Laurie Cameron, also competed in the 2010 FEH Championships. One year older than Early Review C, Qui Luma (formerly known as Qui Luma CBF) was the FEH 2-year-old Reserve Champion in 2010. Ridden by Sydney Solomon, Qui Luma was competitive in the sport and competed up to the Intermediate/CCI3* level. In 2018, Solomon and Qui Luma won the CIC* (now CCI2*-S) at Loch Moy Farm, place third in the Intermediate division at the Virginia Horse Trials, placed third in the Intermediate at Fair Hill, and finished eleventh in the CIC2* (now CCI3*-S) at Jersey Fresh International. The following year, the pair placed second in the Intermediate at Surefire and won the Intermediate at the Virginia Horse Trials. Jhett Jenkins now competes Qui Luma and they most recently won the Novice Rider division at Hunt Club Farms in November 2020.

Dutch Times (Good Times x Alino Queen), a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Christina Aharoni, ridden by Arielle Aharoni, and bred by Gold Hope Farm, was a 2-year-old when he was first introduced to eventing. He competed in the FEH competition held at Loch Moy Farm as a 2-year-old in 2010. Three years later, he finished fourth in the 2013 USEA YEH East Coast 5-year-old Championships. After graduating from both young horse programs, Tik Maynard competed Dutch Times up to the Intermediate/CCI3* level. In 2016, Arielle Aharoni took over the ride and in 2018, the pair made their Advanced level debut. In 2019, they finished fifth in the CCI4*-S at Fair Hill International and second in the Advanced division at Moven Park. This year, they finished third in the CCI3*-S at the Horse Park of New Jersey and eleventh in the Advanced division at Morven Park.

Formerly known as Cartman LF, the 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding now known as Fashionably Late (Aarons Gold x Fashion Plate) was a 2011 FEH graduate and is currently owned by Ned Curry, ridden by Woods Baughman, and was bred by Sharon White. Fashionably Late won his very first championship in 2011 as he was crowned the FEH Yearling Champion. A graduate of both the FEH and YEH programs, he went on to compete up to the Intermediate/CCI3* level. Fashionably Late competed at the Preliminary/CCI2* level from 2016 to 2018, and in 2018 competed at the Intermediate level for the first time with Sharon White. In their last Intermediate event together, they finished third at the 2018 GMHA Festival of Eventing. In 2019, Baughman acquired the ride and their last outing was last year at the Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm where they finished third in the Training division.

In 2011, the FEH East Coast 3-year-old Reserve Champion title was awarded to Esccord RGS (Escudo I x EM Arabella RGS), a Hanoverian gelding ridden and owned by Katie Murphy and bred by Page Brook Farms. The 12-year-old gelding has successfully competed up to the Intermediate level with Murphy. In 2016, the pair finished eighth in the Intermediate at the Horse Park of New Jersey and eighth in the Intermediate at the GMHA Festival of Eventing. The pair completed their last event in 2017 where they won the Preliminary division at Fair Hill.

Rebecca Farm hosted YEH and FEH competitions for many years and in 2011 it was Alison Smith’s Irish Sport Horse mare Irish Blend (Rascalino x Miss Congeniality) who won the FEH 3-year-old division on a score of 82.2. The now 12-year-old mare was first ridden by Tamra Smith up to the Training level. In 2015, Alison Smith took the reins and they made their Intermediate level debut in 2016 and finished third in the Intermediate at Full Gallop. Irish Blend's most recent completion was a second-place finish in the Training at FENCE in July 2020.

One of the only 2013 FEH graduates who is ridden, owned, and bred all by the same person, Elizabeth Callahan is the 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Merlin (Mighty Magic x Leia). Merlin was first introduced to the sport as a 3-year-old where he placed fourth in the 2013 FEH East Coast 3-year-old Championship. Since then, Callahan and Merlin have been competitive in the sport up through the Preliminary level and have finished in the top five over 25 times. They recently won the Preliminary Rider division at Waredaca and placed second in the Preliminary Rider division at the Maryland Horse Trials.

Congrats to the FEH graduates! Please note the FEH graduates who graduated from the program in 2007 to 2013 were highlighted in part one of this two-part series. Stay tuned for part two, which will highlight FEH graduates from 2014 through 2020.

About the USEA Future Event Horse Program

The USEA introduced the Future Event Horse Program in 2007 in response to the popularity of the already established USEA Young Event Horse Program. Where the YEH program assesses 4- and 5-year-old prospective event horses based on their performance, the FEH program evaluates yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds for their potential for the sport based on conformation and type. Yearlings, 2-year-olds, and 3-year-olds are presented in-hand while 4-year-olds are presented under saddle at the walk, trot, and canter before being stripped of their tack and evaluated on their conformation. Divisions are separated by year and gender. At the Championships, 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds are also required to demonstrate their potential over fences in an additional free-jump division. Click here to learn more about the Future Event Horse Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Parker Equine Insurance, SmartPak, Standlee Hay Company, Etalon Diagnostics, and The Jockey Club for sponsoring the Future Event Horse Program.