United States Eventing Association

The Leading Horses of FEH: Part Two

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 were several FEH graduate horses who competed in the program from 2014 to 2019 that went on to reach the upper levels of eventing including Maks Mojo C, Miks Master C, Cheers, Makemineadouble, Let’s Go DF, Crescendo, MVP Madbum, and Va Va Voom.

Maks Mojo C (Mighty Magic x MS Winter Morning), a Hanoverian gelding owned and bred by Laurie Cameron and ridden by Maya Black, started his eventing career as a 2-year-old. At the USEA FEH East Coast Championships in 2014, he was named the FEH East Coast 2-year-old Reserve Champion and in 2015 he was named the FEH East Coast 3-year-old Reserve Champion. Now, the 8-year-old gelding is currently competing at the Intermediate/CCI3* level with Black. This year, the pair recently finished within the top 10 at the CCI3*-S at Great Meadow International, finished fourth in the Intermediate at VHT International, and finished third in the Intermediate at Horse Park of New Jersey.

Maks Mojo C’s half-brother, Miks Master C (Mighty Magic x Qui Luma CBF), an 8-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding owned and bred by Laurie Cameron and ridden by Maya Black, made his eventing debut as a 3-year-old. Miks Master C won the FEH 3-year-old division at Applewood Farm in 2015 and since then he’s collected top placings at every level up through Advanced. Currently competing at the Advanced/CCI4* level, this past year, Miks Master C recently finished second in the Advanced/Intermediate division at The Maryland Horse Trials, eleventh (out of 68 starters) in the CCI4*-S at Great Meadow International, third in the CCI3*-S at Fair Hill International, and fifth in the Advanced division at Pine Top.

On the West Coast, another 2015 FEH graduate who is now an 8-year-old competing at the Intermediate/CCI3* level is Cheers (Blauer Vogel x Qtrapastree), a Thoroughbred gelding owned and bred by Linda Paine and ridden by Tamra Smith. Cheers first started off his eventing career with four wins. In 2014, he was the FEH West Coast 2-year-old Champion and in 2015 he was the FEH West Coast 3-year-old Champion. He competed in a total of 4 FEH competitions and won every time. His most recent win was in September 2020 where he won the CCI3*-S at Twin Rivers International with Smith.

The half-sister to Cheers is Makemineadouble (Blauer Vogel x Gin and Juice), an 8-year-old Thoroughbred mare owned and bred by Linda Paine and ridden by Tamra Smith who also started her eventing career as a 2-year-old. The Thoroughbred mare finished third in the 2-year-old division at the 2014 FEH West Coast Championships. Now, competing at the Intermediate/CCI3* level, Makemineadouble is following in her mother’s five-star footsteps. From Beginner Novice to Intermediate, Makemineadouble has jumped clear on cross-country at every event. Piloted by Tamra Smith, she recently finished in the top 10 in the CCI3*-S at Twin Rivers International.

Another FEH West Coast graduate competing at the Intermediate/CCI3* level is Let's Go DF (Linaro x Rani), a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned and ridden by Earl McFall and bred by Dragonfire Farm. As a 3-year-old, Let’s Go DF was introduced to eventing through the FEH program. He won his first FEH competition at Woodside and later that year he was named the 3-year-old Champion at the 2014 FEH West Coast Championships. Four years later, in 2018, McFall took Let’s Go DF to his first Intermediate level event where they jumped clear on cross-country to finish seventh. In 2018 and 2019, the pair competed successfully at the Intermediate level. Their most recent outing was in October 2020 where they jumped clear on cross-country and show jumping to finish ninth in the Preliminary at Galway Downs International.

Anna Parson’s Oldenburg mare Crescendo (Corcovado x Can’t you See) first competed in Rebecca Farm’s FEH competition as a 3-year-old in 2015. Since then, Parson and Crescendo have collected top placings up through the Intermediate/CCI3* level. The pair has finished in the top three over 10 times and recently finished second in the Intermediate at the Galway Downs July Horse Trials and second in the CCI2*-S at Fresno County Horse Park. Crescendo’s most recent outing was with rider David Koss where they finished second in the Intermediate at Woodside International.

Madison Temkin’s 7-year-old Thoroughbred mare MVP Madbum (Papa Clem x Dancing Stripes) started her eventing career with wins in the FEH and YEH programs. Her first win was in the FEH 3-year-old division at Twin Rivers in 2016. Later that year, MVP Madbum was the FEH West Coast 3-year-old Champion. As a 4-year-old she won the YEH 4-year-old division at the Twin Rivers Fall Horse Trials and the next year she was the winner of the 2018 YEH West Coast 5-year-old Championship. Two years ago, MVP Madbum graduated from the YEH program, and now, she and Temkin are competing at the Intermediate level. Their most recent outing was at the Twin Rivers Winter Horse Trials where they finished within the top 10 in the Intermediate division.

A 2017 FEH graduate and 2019 YEH graduate who already has a very competitive record up through the Intermediate level is Va Va Voom (Connelly x Na), a 6-year-old Holsteiner mare ridden and owned by Matthew Bryner. Va Va Voom won her very first competition as a 3-year-old in 2017 at the Horse Park of New Jersey’s FEH competition. She went on to win YEH competitions as a 4-year-old and 5-year-old. She competed in the FEH East Coast Championships as a 3-year-old in 2017, the YEH East Coast 4-year-old Championship in 2018, and the YEH East Coast 5-year-old Championship in 2019, placing within the top 10 at every championship. This past year, Bryner piloted Va Va Voom to her first Intermediate at the Chattahoochee Hills Horse Trials. Since then they have successfully completed four Intermediate level events. Their most recent outing was at Tryon International in the CCI2*-L where the pair finished tenth out of 49 starters.

In addition, many FEH graduates under 8 years old currently compete at the Preliminary/CCI2* level and show great promise for the upper levels of eventing. These horses include: HRH Judgemental, Abright Star, Frame Shamrock, BestKeptSecret, Carrera, Bonaire, SRF Western Territory, Two Step Program, and Breakin’ All the Rules.

Congrats to the FEH graduates! Please note the FEH graduates who graduated from the program after 2014 were highlighted in part two of this two-part series. Click here to view part one.

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.