United States Eventing Association

The YEH Yearbook: Class of 2018

There were 42 young horses contesting the 2018 USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) 5-year-old Championships between the East and West Coast Championships which were held in Elkton, Maryland, and Woodside, California, respectively. Following 2018’s YEH finale, many of the graduating class of the 2018 USEA Young Event Horse Championships have worked their way up through the rankings as they establish themselves as upper-level event horse prospects.

This well-established program has seen many horses go through its doors, but more importantly, there are several horses that have fulfilled the program’s mission to become a successful upper-level event horse. The 2018 YEH 5-year-old graduate horses who have since gone on to compete at the CCI4* and CCI3*-L levels include Cooley Almighty, Quality Obsession, MVP Madbum, Crystal Crescent Moon, I’ll Have Another, Miss LuLu Herself, Urania, and Global Invieto DHI.

Having competed up to the four-star level, Brittany Crandall’s Dutch Warmblood gelding Cooley Almighty (Verdi x Wyniella) is the most accomplished of his graduating class. Crandall has single-handedly produced the young horse from his first-ever Beginner Novice and YEH debut in 2018 to most recently placing 13th in his first four-star at the 2022 Stable View Oktoberfest CCI4*-S. Cooley Almighty has had three top-ten finishes at the three-star level throughout his career, including a sixth-place finish this year in the CCI3*-L at Rebecca Farm.

Tim Bourke’s Dutch Warmblood mare by Zambeesi, Quality Obsession, placed second overall in 2018 out of both fields of East and West Coast horses on a score of 88.02. Throughout the mare’s career, Bourke has carefully produced her through the CCI3*-L level. To this day, Quality Obsession only has one cross-country jump fault on her nearly spotless record. In 2021, she finished top-15 out of a field of 50 in the CCI3*-L at the inaugural Maryland 5 Star, which is undoubtedly a career highlight for this up-and-coming mare.

The former racehorse MVP Madbum (Papa Clem x Dancing Stripes), Madison Temkin’s Thoroughbred mare, placed 10th overall in the 2018 YEH Championships and has since continued to blossom in her second career as an event horse. While she only made $105 on the track, MVP Madbum has grown under the careful guidance of Temkin to the CCI3*-L level and has amassed several top-10 finishes through the levels along the way. In her CCI3*-L debut in 2021 at Galway Downs, MVP Madbum finished 9th out of 21 starters after a double-clear cross-country trip and just added a few rails to their dressage score.

Allison Springer has had the ride on Nancy Winter’s Connemara cross gelding Crystal Crescent Moon (Catherston Dazzler x Ebony Moon) since his YEH days where he finished 15th overall in the Championships in his five-year-old year. Since then, Crystal Crescent Moon has had a nearly spotless record with very few jump faults in both cross-country and show jumping on his record as he moved through the levels. After winning his second CCI3*-S at the VHT International in 2020, Springer presented the gelding in his first CCI3*-L at Tryon a month later. In May of 2021, Crystal Crescent Moon finished fourth out of 50 starters in his second-ever CCI3*-L at Jersey Fresh.

The Latvian Warmblood gelding I’ll Have Another (​​Gaultjers x Kameja), owned by Brandye Randermann, has excelled since his top-20 overall finish in the 2018 YEH Championships. Ridden by Lauren Nicholson, I’ll Have Another contested his first FEI event just two years later at the two-star level. He has since had many top finishes and most recently had a top-15 finish in his first-ever CCI3*-L at the 2022 Maryland 5 Star.

Bonnie Stedt’s Hanoverian mare Miss Lulu Herself (Stolzenfels x Noisette) got her start in Boyd Martin’s program under the guidance of Michael Pendleton before Martin took over the reins fully in 2021. Pendleton navigated the mare to a top-20 finish in the Championships and brought her along through the two-star level, even producing a first-place finish in 2020 in the CCI2*-S at Plantation Field. With Martin in the tack, Miss Lulu Herself has moved up to the three-star level just this year and had a first-place finish in her CCI3*-L debut and first trip across the border at Bromont. At the 2022 Maryland 5 Star, Miss Lulu Herself and Martin finished fourth in the CCI3*-L on their dressage score of 31.

Partnered with Booli Selmayr, Kelly Morgan’s Holsteiner mare Urania (by Uriko) has gone from placing top 20 in the 2018 Championships to placing top 20 in her first CCI3*-L just this year. After her YEH appearance, Selmayr continued to bring the young event horse along, debuting her at her first two-star in 2019. The mare’s consistency in the cross-country phase has been key to her development as a future eventing superstar, having only one jumping penalty on her record throughout her entire career.

Julie Schweiss’ Dutch Warmblood gelding Global Invieto DHI (Up to Date x Rosieta.P) and rider Autumn Schweiss have been together since the very beginning, leading up to their first CCI3*-L together in 2020. The young horse made his first two-star appearance just one year after his YEH Championships outing and moved up to the three-star in 2020 where the pair placed 12th at the VHT International. They have since taken on two CCI3*-L competitions together.

Five additional horses who competed in the 2018 USEA YEH 5-year-old Championships have since competed through the Intermediate/CCI3*-S level. Those horses include Quadrocana (Quadrofina x Rocana II), Kosmo K (Corrolary x Vandalayindustries), Innsbruck VDO (Dakar VDL x Tagonetta), Excel Cool Quality (Emerald van't Ruytershof x Gazelle van het Netehof), and English Rose (Catherston Dazzler x Smooth Sedona).

Congratulations to all the YEH graduates and stay tuned for the next class – the class of 2019! To look back at previous YEH Yearbooks, click here.

About the USEA Young Event Horse Program

The Young Event Horse (YEH) Program was first established in 2004 as an eventing talent search. Much like similar programs in Europe, the YEH program was designed to identify young horses aged four and five, that possess the talent and disposition to, with proper training, excel at the uppermost levels of the sport. The ultimate goal of the program is to distinguish horses with the potential to compete at the four- and five-star levels, but many fine horses that excel at the lower levels are also showcased by the program.

The YEH program provides an opportunity for breeders and owners to exhibit the potential of their young horses while encouraging the breeding and development of top event horses for the future. The program rewards horses who are educated and prepared in a correct and progressive manner. At qualifying events, youngsters complete a dressage test and a jumping/galloping/general impression phase. At Championships, young horses are also evaluated on their conformation in addition to the dressage test and jumping/galloping/general impression phase. Click here to learn more about the Young Event Horse Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, SmartPak, Standlee Premium Products, Parker Equine Insurance, Capital Square, Kerrits, and The Jockey Club for sponsoring the Young Event Horse Program. Additionally, the USEA would like to thank The Dutta Corp., Title Sponsor of the Young Event Horse Championships.