A Complex Journey Bears Fruit on Final Day of 2024 US Dressage Finals Presented by Adequan®

By Alice Collins for Jump Media/US Dressage Finals

Lexington, KY — November 10, 2024 — Taiwan Parrish’s relationship with Lauren Chumley’s quirky 19-year-old Sandro Hit gelding Saracchi is a complex one. But the pieces of the partnership all fitted into place in the very last class of the last day of the 2024 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® on Sunday, November 10, at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“He felt so good after the first halt — he’s not the best at halting — so once he stood, I knew we were good,” said Parrish, who scored 65.98% to take the win in the Intermediate I Junior/Young Rider class, which is brand new to Finals for 2024. “I was able to push for more, whereas I usually have to ride careful. A lot of the things we’ve been working on with Lauren at home finally clicked. He consistently comes out and fights for me — he’s the best.”

Taiwan Parrish and Saracchi — both 19 years old — produce a 65.98% test to take the inaugural Intermediate I Junior/Young Rider Championship. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

Parrish worked for Chumley throughout high school, with Chumley promising to take him on full-time if he stuck with school. He even texted her from his graduation ceremony in 2023 to confirm it. However, the run-up to Finals has not been smooth sailing for Saracchi.

“The season’s been hard because ‘Odie’ was out with an injury for the first three months of the year, and I was really scared that he wouldn’t come back,” explained Parrish, who will join Chumley in Wellington, FL, for the winter. “I came back from North American Youth Championships, and he came trotting up to me in the field — he was sound. So, we went to the last two qualifiers to get scores for Regionals; I was very much flying by the seat of my pants.

“He’s not an easy horse, and when other people get on him, he just plants. He’s 12 out of 10 hard to ride — like riding a ballpoint pen — because the balance is so quick to go, but I’ve been with him since training level, and he’s got me so far. The journey has not been linear, but it’s been a lot of fun,” added the 19-year-old.

Wildcard Entry Conquers All

A combination who qualified for Finals thanks to a wildcard and traveled all the way from Florida to compete wound up top of the pile in the Junior/Young Rider Fourth Level Championship. Kaylei Perry-Hunley rode Karla Shanard’s 11-year-old Imponente Dos Rios to 65.139%, despite the Lusitano having struggled to perfect his flying changes.

Wildcard entrant Kaylei Perry-Hunley triumphed with the Lusitano Imponente Dos to head up the Fourth Level Junior/Young Rider Championship with 65.139%. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“He really came up and showed out for me,” said 20-year-old nursing student Perry-Hunley. “He’s a really special horse who is in his first year competing. He was imported and gelded when he was nine, so he got started late, but Karla looked for a year for a horse all up and down the east coast and then found him in Ocala, Florida, at the end of the road. She wanted something that she felt safe on but could also do something fancier. He’s a bit of an underdog story.”

Perry-Hunley began training with Eline Eckroth when she was 14, helping out on weekends in return for opportunities to ride and learn. She still trains with Eckroth and has additional help from Ilse Schwarz, who Facetimed into Finals to help.

A Fantastic New Freestyle

Beth Parsons Bird was another rider to have faced challenges establishing the flying changes and whose patience is now paying dividends. She and Falkor, her nine-year-old gelding by Fantastic, danced to new freestyle music from Amanda Braun in the AA Third Level Championship and nailed it with 72.542%.

Beth Parsons Bird and Falkor, by Fantastic, topped the AA Third Level Championship 72.542% riding to new music. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“We got a little ahead of the music in the first part, but I managed to save a little time, go deeper in the corners, and get back on track,” said the mother of two who works as a sales rep for an oil company. “My mom Lucy Parsons, who I train with along with Chris Hickey, found him in Belgium as a coming four-year-old. We had difficulty with the changes and stayed out of the ring to work on them, and it’s paid off. I hope to make it to FEI with this one, and we’re halfway there.”

Parsons Bird is based in Southern Pines, NC, where her mother runs Fair Day Farm. She added, “He’s a really cool horse and the barn favorite. I won the Third Level Freestyle with my horse Fahrenheit in 2019, and we had to retire him early and unexpectedly, so this is a little bittersweet.”

Back From The Brink

Denise Steele and her husband Ken imported Bon Chance two years ago from Germany, but shortly afterwards, disaster struck when the Belissimo M mare broke her coffin bone. Undeterred, they nursed the now 14-year-old mare back to full health through six months of stall rest and hand grazing before Denise climbed on board. At Finals, they stood Prix St. Georges AA champions, also picking up the Janine Westmoreland Malone Perpetual Trophy, presented by USDF, for their 70.882% test.

Despite breaking her coffin bone just after import two year ago, the Belissimo M daughter Bon Chance stepped up to hand the AA Prix St. Georges Championship to Denise Steele. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“It was probably my best ride ever on her,” enthused retiree Steele. “Everything felt super smooth. We call her ‘Honey Badger’ because nothing fazes her. I can take her in the hills on 800 acres and over bridges; I can do anything with her. She’s the most bombproof horse I’ve ever sat on in my life, but in the arena, she knows her job.”

Steele, a USDF gold medalist, splits her time between Virginia, North Carolina, and winters in Wellington, training with Vera Kessels and Susan Pape. She has competed the mare in international amateur small tour classes in 2024 and has her sights set on big tour.

Flipping The Script

Allison Cyprus flipped the script on her trainer Jeremy Steinberg, taking the winner’s blanket in the Open Second Level class and relegating Steinberg and Henry to the reserve spot, the reverse of the placings in the First Level Championship. Cyprus rode her own five-year-old Oceana ISF, a Sir Sinclair mare bred by Iron Spring Farm, to 72.103%. After three days of autumn sun in Lexington, Sunday brought some wintry conditions to the outdoor rings.

The fall rain in Kentucky did not stop Allison Cyprus and her five-year-old Oceana ISF, by Sir Sinclair, putting their best foot forward to top the Open Second Level with 72.103%. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“She was a trooper in the rain, unbothered by it,” said Cyprus, who bought the mare as a two-year-old and started her herself. “This is her first big championships and as a four-year-old she was very nervous at competitions, so we took our time with getting her exposed. I was super excited with how she handled the environment and that we were able to come away with a win.

“Initially I just bought her as a fun one to start with the potential to sell, but she is not for sale now! She’s such a goofball, she makes faces, knows her name, and is the queen in the barn. She’s a worker bee who is game for anything,” added the professional rider from Aiken, SC.

Heilbroner Cooks Up a Win

Private chef Katrina Heilbroner rode her own five-year-old Franklin mare Odanse GS, by Franklin, to top honors in the AA Training Level Championship with 72.933%. Heilbroner took a break from riding but was tempted back by her trainer Jannike Gray, whom she credits with “changing her life.”

Katrina Heilbroner, who works as a private chef, led the AA Training Level Championship on the Franklin daughter Odanse GS with 72.933%. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“If it wasn’t for Jannike I would never have bought this fun horse,” said Heilbroner, who was the reserve champion in the AA First Level class and also has help from Heather Mason. “I bought her sight unseen from Holland a year-and-a-half ago because I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She had maybe 10 rides under saddle.

“I had no expectations, but she’s really special. I’ve never ridden a horse like her before. I’ve always had big horses and big movers, and now I have this cute little thing with a lot of movement who tries so hard,” added the Finals debutante, who commutes from Connecticut to New York City.

Mason Rises to the Challenge

Heather Mason saved it until the afternoon of the final day of the competition to etch her name at the top of the leaderboard, a place very familiar to her over the past few years at Finals. Her 72.842% on the seven-year-old gelding Manuskript SCF clinched the Fourth Level Freestyle Open, despite some technical music issues.

“It was incredibly challenging to count changes when the music was doing strange things, but he was good about it,” said Mason, who had a host of students competing at Finals. “He has a lot of character and a mind of his own — he’s by Jazz which says it all — but he likes to show off.”

Heather Mason piloted the high-achieving Jazz gelding Manuskript SCF to 72.842% and the top spot in the Fourth Level Freestyle Open Championship. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

Mason reports that “Skript,” who is the horse of the year at fourth level and Prix St. Georges, bangs his door all day long for hay and gets it. Although cheeky, he has progressed quickly up the levels and this was his last-ever fourth level test as he will contest small tour in the new year.

“He knows everything in the grand prix apart from the ones, and I’ve done up to five ones with him, but we stopped for show season. I know he will do the grand prix, but I won’t do it with him until he’s nine or 10; there’s no point in pushing it even though he does learn so fast.”

A Huge Winning Margin

Former hunter/jumper rider Lark Heckman and her own nine-year-old gelding Franzissimo, by Franziskus, made their Finals debut in the Training Level Junior/Young Rider class and vanquished the opposition, leading the class by almost 5%. They were awarded 13 eights from the three judges for their harmonious test which garnered 73.467%, with one judge awarding 77%.

The 16-year-old Lark Heckman, a recent convert to dressage, led the Training Level Junior/Young Rider Championship on Franzissimo, by Franziskus. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“I’ve only been riding him since the end of February,” said the home-schooled 16-year-old who trains with Nicky Buckingham. “Mom got a call at midnight, and we drove from home in Ocala all the way to Wellington to try him. “He was lazy then, but he’s sparked up and has a lovely personality.

“We’ve only ever shown at World Equestrian Center, so getting used to a new big facility like this was definitely a little worrying for me. I was super nervous — I haven’t been nervous like that in a while — but he handled it really well. He’s a big love bug,” she added of the gelding who lives out in the field at night.

“The Air Feels Different Here”

Bailey Armbrecht topped the Second Level Jr/YR Championship by a hair’s breadth. She finished on 66.19% riding Night’n Dale, just 0.07 percentage points ahead of the reserve Hannah Catsulis on Hylke Van De Klei.

Bailey Armbrecht, 14, topped the Second Level Jr/YR Championship riding Night’n Dale, by Everdale, to 66.19%. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“This is my first time winning anything like this,” said the 14-year-old who trains with her mom Jennifer Albrecht and Tyra Vernon. “She’s only six so we’re just getting started. It’s really exciting for the future.

“We found her on Facebook last July in Ohio and went and rode her three days in a row. She was very green with only 75 days of training prior,” said Armbrecht of the laid-back Everdale daughter. “We’re growing up together, and that’s really cool.”

Armbrecht, who spends summers in Colorado and winters in Ocala, FL, was riding at Finals for the third time. She added, “It special here; the air feels different.”

Field Ornament to Champion

A pony who spent the first eight years of her life in a field came to the fore in the First Level Freestyle dancing to a Debbie Marriott soundtrack of music from The Piano Guys and a 70.759% victory under Susan Morrison. Ryann, Kathy Mathers’ 11-year-old Weser-Ems mare, was the first choice of all three judges and the only one to crack 70% in the class.

The 14-hand Ryann delivers a 70.759% Finals win for retired math teacher Susan Morrison in the First Level Freestyle. Photo by SusanJStickle.com.

“It was a lot of fun, and I’m elated,” said Morrison, a recently retired math teacher of 34 years who trains with Donna Gatchell in Virginia. “Ryann is spicy and excitable and can be a bit looky until she decompresses; she likes the rider to tell her everything is okay. She’s an awesome pony, and we’ve really just started showing her the last couple of years. This is a fun hobby.”

Mathers picked her out of breeder Chris Rush’s field due to her size — she is 14-hands — and the fact that she was by his stallion Ridley, a Rotspon son, and there were four other good-natured offspring by him already in the barn.

Additional Special Award Winners

Lloyd Landkamer Perpetual Trophy
The Lloyd Landkamer Perpetual Trophy is given to the FEI highest scoring mare of the competition, Bon Chance 8, a 14-year-old mare by Bellissimo M ridden by Denise Steele and owned by Kenneth Steele.

Verne Batchelder Perpetual Trophy
The Verne Batchelder Memorial Trophy, presented by River House Hanoverians to the FEI Highest Scoring U.S.-bred Horse, was awarded to Franzsis HSR, an eight-year-old gelding by Franziskus ridden and owned by Kathryn Fleming-Kuhn and bred by Anita Nardine.

Top Hat Perpetual Trophy
The Top Hat Perpetual Trophy, presented by Janet Foy, went to the Highest Freestyle and non-Freestyle average score at the same level. Opportunity Knocks, a five-year-old gelding by Spielberg ridden by Brittany Burson and owned by Patricia Joy, was given the award.

Regions Cup
The Regions Cup Perpetual Plaque and winner of the Le Mieux/US Dressage Finals Regions Cup was Region 3, who had an average score of 69.026%.

Vying with competitors from across the country for bragging rights for their respective USDF Regions, the top four scoring riders in designated divisions competed on regional teams for the Le Mieux/US Dressage Finals Regions Cup plaque.

CHAMPION: Region 3, 69.026%
Amber Gipp and San Sebastián, 71.800%
Sarah Hurst and Final Prince HAF 68.532%
Lark Heckman and Franzissimo, 73.467%
Phyllis Sumner and Soprano 9, 62.304%

RESERVE CHAMPION: Region 2, 68.848%
Erin Miller and Ocean, 72.200%
Eleanor Thomas and Impression Texel, 60.292%
Faith Green and Love Day, 70.509%
Ali Potasky and Inxs, 72.391%

THIRD PLACE: Region 1, 68.708%
Allison Cyprus and Oceana ISF, 72.917%
Beth Parsons Bird and Falkor, 68.958%
Violet Gutberlet and SWS Encino, 64.133%
Lauren Sprieser and C. Cadeau, 68.824%

Out and About at Finals

Behind-the-scenes photos by Chelsey Burris.

Sunday’s classes conclude competition at the 2024 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. Catch up with all the action via the USDF Facebook page, the US Dressage Finals website, and USEF Network. Full results can be found on www.horseshowoffice.com. The dates for the 2025 US Dressage Finals will be announced shortly.

Along with presenting sponsor Adequan®, the 2024 US Dressage Finals is supported by Great American Insurance Group, SmartPak® Equine, Platinum Performance, and LeMieux. Contributing sponsors include Cryostride, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Premier Equestrian, Sterling Thompson Equine, and Uvex.

About USDF

Founded in 1973, the United States Dressage Federation is a nonprofit membership organization dedication to education, recognition of achievement, and promotion of dressage. For more information about USDF membership or programs, visit www.usdf.org, e-mail [email protected], or call (859) 971-2277.