Lipp has been training with Olympian Michelle Gibson for more than five years and is spending the winter training with her in Florida. On Sunday she plans to ride in the musical freestyle, with music composed by Marlene Whitaker. "Last year we tried slow music but this year we've got some John Tesh that matches his quicker gaits better," said Lipp.

Eugene Reesink of the Netherlands and Michael Barisone originally imported Douwe as a show jumper, but his original rider found him too much horse for her. "Michael warned me when I tried Douwe, but it didn't take much for him to come around and for his gaits to be confirmed." She adds, "He has a heart the size of Texas and a lot of go - I love that when you get on and they just want to go."

Text by Amber Heintzberger