Thursday September 15, 2005

USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Championships Final Presents the Horses For the Future

Dr. Katie Stanton and Savanna

Katie Stanton, of Carmel Indiana, and her Dutch Warmblood mare Savannah (by Jazz out of Wanna by Doruto) returned to the USEF/Markel National Young Horse Championships in 2005 in the six-year-old Division clinching for the second year in a row the High Score for Amateur Rider. Stanton who has her Doctorate in Physical Therapy has a full time job at the University, as well as managing the busy stable operations for her trainer Jennifer Conour.

The lovely solid bay mare, which was bred in the Netherlands by St. Proefbr. Paardenhouderij and her rider presented a happy picture as they negotiated the much tougher six year old test. The test, a stepping stone to the FEI Prix St. George, requires more lateral movements and flying changes, often causing the undoing of some horses.

The panel of judges was impressed with her “exciting walk” which represented a good overstep and ground cover, rewarding them with an 8.0. The trot was “rhythmic and elegant, but could have been more off the ground and steady, earning a 7.7. In her canter work the changes were fluid but the judges were looking for better balance, and she had a tendency to lean into the bridle, scoring a 7.3. In the Young Horse Test the judges who are much more forgiving of the occasional “discussion between horse and rider” were not alarmed at the mare’s leaping buck during her canter work, but it probably affected the submission score as they gave her a 7.0, and they commented they would like to see her frame more “up in the pole”. Her type, a lovely mare with excellent potential for the future was a 7.5. Her overall score for the competition was a 7.58. moving her into a sixth place finish.