Saturday, July 1, 2006

Dressage Star Jazzman Dances Again
By Charlene Strickland for DressageDaily.com

First, the flashback to 1997—the two hottest dressage rivals in the West were Brentina and Jazzman, then rising stars at USDF Third Level. The two chestnuts met in the show ring for the next two years, both moving to Prix St. Georges tests in 1998. They were teammates at the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, where the U.S. earned team gold. Brentina won individual gold, and Jazzman was sixth individually.

Owner and trainer Donna Richardson, Del Mar, California, reported that Conrad Schumacher said at a clinic, “Kingston and Jazzman were the best horses in the U.S.”

A suspensory injury and colic surgery sidelined her Dutch Warmblood. She was able to qualify him to go to Gladstone’s Grand Prix championship, but lameness was a recurring problem. “I tried everything,” said Richardson. To bring “Jazz” back, she “did lots of walking.” For almost three years, she tried to return him to Grand Prix. “I had my heart broken so many time. He’d be sound, and then he’d go off again. So I retired him—he was only 13.”

She’d resigned herself to the end of her horse’s competive career. Flash forward to May 2006: Jazz and Brentina met again in the show ring—competing in Grand Prix at the Dressage at Flintridge show.