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Thursday, March 8, 2007

Mid Winter Dressage - Burbank, California
By Lita Dove for DressageDaily

Kristina Harrison-Naness Goes Baroque - Jan Ebeling Has Powerful Stable

The Open Grand Prix was won by Kristina Harrison-Naness on Rociero XV--and as his name suggests, this is a PRE Pura Raza Español stallion. "He is the horse of my life", says Harrison-Naness, who represented the U.S. for team gold at the 2003 Pan-American Games. Last year, the pair were 2nd nationally in USDF Intermediaire II, and this year, they have begun showing the Grand Prix.

Rociero VX (Rociero VIII x Bombardina II) is owned by Symphony Farms in Auburn, California. Farm owner Margaret Carrera bought the then 6-year-old stallion from Spain on the advice of FEI trainer and rider Juan Matute. Last year, Carrera contacted Harrison-Naness to see if she would be interested in showing Rociero.

"I watched the video, and as soon as I saw him-- I knew this was my horse," says Harrison-Naness. "It was his eyes, his face--even on the video, you could tell how intense and focused this horse was. And he is like that in real life. He comes out every day the same, very consistent in the work."

She showed him to long-time coach, Olympian Debbie McDonald, and together they agreed-- a good horse is a good horse. "I ride him exactly as I would any other horse, " says Harrison-Naness. "He does not really have any weak spots in his basics."

What do they work on? Harrison-Naness laughs. " Connection. Throughness." She says that she did go last year for one solid month to McDonald's base in Idaho, and felt the systematic work is really beginning to pay off. The talented pair won the Open Grand Prix classes at LAEC's Winter Dressage show in February. Their next show will be Festival of the Horse, where they will compete in the CDI High Performance division of Grand Prix for the first time, and will try to qualify for the finals at the USEF festival of Champions in Gladstone, New Jersey in June.

Also on the leaderboard at the show was Harrison-Naness' Pan-Am teammate, Jan Ebeling. With Raffalca, he was unbeatable at Intermediaire II, and says that his time spent training with coach Klaus Balkenhol really helped him to focus and prepare for the upcoming show season. "The United States is so fortunate to have a coach of this caliber," says Ebeling., whose own trainers have included the legendary Herbert Rehbein and Harry Boldt.

Raffalca is schooling all the Grand Prix, says Ebeling, but Mid-Winter was only the second and third Intermediaire II tests she has done, and he wants her to feel everything is easy, so will wait to bring her out at Grand Prix later in the show season.

He is aiming another of his mares, Sandrina, for the Pan-American trials. Doing well in the open division of the small tour was an 18-hand gelding, Waterford, that Jan first met as a 6-year-old. Known as "Bentley" around the barn, the very talented Weltmayer gelding was only recently purchased for Ebeling to ride, and has just started back in the show ring .

"I am so fortunate with these horses, " notes Ebeling. Looking at his wife, Amy, and their son, Benny, he smiles. "Life is good."

ScoreSource - Results on Line for LA Mid Winter Dressage
Markel Equine Insurance