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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions

Cathy Morelli - Dressage National Championship Record Holder
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

Earning the right to compete just once for the title of National Dressage Champion is a dream of many riders. For Cathy Morelli, it’s a yearly event.

Morelli, 63, lives right down the road from the U.S. Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey, where the annual Dressage Festival of Champions has been held since its inception in 1991. And that’s a good thing, considering that she’s competed in the event pretty consistently since the first year.

In fact, she’s not entirely sure, because she hasn’t thought much about it, but it’s occurred to her that she’s probably competed in the Championships every year for the past 16 years. The way she figures it out is by counting the medals of participation accumulated in a wicker basket in her kitchen.

Her latest appearance was at this year’s Championships with BeSe, an 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Flemmingh out of Wabatsje and owned by Diane Rosenberg. BeSe and Morelli made their debut at the Festival in 2002. Morelli is always a crowd favorite, and not just because her family and friends can usually come to cheer her on. She is adored and respected by her students, as well as those who know her in the American Dressage world.

“A lot of people dream of going to Gladstone, because it’s a big deal, but then they don’t make it. I guess I’ve always taken it for granted. But you shouldn’t take anything for granted, Morelli said.