by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 13, 2025
About 30,000 or so people go to the Far Hills Race Meeting in New Jersey’s Somerset Hills each October, enjoying an occasion that is social as well as sporting.
The Far Hills Race Meeting, with roots in the early 20th Century, always draws a big crowd. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
But who among the steeplechase fans these days has any idea that the glitzy tailgating opportunity, with its abundance of champagne, bountiful buffets, sleek thoroughbreds and silver trophies, came from far simpler origins in the early twentieth century?
Barry Thomson, a historian and author who grew up in the Somerset Hills, laid out the evolution of the race meeting as part of a recent lecture about the rich history of equestrian pursuits in the area. It is the home of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation, the Essex Horse Trials and the Essex Fox Hounds, as well the scene of the 1993 World Pairs Driving Championship.
Historian Barry Thomson. (Photo © 2025 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
After the Civil War, horses gained a role different from their traditional use, as equine recreation became an important pastime for members of the new, wealthy upper class, who modeled themselves on British gentry. They rode, drove coaches and carriages, went foxhunting and played polo.
So in the second half of the nineteenth century, as Barry pointed out during his presentation at Bedminster’s Clarence Dillon Library, horses gradually went from being simply a utilitarian method of transporting people and goods or playing a role in agriculture to becoming prestigious mainstays of sport.
The Somerset Hills was a farming area that underwent major change beginning in the 1870s, when it became accessible via passenger trains, making it easy to go from New York and Newark to Bernardsville, and by 1890 with access to Far Hills and Peapack & Gladstone, which was then a part of Bedminster Township.
According to Barry, with the advent of convenient train travel, the thinking of the upper class ran, “We want country estates, let’s go out there. We can get there easily.” Also important was the fact that the region hadn’t been compromised by heavy industry. So magnificent estates such as Natirar, now a county park, and banker C. Ledyard Blair’s Blairsden, still in private hands, sprouted throughout the area.
(Barry will be giving more historical lectures this month. They are at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Main Street in Gladstone Feb. 20 at 7 p.m., which is free of charge, and Feb. 23 at Pendry Natirar in Peapack. That talk, which is about Natirar, is a luncheon fundraiser with a $150 admission fee, co-hosted by the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills. Click on this link for more information.)
Coaches that were refined versions of British mail and stage coaches were popular with the wealthy, who enjoyed drives from New York City in the days before bridges and tunnels, putting the horses and vehicles on ferries as they headed to Blairsden. They didn’t always make the round trip on the coaches, however, with passengers sometimes opting for the easier route of taking the train back to the city.
A four-in-hand of the Somerset Hills gentry. (Photo courtesy of Barry Thomson)
The popularity of the coaches set the stage for the Gladstone Driving Event, which gained international fame in the 1980s and 1990s under the direction of Finn Caspersen, former chairman of the U.S. Equestrian Team, whose advocacy of combined driving brought competitors from overseas to Gladstone.
The late Lou Piancone kept the Somerset Hills’ tradition of carriage driving into the 21st Century. (Photo © 2013 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
James Cox Brady in 1917 built the memorable stable that once housed his many coaches and horses. It now is the headquarters of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation. For years, it served as a training center for the country’s Olympic riders, and today is the scene of various competitions, including the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East.
The magnificent stable built by James Cox Brady offers an impressive backdrop for competition. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Fox hunts enjoyed increasing popularity beginning in the 1870s, due to links with other horse sports, steeplechase racing and polo. The Essex Fox Hounds had their roots in Essex County, where there once was open land along the banks of the Passaic River before the city of Newark grew.
It was a drag hunt, with a scent laid down for hounds to follow. The Montclair Hunt became known as the Essex County Hunt as it moved to West Orange in the search for more acreage.
The hunt, complete with horses, hounds and equipment, had been purchased in 1890 by Charles Pfizer Jr., whose father was a founder of the well-known pharmaceutical company. He renamed it the Essex Hunt, which moved to Maplewood before finally leaving Essex County and then going to Morris County and finally Somerset County. In 1916, it settled in Peapack, where its stables and clubhouse remain. It gained a measure of extra fame in the 1980s, when Jackie Kennedy and her children would ride with the hunt.
The Essex Fox Hounds meet in 1917. (Photo courtesy Barry Thomson)
As Barry pointed out, having a good relationship with farmers “is an obvious concern for any foxhunting organization, because horses and hounds can unintentionally do great damage to crops, as well as scare the farm animals.”
To thank farmers for permission to ride over their property, the Essex County Hunt in 1884 started a tradition of races for farmers with a half-mile flat race at Newark’s Waverly Park, now part of Weequahic Park. The purse was $50, and it was open only to farm horses owned by farmers. Essex kept the tradition going as it moved. By 1903, the specification emphasized the race was for horses “other than thoroughbreds” working on a farm.
The Essex Fox Hounds took over its first farmers day race meeting October 1914 at its Peapack clubhouse. It offered a lunch followed by six horse races, including a quarter-mile fixture for farmers from Somerset, Hunterdon and Morris counties.
By 1919, lunch and entertainment for the farmers moved to the Far Hills Fairgrounds, which also was home to a horse show, gymkhana and fair featuring a flea circus and strolling gypsy singers. The horse races were held across the street at Grant Schley’s Fro Heim, another impressive estate. The races of the current century still are run over basically the same course at what is now known as Moorland Farm.
Far Hills Fair poster. (Courtesy of Barry Thomson)
But things have changed since the days of what were then known as “the hunt races.” Many people call today’s annual steeplechase in Far Hills the “hunt,” which the preceding history effectively shows is a misnomer, since the word refers to the races’ initial sponsor, not the event.
The races for farmers, their horses and $50 purses are long gone. The card of top-class competition at the Far Hills Race Meeting, set for Oct. 18 this year, includes flat racing and tests over hurdles, with $700,000 offered in purses in 2024.
The race meeting also has a gloss. In addition to coveted hillside parking spaces passed down through families, innovations have been hilltop tents (with the biggest going for $30,000) and a section known as The Hunt Club, with a DJ, mechanical bull and a mobile cigar lounge for a $50 ticket price.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 11, 2025
Controversial Olympic show jumping individual gold medalist and former Canadian chef d’equipe Eric Lamaze has been suspended until September 2031, following a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in his human anti-doping case.
In March 2022, Lamaze received a formal notice of an FEI disciplinary charge for “evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection by an athlete” in June 2021 in Valkensward, Netherlands, in connection with the FEI human athlete anti-doping rules.
While CAS proceedings continued, Lamaze submitted forged medical documents stating he suffered from brain cancer, which led to a four-year ineligibility period imposed by the FEI, starting in September 2023.
The CAS panel in turn found Lamaze guilty of the anti-doping rule violation and imposed an ineligibility period of four years, beginning in 2027 and consecutive from the end of the FEI suspension. Lamaze was fined 15,000 Swiss francs ($16,424), and ordered to pay the costs of the arbitration proceedings as well as 12,000 Swiss francs ($13,139) to the FEI as a contribution towards the legal fees. Lamaze was disqualified from all of his results at FEI competitions from June 5, 2021 to March 30, 2022.
It was far from his first dramatic brush with the rules. Lamaze was banned from the sport for life after missing both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics when he tested positive for cocaine metabolites. But the ban was reversed in September 2000 by an adjudicator who said cited “exceptional circumstances.”
Eric Lamaze on his gold medal victory gallop at the 2008 Olympics. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lamaze’s fortunes soared at the 2008 Olympics, where his performance on Hickstead earned him individual gold and team silver, the high point of his roller coaster career. But another low came in 2011, after he finished his round on Hickstead at the Verona, Italy, show, when the horse walked out of the ring and dropped dead with a ruptured aorta. Weeks later, Hickstead was mourned at the Royal Winter Fair horse show in Toronto, where people wore armbands in the horse’s memory.
Lamaze, 56, who announced his retirement from competition in 2022, has been the defendant in several lawsuits involving horse sales.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 8, 2025
What a difference a year makes.
Adrienne Lyle, the top-ranked U.S. dressage rider at number 23 on the world standings, earned a personal best with Helix of 80.325 percent to win the Grand Prix Freestyle Friday at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla.
She only started riding the horse for Zen Elite Equestrian in January 2024, but was able to be the best U.S. dressage rider at the Paris Olympics. There was still a lot that needed to be done, however, with Helix (Apache X Jazz) and Adrienne has been busy doing it, spending time training and polishing the 13-year-old gelding.
Adrienne and Helix performing their freestyle. (Susan J. Stickle Photo)
“That is, hands down, the best feeling he’s ever given me,” said Adrienne of her ride to music arranged by Terry Gallo.
“He was able to replicate the work that I’ve been getting at home—the lightness, harmony, and self-carriage. Tonight, he was able to take that into an electric environment and stay relaxed and in his own balance. It felt effortless and I didn’t have to push for anything. To feel that kind of confidence from him is really exciting.
“When I saw the score, I was so excited. It’s not many times in your life you’re going to see an 80 percent; it’s a huge thrill,” she observed.
Adrienne has clinched one of three North American spots for April’s FEI Dressage World Cup Finals in Switzerland. Other riders are still qualifying for the remaining places, but her score cannot be surpassed.
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by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 7, 2025
What do you know about the behavioral medications your horse receives for issues including anxiety, aggression, sleep deprivation and other conditions?
You should tune in to a Feb. 18 Cornell University webinar being given by Dr. Katherine Anderson from 6-7 p.m. Eastern Time. An assistant clinical professor with the Cornell Duffield Institute for Animal Behavior, she will discuss when medications might be appropriate for your horse, which drugs to consider (and which ones to avoid), and how they work. Register using this link.
If only Tine Magnes of the Belgian Olympic eventing team had that kind of information before last year’s Paris Games. Her horse, Dia Van Het Lichterveld Z, tested positive for trazodone, an antidepressant used to treat depression and anxiety in humans, which is a prohibited substance under the rules of the FEI (international equestrian federation).
The matter was resolved with a settlement and Tine was disqualified from the Games. The decision meant her score did not count and that Belgium had to forfeit its fourth-place finish in the Games. It also meant the U.S. moved up from seventh place to sixth with the Belgian team off the board.
The Belgian team vet recommended Tine use Relax Pro, deemed to be the source of the substance, twice on her mount.
While the decision of the FEI Tribunal that handled the case stated Tine normally uses a very limited number of supplements,“being on the Olympic Team, she relied on the expertise and guidance provided by the Team’s infrastructure, hence she relied on the advice of the Team Veterinarian…”.
The FEI cited the “failure” of the team vet and the Belgian Federation in the matter, noting Tine “showed no reckless behavior,”
Tine said on social media that she can “Confirm with lifted head and declare that I have never deliberately used doping.” She noted that the package of Relax Pro said “doping free.”
The rider was penalized with a fine of 4,000 Swiss francs ($4,256 U.S.) and suspended from Sept.3-Nov. 3 2024. Tine also agreed to be part of an education campaign on the risk of using supplements. Those who register for the Cornell webinar can get similarly useful information on the subject.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 4, 2025
The reins were loosened a bit on dressage trainer Michael Barisone Tuesday, as a judge gave him permission to conduct clinics further afield than he had been permitted to travel since being charged with second-degree attempted murder nearly six years ago.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic team alternate, Barisone was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2019 shooting of Lauren Kanarek, a tenant at his farm who also trained there. Barisone said he doesn’t remember the incident, which left Kanarek hospitalized after taking two bullets in the chest. The shooting occurred during a confrontation with Kanarek and her boyfriend, Rob Goodwin, who had been at odds with their landlord.
After time in psychiatric institutions following the 2022 verdict, Barisone was allowed to live in a private home in New Jersey beginning in 2023. Last August, Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor permitted Barisone to go back to his farm in Loxahatchee Florida, but he was not cleared to drive there or go to any states other than Florida or New Jersey. Taylor was concerned because Kanarek was based at a farm near Barisone’s place.
Tuesday’s ruling in Morristown, N.J., was the latest in a series of Krol hearings, held to judge the progress of a criminal defendant who has been confined to a psychiatric institution following a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Barisone has done some teaching at his Florida farm, but one of his attorneys, Edward Bilinkas, told the judge that his client had requests from people in Texas and Indiana to give clinics, which would enable him to earn some money and “be able to get on with the rest of his life.”
Taylor said Barisone can do the clinics in those and other states, but must give the court a month’s notice that he intends to travel for such occasions. He also gave Barisone permission to drive his truck and a trailer from New Jersey to Florida, but an order prohibiting him to have contact with Kanarek and Goodwin remains in effect.
Tuesday’s hearing lasted approximately an hour, with much of the time taken up by testimony from Dr. David Landry, the Florida clinical psychologist with whom Barisone has met 10 times. Landry was seen on a screen in the courtroom, speaking via Zoom from West Palm Beach.
Dr David Landry on Zoom in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Steven Taylor, as attorneys Chris Deininger and Ed Bilinkas watch with Michael Barisone. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
Asked to describe his patient’s demeanor, Landry said, “Overall, Mr. Barisone presents as cooperative, pleasant, easily engaged. Very talkative in session.
“At times, he can be animated,” Landry continued saying “He is appropriate” and has not exhibited erratic behavior.
“I have not noticed any psychotic symptoms,” added Landry, who was questioned about Barisone’s situation by Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn.
Of Barisone, Landry noted, “He has not demonstrated any delusional thinking…he consistently presents oriented, aware of his surroundings and cooperative with treatment overall.” The psychologist said he has not seen any signs of depression, traits of personality disorder or delusional thinking.
Asked by Schellhorn about a “historical” diagnosis of delusional disorder, Landry said that is a chronic condition which can go into remission. He mentioned another previous condition, that he and Barisone had discussed the feeling of being persecuted “and the resultant events that occurred.”
But he observed, other than that and the previously diagnosed persistent depressive disorder that is in remission, Barisone does not have any new conditions. While Landry does not believe Barisone is a danger to himself or others, and has “demonstrated ongoing stability,” he recommends that Barisone should remain in treatment with him.
Since returning to Florida, Barisone has spent most of his time working on maintenance at his property, where his fiancée, Lara Osborne, and trainer Justin Hardin have been among those holding down the fort.
“They’ve been winging it for five years and thank God, they kept everything together,” Barisone said.
He noted he had played the leading role in the farm’s operation, but then “one day I’m gone, and they had to figure everything out, and they did.”
Barisone waited a month after he arrived in Florida before getting on a horse again, but once he was back in the saddle, it felt as if he had never been away — although he admitted to being a little sore for two days after not riding for so long.
Michael Barisone finally was able to get back on a horse in Florida. (Photo courtesy Lara Hausken Osborne)
Barisone is excited about a 9-year-old Dutchbred named Kordaat that he owns and is continuing to train. He eventually wants to show the horse, but has been on an interim suspension since May 2022 for “allegations of misconduct” from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an organization “committed to ending abuse in sports,” and he is not allowed to be on the grounds of licensed shows. Such suspensions last until a formal investigation ends and there is a final decision on a case.
Barisone’s next Krol hearing is scheduled for Sept. 9.
by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 3, 2025
A team gold medal and individual fourth place in eventing at the Pan American Games, along with the best U.S. finish in the discipline at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, all have made Doug Payne crave more international team experience.
But he’s going in a different direction as he turns 44 this month, having moved out of eventing to focus on grand prix show jumping.
“It’s been a process the last seven years,” he explained, talking about competing in two disciplines simultaneously. Last year at the Defender Kentucky 5-star, for instance, he rode his eventing horse in the afternoon and other mounts in the jumpers at night.
Doug Payne’s prowess cross-country was notable, but he’s moving on to top-level show jumpingl.
Quantum Leap, his entry for that 2024 5-star, was fifteenth after cross-country, but withdrawn in the second vet check. He has what Doug called a hock that could be tricky after cross-country. Third in the 2022 Kentucky 5-star, where Doug was the highest-placed U.S. rider, Quantum “doesn’t owe me a thing,” he said.
“With his welfare in mind, I figured it was probably best to step him back from 5 star eventing.”
He may lease the horse for a few years. But if his children, now ages five and seven, “want to ride at some point, he’d be the absolutely perfect one. But he’s got a home for life, he’s the most genuine creature there is.”
Doug and Quantum Leap when he was the highest-placed U.S. rider at the 2022 Kentucky 5-star.
And as that special horse steps down, Doug is stepping up in his other discipline.
“The jumping, I love it, jumping big fences is as much, if not more, fun than anything else I’ve done. It’s a brand new challenge, completely fresh. I would like to make a (show jumping) team in the future. Without a doubt, it’s a goal of mine.”
In order to pursue it, he has wrapped up his eventing career and put his focus on the painted rails, though he did compete in a dressage Grand Prix with his Pan Am Games mount, Starr Witness.
“I don’t know if there will be a whole lot more of that, but for sure, it’s great experience,” he said.
The eclectic horseman, who also pilots his own plane, pointed out that when he was growing up, the idea was to “make sure you can to go to any discipline and not be tagged as an outsider.”
He comes from an eventing family. His mother, Marilyn Payne, is a trainer and competitor who has been an Olympic judge. His sister, Holly Payne Caravella, also is an eventing trainer and rider.
Doug grew up eventing at his home in New Jersey, where he is seen here a few years back with his father, Richard; mother, Marilyn, and sister, Holly Payne Caravella.
Doug, who competed in his first show jumping grand prix in 2022, noted his “headliner right now is a horse called Quintessence. He did three 5-stars jumping last year.”
The 14-year-old Holsteiner, who finished sixth in a 1.5 meter classic at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington last month, evented up to Preliminary as a six-year-old before switching to jumping full time.
“He’s uber careful, he won the 6- and 7-year old finals and a $100,000 grand prix. It was more than I could have ever imagined he would do,” Doug recounted.
Doug pointed out that he and his wife, Jessica, have “never been in a position where we could go out and buy going horses, so we relied a lot on development of younger horses. Six or seven years ago, we started buying more for jumping than eventing, a long-term plan of this happening. It worked pretty well in eventing, and we’ll see if we can’t make it happen here as well.”
He has a six-year-old half-brother to Quintessence, and Europa PVF, a 5-year-old Westfalen by Eldorado, is “probably the best horse I’ve ever had. Then there’s “ a great weanling” coming along. At the same time, Starr Witness is pregnant with Europa’s foal.
“They’re both extreme talents,” Doug pointed out, so his show jumping future seems to offer plenty of potential for him to develop.
At the same time, he emphasizes, “I don’t regret a moment of eventing.”
There were several tragedies in eventing in 2024, including British rider Georgie Campbell’s death after a cross-country accident and Liz Halliday traumatic brain injury in a cross-country fall.
While he’s not leaving the sport because of the danger, Doug acknowledged, “It’s an inherent risk. It can happen anywhere, but certainly your odds are up when the jumps don’t fall down, or slowly fall down. Looking back on it, I was pretty impressed I never got an ambulance ride from an event. It’s something I was pretty proud of, actually.”
He noted, “I’ve been on the USEA (U.S. Eventing Association) Safety Committee for eight years and had a front row seat to every accident analysis in this country. It’s certainly a concern. I’ve always really worked extremely hard to make sure whatever I’m riding I completely trust,”
Still, he pointed out, “You can get hurt doing anything. I know all the organizations are doing as much as they can to reduce the risk.”
Going all-in on the jumping has given Doug a chance to use his time differently.
For Doug Payne, show jumping now is much more than what he used to do as the last phase of an event. (Photo © by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“With the kids, it has freed up our schedule. We’re on the road 40 plus weeks a year. The kids just turned 5 and 7 it will free up time and allow us to do a whole lot more.
“The eventing schedule is so rigid,” he pointed out. With jumping and the plethora of shows from which to choose, “there’s so many more options we never had a chance to explore before. Now we can.”
He likes what he’s found in the show jumping ranks.
Payne Equestrian Sport Service & Sales has “An army of very competent people willing to help,” and cited South Carolina trainer Andrea King (like Doug, a native of New Jersey) for giving pointers while he pursues his new objective.
“I grew up from Pony Club eventing; the perception was always `stuck up show people.’ Our experience has been the opposite. It’s been open, accepting,” Doug related.
He pointed out, “Eventing is very difficult because of few opportunities to prove yourself. If it goes wrong, that’s all somebody talks about for the next however long.”
By contrast, in show jumping, ““You could win another grand prix tomorrow. People are more willing to take a shot and make a mistake. There are so many opportunities to compete and to vie for a top result somewhere.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 31, 2025
Fleet of Angels, an organization that is supporting equestrians in the wake of the California wildfires, has received $60,000 from the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Equine Disaster Relief Fund and $25,000 from the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation for its efforts. Although the fires have been contained, many horses have not been able to return home because their stables have burned to the ground or suffered tremendous damage.
“Our goal is to keep horses safe and in good care so they can stay with their loving families and equine friends, giving their owners more time to regroup, repair and start to recover from devastating situations. By providing a combination of grants and services, Fleet of Angels provides qualified applicants’ horses with what they need to stay safe and healthy during temporary challenges,” said a statement from the group.
The USEF grant will assist providing feed, critical supplies and vet care funding assistance for between 800 and 1,000 displaced horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center and other locations that have been impacted. USEF funding also is still helping horses in areas affected by last year’s hurricanes in the East.
For its part, the team at the USET Foundation “believes in the importance of community support during times of crisis, and these wildfires have posed significant challenges for Southern California horses and their owners,” said foundation executive director Bonnie Jenkins.
USEF also awarded a $40,000 grant to the Foundation for Pierce College Wildfire Response. The funds will be used for feeding and watering horses currently stabled at their facility in Woodland Hills, Calif. At the peak of the wildfires, 245 horses were living on their grounds. As an evacuation site that is maintained and ready year-round to provide shelter for horses in times of need, the Pierce College Equestrian Center has been of service to the surrounding equestrian community for several decades.
“It is with generous donations, like the ones the members and community at U.S. Equestrian are providing, that we will be able to continue to provide top quality housing and care to horses in need,” said Marcie Sakadijan, the college’s farm manager.
With the grant, several large tanks will be purchased to provide water to animals housed in areas with limited water access, while water and feed tubs, mucking tools and equipment, and water hoses can be replaced.
Developed in 2005 during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund helps ensure horses’ safety and well-being. Since its inception, the fund has now distributed more than $800,000 to help with disaster recovery and preparedness for horses including but not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and fires.
“The devastation left behind by the wildfires in Los Angeles is unfathomable. But whenever there are tragedies like these, there are also countless people who are doing great work to help their communities. Fleet of Angels and the Pierce College Equine Center are doing incredible work in helping horses displaced by these fires,” stated USEF CEO Bill Moroney.
With the wildfires still ablaze in certain parts of Los Angeles, USEF will continue to evaluate opportunities to invest in organizations that are working directly to help horses and horse owners affected by the disaster.
Those who wish to donate may visit https://www.usef.org/donate and choose the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund in the drop-down menu. For more information about wildfire relief for the Southern California equestrian community, please visit: www.FleetOfAngels.org. For more information about the USET Foundation, visit www.uset.org .
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 31, 2025
With several high-profile issues in the last year or so, dressage has been targeted in discussions about horse welfare.
Olympic gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin’s suspension after a video of a whipping incident is the most publicized scandal, but concern over blue tongues and suspensions involving prominent trainer Andreas Helgstrand are others that hurt the discipline’s image.
A strategic action plan for dressage will be developed by a new FEI Working Group chaired by former U.S. Dressage Federation President George Williams. The panel is “aimed at establishing a clear vision, realigning objectives, and creating actionable plans to enhance Dressage at all levels.”
One of the group’s first tasks will be a comprehensive review of the current state of dressage. The working group will also evaluate feedback from stakeholders and categorize suggestions into well-defined focus areas for targeted action. A focus will be prioritizing equine ethics and wellbeing, with the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Action Plan serving as a guiding framework for key initiatives.
The group will work on creating a repository of relevant scientific research, consulting with veterinary experts to create an accessible information resource for stakeholders. Rule revisions will be proposed with immediate attention on partial updates for 2025 and the 2026 full rules revision for dressage.
The working group will report regularly to the Dressage Technical Committee, the FEI Board, and relevant stakeholder groups to ensure transparency and collaboration throughout the process. The first presentation will be made to the FEI Sports Forum on March 31.
“Dressage should be built on balanced, ethical training resulting in freedom of movement, ease in transitions, and harmony between horse and rider, with no place for tension or resistance,” FEI Dressage Director Ronan Murphy said.
“Our focus now is to embed these principles in the FEI Rule Book and ensure they are applied consistently in training and competition, always putting horse welfare first.
“The Working Group’s task is to turn these ideals into everyday practices, prioritizing the well-being of horses as we move forward with future proposals and format changes.
“The Working Group was carefully selected not only for their expertise, but also for their profound understanding of dressage. This diverse group represents a cross-section of the community, ensuring a broad range of perspectives. Their collective knowledge and vision will be instrumental in shaping a strategic plan that not only addresses the current challenges in the sport but also ensures the well-being of our horses, incorporates stakeholder feedback, and positions dressage for long-term success.”
In addition to Williams, who is the U.S. Equestrian Dressage Youth Coach and High Performance and Pathway Development Advisor, the working group will include Monica Theodorescu, Germany’s first female dressage coach and a medalist at the Olympics and world and European championships, as well as a two-time FEI Dressage World Cup™ champion.
Other members are Raphael Saleh of France, president of the dressage ground jury for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games; Britain’s Gareth Hughes, with more than 60 national and international titles; six-time Olympian and former FEI Dressage World Cup™ champion Kyra Kyrklund of Finland, vice-president of the International Dressage Riders Club.
Also named to the panel are Klaus Roeser, chairman of the German National Federation Dressage Committee, and veterinarian Lise Berg, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 27, 2025
An aggressive agenda to increase visibility of horse sports, along with stepping up horse welfare, is part of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s new strategic plan.
At its annual meeting last week, where the theme was “It’s All About the Horse,” USEF reported its competing membership grew 8 percent from 2023 to 83,000 in 2024, and the number of horses competing was up 2.7 percent, to 85,970. Altogether, the number of fans and members amounted to more than 500,000. There were 1.65 million followers on social media. USEF had more than 73 million video views across all platforms, up over 189 percent.
All that offers an opportunity to let people know more about horses; how they are used, what their lives are like, the way they are cared for. It’s a powerful tool in combating the negativity of those who don’t believe horses should be involved in competition, or in some cases, ridden or driven at all.
Because here are some scary statistics: An FEI Ethics and Well-Being survey showed 52 percent of the non-equestrian public believes the welfare of sport horses should be improved, and 78 percent of equestrian stakeholders believe horse welfare standards need improving.
“There is no question that horses, horse welfare and safety need to be our top priorities,” said USEF Bill Moroney.
An interesting hands-on example involved helping the U.S. Army, which had serious horse well-being issues with its caisson horses used in funerals. With the help of USEF board member and retired Navy Rear Admiral Jon Krietz, Chief of Sport David O’Connor and USEF board member and world driving championships medalist Chester Weber, the unit made a comeback. Its horses were seen this month in the services for the late President Jimmy Carter.
For the sport to be sustainable, Moroney said, USEF and its members have to do three things: “Celebrate the horse, educate our members and the public and regulate the treatment of horses and protect them.”
That last item should have priority with everyone involved with horses.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 25, 2025
Heather Mason is no dressage queen.
That’s not to say she isn’t successful in her chosen discipline—an impressive collection of ribbons and trophies on display in her Lebanon, N.J., home speaks to expertise in training and riding. But for Heather, it’s not about the prizes or the frills. At Flying Change Farm, it’s all about the horses.
Heather and just a few of her many prizes. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
“She loves them,” was the simple assessment offered by her friend, Christina Aharoni, who noted that these days, Heather keeps her horses forever.
Heather trains Christina and her daughter, eventer Arielle Aharoni, but offers assistance beyond dressage. Christina calls it “troubleshooting,” whether it’s advice on jumping or bitting.
“That’s an all-around great horseperson that uses a ton of common sense and great basic horsemanship. That’s always what prevails in the end,” Christina asserted.
Heather’s mere presence offers reassurance to her students, and the good results flow from that as well as expert coaching.
Amateur rider Christina Morin Graham was concerned about competing with the professionals in the FEI ranks at the 2024 edition of Dressage at Devon. She wasn’t sure she’d even be able to produce a Grand Prix ride that would qualify her for the show’s feature, the Saturday night freestyle under the lights. Maybe instead she should try the Grand Prix for Special? Morin Graham wondered…
However, Heather was there for support and guidance, which not only got her student qualified, but it gave the amateur a boost that enabled a third-place finish in the freestyle, with a personal best of 74.785 on DSP Dauphin.
“Heather is a master and it’s a privilege to work with her – she has advanced my riding and enabled me to achieve results that I didn’t think were possible,” said Morin Graham.
She characterized Heather as “hard working, dedicated, professional, and resourceful — customizing the approach for each horse and rider to bring out their best. Her depth of dressage experience, training and competing through the levels is extraordinary. She has worked with hundreds of horses, many of which were not necessarily naturally talented, athletic — or sane, for that matter.”
Morin Graham pointed out that at Region 8’s championships, “I think she was the trainer of roughly half the riders in the Open Division Grand prix championship class.”
Over Heather’s career, she’s had nearly 2,200 rides in licensed competition as recorded by the U.S. Dressage Federation. She owns more than half of the 30 horses at her farm, where the herd includes young horses in training, competition mounts and her retired senior citizens. She doesn’t sell her horses any longer because “I hear too many stories about them ending up in bad places and I don’t want to take that chance. I bought some of these as resale horses, but they’ll never be sold.”
As she cheerfully admitted, “I get a little too attached to my horses.”
Heather and RTF Lincoln as she does her trademark one-handed double pirouette at the beginning of her freestyle at the 2023 USDF Championships. (Photo © 2024 by SusanJStickle.com)
At her barn, there are a few longtime boarders and people who ship in for lessons. Others take “virtual” lessons, and Heather gives clinics in the tri-state area. On Mondays and Fridays, the trainer spends a few afternoon hours at Red Tail Farm in nearby Bedminster.
Heather was drawn early to teaching. She started giving lessons at age 13 when she belonged to the Spring Valley Hounds Pony Club in New Vernon, where she was an H-A.
“Pony Club was huge, it taught me so much about horse management and care,” said the trainer, who stays in touch with her instructors from those years, Sharon Weidmann, Marilyn Payne and Peggy Hipple.
She graduated from New York’s Skidmore College after majoring in biology and playing polo, but had only one career in mind.
“I always knew I would be doing this as a business,” Heather said matter-of-factly.
Her first acquaintance with horses came when her father was transferred to England by American Express and the family looked at a little farm there which had a pony.
“I fell off him when I tried him, and I still wanted him. The saddle and I slid down his neck—the tack didn’t fit,” she chuckled.
Her parents bought the farm and seven-year-old Heather wound up with Jason, that little Welsh cross who came with the property. The family lived in England for five years, a time when Heather was part of the British culture so strong in riding and hunting,
“I grew up as a little farm kid,” she commented.
Competing in the hunters in England while she “dabbled in everything” over there, Heather discovered when her family moved back to the U.S. that the hunter pony ring was a different place on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In England, she recalled, she had ridden her pony in a double bridle, and at some shows, the judge rode the pony.
She enjoyed eventing when she was in Pony Club. Then she bought her first warmblood, Limerick, a Polish Trakehner, as a two-year-old. The mare wasn’t much for jumping but turned into Heather’s first total dressage horse. She got lessons from Irma Hotz as well as her other trainers and did a lot of clinics. In 1984, her pony True Story, a British import, was national champion at First Level, and from that point on, Heather focused on dressage, taking True story to Fourth Level.
She competed at the North American Young Riders Championships with Limerick, who was her first Grand Prix horse, training the horse all the way up to Grand Prix in 1990. Asked how things went with that effort, Heather laughed and reported, “that was back in the days when it was me and Marilyn Payne and I think, Jim Kofford, doing Grand Prix, and we were just trying to break 60 (percent). That was a whole different world of Grand Prix; there were very few Grand Prix horses in the area. We were all struggling. But you learn how to train that way.”
What appealed to her about dressage was the fact that “there was no dead end” to her efforts in the discipline.
“I always knew I was never going to jump grand prix jumps, and I was never going to event advanced, but the dressage I could do all the way.”
Heather became accustomed to making a victory pass at the USDF Championships with RTF Lincoln. (Photo © 2024 by SusanJStickle.com)
Over the years, she has made her mark, named to the short list for the 2011 Pan American Games with Warsteiner and earning the prestigious $25,000 Carol Lavell Prize to continue her training. She used the money to go to Florida and up her game there, but aside from that, she doesn’t head south because she has “too many horses, too many clients to leave them all winter. Plus, I like to have the winter to train and play with the babies.
“I’ve always gone where the horse will take me, but (making) the (U.S.) team was never like a goal, it’s more about my horses,” she said.
“I never set my life on it because anything can happen. I was told a few times coming up that I’d have to sell these horses and get one good young horse to make the team. I was never interested to give up the horses I had.”
Her inspiration and aspiration involved the training and making the horses the best they could be while building a relationship with each one.
In her view, “it’s more about the horses than the competing. And I like the teaching and I like watching the students move up to the grand prix,” said Heather who has had students earn the U.S. Dressage Federation gold medal, just as she did.
Heather has showed some memorable animals over the years, including Respekt and Zar, but she is most closely associated today with RTF Lincoln, who retired from the top ranks of the sport after winning the Open Grand Prix honors at the USDF’s national championships in Kentucky for the third straight year in 2023. Now 20, in 2024, he dropped down to Small Tour with Heather’s friend and student, amateur rider Alexandra Krossen, after Heather retired him from the Grand Prix ranks. Alex and Lincoln were in the ribbons in their adult amateur classes at the national championships last fall.
Heather and Lincoln at home. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
Offering an insight into Heather, Alex said, “I think her love of the animals really helps her get to know them and bring out the best in them. Then she can kind of transfer that to help the riders have success. I did some dressage prior to working with Heather but she’s really just good foundation and understanding the horse and that every horse is not the same. Sometimes you have to think outside the box, which definitely helps my approach to riding in general with multiple horses.”
Alex, who works in the business side of the pharmaceutical industry, has ridden with Heather since 2010.
“Being supportive and having shown a lot herself, Heather understands the pressures so you can ride better,” said Alex who had never been to a recognized dressage show prior to working with Heather.
Heather has enjoyed success with American-bred horses. Lincoln came from a Cornell University program. Heather would break some of the babies from the program and either sell them young or raise them and sell them. It was an affordable way to pick up a warmblood. She got Lincoln as a foal and then Meredith Whaley bought him as a just-broke three-year-old. Both Meredith and Heather showed him up to Fourth Level.
Then things started going wrong. Lincoln got hurt and was two years out of the show circuit. Meredith underwent double hip surgery, and finally, “She decided rehabbing him she didn’t want to ride and compete him anymore,” said Heather, who bought him in 2016 for a dollar. When he got over his suspensory problems, she started him at Prix St. Georges/Intermediate I.
“He’s a tricky horse; he had a wicked spook spin,” Heather pointed out.
“He’d get really hot and started cranking his legs up and down. That actually was useful for the passage work, once he learned to slow it down.”
So there were some issues, but as Heather pointed out, “He does love to show. At home, he likes to be rubbed and scratched and he’s very pushy about it. He goes out every night, unless it’s absolutely awful weather.’
Where does the next horse of Lincoln’s capability come from for Heather?
Heather is amused to see Manuskript feeling his oats on a chilly day. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
Heather, who won the 2024 Adequan/USDF professional Vintage Cup titles (for riders 50 and older) at both Prix St. Georges and Fourth Level, pursues many avenues with the goal of replenishing her string.
Heather and Rock It P. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
She has bred her own horses, bought babies and even purchased foals in utero. Starting them from the ground up, she often has someone with her for that; Arielle Aharoni helped last year. But Rock It P, the 2024 Adequan/USDF Materiale Horse of the Year (colt/gelding), was one she handled alone “because he’s my huge, big boy. I did him from the ground up with nobody helping me,” she explained proudly.
Manuskript SCF was 2024 Adequan/USDF Horse of the Year at both Fourth Level and Prix St. Georges, while also winning the Fourth Level Freestyle and Freestyle Challenge honors.
For 2025, Heather has horses between levels, so the USDF championships where she has excelled so often “won’t be a serious goal this year. We have a lot of four-year-olds going to go out to show this year, so I’ll be babysitting.”
Heather’s team includes her mother, Phyllis, who has always been involved with her business. She doesn’t do the braiding anymore, but she keeps her daughter and company well-fed. Alex Krossen lends a hand when needed, while Wendi Freedman manages the business as Lydia Varga and Moises Vega “keep the place running when I’m out showing,” as Heather puts it.
Asked if there’s anything else in her life that she makes time for, Heather smiled and replied, not unexpectedly, “It’s pretty much horses.”
