by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 20, 2025
Trainer/rider Nicole DelGiorno is concerned about why more children and young people aren’t riding dressage in the U.S., even as the hunter/jumper/hunt seat equitation ranks are crammed with kids.
A four-time North American Youth Championships medalist and board member of the Dressage Foundation, Dressage4Kids and Dressage at Devon, she began her learning process with the U.S. Pony Club. Nicole, whose specialty involves developing youth riders and young professionals, is a U.S. Dressage Federation Bronze, Silver and Gold medalist. She also has served as chef d’equipe for Children’s and Junior teams.
She took to social media to diagnose the problem, airing her thoughts on why more U.S. kids aren’t riding dressage. It goes without saying that it is important to have young people coming up through the pipeline so eventually they can represent their country at championships, such as the Olympics. The grassroots are key.
“My goal is to start the conversation,” Nicole told me. While some people do discuss the subject, she believes “it’s a matter of everyone coming together deciding what the right course of action is.” She mentioned that without reinventing the wheel, “There are so many great examples,” to provide inspiration, such as what the American Quarter Horse Association does for its kids.
While some USDF GMO’s (Group Member Organizations) offer age-appropriate schooling show competitions, Nicole noted that is “really dependent on your local GMO and how active and creative they are.” One bright spot in USDF’s Region 1 ((Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) is Lendon Gray’s Youth Festival for riders 25 and under, to be held Aug. 8-10 at the Horse Park of New Jersey. The only other similar festival, according to Nicole, is in Georgia.
Nicole, who is based in New Jersey, offers some intriguing insights. She contends “the recognized youth divisions in U.S. dressage are structured terribly, and that is definitively why we cannot get more kids in dressage.”
Nicole with her former student and current assistant, Quinn Ridgway, at the North American Youth Championships with Quinn’s family.
She illustrated the situation with this theoretical example:
“You are a non-horse parent with a 6-year-old kid that loves horses. You type `horseback riding lessons near me’ into a search engine and start investigating. Ninety percent of the programs that show up offer instruction in hunt seat equitation. Must be popular! You see that the highest-rated barn offers a summer camp and you decide to send your child. She loves it and starts making friends with the kids who ride at the barn. She begs for weekly riding lessons. She takes lessons one to two days a week until her trainer mentions that she is really getting quite good. She should start to compete.
“She does the leadline division and gets exposed to an environment like the Devon Horse Show. Dreams ablaze in her heart, she asks if she can have a pony of her own, but your family isn’t ready for that type of commitment.
`No worries,’ says the trainer. `You can lease our small pony.’ Then she ages out and you lease the medium pony…or the large pony… or the junior hunter.
“But at some point, your kid is getting quite good and the trainer helps you buy a competitive A-circuit equitation horse. Your daughter goes on to place well at several big championships, catching the attention of a noted trainer who offers to take her on as a rider. She goes on to become an assistant trainer, or to cruise happily around the amateur divisions. The End.”
Nicole observed that storyline involves, “Everything curated. Everything clear. Their goal is to not overwhelm parents, because there is real money in developing youth riders in hunter/jumper land and real milestones to attain from the time the kids are little. When that’s true, the trainers are happy and structure their programs to make parents and children happy.
“Now, let’s say your first call was to a dressage barn,” Nicole continued.
“Nine times out of ten, that conversation is going to go like this: `Hello! I am inquiring about riding lessons for my 6-year-old daughter.’ ….`Hi! Does she have her own horse?’ …`No, we don’t.’ `Sorry, can’t help you.’”
Nicole goes on to illustrate another scenario, in which the parent calls one of the 10 percent of dressage barns that can accommodate beginner children.
“Your kid takes riding lessons there for two years. In her third year, she might do some dressage schooling shows at Introductory Level. Your trainer may even take her to some unrated hunter/jumper shows because the format is easier, cheaper and she can get more ring time. Next year, your kid begs to show recognized at Training Level. At only 10 years old, she really does quite well on the barn’s lesson pony. She qualifies for Regional Championships.
Continuing, Nicole suggested, “When you arrive in the warmup for your first class, you see your child’s eyes widen to saucers. She rides over to her trainer and asks in hushed tones, `Is SHE in my class?’
`Yes, my dear, SHE is.’ Your eyes slide over to the 21-year-old rising professional riding her client’s young horse, who appears to be the second coming of Glamourdale. The class commences. Your kid rides her heart out on her lesson pony (you had tried to find something nice for her to lease for this year, but no luck finding a quality seasoned dressage pony for lease). Still, even with her best test of the year, she places third to last with a 62 percent. The young pro wins with a 74 percent. Not because your kid isn’t great and skilled for her age, but because there is a chasm in terms of experience and physical ability between a 10-year-old and a 21-year-old.
Nicole DelGiorno with her former student Quinn Ridgway, who is now her assistant. (Photo by Priceless Equine Productions)
“This is what it is going to look like for the next few years until you buck up and buy a pony for her to do FEI Children’s or Ponies (probably from Europe, because that’s the only place to reliably find a competitive pony that’s actually been shown and proven by a kid). Sure, you could aim at Dressage Seat Equitation Medal Finals, which has a 13 and under division… if you have one of the few 10-year-olds who can ride First Level inside out and backwards, and you can find a size-appropriate mount for her to do it on.”’
She suggested splitting Youth Division classes at Second Level and below according to the rider’s age, noting it wouldn’t cost more than few extra sets of ribbons.
For Dressage Seat Equitation, her idea is a Walk-Trot Equitation class aimed at beginner riders with an Introductory skill set; Walk-Trot-Canter aimed at novice riders with a Training Level skill set and then Advanced Equitation.
It “would keep the current standards for riders with a First Level skill set and feed into the Dressage Seat Medal Finals.” Nicole also would like to see a Pony Division split according to size.
To read more of her suggestions, click here.
The problem, as Nicole sees it, is that “In general, we do NOT provide the Disney experience to families like the hunter/jumper community does. We do not structure our divisions to give kids appropriate milestones (Why not have an equitation class that is just Walk/Trot like they do in hunter/jumper land? Why can’t we get out of our own way and reward correct basics without making the kids do leg yield, zig-zags and counter-canter and three changes of lead through trot on the diagonal?)
“Because the way our youth divisions are structured is so challenging, no trainer really wants to structure their business around it. It’s a bad gamble that will almost assuredly result in a ticked-off parent and a disappointed kid. Much easier to help adult amateurs…pursue their medals.”
She emphasizes what is at stake for the discipline: “We want to see more kids riding dressage. We want to see better horsemanship and depth at every level of the sport. Then where is the space for younger riders to compete, learn and connect with their peers? Where are the milestones for them to aim toward?”
Nicole riding at Yeguada Susaeta. (Photo by Maria Ruiz Fernandez)
Nicole feels it’s crucial to address these issues, mentioning the concept of a USDF task force that could examine the subject and come up with ideas.
“Until we have an outlet for these young kids to showcase their skill and test their ability in classes that are structured fairly, I think we are going to continue scratching our heads and wondering, `Where are the dressage kids?’ ”
Anyone who thinks they have answers and wants to continue the conversation Nicole started may contact her at nicole.delgiorno@gmail.com.
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 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 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.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 15, 2025
The Essex Horse Trials in New Jersey has lived several lives since its founding in the late 1960s, and now it’s about to embark on yet another.
This year, it will run on Sunday, June 1, for one day rather than two; hold everything at a single venue, Moorland Farm in Far Hills, instead of two locations and offer Starter level for the first time, while dropping Intermediate, which wasn’t well-attended at the other end of the scale. The highest level this spring will be Preliminary.
Despite the fact that the 2024 event made money, there was a question of whether Essex could be held in 2025 because the two-venue concept proved to be very difficult and a strain to organize and facilitate.
Then Marilyn Payne stepped up to become the organizer and board president, suggesting the new, more compact, concept. Few know the sport as well she does. She has ridden at Essex since its early days at the Haller family’s Hoopstick Farm in Bedminster, down the road from Moorland and the U.S. Equestrian Team.
Marilyn Payne is a longtime eventing competitor in addition to her credentials as a teacher and judge. Photo © by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Essex was a major fixture on the eventing circuit from the late 1960s through 1998, when it last ran at the USET in Gladstone. After some of the USET property was sold, it was no longer optimal for the cross-country phase, so the event didn’t go again for 18 years. In 2004, the Essex organization was dissolved and its funds were dispersed, “ending faint hopes that one of the country’s best-known 2-star eventing tests could make a comeback,” as I wrote in a column that year.
Roger Haller told me sorrowfully, “the countryside has been changing and there’s not the critical mass to sustain what was there before.”
But there were many who remembered Essex and missed it. An opportunity to stage all phases at Moorland, also home of the popular Far Hills Race Meeting each October, led to its revival in 2017.
Sadly, Roger had died the year before the return, which was greeted with great fanfare. However, weather problems and date changes hindered growth. A continuing difficulty was the lack of an all-weather ring at Moorland for dressage and jumping. One rainy edition of the event in which footing was far from optimal prompted a move three years ago to the USET Foundation and its all-weather arena for those segments, with cross-country the next day at Moorland.
Essex has attracted some big names over the years, including Lillian Heard Wood. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“Having it at two sites is very, very cumbersome and very expensive,” said Guy Torsilieri, who manages Moorland with Ron Kennedy. Consolidation of the competition in one location for 2025 provided an answer to that problem.
Marilyn, twice an Olympic judge, runs her own Hunterdon County farm that offers lessons, clinics and shows, but despite the demands on her time, she felt Essex should be a priority.
Marilyn judging at the 2008 Olympics. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
“It’s so important to continue, not only for the riders and the sport, but because we’re losing events all over the country and we don’t want to lose another event,” she commented.
Discussing Moorland, she observed, “It’s a fabulous facility. It’s great for the local people, to get them more involved and let them see what eventing is all about. Let them enjoy it. You’ve got to spread the word, and the best way to spread the word is to have a competition and invite people to come. A lot of people just want to go to one place and in and out on one day.”
She emphasized, “We’re refocusing on the lower levels,” and unlike the higher levels, those participants are not as picky about footing. But Marilyn noted that while she doesn’t expect early June to see the torrential rains that caused a problem when the date was later in the month, there also is a Plan B site for show jumping and dressage at Moorland if mud becomes an issue.
A cocktail party will be held Saturday night before the event, with cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell giving a guided walk of his route. (He also will be designing the show jumping phase of the event.) With the event on a Sunday, riders are able to come the day before and walk the course. There will be a vendor village offering shops and food.
With the addition of the Starter level, Marilyn expects families to turn out to watch their relatives, so there should be a good crowd, some of whom can take the opportunity to view cross-country from tailgating spots.
Amy Gregonis and Julie Berman, who both were involved previously with the event, are working with sponsors. Marilyn is looking for volunteers to work at the event. Those interested in sponsoring or volunteering may contact her at applewoodfarm@comcast.net.
The car show, held in the past at Moorland on cross-country day, is moving to a September date, which allows all the focus to be on Essex. The event’s beneficiary is the LifeCamp in Pottersville, a century-old venture that provides a day camp each summer for 300 kids ages six through 14 from the greater Newark area.
A visit to the cross-country course is an enjoyable field trip for the campers and their parents. They picnic by the water complex, really getting into watching the horses splash through.
Guy hadn’t been optimistic about the event’s future before Marilyn took over.
“I was very saddened to say it’s going to go away again, because I don’t think it would come back. I think it’s important to keep equestrian activities in the area. Ron and I are thrilled they are going to give it another whirl,” Guy commented.
Guy Torsilieri and Ralph Jones. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
“I think it’s a good plan, I think it will be successful. With the new model, the budget is less than half of what it was last year. I think they’ll get a lot of support at the lower level.”
Of Marilyn, he said, “I was amazed and impressed how dynamic she is and what she wants to do. She’s getting a lot of enthusiasm locally.”
Guy also commented on the tenacity of Ralph Jones, a former co-organizer of the event, who was an advocate for keeping it going. He remains on the board as treasurer and is looking forward to working with Marilyn.
“She’s hoping to make it more of a local effort than trying to get the big professionals. It was our best chance of keeping it alive,” Ralph pointed out.
“I give Marilyn a lot of credit. She’s good. It’s going to be more low-key this year. Riders didn’t like the two-day format.” He appreciate’s Guy’s suggestion to “make it a big backyard barbecue. We feel good about it – it’s on its third life.”
