by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 24, 2024
Will the Wellington, Florida, Village Council vote this week on whether land should be taken out of the Equestrian Preserve for the first time, as part of a trade-off around expanding the cramped Wellington International showgrounds?
The answer was still unclear following Tuesday night’s “second reading” of an ordinance that would remove 96-plus acres from the protection of the Preserve designation, so housing and various non-equestrian sports amenities could be built by Wellington Lifestyle Partners at their Wellington North project. The community adjacent to a golf course would be constructed on what is now the site of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival and nearby property.
In turn, acreage contiguous to the showgrounds a short distance away at WLP’s Wellington South project would be rezoned from residential to equestrian commercial for expansion of the facility that would accommodate dressage competition, as well as hunters and jumpers. WLP would pay for new facilities that would include a 3,000 seat international ring, a covered arena, a new derby field, 220 permanent stalls and 272 temporary stalls.
Beginning in June, there have been 45 hours of public debate and discussion on the development issues by the Village’s Equestrian Preserve Committee, the Planning Zoning and Adjustment Board and the five-member council, with more meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
To remove land from the Preserve, a super-majority of four of the five council members would have to vote in favor. They did that on “first reading” of the ordinance in November, but since then, a group opposed to removing the land started a recall petition against all the council members except Vice Mayor Michael Napoleone, the only one who voted against the move.
The Adequan Global Dressage Festival grounds.
(Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
The recall group also is highlighting contributions council members received from entities related to the development, asking why those who got such money did not recuse themselves from the vote.
Feelings run high about the land deal. Equestrians who feel betrayed at the prospect of losing property from the Preserve, which includes 9,000 acres Village-wide, showed up at the meeting wearing their signature “Vote No” and “Horses Not Houses” red T-shirts. More than 8,000 people have signed a petition against taking land from the Preserve.
Others who spoke during the packed meeting contended removing land from the Preserve is worth it if that affords more space for the show in the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World” to expand and compete with new venues in Ocala to the north and the Sarasota area to the west.
Global Equestrian Group, the owner of the Wellington International showgrounds, is part of Waterland Private Equity, which has put the showgrounds up for sale. Wellington International holds all the licenses for the hunter/jumper shows at the home of the Winter Equestrian Festival, while Mark Bellisimo holds all but one of the dressage licenses for the Global Dressage Festival.
John Ingram, a businessman and Wellington farm owner who spoke Tuesday night, said “the horse show needs to grow and expand. What I see has been proposed here is a practical solution that would be good for the equestrian community and the overall Village. If we mess around and don’t take advantage of this unique opportunity, I think we stand a very strong chance of waking up in five to 10 years and finding Ocala, Thermal (Calif.) or somewhere else has taken over the top destination spot.”
The best horses and riders from the U.S., Europe and Latin America are “what gives Wellington the aura it has.” He said if they don’t come because the facilities are lacking, property values will fall, leading to a lower quality of life for residents.
In 2017, Ingram led a successful effort to bring major league soccer to Nashville, Tenn., an initiative that has been “wildly successful.”
Along those lines, he pointed out that “opportunities come when they come…I see this current moment as a really important one and if we don’t take advantage, we will dramatically affect the future of the whole Village.”
He warned that if the opportunity is missed, the Wellington South land that could be used for showgrounds expansion will be developed with houses.
The whole development situation has become ever-more complicated, with its parameters, costs and numbers changing many times, making it difficult to follow or understand for many observers, who also are concerned about traffic and environmental issues.
There are a variety of conditions attached to the process of Wellington North and South approval. The most important measure is Condition 7, which keeps dressage at its current location until the expanded showgrounds is finished and dressage can move there, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2028. Until that happens, no houses would be built at Wellington North.
A late starter was Condition 12, which calls for WLP to give the Village 55 acres of a former golf course (land WLP doesn’t own, but which is under contract) for use as a public park a few miles from Wellington North. The developer also would pay $2 million for improvements, while having the right to remove up to 30 percent of the land area for fill.
Andrew Carduner, a homeowner in the Village’s venerable Palm Beach Polo community, called the park an “obfuscation,” while emphasizing that the “equestrian community is the lifeblood of Wellington.”
Doug McMahon, the CEO of WLP and co-founder of luxury developer Nexus, said plans for development in Wellington have been modified to make them better, a process that “has been hard and been passionate” resulting in a request for 201 residences at Wellington North. (The neighboring Coach House property, which is not in the Preserve, already has been approved for 50 residences.)
Doug McMahon of WLP.
If Wellington North is not approved, six homes can still be built on the Equestrian Preserve and White Birch properties, along with a number of businesses, such as a riding school or offices. There is no requirement for the landowner to present dressage shows.
The developer has cut back on the number of housing units it seeks at both North and South, while McMahon said the project has improved as a result of the input received from residents by WLP.
He reminded those in attendance that “none of these lands are public lands” unlike national parks such as Yellowstone.
But Maureen Brennan, a leader of the recall movement, said of the Preserve “this is our Yellowstone.”
Although she suggested that the homes on Wellington North might become timeshares, renting to people who are not part of the community, similar to a Nexus project in the Bahamas, McMahon said in Wellington “we’re not doing residence clubs.”
Maureen Brennan at the podium.
He maintained the “vast majority” of the homes would be primary residences. A club model, he said, is based on real estate sales initially, a joining fee and annual dues that would allow the club community to be maintained. He noted WLP would have nothing to do with running the horse show.
The development saga has been running since the summer of 2022, when Bellissimo proposed “The Estates at Equestrian Village” project on the dressage showgrounds as part of his “Wellington 3.0 project.” Bellissimo, who took over the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2007, built the dressage showgrounds in 2012, but has lost the trust of some in Wellington with projects presented by his ownership group of Wellington Equestrian Partners over the years.
The Estates project was withdrawn and replaced last year with Wellington North and South, and WLP became the entity presenting it. Bellissimo stepped back as a principal of WLP in favor of McMahon as point man and has not been heard from at the meetings on Wellington North and South. His daughter, Paige, is WLP’s executive vice president.
The speakers Tuesday included Cynthia Gardner, who opened the first stable in Wellington in 1977 and was the first chairman of the equestrian committee. She recounted some history, saying the committee was asked to create an Equestrian Overlay District (the Preserve) “so we would never have to worry about the protection and preservation” of the Village’s equestrian properties. “The highest and best use of property in the Equestrian Preserve is not for housing development.”
She warned that encroachment could wind up with formerly equestrian properties being developed along the lines of what happened to Royal Palm Polo in Boca Raton, south of Wellington, where 10 polo fields became housing.
Land use attorney Harvey Oyer, representing the prominent Jacobs family, said that while his clients originally had a “cautiously neutral view” of the development proposal when he spoke during a meeting last year, “the family remembers well the history of past failed promises by other developers over the years.”
The Jacobs, whose Deeridge Farms is on Pierson Road, are among a group of landowners within 500 feet of Wellington North who should have the right to enforce the covenant of what can be done by the developers, Oyer said, and “not just hope that some future Village Council will do so, because we are the ones adversely affected.”
Part of the arrangement sought by the Jacobs would involve the Village manager making an annual inspection of the progress of work on the expanded showgrounds and reporting it on the Village website “so we all know what is going on there.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 14, 2024
A U.S. Equestrian Federation clinic for 11 up-and-coming young riders set off a storm of heated comment on social media Saturday, after some who viewed the session criticized comments by clinician Katie Monahan Prudent, while others supported her approach.
A member of the gold medal 1986 World Championships show jumping team, the always-outspoken Prudent was an equitation champion as a junior and won many hunter and jumper championships over the decades. She last competed internationally in 2015.
USEF issued a statement on Sunday saying, “We are aware of concerns regarding the recent clinic and are conducting a review of the matter.”
The federation added, “The safety and well-being of both horse and rider are of the utmost priority to U.S. Equestrian. Effective communication between trainer, horse and athlete is critical to safety and success in equestrian sport. At times, direct words are needed to get this across when coaching; however, under no circumstances does U.S. Equestrian condone training techniques that do not put horse and rider well-being first.”
Katie Monahan Prudent competing on V in 2013. (Photo © 2013 by Nancy Jaffer)
The video of the segment with the controversial remarks was not available on the USEF network in the wake of the furor. The listing bore the message: “The recording unfortunately is not working. We will fix the problem shortly.” An edited version appeared subsequently.
There were those on social media objecting to the way the 69-year-old Prudent addressed some of the students, who were between the ages of 16 and 21, calling it “bullying.” Others were incensed when she mentioned flipping a horse over backwards, suggesting one rider should “crash him into a fence rather than letting him turn” and saying that horses “need a good licking sometimes.” Prudent also criticized “animal rights activists who know nothing about training horses.”
She was critical of the fact that riders didn’t even know how to safely shorten their stirrups when mounted, and suggested to U.S. Show Jumping Developing Chef D’Equipe Anne Kursinski that doing it properly should be the subject of another lesson.
“As a group, you guys lack discipline,” Prudent informed the riders. She told them, “either you don’t listen or you’re just birdbrained.”
The clinic took place in Wellington, Florida, while the USEF’s annual meeting was being held in Kentucky, ironically with an emphasis on “social license to operate” for the sport, so it has public acceptance.
Kaylee Monserrate, who called Prudent’s coaching “incredible for me,” said “her fast corrections for any mistakes I made kept me safe during the 1.45m schooling we were typically doing.”
She did, however, suggest some of Prudent’s comments, “could have been done so a little more tactfully, such as insinuating flipping a horse, etc., which is not okay.”
Kaylee noted, “The most learning here needs to be the industry as a whole, including the trainers in it. How students in a horsemanship clinic such as this one have never saddled a horse or properly changed their stirrup length is incredible and mind-blowing.”
She suggested many of Prudent’s remarks “came from what seems as an area of frustration,” and contended the industry itself is broken.
U.S. eventing world championships individual silver medalist Dorothy Trapp Crowell reacted this way, “I understand I am old school, but I actually agree with everything she’s saying. God forbid any of my lessons or clinics from the past were put out on Facebook now. Pull up your big girl britches and do what she says. She is actually trying to keep these kids safe by giving them the tools they need to ride safely. Which in the end keeps the horses safe.”
Hope Glynn, whose daughter, Avery, was in the clinic, called it “great,” citing the instruction of not only Katie, but also Anne Kursinski and Beezie Madden.
“Katie set a tough gymnastics and if you answered the test, she praised you and if you didn’t, she taught you what to do…I am far more offended by trainers who say, `Yes, good job’ to everything. I encourage you to watch the whole clinic, the positives, the negatives, and spend your time learning instead of attacking someone online.”
Dutch Olympic show jumping individual silver medalist Albert Voorn, on the other hand, was outraged, stating it was unbelievable “that the USA equestrian federation allows this on their showgrounds. The world is totally lost.” (It isn’t U.S. Equestrian’s showgrounds, actually, but licensed shows are held there.)
Eventer Halley Anne commented, “What I learned from this is that if someone tells me to flip my horse over, I will leave the lesson. Hyperbole or not. If that’s the best way an instructor can think of to explain what they want me to do, then that is not the lesson for me or my horse. That being said, I liked her tough teaching style.”
Jeremy Steinberg, former. U.S youth. dressage coach, observed, “If it is in fact the case that `under no circumstances, does US Equestrian condone training techniques that do not put horse and rider well being first,’ you would clearly see that both horse and rider, on many occasions, were being over-faced, horses being incorrectly punished for lack of education as well as riders. If it was in fact the case that those horse and rider combinations were not up for the task, it should’ve been US Equestrian or Katie’s responsibility to then educate as opposed to berate and rough up.”
Meanwhile, Alice Debany Clero, the country’s leading junior jumper rider in 1986, declared that “Katie was the best trainer I ever had. Of course, she didn’t really mean she would flip the horse over. She was just trying to make a point to the riders that the ability of stopping in a straight line is very important.
“Please don’t let her blunt expressions soil her reputation,” added Alice, who coaches the Dubai show jumping team.
And here’s one more viewpoint, from Susan Bright: “When I was in college,” I was in a clinic with a top clinician/judge from Virginia Beach. I was winning equitation classes and felt like I knew quite a bit. During the mounted discussion, he threw his clipboard at me and said, `Riding isn’t about looking pretty, it’s about being a thinking rider.’
“He took off my stirrups and had me ride cross-country jumps until I fell off. (Then) said to get out of the way of the other riders. That lesson blazed a mark in my mind. But it made me a better thinking rider.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 10, 2024
The beginning of the winter dressage circuit every year is a time for change, but this season it seems an unusual number of high-level horses are switching owners.
The most recent on that list is Serenade MF (Sir Donnerhall/Duet MF X Don Principe). The mare, known fondly as “Shrimp” for her relatively diminutive size, was bought by Jessica Howington. The 11-year-old Hanoverian was ridden in the 2023 FEI World Cup Finals by Alice Tarjan, who raised her from a foal.
The timing was right, as Jessica just retired her Grand Prix horse, Cavalia, this month. She has ridden Shrimp only 10 times, but sees similarities between her and Cavalia, particularly the fact that both are by Sir Donnerhall.
“I’m really excited for them. I think it’s a great match,” Alice said about Shrimp going to Jessica.
“It will be fun to cheer them on.”
Alice Tarjan and Serenade MF. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Alice has plenty of other horses to keep her busy, including Jane, who had nine victories in a row in a variety of Intermediate competitions between October 2022 and October 2023. She will be looking to give Jane more ring time this season.
So what are Jessica’s plans with her new horse, bred in North Carolina by Maryanna Haymon?
“I have no idea,” admitted Jessica, who is based in Ocala but is spending the winter at Rowan O’Riley’s farm in White Fences, near Wellington, which means she is right down the road from Alice’s winter quarters. She is training with Charlotte Bredahl, who is serving as the U.S. developing rider coach until April 1.
Serenade MF enjoying a victory during Dressage at Devon with Alice Tarjan. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
“In a perfect world, of course, I’d like to say I’m going to do the grands prix and go for Paris,” noted Jessica, referring to this summer’s Olympics.
“But this is a brand new relationship and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her or myself,” she explained in discussing her future with Shrimp.
“I want to just be able to take my time with her and build a relationship on that, so when we do go out for the first time, it’s a really good, positive experience and build from there. I need a few more rides under my belt with her before I make any major decisions.”
“Ideally,” Jessica continued, “I would like to get her in the CDI arena this season, if the relationship is good.
Andrea Woodard, with whom Jessica has trained, had learned Shrimp was for sale and shared the news.
“That’s how I heard about her, so of course, I went to try her,” said Jessica,
It was love at first ride.
“I got on and the second I picked up the trot I was like, `Yup, this feels exactly how I want it to feel.’ It did give me a lot of the same feeling as when I sat on Cavalia.”
Jessica Howington and Shrimp. (Photo courtesy Jessica Howington)
That mare has two foals by embryo transplant, and Jessica would like a few more, but she won’t risk having 17-year-old Cavalia carry a foal herself.
Jessica is a professional horsewoman with several other mounts. One is Lordswood Bernstein (known as Bagel), a six-year-old KWPN breeding stallion she’s had since he was a three-year-old. Like Alice, she buys horses young and trains them herself. She is hoping Bagel will compete at Third Level in Wellington.
She also owns MW Marcario (nicknamed Miso), a seven-year-old Oldenburg who is competing at Prix St. Georges.
But there is more in Jessica’s life than horses. The 44-year-old Emory University graduate, a native of Georgia, is a nurse practitioner who is active in her profession. While in Wellington, she is able to use telehealth to serve patients, and is dealing with those on hospice and palliative care.
She balances it all gracefully, and with appreciation.
“I am very grateful to have this opportunity with Shrimp. I feel very fortunate, and a huge part of that I owe to my parents, Melanie and King Howington, for helping me follow my dreams with her.”
To read about other recent changes in dressage horse ownership, click on this link, and look at the second feature on this website. Also check out the article on Heidi Humphries in the On the Rail section of this site.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 8, 2024
Christmas was great for dressage rider/trainer/new mother Adrienne Lyle, but it’s the new year that brings the promise of even more excitement for the Olympic and world championships team silver medalist.
When Zen Elite Equestrian Center owner Heidi Humphries talked to Adrienne after the Tokyo Olympics, “I knew she wanted to support the U.S.,” Adrienne remembered, “and then a short while later, she approached me about helping her find a horse to buy that I would train for her.” (to find out more about Heidi, click here or look at the second feature on this page.)
After Heidi told Adrienne she was in the market for a new grand prix horse, the rider started shopping. With the Paris Olympics on the horizon for this summer, that sort of quest easily could have been fruitless.
“I’d been looking for quite a while, and had been over to Europe a few times,” Adrienne recalled.
Then, “In a funny way, we happened to find two in one trip.”
Helping her assess the prospects was Debbie McDonald, who had been her mentor since Adrienne’s working student days. Debbie, an Olympic medalist who is the former technical advisor and chef d’equipe for U.S. dressage, noted that to be eligible to represent a country in the Paris Games, a horse would have to be owned by a citizen of that nation by a Jan. 15 deadline.
So in mid-December, the clock was ticking. One horse was lined up for Adrienne to try; then, as she and Debbie were on their way to Europe, another came up for sale.
“It was a situation that happened to be, timing-wise, good,” said Debbie.
The first prospect, Lars van de Hoenderheide (Negro X Layout), a 13-year-old Belgian warmblood, turned out to be in Debbie’s view, “just a lovely solid citizen. He really is a good horse.”
In his last start, at Kronenberg in the Netherlands in December, he won the freestyle with 78.475 percent, although his best freestyle finish was seven months earlier in Compiegne, France, where he won with an 81.210. He was based at Van Olst Horses in the Netherlands and shown by world champion Lottie Fry of Great Britain, who is petite, while Adrienne is tall. But Debbie thought, “A little bit of change in rider size” could be handled fine by Lars.
Lottie Fry and Lars van de Hoenderheide
The second horse, Helix (Apache X Broere Jazz), was a year younger and had less ring experience than Lars, but has “a ton of potential,” in Debbie’s view. Marina Mattsson of Sweden showed the horse internationally in 2023, where he had good finishes but no victories. Two months ago, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, the Danish star who was fourth in the Tokyo Olympics, took over the ride.
“We went there with the idea of buying one horse,” said Debbie, but Heidi thought it was a good idea to have a veterinary check for both.
Although they each passed the vet, “It was never the idea to go and buy two horses,” Debbie emphasized.
Then on Christmas Day, Adrienne got a text from Heidi.
“She asked if, in a perfect world, what did I think about getting both? I said, `Oh my gosh; absolutely,” recalled Adrienne.
“Paris definitely is something I’d really love to do,” she said, but added, “I’m accepting with horses, sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. Now we definitely have a focus.”
She noted that since she has always developed her own Grand Prix horses, getting two who were so far along “already was a big leap for me.”
Adrienne enjoyed touching base about the horses with Lottie and Cathrine, who were helpful.
After her daughter, Bailey, was born last autumn, Adrienne, 39, started gearing up her fitness. She hadn’t ridden for the last four months of her pregnancy, the longest she’d been out of the saddle in her career, so she went into high gear.
“I knew if I wanted to be ready for show season, I had to hit the ground running. As soon as the baby was born, I was doing fitness training twice a day. I feel I’ve gotten back to where I was before, or pretty darn close,” she revealed.
With both horses scheduled to arrive this week at Adrienne’s winter base in Florida, it’s going to be an especially busy time. There are plenty of 3- and 4-star rated shows in Wellington this winter, and Adrienne will participate in them as she learns how best to showcase the horses’ talents.
But time is short before Paris, and she has a lot to do.
Adrienne Lyle and Lars van de Hoenderheide, who has just arrived in Wellington. (Photo © 2023 by Christian Simonson)
“I think they’re both lovely horses, both have charming personalities and have had really lovely homes with good care,” said Debbie.
“Adrienne being the rider that she is, I think she’s going to be able to do quite a decent job pretty quickly.”
While the circumstances aren’t ideal, the challenge is doable.
“Trying to get something for Paris this late is pretty slim pickings. I think the right horses just came up at the right time. It was just a very fortunate situation for Adrienne and Heidi,” said Debbie.
Adrienne, who is married to veterinarian David Da Silva, is balancing motherhood and her profession.
Her daughter is “a good little barn baby” who likes to stroke horses’ noses and sit on her mother’s lap when she teaches lessons. And there are a lot of those.
Adrienne’s students include Pan American Games team gold medalist Christian Simonson, for whom Heidi bought Fleu de Baian, a 3-star winner at Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special, who had been trained by the Netherlands’ Adelinde Cornelissen.
Quinn Iverson, who started as a working student for Adrienne and is “quite a little handy horsewoman” is riding Heidi’s King’s Pleasure, as well as Gremlin, a horse owned by her longtime supporter, Billie Davidson. Adrienne also works with her 2022 world championships teammate, Katie Duerrhammer and Kylee Lourie’s Paxton.
In addition, she has a five-year-old and a seven-year-old she is training for Heidi, as well as five-year-old Furst Dream, for Betsy Juliano. Betsy is also the owner of Salvino, Adrienne’s Olympic and world championships mount, who is being ridden, but whose plans for the season have yet to be decided.
Adrienne Lyle and her Olympic and world championships mount, Salvino. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Luckily, Adrienne can handle being busy.
“I’m very, very thankful and now it’s time to put our heads down and go to work and see what we can do,” said Adrienne.
“I’m one who always likes to stay quiet and let the results do the talking, so that’s going to be my plan.”
At the same time, she added, “Regardless of any goals we have, the horses will dictate their training and competition schedule. Keeping them happy and stress-free during this transition to their new home is the most important thing.”
The horses should “never feel any additional stress in their lives just because we have goals we want to accomplish. So we will make sure their health and happiness are our number one priority and we will work around what is best for them.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 8, 2024
Heidi Humphries has made a major splash in the world of dressage by buying several high-profile horses recently, including two top international mounts for Olympic and world championships team silver medalist Adrienne Lyle.
But this is a fairly new development, so understandably, there are those who are unfamiliar with her name. To answer part of the question, Heidi is a registered nurse and successful businesswoman. She serves as the CEO of Spectra Baby USA. It’s a company focused on supporting breastfeeding mothers with products designed for efficient technology, creating comfortable pumps and accessories.
On the equestrian side of the equation, horses have been a part of Heidi’s life since she went to a “horse” birthday party at age seven.
She “absolutely fell in love” with horses, and her parents, Sam and Linda Perlman, obliged that passion four years later by buying her an Appaloosa named Roxie.
That mare “was truly my rock during my childhood,” recalled Heidi.
“There is just something about horses. The way they know when you had a tough day and give an extra nicker to greet you, the way they sound when they are happy munching their hay, and the intoxicating way they smell when they nuzzle against you.”
She rode and showed hunt seat a bit, but was always fascinated by dressage. Heidi dreamed of having an Olympic dressage horse, and that may well come true later this year.
She took time off from riding after her children, Bryan and Nicole, were born, but she knew horses would come back to her life someday.
Heidi Humphries and her son, Bryan, with Quinn Iverson and King’s Pleasure.
That happened six years ago. She now owns Zen Elite Equestrian Center near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., south of Wellington.
“I owe so much of who I am and the amazing people who have come into my life, to the beautiful four-legged souls that I have had the honor of spending time with,” she noted, and is thankful for the support of her family and her partner, Danielle Linder, in the process.
Heidi enjoys watching Olympic dressage and admired Adrienne’s partnership with Salvino during the Tokyo Olympics. The two were introduced by a mutual friend soon after the Games.
“There is something about the way she is with horses,” Heidi mused in response to being asked why she decided to buy horses for Adrienne.
Adrienne Lyle on Top Gun with Heidi Humphries, Debbie McDonald and Christine Traurig, who sill be U.S. dressage chef d’equipe at the Paris Olympics.
“She is really a nice person, so helpful in every way, as I learned more about the dressage world,” Heidi explained.
“But it is the way she comes absolutely alive on a horse that captured me. She truly becomes one with the horse and you can see that the horses respond to her in such a beautiful way. There is an honest love for horses that goes way beyond a piaffe or passage, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
And now she is part of it, in a big way. Heidi just purchased two Grand Prix horses rather than one for Adrienne because, “I want to see our U.S.. team do well, and two incredible talents are even better than one.” That’s especially true with the Olympics on the horizon this summer.
She’s not counting on owning an Olympic horse in 2024, however.
“There are no guarantees in life,” Heidi pointed out.
“I am fully aware of that. But I think we have an amazing team of riders and horses at Zen and I am excited to see what they can do, this season, and beyond.“
by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 7, 2024
Sagacious HF, a genuine warrior of a dressage horse who won medals for the U.S., died this weekend. He was less than three months short of his 25th birthday.
The Dutch warmblood (Welt Hit II/Judith X Cocktail) competed until the age of 23. He began at First Level in 2004, and took his final step into the arena in 2022.
Although several riders did well with him, he enjoyed his greatest success with Lauren Sammis, who earned individual silver with the gelding at the 2007 Pan American Games, where the combination contributed to team gold.
Sammis, who thanked owner Al Guden and his late wife, Judith, for the opportunity to compete Sagacious, trained him from First Level to the Games in Rio de Janeiro at Small Tour and then to Grand Prix. He won six Grands Prix and Freestyles in a row in 2009.
Sagacious and Lauren Sammis at the 2009 national champoinships. (Photo © 2009 by Nancy Jaffer)
While his Pan Am results with Sammis were the most memorable of his career, Sagacious also went on to perform with a variety of women in the saddle. They included Caroline Roffman in 2013, when she rode him in the U-25 at Aachen; from 2014-2018 Chase Hickok, top U.S. U-25 rider in 2015 who also competed in 5-stars abroad. In 2018, Allessandra Ferrucci took up the ride, followed by Jordan Lockwood.
Judge Natalie Lamping said of Sagacious on Lauren Sammis’ social media page, “He was a heart horse for so many riders. He taught so many after your training, Lauren.”
When asked what made the horse special, Lauren believes, “The thing about Sagacious is he was so smart. When you didn’t use his intelligence, he found ways to use his intelligence to entertain himself. That horse was exceptional and he was ready to learn.”
She added, “He changed dressage. Through my career, I’ve had international judges come up to me and say at that time we were the best pair in the world. In my youth, I had no idea the journey that we were on. I’m grateful to him. I was just riding.”
She pointed out, “The way he moved in his prime was memorable. He had such carriage, such swing, such ease; it was a beautiful picture. Everything happened out of a balance and an ease, not pressure.”
The ground-breaking aspect, in Lauren’s view, was that “He had more scope than any of the horses at that time. He was the beginning of what the new face of dressage looked like. You could say that Totilas then became the face of dressage. Those horses changed the trajectory of the sport.”
