Roush the Dream Pony

We are celebrating the hardworking Haflinger as our March Breed of the Month on YourDressage! 

Did you know that dressage riders who choose a Haflinger as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the American Haflinger Registry is a participating organization?

Here, an adult amateur from USDF Region 6 shares the story of the Haflinger she found by accident while looking for a “husband horse”, and who has fulfilled many of her equestrian dreams!

By Anika Schnitzler

Roush is my 11-year-old Haflinger gelding who makes all my little girl pony dreams come true! I grew up in Germany and have been crazy about horses since I was a little girl. Even though my parents were not horse people, they always supported me. Thanks to them, I was able to start taking riding lessons at the age of six and eventually got to lease a horse. 

My biggest highlight growing up was always our annual summer vacation in the Alps, where I got to visit the local Haflinger stud farm, attend the Haflinger Koerung, and trail ride through the mountains on the back of a Haflinger. It’s truly what sparked the love for the breed in me!

However, my lifelong dream of owning a horse only came true when my husband and I moved to the United States, where he fulfilled my dream and bought me my first horse. Being quite tall and having a focus on dressage, a Haflinger was not really what I was looking for, and ultimately, I fell in love with a big, bay, 4-year-old Oldenburg gelding.

Since I keep my horses at home, he, of course, needed a friend. I started looking for a companion for him that could also serve as a trail horse for my husband, who grew up occasionally riding western. When I stumbled across the sales advertisement for Roush by pure coincidence, I immediately fell in love with him from the pictures. He was my absolute childhood dream pony, and with his background as a western-ridden trail horse, he checked all the boxes we were looking for. 

When I reached out to the seller, he had already sold, so we were forced to continue our search. It was pretty unsuccessful, and I could not stop thinking about Roush. A few weeks later, the unbelievable happened: I got a call from the seller saying the initial buyer had returned Roush and that he was on the market again. We immediately went to meet him and ended up bringing him home. 

Being a passionate dressage rider, I believe every horse deserves to be ridden well and harmonically, even if just being a trail horse. So, I started occasionally throwing my dressage saddle on him and just doing some very light dressage work. Roush did not lack motivation, but he also did not quite see the point in riding circles around a big sandbox, making it difficult to ride in an arena. He also lacked a lot of basic skills, like not even being able to stretch properly or pick up the correct canter lead. 

With practice, he slowly started getting the hang of it, and just shortly after we got him, I made the spontaneous decision to take Roush with me to the USDF Breeders Championship Series Finals, where I was competing with my youngster, so he would not have to stay home by himself. 

I signed him up for a couple of Introductory and Training Level tests, and our scores reflected the fact that he had a handful of rides under a dressage saddle and a distinct lack of experience. So we continued to just do a dressage ride here and there while mainly trail riding and pursuing many other disciplines for fun. From rodeos to jumping, and all the way to skijoring, I got to do all the things with him that I could’ve only dreamed of as a little girl!

We have successfully competed up to Beginner Novice in eventing and competitively jumped up to one meter. He is also an absolute eye-catcher wherever he goes, and he has been asked to model for a variety of different brands and photographers; this got me to start sharing his modeling work – along with our wild journey together – on my Instagram account, @DressageInTheMountains. Throughout all our adventures, Roush continuously shows that if he understands what is being asked of him, he will try his hardest and really fight for you. 

Last year, I started getting more ambitious with Roush’s dressage work and found a trainer who knows and understands the struggle of training horses that are not your classic dressage horse type. Working with her wealth of knowledge and input really helped Roush understand what dressage is about. We had a massive switch that flipped, and Roush started figuring things out and always tried hard to do the right thing. He has become incredibly fun and rewarding to ride, and to be honest, my husband has not gotten to ride him ever since.

Haflingers definitely bring their challenges when it comes to dressage; not everything comes as easy to them as a warmblood, for example. That does not mean they can’t learn it, and makes every accomplishment and improvement extra special.

Roush has really shown me that with correct riding and consistency, you can teach any horse – regardless of build or genetics – to do accurate and good dressage work. 

In under a year of training, we were able to earn some great scores at Training Level, qualifying for the Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships and winning Reserve Champion at the Rainier Northwest Championship. We quickly made the move up to First Level, winning the Idaho Dressage & Eventing Association (IDEA) Adult Amateur USDF Freestyle Championship and Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds First Level Adult Amateur Freestyle Champion for the American Warmblood Society and Sporthorse Registry. Our goal for this summer is to make a successful debut at Second Level and to get ready for Third Level, as I would love to earn my USDF Bronze Medal on Roush!