Child Prodigies

Is early success in sport-horse breeding classes a predictor of future dressage greatness? Meet seven horses that suggest it is.

By Natalie Defee Mendik

Reprinted from the January/February 2025 issue of USDF Connection magazine.

Many young dressage prospects start their competitive careers showing in hand. Is there a link between success in the dressage sport-horse breeding (DSHB) ranks and FEI-level stardom? Let’s look at a few (amongst many!) that have indeed taken this route.

Talent Scouting

At DSHB shows, breeders showcase their programs, young horses get a taste of travel and show environments, and dressage nationwide is supported by quality horses—and by those who breed and develop them.

“With the breed shows, you can observe and follow bloodlines, conformation, and movement, so our focus takes in more than just the current superstar horses under top riders at major international events,” says US Equestrian (USEF) ‘R’ DSHB judge and ‘S’ dressage judge Gwen Ka’awaloa, of Elizabeth, Colorado, a USDF Sport Horse faculty member who was the lead presenter at the 2024 USDF Dressage Sport Horse Breeder/Handler Seminar held at Dressage at Devon in Pennsylvania. “We see the young horses show what they are capable of.”

“Dressage sport-horse shows are a great way to see the offspring of different stallions at one event, rather than branched out by breed at inspections for different breed registries,” says Natalie DiBerardinis, managing director of Hilltop Farm, Colora, Maryland, and a member of the USDF Sport Horse Committee. “At breed shows, we see a diversity of bloodlines.”

“As a judge, I enjoy offering guidance in terms of horse quality—and it’s not always the warmbloods that win,” Ka’awaloa notes. It’s not always the highest-profile breeders, either: “At Devon, which is still the largest breed show with the most entrants and the most classes, there are the big breeders but also smaller breeders who win classes, as well.”

The “Born in the USA” Breeders Awards, which rolled out at Dressage at Devon in 2003, are now offered at shows nationwide. These awards, given in both in-hand and under-saddle dressage classes, recognize horses conceived and foaled in the United States. “It’s important to see that you don’t have to go to Europe to buy,” says Ka’awaloa.

Looking at these rankings and results can provide valuable insights to buyers and other breeders, as well, says DiBerardinis. She notes that during her tenure as a USDF employee, 2023 USDF Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Sally Davenport “for many years compiled data on breeders, bloodlines, and results. These hard statistics were especially valuable for breeders when sport-horse breeding in the US was young.”

Breeding shows are favorites of owners and trainers as lower-pressure environments for introducing young horses to the competition experience. Many breeders show their horses in DSHB classes to increase their marketability, Ka’awaloa says. A top placing is PR-worthy, and owners can tout what the sporthorse judge thought of the horse’s conformation, movement, athleticism, and presence.

Ka’awaloa herself has brought a horse up from the DSHB ranks to FEI-level dressage. She is the former owner and trainer of the KWPN gelding Safarie (by Flemmingh), whom she introduced to showing in the three-year-old classes; Safarie won the USDFBC Rocky Mountain Series Final Colt/Gelding Championship with her son, Chad Toney, handling. Ka’awaloa later trained and rode Safarie up to Grand Prix, earning her USDF gold medal in the process.

DiBerardinis says that “These early show miles can set the horse up for future confidence in showing environments. It’s not any specific classes but the overall experience: traveling, staying overnight, taking in the show grounds. These young horses gain many skills, so when they later show under saddle, it’s a much more positive experience.”

Through the Ranks: Meet Some Horses That Have Gone All the Way

Now join us for a look at a few horses who started their careers at DSHB shows and went on to become successful FEI dressage competitors—and they all happen to be US-bred, too!

Cabana Boy (Contucci x Bordeaux)

2002 Hanoverian gelding bred by Doug and Shannon Langer of Maple Run Farm, Helenville, Wisconsin

After taking site champion at his American Hanoverian Society foal inspection, Cabana Boy was purchased as a weanling by Hilltop Farm from breeders Doug and Shannon Langer. Showing in hand as a two- and three-year-old, Cabana Boy garnered numerous titles, including colt/gelding champion and reserve grand champion at Dressage at Devon.

Under rider and trainer Christopher Hickey, Cabana Boy rose through the USEF’s dressage Young Horse program, winning consecutive US Dressage Festival of Champions titles at ages five and six and thereby also securing invitations to the FEI World Young Dressage Horse Championships. Hickey rode the seven-year-old Cabana Boy to the US Dressage Festival of Champions Developing Horse Prix St. Georges championship title and also garnered top CDI placings in at PSG and Intermediate I at Dressage at Devon. In 2010, Cabana Boy, aged eight, placed third in the US Dressage Festival of Champions Intermediaire I Championships. The gifted horse’s career was tragically cut short that same year when he was humanely euthanized after a catastrophic pasture accident.

“Cabana was a poster child of the programs that develop and showcase young dressage horses,” says DiBerardinis. “He was moving up the levels so quickly. Everything came so easily to him. He was built to do this job. With his conformation, way of going, and personality, his success as a young horse and subsequent rise up the levels went hand in hand.”

Doctor Wendell MF (Don Principe x Sandro Hit)

2008 Hanoverian stallion bred by Maryanna Haymon of Marydell Farm, Columbus, North Carolina

Named after breeder Maryanna Haymon’s (now late) husband, Wendell Haymon, Doctor Wendell started showing in hand as a weanling, taking the colt/gelding reserve championship at Dressage at Devon in his two-year-old year, followed by colt champion and reserve champion in the Young Horse and Materiale divisions as a three-year old. In his five- and six-year-old years, Doctor Wendell placed in the top ten at the US Dressage Festival of Champions in the Young Horse division with rider Christopher Hickey. At seven, Doctor Wendell won the US Dressage Finals Open Prix St. Georges Championship with rider James Koford. As a Grand Prix horse, Doctor Wendell competed at the CDI level in Europe, where he later sold for over €1 million.

According to Maryanna Haymon, Doctor Wendell has been highly successful with his amateur owner/rider, Maria Klementieva of Russia. “He qualified for the [2021] Tokyo Olympics but had to withdraw due to an injury sustained in quarantine,” she says. “Now he’s shown by Klementieva’s daughter, a Junior rider, in Croatia. We have stayed in touch over the years.”

Pikko Del Cerro HU (Pik L x Rohdiamant)

2003 Hanoverian stallion bred by Anne Sparks of Horses Unlimited, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pikko Del Cerro HU began his career by earning a score of 90% as a two-year-old at Dressage at Devon. Under trainer/rider Mikala Munter, he went on to top-ten placings at the US Dressage Festival of Champions in the Four- and Five-Year-Old divisions. The following year, Pikko Del Cerro won both the Six-Year-Old Young Horse division title and the stallion championship at Dressage at Devon.

Pikko Del Cerro made his upper level debut with Olympian Lisa Wilcox, winning the Developing Prix St. Georges Championship as an eight-year-old at the US Dressage Festival of Champions and the Developing Grand Prix in its inaugural year. The pair racked up numerous wins at the CDI level in both the US and Europe.

“I knew from day one he was special,” says Sparks. A newbie breeder at the time Pikko Del Cerro was born, she had Olympic dreams for her horse—and indeed, he and Wilcox were long-listed for the US Olympic team before an injury pushed him into early retirement.

North Forks Cardi (Canterbrook Llwynog Du x Bayford True Patriot)

2001 Welsh Cob stallion bred by Carol Holcombe of North Forks Farm, Florence, Oregon

The small but mighty North Forks Cardi came into trainer Jessica Wisdom’s life when she handled the Welsh Cob stallion as a two-year-old at his licensing inspection.

“I told the owner, Cynthia Miller, that this was a pony that could hold its own in open competition,” says Wisdom, of Battle Ground, Washington, a USDF gold medalist, gold freestyle bar recipient, and L graduate. It was Wisdom who started “Cardi” and piloted him to his first USDF Regional Championship title as a three-year-old at Training Level.

Eventually, Wisdom became Cardi’s co-owner along with Miller. As Wisdom and Cardi moved up the levels under saddle, she continued showing him in hand at the USDFBCS, including a first-place finish in the stallion division at Dressage at Devon. The pair capped their success with championship titles in the Open Grand Prix Freestyle at the US Dressage Finals and in the CDI3* Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle at the CDI Langley in Canada.

“As far as I know, he’s the only Welsh Cob in history to win at a CDI at that level,” says Wisdom.

Qredit Hilltop (Quaterback x Dream of Glory)

2008 Oldenburg stallion bred by Judy Yancey of Yancey Farms, Ocala, Florida

As a yearling, Qredit showed in hand at Dressage at Devon, sweeping One-Year-Old Colt/Gelding Champion, Young Horse Champion, and Grand Champion. Later purchased by Hilltop Farm (and now known as Qredit Hilltop), Qredit was the reserve champion at the US Dressage Festival of Champions in the Four-Year-Old division with Christopher Hickey and fourth the following year in the Five-Year-Olds.

DiBerardinis explains that, to best balance the stallion’s heavy breeding schedule with his dressage career, over the next several years Hilltop switched Qredit’s focus from the Young Horse classes to the national-level dressage tests and the Great American/USDF Regional Championships. As a nine-year-old, he placed in the top ten in the Developing Grand Prix at the US Dressage Festival of Champions and was the US Dressage Finals Intermediate II Open champion at the US Dressage Finals with Hilltop Farm head trainer Michael Bragdell. Bragdell currently trains and campaigns the horse at the Grand Prix level, including multiple CDI wins.

“It’s exciting to see a horse that won the breed-show championships at Devon—as a yearling, even, which is unusual—come back and win the Grand Prix CDI-W at Devon,” DiBerardinis says. “It’s also fun to see his offspring coming along. Two years ago, one of his offspring competed in Devon’s small tour, and this year they were back in the Grand Prix.”

Selten HW (Sandro Hit x Hohenstein)

2004 Hanoverian gelding bred by Irene Hoeflich-Wiederhold of Horses Worldwide (HW) Farm, Cape Coral, Florida

Raised at Hilltop Farm, Selten HW started his show career in hand, winning the Two-Year-Old Colt/Gelding champion and reserve grand champion neck sashes at Dressage at Devon before being purchased by California-based dressage pro Elizabeth Ball. Selten HW scored a hat trick, winning the Four-, Five-, and Six-Year-Old divisions consecutively at the US Dressage Festival of Champions—as a four-year-old with rider Michael Bragdell and then with Ball in the irons.

Selten HW was then exported to Europe, where he went on to represent Denmark with rider Anders Dahl at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.

“Selten is such a great example of an American-bred horse sold to Europe to continue such a successful career,” says DiBerardinis. Most recently, Selten HW has been shown successfully by Dahl’s daughter, FEI Junior rider Mette Dahl.

Serenade MF (Sir Donnerhall I x Don Principe)

2013 Hanoverian mare bred by Maryanna Haymon of Marydell Farm, Columbus, North Carolina

Purchased at six months of age by New Jersey-based FEI-level competitor Alice Tarjan, Serenade MF began showing (and winning) in hand in the Current Year Foal division. Tarjan developed Serenade into an international Grand Prix competitor, says breeder Maryanna Haymon, a USDF Platinum-Diamond Breeder of Distinction award recipient.

Tarjan and “Shrimp” racked up a slew of wins: US Dressage Festival of Champions Developing Grand Prix and GP champion, US Dressage Finals Intermediate II and Grand Prix Adult Amateur championship titles, and numerous CDI Grand Prix-level wins and placings, culminating in a ninth-place finish at the 2023 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Omaha.

Setting up for Success

Haymon, a fan of in-hand competition for the horses in her breeding program, says: “Showing in hand teaches horses how to travel, get braided, trailer, and be handled by a stranger. Sometimes they do really well. Sometimes they act like babies. But they always take away something from the experience that benefits them down the road under saddle. I cannot say enough about how beneficial these shows are.” One down side, however: “It’s become very, very expensive for breeders to attend these shows.”

Developing a horse from breed shows to the performance ranks does come with a few caveats, though. Sparks cautions that young stallions shown in hand may later get overly excited during FEI horse inspections (“jogs”), especially if they showed in hand a lot.

Most dressage enthusiasts know that, although the bloodlines may be outstanding, a horse is only as good as its training and handling.

“Finding the right riders for their horses is one of the most important—and difficult—things for breeders to do,” says Sparks, a USDF Platinum-Diamond Breeder of Distinction award recipient. “You can have terrific horses, but if you don’t have the right riders, you’re not going to get where you want to go.”

But the correlation is there between in-hand success and a good performance career, DiBerardinis believes. Horses that consistently score well in DSHB competition demonstrate that they possess the conformation and movement to succeed in dressage later in life, she says.

That’s why “US breeders and US riders/trainers need to actively ensure breed shows continue, as the breeders can showcase their young horses and riders can see those young horses,” Wisdom says. “Spending time at breed shows handling and riding Materiale has given me a pipeline to nice horses, which has helped me shape my career as a rider and trainer. Breed shows support US breeders and the young-horse
industry.”

And American-breds, says Haymon, “can and do compete on the world stage.”

About the Author

Natalie DeFee Mendik, MA, is an award-winning author specializing in equestrian journalism. Visit her online at MendikMedia.com.