Healing Hearts and Achieving Goals

By Dawn Briand

Heavy Hitters! Throughout the month of December, we are featuring heavy breeds and heavy breed crosses!

Did you know that dressage riders who choose a heavy hitter as their mounts are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the Draft Cross Breeders & Owners Association (among several others!) is a participating organization!

Here, a Region 8 adult amateur shares about the Belgian-Throughbred cross who healed her heart after a significant loss, and is now helping her achieve her USDF Bronze Medal!

They say when one door closes, another one opens. This could not have been truer when it comes to Elias. 

In August of 2024, I wrote a story about my Thoroughbred mare, Cross Match, or Teagan, as she is affectionately known. The story was called “Onward and Upward” and was about my journey of extreme highs and extreme lows with Teagan. 

By the end of 2024, I had decided to retire Teagan due to some significant arthritis developing in her neck. My plan was to retire her to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. I filled out the application, and she was officially on the waitlist. She enjoyed her time as a pasture puff and living her best life of grooming and all the minty muffins she wanted. 

While Teagan was enjoying her time of rest and relaxation, my friend Kelli asked me if I would be interested in riding her gelding, Elias. Kelli and I had been riding on and off together for a few years, and anytime Teagan was injured or needed time off, she would offer me Elias. When I tell you that this horse can make your worst day better, I am not kidding. 

Elias is a twenty-year-old, 17.2-hand Belgian-Thoroughbred cross who has the personality of a Golden Retriever. He loves attention, belly scratches, and if you are wearing anything with a zipper, he will gladly help you unzip it.

I started riding Elias consistently in March 2025, after he had been mainly doing some trail riding and living his best life for a couple of years. Kelli offered me free rein to do anything with him. I had really wanted to give dressage seat equitation a try, and my plan with him was to go out and have some fun. When I told Kelli that I was just going to do some dressage equitation, she laughed at me and said, “You’re going to want to do more than that once you start showing him.” I tried to stick to my guns, but lo and behold, I had so much fun at the first show, that I decided to do an equitation class and a dressage test at the next show.

Sadly, right before our second show, I lost Teagan. She went into liver failure due to what we believe was a tumor. This loss was devastating, and I was completely heartbroken. I can honestly say that Elias kept me from hitting rock bottom and falling into a deep depression. 

Two days after losing Teagan, I went to ride Elias and, with tears in my eyes, he nudged me as if to say, “It’s going to be ok.” He really did help me through some of my worst days, and there are not enough words to thank Kelli for giving me the ride on this very special horse.

We started off doing a couple of Training Level tests to knock some of the dust off of him, but Elias knew his job. We continued with the equitation classes, while also moving up to ride First Level Test 1. 

We were earning respectable scores, and when I was on the fence about doing First Level Test 2, Kelli asked me what the difference between Test 1 and Test 2 is. I told her that Test 2 adds leg yield and lengthening the canter. Her response was, “Do it, I love his big canter!” So, we did, and the first time out riding Test 2, we scored a 70%. I could not believe it; that was also a personal best for me. As the summer went on and Elias became stronger, we began schooling some of the Second Level movements.

Toward the end of the season, we moved up to Second Level, riding Test 1. I rode a little too conservatively, but we still scored respectably. Our last show of the 2025 season was the following weekend, and we rode the same test again. This time, though, I pushed where I knew I could, and it paid off. We improved our score by five percentage points.

Since our last show, we have been working on some of the Third Level movements, including learning flying changes. What started off as a single-season ride on this special boy, has now turned into reaching for the last scores needed for my USDF Bronze Medal. 

I am looking forward to spending the winter working on refining the Third Level movements, and kicking off the 2026 season strong at Second Level. We plan to give Third Level a try in the summer!

They say everything happens for a reason, and I firmly believe that. While I still struggle with the loss of Teagan, that loss brought me to Elias, and the possibility of achieving a goal that I had originally set with Teagan. I am blessed to hopefully be able to achieve it with this very special horse. 

To Kelli: Thank you will never be enough for what you have given me, your kindness is more than I feel I deserve. 

To Elias: Thank you for helping to heal a very broken heart and spirit. You bring a smile to my face every time I get you from the paddock, and you nudge me for the treats you know I have in my pocket.