Adult amateurs, it’s your time to shine! We are featuring all things adult amateur throughout the month of April.
Dressage riders who are designated as an adult amateur with USEF are eligible for amateur-exclusive year-end award divisions, including Master’s Challenge, Vintage Cup, Adequan®/USDF Adult Amateur Awards, All-Breeds Awards, and more!
An adult amateur from Region 1 shares her journey to earning her Diamond Achievement Award, and the horses and humans who made up her village along the way.
By Denise Steele
How do you talk about a 38-year journey? When I began to write my story about earning my Diamond Achievement Award, one of the first things that I was asked was to discuss the “horse.” This is both wrong and right at the same time. Of course, it is about the horse, but really, it is about the horses. I would not be surprised to hear that someone started a horse and competed it from Training Level to Grand Prix, and did all of the musical freestyles. But my guess is that most of us had a more twisted journey, with stops and starts, and ups and downs along the way. Life happens after all.
I began riding when I was in middle school at The Hill in North Salem, New York, and the barn quickly became my happy place. I was fortunate enough to have parents who were supportive, and when my dad was transferred to Virginia, I got my first horse – an Off-track Thoroughbred (OTTB) who was basically unrideable.
Finally, after much pleading and begging, I convinced them to get me a more suitable mount – a super pony named The Grey Houdini, on whom I won everything as a kid. He was so fun to ride, and really took care of me in the ring. While I started with hunters, I moved to dressage in my 20s… The hard reality was that I couldn’t see a distance to save my life!
The wonderful thing about passions, is that most are about a lifetime of learning. My journey was composed of several super horses and trainers. After a break from riding around college, I had my first dressage lesson with Annelisa Vogt Harber in 1988.
My first serious dressage horse was an Oldenberg named Amadeus, whom I purchased for $1 and then trained up the levels, despite some trainer skepticism along the way. By 1991, I had earned my USDF Bronze and Silver Rider Medals on Amadeus, with the help of Hokan Thorn, Annelisa Vogt Harber, and Roanne Froh. I sold Amadeus and acquired Gershwin through Hokan, and after a few years, decided to upgrade again.
I found my horse, Ivo, in Holland as a four-year-old. Around that time, I purchased my own farm and moved Ivo there, and began working with Karen full-time. By the time he was 14, I had trained him to Grand Prix, and in 2004, I earned my Gold Medal.
Over the next several years, I bought, trained, and sold several horses, but was still hunting for that special something. Then, in 2009, Karen Lipp and my good friend Harald Cornellissen from Germany found me a small tour schoolmaster, a mare named Rock Star (Rosa).
Rosa was an uber-mare and a super partner. With Rosa, I was able to earn my Silver Freestyle Bar. We were a great team, winning both the Adult Amateur Intermediate I Championship and Intermediate I Musical Freestyle Championship at the 2011 Great American/USDF Region 1 Dressage Championships, and earning the 2012 Adequan®/USDF Dressage Horse of the Year Intermediate I Champion title.
While Rosa was an amazing horse, the small tour was her forte, as the piaffe wasn’t her favorite thing; she was a very large horse, and the super collected movements weren’t easy for her, given her conformation.
At this point in life, I realized that 1) I really wanted to get back in the Grand Prix ring and 2) it was really important to me to finish earning my medals.
In 2019, I met my husband Ken. He was also a lifelong dressage rider who had taken an extended break for work but was now riding again. While we each had horses, we decided that we needed to find horses that could help us achieve our goals while we were still able to ride. We weren’t getting any younger, as the saying goes.
First, we found Morante (aka Scamp) out in California. He was a four-year-old Lusitano who was in training for bull fighting. He could piaffe, passage, and bow, but not do much else. Although we were told he was 15.3 hands, he was more like 14.3. But he was adorable, and a hard worker. We also acquired two young horses from Germany, but considering our ages, we decided it was better to get something a little further along.
We began our search through our friend Harald, resulting in the acquisition of three other amazing horses, who we currently ride. Harald introduced us to Ingo and Susan Pape from Hemmoor, Germany. From the Papes, we bought Bourani, an eleven-year-old Grand Prix-level Westfalen gelding, then-owned in partnership by them and Harmony Sporthorses.
Later that year, we also acquired Bon Chance 8 (Bonni), a Hannoverian mare competing in the small and medium tour. Although originally Bourani was to be mine and Bonni Ken’s, we ended up switching horses, so the hunt for another horse for me was still on. We were looking for a special horse, one that could go in a snaffle, as I have arthritis in my hands, which makes riding in a double bridle difficult.
Donja was the horse that sealed the deal. She also belonged to the Papes. A Swiss Warmblood mare by For Romance, we had seen Donja in Wellington with Susan, and immediately fell for her. Susan, at the time, said no, she wasn’t ready yet. It was an agonizing year of hoping and dreaming, and a little bit of begging, before we convinced them to sell her to us. In the fall of 2024, she departed from Germany to come to our farm in North Carolina.
I began the journey back to Grand Prix, and we did our first Grand Prix in May of 2025. I immediately began to work on a freestyle for her, and with the talent of Nicole Pendzich, came up with an amazing score. It was not without delays – the realities of horses, from a persistent girth sore, and then a minor splint – but at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, we rode it for the first time, and within two rides had completed the last leg on the journey to earning my Diamond Achievement Award.
Donja is still fairly young, just 13, and we feel there is definitely more to come. My next goal is to break the 67% mark, so I can add “Gold Medal with Distinction” to my list of accomplishments. As our last two rides were over 66%, that should be soon. I also plan to take her into the CDI ring in May at MadFest. She is a special horse with great potential.
Again, it was a long journey. It took three horses just to earn my Bronze Bar. My advice to others is that you just have to be persistent, and remember to enjoy the journey. I have been fortunate to have so many great people who have helped me along the way, including a very supportive husband who is willing to groom, coach, braid, drive, and handle paperwork for me.
I have been fortunate to have a great team of instructors, vets, and farriers over the years. Some were already mentioned and have continued to be there for me, and I am sure I will forget to mention someone. I also want to acknowledge Vera Kessels’ contributions; she was a great coach, and a dear friend who, sadly, was not able to see me reach this goal. I miss her smile and encouragement. I have huge gratitude for Susan Pape, for all her hours of instruction, video watching, and friendship. Lars Petersen, who has been a great mentor and help, and Felicitas, who has been there, watching, advising, and graciously sharing her time. Charlotte Bredahl and Robinn Brueckmann have also been big helps, especially when it comes to test riding and geometry!
It takes a village after all.
