Lexington, Ky. – With the conclusion of the 2024 competition season, the standings of the USEF Eventing Developing Horse Series are now final. The series includes divisions for 6-year-old and 7-year-old horses, and the leaderboard is determined by the average of the horses’ two best finishing scores in CCIs at levels specified by age.
2024 7-Year-Old Developing Horse Series Leader: Cooley Corraghy Diamond
Bill and Roslyn Johnson’s 2017 Irish Sport Horse gelding, Cooley Corraghy Diamond (Diamond Roller x Seoladh, Cruising) topped the 7-year-old leaderboard after a successful season with rider Kim Severson. Severson and the Johnsons had their eye on “Cory” and acquired him in 2020 through Ireland’s Go for Gold sale.
“I’ve had several horses by Diamond Roller, and they all have excellent brains. My [five-star horse] Cooley Cross Border was a Diamond Roller,” said Severson. “I saw [Cory] coming through the auction and I liked what I saw, so I sent the picture to Bill. He had Richard Sheane go look at him and we ended up buying him."
Owner Bill Johnson remembers holding out for Cory at that year’s sale, which was done online due to COVID restrictions.
“I think there were 69 horses in the catalog for that sale, and he was the last one,” Johnson remembers. “I had to wait through the entire auction while everybody else was bidding and buying all the other horses, hoping everyone had spent their money, because from the beginning, Cory was the horse that I wanted. It came down to us bidding against a couple other people, and I was able to get him.”
After the sale, Cory went to Richard Sheane at his Cooley Farm in Ireland to get started and made the trip to the U.S. as a 4-year-old with just basic training under his belt.
“He’s one of those horses that was going to be really slow [to develop],” said Severson. “He’s very shy and not totally sure about himself—unless he’s on cross-country. So I’ve been bringing him up quite slowly. The first two years were very, very slow, and then all of a sudden, he just went through the roof. Once he went two-star, and then moved up to intermediate, he’s just been so good.”
Severson was careful to respect her sensitive young gelding’s limits, and that patience has paid off in Cory’s 7-year-old year. The pair earned their top score of the year in the CCI2*-S at the Tryon International Three-Day Event, adding only 1.6 cross-country time penalties to their dressage score to finish on a 29.9. They closed out the season strong at the CCI3*-L at the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill where they earned their second-best score, once again adding only time to their dressage score to finish on a 33.5.
“He’s such a nice horse. When I was show jumping at Fair Hill, it was like show jumping on Cooley Cross Border, who was an extremely good show jumper,” said Severson. “They just want to jump clean, and that’s in that breeding as well. They want to do it well. On cross-country, I was like, ‘I’ll just see how it goes. We’re going to do one jump at a time.’ And he was just incredible. He’s done very few intermediates, but he’s just good at it.
“He’s been a bit of a surprise for everybody,” Severson continued. “I love him. He’s a beautiful horse—he’s like a My Little Pony. But also, I like his personality. I knew it would be fragile, and that’s sort of how my program is. It’s very small, and so it really suited him to be more of a one-on-one type of horse and just go slow.”
With Cory proving his mettle in the jumping phases during the past season, Severson is currently working with him on some dressage components that he’ll need to master to move up the levels, namely his flying changes. (“He gets the twisties,” said Severson.) But she sees limitless potential in his future.
“I keep reminding myself that 2028 is not that far away. I think he’s definitely good enough. There’s no question about that,” she said. “It’s just a matter of doing right by him and carrying on. He definitely has the brain for it. He wants to be careful, and he’s quiet. He doesn’t need any special warmup or anything like that. He’s probably the best horse I’ve had.”
Johnson, Cory’s owner, also has the 2028 Olympics in mind as he looks toward his horse’s future, and he believes in the partnership between Cory and Severson.
“We have a long relationship with Kim, and to me, she’s the consummate professional. I feel like you would put her up in the top two or three eventers the U.S. has ever produced,” he said. “In eventing, it’s not only the rider, but it’s having the right horse at the right time, and that’s why we were determined that if we were in a position to help get the right horse, then we were going to go ahead and do that. You never know what’s going to happen with horses, and so far, this trip has been pretty magical.
“The big picture, if we could pencil something in, would be that we’d like to be in Los Angeles in four years,” he continued. “Kim is the ultimate team player—she loves being on teams, and it would be a crowning achievement if she could get on the Olympic team with this horse. There’s a certain magic that happens when we get the right horse with the right rider. You don’t see it that often, and this appears to be one of those cases.”
2024 6-Year-Old Developing Horse Series Leader: HSH Talbots Hill
In the 6-year-old division, HSH Talbots Hill (Coolkeeran x Sisceal, Dalakhani), a 2018 Irish Sport Horse gelding ridden by Caroline Pamukcu and owned by Pamukcu and Sherrie Martin, finished the season on top of the leaderboard. The pair earned their best score of the season in the CCI1*-S at Bouckaert Equestrian International Horse Trials where they finished on their dressage score of 25.4. In April, they posted their second-best score of 29.3 at the Ocala International Festival of Eventing.
“Freddie” has a pedigree featuring successful Thoroughbred racehorses; both his granddam and grandsire on his dam’s side were graded stakes winners. Sadly, his mother died shortly after he was born, and he was bottle fed, which has likely influenced his people-oriented personality.
“He’s very much in your pocket,” said Pamukcu, adding that he likes to get in to anything and everything that he can reach from over his stall guard. “I think it’s funny. I know everyone in the barn is annoyed by it, but I love him. He’s a pet. He just wants you to rub on him and throw him toys. We have a bunch of stuffed animals hanging from his stall. He’s very cute and has tons of personality.”
Behind that puckish personality is a talented athlete who has been a promising part of Pamukcu’s program since she brought him over to the U.S. at the end of his 5-year-old year.
“For a horse who is nearly full Thoroughbred, he’s a fabulous mover. He’s very rideable, especially in the dressage,” she said. “He’s so well-balanced. His canter is incredible. He’s not spooky; he’s got a great brain. He’s one of those horses you can literally just get on, go straight in the ring, and have a winning dressage test.
“For cross-country, you’re not going to find a better gallop because he’s nearly full Thoroughbred,” Pamukcu continued. “He’s got an incredible jump, but that’s where he would be a little bit weaker because he is a bit tall and has really long legs. He just has to get a little bit more strength for the show jumping, but I think this horse is the real deal.”
Freddie proved to be a valuable partner, performing with a maturity beyond his age in a variety of situations.
“I was pretty pregnant by Tryon, and I was really proud of him to jump around and do the CCI2*-L. My balance wasn’t super, and he totally just packed me around like an old pro. I was really proud of him,” said Pamukcu. “And at [Bouckaert Equestrian Horse Trials] in the spring, there was a hurricane, and you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face and he just put his ears flat back and totally took on the course. That was really cool.”
Looking ahead, Pamukcu hopes to take Freddie to his CCI3*-L debut in the spring with an eye on either the FEI Eventing World Championship for Young Horses in France or the CCI3* at the Maryland 5 Star in the fall.
“Our other plan is the young horse class at Morven [Park International & Fall Horse Trials] because I think it’s so important to support the program during the US Open Final at Morven,” she said. “It would be nice to see how he stacks up against the rest of the horses in the United States in the same age group. I think it’s healthy to have that sort of competition in that sort of environment.”
Whatever happens in Freddie’s future, it’s clear that he’s a beloved member of Pamukcu’s team.
“I think it’s really special when we have horses that are in the family,” she said, adding that she was presently on the way to visit her business partner, Kelly Hutchinson, and her family, who bred Freddie. “It’s so cool to be so close with them and their breeding program and then be able to produce the horse up the levels, and they come over and watch him compete. He’s just a pleasure of a horse. He’s a special guy, and I hope I’ll do him justice.”