Courtney King of Bedford, NY, riding the Dutch stallion Idocus owned by Christine McCarthy, won the Open Grand Prix at the Windy Hollow Hunt Spring Dressage show on Sunday, May 14, at the Sussex Fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ. King and the 16-year-old bay stallion by Equafor scored 62.708% from Judge Anne Rawle of Pennsylvania.
"Idocus and I had our best grand prix by far since he has come back to me," enthused King, who had ridden the stallion to international success four years ago and was reunited with him last year. King acknowledged that though this was the lowest score she and Idocus had ever received in the grand prix, she was still happy with the victory, noting that it was one of the highest scores Judge Rawle awarded at the one-day show. "The good thing is that Idocus doesn't know the score and it was successful for him," beamed King. "I was very pleased with him. This show did just what I wanted it to do. It gave me an opportunity to make him better in the ring and therefore better for next time."
King also earned the Open High Score Championship at Windy Hollow Hunt Spring Dresage with one of her newest young mounts, Harmony's Wyoming, a five-year-old Hanoverian gelding. King was exhibiting Wyoming in his first show and debuted him in Open Training Level Test 4. The pair earned a score of 78.077% from Judge Pat Jacobson of New York, and King was named the show's Open High Score Champion.
Harmony's Wyoming is by Weltmeir out of a Donnerhall mare, and owned by Harmony Sport Horses. "Wyoming was amazing," said King. "He is just so level-headed. He was wild when we got to the show, but after longing and getting his kicks out a bit he was like a seasoned campaigner; he didn't look at a thing."
King, 28, is based at Gleneden Dressage in Bedford, NY. In 2000, King was named to the USET Olympic Long List, and in 2004 she was named to the USEF High Performance Developing Riders List. King is a United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Bronze, Silver and Gold Medalist and a USDF Certified Instructor through Fourth Level.
The Windy Hollow Hunt Spring Dressage show featured 100 horses competing in a total of 186 rides, ranging from Introductory Tests to Grand Prix, and included musical freestyles and young horse tests. For full show results, visit www.windyhollowhunt.org/dressage.htm.
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