Wayne, Ill. – With the final days of the 2024 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions underway, a new crop of national champions has emerged from the exciting competition at HITS Chicago Lamplight Equestrian Center.

Markel/USEF Developing Horse Prix St. Georges

Sabine Schut-Kery (Oceanside, Calif.) took  Gorgeous Latino (Glock’s Toto Jr. x Blackmanda), a 2016 stallion owned by Sandy Mancini, produced a winning in the second test for the Developing Prix St. Georges horses to secure the champion title.

“He came to me at the end of his 5-year-old year, and he’s been quite incredible,” said Schut-Kery. “As a 6-year-old, he got his scores right away for Ermelo [the FEI/WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship]. Last year, we did the 7-year-old [class at FOC] and he won that. It’s been really fun to see.

“Of course I had bobbles, and personally, there’s so much I want to improve,” said Schut-Kery about her tests at this year’s FOC. “But I also have to remember that these are young horses for the level they’re doing. You have to let your perfectionist mind go and just really appreciate how they show up in the ring and be able to transfer what you work on at home and in your warmup and carry that over into the ring. That’s one of my biggest goals, that the rideability and the adjustability stays, and I have to say, he really showed up.”

Schut-Kery describes the stallion as playful and confident. His demeanor shines through when she takes him on trail rides in the mountains near her Southern California base, which is a regular part of her training regimen for all her horses every week.

“We trail ride him in the mountains, and he’s the leading horse of all of them,” she said. “He has a good head on his shoulders. He’s the leader—that’s who he is, and that’s also what I have to work with [in the arena].”

Schut-Kery tries to get her horses out for a trail ride weekly, and says it’s a benefit to horses and human alike.

“I do it mostly for the horses, but I think even for us, it’s great to just let go and have a little fun,” she said. “We make sure not to do something drastic that they’re not used to, like climbing, but it’s really cool, and they’re all really good, especially when Latino leads and the others follow.”

Sarah Mason-Beaty (Danville, Calif.) earned the reserve champion title with her own, Kanjer (Geniaal x Rosanne), a 2015 Dutch Warmblood gelding.

“I’ve had Kanjer since he was 3, and he’s 9 this year,” said Mason-Beaty. “He was right there with me every stride. This is Kanjer’s first time here, and he blew me away with how he handled the environment and how he really stepped up when it mattered. I’m so proud of him.”

Mason-Beaty has taken her time with Kanjer’s training, and it’s paid off.

“He’s such a talented boy, and I feel like it’s been such a beautiful journey with him to lead to this point,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how he would handle the atmosphere. I wasn’t sure going into it what the judges here would think of him, and to have their positive feedback and to have the show go so well is reaffirming to the training that we’re trying to do every day at home.”

Like Shut-Kery, Mason-Beaty was one of many FOC competitors who traveled in from the West Coast, and the two took their lap of honor together.

“Sabine is someone I look up to, and someone who has offered me such incredible advice throughout the last several years,” said Mason-Beaty. “To be behind her in that class, and to have her invite me to ride next to her in the victory round, was an absolute dream come true.

Kate Fleming-Kuhn (New Berlin, Ill.) and Franzsis HSR (Franziskus x Simone HSR), a U.S.-bred Oldenburg gelding owned by Fleming-Kuhn and Martin Kuhn, finished in third place. “Franzi” was also recognized as the highest-placed U.S.-bred horse in the class.

“I bought him when he was two weeks old from his breeder in California,” said Fleming-Kuhn. “I saw his video and was just really smitten with him, and so we’ve been together since the beginning and have built, I think, a very special personality.”

 Fleming-Kuhn describes her horse as playful and sweet, but also says that he has a bit of a “Dennis the Menace streak.”

“He definitely has a sense of humor and is very, very sensitive to ride, which is a blessing, but then sometimes also a challenge for me to keep him really going with me.” She said. “But he’s a very kind horse and a generous partner.

“I was thrilled with him,” she said of his performances at FOC. “I had two clean tests, I had a lot of horse underneath me, and he was really with me every step of the way, in spite of being a bit charged with the environment.”

Neue Schule/USEF Grand Prix Dressage National Championship

After three days of competition in the USEF Festival of Champions Grand Prix division, Amy Bradley (Wellington, Fla.) and her own Quileute CCW ultimately secured top honors following three strong tests at the Grand Prix level. The pair produced a lovely freestyle test together, earning a 72.010% from the panel to top the class on their final day of competition.

With a floorplan for their freestyle designed by Marlene Whitaker, Bradley has played around with music to best suit Quileute CCW, and recently utilized the help of Carlos Segura (COL) to perfect the composition of songs included within their musical compilation. Born in the 1980s, Bradley felt compelled to use songs that resonated with her from her time growing up, and with Quileute CCW, based on their challenging journey together throughout the years.

“He has been on and off sick with so many things through the years. He’s had laminitis, his hocks fused, he had a tumor removed, so it felt like every time we would get him going something would happen. It’s really been a rollercoaster with him. I bred him and I was there was he was born and done all the training and behind-the-scenes work. He’s my heart horse and the wait has been worth it,” explained Bradley, of the pair’s fourteen-year relationship.

With Bradley responsible for the bulk of the training and fitness work behind the 2010 Oldenburg gelding (Quarterback x Gluckslady), the pair’s opportunity to show at FOC could not be missed given the lengths Bradley has gone to keep Quileute CCW sound, healthy, and ready to compete at Grand Prix.

“He’s just so smart. We did our first Grand Prix when he was ten and then that next year he was out for a significant period, and it’s been hard, but the good thing about horses is they don’t forget. Once we started getting him fit again, he feels great and I’m just so grateful that we were able to bring him back to this level.”

With the pair just coming back to the Grand Prix level this year after the time off, Bradley was pleased with their performance across the three classes within the division. “We had some mistakes in our tests, but when I went back and watched the videos I was really pleased with his balance and his connection. I’m an amateur and it’s always a little intimidating to be in these big classes and I felt like I really could say we belong here,” she concluded.

Karen Lipp (Ball Ground, Ga.) and her own Infinity took reserve champion honors in the Grand Prix division, finishing with a 71.315% in their freestyle to conclude their time at the 2024 edition of FOC. The pair are no strangers to FOC, having attended the event for the last six years across different divisions, and Lipp discussed the ever-building partnership the pair have nurtured throughout the years.

“I bought him as a four-year-old in Holland and he’s 11 now. This is the sixth time we’ve come to Festival of Champions. We’ve really used this as a progress marker throughout the years – starting in the 6YO divisions, working into the Developing PSG and Developing Grand Prix classes,” she explained. “We’ve only been doing the Grand Prix for about six months so I’m super thrilled with him.”

Lipp was drawn to the soundtrack of Netflix’s popular show Wednesday and wanted to play off other popular music, so Karen Peterson helped pull the composition together for the pair’s Grand Prix debut this year, highlighting the movement of the 2013 KWPN gelding (Dream Boy x Ultraster).

“He’s for sure the best horse I’ve ever had, and I hope maybe we will go to Europe next summer and we have some big plans with his freestyles for the future and it’s just really exciting to have him,” Lipp added. “It’s fun to have a horse that I’ve worked with from the beginning. He’s a bold horse and he’s just so honest. I have high hopes for where we can go together.”

In their first appearance at FOC in the Grand Prix division, Callie O’Connell (Wilmington, Mass.) and Eaton H finished in third after their three Grand Prix tests. The duo concluded their week with a freestyle composed to an assortment of music by Queen, earning them 71.150% from the panel.

“It was as good as it could have been today. I felt like it was the best day we’ve had here, and he was just so nice in the bridle and with his self-carriage. I felt like I could really ride him in the ring, and it was just fun. He was really such a good boy,” said O’Connell of the pair’s final test of the week.

The duo’s music was also composed by Karen Peterson and the inspiration came from O’Connell’s love of Queen and the moniker they’ve given to Eaton H, who has a “rockstar” type personality. The flashy 2009 KWPN gelding (Wynton x Ziolita H) owned by Ruling Cortes LLC, can be bold and forward and highlighting his expressiveness and balance through their music selection was evident.

O’Connell has been partnered with Eaton H, also known as Ed, for just over two years. The pair first learned to work together in the U25 divisions for two years and stepped in the FEI Grand Prix ring this year for the first time. The experienced gelding started his Grand Prix career at age eight with Christoph Koschel, who also trains O’Connell.

“Christoph really knows the horse so well and it’s helped me a lot with the transition and I’m learning so much. He’s a very powerful, hot horse and is sometimes different every day, but I just love him. He has this rockstar personality and is always just fired up. He’s a very personable horse. He just turned 16, so we’re really going to go for it and see where we can get to together.”

Adequan^®/USEF Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship

Christian Simonson (Ventura, Calif.) and Son of a Lady (Soreldo x Western Lady), Christina Morgan and Clifton Simonson’s 2011 Danish Warmblood gelding, earned the coveted Brentina Cup title. The win was especially meaningful for Simonson, who trains with Adrienne Lyle, a past Brentina Cup champion herself. Lyle, in turn, trained with Debbie McDonald, the longtime trainer and rider of the horse for whom the class is named.

“This is our last big show of the summer,” said Simonson. “This is a green year for ‘Sonny.’ It’s his first year at Grand Prix. My expectations were just trying to give him the best rides I can and have him trust me more and more, and I think we really achieved that this weekend. He gave me such a good feeling all three days, and I’m just incredibly thankful to him. I’m thankful to Adrienne and the team we have here. Adrienne just flew in from Paris and came here and is helping me, so I cannot be more thankful to her.”

Simonson said that he intentionally kept the degree of difficulty fairly low on his freestyle since it’s his and Sonny’s first year at the level. Instead, the focus was on building confidence.

“The music itself is kind of young,” said Simonson. “I think it’s fun because it’s a youthful class, the under-25, and so we kind of have dance techno music, which I think also kind of highlights how fun he is and how spicy of a horse he is.”

Josh Albrecht (Oroville, Calif.) and Goldenboy Vickenburgh (Apache x Tandafanory), Coalcyn Equestrian LLC’s 2011 Dutch Warmblood gelding, performed an ambitous freestyle set to music by Imagine Dragons, and secured their reserve champion position.

“I really like the music,” said Albrecht. “It’s fun. It’s upbeat. I actually picked that music because my horse could be kind of calm and quiet, so I wanted outgoing music that would make me push to get there and rise to the music.”

Albrecht and “G Boy” have been a partnership for less than a year, but they’ve had a successful one already, with top performances at the FEI North American Youth Championship (NAYC) a few weeks ago.

“It was a little bit of a crazy time in between NAYC, and I was really excited to be here,” said Albrecht. “It was really fun to do the class, and I've been really enjoying watching all the young horse classes. It's the first year of me showing this horse here. I've only been riding him since November, so we’re kind of green—he’s not; I am—so my goal has just kind of been to be the best partner for him in the ring that I can be.”

Sophia Schults (Ocala, Fla.) and Conocido HGF (Cosaco XI x Luz De Luna HGF), her own 2012 PRE gelding, had good performances throughout the week to finish in third place. Like Simonson and Albrecht, Schults also competed successfully at NAYC just a few weeks ago.

“It’s our first year doing the U25 for both myself and my horse, so everything has been a learning curve,” she said. “At North Americans, we learned a lot that we were going to implement this week, and he gave me everything he had in the U25 test. Overall, I’m super, super happy.”

Schults’s music complements her bold-moving PRE well.

“The music is from a movie that was made about Ernest Hemingway when he did a trip to Spain, and he became very enchanted with the country,” she said. “Marlene Whitaker is the one who made it. It's very dynamic, very Spanish. We lean into it, so it's a little bit difficult in some aspects for our greenness, but it's totally okay. We're learning a lot, so we're happy.”

Aspen Leaf Farm/USEF Pony Rider Dressage National Championship

Mia Folk (Fullerton, Calif.) and Coelenhage Parco, a 2013 Welsh Pony gelding owned by Sage Chacon turned in a strong FEI Pony Rider Individual Test on Saturday, earning a 65.450% and moving into the national champion standing.

“I’ve only been working with Parco for a couple of months now,” said Folk. “I’ve done the FEI Ponies the last couple of years, so it wasn’t new to me. Parco is actually my friend’s pony, and she was kind enough to let me borrow him.”

Folk has been spending the last couple of months doing a lot of practice rides with Parco, working to build a partnership in a fairly short amount of time.

“We’ve been working really well together, though,” she said. “We’ve been practicing, trying to make everything accurate and to get the best test possible.”

Parco came into the ring for the first test on Friday with quite a bit of energy, leading to some bobbles in the performance, but Folk was able to learn from the experience and return strong on Saturday.

“I came into the test a lot calmer and expecting him to be like that,” she said. “So I was actually telling him that it’s okay, and trying to keep him calm and reassure him every step of the ride. It was hard. I was probably a little discouraged from yesterday because he’s never that bad, but I’m kind of used to naughty ponies. Thankfully, today he wanted to work with me.”

Samantha MacDonald (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Candy Crush, her own 2009 Welsh Pony cross gelding, earned reserve champion honors.

“I’ve had ‘Crush’ for about a year now, and we started in training level and worked our way up to pony,” said MacDonald. “I’m super proud of him. We’ve come a long way together, and I just love him so much.”

The FEI Pony Rider tests ask a lot of competitors, and MacDonald made sure her preparation was on point.

“I ran through the test a lot of times, because that test is not an easy one to memorize,” she said. “It was a lot of repetition, a lot of practice, and just really making sure that I hit all the geometry and get it as best as I can.”

Bridget Kelly (Roswell, N.M.) and Windover Tarragon (Irish Parks Caraway Finn x Dee Poco Princess), her own 2009 Connemara mare, turned in two consistent tests to finish in third place in the championship. The pair have been together for five years.

“I’ve done all the dressage training on Chai. When I first got her, she hadn’t been trained in dressage at all,” said Kelly. “So our main focus was just to ride the best we can. She’s not the biggest mover or anything, but she tries really, really hard. I was trying to ride a very accurate test and get every little point that we could, and I thought that we did that.”

Kelly and “Chai” have done a lot in their long partnership, and started in eventing before making the switch to dressage. They’ve also built a strong relationship.

“In the barn she’s not a super friendly or cuddly horse, but since I’ve been with her for five years, she started to get used to me, and she really enjoys spending time with me now.”

Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage National Championship for 5-Year-Old Horses

Petra Warlimont (Evergreen, Colo.) and Deambulo PWD (Don Martillo x Franka), her own 2019 Hanoverian gelding, clinched the championship in the 5-Year-Old division with both their tests scoring in the 80s. Warlimont said that “Dewey” can be a bit timid, but his FOC experience was beneficial.

“Through the whole week, he just kept getting better and braver,” she said. “His first test was really good, but he was a little bit more timid. Today he came in and he was just ready to go. I made a mistake, but he was perfect.”

Warlimont has owned Dewey since he was a 3-year-old, thanks to her business partner in Germany who connected the two.

“Every time I was in Germany, my partner Hannes Baumgart put me on him to try him out,” she said, adding that she was hesitant about taking on the cost of a horse of her own, but ultimately she couldn’t resist. “His canter is phenomenal. I’d never felt anything like it.

“In a way, I feel more responsible for his brain and his future,” she said. “When you ride horses for other people, of course you do the same thing for those horses, but you don’t know how long they’ll be with you. Dewey is not such a brave soul, and he needs me so much in my life. I feel this whole week was about him gaining confidence, and I feel he did a lot in this last test.”

Warlimont was also the winner of a saddle from N2 Saddlery, the Official Saddle of the U.S. Dressage Team. She was one of the top three placing combinations from the young and developing horse classes who was entered in a raffle to win an N2 Saddle at this year's FOC.

Madeleine Bendfeldt (GER) and her own and Cody Raub's Zapatero (Zoom x Hauptstutbuch Fleur), a 2019 Hanoverian gelding, earned scores above 8.0 from the judges for their second test, with an impressive 8.4 for submission and 8.5 for perspective to move them into first place for the final test and reserve champion overall.

“On Thursday [for the preliminary test], I totally underestimated how much of a difference it is,” she said in reference to the cool temperatures at Lamplight earlier in the week. “I train in South Florida, where it’s between 90 and 100 degrees every day. And then we showed at 8:10 in the morning, and ‘Zoom’ was cold, and we had a lot of what the judges called ‘playtime.’ I tried to still have a good experience for him in the test. But today we warmed up a bit longer, and it’s warmer today, and he was just himself. The horse I’m training at home, I had him today, but not on Thursday. And he was so phenomenal that he made it up from Thursday, and we became [reserve champion]. I’m very, very proud.”

Like Warlimont, Bendfeldt is the owner/trainer of her horse, which changes the dynamic a bit.

“I knew him since he was a foal,” she said. “I sat on him once when he was 3, and it was like coming home. It took a whole village to get him here, and every day I’m so proud that I’m his trainer. Zoom is a little bit shy and very careful. He’s so loving. There’s not a bad bone in this horse. He just always wants to please you; he wants to do it right. I’m over the moon happy.”

Willy Arts (Hanford, Calif.) and Serupgaards Cézanne (Torveslettens Sylvester x Serupgards Sangria), a 2019 Danish Warmblood gelding owned by Linda Nickerson. Arts has had the horse for his entire career after importing him to the U.S. from Germany as a 3-year-old.

“He’s a very fun horse. He has a good work ethic. He’s focused, and I think very talented in many ways for the higher levels,” said Arts. “Today our ride could have been more consistent, but other than that, he’s been pretty good. It’s all part of the development of the horse.”

Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage National Championship for 4-Year-Old Horses

A testament to quality dressage breeding in America, all of the top six entries in this year’s 4-year-old division were U.S.-bred horses. Willy Arts was back on the top of the standings in the 4-year-old class with his homebred Pharaoh DG (Koning DG x Parcival), a 2020 Dutch Warmblood stallion owned by DG Bar Ranch. As Pharaoh’s breeder and trainer, Arts has been there from the horse’s auspicious beginnings and into his early dressage success.

“Some horses, when they’re born, you can see right away that they’ve got it all, and he was like that as a foal and as a yearling,” said Arts. “As a 2-year-old, he got presented for licensing by the KWPN, and he scored 90 points for conformation, 90 points for movement, and when he had to do the performance test, he got 88 points for the riding test.

The eye-catching liver chestnut stallion thoroughly impressed the judges, earning 90.800% in the first test and 85.200% in the second, and even earned a 10 for the perspective score in the first test. Their overall score for the championship was an 87.440%

“I’ve never had a 10 in my whole life, so as far as that goes, it was, in a way, a surprise,” said Arts. “I didn’t expect that, but at the same time, I appreciated it, because it summed it all up. A 10 is the ultimate. I think the judges saw the ability in the horse and the way everything went, so I appreciated that.”

In addition to his undeniable beauty and impressive gaits, Arts describes Pharaoh as having the temperament and character necessary to make him successful as a performance horse and a breeding stallion.

“I would say he’s a very cool, hot horse,” said Arts. “Cool in everything else, just quiet. But then to work, he doesn't know what tired is. You sit on him and you have a lot there. That’s a really special trait. And his feet, his legs—he’s very strong and well put-together. I think his best thing is his natural balance, his posture. Instead of you having to put the horse together, you have a horse that just carries himself. And you can sit there and go.”

Michele Bondy (Wilsonville, Ore.) and Sonnenberg’s Paris (Vivino x Fine Time), a 2020 KWPN gelding owned by Sonnenberg Farm, LLC, finished as reserve champion in the 4-year-old division after earning an impressive 91.200% in the second test for an overall 87.360%. Bondy has known ‘Paris’ since he was a foal and has been his rider and trainer for his whole career thus far.

“Paris is just lovely. He's kind of a goofy, silly little boy, but he's very emotional,” said Bondy. “Coming into the first test, he's always very reliable, but you could tell he was a little nervous. He stayed with me through the test, but I was a little hesitant to really push for it. Today he just felt incredible. He was so good. He's so willing. He's so cheery. You say, ‘Oh, you're so good.’ He's like, ‘Yes, that's so wonderful.’ He's just a good boy. All in all, he's a super horse. But I feel like today was just way more rideable, like I could really push, and he was like, ‘Yes, I will do it. Let's do it.’”

Charell Garcia (Middletown, N.Y.) rode MW Virtuous (Valverda x Sp. Pr. Rheparter), a 2020 Oldenburg stallion owned by Jennifer Vanover, to the third-place finish on an overall score of 86.080%.

“I was really excited how he was this week,” said Garcia. “This is his third show, and first big show. This whole week, he has had so much energy, and he was just amazing. I couldn't have asked for any more. The heat got a little bit to him today, I could tell, but he is such a good boy and he is always the same at home and at the show, I can rely on him so much. I think it, he does it. I'm super, super happy and proud of him.”

Aspen Leaf Farm/USEF Children Dressage National Championship

The FEI Children division made its 2024 FOC debut today with the first of two tests. Adalynn Nelson (Marion, Iowa) took the lead with Custom Made (Come Back II x Sabrina), her own 2012 Warmblood gelding, earning an impressive 79.375% for the FEI Children Team Test.

Ryder Mosqueda (Hemet, Calif.) and Atlantico XLVI (Alfarero XI x Bombardina II), a 2008 Andalusian gelding owned by Sara Mosqueda, were close behind to earn second place with a 78.750%. Just over half a point separates second and third, with Miriam Bacon (Columbus, N.C.) and Drambuie (Damsey x Laura), a 2012 Hanoverian gelding owned by Natalie Bacon, earning a 78.200% to place third.

The division will conclude on Sunday with the FEI Children Individual Test.

Competition Information:

The 2024 FOC takes place Aug. 19-25, at HITS Chicago Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Ill. Competition takes place in two arenas and will be broadcast on USEF Network. Bookmark the FOC event page on USEF.org for the latest coverage of this year’s show.

Ring Schedule | Orders of Go and Results

2024 Festival of Champions Livestream

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