2024 The Gold Medal Year

By Claire Nana

2024 will forever be the year ^CH-SHRockin’ In Vegas and I earned my gold medal. Looking back now, it still seems like a whirlwind.

At Vegas's Grand Prix debut in January, I had only expected to get our feet wet and get a feel for the test. I did not think we were ready to even begin thinking about our score. While a 60% score is considered a benchmark at most levels, and is what is needed for a gold medal (two 60%+ scores to be exact), Grand Prix is a whole different animal. For one thing, one tempis are not something that a horse does naturally, and piaf isn't really either. And, while I had trained Vegas on my own through I-1, the level below Grand Prix, I did not have confidence in my ability to teach him one tempis, or piaf and passage. So, after finding a coach who had brought many horses to Grand Prix, we got to work. While I had anticipated at least a year to learn the movements, my coach, a wonderfully open-minded individual, assured me that it can be done much more quickly, and she never once doubted Vegas because of his breed. Quite the opposite, she more than once told me any breed can become a Grand Prix horse.

When we did our last halt and salute that day, I was really happy with Vegas, because I know he gave me his all, but I didn't think we got a 60%+ score, as we had made a lot of mistakes. However, I was wrong. On his first go at Grand Prix, Vegas earned a 60.2%! I could not have been happier.

Our next few goes at Grand Prix were a bit of a learning curve as we battled with keeping the piaf in place, keeping the quality in the passage, and of course, the one tempis. But we kept at it, and through the process, everything got better, especially the passage and half passes.

At Vegas's fifth attempt at Grand Prix, it all came together, and even though we still made a mistake on the one tempis, we scored a 63.2% and won the class. I had never in my wildest dreams thought we'd ever win a Grand Prix class! But Vegas rose to a new level, and his passage and half passes both scored 8.0 and 8.5. And with that, our gold medal was achieved.

Because I had thought it would take at least a few years to capture our gold medal, I had told Vegas he can retire after we do. But when it took only five months, I thought maybe we'd keep showing just for fun. Well, at the next Grand Prix outing, Vegas laid down a fault free test (which had been a secret wish of mine) and received a 61% score! And with that score, he became the ASHA All Breed Grand Prix horse of the year.

While Vegas's accomplishments in 2024 were far beyond anything I had anticipated - and as far as I'm concerned he can retire, however he has no intention of giving up the number one spot with me anytime soon - 2024 was also the year that Sunset's Captain Carter far surpassed my expectations.

When Carter came to us as a four year old, it was obvious his trust in people had been broken. While I never thought Carter was trying to hurt me, he often made it very clear he wanted no part of what I was asking him to do. Often, our rides were peppered with airs above the ground, kicking out at other horses (we eventually had to avoid riding when other horses were in the arena), and catapulting sideways. It was hard to imagine we'd ever be able to do anything like a line of tempi changes, or even a lead change.

But, with a background in turning "challenged" horses into successful show horses (be it show jumpers, hunters, or dressage horses), I knew patience and persistence were the key to everything.

So when Carter and I debuted at Prix St. George, the first FEI level, in May of 2024, just to be there brought tears to my eyes. Although our tempi changes were far from consistent, what was consistent was that Carter now showed up every day and gave his all. And because he struggled with a canter that was often not correct, and would often gait when he didn't know what I wanted, Carter had to work that much harder just to have three correct gaits.

Yet despite all of that, Carter earned a 60%+ score at his first attempt at Prix St. George! Then, just one month later, he followed it up with another 60%+ score at the same level. From a challenged soul with many physical obstacles, Carter had now become a solid FEI horse!

Lastly, 2024 was the year we brought the two babies, Sweet Serenity Lee and Judicious, our three year olds that we purchased the year prior, out for the first time. Not only were they both perfectly behaved, they were both well received.  In the Materiale class, Serenity earned a 73%+ and Judicious earned a 71%+. We could not have been happier with either of them!

While 2024 was absolutely a year for the books, we could be more excited about the future we have to look forward to. With Virtual Explosion receiving two 60%+ scores at FEI in the first show of 2025, we now have three solid FEI American Saddlebreds! From here, we will work to promote the breed as capable and willing dressage horses.

                                                                                       CHC Judicious

                                                               

 

                                                                                   Virtual Explosion