Mares Mean Business in Developing PSG Horse Qualifier at 2025 CDI-W Wellington

--- GDF press release mixed with  Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition

Canadian riders showcased their up-and-coming horse power by taking two of the top-three places in the Buffalo Wild Wings Future Challenge Prix St. Georges qualifier on Sunday 9 February 2025, the closing day of action during week five of the 2025 Global Dressage Festival (GDF) in Wellington, FL. 

The "Buffalo" class mimics a Nurnberger Burgpokal qualifier for Developing Prix St Georges horses, aged 7 - 9, and is a national class taking place in the international arena at Global. It gives up and coming small tour horses the opportunity to compete in a CDI ring. The top two ranked horses in the class are invited to the Finals at the end of March.

Quincy Means Business

Of the 13 starters, it was Canada’s Belinda Trussell who triumphed on Susan Zucker’s 15.3 hh Hanoverian mare Quincy (by Quantensprung x De Niro), clocking up 71.412%.

Since the retirement of Tattoo in 2018 Belinda Trussell has only been competing small tour horses in the international arena (Carlucci, Insterlana, and Feng de Lys) but it's great to see her training skill and expertise put to practice on new horses. Quincy stood out in the Buffalo class with her impeccable training. Her trot was so well produced: balanced, engaged, cadenced. The collected walk was clean, but there was a slight loss of rhythm in the left walk pirouette. The canter half pirouettes were well ridden. The line of three tempi changes went smoother than the fours. Overall the canter could be more uphill and the final halt was not square. Trussell showcased her pro skills clearly and this horse is certainly the on the right track for the future.

Quincy was bought at the 2021 Klosterhof Medingen auction for 38,000 euro when she was four. 

“My farm manager Carl spotted her in the catalogue and said she looked like a mini version of Susie’s heart horse mare, Willow,” said Trussell, a two-time Olympian. “It was during Covid, so I had a friend go and try her and she said she had great basics. It was flukey because we weren’t really looking."

"She’s amazing, she’s all business and my purpose is just to ride her well,” she continued. “One thing that makes a top horse is that when they’re tired or it’s a new environment—she’s never been in an environment like this—they dig deep, and that’s what she does. She gives an incredible feeling because she’s so with you.”

Trussell described Quincy as “a sports car”, saying, “She’s so compact yet supple and handy. She reacts quickly, turns on a dime, you can ask her to sit, you can ask her to go forward, and she has amazing natural balance. It all feels easy for her and I’m grateful to have a horse like that under me. I really feel that she loves the work; this morning she ran into the trailer.”

Trussell is eyeing some small tour CDIs in Canada over the summer, but the loftier goal with the talented little mare is the Olympics. 

“That’s what I want for her—you never know, but hopefully it will go to plan,” she added. “My plan here [at GDF] was to qualify for the Future Challenge finals. It’s such a great class and I’m so grateful to the organizers and sponsors because to get the young horses in this ring without the CDI pressure at this stage is such a gift.” 

Mares on Fire

Mares were on fire in the class, filling four of the top five places. Hope Beerling finished runner-up on Mariye Inouye’s eight-year-old Oldenbugr mare Top Gem (by Top Gear x Sir Donnerhall) with 69.823%.

The Australian born Beerling has been based with Catherina Haddad in the U.S.A. for years as an assistant rider. She helps Haddad to develop and compete the sales horses for company NorCordia, which works on both sides of the Atlantic with a second branch in Denmark? Beerling has honed her skills under Haddad and her quality riding showed on both horses. Hope rides in a Stubben saddle with flat close contact panels and no knee/thigh blocks to lock her seat. She sits independently in the saddle with quiet legs and hands, the way it should be.

Top Gem is a drop dead gorgeous mare. She was soft-footed  and smooth in trot, supple in the contact and steady in the frame. The right pirouette was a bit big and lacked some collection, but the tempi changes were straight and the extended canter uphill. Top Gem was maybe not really motoring strongly from behind today, but the test was truly lovely and correct. 

Beerling rode her second horse, the 9-year old Danish warmblood mare Evaslunds Daydream (by Hesselhoj Donkey Boy x Blue Hors Doolittle) to fourth place with 68.764%. The long-legged, slender mare was also very nicely presented, but the trot was a fraction rushed and the bending to the right could be better. The walk pirouette left was good but in the collected walk she was marching with much overtrack. The left canter pirouette went well and the tempi changes every three strides were nice. The mare was also in a soft and consistent frame throughout the test.

Leeghwater Third

Americans had very little say in the Buffalo class as Canadians and an Australian claimed the four highest spots. C

Canada's Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu wiggled her way in between all the elegant mare power with Jill Irving’s Leeghwater, a huge nine-year-old Dutch warmblood (by Franklin x Tango) which Irving bought at the Dutch Dressage Stars auction in The Netherlands in July 2020 for 57,000 euro. Fraser has been producing the massive gelding up the levels and logged 69.794% for third place in the Buffalo class. 

This big framed horse achieves tons of ground cover in the extended trots and had good energy and rhythm in the lateral movements. He paced at times in walk but improved on the straight lines in between the walk pirouettes, which were not very supple. He could march a bit more through the body on the extended walk diagonal. The gelding has a big, uphill stride in canter but at this point in his training the flying changes to the right seem easier than to the left. 

The horse's name Leeghwater comes from famous Dutch hydraulic engineer Jan Leeghwater (1575-1650) who played a key role in the creation of the Dutch polders and Holland's innovative water management techniques.

Quick Notes

The highest ranked American was Andrea Woodard aboard the 8-year old Danish warmblood mare Roxette (by Revolution x Quite Easy), owned by the aptly named company Enter at A LLC.  The bay mare is a typical Revolution offspring, quite lanky and slender, but with good rideability. The trot extensions showed a lot of reach in the front leg but the overtrack needed to be greater. The mare was ridden forward with good energy. The collected walk was okay, the walk pirouettes well executed, as were the canter pirouettes. The four tempi changes went smoothly, but in the threes Roxette was flexed to the right. Overall the horse could move a bit more with uphill tendency. They scored 68.147% for 5th place. 

Young professional Rebecca Cohen landed sixth place aboard the 9-year old Swedish warmblood Prince of Hope (by Total Hope x Bellagio). Cohen has been spending summers training with Jan Brink in Europe and the intensive immersion into Brink's training system is paying dividends. The rider has her horses in good self carriage, in a nice frame and she sits quiet in the saddle with nice low hands on the withers. The trot extensions were good, the rhythm was held on the voltes and in the traversal movements. In collected walk he briefly got lateral but then the walk improved. There was a loss of activity in both walk pirouettes. The four tempi changes were good but there were problems in the threes which affected the score considerably. It was 68.088% today but more's in the tank. 

Philippine-Swiss-American Ellesse Tzinberg Gundersen saddled a little pocket rocket, the 8-year old KWPN mare Malibu (by Franklin x Moreno). The dark bay is also a typical Franklin: spidery legs in trot with much knee action and expression and tons of shoulder freedom. She got a bit uneven in the rhythm in the half pass left and shoulder in right, but the trot extensions were uphill and expansive. She tilted in the left walk pirouette and was a bit fidgety in the right one. She achieved overtrack in the extended walk but the back could stay a bit more supple. Malibu has climbing flying changes, did good fours, but the change at C was in two phases and she dropped out of canter before the extended canter diagonal. The score was 67.059%.

Thirteen riders in total competed in the class while Olympian Ashley Holzer unfortunately scratched her ride on Liberty L (by Toto Jr x Charmeur). The class was judgedvby Joyce van Rooijen-Heuitink, Heidi Berry, Debbie Rodriguez, Knut Danzberg, and Stephen Clarke.

- Text © Eurodressage - Photos © Astrid Appels - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS for social media

If interested in photos, please send me an email. Florida rates apply for this horse show as our colleague Sue Stickle is the official photographer

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