Pharaoh DG, Deambulo PWD, Zaunkonig, Makanabria DG Win 2024 U.S. Young Horse Championships

Shows

2024 U.S. Dressage Championships

The 4-year old Pharaoh DG, the 5-year old Deambulo PWD, the 6-year old Zaunkonig, and the 7-year old Makanabria DG became the winners of the young horse classes held at the 2024 U.S. Dressage Championships at Lamplight equestrian centre in Wayne, ILL, on 18 - 25 August 2024.

4-year olds: Pharaoh DG

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 on the top of the standings in the 4-year-old class with his homebred Pharaoh DG (by Koning DG x Parcival), a 2020 Dutch Warmblood stallion owned by DG Bar Ranch. The pair won the preliminary round with a whopping 90.800% and were third in the finals test with 85.200% to finish first overall.

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.

“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 (by Vivino out of Fine Time (by Furstenball)), a 2020 KWPN gelding bred and owned by Sonnenberg Farm, LLC, finished in reserve champion's position. They were third in the preliminary round (81.600%) and won the final round (91.200%).

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.’”

Dutch Charell Garcia (Middletown, N.Y.) rode MW Virtuous (by Valverde x Royal Prince), a 2020 Oldenburg stallion bred and owned by Jen Vanover, to a third place overall. They were second in the preliminary test (89.200%) and fourth in the finals test (84.000%).

“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.” Garcia took over the position of head rider at Jen Vanover's Maplewood Warmbloods after Lindsey Holleger left.

5-year olds: Deambulo PWD

Petra Warlimont (Evergreen, Colo.) and the Hanoverian bred Deambulo PWD (Don Martillo x Fahrenheit) clinched the championship in the 5-Year-Old division with both their tests scoring in the 80s. They won the preliminary test with 81.200% and were second in the finals test with 83.00%.

Warlimont said that “Dewey” can be a bit timid, but his championships 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. The horse is bred by Guido Niethammer.

“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.”

German Madeleine Bendfeldt and her own and Cody Raub's Zapatero (Zoom x Floriscount), a 2019 Hanoverian gelding, were the runners-up after posting 75.800 (7th) in the preliminary test and 83.000 (1st) in the finals test.

“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, a 2019 Danish Warmblood gelding (by Torveslettens Sylvester x Romanov) owned by Linda Nickerson, finished third overall. They were second in the preliminary test (81,200%) and third in the Finals test (77.800%). 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.”

6-year olds: Zaunkonig

Adrienne Lyle (Wellington, Fla.) and Zaunkonig (by Zack x de NIro), a 2018 Westlalian stallion owned by Heidi Humphries, earned the top prize in the 6-year-old class. The pair was fourth in the preliminary test with 79.200% but surged to the top of the board in the Finals test, where the judges panel (Osinski, McClain, Schmidt, Warren), rewarded the ride with a huge increase of points, 87.600%. This put them first in the overall ranking.

“He is a fantastic little stallion,” said Lyle. “We found him in the spring of his 5-year-old year (at Helgstrand) in Denmark, and we've just been developing over this past year. What I love about him the most is he not only has three superb gaits with great talent for the Grand Prix stuff, and already the collection, but his character is just really phenomenal. He's the sweetest stallion, and he tries so hard. His work ethic is just exceptional. And it's so fun to get to work with one that wants to come to work like that every day.”

While “Zeke’s” innate athleticism was apparent, his excellent temperament keeps surprising Lyle as she works with him.

“There are so many unknowns of the young horses,” said Lyle. “Every day, I just start texting Debbie and Heidi and saying, ‘Why is he being so good?’ He's not looking at anything. He's handling all the traffic so well, and he's just being a good boy about it all. So he’s very easy that way.”

Charell Garcia (Middletown, N.Y.) and MW Mercury (by Morricone x Sir Donnerhall), a 2018 U.S.-bred Oldenburg stallion owned by Jennifer Vanover, secured reserve champion honors after finishing second in the preliminary test (82.000%) and in the Finals test (84.800%). Lamplight was one of “Freddy’s” first big outings, and he impressed Garcia with how he handled it all.

“MW Mercury is bred by Jennifer from Maplewood Warmbloods,” said Garcia. “I just started there in February, so I've only been working with him for six months now, but from day one, when I sat on that gorgeous back, it's just been the biggest click between the two of us. I absolutely adore him. I think he loves me too. I like to think that he has opened his arms for me so well. He’s so rideable. I love riding him every day; it's always fun. He's always the same. He's a very emotional stallion, but in a good way, and now he's really starting to trust me, and he just gives me just extra of what I need from him. That, by itself, is already just amazing.

“I didn't know what to expect, because he has never stayed off the property at a show,” she said. “This was his first show season, and usually when we go to shows, it’s maybe a 45-minute drive. We go to the show, we tack them up at the trailer and go home. This is the first big travel, and I cannot be prouder of him with how he handled everything.”

Christoper Hickey and Saskatoon OMF (San Amour I x Don Frederico), a 2018 U.S. bred Hanoverian gelding owned by Cecelia Stewart finished in third place. He won the preliminary test ( 83.800%) and was third in the Finals test (83.400%).

“I was super happy with my horse and the way he handled the atmosphere in the venue,” said Hickey. “The final test is a little more complicated than the preliminary. I was cautious not to step on the gas pedal so much that I couldn’t get through the exercise in a quiet way. I had a little tiny bobble which disrupted the beginning of the test a tiny bit, but I felt like my transitions were pretty good, and I was happy.”

“Stan” has been at Hickey’s barn since he was imported from Britain as a 6-month-old weanling.

“He’s grown up at our farm in South Carolina. We have a natural horsemanship trainer that starts our babies for us. He comes to our farm, and that’s great because then they don’t have to leave and go off to boarding school,” said Hickey, adding that long lining and groundwork are a big part of the young horses’ regimen throughout their development. “Stan trail rode through the woods as a 3-year-old before he’d even cantered [under saddle] in the big indoor. He would trail ride by himself, and he was perfectly well behaved.”

“He came here last year as a 5-year-old, and was really well behaved,” said Hickey. “He was good as a 5-year-old, and he continues to get better and better. He's a rock star, and we love him.”

7-year olds: Makanabria DG

Less than one point separated the top three horses in the 7-Year-Old Championship, but in the end it was Willy Arts (Hanford, Calif.) and Makanabria DG (by Rock Forever x Belissimo M), his homebred 2017 Danish Warmblood mare owned by DG Bar Ranch, who secured the win with a 73.427% overall score.

“She’s still a little bit green, so we brought her along for the experience,” said Arts. “She’s a fun horse. She’s a worker. She has a little bit of a mind of her own, but once she has your confidence, she will go forever. She’s a little green, but the tempi changes and the pirouettes turned out very good today—especially the pirouettes were better than I expected. The lateral work and the trot work and the walk work were all very good, so the ability for collection is there. I think she’s well on her way to be ready for Developing Prix St. Georges next year.”

Makanabria was also recognized as the highest-scoring U.S.-bred horse in the class. Her bloodline is a pillar of the breeding program Arts manages at DG Bar Ranch, and he explains that her dam line traces back to some impressive ancestors.

“We bred the mare—it’s a four-generation breeding,” said Arts. “Her grandmother and mother both did all of the young horse stuff, and she was born with us, and we have a 2-year-old out of her. The bloodline goes back to Colimbria (KWPN), and Colimbria was a full sister to Barbria who went to the Olympics with Tineke Bartels for Holland years back,” he said. “There were three full sisters, and I knew when I was in Holland that they were all at the national mare show, and one was sold to the U.S. Later on, when I came [to the U.S.], I heard that this mare (Colimbria) became available, so that kind of had the connection and I was able to buy her.”

Reserve champion honors went to Laura Brandt (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and Ikon (by Ibiza out of Havanna Byager (by Hotline)), her own 2017 Oldenburg stallion bred by Niels Therkelsen in Denmark. Brandt admitted to having some nerves during the first test, but ultimately was able to overcome them to post two good scores.

“Honestly, I was a little nervous myself,” she said. “This is first time I've been at a national championship in 15 years, so my heart was beating out of my chest a little bit before I got on. And so when I got in there, I might have not been riding the way I needed to ride. So the first test, I was like, ‘Okay, great. We got through it without any major mistakes.’ It was a fairly good test. Today felt really good. He was a lot more on; he had a lot of power, but I was riding better. They only go as good as you ride, so today felt much better.”

Brandt has owned Ikon for nearly his entire life, although they had a bit of a delayed start due to COVID-19 when the horse was in Germany with Anna Mitter and then Helen Langehanenberg.

“I have owned Ikon since he was six weeks old, a foal,” she said. “I’ve known him his whole life. He was born in Denmark and did his licensing in Germany, and I brought him over here at the end of his 4-year-old year, and we’ve been a partnership ever since. “When I got him, I was thinking as an investment and that I would sell him after he was licensed,” she said. “But I sat on him once at the end of COVID when I could finally go over there, and his rideability is just—that’s the best thing about this horse. He has an awesome character.

Elizabeth Bortuzzo (Frenchtown, N.J.) took third place with Viconte (Vivaldi out of Poetin VI (by Sandro Hit), the 2017 Oldenburg gelding which she and Mark Paul bought in February at the breeder, Blue Hors stud in Denmark. Viconte came to Bortuzzo’s barn in the spring of 2024.

“He was supposed to be a very hot horse—the type I like—and he was a little lazy when he came,” she said. “But he woke up, and then we had to deal with, you know, training. He’s come a really long way. I didn’t think we'd be here this year.”

This was only the second show that Viconte has competed in away from home, but his performances didn’t seem to be those of an inexperienced horse.

“I thought that our first test was quite energetic and forward, and he gave it his best shot,” said Bortuzzo. “He needs to learn to carry more and sit more and power up more, and all the things, but I think he did as best as he could do right now. He just learned how to do all of this three months ago, so I couldn’t be happier with him.”