PrintTosha Zubrisky is pleasantly surprised to win in New York.
As she rode up to the awards ceremony at the Great American/USDF Region 8 Dressage Championships, Tosha Zubrisky didn’t know how she’d placed in the Grand Prix.
“When they called me first I was shocked and thrilled,” Zubrisky said. She and Gunter led the victory lap after scoring 60.75 percent at the Saugerties, N.Y., competition, held Sept. 10-14 in conjunction with the New England Dressage Association’s Fall Festival of Dressage.
“Gunter definitely has the talent to do a good Grand Prix, but he has just needed to get stronger and more confident,” said Zubrisky. “I’m still trying to make it flow and to be more effective in the ring. He is a wonderful horse who never stops trying. I’ve never seen him be in a bad mood or even put his ears back.”
Zubrisky, of Thomaston, Maine, has ridden Gunter (Grand Galopin—Lanthana, Lanthan), for eight years. Marilyn Rockefeller owns the 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding.
“I think that I have just touched the surface of what Gunter can do in the ring,” Zubrisky said. “I hope to bring out much more of that in the future. I’m hoping to do some CDIs with him next season and would love to get to Dressage at Devon [Pa.] in 2009.”
Leading By Example
Sharon McCusker hasn’t had long to get to know Juli Sherif—she’s only been riding him a year. But that didn’t stop her from claiming the Region 8 Intermediaire II championship on him.
“When I got him he’d had an entire year off as the former owner had lost interest in riding,” McCusker said. “He had been trained and shown to Prix St. Georges in Europe. I conditioned him during last winter and worked on the Intermediaire I work. My trainer from Denmark came to do a clinic in December and told me I should work toward the Grand Prix with him. So, I started working on the one-tempis and piaffe/passage in January.”
By early spring, McCusker and Juli Sherif, a 12-year-old Danish gelding, were ready for the Intermediaire I and scored in the upper 60s. The pair moved up to Intermediaire II in May and kept improving. McCausker owns Juli Sherif (May Sherif—Malene).
“I felt we had a good shot at the Intermediaire II championships based on his placings,” McCusker said. “He continues to improve as he gets stronger and more confident with the new work.”
“I felt our ride was solid but not our best test of the year,” she said. “The judges gave me very good comments, and I feel very good about the feedback and scores from these judges. They can see his talent for the piaffe/passage and pirouettes, and he is forward-thinking with a great attitude, which they like.”
McCusker said she plans to move Juli Sherif up to Grand Prix later this fall and compete at that level in Florida this winter. “I couldn’t be happier with all he has accomplished this year,” she said.
As she rode up to the awards ceremony at the Great American/USDF Region 8 Dressage Championships, Tosha Zubrisky didn’t know how she’d placed in the Grand Prix.
“When they called me first I was shocked and thrilled,” Zubrisky said. She and Gunter led the victory lap after scoring 60.75 percent at the Saugerties, N.Y., competition, held Sept. 10-14 in conjunction with the New England Dressage Association’s Fall Festival of Dressage.
“Gunter definitely has the talent to do a good Grand Prix, but he has just needed to get stronger and more confident,” said Zubrisky. “I’m still trying to make it flow and to be more effective in the ring. He is a wonderful horse who never stops trying. I’ve never seen him be in a bad mood or even put his ears back.”Zubrisky, of Thomaston, Maine, has ridden Gunter (Grand Galopin—Lanthana, Lanthan), for eight years. Marilyn Rockefeller owns the 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding.
“I think that I have just touched the surface of what Gunter can do in the ring,” Zubrisky said. “I hope to bring out much more of that in the future. I’m hoping to do some CDIs with him next season and would love to get to Dressage at Devon [Pa.] in 2009.”
Leading By Example
Sharon McCusker hasn’t had long to get to know Juli Sherif—she’s only been riding him a year. But that didn’t stop her from claiming the Region 8 Intermediaire II championship on him.
“When I got him he’d had an entire year off as the former owner had lost interest in riding,” McCusker said. “He had been trained and shown to Prix St. Georges in Europe. I conditioned him during last winter and worked on the Intermediaire I work. My trainer from Denmark came to do a clinic in December and told me I should work toward the Grand Prix with him. So, I started working on the one-tempis and piaffe/passage in January.”
By early spring, McCusker and Juli Sherif, a 12-year-old Danish gelding, were ready for the Intermediaire I and scored in the upper 60s. The pair moved up to Intermediaire II in May and kept improving. McCausker owns Juli Sherif (May Sherif—Malene).
“I felt we had a good shot at the Intermediaire II championships based on his placings,” McCusker said. “He continues to improve as he gets stronger and more confident with the new work.”
“I felt our ride was solid but not our best test of the year,” she said. “The judges gave me very good comments, and I feel very good about the feedback and scores from these judges. They can see his talent for the piaffe/passage and pirouettes, and he is forward-thinking with a great attitude, which they like.”
McCusker said she plans to move Juli Sherif up to Grand Prix later this fall and compete at that level in Florida this winter. “I couldn’t be happier with all he has accomplished this year,” she said.
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