PrintChristopher Hickey will be vacationing in Italy while his mount, Regent, will be wintering in Europe following their wins in the Great American/USDF Region 1 Grand Prix championship. They scored 66.87 percent during the Garden State Classic at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown, Oct. 10-12.
“Having him win the regional [title] means a lot to us. It was a goal of ours,” said Hickey, who has been working with the Dutch-bred, now 10, since he and owner Brenna Kucinski, of Amherst, Mass., imported him from the Netherlands as a 4-year-old.
“After he came to this country, Brenna rode him for two years but when it looked like he was going to be a really special horse, she asked me to start riding him,” said Hickey, head trainer at Hilltop Farm in Colora, Md.
Hickey and Kucinski are convinced the gelding, who was Hickey’s ride for the team and individual gold medals at the 2007 Pan American Games, has the ability to be an Olympic or World Championship horse. So they are sending Regent (by Flemmingh) to German World Cup winner and Olympian Ulla Salzgeber, who has trained Hickey, for further work.
“It’s a great time to push Regent on to the next level. He needs to get a little more secure in his piaffe and passage work,” said Hickey.
Hickey took home the open Prix St. Georges title (72.62%) with Bugatti Hilltop, who was also the reserve cham-pion in the Intermediaire I freestyle (68.12%).
The 16.3-hand stallion (Bergamon—Raffinesse) was sidelined by a freak incident at Dressage At Devon (Pa.) two weeks earlier. He picked up footing from the ring, which lodged under his shoe and led to an abscess. He had a week off and then just four days of light work before the regionals.
“That really shows you his temperament and rideability,” said Hickey, who has trained the 10-year-old Hanoverian stallion since Hilltop Farm owner Jan MacElree bought him in Germany as a young horse.
The youngest of the Hilltop horses at the show, Cabana Boy (Contucci—Britania) swept the open third level class (73.37%).
“He is probably one of our best,” Hickey said of the 16.2-hand, bay Hanoverian. He currently ranks No. 1 on the U.S. Dressage Federation list of 6-year-olds for Horse of the Year honors.
Mason Adds Up The Wins
Right on Hickey’s heels in the open Grand Prix (63.54%), Heather Mason probably holds the record in number of championships from the regionals, her main goal of the year.
She topped off the weekend with her Respekt, a bay Dutch Warmblood (by Inspekteur). “He is a little green at the Grand Prix since it is his first season. He has so much flamboyancy he doesn’t know what to do with it yet,” she said.
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