MacDonald Makes An Impression On Dressage Day

The local rider sits first and second after the first day of dressage.

The first day of the Wellpride American Eventing Championships couldn't have gone much better for hometown favorite Tera MacDonald.

After a stellar performance in yesterday's Spalding Labs/USEA Young Event Horse Championships, she pulled an impressive one-two this morning, Sept. 10, topping the 27-horse field of the novice horse AEC division with Savvant (23.2) and placing second with La Tee Da (25.8). The latter horse won the 4-year-old YEH championship last year and took second again yesterday in the 5-year-old division with MacDonald in the irons. Both horses are owned by MacDonald’s mother-in-law, Cheryl Quick.

“I owe it all to my in-laws,” MacDonald said. “Cheryl wanted me to tune [Savvant] up for her, but I have a tendency to steal all her horses. He’s probably my favorite horse to ride, but I’ll actually be handing the reins back over to her eventually. He’s not one I’m going to go back up the levels with.

“He’s Steady Eddie,” MacDonald continued of Savvant, a 13-year-old, 17.2-hand Trakehner gelding. “He’s one that just boosts my confidence level and lets me know that I can do it with the other horses.”

MacDonald, who showed hunter/jumpers for 10 years before transitioning to eventing, originally had dreams of competing at the four-star level. But now she’s discovered a particular penchant for working with young horses.

Last year with her young horse, La Tee Da, MacDonald was leading the open beginner novice division of the AEC but switched her status to hors concours on the final day after learning that she was technically overqualified for the division. More specific qualification guidelines and separate divisions for horses, amateurs and juniors were added at this year’s competition, but MacDonald said she still double-checked her entries.

“I made sure to enter the novice horse division,” she said with a laugh. “It feels good. I feel very proud of all the effort I’ve made!”

MacDonald lives in downtown Chicago and works as the farm manager at Finishing Touches Farm in Genoa City, Wis. She’s also a national sales representative for Jump 4 Joy show jumps.

She said having ridden both horses at the Maui Jim and Wayne DuPage events earlier this summer will make tomorrow’s cross-country easier. “I’ll have to make sure I don’t get time faults though,” she said. “Riding [Savvant] is like riding a dinosaur.”

New Jersey professional Doug Payne is close behind MacDonald with two of his own mounts. He currently sits in a tie for third place with Barnastook (26.8) and in fifth place with Charm (27.4).

Good Tempered

Erin Miller logged the lowest overall score of the day—21.0—to take the lead in the amateur novice division with The Tempest. Miller, of Canton, Mich., rode the 10-year-old Trakehner gelding into the lead over 33 other competitors. The pair won their last three novice starts together and now lead the field by more than 3 points.

Miller, 29, first met the appropriately-named “Temper” as a 2-year-old, but didn’t begin competing him until he was 6. He evented for two years, but having been gelded as a 5-year-old, he was an unruly youngster with the tendency to rear and bolt. But Miller, who was hired by friends to put some training on the horse, fell in love with him and decided to buy him herself.