After a year of illness, Gumshoes DC was back on his game in the Grand Prix at Dressage in the Sandhills, May 6-8 in Pinehurst N.C.

The 14-year-old gelding, owned by Susan Dutta and Dutta Corporation, won the Grand Prix (64.23%) and the Grand Prix Special (64.20%) in his comeback tour. The Dutch Warmblood (Joost–Susan) spent 2004 battling Lyme disease, early Cushing’s disease and related metabolic issues.

His illness kept him out of the show ring last year, but he had dominated the large tour for the previous three years in the Sandhills with consistent mid-60s scores.

“He’s a great horse with an incredible heart,” said Dutta. “He hasn’t been back in work long, but he’s getting stronger every day. I’m just so thankful that’s he’s back sound and healthy. I’ve quit being greedy; I’m just grateful to ride him.”

Dutta, of Wellington, Fla., has been training with Lars Petersen for two years. Her other Grand Prix mount, West Side Lady DC, couldn’t make the trip to North Carolina due to a pinched nerve, so they put Currency DC on the van in her place. Currency, an Oldenburg gelding (Clintino–Cinderella), posted a 75.40 percent to win his debut in the FEI 5-year-old class.

“I’m so excited that he was a gentleman, and he concentrated in the ring,” said Dutta. “He was a little naughty and scared as a young horse, and I don’t like that, especially now that I’m a mom!” Her son, Tim Jawahar Dutta, was born in 2001.

Dutta also rode Romeo DC to capture the Prix St. Georges USEF-qualifying class (66.25%) on a cold, blustery first day. She’s aiming him for the USEF National Intermediaire I Championships, held alongside the USEF National Grand Prix Championships in Gladstone, N.J., on June 16-19.

Another Petersen trainee captured the Grand Prix freestyle. Melissa Taylor Yee relocated to Wellington, Fla., from Maryland and posted the show’s best large-tour score (65.79%) aboard Success (Silvermoon–Wapeti). The pair performed a lively ride to a classical piece featuring French horns, which enhanced the 10-year-old’s lovely passage.

Emmy Anwers is the owner, but Petersen raised and trained the horse from a foal. Yee had only ridden the gelding for a month, and this was her first freestyle. The music was Dutta’s former track for Gumshoes.

“He’s a super horse,” said Yee. “I’m really lucky to have the ride. This is only my second show with him, and I was a little backed off in the windy cold [during Friday’s Grand Prix].”

Off–And On

The early rankings at Prix St. Georges/ Intermediaire I were turned upside down as the weekend unfolded.

Jane Hannigan of Harvard, Mass., earned the FEI high-score trophy by winning the USEF-qualifying Intermediaire I (67.66%) with Maksymillian (Elcaro–Elanor), a dy-namic 11-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding. This pair has been under the radar even though Hannigan, a full-time professional, has been partnered with him since he was imported as a “barely third level” 7-year-old.

“It’s been on and off for four years,” explained Hannigan. “He was off with a pulled suspensory in 2003. Last year he got sick and almost foundered from a toxic weed in the hay. Four horses in our barn were affected.”

Hannigan found Maksymillian in the Netherlands for owner Carolyn Aim of Lexington, Mass. “I saw him trot three steps and had to have him,” said Hannigan. “He’s a phenomenal horse. I think how lucky I am every time I get to ride him.”

By Sunday the weather had returned to normal, and so had Mary Haskins Gray’s Russian gelding Fregat. The petite, elegant horse drew a standing ovation and a score of 72.29 percent to win the Intermediaire I freestyle with an animated and rhythmical ride in sync to his marching band music.

“He loves his music,” said Gray, a 22-year-old senior at North Carolina State University. “We play it in the barn for him all the time.”

Gray trains with Dennis Callin of Raleigh, who said the music is so perfect for the horse that they used the same track from his 2003 North American Young Riders Championship gold-medal ride and “just tweaked the choreography a bit.”

Jim Koford, of Southern Pines, and his Donnerhall stallion Donatelli 2 finished 1 point behind Dutta in the Prix St. Georges. But Koford, 42, did win the open Prix St. Georges sweepstakes with Joan Fontes’ River Dance (Ramiro’s Boy–Wintessa), and two of three FEI test of choice classes with Pineland Farms’ Dutch stallion Neostan (Florestan I– Diva).

River Dance, 9, is in his first year of showing at the FEI level. Koford took over full-time training duties this year after his owner underwent back surgery. “He cantered down the centerline with a lot of confidence,” he said.

Koford was also pleased with Neostan’s Prix St. Georges efforts in the stallion’s third outing. “Two shows last fall were lackluster,” said Koford. “I had to adopt an unorthodox training program and come at him from a different angle to develop trust and rideability. We school outside the ring with hacking and hill work, and never drill. It was gratifying that he stayed with me in the ring.”

Rebecca Nelles of Raleigh topped the other FEI test of choice class with Kay Meredith’s Swedish gelding Royal Scandal Mangalam (64.75%).

Madison Cloninger, 17, of Salisbury N.C., rode her Windvogel to the head of the FEI Young Rider Team and Prix St. Georges classes (62.44%, 66.37%). Cloninger acquired the 13-year-old, Rheinlander gelding just last fall, keeping him in training with Tami Batts of Greensboro. It’s an hour commute to the barn, three days a week for the high school student.

“He has a lot of energy,” Cloninger said. “I had a schoolmaster before who was really laid back, so it’s different, but I’m really enjoying him.”

Danielle Rowland, 21, of Suffolk Va., won the Young Rider freestyle with Janice Mumford’s King D’Azur (64.83%). Trainer Kathy Rowse helped design a technically challenging track to Latin music.

“He was really up and energized by the music,” said Rowland. “His extensions were amplified, and I have some really hard [choreography], but he waited for me. He was really good.”

A Winner At Every Level

Lynn Leath, of Chapel Hill, N.C., was outstanding at the national levels. With her 6-year-old gelding D’Artagnan (Del Piero–Hauptsbush Pia), Leath captured the open first and second level championships (75.55%, 76.05%).

Her students earned high-score championships at training and first level (Kristi Williams and Graphite), third level (Andrew Weniger with Wylie Q), and fourth level (Terry Sosa and Doublet). In effect, Leath accounted for a high-score championship, either open or amateur, at all five national levels.

Leath trains with Cathy Morelli, “who teaches me to go outside the box,” and Jessica Ransehousen, “who helps from a judge’s perspective to get every single point out of a test that can be gotten.”

She added, “D’Artagnan is a unique combination of being sensitive to the aids while remaining relaxed in his mind.

“He’s the most enjoyable horse I’ve ever had the privilege of sitting on. But not only was I delighted about his performance, but also my students. What an achievement! I’m so proud of them.”