A championship that focuses solely on amateurs–that was show chairman, Carol Seaman’s, goal and dream in putting together the Northeast Adult  Amateur Dressage Championships in PortJervis, N.Y., Sept. 25-26.

“Adult amateurs are the backbone of our sport,” said Seaman, a trainer from Chester, N.Y., and an L-rated judge. She wanted to put together a championship for amateurs that mirrored the Olympics: team competition on the first day and individual freestyles on the second. By holding it at New Hope Farm, which hosts FEI competitions, amateurs had the opportunity to show in a huge indoor ring.

And Laurel Robbiani, overall grand champion, appreciated that FEI arena. “We don’t have a regulation size ring at home,” she said with a laugh. “For me, this was Madison Square Garden, only it’s bigger and has better stabling.”

Robbiani, of Monroe, N.Y., and her Friesian gelding Tobias rode to the top, with the highest combined scores from her two training level rides and her freestyle. Her first ride was in the indoor arena with S-rated judge Libby Anderson.

She then moved outdoors to ride with R-rated judge Dee Loveless. “I walked out of the ring, and I said I could have done better,” admitted Robbiani. But to her surprise, her two solid tests left her in first place in training level, section 2. The pressure was on to ride her freestyle well, but she had only practiced it three times prior to coming to the championships.

Robbiani rode to Cusco, a Native American music group that uses pipes and drums as well as a little flute. Cory DeMala, a friend and teammate, helped her pick the music and put the freestyle together.

The music fit her horse, and she was feeling enthusiastic about her ride until the end. “I thought I did everything I was supposed to, but I was way ahead of the music!” she explained. “I realized I had to add a movement so I came back to the trot and added another 20 meter circle, but when I halted I was still ahead of the music.”

Despite the mistake, Robbiani scored a 73.54 percent and won the class, catapulting her into first place overall and leading her team, Amity All Breeds Dressage, to a third-placed finish. Her teammates, DeMala and Jayne Fingerhut-McCardle, ride with Robbiani at Amity Farm in Warwick, N.Y., under trainer Rosie Malley. While she enjoyed being on a team, Robbiani said that it wasn’t all that different from competing individually.

“We’re all so friendly to begin with,” she said. All the boarders at Amity Farm were together at a previous farm that was sold. “We wanted to stay together, so all 15 of us moved together at the end of August. We’re all to-gether as a unit.”

Robbiani, 49, began riding as a child on Long Island, doing low level hunters. She returned to riding about 10 years ago, learning dressage. A retired research scientist, she found Tobias as a 3-year-old. With Malley’s help they broke him and began training him to be a dressage horse. Robbiani plans to compete Tobias, now 6, at first level next year.

A Partnership Pays Off

While Tobias and Robbiani are just beginning their journey up the levels, Intermediaire champion Regina Demsey and Brooklyn Night have been together for 13 years. Demsey, of Maine, N.Y., bought the Trakehner-Missouri Fox Trotter cross as a 4-year-old. She had evented some in her 20s but took time off from riding to raise her son, Colin. At the age of 39, she found herself longing for horses again, and with the support of Colin and her husband, Bob, she decided to take up dressage.

“It’s difficult to get a young horse and learn dressage at the same time,” she admitted. “But I’ve been blessed.”

With the help of Donna Canfield, her trainer at Atira Farm in Binghamton, N.Y., Demsey and “Buddie” have been figuring it out together. Now Buddie is 17, and beginning the work toward Grand Prix.

Demsey was the only competitor at the Intermediaire level at the NAADC. “At my level you get thrown in with the professionals all the time,” she said. “This was just a phenomenal opportunity for an amateur.”

The weekend after the NAADC, Demsey attended Dressage At Devon (Pa.) to watch. “This was my Devon,” she said of the NAADC. “The gala on Saturday night–I’ve never been treated like that. The dinner and demonstrations made the whole weekend something to remember for a lifetime.”

Demsey’s freestyle was the highlight of her weekend, earning her the Virginia Martin Inspiration Award for the highest artistic score.

“That was the first freestyle I’d ever done in my life,” said Demsey. “This championship really pushed me to finally do it.” She used music from the latest release by a group called Bond, an all-female quartet composed of cellists and violinists.

The technical score was not as high as it might have been because Demsey focused on staying with her music and didn’t attempt to push the difficulty of the movements, but winning the artistic impression award made up for it. When Wendy Insinger, a dressage professional who gives freestyle clinics, complemented the test, Demsey said, “I was walking on cloud nine!

“It was a great way to end the season because I don’t go to Florida,” she added. In fact, even though there is an indoor ring, Demsey can’t always ride in the winter because the temperature drops so low. Still, even a few weeks off in the winter can’t hurt her relationship with Buddie.

“We’re very much partners,” she said. “He knows what I want, and I can tell what’s bothering him. He’s very much a sensitive Trakehner.”

A Horse Of A Different Breed

Arabians are another sensitive breed, not common in dressage, yet the winning team, Arabesque, was made up entirely of Arabians and Arabian crosses. Riding out of Cricket Hill Farm in Ancramdale, N.Y., the team included Palmer Irving, Kristin McLalle, Paddy Rossbach and Susan Bassin. Coached by Jane Rodd, who received the trainer award for having the highest-placed students, the riders from Cricket Hill Farm usually go to breed shows rather than recognized dressage shows.

But the Arabian championships were in California this year so Rodd convinced her riders to go to more U.S. Dressage Federation shows. “It has given them a clear focus to get their horses more active behind and working across their backs,” explained Rodd. “Their training this year has been very correct.”

That correct training paid off at the NAADC because no rider on the Arabesque team scored below 60 percent or was out of the top four in their class. After their first ride, they had a first place, a second place and two thirds and knew they were in contention for the team award. Their second rides went equally well, but they couldn’t know if they had won until all the riders on all the teams had finished.

The awards ceremony and prizes that followed were especially exciting for the team. “There was all the razzmatazz of a big show,” said Bassin. “There was a victory lap and ribbons and photos in the big ring at the end. Open dressage shows don’t usually have these things, although the breed shows do. It makes the amateurs feel special.”

“I think it’s a fantastic concept,” Rodd said of the NAADC. “Like any sport, the majority of the money that goes into it comes from the amateurs.”

Rodd encouraged her students to ride down centerline as if they were in their top hats and tails at the Olympics. “They went with the idea they were going to have a good time, and they did,” she said. “They ate well, they drank well, they rode well, and they’re all keen to go again next year.”

Since no one rode more than one or two tests in a day, riders had time to get to know each other. “We made great friends with the people across the aisle, and we were cheering each other on,” said Bassin.

The horse show also benefited the American Hippotherapy Association, with a silent auction on Saturday night raising $2,500 for the charity.

“Everyone had a ball,” said Seaman. “I’m on air that we pulled it off.”