Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025

Canton Reveals A Grand Secret At Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships


He returns from training in Germany to unveil the impressive Grandioso in Kentucky.


Grandioso traveled to the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships as the proverbial “dark horse.”

Jason Canton didn’t show him in the regional qualifiers, and he spent most of his summer competing “Guenter” in Germany instead.
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He returns from training in Germany to unveil the impressive Grandioso in Kentucky.

Grandioso traveled to the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships as the proverbial “dark horse.”

Jason Canton didn’t show him in the regional qualifiers, and he spent most of his summer competing “Guenter” in Germany instead.

But when the Westphalian gelding (Grosso Z—Popocatepetal) trotted down centerline, he impressed the judges and earned the national title for 6-year-olds in Lexington, Ky., Sept. 14-16.

“You are a lucky man,” said judge Hilda Gurney after Canton completed his test.

“When I left for Kentucky I had no expectations,” said Canton. “I hadn’t seen any of the other horses that were competing, and I’d only competed locally around the Atlanta area. I just wanted to ride the horse the best I could, and we were hoping for the best, and it paid off.”

Canton wasn’t really surprised about Guenter’s win, though. His incredible presence and enormous gaits convinced him to buy the horse a 11⁄2 years ago, even though he didn’t want a 5-year-old.

Canton was in Germany with clients when a friend persuaded him to come see the special young horse. “The moment I saw him standing in the crossties, I was very impressed with his long front legs and uphill structure,” he recalled. “After he trotted around the arena one time I knew he was my horse. He was just jaw dropping to watch. It was like a toe never touched the ground.”

And even after purchasing Guenter, Canton was thinking more about his upper-level future than his ability to shine in the young horse classes. But when he rode in a young horse clinic this spring with Susanne Miesner, he was convinced to go to Germany to work with Miesner and try to qualify for the World Championships with a wild card.

Canton, 40, trains out of Jeff and Shereen Fuqua’s Collecting Gaits Farm in Alpharetta, Ga., and they gene-
rously agreed to sponsor him on a trip to Germany for the summer.

“I showed the equivalent of the German National level for the FEI 6-year-olds,” explained Canton. “I showed in the Bundeschampionate qualifier shows. The tests are like our third level. I think if anything did prepare me for the competition, it was going head-to-head with the top 6-year-olds in Germany. It set the baseline for me.”

Guenter really showed off his gaits in the 6-year-old test. “The judges loved his trot,” said Canton. “It’s ground covering, and he’s very elastic in his movement. He can really extend and collect. He has a tremendous canter stride. The comments are that he always looks happy in his work. I want my horse to develop and be happy in what he’s doing.”

Because Guenter is a natural athlete, Canton said that the 6-year-old tests were pretty easy for him. “The hardest was teaching him to collect and have enough strength to balance himself,” he said. “He’s 17.2 hands. A horse at a young age with a lot of power has to have a little time to develop.”

And to give Guenter a bit more time, Canton isn’t planning to bring him out at Prix St. Georges next year. “He’s right now schooling little splatterings of everything,” said Canton. “He’s learning his fours now and schooling good canter pirouette work. I think I’ll hold him back this next season and compete him at third level. We’ll see how he feels next summer. I don’t want to rush him. He’s just turning 7 years old in January, so he’s got all the time in the world.”

High Expectations

Unlike Canton, Christopher Hickey knew coming into the championship that Cabana Boy could win the highest honors in the 5-year-old division.

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Hickey had already won the Eastern qualifier in Raleigh, N.C., with the U.S.-bred Hanoverian gelding (Contucci—Britania) in June and represented the United States at the World Championships in Verden, Germany, in August.

Developing FEI-Level Standouts

A new class was offered at the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships this year—the Developing Horse Dressage Championship, which featured 7- to 9-year-old horses at the Prix St. Georges level.

Michelle Gibson rode Don Angelo to the win, earning 70.00 percent in her final Prix St. Georges test and finishing with an average of 69.96 percent on Diamante Farm’s Oldenburg stallion (Don Larino—Elektina).

“I’m really proud of him,” said Gibson. “He’s only 7 years old. He’s not so experienced in the ring. He’s a beautiful horse; he’s fun to ride. What more can you ask for?”

Gibson will turn the ride over to Devon Kane, who owns and manages Diamante Farm in Wellington, Fla., and was an individual gold medalist at this year’s North American Junior and Young Rider Championships.

The developing horse classes appeal to many riders. “I’ve never been able to bring a horse out at Prix St. Georges without having to show them for the first time in Wellington,” said Christopher Hickey. “I’ve always done it that way because there was no option. To be able to do those classes at the big shows is great if they don’t have to compete against  horses that have done it for years and are really solid. It gives them a chance to get good ribbons and good recognition.”

Hickey also liked the fact that the developing horse program brings confirmed FEI-level riders together with up-and-coming riders on younger horses.

“The developing horse classes bring in a whole other tier of riders to the Markel Young Horse program—Michelle Gibson, Jim Koford, Dorrie Addy, people who are riding FEI horses,” said Hickey. “It’s great for the Markel program to bring in those kinds of riders, not just younger, greener riders. It’s a wonderful way to tie the more experienced FEI riders with the young horse program and branch the two together.”

“I’m very excited for this horse’s future,” said Hickey. “When I came home from Verden, I played with flying changes, and he did them. I only did that for a few days, and then I backed off because I didn’t want him to have flying changes on the brain.”

Hickey is also new to the young horse program, having focused on training upper level dressage horses before his move to Hilltop Farm in Colora, Md., in January of 2007. But after campaigning Cabana Boy in the 5-year-old tests, he didn’t feel he needed to change his style from the regular tests.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a different style of riding,” said Hickey. “You only have five scores, so it’s important that you’re able to show the horses have good volume and adjustability in their gaits. They have a working trot, a medium trot and a collected trot. And they have the same thing in the canter. I really tried to show a difference between them. Not every horse is able to go out and show themselves in the frame, balance and carriage with as much gaits as the judges want to see.”

But for a talented youngster like Cabana Boy, the  5-year-old test posed no special challenge.

“At home [he] is doing shoulder-in, haunches-in, renvers, half-passes and many different types of leg yielding. That’s what makes a supple, prepared horse. I don’t drill the test pattern on the 5-year-old,” he explained. “I do simple changes in the canter and counter canter, medium and collected back in counter canter. I really gymnasticize them.”

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When the pair was showing in Germany, Cabana Boy’s attunement to the aids suffered a bit because Hickey had been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, just two weeks before. He won the individual and team gold medals with Brenna Kucinzski’s Regent and then flew to Germany to compete Cabana Boy.

“I only had eight rides on him before my championship class after not riding him for five weeks,” said Hickey. “The horse was ridden well while I was gone, but it still was ridden by someone else. I knew he was a little bit on someone else’s aids, of course. I felt a little bit like I was catch-riding at that show.”

So while Hickey was pleased with Cabana Boy’s performance in Germany, he felt better prepared riding him in the national championships.

“I worked a lot on transitions and him being over his back with a good use of his body and trying to be as through as I could make him,” said Hickey. “That’s what I did in preparation for Kentucky—focusing on the throughness, the balance and the adjustability within the gaits and the straightness.”

Highlights of Cabana Boy’s tests included his canter work and submission. “He got a 9 on submission on the first day,” said Hickey. “I’m not even sure the judges give 9s for submission!

“He’s very adjustable in the canter,” continued Hickey. “He can canter on the spot and then go forward in a medium canter, all in a good quality canter with a rhythm, cantering through the body and good jump, staying through and not braced in his neck.”

Hickey plans to give Cabana Boy some time off and will bring him out at third level in Florida this winter.
“He does trot and canter half-passes. He can collect the canter back and make a little haunches in circle in a baby way. He’ll be working the pirouettes soon in a playful, easy way. Everything is right there for him,” said Hickey. “He has a lot of talent.”

From Breed Show To Performance

Willy Arts knew that Waterloo SE had talent, but until this year the 4-year-old had mostly shown in hand.
Last year Waterloo was the U.S. Dressage Federation 3-year-old Colt/Gelding Horse of the Year, and he only had a few shows under his belt when Arts headed out from DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, Calif., to Kentucky.

Siegi Belz-Fry bred the Dutch Warmblood (00 Seven—Showbiz) and sent him to DG Bar as a 2-year-old for Arts to train.

“It’s a nice thing to see that the horses that have been presented at the young breed show classes go on and do well,” said Arts.

Arts said he liked the 4-year-old tests because they were straightforward with fairly easy transitions. “It shows the willingness of the horse, the desire for the work and the ability to do transitions,” he said. “For the judges it’s a good test to evaluate the ability of the horse, and for the rider it’s a good test to show the potential of the horse.”

Arts also appreciated the feedback from the judges. “You have judges who have a lot of experience in judging young horses,” he said. “You get a commentary about the way your horse went so you go home with a lot of information.”

Waterloo’s consistently good gaits won the judges over at the national championship, scoring 8.5, 8.6, 8.7 for the trot, walk and canter, respectively.

“To go on and do the national championships, that’s a nice way to finish off the season,” said Arts. “You get to see the 5-year-olds, and so then you know that’s where I need to go for next year.”

While Waterloo is for sale, Arts would be just as happy to keep him and contest the 5-year-old classes next year.

“He needs to get a little bit stronger, but he’s going to improve in that over the next year,” said Arts. “When you have the complete horse with good conformation, three good gaits, the desire to work and a good temperament, then you know you’re heading toward a competitive horse for the future.”

Sara Lieser

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