Suzanne Dansby-Phelps reaped the benefits of her work with Conrad Schumacher as she earned Grand Prix wins with two horses at the Zada Enterprises LLC WEF Dressage Classic CDI-W, March 22-25 in Wellington, Fla.

Dansby-Phelps, Atlanta, Ga., won the Grand Prix Special (66.16%) aboard Goubergh’s Kaspar and the Grand Prix freestyle (71.75%) aboard Cooper 19. They also finished second (Cooper) and third (Kaspar) in the Grand Prix.

“Conrad Schumacher has helped me develop a program for training outside the arena, which works physically and mentally and maximizes their potential,” she said. “I hope it continues to work so we can continue to improve.”

Dansby-Phelps, 48, started working with Schumacher 11⁄2 years ago. “He emphasized that it’s important to develop a program for everyday training that you can carry over to the warm-up at a show so the horse is more relaxed,” she said. “It’s focused on relaxation and consistency in communication between horse and rider. You need to help the horse develop the trust and focus needed to go into the arena, especially at Grand Prix, where every mistake shows up.”

In addition to working with Schumacher, Dansby-Phelps also schooled in Germany last summer with Klaus Balkenhol in U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation training sessions for candidates for the World Equestrian Games. Schumacher travels to the States periodically and will be back in May, when he will help Dansby-Phelps at the Raleigh CDI (N.C.). “We work several days at a time in a concentrated manner, and he gives me a lot of homework,” said Dansby-Phelps.

Kaspar’s win in the Special included strong transitions from piaffe to passage and excellent half passes. “His transitions in and out of piaffe and passage worked like a metronome. He was right on with them,” said Dansby-Phelps. “His passage to extended to passage was also very smooth and fluid.”

Dansby-Phelps said the 16.2-hand Dutch Warmblood, now 15 years old, is getting better and better self-carriage. “I’m concentrating on driving him up to a higher frame,” she said. “He lulls you into a false sense of security because he feels so good, but then Conrad will say, ‘Drive him into the bit!’ and he goes from good to great when I keep that in mind.”

Dansby-Phelps takes great pride in Cooper’s passage. “It’s probably my most exciting accomplishment because when I first started with him, he didn’t have a real passage,” she said. “Now his back legs move like they should, like a locomotive from behind.”

She performed his freestyle to music from Superman and Superman Returns, compiled by Johnny and Marissa Woodall of Miracle Music Freestyles.

“I made it high in technical difficulty because I wanted to show how on the aids and adjustable Cooper is,” said Dansby-Phelps. “When I first bought him, he was trained with a lot of strength, just this powerhouse that went out and did the movements.”

Some of those difficult movements in her freestyle included one-tempis on a 20-meter circle to the left, directly into a counter canter, and then a right turn to a piaffe pirouette, to passage, to the walk. She also performed double pirouettes, one at G, directly in front of the judges.

“It’s a lot of fun, because the music is very big for most of the ride,” she said. “But the walk music is to “Lex Luther’s Luau,” which is Hawaiian music that I get a kick out of. It makes him look like he’s really relaxed and swinging.”

She ends the freestyle by doing an extended trot up centerline on the 18.3-hand Holsteiner. “It looks like we’re going flying into the judges, and then all of a sudden he halts, which really shows how he’s being ridden from the seat and legs,” she said.

And as she saluted in each of those two winning tests, Dansby-Phelps was thrilled. “Both horses felt great,” she said. “As soon as I halted and saluted, I knew I had good rides.”

Owning The Win
In addition to winning the Grand Prix, the weekend was memorable for Jane Hannigan because she was able to officially finish buying out Maksymilian’s original owner, Cindy Ain.

“I’ve been trying to come up with the money for a long time, and my mom let me take out an equity loan on her house, which came through last week,” she said.

Hannigan’s mother, Sibley Hannigan, also teaches and trains. “My mother has always been into horses and is always there helping me out. Even though I’m 36, my mommy is still with me,” she added with
a laugh.

Hannigan’s winning score of 67.62 percent was her highest to date in a CDI. “I’m very proud of my boy,” she said of the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Elcaro—Eleanor) she’s ridden for seven years. “I’m really excited about our future.”

This winter Hannigan, Harvard, Mass., wintered in Florida for the first time and trained with Robert Dover. “This is my first year going south because this is the first time I thought I had a horse who was good enough,” she said. “Working with Robert has made a huge difference to my confidence. ‘Mak’ has big, extravagant gaits, and Robert has been teaching me how to teach him to do smaller steps. I’m starting to get control in the ring now!”

Mak’s passage can be so big and powerful that Hannigan has difficulty getting him back to piaffe without getting stuck. “He does [piaffe] well, but he’s still a green Grand Prix horse, and he’s getting better,” she said.

Hannigan was thrilled to receive an 8 from one judge for her first passage. “He’s more rideable in the canter zigzag too,” she said. “It’s fun when I feel like I’m gaining control.”

Although Mak has a huge stride, he stands only 16.1 hands, and Dansby-Phelps’ Cooper, who stands 18.3 hands and placed second to Maksymilian in the Grand Prix, towered over him in the awards line-up. “Cooper makes Mak look like a midget,” said Hannigan with a laugh. “When I’m hand-walking him, people always say, ‘Where’s that big horse you ride?’ He really is a midget.”

The win had special significance for Hannigan since she was supposed to be heading to California for the U.S. League Final for the Rolex FEI World Cup, but when she realized how much it would cost, the trip had to be cancelled. “It was fun to feel like I belonged [at the League final] even though I can’t go,” she said.

Her next goal is to compete at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix Championships in Gladstone, N.J., in June. “Everybody’s goal is to be on a team, but the sun and the moon and the stars have to line up,” she said. “It’s really not about the winning for me but the performance and getting more confident—that’s what made me happiest.”

Standing The Test Of Time
Shawna Harding posted the first score in the FEI Intermediaire I class, Friday morning, and that mark of 70.25 percent lasted over the course of 41 rides, held through Saturday afternoon, as the best of all.
“We set the bar kind of high,” said Harding, 37, of Aiken, S.C. “We wound up being able to maintain [the lead] over two days.”

Come On III, an 8-year-old Danish Warmblood, is competing in his first season of Intermediaire I but impressed the judges with excellent two-tempis and half-passes, as well as a strong extended canter. “He has a lot of presence in the arena,” added Harding. “He’s a big, beautiful horse.”

Harding said there’s much more to come when Come On is stronger and more confirmed at the level. “He had to get used to the heat and humidity and bugs in Florida,” she said. “We went down [to Florida] in mid-December, but because of the [EHV-1 outbreak], everything was cancelled. Jan. 26 was our first show, and we were quarantined in, so we were very limited other than our training arena. In Aiken, we have 500 acres and do hill work and cross-train, so being confined took a toll on his condition.”

And little mistakes in their test—such as a slightly weak first canter pirouette and some swing in their three-tempis—kept the score from being even higher. “He could have been more relaxed in his extended walk and covered more ground, and his extended trot had some rhythm errors,” she added.

But Harding was thrilled to take the win over some tough competition of more experienced horses. “Everybody has their day, and Come On is going to be able to hold his own when he’s stronger,” she said.
Harding, a professional trainer who’s spent seven years working in Germany and one year in Denmark, bought the Comeback III offspring while working in Denmark in 2005.

“Nobody wanted to buy him, so I started competing him,” she said. “He had a little pull in him and was a little bit of an orangutan. I knew the horse had a huge heart—he’s very kind but also a handful. I fell in love with him and found a way to purchase him; I wasn’t going to leave him in Denmark!”

Harding begged her mother, Jinx Harding, to buy the huge, 17.2-hand gelding, and her mother was able to be in Wellington for their win. “She’s my biggest fan, and she’s bent over backwards to support me,” said Harding.

Harding hopes to qualify for the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Intermediaire Championships and make a bid for the Pan Am Games team. She also wants to compete him in the 7- to 9-year-old championships this summer in Lexington, Ky.

Although he can be graceful in the arena, Harding said her horse is a “big oaf” on the ground. “He’s affectionate in a very aggressive way—he’s head butty and pushy, and his head is as big as my entire body.

“I call him ‘my blue-footed boobie’ or my handsome man’,” she added, saying that the first nickname refers to a type of bird that has a hard time taking off and landing. “That’s what he’s like—a bull in a china shop.”
The pair started at Prix St. Georges in the summer of 2006 and won the fourth level, fourth level freestyle and Prix St. Georges titles at the Great American/USDF Region 3 Championships.

“He’s a joy, the love of my life,” she said. “He’s the first horse I’ve owned since high school. Now no one can sell him or take over the ride.”

Beth Rasin