Upper Marlboro, Md.—Oct. 9

With the end of the 2016 horse show season fast approaching, Emma Kurtz looked ahead and realized that she didn’t have many prospective rides for the upcoming year.

“The junior hunters I have this year, I won’t be able to ride next year because other people own them,” explained the 16-year-old.

So she and trainer Scott Stewart asked Betsee Parker on a whim whether her well-known horse Dedication currently had any jobs or future plans.

“And we weren’t expecting her to say yes or anything,” Kurtz said. “So we kind of just asked what he was doing. And then Scott and Betsee were like, ‘Oh it would be fun to have him showing.’ So I got a little lucky there. She could have easily said no, and we would have been fine with that.”

Dedication exploded into the hunter world in 2011, winning championship after championship in divisions ranging from the first year greens and the high performance hunters with Stewart to junior hunters with Tori Colvin. But he stopped competing in the middle of the 2014 season.

Now a little over two years after his last show with Colvin, Dedication is back with a new junior rider. And winning yet again. In their sixth outing, Kurtz and Dedication won the WCHR Junior Challenge at the Capital Challenge Horse Show.

Despite horse and rider both having decorated pasts, Kurtz explains that the two are still getting used to each other.

“He’s a little quirky,” said Kurtz. “Like if he ever gets in trouble for anything, he gets really nervous. So we can’t ever get after him about anything. Not that we really ever would.”

And before their winning WCHR round, the two had a bumpy morning competing in the large juniors in the indoor ring at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center.

“He was so good outside,” said Kurtz of their winning round the day before with a score of 92. “He’s so good. And he just went in here and got a little stage fright. But that’s just, we don’t know him at all. He doesn’t know us. So, it’s OK.

“He stopped at the first jump in the first class,” she continued. “And then the bending in the second class. Yeah I was really happy with how he came back.”

But Kurtz didn’t take the unexpected morning too much to heart.

“He’s always so brave so I was really surprised when he came in here and was spooky,” she said. “But what are you going to do about it?”

And for his final class, Dedication powered up and regained his bravery for the pair to earn a score of 88 from the judges.

“Because he was so spooky this morning, I was just so glad that he was perfect,” said Kurtz.

Singh Enjoys A Winning Swan Song With Monopoly
Walking into the ring for the WCHR Children’s Challenge Annika Singh knew exactly what she wanted to do.

“When I got here I was like I really want to win this class,” she said. “I got in the ring and I was like, ‘I really want this.’ So I went for it this time. I think I felt a lot more focused than I did this morning. I think my heart was in it a lot more than it usually is.”

That resolve ended up giving her the winning ticket, topping the class with an 85.25 on Monopoly over Caroline Passarelli and Iceman with an 85.

“He’s the best horse I’ve ever had,” said Singh. “He’s very much a know-it-all. He loves his job and he loves doing it. He works the hardest of any horse at our barn I think. He knows when I’m about to make a mistake and will fix it.”

Annika Singh and Monopoly. Photo by Kimberly Loushin.

The 15-year-old traveled across the country from Medina, Wash., to compete at Capital Challenge for the first time. And it was a fitting way to end their show here, because Cash, a 16-year-old Dutch Riding Pony, will be stepping down to the 2’6″ and the 2’9″ next year.

“We were fortunate enough to get him as her first horse to step up from the ponies, and he’s just been a god-send,” said Singh’s trainer Morgan Thomas. “He’s older now and this will be his swan song at 3’.

“He really has brought her into the sport and give her the confidence that not only she can do it, but she can do it at this very high level,” Thomas continued. “He’s made her the rider that can now go onto the junior hunter level.”

Progressing Through The Levels
Before Grace Pearson went into the ring with Cambiaso for the WCHR Low Junior Challenge she took a minute to text her barn mate Singh, who’d just won the WCHR Children’s Challenge.

“Before I went in, I texted her and I said, ‘I hope I ride like you. You were so awesome.’ It was really cool to both be winners for that,” said Pearson. “It’s really cool both representing the west coast.”

Grace Pearson and Cambiaso. Photo by Laura Lemon.

But the win on an 86 is more than just another blue ribbon, to Pearson it’s representative of four years of hard work with her 13-year-old warmblood (Cassini I—Little Lady). When she first got the gelding, they were competing in the short stirrup and she never expected their career together to progress this far.

“We were in the children’s for 2 1/2 years and that really built my confidence with him,” said Person. “He was amazing for that and then stepping up to the 3’3” was easy. Once you do that for so long it’s not much of a difference in the 3’3”. He’s taken me all the way.

Leaving Capital Challenge with a win in the indoor wasn’t on Pearson’s mind when she left Seattle for Maryland.

“He’s been really amazing. He’s kind of a spooky guy inside, so I wasn’t expecting anything, but it’s so cool. I didn’t expect that. It was a lot of fun,” she said.

See more photos from the day.

Click to see full results.

Want more Capital Challenge? We’ve got all of our coverage here. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Oct. 24 issue of the Chronicle.