Dirk Glitz’s new mount, Roalty, had never shown Prix St. Georges before the Golden State Premiere Dressage show in Rancho Murieta, Calif., Feb. 9-11. In fact, he’d never shown at all. But the pair still won the Prix St. Georges on Friday and Saturday (64.25% and 67.00%).

“Basically his first Prix St. Georges test was pretty much without a big mistake,” said Glitz. “Just little details here and there, which of course cost him many points. But for his first time in there he behaved very well. He was looking a little, and he was very insecure. But he stayed with me and worked throughout the whole test and was very fun to ride in there.”

After no rainfall in January, almost 2 inches of rain fell during the show, most of it on Saturday. Luckily, the managers of the Murieta Equine Center had widened the ring area in the main covered arena last summer, and now two dressage rings fit side by side, leaving the smaller covered arena for warm-up. So even though the roads flooded, the show went on with dry footing.

Sandy Sweitzer, Full Bridle Farm in Los Gatos, Calif., purchased Roalty, a 9-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding by Lancet, on a buying trip to the Netherlands with Gwen Blake 21/2 years ago.

Glitz said he had one mistake in the three tempis and the first centerline was a little wiggly in his first test. “In his second test on Saturday he lost some rhythm in the canter half-passes. Again little things, so that I could not really be as precise as I would like to be,” said Glitz. “But that is just experience. As he gets more secure in the ring, he will go the way that I’m sure that he can go, and he will be very nice.”

When Glitz started training Roalty he only knew basic walk, trot and canter. The gelding was quite full of himself and nervous. Glitz has spent the time working on the basics and getting the horse relaxed. At home he usually rides Roalty in a snaffle and without spurs.

“He’s very sensitive,” said Glitz. “If you approach something new and you ask him for too much, then right away he tenses up and doesn’t know really what to do. He really needs to be relaxed before you approach something new with him. You just have to do the basics all the time. I don’t work too much on any specific exercises yet. That’s why he’s so insecure in some exercises. I’m still doing most of the basic work with him to get a good, solid foundation.”


Hoffman Tops Young Riders
Crystalyn Hoffman, 20, rode her 16-year-old, Westphalian gelding Diamo 10 to win the FEI Young Rider Prix St. Georges qualifier with a 64.37 percent. They also won the warm-up FEI Young Rider Team Test (65.55%). Hoffman, of El Paso, Texas, moved to California a year ago to attend Santa Clara University and to train with Pam Nelson at Villa Rosa in Gilroy, Calif.

The FEI Young Rider Team qualifier didn’t go as well as hoped for Hoffman. Right as they walked into the ring a downpour started, which really scared Diamo.

“He’s very nervous and very easily distracted,” said Hoffman. “But when he’s good he’s really good. I just have to get him to concentrate a little bit better.”

Diamo 10 (Diamantino–Ferrari) is just coming back from a layoff in December. “He’s coming back better than he was before,” said Hoffman. “I’m really excited about that. Everything we’ve been working on with Pam has just kind of clicked. I’m really happy about how he’s started out this year.”

Hoffman said last year they had just barely started working on Young Riders tests. “This year we’re more prepared. I’m really happy with how he went this weekend, con-sidering the rain and the distractions,” she said. “There were still parts of the tests that were really good. And he was great on Sunday.”

Hoffman has been riding as long as she can remember. Her parents bred race horses in California, and she had her first pony before she started school. She competed in the low junior jumpers and evented as a junior. Her junior jumper mount retired when Hoffman was a freshman in high school, and she switched to dressage, training with Karen Lenyck in El Paso.

Nelson imported Diamo 10 from Johann Hinneman in Germany. Hoffman and Lenyck saw him advertised, and he was one of the first horses Hoffman tried. “We flew up and tried him out, and I fell in love with him,” said Hoffman. “I’ve had him ever since. He’s really awesome. And that’s how I met Pam too.”


Scoring High
Deborah Hausman posted the show’s high score on her Dutch Warmblood mare Verona (Jazz–Glennridge, G Ramiro) with an 85.80 percent in the Materiale class on Friday. She also won the warm-up and the qualifying FEI 5-year-old classes with scores of 69.40 percent and 72.80 percent, respectively.

This was the first time that Hoffman showed Verona in the 5-year-old class and the first time she’d ridden the mare through the entire test. Hoffman purchased Verona last June in the Netherlands and competed with her there in the Pavo Cup. This was their first show in the United States.

“I didn’t know how long it takes for a warm-up with her,” said Hausman. “For a young horse that’s always such an issue. Too much, too little–it’s such a fine line to find out what you need.”

The first day she warmed up in only 9 minutes due to some confusion between the warm-up ring and the show ring. “So I had quite a bit of horse. But the second day I worked her much longer and she was more concentrated,” Hausman said. “But I don’t want to lose the energy to show her gaits. So that’s something we need to learn. But I had an enormous experience with her there just finding out and playing with that. You just don’t know until you show it. You can try it at home, but it’s very different in that environment, coupled with the weather. I think she did well for her first time out.”

Their 72.80 percent score in the FEI 5-year-old class from judges Jane Weatherwax and Betsy Berrey qualified them for the Western finals to be held at Flintridge (Calif.) in May. “Having this qualifying score behind us really, really gives me some real relaxation,” said Hausman with a smile. “I don’t have so much pressure now.”

Gerhard Politz comes to Hoffman’s Quailhurst Stable in Sherwood, Ore., each month for clinics. Hoffman also rode with Christine Traurig for many years. Allida Allen rode the 5-year-old, Holsteiner stallion Contester II to wins in four of his five classes and a 70.00 percent in first level, test 3.

“I felt as the show progressed he got more into the stride of things,” said Allen. “The first day he was very exuberant. Mostly what I had to work on was controlling the power. But I couldn’t have asked for any more. He was very focused and really a pleasure to work with.”

Allen first saw Contester II (by Contender) as a weanling. She was on vacation in Europe and was flying back to the United States with a shipment of horses. Contester II was one of the horses being shipped to Willy Arts at DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, Calif. Allen called her sponsor, Josephine Walsh of Brookside, Calif., and told her about the colt. Walsh bought Contester II from Arts right away.

Arts started Contester II under saddle, and Allen has been training him since then. “Willy helped us a lot to get Contester more collected and to get him more through and to keep him a little more focused on the rider,” said Allen. “He’s wonderful to ride. The way I describe him is ‘a Mack truck with Formula One gears!'”

Contestor only stands about 16.1 hands, but he’s very wide. “He’s got a lot of muscle so he’s just got power there in reserve,” Allen said. “But he’s very short coupled so it’s easy to get him collected and really get the active hind leg.”


Sheri Scott