This rising star earns top finishes with five different horses.

Courtney King hardly let her feet hit the ground during her time at Dressage At Devon, but by the end of the show she’d collected almost all the  prizes worth winning, including two Grand Prix wins, two second-placed Grand Prix finishes and two Intermediaire wins.

“I’m on a high right now,” King admitted at the end of the show. “I thought all the horses did really well. I definitely get more excited at Devon. At most horse shows you’re doing it for yourself and for your horse. But I think it’s special when you have a crowd that you know is rooting for every single one of us. Here, it’s like you’re actually doing a sport.”

King, of New Milford, Conn., rode five horses in 11 classes over the week of Sept. 27-30 in Devon, Pa., and never finished lower than third place. She was particularly proud of Richard Malloch’s Mythilus, who won his Grand Prix test (68.37%) and the Grand Prix Special (71.00%).

“It’s always a struggle getting real control, and he came out in the warm-up really light in the bridle and really light on the seat,” said King. “I felt, for the first time since I’ve been showing him in the Grand Prix, that I could trust him a little bit in the extensions.”

King rode her first Grand Prix with “Myth” in June as a demonstration at the USEF Dressage Festival of Champions (N.J.), and she’s been working on confirming him in the Grand Prix since then.

“The passage, particularly, is a lot improved, and it’s not as good as it is at home,” she said. “It’s still a work in progress and really fun to be working with a horse that has that much capability and talent. I think the next few months to a year are going to be exciting with him.”

The 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood by Ferro is an enthusiastic worker, according to King. “Every day he comes out to work happy to do it,” she said. “You could work that horse for three hours, and he would love every minute of it. He’s a giver every day. He’s always thrilled to do the job.”

But that enthusiasm can cause problems during his tests, because he tends to try and take over, regardless of King’s cues.

In the Grand Prix test there was a noticeable miss in the one-tempi changes.

“It was a pretty honest mistake,” said King. “He was coming around that left turn, and you do the extended canter on the left lead, which he used to always take over, so I’ve been working on that a lot. He did the left lead extension well, but then when we were coming around to do the ones, he was thinking extend, and I just couldn’t quite get the control back. I wasn’t really disappointed. The ones are good.”

And in the Special, Myth was even more focused on King.

“He started to take over a little bit in the two-tempis. I made a half-halt, he accepted it and came back,” she said. “He did a beautiful row of one-tempis, which is another danger zone. The hardest thing in that test for me is the extension to the centerline to the pirouette to the nine ones to the pirouette. By the end of that with a horse that wants to take over—it’s such a hard sequence. He was so good. He stayed right with me.”

King plans to take Myth and her other horses to Europe this fall to train with U.S. team coach Klaus Balkenhol. But before she does that, she has a special performance in mind for Myth.

“I got an invitation to the Washington International Horse Show [(D.C.)],” said King. “I got the invitation with Idocus, but Myth’s first show is supposed to be Stuttgart [Germany], and that’s a very electric atmosphere. Myth has never been in anything like that. He’s a sensitive horse to things like that, so I think it would be a really good idea to take him to Washington.”

Although Myth doesn’t have a Grand Prix freestyle yet, King hopes to adapt Terry Gallo’s compilation from his Intermediaire freestyle.

“I Think She’s Got It”
And in the small tour, King had the chance to try out another new freestyle with Rendezvous 3, an Austrian Warmblood-Thoroughbred-Arabian. Her owner, Francine Walker, chose the theme of My Fair Lady for the 12-year-old mare.

“[Walker] loves My Fair Lady, and she really thought we needed something recognizable,” said King. “I had one piece of My Fair Lady in her previous freestyle, and Francine really liked that part. It’s turned out great.”

Succes Settles In For Freestyle Win Lars Petersen didn’t plan on riding Succes in the Grand Prix freestyle at Dressage At Devon. With its night class and copious spectators, Devon is notorious for being one of the most electric atmospheres in North America. But at the last minute he decided to go for it with the hot, 12-year-old Danish Warmblood (Blue Hors Silver Moon—Wapeti). However, that late decision didn’t leave him time to develop a freestyle. So Petersen, who rides for Denmark but resides in Wellington, Fla., pulled out an old freestyle that he’d used to place second at the 2002 FEI World Cup Final with Blue Hors Cavan in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. This freestyle was full of difficulty, including four pirouettes on the centerline and a complicated tour of two-tempi to one-tempi changes. The crowd was so impressed by the intricate tempi changes that they started cheering, and Succes made a mistake. ADVERTISEMENT “I honestly think that I had the mistake in the ones because when they started to clap, I said to myself, ‘Now you have to be careful.’ And then I had the mistake,” said Petersen. “I think if I’d just kept riding, I wouldn’t have had it. It’s nice that people get into it. I don’t mind. It’s nice that they like it.” The stands were filled to capacity with 33 percent more spectators than attended the final evening of jumping at the Devon Horse Show. Each freestyle seemed better than the last, and Succes’ win was not assured until Pop Art and Ashley Holzer, the winners of the Grand Prix and last pair to go, made their final salute. Petersen was especially pleased with Succes because of their long history together. He’s owned the horse since he was a baby, but his partner, Melissa Taylor, rode him at Grand Prix for the last two years. “We’ve had a little trouble with him and have had a hard time riding him,” said Petersen. “Now it’s really coming together. It means a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a Grand Prix on him where he has not spooked or jumped away. I think this is a big step for him to go through this without getting too happy.” “Today he was absolutely the clear winner,” said Barnabas Mandi of Hungary, president of the ground jury. “The music was nice, and he did difficult movements. The horse was always a happy horse. He was happy to do these difficult exercises.” Mandi explained how you could tell the horse was happy: “If you are a horseman you feel a happy horse. Just look at the eyes, how they radiate the internal feelings to the outside. Look at the ears and the neck of the horse. Look at the mouth of the horse. There are many different signs which show you immediately that this is a happy horse today.” Petersen hopes to take Succes to Europe next summer, but he would not expand further on future goals for the horse.

King’s best ride with Rendezvous might have been the freestyle (71.25%). A meltdown in the warm-up affected her Prix St. Georges test.

“She had something in her ear,” said King. “About 10 minutes before I went into the ring she had a major flip out, shaking her head and ears and leaping around. I kept trying to stop and scratch her ears or shift the bridle. I just couldn’t figure it out. I went in, and my contact wasn’t really good. She was still a saint,
but she wasn’t good in the contact.”

She still placed third (67.25%), and they had mostly resolved the problem by the Intermediaire I.

“She just started to shake her ears a little bit [in the warm-up], so I just let her have a big gallop around, and she forgot about it,” said King.

Rendezvous is a supple horse with strong pirouettes and phenomenal extensions. And because the mare is about to move up to Grand Prix—and has already competed at that level once—King made the freestyle choreography very difficult.

“She’s such a supple horse that when she’s really through, it’s really easy for her,” said King. “It is technically difficult to do the pirouette, the zigzag, the pirouette and then directly from tempi changes to the same pattern again. The tempis on the curved lines were really nice. She had really small tempis, so the past couple of shows she’s been getting 8s on her tempis, and that feels great. I felt like they were still pretty big on the curved line.”

Although it was the first time King rode that particular freestyle, it will also be the last as Rendezvous will go back into the Grand Prix ring when she heads to Europe.

“She knows all the stuff, but she’s not really solid yet,” said King. “I think Klaus is really a genius with the piaffe and passage, and I think he’ll help me a lot with that, teaching my younger horses and getting it better with my older horses.”

Not Sorry To Be Second
One of King’s older horses helped her cap off a fantastic show by placing second in the Grand Prix (71.04%) and the Grand Prix freestyle (73.00%).

Christine McCarthy’s Idocus, a 17-year-old Dutch, Warmblood stallion (Equador—Eretha), finished just fractions of a point behind Ashley Holzer and Pop Art in the Grand Prix and Lars Petersen and Succes in the freestyle.

“I like to win, but I couldn’t be happier to be second,” said King. “I really look up to both of these competitors. They’re amazing riders to emulate. I worked with Lars for a season when Melissa [Taylor] was riding Succes. I got off my horse and ran over to watch. I was just as into his freestyle as everyone else. I’ve gotten the chance to see Pop Art develop from Prix St. Georges, and what a piaffe and passage.”

Although King was happy with Idocus, she felt slightly disappointed in herself for small mistakes that made the difference between first and second place.

“When you’re that close to first, you think, ‘Oh if I’d only done this a little better.’ But it’s a motivating feeling too, because you have to be really polished to come here and win,” she said. “But that’s the whole point in coming to a competition. To be neck-and-neck on a lot of different horses was really fun, and it makes me work harder next time too. You can always improve. That’s what I’m going home with.”

King also commented that Idocus wasn’t quite himself. Instead of being excited by the electric atmosphere and crowd participation, he came against the bridle in the freestyle.

“He’s usually a very soft horse,” she said. “I was unhappy that I didn’t have the suppleness that I usually have, but I was happy that despite that he didn’t make mistakes. He tried to be honest, especially with the complicated tempi series. It’s not the best feeling as a rider to feel like you’re having to control that balance and not have that up, soft feeling.”

King also rode her own Harmony’s Wyoming to a win in the FEI 6-year-old test and Anne Wood’s Jubilant, an 8-year-old Oldenburg, to second place in the Prix St. Georges and top three finishes at fourth level.

King especially wanted to thank her owners for making her achievement at Devon possible.

“My owners are very undemanding, but they sacrifice a lot to let me ride the horses,” she said. “I’m sure it’s the same for almost all the owners out there in America. They don’t get any financial reward, and they don’t get any glory. They get their names mentioned sometimes. I would have no chance of being out there if I didn’t have owners. I think the majority of riders are in my position.”

After an exhausting week, King admitted that she would definitely take the Monday after the show off from riding. But since she just got married to Jason Dye, she won’t get to sit home and rest.

“Tomorrow I’m going to write all the thank yous from my wedding and catch up on a lot of stuff I haven’t been doing,” she said with a smile.

Dacardo Dances In Prix St. Georges Dacardo’s pure athleticism wows the judges, but it also allows him to behave in ways not commonly seen in a dressage horse. It’s not unusual for him to bolt during a test, usually after scoring 8s and 9s for the previous movement. But Melissa Taylor kept his enthusiasm in check to win the Prix St. Georges (68.66%) and place third in the Intermediaire I (66.66%) at Dressage At Devon. “I’m psyched. I’m so proud of that horse,” said Taylor, of Wellington, Fla. “I love that horse, and I’m so happy I can ride him.” Taylor, 37, blamed herself for the mistakes, but she’s thrilled to have developed a relationship with the 9-year-old Swedish Warmblood (D-Day—Azisterne). “My trot tour was the best part,” she said. “My walk work, he gets a little hot and a little backed off, and I don’t ride him from behind enough. That’s where my mistakes are personally, but the horse is super. Lars [Petersen] has done an amazing job training him. I’m just reaping the benefits.” Taylor and Petersen switched horses this year—he took Succes back, and she started riding Dacardo. While Taylor would like to explore Grand Prix with Dacardo, she said she’d wait until he decided he was ready. “For personal goals I would love for him to be doing it by the National [(Fla.)], but he’s the kind of horse that if you push him, he won’t be there,” she said. “I’d rather let him tell me when he’s ready to come out. We work the Grand Prix at home. The one-tempis are there and the piaffe/passage. We’ll see.”

Holzer Holds Her Own In The Grand Prix Canada’s Ashley Holzer made her first time at Dressage At Devon a winning one by winning the Grand Prix for the freestyle with Pop Art (71.25%). “I think Dressage At Devon is the show in this country,” she said. “To win and be competitive here shows that you are top in North America. It’s always been a dream of mine.” The 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Amsterdam—Jody Prinses) performed his first Grand Prix test last fall at the Washington International Horse Show (D.C.), but he fell ill this spring and almost died. “They never found out what it was,” said Holzer, who winters in Wellington, Fla. “The vets kept him on support for four or five days around the clock, and he pulled through. I gave him four weeks off after that, and I slowly started to work him back.” While Pop Art has a generous and giving personality, Holzer said the atmosphere at Devon was difficult for him, especially in the freestyle, where he placed third. “He was worried about the whole atmosphere,” she said. “He got upset at the prize-giving ceremony yesterday, and normally he’s not like that. When I came down to that area he was tense. He started off tense but ended up incredibly honest. He kept getting calmer. He’s that type of horse. He’ll keep working for you no matter how tense he is. He was a tired, tense horse, but I was pretty proud that he pulled off the last piaffe.” Holzer plans to head to Florida again this winter and use the hot weather there to prepare her horse for a possible trip to Hong Kong for the 2008 Olympics.

Sara Lieser