Sometimes, fastest isn’t always smartest in a jump-off. Chris Kappler knows this strategy well and employed it to win the $100,000 USGPL Grand Prix aboard VDL Orame in the horse’s first U.S. grand prix victory.

Kappler rode fourth of seven in the jump-off of the feature class of the show, Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Culpeper, Va. There were a couple of quick four-fault scores on the board by then, and Kappler knew he needed to go clear if he wanted the win. VDL Orame isn’t all that fast, so Kappler aimed to be careful while still keeping the time in mind.

“He’s a big, slow-going horse,” said Kappler. “I was trying to be solid, put in a time just fast enough to put pressure on everybody else.”

Kappler’s jump-off ride over Olaf Petersen’s course was accurate and precise, and the big bay stallion responded with an effortless clear. His time, however, was several seconds slower than the fastest of the four-faulters. Now all Kappler could do was wait.

And it all came down to the last rider over the very last fence before he knew he’d won. Jimmy Torano was on his way to a blazingly fast round on Marlo. The Florida professional left everything standing until the last jump–a moment of indecision there cost Torano a rail, however. “He changed his mind at the last minute, which worked a little bit to my favor,” said Kappler, grinning.

For Kappler, the win was a welcome sign of his reemergence at the top of the sport. After the death of his Olympic individual bronze-medal mount, Royal Kaliber, in 2004, Kappler has been rebuilding his grand prix string. “I’m starting to get a few things put together. I’ve got some good young horses, and I’m very excited,” he said.

He’s only been riding VDL Orame, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood, since June. Orame (Indoctro–Iramee, Ramiro Z) showed in the 1.40-meter classes in Canadian shows this summer. Then, he was third in the $50,000 Sussex County Grand Prix (N.J.) in August, and then finished with 12 faults in the $50,000 Grey Goose Grand Prix CSI-W at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) in September. “That was definitely a get-to-know-you experience,” Kappler said wryly.

“This was one of the biggest grand prix classes he’s done,” Kappler said of the USGPL Finals. “He’s a very classy horse. He has a nice jump and good technique. He just seems to be the same everywhere I take him. I really, really like riding him.”

The VDL Stud farm of the Netherlands sent Orame and another young stallion, VDL Maseratie, to Kappler to show after he bought VDL Oranta from them last year and has had great results with her. The gray mare currently leads the U.S. Equestrian Federation grand prix horse of the year standings, with second-placed finishes at the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational (Fla.), the $150,000 Prudential Financial Grand Prix (N.Y.), and the $100,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup (Ohio).

“They seemed to be pleased with how she came along, and it’s resulted in more of a relationship between us. It’s worked out well,” Kappler said.


Giving It A Try
Michelle Spadone rode a new horse of her own to the top of the low junior/amateur-owner jumper classic. The Califon, N.J., amateur took the blue with Redfield Farm’s Skittles, a horse Spadone has had for only a couple of months.

“I was a little bit nervous in the jump-off. There were a lot of fast riders,” she said. “I went second to last, so I got to watch a couple go.”

Spadone may not have had much time with Skittles, but she has already learned to trust the 8-year-old Dutch mare: “She’s really brave, easy to ride, a perfect mind–she’s a very good horse.”

Spadone had been worried about one seven-stride line leading to what amounted to a blind turn. She knew she needed to be accurate. “That worked out okay,” Spadone said. “I asked her to leave big, and she was totally fine.”

Another amateur prevailed against the juniors in the $25,000 high junior/amateur-owner classic. Katherine Miracle rode her 12-year-old, chestnut mare Madonna to the win, outpacing a very fast field in the process.

“The first one to go, Carolyn Kelly, was really fast, very smooth and very quick,” said Miracle. “I really didn’t know if I could catch her, but I thought I could give it a try.”

Miracle, who trains with Barney and McLain Ward, gave up competitive riding for four and a half years while she finished college. She thought about riding all the time she was away, and finally couldn’t stand it any more. She crammed her final semester full of all the units she needed to graduate, and once she had her diploma, she headed right back to the barn last year.

“When I first came back I was nervous and excited, all those fun emotions to go through,” she said, laughing. A successful Florida tour gave her back her confidence, and there was no looking back. “I decided this is really what I wanted to do and started pursuing it very seriously,” she said.


She’d Be Happy
Katie Huber rode Rachel Demuro’s Caviar to the blue in the Stillwell-Hansen/Four Winds Farm pre-green hunter classic. “We just got him a month ago. He’s fabulous,” said Huber of the 7-year-old Oldenburg gelding. “He’s a great match with his owner. She’s doing him in the children’s, and this is her first year.”

Demuro will spend one more year in the children’s hunters next year while Huber shows the bay gelding in first year green. Huber, who trains at Stone Ridge Stables in Great Falls, Va., found the horse through Val Renihan. “Val has great horses,” she said. “I’ve bought great ones from her before. I feel really lucky.”

Meg Rhodes’ streak of four blue ribbons over fences in the adult amateur hunter, 41 and over division meant more than just another tricolor to her. Rhodes co-owns her mount, Rimer, and the half-ownership in the horse was a gift from Rhodes’ mother, who passed away not long thereafter.

“This has been really good for me,” she said of her success with the young hunter. “Because this has been the worst year of my life. My mom was my best friend and my helper. She helped me with these horses, and I know she’d be really happy right now.”

Rhodes, who lives on her farm in Keswick, Va., co-owns Rimer, a chestnut Hanoverian mare, with the breeders, Marefield Meadows. Rhodes has shown the 6-year-old only lightly, starting him in the baby greens at Culpeper last year.

Rimer was never intended to be a hunter. “She was bred to be a dressage horse, actually. That was the plan,” she said. “I got lucky enough to cross his path and start riding her.”

Rhodes gets a little help from friends at the horse shows, but other than that she is on her own. Her horses live at her home, and she’s the one who does the bulk of the training. “I basically do my own thing,” she said. Her horse budget is limited, and that means she can’t buy made horses. “I just have to stumble across something young and cheap,” she said, smiling.�


Amateurs Win It All
Ashley Dennehy is on her way to a USEF national year-end title in the amateur-owner hunters, 18-35. “That would be something phenomenal,” she said. Adding the USGPL Finals tricolor to the resume just put her a little closer to that goal. The Colorado amateur rode Burberry to the championship in the amateur-owner hunters, 18-35–the 19th time in 21 tries this season that she’s earned the tricolor.

Dennehy trains at home with her husband Michael and also gets help at�some shows from Peter Pletcher. Dennehy said her horse is always ready to perform. In her eyes, any bad rounds are her own fault, not Burberry’s. “She’s wonderful, if mother can turn on her radar and get the job done,” she said.

Kate Gibson’s riding family is growing, which means her own string is shrinking. “My kids took all my amateur horses,” said the Magnolia, Texas, amateur. “I had to go shopping,” Gibson said. The horse Peter Pletcher found for her was Fortune, her mount for the amateur-owner hunters, 36 and over.

Gibson has had Fortune only since July and is still getting used to him. “I’m figuring him out every week. Yesterday was our first cold morning, and we had a little more horse than we’d ever had before,” she said, laughing. “We’d just been in Texas where it was 95 degrees. So yesterday when it was 40, we were like, ‘wow.’ ” Fortune soon settled down.

Audrey and Marlena Carlson were another notable family act in Culpeper this year. Audrey earned the championship in the small juniors with her Limoges, and her mother won the Marshall & Sterling adult amateur hunter classic with her new horse, A Thousand Words.

Marlena has only had the attractive gelding since June. Her own hunter was laid up with an injury. “I went looking for a horse to ride this year while my horse recovers,” Marlena said.

Her trainer, Michael Dennehy, found A Thousand Words with Morgan Thomas at a horse show in Kentucky. “I rode him in the pouring rain in the warm-up ring, with a lot of high-pressure stuff going on,”�Marlena said. “He was just great and I clicked with him.”

Audrey’s hunter Limoges, rested last year, is back in top form and looked very good earning the adult amateur hunter classic win. Mother and daughter both appreciate sharing the sport. “We get out of the parent/child role and can be friends and supporters,” said Marlena. It’s a one-hour commute from their Boulder, Colo., home to the training barn, and that gives the pair plenty of quality time together.


Matt Hinton