Even though Pikcasso had been pinned the best young horse at the West Coast phase of the Sallie B. Wheeler/USEF Hunter Breeding National Championships in Del Mar, Calif., owner and breeder Barbara Dunning and handler Ted Fieger hung in suspense in the days following the Aug. 31 show.

That’s because the judges, Rick Abbott and Dale Pederson, had to fly to judge the East Coast phase of the competition in Warrenton, Va., on Sept. 3.

They would compare the best young horse from each coast and declare an overall national champion.

Fieger kept close track of the action.

“A friend of mine, Diane Grod, was there in Virginia watching, and she would call me with updates like, ‘The yearling colt is gorgeous,’ and that kind of thing. The suspense was awful,” he said. “At the end of the day she said, ‘Well, listen to this,’ and she held the phone up to a speaker, and I got to hear the whole announcement of the winner, and it was our colt. I was totally surprised, and I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe it.”

Pikcasso (Pikadero–Miss Kilkee), a striking 2-year-old, beat out Winston (Welt Hit Star–Jardhu), a flashy 2-year-old who was named the East Coast’s best young horse, for the national title.

“I had no idea he would be so well-received. It came as a complete shock to me, but a good one,” said Dunning. “To tell me that the horse had been awarded the overall national championship was just so far off my expectation map that it’s still hard to describe how special it is.”

Dunning, of Oakdale, Calif., is relatively new to the breeding game, and Pikcasso is one of her first forays into it. Dunning, an amateur hunter rider, had a very competitive horse in the early ’90s, but “I have not had a really lovely hunter since I sold her,” she said. “I bred these horses to be my hunters. I really went out and bred them for myself–I’m not a commercial breeder. I have three youngsters, all of whom I think are very special.”

In fact, one of Dunning’s other young horses, Gold Panda (Canadian Kid–Lil Loose) won the International Hunter Futurity West Coast Regional 3-year-old grand championship the same weekend. She also has another 2-year-old, by Graf Top II, which she characterizes as more of a jumper type. All of Dunning’s youngsters are out of Thorough-bred mares.

Not Just Pretty

Pikcasso’s dam, Miss Kilkee, has Mr. Prospector lines.

“I bought her because she’s a lovely, hunter-type mover,” Dunning said. “She was 6 and basically just coming out of a field after coming off the track and having one race horse foal. I just loved her type; she’s got a statuesque head and beautiful neck and topline. She jumps really well, but between having foals and doing other things, I just haven’t had time to get her started. She doesn’t really have a show career, but we’re hoping for that in the future.”

And when Dunning just happened upon a charity stallion auction on the American Hanoverian Society website, she had her sire. Mary Shirley had donated a service to Pikadero, a grand prix jumper.

“When I saw him there, I couldn’t believe no one had bought it, and it was kind of a feeling I had all the way down in my toes, and I decided I couldn’t pass it up,” said Dunning. “I was always struck by the memory of how lovely Pikadero was going around a grand prix course.”

Dunning raises Pikcasso and her other youngsters on her 31³2-acre farm in Oakdale, Calif. Her trainer, Susan Crenshaw, showed Pikcasso on the line last year, but this spring Dunning decided to approach Fieger. Having noticed Pikcasso’s good looks, Fieger agreed.

“His strong point is that he has a lot of curb appeal,” Fieger said of Pikcasso. “He’s very proud of himself, but in a manageable way. He struts his stuff, and he’s just plain pretty. Then when you look at him again, you realize that he’s not just pretty–he’s correct as well.”

Pikcasso is a bay, with an unusual silver tail. Dunning has enjoyed the process of raising him. “He’s a really fun horse to have around–he’s an escape artist. All his gates have extra-special locks on them because he can open them,” she said.

Fieger and his wife, Diane Yeager, run a training business, and Fieger also works full-time as technical coordinator for Blenheim Equisports, so he doesn’t have much free time. He’s also battling cancer, which complicates his schedule even more. But Pikcasso made the balancing act worthwhile.

“I’ve looked at pictures of top handlers and horses for years and dreamed of it, so this is really a dream come true. When they announced that the Sallie Wheeler was going to be East Coast and West Coast, I thought, ‘I have a chance of winning this.’ My wife said, ‘You’re going to win it. This horse is exceptional.’ I couldn’t believe it when I actually won it, because it’s something that I’ve wanted for so long and so badly.”

Pikcasso also took second in the IHF 2-year-old under saddle class at the regionals. He’s now turned out for the winter, and he’ll show on the line and in the IHF as a 3-year-old. Dunning hopes he’ll work his way up to the regular working hunter division and then go on to the grand prix ranks.

Winston Again

Winston, the East Coast winner, is no stranger to blue ribbons. He won the Sallie B. Wheeler/USEF National title last year (held just on the East Coast). This spring, he was named best young horse at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show (Va.) in June and won the 2-year-old, colts and geldings other-than-Thoroughbred class at Devon (Pa.) in his only two other shows this year.

Winston’s owner and breeder, Diana Dodge of Nokomis Farm, has been breeding horses for more than 30 years. “For Diana, this meant everything. She’s been doing this for so long, and to finally have one that’s a consistent winner is so rewarding,” said Matt Collins, who handles Winston.

Winston, a chestnut, really stands out in the ring, and Collins thinks he’s improved even since his spring victories. “He’s actually matured a lot. It’s such a big time of growth for them. The fall is really the middle of the age they are, so having the championships then is perfect,” he said.

His white socks are just the most obvious of Winston’s notable characteristics. He also stands out because he’s a twin, conceived by embryo transfer. His sire and dam (Welt Hit Star–Jardhu) are both Grand Prix dressage horses. Winston’s surrogate dam was a Belgian mare.

Not surprisingly, Collins approves of the national championship concept.

“We don’t show too much, because we don’t want to travel around the country with the babies for the horse of the year prize,” he said. “That’s why I’m so for this national championship, which really comes at the end of the year for us. For me, the big one has always been Devon, but Devon’s in the spring, so it comes very early in the year for some of them. Sometimes they’re not even really a year old by then.”

California breeder Tish Quirk, named leading handler on the West Coast, was instrumental in getting the bi-coastal championship accomplished. And the format won rave reviews.

“The judges did a great job. Imagine how hard it must have been for them to judge in California, hold an image of that in their heads, then fly east and judge again a few days later, comparing the two. They should be commended,” said Collins.