Lauren Walfish received the music for her freestyle just two weeks before her performance at Dressage at Waterloo, but she’d listened to it hundreds of times before winning the FEI Young Rider class on June 9-11 at the Waterloo Hunt Club in Jackson, Mich.

Walfish, 20, of Chicago, Ill., and the Dutch gelding Othello, earned a 70.00 percent from judges Brenda Minor at C and Maryal Barnett at B. Trainer Mary Ann Grant and choreographer Marlene Whittaker, along with Walfish, developed music and a routine that was a gloved fit for the horse’s skills and natural cadences.

The lovely performance began with a canter down centerline to the tune of “Cabaret.” The pair then developed the canter in a variety of well-executed movements such as three-tempi changes and half pirouettes on the short sides at quarterline. Then they transitioned to walk at F, a walk completely in sync with a smoky, bluesy rendition of “You Made Me Love You.”

Next we heard “Chicago,” a song that carried the trot work through some very nice mediums and disciplined half passes and on to conclude in a flourishing halt. The whole performance was exquisitely timed and so well executed that observers were toe-tapping all around the arena.

“I always thought about riding to music,” said Walfish. “I’d hear something when I drove in the car and think that would be good music for the canter. That helped me for feeling out the beats. The song choices were mine and Marlene’s. And from the beginning the music and the routine, designed by Mary Ann Grant, were right. We all liked the idea of the walk entrance and using the quarterlines.”

A student in business at Vanderbilt (Tenn.), Walfish bought Othello two years ago from a professional in the Netherlands.

“He’s a confident, great guy,” she said. “Now I ride all my college vacations and long weekends in Florida working with Mary Ann. I’m going to be a junior and each year it gets harder to do college and go to Florida for horses, but my goal is for us to make the Young Rider team.”


Double FEI Wins
Kelly Hayner and Tonya Grant Barber controlled the FEI levels, with Hayner earning the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I championships on her own Morenzo. Barber won Intermediaire II and Grand Prix on the Andalusian stallion Tamaro, owned by Linda Cramer, and finished second in Intemediaire I on Nice Catch, 11, owned by Lora Stephans.

Hayner’s 11-year-old, Dutch gelding, Morenzo, “needs a lot of showing this year,” said Hayner. “I plan on getting him down the centerline as much as possible. I’ll move him up to I-2 in the next show so he can do the one-tempis and piaffes and passages, which is what he wants to do.”

In addition to the 72.50 percent at Prix St. Georges that earned him the championship, Morenzo also pleased Hayner in the Intermediaire I (63.00%) and on Sunday in the same class (64.25%).

She bought the chestnut as a 9-year-old from a strong Dutch rider. It took a while to adjust him to her style and make him more sensitive for her. She plans to continue working out his show nerves as she heads toward Grand Prix.

Hayner also rode a student’s liver chestnut, 6-year-old gelding, Parcival, to a winning score of 73.88 percent in open first level, test 4, on Friday and 73.82 percent on Saturday in open first level, test 2.

“He’s a little scared of other horses entering his territory,” said Hayner, “but he loves to work.”

Hayner found him for Amy Dahlgren in Wellington, Fla., and Dalhgren had an instant rapport with him, getting right on, even when she was seven months pregnant.

Dahlgren took a turn on Parcival and won first level, test 1 (66.67%).

Barber has 19-month-old twins at home and another baby due in December, but she still managed to win her second Grand Prix on the gray Andalusian stallion, Tamaro (63.75%).

“He is truly a schoolmaster,” said Barber. “He is extremely well trained. He came to us with that; we’ve built on it. I can count on him to be the same even if I change.”

Owner Linda Cramer has decided not to ride Tamaro this season but will give Barber the opportunity to carry on through several more Grand Prix classes and on to the regionals in September.

“He loves to go to the shows. He’s absolutely 100 percent trustworthy in the ring. What you get at home is what you get in the ring. He never cheats you,” Barber added. “I’ve got the two best horses for a pregnant lady to be riding.”

She also won at Intermediaire I on Nice Catch, earning a 64.00 percent from Barnett on Saturday.

“Nice Catch just came to us this winter,” said Barber. “He belongs to an amateur who rides at first level, and I’m only showing him to keep his value this year while she learns a bit more. He’s one of the sweetest horses. He’s very kind to his owner. I think you could train him to do more than is natural for him because he’s so willing.”

Barber’s mother, Carol Grant, was schooling Barber in the warm-up, giving tips to other upper level riders and also helping several young riders. Grant especially enjoys teaching at the top levels. “I’m teaching a lot of professionals, which I like because they take what they learn home to their people,” she said.

Sister Power
Sisters Lauren and Charlsey Hoehn won several classes with Tornado and Taskara, Dutch Warmbloods they imported several years ago.

These sisters, who train with Vanessa von Wessum, begin at 5:30 every morning, caring for their horses themselves. Both girls ride on their school’s equestrian team, including saddleseat, and they qualified for nationals with the Ingham City Horse Judging Team.

Charlsey, 13, left the show on Saturday to study for finals, after winning training level, test 4, junior/young rider (66.15%) on her chestnut mare, Taskaria. Taskarai can be very, very good and then at other moments she can be very naughty.

“I already had tendonitis in my arms and I couldn’t ride for a couple of months, and then I was getting sore arms again from trying to hold my horse,” said Charlsey.

But von Wessum made the pair over, and then Lauren, too, began to work with her. Last year Lauren, 18, and Tornado earned the U.S. Dressage Federation’s All Breed Awards first level championship for Dutch Warmbloods, and they were fifth in the nation. The pair also earned the reserve championship in the USDF junior/young rider finals.

Lauren began riding when she was 3 and found dressage at the age of 7.

On Sunday, Lauren carried on for Charlsey by riding both horses. Lauren had recently been juggling preparation for a solo viola performance with orchestra in a concerto competition as well as working to move Tornado up to second level.

Lauren earned the second level junior/ young rider championship on Tornado (70.52%) and another reserve championship on her sister’s Taskaria at training level. Next year Lauren will attend Calvin College (Mich.), double-majoring in biology and either music or Dutch, and she will continue to move up the levels on Tornado. He is known as “Bucky” because when she first tried him in the Netherlands he bucked her off.

Von Wessum trains the six Dutch horses that she and husband Rob imported to Lansing, Mich. She travels within 45 minutes of that base to teach about 15 students. The von Wessums came to this country in 2005 from the Netherlands when Rob joined the research staff at Michigan State University.

Rob rode Luciano to victory in Saturday’s Prix St. Georges with a score of 63.25 percent from Judge Brenda Minor.

Changing Times
Albert Gesierich earned the third level title with a big, relaxed dapple gray called Ramble, owned by Sandy Sander. But when Gesierich arrived in the United States from Austria, in 1983, there wasn’t much dressage going on.

After immigrating from Austria, Gesierich spent time in California.

He has enjoyed a lifetime of riding, beginning as a three-day rider on his family farm, where his father built a cross-country course. When he was 15, he rode with the Spanish Riding School. Multi-credentialed from Austrian and German riding institutions, he trains dressage horses today and has trained the Tempel Farm (Ill.) horses in advanced dressage and in driving.

“When I came to America there was no dressage. In California there were Quarter Horses and one or two warmbloods. Now there are a lot of warmbloods, some Quarter Horses and a few Thoroughbreds,” he said.

Gesierich moved to Michigan “for love,” he said, referring to a romance that gave him two children. Now he conducts a training facility called Hunt’s Meadow out of Fenton, Mich. He often travels to give dressage clinics, and he imports German and Dutch horses.

Why dressage? “It was a niche [that needed filling here in America],” he said. “I haven’t regretted it yet. I love America. You’ve got to be lazy or stupid not to make it here.”