Riders Heat-Up ‘Cool’ Nights

By Staff Report October 10, 2011

California’s dressage riders taking part in Cool August Nights and the Los Angeles Breeders Classic got something they might not have bargained for: sweltering heat! “Cool August nights turned out to be hot August nights!” said Glenda McElroy, whose Cornerstone Management produced the event,  Aug. 25 – 28, 2011 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank.  “I give those riders credit. We had very few scratches. They hung in there till the very end.”

When it was all said and done, it was 18-year-old Franchesca Liauw and GB Marko who emerged victors in the Prix St. Georges, earning  the FEI high-point award. Jaye Cherry rode Santana to the top of the Open division, and her student Anna Buffini took Roosevelt SFS to the top of the Junior class. Emily Tears and Absolute Zephyr took top honors among Upper-Level Amateurs, and  she and Lopaca won the FEI Junior Amateur Championship.

Also notable was LAEC-based Margaret Stout’s Centennial Club Ride – an honor created by the United States Dressage Foundation for people whose age, combined with that of their horses, totals 100 or more. Stout rode her Ilion, 22, at Training Level. “I lived through it!,” said Stout, 82. “It was 102 degrees when I got into the ring. Nobody should have to ride in that kind of heat, but with age comes stubbornness and I wanted to get it done.”

Stout said she finished “a bit dizzy” but pleased. “I enjoyed it. It was a real event for me. I haven’t shown in years, but I take lessons four days a week with Jaye Cherry because I want to learn more about my sport. Jaye and I worked together to get me back.”

Liauw, who attends university in Boston, spent the summer living in Malibu and riding with Verena Sonstenef of  VS Dressgae, based at El Sueno Equestrian Center in Somis. Sonstenef coached her to a series of summer show performances good enough to qualify her for the cut to ride on the Puerto Rico Pan American Games dressage squad. “It’s a huge honor for me to have qualified at my age. To compete against riders like Steffen Peters, it’s amazing. I’m way out of my league!”

Liauw said she wound up in Southern California as the result of a conversation with jumper rider Mark Watring, also based in Hidden Valley. “Mark rides for Puerto Rico too. We met at the last  Pan Am games, and I was supposed to move to Sweden but Mark said I know a really great dressage trainer. Come to California!”

Cherry said she’s proud of students Stout and Bryce Quinto, who wound up high point Reserve Champion in the lower level Junior category for her performance on Baby Doll.  Likewise, she’s extremely gratified to have herself won the Open Championship on such a young horse.

Santana, owned by television producer Marta Kauffman, is only four years old.  “He’s a wonderful horse. We brought him over from Germany in January and he has already been champion at Dressage at Flintridge and at Star Spangled Dressage in San Juan Capistrano. I’m so lucky to be able to ride him.”

Of her first experience riding at Cool August Nights, Liauw said, “I really enjoyed it. It was nice to ride at night. It gives a different exposure to your horse, and it was just really interesting. LAEC is a beautiful facility.”

In the Breeders Classic, the Hanoverian filly Saraphina, owned by Shawn and Deanna Kacer, won in the yearling category.

McElroy said hightlights included the Friday night fundraiser, Dressage Goes to the Beach, which raised money in support of local rider Marisa Festerling’s trip to the Pan American Games, and a “frisbee dogs” exhibition courtesy of handler Kirby McNabb.

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