Jane Cleveland & Monique At Dutta Corp. USA Dressage Championships Coached by Aussie Nicholas Fyffe
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May 17, 2017
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Jane Cleveland will ride Monique in the Tim Dutta U.S. Intermediate 1 Championships for the first Festival of Champions for the Danish Warmblood mare that was among the top qualifiers.
On the sidelines will be Jane’s Florida-based coach, Australian Nicholas Fyffe, making his first visit to historic Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey built by the flamboyant Gilded Age tycoon James “Diamond Jim” Brady an hour from New York City.
Jane, 53 years old of Wellington, Florida bought Monique, an eight-year-old (Tailormade Temptation x Matador) after seeing a video of the Danish Foal Auction and thinking the mare was exceptional.
“She had this fantastic hind leg and such an attitude,” said Jane who was living in Tennessee at the time, “trotted way out in front of her mother.
“And that’s her all these years later–confident, a bit of an attitude and still the fantastic hind leg.”
She came to Jane after she was weaned in Denmark and they have been together since.
“When she was three, after the initial three months with my cowboy trainer friend, I turned her back out in the big pastures,” Jane recalled. “When I would go to see her and another horse the same age, they would break from the herd and run over to me, not for treats. Monique would then just stand by me, looking straight ahead, not really interacting, but if any other horse came up, she would chase them off and then come back and stand with me.
“She does that now with Nicholas Fyffe, our regular coach, when we’re working with him. Still not for treats, just to hang with the herd leader, I guess!”
At this year’s highly competitive Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington over winter, Jane and Monique made nine CDI starts, placing second twice.
“What has surprised me is increasingly she has a front leg to match her hind leg,” Jane said. “She keeps getting markedly better in her movement. I can’t wait until we can really tackle the Grand Prix. she is going to be just super.”
Jane, who competed in the Int. 1 championships with Rodeo Queen in 2012, describes Monique as a worker that never once has said “no,” and “doesn’t seem to have any limits.
“She challenges me daily as a rider–what could be more rewarding in this sport?”
The Dutta Corp. championship schedule:
Thursday, May 18
8:30 am–Grand Prix
10:30 am–Prix St. Georges
2:00 pm–Intermediate II 16-25
Friday, May 19
10:40 am–Grand Prix Special
1:00 pm–Grand Prix 16-25
Saturday, May 20
11:00 am–Intermediate I
TBD–Olympian Experience
Sunday, May 21
8:00 am–Intermediate I Freestyle
11:20 am–Grand Prix Freestyle
2:00 pm–Grand Prix 16-25 Freestyle
