Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Missing from the World Breeding Dressage Championship for Young Horses is the outstanding American combination of the six-year-old Schumacher ridden by Allison Brock, who have posted winning results on both sides of the Atlantic.

So successful have the pair been that they might have been able to compete in the championships for Germany or Great Britain, but turned aside the suggestions–“it’s the USA or nothing,” Ali said after talking it over with owners Fritz and Claudine Kundrun, passionate owners of top dressage horses.

Included in the Kundrun’s lineup over the years was Flim Flam, ridden by Sue Blinks at the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome, the bronze medal U.S. team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the silver medal squad at the WEG in Jerez in 2002.

Now, they have Schumacher, the young stallion, Rosevelt, and Peajay, an 11-year-old Polish Warmblood with Allison, and Ampere, a six-year-old Dutch champion stallion by Rousseau/Flemmingh, standing at stud at Tullstorp Dressage AB in Sweden.

Schumacher as a five-year-old stallion by Stedinger out of a Weltmeyer mare, was ridden by Germany’s Claudia Rüscher, to third place in the Verden Finale in 2010 and second at the German Bundeschampionate.

Allison took over the ride on Schumacher last October–the horse was gelded due to problems during C.E.M. testing–and won all three competitions they entered on the Florida winter circuit, including their debut in the FEI six-year-old test.

Ali, aged 31, moved to England with Schumacher and Rosevelt–Peajay is likely to join her–to train with Kyra Kyrklund and Richard White.

The results for Ali and Schumacher proved the wisdom of that move.

They won last week’s British six-year-old international championship at Hickstead, the semi-final with 91 per cent, 9 for walk, trot, canter and submission and 9.5 general impression, and the final with 88.000 per cent, that Ali said included a mistake in the canter that affected the submission score.

They opted not to compete at Verden, although he was automatically qualified for Germany based on the 2010 results. To meet U.S. qualifying criteria, they would have had to travel to Germany to qualify which they did not believe was best for the horse. So they entered the British championships.

“I was disappointed not to go to Verden,” she said. “I think it would have been good for me. What we did, however, was in the horse’s best interest. We had made plans and decided to stick to them.”

Hickstead as a big international show with a CDI5*/CDI3* was “so much fun because the Brits are so strong… they have mind blowing, fantastic horses and riders.”

Schumacher was not bought with the intention to go to Verden but to be a Grand Prix horse on which Ali hopes to make a U.S. team. She went to the 2002 WEG as the groom for Flim Flam and took over the Kundruns’ horses when Sue Blinks moved from Florida to California and hopes to emulate her success.

Schumacher is done showing for the moment, but she has tentative plans to compete Rosevelt (Rotspon/Lauries Crusader xx), at Grand Prix by the end of this year. The horse won the 2006 stallion licensing in Sweden, was fifth at the world young horse championships with Hans Peter Minderhound as a five-year-old and was competed by Jan Brink as a six and a seven-year-old at Falsterbo Horse Show.

Rosevelt was imported into the U.S. at the beginning of 2010 and competed successfully at small tour during this year’s Florida winter circuit. He is currently schooling all the Grand Prix movements–“he did 15 one-tempis a week ago,” Ali said.

“I feel so lucky to be here,” Ali said of working with Kyra and Richard. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime… just plugged in and hooked on. I’m living the dream.

“The Kundruns have given me opportunities I could only dream about.

“It’s almost a fairy tale situation. I don’t own a horse, I’m not married, I don’t have ‘stuff.’ At this point in my life, I can snatch what life offers and go. It’s a fantastic life experience.”