Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Petersborg’s Qasanova ridden by amateur owner Matthew Johnson to be the top five-year-old in the United States and Fashion Designer OLD that German transplant Nadine Burbel rode to lead the nation’s six-year-olds as well as runnerup Fiderhit Old ridden by Cesar Parra will go to the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany Aug. 6-10.

The U.S. Equestrian Federation announced Friday the three combinations will be completely self-funded and not receive any money to help cover the tens of thousands of dollars in transportation and other costs.

Qasanova, a Danish Warmblood stallion (Quaterback x Calypso II) owned and ridden as an adult amateur by Matt Johnson of Wellington, Florida achieved an average of 8.540 in the five-year-old division. Matt, a successful real estate agent, has owned and competed a succession of quality horses over several years. He bought Qasanova last year and with coaching primarily from Robert Dover, the American dressage chef d’equipe, qualified at CDIs during last winter’s Global Dressage Festival in Florida.

Fashion Designer, a six-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Faustinus x De Niro) had an average of 8.616 and is competed by Nadine Buberl, a 31-year-old German who rides for Cesar Parra’s Piaffe Performance training center. The horse, owned by Cesar and Martin Sosnoff, also won the U.S. five-year-old championship when ridden by Nadine who came to America more than five years ago.

Sans Soucis K, an Oldenburg mare ridden by Phoenix, Arizona-based Canadian Ashleigh Luca-Tyson for owner River Oaks Farm of West Des Moines, Iowa to reserve in the five-year-old division with an average of 8.048, opted not to go the world championships

While all of the owners said they did not know until after qualifying was completed there would be no financial support from the federation, they also said they felt it was important to go to the championships to help bolster dressage in America.

“Hopefully I can bring some positive attention and energy to this issue so future U.S. dressage riders in this championship, and others for that matter, have an easier time and don’t have to bear the total financial burden and stress alone,” Matt told dressage-news.com.

“It would be a crime for any of our top riders and horses to sit out of a top international event or championship simply due to financial constraints. We all need to do our part to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future. We all have to get involved and be creative.

“I have to commend Robert Dover in his fund raising efforts for our U.S. riders and teams. He’s a great ambassador and example for all of us. We all need to follow his lead and work together so the help is there when anyone of us need it.”

Matt has launched a fund raising campaign through GoFundMe.com–http://www.gofundme.com/all0h0–hoping to raise $25,000 to cover the costs of the trip to Verden.

Any funds left over, he said, will be donated back to the USEF earmarked for future World Young Horse Championships.