of dressage in the U.S., she wanted to prove the American system worked. She mapped out a plan to show Junior at each consecutive USDF level, without skipping any of them. Once she was consistently earning high scores at each level at the highly competitive Florida dressage shows, she would move them up to the next level. Because Junior could be an opinionated horse, there
were many challenges along the way. “Sideways [move- ment] was hard for him,” Janne recalls, because of his narrower build. “It took a whole year to make him go sideways.” But some things were easier, and Janne credits some of this to the basics which were instilled as they fol- lowed the progression of the USDF levels. For example, take the one-tempi flying changes, fifteen of which are required in the Grand Prix. “I taught him the one tempis in four days. One day we did three of them, the next day we did four of them, the next day we did five of them and the fourth day we did all fif- teen. We could do this because he already had the basics of the flying change.” Earlier this year Janne debuted
Junior at Grand Prix, as an eleven- year-old. “Although he can be opinionated and alpha, he’s also sensitive and smart,” Janne re- marks. “Once we got to Grand Prix he learned things were fun and it was suddenly easier.” Together they’ve competed in
one hundred dressage competi- tions in the past seven years, and they’ve had Grand Prix scores as high as 68%. This year they were the Region III Adult Amateur Grand Prix Champions. They also competed at the inaugural U.S. Dressage Finals, finishing second in the Grand Prix Adult Amateur Championship class. They’re ranked sixth in the na- tion for 2013 in the adult amateur Grand Prix category. Janne’s focus now is to continue to improve the Grand
LEFT: Heather’s Hanoverian/Thoroughbred mare Fantasy that she bred, trained and showed to Grand Prix. RIGHT: Heather’s mare Integrity, sired by Incognito (KWPN) out of Fantasy, who is also trained to Grand Prix.
Prix, building both strength and confidence. “He can still get scared and get rattled. When he becomes flustered it can take a while to relax him again,” she remarks. “He has to learn, grow up, relax and stay with the rider.”
Heather Mason:
like mother, like daughter As if raising, training, and competing one homebred through Grand Prix wasn’t enough of a challenge, Heather Mason did it twice: first with her homebred mare FC Fantasy, and then again with Fantasy’s daughter Integrity.
38 January/February 2014
In 1989 the chestnut filly FC Fantasy was born. Heather also had a colt by Flugzauber born that same year. “The colt was quiet and easy, but Fantasy was quirky, very small and late to develop,” Heather recalls, “so I sold the saleable one and kept Fantasy as I was worried what would happen to her.” Fantasy became one of Heather’s main competition
horses, and together they steadily and successfully moved up the levels. “Fantasy was super sweet and we were very con- nected, and I never considered selling her because she was difficult,” says Heather. Heather and Fantasy celebrated their early partnership by winning the Region 1 championships at First and Second Level and winning USDF’s prestigious Horse of the Year honor at First Level. The next year Fantasy was the Fourth Level cham- pion at Dressage at Devon. Heather and Fantasy were on a roll and they qualified for the Olympic Festival the following year,
Heather Mason runs Flying Change Farm in Lebanon, New
Jersey. She began her riding career as a child, where she was active in a variety of horse sports. She participated in Pony Club and also did jumping and eventing in addition to dres- sage. She showed her pony (nicknamed “Bubble”) through Prix St. Georges and competed twice in the NAJYRC on her Anglo-Trakehner mare Limerick. In 1988 Heather decided to breed her Thoroughbred mare
Dave’s Result, who she’d purchased for just $300, to a Ha- noverian stallion named Flugzauber. She’d bred a few Thor- oughbreds previously, mostly as project horses, but this was her first foray into Warmblood breeding.
Both photos, Susan J. Stickle
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