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A LOOK AT THE


ur Young Event By Amber Heintzberger


ONE OF THE BEST opportunities for U.S. breeders of event horses to showcase their four- and five-year-old horses is the USEA Young Event Horse Series, including its year- end championships. In 2014, the East Coast YEH Championships were held at the Fair Hill International in mid-October, while the West Coast YEH Championships where held at Gal- way Downs in California at the end of October. Young Event Horses are judged on confor-


mation, dressage and jumping. Warmbloods Today tracked down the winning riders to learn more about the young horses that stood out among a large pool of players.


RULE OF THUMB At Fair Hill, the winning four-year-old was a Warmblood-


cross gelding named Rule of Thumb, owned by Dawn Erd- man of Alaska and ridden by Melissa Hunsberger of Virginia. They earned top honors on a score of 83.16. Rule of Thumb was purpose-bred for eventing at Virginia


Tech University, and sold as a weanling. Sired by Royal Ap- pearance and out of Nadia VT, the horse ended up in Mid- dleburg, Virginia as an underweight, green-broke youngster. Tad Keenan, who’s into hunter/jumpers, found him at an auction, but felt that he would be better suited to event- ing, so he gave Melissa Hunsberger a call. It turns out that he has some great eventing bloodlines: Nadia’s sire is Across the Field, also the sire of Phillip Dutton’s four-star mount The Foreman, and Rule of Thumb’s sire is Royal Appearance (Hol- steiner), a son of Riverman. Steplin Sporthorses, of which Melissa is a partner, pur- chased him as a two-year-old, and then sold him last year to Dawn Erdman, who opted to keep him in training with


32 January/February 2015 Rule of Thumb


Melissa since he was too young and green for her to ride. Leslie Erdman, who had worked with Melissa years ago, called and inquired about a horse suitable for her mother, but at the time Melissa had only green-broke three-year- olds in her barn. After Rule of Thumb won the Future Event Horse championship at Fair Hill last year, Melissa posted videos of him online and the Erdmans fell in love with him from their home in Alaska. Dawn Erdman purchased Rule of Thumb, but has kept him in training with Melissa. “He’s a very cool horse but he thinks a lot of himself and he is opinionated about life!” Melissa says with a laugh. “When we found him he was about the ugliest young horse I’d ever seen! He had a huge head and was awkward-look- ing, but it looked like he could move. It turned out that he had the really good eventing bloodlines. He’s quite a char- acter and when we worked with him last year getting him ready for the in-hand stuff, it was apparent to me that he’s an event horse through and through. He’s super cocky and sure of himself.” She says all that can make him tricky to ride, but adds


he’s all business in the show ring. “He can be playful and opinionated but seems to know when it counts. There were a few moments I thought I’d end up on the ground in the warm-up at Fair Hill—he was bucking and squealing—but when it was time to go in the ring he was brilliant. He’s an attention mongrel! He loves it when people are watching; he gets a little taller and get a spring in his step. He’s brave and bold and a very good jumper, and has a lot of blood. He’s definitely the character in the barn!”


Shannon Brinkman


Fo


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